One of my first medical malpractice cases involved a child who lost his hearing because of bacterial meningitis. The family consulted the premier malpractice attorney in town. He reviewed the case but declined it based on an expert’s advice. Eventually, the family and their potential case found their way to me.
When I evaluated the case, I took an atypical approach. I invested significant time combing through the medical records, read about 60 medical journal articles on the condition and treatment protocols, and consulted with my former classmates from the Georgetown University School of Medicine to identify errors that the first expert may have missed.
I thought the case was meritorious, so I took it. The defendant hospital refused to make any settlement offer. But we persisted, proceeded to trial, and obtained a $1.6 million verdict (approximately $6.3 million in 2025 dollars). Not bad for a novice attorney.
Four decades of practice later, I see how that case birthed a case evaluation process that differed from those of my peers. This process helps me find value in potential medical malpractice claims that other attorneys missed. To date, my firm has recovered approximately $35 million in settlements and verdicts from cases that other attorneys turned down. These weren’t weak cases; they just required a different approach to evaluating their merits and potential damages.
Below are the six steps I use to find value in potential medical malpractice claims that other attorneys decline to take on.
Take advantage of other attorneys’ “batch evaluation” process
One common intake practice that leads attorneys to miss valuable cases is “batch evaluation.”
Attorneys who receive a high volume of inquiries from prospective clients might select ten potential catastrophic injury claims to evaluate closely. They will obtain the medical records and schedule a meeting with a medical expert. They might block out four hours and review all ten potential claims together. If that expert identifies two clear-cut claims from the batch, the attorney might decline the others—even if they have merit—simply because they are more confident about other potential claims in the group.
This makes practical sense from a capacity standpoint: no attorney can take every case that comes their way. But it means attorneys will inevitably pass on cases with solid liability and damages.
I’ve seen how this selection dynamic works in real life when I volunteer as an educational counselor for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and interview applicants to the school. Just because a student gets turned down by MIT doesn’t mean they couldn’t become superstars and change the world by attending Harvard or Boston College. The same principle applies to case selection. A potential medical malpractice claim that doesn’t make the cut at one firm might turn into a significant recovery in the hands of another.
Invest time in reading medical literature about the injuries, conditions, and/or treatments in a prospective case
The results in that bacterial meningitis case weren’t magic—they came from investing a significant amount of time in reading and analyzing medical journal articles related to the child’s condition and the treatment protocols for it. Admittedly, most attorneys don’t have time to read 60 medical journal articles for every potential malpractice claim that comes through the door, nor can they afford to spend that much time before knowing whether a claim has merit.
But we all know medical malpractice attorneys who, or whose colleagues, read zero articles when reviewing a potential claim. Many medical malpractice attorneys do not read enough medical literature about issues that are present in a potential claim, perhaps expecting to lean on their experts later for the knowledge captured in medical journal articles.
It would behoove attorneys to invest time up front in reading medical journals to determine whether a potential medical malpractice claim is meritorious and to assess how significantly the medical professionals involved breached the applicable standard of care.
Use that same medical literature to find credentialed, knowledgeable experts
Medical journal articles serve another critical function for medical malpractice attorneys beyond identifying deviations from the applicable standard of care: they can help identify potential experts.
When I find a relevant and well-written medical journal article, I contact the author directly to ask if they would review my case. Recently, I took this approach for a noteworthy case that two other excellent law firms declined to accept. After I found a relevant piece of medical literature, I contacted the lead author, who was a highly credentialed professor of pediatric surgery. He reviewed the records and confirmed we had a strong case.
This approach can give an attorney certainty about a case’s merits, but it requires effort and financial investment. Physicians often charge $500 to $800 an hour to review medical records. I was $7,000 into expert costs on that pediatric surgery case before I could determine how strong a case it was. Few attorneys can afford expert reviews for every inquiry, which is why traditional intake processes focus on the most obviously strong cases. However, when an attorney invests in identifying a promising case, those investments can uncover strong cases that other attorneys missed—investments that often pay for themselves many times over.
Leverage technology to accelerate claim evaluation
Though not perfect, artificial intelligence can transform how effectively and efficiently attorneys evaluate the merits and damages in potential medical malpractice claims. In my practice, AI is compressing tasks that once took me two weeks into four or five hours.
AI is effective at searching medical literature. For example, I can describe a potential claim scenario, and it will retrieve 20 medical article citations, summarized with citations to pages that best support a malpractice claim. AI can also offer chronologies that help identify potential moments of malpractice.
The technology isn’t yet at the point where we can input 1,400 pages of medical records and receive a comprehensive analysis. Even the professional versions of various AI models costing several hundred dollars per month can’t process that volume. But for tasks it handles well, AI is like having a team of doctors and paralegals available around the clock.
Like any powerful tool, AI works best in the hands of someone who understands how to use it and understands what they are looking for when they do. The more medicine an attorney knows, the more value they can extract when using AI to evaluate medical malpractice claims. Many attorneys use AI, but knowing which questions to ask it when evaluating potential medical malpractice claims requires medical knowledge that most attorneys don’t have, making it essential to co-counsel with an attorney who does.
Keep an open mind about where the real case is
Sometimes, clients come to a law firm thinking they have one potential claim, but when attorneys (or their staff) ask the right questions, they might uncover an entirely different and much stronger claim.
For example, a prospective client might lead with their frustration about decisions to treat their cancer with chemotherapy rather than radiation therapy. An attorney might review the medical literature and find that the physician’s treatment choices fell within the applicable standard of care. But after asking the prospective client more about their cancer, the attorney learns that two years earlier, the same physician dismissed a suspicious breast lump as normal, which delayed the cancer diagnosis. That is when the real negligence occurred.
This approach requires attorneys to invest time in thorough client conversations and to maintain curiosity about their complete medical history, rather than focusing narrowly on what initially brought the client to the attorney.
On a related note, today’s clients are more likely to have answers to medical malpractice attorneys’ screening questions through access to their medical records on patient portals. There is a wealth of valuable data in those records, which can give attorneys a head start on their investigation. These records also present another opportunity to harness the value of AI, particularly when experts are an expensive investment during the early stages of evaluating a claim. That said, while AI can help speed up the evaluation process, it has a long way to go before we can consider it a reliable substitute for human judgment and medical expertise.
Know when referring a medical malpractice case is in the best interests of the client
When evaluating potential medical malpractice claims, all personal injury attorneys fear missing claims for which our clients could secure recoveries that pay their astronomical medical bills and adequately compensate them and their families for the damages caused by the defendants. The question isn’t whether to accept every case. The question is, can we ensure our case evaluation process is thorough enough to accurately identify the value of a client’s potential malpractice claim?
Through decades of practice, I have found that there is no magic bullet for accurately valuing a client’s potential medical malpractice claim. The most effective way to unlock the hidden value of medical malpractice claims is to read the medical literature, avail oneself of the right human and technological resources, and remain open to uncovering where the actual malpractice might have occurred.
For attorneys who don’t have medical training or the capacity to employ the evaluation process I described in this article, knowing when and how to co-counsel on or refer potential medical malpractice claims could be the difference between helping a client secure an incredible recovery and settling for a low-ball offer that does little to improve their everyday life.
If you’re uncertain of how to evaluate a prospective client’s medical malpractice claim, encouraging them to seek another attorney’s opinion—and even offering them a list of five to ten attorneys you’d recommend—is in their best interests. When I decline a case, I’m mindful that another attorney might see the value I’ve overlooked.
Doing so brings that prospective client one step closer to getting justice for the medical malpractice they’ve suffered, after which they will hopefully never have to worry again about whether they can afford the medical treatment they need.
Dr. Michael M. Wilson, is the founding attorney at The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson M.D., J.D. & Associates, where he has spent four decades representing victims of medical malpractice. He can be reached at wilson@wilsonlaw.com.
Reprinted with permission from the February 2, 2026, edition of The Legal Intelligencer © 2026 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.
