Why medical malpractice cases are hard to win?
Picture this.
A woman goes to her doctor. She feels something isn’t right. The doctors run tests. She trusts them to find what matters.
Months pass. Her symptoms grow worse. Finally, the truth comes out—she has cancer.
By then, it has spread. Options are limited. She and her family ask the haunting question: “Would it be different if they caught it sooner?”
That was the question in Sightler v. Zasada. The patient claimed the radiologists missed what they should have seen. She believed earlier action would have given her a chance.
Her case went to the Virginia Court of Appeals. And she lost.
The Turning Point
She didn’t lose because her story lacked power. She didn’t lose because her pain wasn’t real.
She lost because her expert couldn’t connect the dots. The expert admitted she couldn’t say when the cancer spread. She also couldn’t say if an earlier diagnosis would have saved her.
The court called it speculation. And speculation doesn’t win cases.
Lessons from the Case
There are always lessons to learn from other cases. These lessons teach us why medical malpractice cases are so hard to win.
1. Medicine is messy
Cancer doesn’t follow neat rules. Doctors rarely give absolutes. But the law demands more than “maybe.”
2. The law requires probability, not possibility
This is key. The law doesn’t require absolute certainty. No doctor can promise that.
But the expert must say—to a reasonable degree of medical probability—that the mistake caused the harm.
- Certainty is 100%. The law knows medicine can’t give that.
- Probability means “more likely than not.” That’s the legal standard.
- Possibility means “it could have happened.” That’s worthless in court.
If an expert only says “it’s possible,” the judge will dismiss the case. That’s exactly what happened in Sightler.
3. The burden falls on the patient
Here’s the hardest part. Patients don’t control the records. Doctors and nurses write them. Those records become the official story.
If something important isn’t written down, the law often treats it as if it never happened. That gives doctors enormous power over the narrative.
You are left relying on their truthfulness in the moment.
- Did they chart every symptom?
- Did they record the conversation accurately?
- Did they leave something out—on purpose or by mistake?
When you walk into court, those records are Exhibit A. And unless you have strong evidence to challenge them, the defense will say: “If it’s not in the record, it didn’t happen.”
The Bigger Picture
Most medical malpractice cases are hard to win.
Some malpractice cases succeed. Families do win justice when providers make life-changing errors. But those wins require years of effort.
These cases require multiple experts. They need lawyers who can dig deep into the records. And, even more, need witnesses who can fill in the gaps.
Without all of that, even a case like Sightler—heartbreaking as it is—won’t survive.
Final Thought
Medical malpractice cases aren’t about pain alone. They’re about proof.
The system demands more than “maybe.” It demands probability. And it demands a story supported by records that the doctors themselves wrote.
That’s why so many patients never see their day in court. Not because they didn’t suffer. But because the law makes the hill so steep.
