The Overlaps of the Worlds of Law and Medicine
Advisor: Mason Peterson
For my senior project, I will examine the Medical Malpractice Sliding Scale Retainer in New York City and its impact on both lawyer, doctors and plaintiffs. This sliding scale retainer stipulates that lawyers cannot earn more than 10% of the verdicts in medical malpractice cases, a measure intended to protect doctors from excessive lawsuits and financial losses. However, this regulation also makes it increasingly difficult for plaintiffs to find attorneys willing to take on medical malpractice cases. Furthermore, it may result in doctors being less attentive to their patients, knowing that the retainer offers them some level of protection. To explore this issue further, I will conduct interviews with lawyers, experts, and everyday citizens to gather their perspectives and seek a potential “solution” that benefits doctors, lawyers, and plaintiffs alike.
Project Blog
Week 0: Introduction to the Project
Matt Torgan - Week 0
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to the first blog post of my Senior Project. My Name is Matt Torgan, and over the next couple of months, I will investigate New York’s Medical Malpractice Sliding scale retainer and how it has affected doctors, plaintiffs, and lawyers since its introduction in 1985. Through this series, I want to explore the intersections of law, finance, and healthcare while also shedding some light on the incredibly crucial aspect of the medical malpractice part of the law.
The sliding scale retainer ensures that lawyers cannot make more than 10% of the verdicts from medical malpractice cases to protect doctors from getting sued and losing too much money. However, this makes it harder for plaintiffs to find lawyers who will take medical malpractice cases, and it also may cause doctors to care less for patients, knowing that the retainer protects them.
I've always been interested in how legal systems might change to meet the demands of society, and the sliding scale retainer model caught my attention as a promising option to address the problems of getting access to good legal counsel in malpractice cases.
Pursuing trials for medical malpractice suits is known to be expensive and time-consuming for attorneys. The sliding scale retainer, which was incorporated to prevent “ambulance chasers,” is an alternative price structure that inhibits access to justice.
You may be wondering what the actual effects of the sliding scale retainer are on New York Plaintiffs and their legal counsel. You may also be wondering in what ways can the Sliding Scale Retainer be altered to benefit attorneys, doctors, and those pursuing legal justice. These are the main questions that will guide my research.
For this project, I will work closely with expert attorneys, focusing their practice on medical malpractice. I will analyze primary and secondary documents, whether that be law journals or case studies that provide interviews or information on the topic. I will interview ordinary individuals to get other opinions on the topic.
I am so grateful to everyone coming along on this research “journey” into the heart of medical malpractice lawsuits. I am excited to explore the nuances of the legal system and the importance of fairness in the fight for justice.
Week 1
Hello Readers,
In this week’s blog, I started diving deeper into different kinds of research papers and law journals that discuss and explain the actual impact of New York’s medical malpractice sliding scale retainer. I’ve been focused explicitly on how New York’s sliding scale retainer affects the behavior of attorneys, the outcomes of patients, and the overall accessibility of legal representation and aid for malpractice victims.
I also began reaching out to local attorneys to set up interviews. One attorney responded with interest, and we’ve scheduled a conversation for next week. I’m hoping to learn how attorneys decide whether or not to take a malpractice case, and how the sliding scale factors into that decision.
In the coming weeks, I will continue reviewing non-attorney sources and collecting more opinions from legal and non-legal experts. I’m especially interested in learning how people perceive the system's fairness and whether they think it truly balances the interests of doctors and patients.
Lastly, I want to correct a mistake I made in my first blog post. New York’s sliding-scale retainer fee is only reduced to 10% when a case is worth over $1,250,000 and $1,000,000.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more updates as I continue this research!
-Matt Torgan
Weeks 2-4: Blog Weeks 2-4
Hello Readers,
Over the past few weeks, I have continued investigating New York’s medical malpractice sliding scale retainer, and I am happy to say that things have been moving forward smoothly. I have found a number of articles and law journals that apply almost, if not directly, to the subject I have been researching and help me understand both the legal and ethical angles of the sliding scale system.
So far in my research, organizations like the New York City Bar Association and New York Law Journal have made it quite easy to understand how attorney fees can limit access to attorneys. I’m beginning to see overlapping arguments for and against New York’s current system.
One of the main changes in my recent studies is that I’ve officially scheduled a meeting with an active attorney who commonly tries medical malpractice cases for next week. I plan on asking them about how they start their cases, how they move forward with potential cases, and how much the sliding scale impacts their decisions. Since starting my research, I’ve learned that reading about something and actually hearing directly from someone who navigates it on a daily basis are completely different things.
I also began communicating with people in New York who are not attorneys and have even set up interviews to get their take on the legal system. I’m also curious to know whether the general public even knows what the sliding-scale retainer is and, if so, whether they think it creates more equality for victims of malpractice or tilts the scales in different directions.
As I get ready to interview said “regular New Yorkers”, I have been preparing questions that will help uncover how the system is viewed from non-attorneys. Like I said before, I want to know how much people actually know about medical malpractice law and attorney fees, especially the sliding scale. I plan on asking questions like: Do you think malpractice victims have fair access to legal help? Does the system seem balanced between doctors and patients? These conversations hopefully will give me a better sense of the public view on legal aid, while also giving me a variety of individual opinions.
Lastly, I’m taking steps to get even more hands-on experience. I plan to apply for an internship at a law firm that works on various cases, including Medical Malpractice lawsuits.
I am very excited to continue sharing my research, and I am truly appreciative of everyone's time and effort in reading this. Thank you!
– Matt Torgan
Week 5: Blog
Hello Readers,
This week is quite an important one for my research. So far, I have two interviews within the next two days. First, I'll speak with an experienced attorney who has tried many medical malpractice cases here in New York. From our interview, I’m hoping to learn how the sliding scale retainer influences which cases attorneys take and how it affects their approach to representation.
The next day, I’ll interview a “regular New Yorker” to get another perspective on the system's fairness and accessibility. I’m very interested in and excited to compare the two views to see where their opinions may shift.
I have also been reviewing public legal sources and cases to find nuances in the topic of the sliding scale retainer. I’m very excited to share the results from these conversations/interviews soon.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more updates as I continue this research!
-Matt Torgan
Week 6: Blog
Hello Readers,
Welcome back to another blog post. Over the last week or so, I got the chance to interview a New York attorney who focuses his practice on Medical Malpractice lawsuits. Though we only had time for a brief interview, I personally feel that our discussion was concise and straightforward. I also want to state that I have decided to keep the attorney anonymous. We based our conversation around two separate questions to make the most of what little time I had to ask my questions. The first question I asked was: Do you think malpractice victims have fair access to attorneys? The attorney quickly answered with “No. The money that comes out of big New York medical malpractice cases is much less than that of big personal injury cases, so most lawyers would rather spend their time on regular personal injury cases.”
The next question I asked the attorney was: Does the system seem balanced between doctors and patients? The attorney quickly answered with “The legal system, when it comes to medical malpractice cases, is definitely skewed in the favor of the defendants (doctors and hospitals in this case) with the sliding scale retainer, in order to scare away attorneys who are ‘ambulance chasers.’”
Unfortunately, our time was limited and the interview was over, but I will stay in contact with the attorney and hopefully get a chance to interview more attorneys who focus on medical malpractice lawsuits.
I am very excited to continue sharing my research, and I am truly appreciative of everyone taking the time to read this. Thank you!
– Matt Torgan
Week 7
Hello Readers,
Welcome back, and thank you for following along on this journey as I continue my research on the obscure topic of the sliding-scale retainer.
After speaking with a New York attorney last week, I wanted to expand my perspective by interviewing someone who doesn’t specialize in law. This time, I interviewed a non-attorney citizen to see what the general public may think about medical malpractice lawsuits and whether the average person feels the system is fair.
The person I interviewed admitted they knew little about how medical malpractice cases work. They had never heard of sliding-scale retainers or the problems people face when finding lawyers for a medical malpractice case. Yet even without the knowledge an attorney has, they did have a strong belief in fairness. In their words, “I think both people and doctors should have a fair shot. Everyone deserves to be heard and protected.”
This perspective, while seemingly simple, was pretty eye-opening. It reminded me that while legal professionals may be deeply familiar with the fundamentals of malpractice law, most people want a balanced and fair system.
I am very excited to continue sharing my research, and I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to read this. Thank you!
–Matt Torgan
Week 8: Blog
Hello Readers,
Welcome back to one of my final blog posts! This is quite an important week regarding my project. I have officially finished all my research regarding the sliding scale retainer and its role in New York medical malpractice cases.
Honestly, wrapping up the research phase felt pretty great. Over the past few weeks, while working on my senior project, I have spoken with attorneys and everyday citizens of New York. I have learned how this legal issue is viewed from different angles by different groups of people. It’s been incredibly interesting to see how many layers there are to something that many people have never even heard of, from the attorney who broke down the technical details to the everyday person who wants a fair legal system. Everything really just came together to shape every perspective on the topic that one may have.
With all my notes and ideas together, I’ve officially moved into the next stage: building my slideshow presentation. I’ve started putting together slides highlighting the most important things, like quotes from interviews and a few statistics showing why this topic matters. It’s exciting to see everything I’ve learned come together visually, and I’m working hard to make the final presentation both informative and engaging.
Thank you all so much for reading and supporting this work. I will try my best to keep everyone updated in my next blog post.
–Matt Torgan