Do I Have a Case for Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice lawyers receive a lot of calls from patients who are unhappy with the outcome of the medical treatment or care that they received. In most of these situations, however, medical malpractice has not actually occurred. In fact, to be considered medical malpractice the situation must meet several strict criteria.

What is medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a patient receives negligent care by a hospital, doctor or other health care professional that causes an injury to a patient. Negligence may be an action or inaction that causes serious personal injury. Common situations that lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit include:

• Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
• Misreading or ignoring laboratory results
• Unnecessary or wrong-site surgery
• Surgical errors including sewing medical tools up inside the patient
• Prescribing or administering the wrong medication or dosage
• Poor follow-up or aftercare
• Premature discharge
• Disregarding or not accounting for patient history
• Failure to order appropriate medical tests
• Failure to recognize symptoms
• Improper treatment for the condition

What factors must be present for a case to be considered medical malpractice under the law?

A medical malpractice claim must meet these three criteria:

1. A violation of the standard of care

Medical malpractice law uses the medical profession’s standard for medical treatment by “reasonably prudent health care professionals under like or similar circumstances”; called the “standard of care.” When a health care professional or hospital violates a reasonable “standard of care” then he or the institution may have acted negligently and be held liable for the patient’s injury.

2. An injury was caused by the negligence

It is not enough, however, for a health care professional to have simply violated the “standard of care” and caused an unfavorable outcome. A medical malpractice lawyer must prove that the plaintiff sustained an injury that would not have occurred in the absence of negligence; essentially that the negligence was the direct cause of the injury. Without this correlation, there is no medical malpractice case.

3. The injury resulted in significant damages

Medical malpractice lawsuits are extremely expensive and time consuming to litigate; they often require hours of collecting medical records, interviewing numerous medical experts and hours of deposition testimony. As a result, in order to be viable the case must show that significant damages resulted from the injury caused by medical negligence. If damages are small then the cost of pursuing the case could easily outweigh the cost to pursue it.

Significant damages may include:

• Disability
• Loss of income
• Suffering and hardship
• Unusual pain
• Large past and future medical bills
• Ongoing expensive medical care or treatment

If you believe that you or a loved one was seriously injured as a direct result of medical negligence, contact a medical malpractice lawyer today.  He or she will look at the details of your situation and may be able to fight for justice through a medical malpractice lawsuit if there is a viable case.

The Seattle personal injury attorneys at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC have years of experience representing families harmed by medical malpractice. We seek justice for patients who have been harmed by preventable medical errors including birth injuries, hospital-acquired infections and wrongful death in Seattle and across Washington State. There are no fees or expenses to file a personal injury case as we only receive payment if we recover damages on your behalf. Do not delay; personal injury claims come with a Statute of Limitations, which means they must be filed within a certain time frame of the injury.

Call us now at (206) 752-4366 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate, experienced attorneys.