Phoenix Medical Malpractice Lawyer
All of us have to put a lot of confidence in our doctors. But it’s a reality that even patients who diligently advocate for themselves reach a point where they have to trust that everyone from the doctors to the nurses to the people who fill their prescriptions knows what they’re doing. It’s also a reality—an unfortunate one—that there are all too many times when medical professionals fail us. Our Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer is prepared to fight for accountability and to help malpractice victims get a fair financial settlement.
What Are The Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases?
The most common types of medical malpractice cases include:
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis: When a healthcare professional fails to correctly diagnose a medical condition or delays the diagnosis, resulting in harm to the patient.
- Surgical errors: This includes mistakes made during surgery, such as operating on the wrong body part, leaving foreign objects inside the patient, or making anesthesia errors.
- Medication errors: These occur when healthcare professionals administer incorrect medications, the wrong dosage, or fail to account for potential drug interactions, leading to patient harm.
- Birth injuries: These cases involve injuries sustained by infants during childbirth due to negligence or improper medical care.
- Anesthesia errors: Mistakes made during the administration of anesthesia, such as administering too much or too little anesthesia, can result in serious complications and harm to the patient.
- Failure to obtain informed consent: If a healthcare provider fails to properly inform a patient of the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a particular treatment or procedure, they may be held liable for any resulting harm.
- Hospital-acquired infections: If a patient acquires an infection during their hospital stay due to negligence or inadequate sanitation practices, it may be considered a case of medical malpractice.
A Phoenix Medical Malpractice Lawyer Who Fights for You
Unlike several other states, Arizona has no cap on the amount of damages that can be collected in a medical malpractice lawsuit. So, an attorney that works hard, carefully reviews all of the evidence, and doesn’t back down in the face of pressure from insurance companies and big medical institutions, might make a big difference in the life of someone injured by malpractice. From our Phoenix office, RAJ Law serves the entire Arizona community.
At RAJ Law, we understand the diligent, detail-oriented work it takes to prove medical malpractice, and we’re vigorous in fighting for our client’s best interests. Call us at (602) 579-5555 or fill out our online contact form to arrange for a free consultation.
Breach of Duty in Medical Malpractice Cases
When has a doctor made an unjustifiable mistake in action or judgment? Arizona courts do not expect our doctors and medical staff to be perfect. No human being is. What the courts—and all of us—do expect is that doctors and medical personnel will exercise a reasonable standard of care. That’s the legal term for saying we expect them to be professionally competent and to do their best. When a reasonable standard of care is not provided, then there is a breach of duty. Proving breach is an essential part of all personal injury cases, including medical malpractice.
How a lawyer goes about proving breach of duty will depend on the particular circumstances of each case. But in medical malpractice, expert witness testimony is often vital. When was a surgical mistake reasonable and when was it breach of duty? When was a prescription gone awry a reasonable decision by the doctor and when was it outside the bounds of reasonable competence?
These are difficult questions to answer, including for a jury who may hear a medical malpractice case. A juror might instinctively know what constitutes breach of duty in a car accident case because they’re on the road themselves. But surgery, prescriptions, and other medical decisions? The jury will likely rely on the testimony of expert witnesses. It’s the job of an attorney to be networked with expert witnesses whose testimony will be seen as credible by the court.
How Medical Malpractice Can Happen
There are several possible points where medical care can break down and a malpractice occurs. Common examples include the following…
Surgical Errors
Anyone that goes into surgery knows that a certain level of risk is inherent in the procedure. But those risks do not include things like leaving operating equipment (i.e., a sponge) inside the body of a patient after it’s been sewn back up. Reasonable risk does not include a surgeon operating on a patient’s right side when the procedure was supposed to be on the left side. And reasonable risk certainly does not entail doing the wrong procedure entirely because of mistaken identity.
These are all dramatic examples of failures in surgery. Less high-profile, but still potentially malpractice, are errors that come from simply not doing the operation very well, and those shortcomings leading to negative consequences for the patient.
Prescription Errors
The issue of mistaken identity can also arise in medications. A pharmacist gives a patient the wrong drug. A nurse in Intensive Care injects the wrong medicines. There are also the prescription errors that come from a doctor being inexcusably wrong in the diagnosis made and the medication prescribed. If that error resulted in serious side effects, a Phoenix medical malpractice attorney can take legal action.
Misdiagnosis
No one expects doctors to be right in their diagnosis all of the time, but they are expected to be perform due diligence, and some errors in diagnosis might be just too far off to be justifiable. The doctor who has a patient repeatedly complain of stomach pain, but never runs any tests might be liable if it turns out a tumor was causing the pain. If a patient has chest pains and a minimally competent doctor would know to run an EKG, then another doctor’s failure to order that test can lead to liability.
Some types of misdiagnoses are also called failure to treat. These can include releasing a patient from the hospital too soon, or not giving a patient proper instructions on how to care for themselves post-release.
Failure To Get Consent
Patients have rights and one of the most basic of those rights is informed consent. They are to be told what procedure is being done or what medication is given, and why. They are to be fully informed of any potential side effects. And once that information is provided, the patient must be given an opportunity, free from duress, to accept or decline the proposed treatment. If proper protocols are not followed, the medical staff has failed to get informed consent and are potentially liable for what happens as a result.
Call today at (602) 579-5555 or contact us online to set up a consultation.
Contact Our Offices
Work with an attorney who will fight for the fair settlement you deserve. Contact RAJ Law today. Complete our form below or call us at (602) 579-5555.