Medical malpractice is negligence committed by a professional health care provider, doctor, nurse, dentist, dental office or staff, pathologist, neurologist, oncologist, cardiologist, toxicologist, pharmacologist, technician, nursing home or staff, hospital or hospital worker whose performance of duties deviates from a standard of practice of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient or patients.
Medical malpractice cases are based on the concept of negligence. Our medical malpractice lawyers will help recover damages for clients who were harmed because the health care provider failed to meet the required standards of skill and care, in accordance with generally accepted standards. The prescribed standard of medical care may vary from state to state. Because medical care providers cannot guarantee the results of medical treatment, a patient's medical malpractice claim is not valid just because his or her treatment was not successful. Instances of medical malpractice might include cutting off the oxygen supply during surgery, misdiagnosis an injury or illness because routine tests and procedures were not followed, or prescribing an illegal drug or one not approved or appropriate for the patient's condition.
Medical Negligence injuries are life-changing and massive injuries. Our personal injury law firm has secured settlements and verdicts on behalf of seriously injured clients for over 30 years. Our skilled trial lawyers present effective and aggressive legal representation for people who have been injured as a result of medical malpractice. For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our
Verdicts and Settlements section.
According to a 2005 study of 39 million patient records, 241,280 deaths during Medicare hospitalizations were attributable to one or more common preventable medical errors. In each year from 2001 through 2003, the study found that the number of medical errors or "patient safety incidents" at America's hospitals was approximately 1.18 million, with a cost to Medicare of nearly $3 billion annually.
Over the past 30 years, our firm has been successful secured multi‑million dollar settlements for clients in lawsuits involving severe birth trauma, surgical negligence, failure to timely diagnose, negligent amputations or disfiguring injuries. Recently, we secured a $8,800,000 settlement for a 34-year-old wife and mother for negligent medical care and treatment. In another case, we achieved a $2,500,000 settlement where a neonatal neglect caused the loss of a premature baby's hand. The negligent medical care consisted of the intravenous line wrongly inserted into an artery instead of a vein, while in the neonatal unit of the hospital. For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our Verdicts and Settlements section.
Birth Injuries
Problems that occur during childbirth are called complications. They can affect the mother or the baby, sometimes they cause injury or even death. A small moment of negligence or failure to act can mean a lifetime injury for an infant. Not all birth injuries are a result of negligence. However, it is important to pursue justice for birth injuries caused by medical malpractice. Our birth injury attorneys aggressively pursue medical malpractice claims.
Common birth injuries, such as Cerebral palsy or Erb's palsy, can be caused by a doctor's failure to recognize symptoms of fetal distress resulting in a loss of oxygen to the brain. If the doctor had acted within the standard of care, the injury may not have occurred. Examples of common issues in birth injury lawsuits are failure to recognize signs of fetal distress, failure to recognize signs of respiratory distress, failure to perform a Cesarean (c‑section), failure to provide adequate prenatal care, failure to properly care for a premature infant, or negligently hastening the delivery process (resulting in a vaginal breach delivery and broken bones)
Some common birth injuries and obstetric injuries are cerebral palsy, erb's palsy. Shoulder dystocia, hypoxia, preeclampsia, forceps injury (from an instrumental delivery). For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our Verdicts and Settlements section.
Wrongful Death
According to a 2005 study of 39 million patient records, 241,280 deaths during Medicare hospitalizations were attributable to one or more common preventable medical errors. In each year from 2001 through 2003, the study found that the number of medical errors or "patient safety incidents" at America's hospitals was approximately 1.18 million, with a cost to Medicare of nearly $3 billion annually. Medical errors may causes serious injury and illness. While many drug errors don't injure patients, others are lethal. Everyday, hospital patients die because of an error in their diagnosis, they were given the wrong drug or (wrong patient, wrong chemical, wrong dose, wrong time, wrong route, they were given two or more drugs that interact unfavorably or cause poisonous metabolic byproducts.
Our firm represented the surviving spouse who lost his wife because of a surgical error. His wife delivered their child through C-section surgery was surgically sutured too early when the surgeon failed to remove the placenta from the patient. Hours later, plaintiff's wife developed a high fever and dramatic infection which led to her untimely death. The terms of the settlement was confidential. Our firm also handled the case of a 40-year-old wife and mother whose wrongful death resulted from the failure of the defendant hospital and urologists to timely diagnose and treat sepsis following surgery for kidney stones. Our attorneys secured a $2,200,000 settlement for her surviving spouse and children.
Very recently, our firm settled a lawsuit in Illinois for $4,300,000. A 39-year-old mother, survived by her husband and infant daughters, was mis-diagnosed. Failure to treat her brain cyst which resulted in uncontrolled blood clots caused a brain herniation and her untimely death. For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our Verdicts and Settlements section.
Failure To Diagnose
Many of the medical malpractice claims we file result from a failure to diagnose, which is when a medical provider fails to detect a condition before serious or fatal consequences develop. A misdiagnosis of a disease or condition can lead to devastating results.
Early detection of a disease is the key to treatment. However, in today's world of health care insurance companies cutting costs, many times doctors do not take the time to listen to a patient's complaints or take the proper time or steps to determine the nature of the medical problem. Obviously, without a proper diagnosis no proper treatment is possible. A patient should receive the doctor's full attention, which includes taking a full history, conducting a full and thorough examination, and often ordering testing or referral to a specialist.
Where a doctor should have known that a patient had a life‑threatening illness or disease, but did not diagnose this illness or disease properly, he may have acted negligently in acting below the standard of care required of doctors. When a doctor fails to diagnose or timely‑diagnose a medical condition or disease, the patient most often times receives aggressive and painful treatment because early treatment options are not available. This can have tragic results sometimes leading to serious impairment or even wrongful death.
Cancer is, perhaps, the most common medical condition that goes undiagnosed. However, other conditions are commonly misdiagnosed or not timely‑diagnosed such as heart disease leading to a heart attack, appendicitis, and Lyme disease to name a few. Commonly, doctors fail to properly diagnose patients who have suffered a stroke or other cardiac problems because the symptoms of these ailments can vary greatly. Still, a physician is required to know potential symptoms and recognize them in patients. Similarly, physicians are required to perform routine tests and diagnostic procedures to patients who have symptoms of any type of cancer.
Our firm handled the case of a 40-year-old wife and mother whose wrongful death resulted from the failure of the defendant hospital and urologists to timely diagnose and treat sepsis following surgery for kidney stones. Our attorneys secured a $2,200,000 settlement for her surviving spouse and children. In another case where the terms of the settlement are confidential, we successfully represented our client who was rendered a quadriplegic and suffered severe brain damage when the defendants failed to recognize and adequately treat her acute respiratory distress resulting in respiratory failure.
Very recently, our firm settled a lawsuit in Illinois for $4,300,000. A 39-year-old mother, survived by her husband and infant daughters, was mis-diagnosed. Failure to treat her brain cyst which resulted in uncontrolled blood clots caused a brain herniation and her untimely death. For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our Verdicts and Settlements section.
Surgical Negligence
Doctors, surgeons, and their patients know that not every surgery is successful. Often there is a risk that complications may occur during or after certain procedures. However, some surgical complications can be caused by negligence. If a medical professional made a surgical error that caused unnecessary complications, he or she can be held responsible for medical malpractice. Common examples of surgical complications and errors include operating on the wrong area of the body, performing the wrong surgery, performing the surgery on the wrong patient, performing the surgery incorrectly, performing surgery when there were other options, causing damage that was not explained to the patient before the surgery.
In a wrongful death action, our firm represented the surviving spouse who lost his wife because of a surgical error. His wife delivered their child through C-section surgery was surgically sutured too early when the surgeon failed to remove the placenta from the patient. Hours later, plaintiff's wife developed a high fever and dramatic infection which led to her untimely death. The terms of the settlement was confidential. Recently, we achieved a $2,500,000 settlement where a neonatal neglect caused the loss of a premature baby's hand. The negligent medical care consisted of the intravenous line wrongly inserted into an artery instead of a vein, while in the neonatal unit of the hospital. For a complete list of the firm's representative results, go to our Verdicts and Settlements section.
To contact one of our experienced trial lawyers call our Miami law office today at 800-836-6400 or click here for a free and full case evaluation.
