When to Call for Legal Advice for Medical Malpractice

The healthcare system is complicated and can be incredibly confusing. From what insurance companies choose to cover to how referrals are given, even if you’re healthy the entire system can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate. When something bad occurs during a medical procedure or while you’re under a medical provider’s care, it can be even more difficult to figure out how to hold that person or institution accountable. Thankfully, there are legal ways to respond when a bad event or outcome occurs connected to a hospital, doctor, nursing home, or other healthcare provider.

Claims related to medical malpractice are bound by crucial time limits and require you to provide specific types of notices to your medical provider. To protect your claim, call an experienced medical malpractice attorney like me as soon as the bad event happens or as soon as you’re aware of a bad outcome of your procedure or treatment. A bad event might be an incident when your parent was injured by a staff member at a nursing home. As another example, a surgeon might operate on the wrong ankle, or leave a sponge inside of you, requiring an additional surgery to remove. A bad outcome might become known after a physical therapist gives you improper instructions, resulting in further injury. Or you might suffer a bad outcome because nurse refused to take your complaints about pain seriously, which resulted in undue suffering, further injury, or infection.

Likewise, a doctor might have failed to explain all your medical options to you, preventing you from making a well-informed choice regarding your treatment options. Whether you suffered because of a bad event or a bad outcome, you deserve to receive proper treatment and compensation for the medical mistakes and negligence of others.

When dealing with medical malpractice, we must ask two questions.

The first is about the standard of care you received. There is a minimum standard of care expected from all healthcare providers. If a doctor, nurse, or other medical provider didn’t offer you the same level of care that you would have reasonably received from another healthcare person or provider in the same situation, the standard of care was not upheld.

The second question we must ask is was the patient harmed because of the substandard care you received. Both substandard care and harm must have occurred for a case to be considered medical malpractice.

As a registered nurse, I am especially passionate about making sure medical providers are held accountable for the harm and substandard care they inflict on their patients. Too many times I’ve seen patients suffer because a nurse or anesthesiologist didn’t offer them a reasonable level of care. I’ve seen doctors make mistakes and blame nurses for them. I’ve also witnessed the effects of a neglectful medical institution, including hospitals and nursing homes with appalling policies that would never be tolerated elsewhere.

Because of my nursing experience, I understand that the patient has limited power in medical situations. It can feel intimidating to confront a highly educated medical professional or large medical institution that has wronged you. As an attorney, I can tip the scales back in your favor, ensuring your voice is heard and your suffering and pain aren’t ignored. Even if you aren’t sure if medical malpractice has occurred, as soon as a bad event happens or you become aware of a bad outcome of the medical care you received, call me. By listening to your story and looking at your medical documents, I can tell if something strange occurred or is being covered up. My experience in the medical field and as an attorney means I know what standard of care you should have received in your situation, and I can quickly determine if you are receiving or have received less than that standard.

I will help you navigate the confusing medical and legal systems, ensuring every T is crossed and every hoop is jumped through necessary to protect your claim. Calling me as soon as possible also helps ensure that we are able to build a strong case within the legal time frame. In most medical malpractice cases, a person must file their claim within two years of the date of the event on which the standard of care was breached and the injury occurred. There’s a lot of do before that deadline, so call me as soon as possible to get the legal process underway.