Montgomery Medical Malpractice Lawyer
All too often, patients in Montgomery and communities throughout Alabama must suffer the painful consequences of medical malpractice. If you believe that you or a loved one has suffered harm due to negligent medical care, you should seek skilled and compassionate legal assistance from a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.
At Serious Injury Law Group, we are committed to fighting for maximum compensation for each and every client. We don’t just settle cases. We fight for the win, including taking cases to trial if that’s what it takes. To learn more about how our experienced legal team can help you, contact us today. We will provide a free and confidential consultation.
Why Medical Malpractice Occurs in Montgomery
Unlike many other forms of negligence, a medical malpractice case involves a highly complex set of standards. In general, you must prove the applicable standard of care. You also must show that the healthcare professional failed to meet that standard of care. This can be challenging. The standard of care is somewhat subjective and requires other similarly licensed and trained healthcare providers to testify about what went wrong.
Some of the most common causes of medical malpractice that our attorneys have encountered when representing clients in Montgomery and other communities in Alabama are:
- Lack of proper training – We often review cases that involve inexperienced nurses or physicians who attempted procedures without proper supervision or training, leading to catastrophic injuries.
- Fatigue and workload issues – Like any professional, when a doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant or other medical care provider is overworked, under-rested, and forced to continue pushing the limits day after day, it creates a situation where mistakes will happen.
- Miscommunication – One of the most common scenarios is where providers fail to read each other’s notes or where communication problems cause medical errors, flawed diagnoses or worse.
- Failure to follow protocol – Hospitals and surgical centers are notorious for having strict surgical protocols as well as clear policies for how to properly use diagnostic tools. When doctors and other professionals fail to follow the appropriate protocols, it can lead to deadly mistakes.
Types of Negligent Medical Professionals
Malpractice can occur in just about any healthcare environment, including hospitals, clinics, surgical centers and urgent care centers. Here are just a few examples of health professionals that can cause injuries through malpractice:
- Surgeons
- Anesthesiologists
- Family doctors
- Nurses and advanced nurse practitioners
- Physician’s assistants
- Dentists
- Podiatrists
- Chiropractors
- Nursing home staff
- Technicians
- Pharmacists
- Paramedics
- Administrators and other hospital leaders.
If you suspect a medical error has resulted in injuries to yourself or someone you love, it is important to talk to a Montgomery medical malpractice lawyer as early as possible. It can take a long time to carefully prepare a case and investigate the injuries. The earlier you reach out to a lawyer, the better your chances of success.
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
Healthcare providers can commit negligence in many different ways. Here are some of the more common types of cases we take:
- Missed or delayed diagnosis – Missing a simple heart disease or stroke diagnosis can result in fatalities that are entirely preventable.
- Cancer misdiagnosis – Cancer is often beatable if caught early. So, missing a diagnosis can be heartbreaking and devastating.
- Medication errors – Whether due to poor handwriting or miscommunication, a medication error can quickly turn into a catastrophe. In some cases, a patient may receive the wrong type of medication or the wrong dosage.
- Surgical mistakes – Surgical errors can include leaving instruments inside of a patient, including surgical sponges, as well as operating on the wrong areas of the body and performing the wrong type of procedure.
- Emergency room errors – Despite the rush and hurry of an emergency room, there are specific protocols in place to reduce errors. When healthcare providers ignore those protocols, serious injuries can occur.
- Anesthesia errors – Perhaps some of the most common errors occur when anesthesia is miscalculated or allergies are overlooked before the administration of certain types of anesthesia.
- Birth injuries – Medical errors which occur during a child’s birth can result in lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy.
With decades of litigation experience, our medical malpractice attorneys at Serious Injury Law Group can take on medical malpractice cases in Alabama of all types and which present all levels of challenges.
How Our Experienced Medical Malpractice Lawyers Will Help You
When you work with Serious Injury Law Group on your Montgomery medical malpractice case, you can expect to receive the highest level of service from our attorneys and full dedication to pursuing the maximum amount of compensation for you. Among the services we will provide are:
- Investigation – We will begin by aggressively investigating the facts of your case to determine how and why you suffered your injuries. Our investigation usually includes researching a particular medical condition or procedure as well as gathering important medical records in our search for the truth.
- Consultation with experts – One of the things that makes a medical malpractice case more complicated than other types of cases is that injuries are not always easy to identify. This is why we will work closely with industry-leading medical experts to prepare your case.
- Calculation of damages – Large medical groups and insurance companies know that when you are represented by an experienced medical malpractice attorney, they run the risk of facing a large jury award. With this in mind, we can often help you understand the potential value of your case and negotiate with the insurance company to resolve your case.
- Seeking compensation through settlement or trial – No two cases are the same. Sometimes, we can reach a settlement agreement. Other times, we may need to take a case to court in order to pursue full and fair compensation. Our medical malpractice lawyers are highly experienced litigators who know how to present solid cases in the courtroom on behalf of our clients.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Montgomery, AL?
Every state has its own deadlines for bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit. These deadlines are designed to strike a careful balance between giving victims enough time to act and protecting doctors from unlimited liability. But these deadlines – known as “statutes of limitations” – are very strict and almost never waived by a court. So, if you miss the deadline, your rights are gone forever. Here’s how long you have to file a medical malpractice claim in Alabama:
Generally, you have two years from the date of the injury. If it takes more than two years to discover the injury, you might be able to get an extra six months from the date when you discovered the injury (or reasonably should have discovered it). Even then, the absolute longest period you can go before you file a claim is four years from the date of injury. An exception applies to young children or minors. For a child under age 4, a claim can be brought up to the time that the child turns age 8.
Additionally, some medical errors are so serious that they result in death. If you have lost a loved one due to medical malpractice in Montgomery, you will only have two years from the date of death to file a claim.
The most important thing you can do after suspected medical malpractice in Montgomery is to get help from an experienced lawyer as soon as possible. You don’t want to risk missing a filing deadline.
Contact Our Trusted Montgomery Medical Malpractice Lawyers Today
If you or someone you care about have been the victim of a negligent doctor or other health care provider, you may have many options available to you. To find out more about your rights and options, contact Serious Injury Law Group today in Montgomery, Alabama. We are available for free consultations. We also work on a contingency fee basis, which means we will get paid only if you do.