Birmingham Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Some of the most common causes of medical malpractice that our attorneys have encountered when representing clients in Alabama and Georgia communities include:

• 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, fatigued, 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.

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, which 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.

In Alabama, the standard medical malpractice statute of limitations is two years from the date the malpractice occurred. However, there are some exceptions:

• The Discovery Rule: If the injury wasn’t reasonably discoverable within the initial two years, you may have up to six months from the date of discovery or when you should have discovered the injury to file a claim.
• Statute of Repose: There is a potential four-year limit outside of the initial two years from the date of the act for adults, regardless of whether the injury was discovered within that timeframe. The statute of repose does not apply to claims involving minors.
• Malpractice Involving Minors: All medical malpractice claims involving minors have a statute of limitations of four years from the date of the injury. For children who were injured when under the age of four, parents or guardians have until the child’s eighth birthday to file a claim.

In Georgia, the general statute of limitations for medical malpractice is also two years from the date of injury or death. Similarly, Georgia also has some exceptions:

• The Discovery Rule: If the injury was not reasonably discoverable within the initial timeframe, the two-year statute of limitations may start from the date the injury was discovered or should have been discovered.
• Statute of Repose: There is a potential five-year limit outside of the initial two years, but most lawsuits cannot be filed after five years from the date of the negligent act.
• Malpractice Involving Minors: For children under the age of five who have been victims of malpractice, the statute of limitations begins from their fifth birthday.
• Mental Incompetence: If the victim has been deemed legally incompetent due to mental illness or disability, the statute of limitations may be paused (tolled).

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.