Experienced Hospital Negligence Attorneys in Riverside County
Medical malpractice is one of the most common types of personal injury cases. Hospitals see thousands of patients per year, leaving a wide window of opportunity open for mistakes. Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists do their best to provide for the wellbeing of patients, and not every injury or death is cause for alarm. When these mistakes are the result of negligence or intentional misconduct, however, victims and their families have every right to take legal action.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice refers to cases where health care professionals’ negligence leads to substandard treatment, resulting in patient harm, injury, or death. Medical malpractice takes many shapes and forms and can happen anywhere along the line of patient treatment.
Not every negative outcome is the result of medical malpractice. To qualify as a legal issue, the health care professional must have acted incompetently, and this incompetence had to have led to an injury or death.
Common types of medical malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Childbirth injuries
- Medication errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgery errors
- Wrongful death
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis aren’t always medical malpractice. Even if a doctor should have reasonably made a different diagnosis, if the mistake did not cause harm to the patient, it’s not considered malpractice. For example, if a patient suffers terminal cancer but the doctor misdiagnoses it and begins treatment for another illness, the courts may not consider this malpractice. The misdiagnosis didn’t harm the patient, since the doctor couldn’t have done anything for a terminal illness anyway.
To have a case of medical malpractice, the plaintiff must prove three things. First, the plaintiff must have evidence of a doctor-patient relationship in which the doctor owed the patient a certain standard of care. Second, the plaintiff must prove that the doctor violated this standard of care through some form of negligence. Third, this negligence must have caused harm, injury, or death.
Proving medical malpractice isn’t easy, but the right team of local medical malpractice attorneys can make a difference. If a health care professional’s negligence caused your injury, you may be able to obtain financial compensation for your mental anguish, pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and lost earning-capacity. If you’re involved in a wrongful death lawsuit, you can also recover funeral and burial costs and loss of consortium.
Can I Claim Hospital Negligence in my Injury Case?
If you incurred an injury from medical professional, and they are employed with the hospital, there is potential grounds for claiming hospital negligence as well as medical malpractice.
According to the Nolo Legal Encyclopedia, “If someone is an employee of a hospital, the hospital is typically responsible (liable) if that employee hurts a patient by acting incompetently. In other words, if the employee is negligent (is not reasonably cautious when treating or dealing with a patient), the hospital will usually be on the hook for any resulting injuries to the patient.”
Trusted Riverside Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Estey & Bomberger’s medical malpractice attorneys have handled numerous medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases in Riverside and understand the complex litigation these cases require. Proving medical malpractice requires in-depth investigations, hiring expert key witnesses, conducting interviews, and hours of deposition. Our team will walk you through the litigation process from start to finish, never leaving you in the dark about your case.
With a 99% success rate and millions of dollars in won settlements, Estey & Bomberger LLP is the law firm Riverside residents trust for real results. Our firm can analyze medical records, put together what happened to our clients or our clients’ loved ones, and discover the truth behind what happened in a medical malpractice case. We have the resources, skill, and proven expertise to go up against large healthcare institutions and win.
The statute of limitations to file a medical malpractice claim in California is only one year after discovery of the act that caused an injury or three years from the date the injury occurred—whichever is first. Get in touch with our medical malpractice lawyers in Riverside today to learn more about the statute of limitations in your specific case.
If you suspect a case of medical malpractice or hospital negligence, call our firm immediately in Riverside, CA at 951-543-9020 to schedule a free confidential case evaluation today!
