Medical negligence claims happen when health care providers and institutions, including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, fail to meet the minimum standards of care when providing treatment.
At Scarfone Hawkins, we understand medicine. We also know the experts who can give insights into what went wrong and what could have been done.
We handle all types of medical negligence claims.
Diagnosis errors
Reaching a proper diagnosis of a medical condition involves several distinct steps. Your primary care provider should take appropriate steps to order initial examinations, testing and follow-up visits.
Failure to treat, delayed treatment, substandard treatment, failure to follow up and failure to refer can each be grounds for a legal claim.
Emergency room errors
Medical staff members in emergency rooms must meet the challenge of treating patients with often life-threatening conditions expediently, with an appropriate assessment of the patient’s condition and an appropriate course of treatment. What looks like bronchitis could be pneumonia. A high fever in a two-year-old could be a treatable flu, or it could be meningitis.
Patients may get inadequate or delayed assessment, or be left unmonitored. Premature discharge or discharge without adequate treatment or advice can result in further injury or death.
Birth injuries
For some families, the symptoms of birth injury may not arise until much later, as a child’s growth is different than anticipated and development milestones are not met.
We handle cases of birth injury including:
- Cerebral hypoxia
- Fetal distress
- Brachial plexus
- Brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Cerebral palsy
- Delayed Caesarian
Surgical errors
Surgical intervention is a complex course of medical treatment.
When standards are not met, patient injury can result from errors such as:
- Sepsis resulting in serious injury or death
- Infections and organ shutdown causing serious injury or death
- Surgery errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Nursing negligence
- Failure to monitor
- Failure to record notes and records
- Radiology errors
- Failure to order tests and x-rays
- Failure to notice symptoms of deterioration
Prescription errors
Powerful drugs must be of the proper dosage and have correct instructions. Some drugs may not be appropriate. Inadequate antibiotics may fail to prevent or reduce infection.
Drugs may cause sepsis or organ breakdown, resulting in serious injury or death. Liver and kidney injuries are often caused by drugs given but go unmonitored.
If you or a family member is seriously injured or killed because of medical malpractice, you may have legal rights. You can take steps to recover your losses and, perhaps, prevent the mistake from happening to someone else.
If you are in this situation, contact our team today. We can review complex records and consult with experts to determine whether a breach of the standards of care caused the injury or death.