To establish that you were harmed by medical malpractice, you need to work with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer and medical experts. You must be able to offer evidence that your doctor’s actions were not what another similar physician would have done in the situation.
Our Alabama medical malpractice lawyers have extensive experience with medical malpractice cases. Call Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers at 205-206-5088 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney to discuss your situation.
Advantages of Hiring One of Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Medical malpractice cases are complex personal injury claims. Advantages of hiring an experienced medical malpractice lawyer include:
- Our attorneys thoroughly understand Alabama’s medical malpractice laws, including the legal requirements to prove liability.
- We have the skills and resources to conduct a comprehensive investigation to gather evidence, including hiring the best expert witnesses in their fields.
- Our legal team calculates and monitors all deadlines to ensure documents are filed on time.
- Our lawyers handle communications with insurance companies, defense attorneys, and other parties involved in the case.
- We protect you from being intimidated or coerced into accepting a low settlement offer. Our legal team carefully documents all damages to maximize the value of your medical malpractice case.
- Our lawyers handle all matters related to your case. We want you to focus on your recovery.
- Medical malpractice cases are time-consuming. We do the research, prepare documents, engage in settlement negotiations, and handle scheduling.
The last thing you want to do is hire an attorney who is using your case to “learn about medical malpractice law.” Hiring an Alabama personal injury attorney with extensive experience pursuing medical malpractice claims gives you a better chance of winning your case.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional deviates from the accepted medical standard of care by any acts or omissions. Medical malpractice is a subset of tort law that addresses medical negligence by professionals.
Proving a medical provider was negligent requires evidence showing:
- The medical professional owed a legal duty of care to the patient;
- The medical professional breached the duty of care through their acts or omissions;
- The medical professional failed to meet the accepted standard of care;
- The breach of duty by the medical professional was the cause of the patient’s injuries or death; and,
- The patient suffered damages because of the medical professional’s actions or inactions.
Any medical provider could be guilty of negligence. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, healthcare facilities, and other medical providers can be sued for medical malpractice.
What Is Not Medical Malpractice?
Doctors cannot guarantee successful results. They explain why they believe a procedure or treatment will work. However, bad results are not always due to medical negligence. Being dissatisfied with the results is not sufficient to sue for medical malpractice. You must prove the elements of medical malpractice to recover damages.
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
Medical errors and negligence can result in numerous types of medical malpractice. Our attorneys have experience representing clients in medical malpractice cases including, but not limited to:
- Misdiagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Cancer misdiagnosis
- Anesthesia errors
- Birth injuries
- Delayed diagnosis
- Pharmacy errors
- Failure to diagnose
- Emergency room errors
- Failure to provide treatment
- Dental malpractice
- Diagnostic errors
Our attorneys have over 93 years of combined experience. We have a comprehensive understanding of medical malpractice claims.
What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need to Sue a Doctor?
Medical malpractice is a type of personal injury claim. Personal injury attorneys may accept all types of cases or focus on a few areas of personal injury law. A medical malpractice lawyer with years of experience understands medical malpractice laws. They thoroughly understand the legal process, including whether to settle a case or take it to trial. An experienced attorney also knows what defenses to expect and how to counter the defenses.
What to Expect From an Alabama Medical Malpractice Lawyer
During a free consultation, the attorney learns about what happened to you. They will ask you about your injuries and your health before and after the malpractice occurred. The attorney also discusses the economic and non-economic damages caused by the medical malpractice.
Come to the free consultation prepared. Bring copies of all medical records and documents. Write a summary of what happened, including a timeline. You can ask the lawyer questions. Make a list of questions so you do not forget what you want to ask during the free consultation.
Common Medical Malpractice Defenses
The plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit must prove all legal elements of the case to establish liability. However, the medical provider can assert defenses when they present their case. Possible defenses to a medical malpractice lawsuit include:
- Challenge the plaintiff’s evidence to assert the evidence is insufficient to prove all required legal elements (i.e., failed to meet the burden of proof)
- Offer alternative reasons for the patient’s injuries
- Utilize expert witnesses to refute the plaintiff’s evidence and argue that the doctor met the required standard of care
- Name a co-defendant or a third-party defendant as the party who caused the plaintiff’s injuries
- The patient withheld information about their condition or medical history that would have changed what the doctor did or prescribed
- Assert technical defenses, such as the Alabama statute of limitations for the medical malpractice claim has expired
The defense strategy in a medical malpractice case depends on the factors and circumstances. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer analyzes all factors and evidence to determine the best defense.
Informed Consent
A patient must provide informed consent before surgery, treatment, or other medical procedures. For the patient to provide informed consent, the doctor must explain to the patient:
- The nature of the procedure or treatment
- The risks and benefits of the procedure or treatment
- Reasonable alternatives for treatment
- The risks and benefits of alternative treatments
Informed consent allows patients to make sound decisions about their healthcare. However, informed consent may not apply in some emergencies, such as performing life-saving procedures.
Can You Sue if You Signed a Consent Form?
If you’ve been to the doctor or the hospital, you have probably signed a consent form. Medical providers require patients to sign consent forms before treatment. The form acknowledges that the patient has been informed of all possible risks and wants to proceed.
However, consent forms are not an absolute defense to medical malpractice. The form must have the correct information and have clear language that a patient can understand. The form may not identify a known risk the doctor knew about but did not explain to the patient.
Finally, the consent form must be signed voluntarily. If a medical provider coerces the patient to sign the form, it might not waive liability.
Is a Hospital Liable for a Doctor’s Mistake?
You can sue a hospital for a doctor’s mistake if the doctor is an employee of the hospital. Generally, employers can be held vicariously liable for an employee’s negligence under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior. However, many doctors are independent contractors. In that case, the hospital would not be liable for the doctor’s negligence. An exception might apply if the hospital provides staff privileges to an incompetent doctor.
Statutes for Fatal Medical Malpractice Injuries
Some medical malpractice injuries may result in the patient’s death. If that is the case, surviving family members may pursue a wrongful death claim. A wrongful death is defined as causing someone’s death because of negligence, wrongful acts, or omissions.
Alabama’s wrongful death statute gives the decedent’s personal representative the authority to file a wrongful death lawsuit. An exception exists for minors. The parents of a minor have six months after their child’s death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. After that time, the right belongs to the personal representative.
Compensation recovered is distributed among the victim’s heirs according to their Will. If the deceased did not have a Will, the compensation is distributed according to Alabama intestate succession laws.
Can You Sue After the Case Ends?
Most medical malpractice lawsuits settle before the case goes to trial. All parties must sign a settlement agreement. The agreement includes a waiver giving up your right to file lawsuits or pursue additional claims. In other words, the defendant is released from further liability for your claim.
Therefore, you cannot sue the same defendants unless you experience a different incident that was not included in this lawsuit. You might be able to reopen a lawsuit if you discover another party shares liability for your injuries.
However, some settlement agreements waive all claims against all parties, known and unknown. If so, it is unlikely your case can be reopened.
Contact the Alabama Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers. Call us at (205) 206-5088
Contact an experienced Alabama medical malpractice lawyer at Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free initial consultation today. We serve Shelby County, Madison County, Montgomery County in Alabama, and its surrounding areas.
We are located in Birmingham, Huntsville & Montgomery.
Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers – Birmingham Office
880 Montclair Road, Ste 300,
Birmingham, AL 35213
(205) 206-5088
Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers – Huntsville Office
116 Jefferson St. Suite 209
Hunstville, AL, 35801
(256) 666-4660
Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers – Montgomery Office
7 Clayton St, Suite 200,
Montgomery, AL 36104
(334) 513-2110