St. Louis Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Do You Have a Claim For Medical Malpractice?

To be sure, things don’t always turn out the way you hope they will where your health is concerned. Not every disease is curable and not every injury is completely reversible. Often, you must just accept a chronic condition, a poor prognosis, or a permanent disability despite the best efforts of your medical team. However, sometimes poor outcomes are actually caused by a mistake made by a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or medical technician. When this happens, you deserve to be compensated for your suffering, and the healthcare provider who made the mistake needs to be stopped before he or she hurts someone else.

How Common Are Doctors’ Mistakes?

The facts about medical malpractice in the United States are alarming. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, medical negligence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. after cancer and heart disease. In 2012 alone, medical malpractice payouts exceeded $3 billion. And experts estimate that many legitimate cases of medical malpractice are never even pursued. Many victims never speak up because they fear word will get out among medical professionals and they will not be able to get quality medical care in the future. Others think pursuing a case will cause their medical expenses to rise or that they will not be able to afford the fees associated with litigation.

If you suspect you are the victim of medical malpractice, schedule a consultation with our St. Louis medical malpractice attorneys as soon as possible. We will go over the details of your case and be up front about your chances for success and what it will cost you.

Common Forms of Medical Malpractice

Any number of things can go wrong when you are undergoing medical treatment. Surgical mistakes, prescription drug errors, and medical records mix-ups are unfortunately regular occurrences in doctor’s offices and hospitals. Most medical malpractice and negligence cases fall into one of these three categories:

• Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis. When a doctor fails to run appropriate tests, reads an x-ray or a scan too quickly, or simply doesn’t ask the patient the right questions, he or she may miss diagnosing a condition that another competent doctor would have identified. If the lack of treatment leads to a worse outcome than another treatment would have, the patient could have a case for malpractice.
• Improper treatment. If a doctor decides on a treatment that another doctor would not have chosen and it results in harm to the patient, this may be malpractice. Similarly, if a doctor chooses an appropriate treatment but administers it incorrectly or incompletely, the patient may have a case.
• Failure to warn patient of known risks. The risks associated with any treatment or procedure should be fully explained to a patient and the patient should be asked to give his or her informed consent before proceeding. If a patient is injured by a procedure in a manner that he or she was not warned about beforehand, the patient may have a case for malpractice.

In order for a malpractice suit to move forward, you must be able to prove all of the following conditions:

• A doctor-patient relationship existed.
• The doctor was negligent.
• The negligence led to your injury.
• The injury led to specific damages, such as pain and suffering, additional medical bills, and lost wages from missed work.

In Missouri, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is two years from the date of injury or harm.

We Will Take the Guesswork Out of Your Malpractice Claim

It is not easy to make a case against a doctor or hospital. You will need very specific types of evidence and documentation. You will also need the assistance of an experienced St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer. Call St. Louis attorney Wyatt Wright when you first suspect you may have been harmed by a healthcare provider and we will give you an honest assessment of your case. You need to focus on your recovery, so let us worry about the legal side of things. Click the contact link on this page to get started.