Medical Malpractice in Houston, TX

Houston Medical Malpractice Attorney

Are You or a Loved One Suffering As a Result of Medical Malpractice?

If you believe you or a loved one are a victim of medical malpractice, call Dunk Law Firm. These cases are almost always difficult. If you intend to succeed in your claim, it is critically important to work with attorneys who have the necessary experience. The Houston Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Dunk Law Firm, have several years of experience taking on personal injury lawsuits. They are here to help determine if you have a case.

Lots of people have heard of medical malpractice. You might often associate it with very extreme mistakes in medical treatment. For example, performing an invasive surgery on the wrong patient. However, medical malpractice happens in many less drastic forms. Further, a Houston medical malpractice lawyer understands the results can be just as harmful or even deadly.

What Are Typical Forms of Medical Malpractice?

Preventable healthcare mistakes can comprise a solid claim for medical malpractice. These claims might result not only from a surgical mistake. It could be errors made by nurses, doctors, and various other caregivers. Many of the most common medical malpractice cases come from the following kinds of errors:

Medication error

This can take the form of:

• Using the wrong medication (from a physician's prescription, from a mistake committed by a pharmacist, or by being administered to the wrong patient).
• Being prescribed a medication that causes major negative effects because of a known allergic reaction or by being combined with other medications.
• Being prescribed the wrong dose.
• Failing to prescribe a needed medication.

Diagnosis failures

These are circumstances where a physician fails to correctly diagnose a problem, resulting in a delay in treatment. This can thereby lead to an injury that could have been prevented or minimized. This can also be a physician failing to perform necessary or appropriate diagnostic tests or procedures, or misdiagnosing a problem.

Negligent supervision

This occurs where an individual under the care of a medical facility is not monitored sufficiently. The lack of supervision can lead to a failure to provide sufficient and/or appropriate care.

Delayed treatment

A delay in treating a known condition causes a more serious condition.

Failure to obtain informed consent

As it indicates, this involves injuries resulting from procedures in which the care provider fails to:

• Fully inform a patient of the likely or possible outcome of the procedure.
• Let the patient know the risks associated with a procedure.
• Neglects to obtain any consent at all.

Lack of adequate training or skill or appropriate credentialing

This claim occurs when a patient sustains an injury from a medical procedure and the medical provider should not have been providing due to lack of training or experience.

Birth injuries and obstetric malpractice

This includes cases in which actions or lack of actions during delivery result in long-term injury to the baby or mother.

Surgical mistakes

These cases include injuries because of a surgeon who took unnecessary or incorrect steps which led to injury. Or, if there is a failure to perform the procedure with the care or skill sufficient to satisfy acceptable standards.

Equipment failure

Many medical procedures rely upon the proper performance of medical equipment. Failures of equipment because of inadequate maintenance, calibration, or operation can cause significant injuries. These are injuries that would not occur when equipment is functioning correctly.

Inadequate monitoring or follow-up treatment

Many potential complications or adverse results from a treatment or procedure-- even if performed properly-- might not show up until later. A claim for poor monitoring arises when medical professionals neglect to look for known potential negative results or consequences.

Lack of teamwork or communication

Often, patients are under the care of several providers. They could be treated with primary care physicians, specialists, nurse practitioners, etc. Even in the operating room, teams of surgeons and nurses are all responsible for different parts of patient care. If there is a failure to communicate a vital piece of information between the numerous individuals during care, significant injuries can develop. For instance, a doctor that fails to note a medication allergy to a nurse that does not report a patient in distress.

Contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Houston if you think any of the above is the reason for a major injury or fatality.

How to Make a Claim for Houston Medical Malpractice?

As detailed above, medical malpractice can take many forms. At the same time, medical malpractice constitutes a specific type of negligence case. In medical malpractice cases, a claimant alleges that a healthcare provider-- which can include not only doctors and surgeons, but dentists, therapists, nurses, or individuals working under the supervision of these professionals-- either acted or failed to act in a manner that fell below the accepted standard of practice or care in the applicable medical community. In addition, this act or omission leads to the injury or fatality of the patient.

However, even when a person has sustained a major injury as a result of a medical procedure, verifying that you have a legitimate malpractice claim is not an easy task. Medicine is not a perfect science. Even when everything is done right, things can go wrong.

The majority of medical malpractice lawsuits, over 95%, resolve before they go to court. In many of these cases, the parties settle. For instance, when the doctor or hospital believes that the claim for negligence is fairly clear.

Yet in over half of the suits on file, the defendants will have the ability to dismiss a claim for one reason or another. One problem is that almost all of the proof lies in the hands and minds of the doctors and medical facilities who are defending the cases. Finally, for those medical malpractice cases that do go to trial, plaintiffs win just around one-third of the time.

Should You Contact a Houston Medical Malpractice Attorney?

If you suffer injuries due to inadequate or faulty care, or somebody you love has severe injuries or passes away due to the mistakes of a medical professional, contact Dunk Law Firm for a free consultation. Call (888) 744-5642, or simply use our online case evaluation form right here on this website. Remember, at Dunk Law Firm, you pay no lawyer's fee unless you win your case.

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