Doctor Malpractice
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Protecting Your Rights When a Doctor Commits Malpractice
Can you sue a doctor for misdiagnosis? Every injured patient has the right to fair compensation for their injuries. When a doctor does something that is considered medical malpractice, they should be held accountable. Doctor malpractice should not go unanswered.
Examples of medical malpractice cases that we handle at our law firm include but aren’t limited to:
- Birth injury cases, such as cerebral palsy
- Anesthesia errors
- Delayed diagnosis of medical conditions, such as cancer or heart disease
- Performing an unnecessary medical procedure
- Surgical errors
- Medical misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
- Medication errors
- Emergency room errors
- Misreading or misinterpreting lab or test results
After you suffered losses from a medical error, you deserve to recover damages for those losses. Contact the Michigan personal injury attorneys at Lipton Law for more information about how we can help injured patients or surviving family members. Call our law firm at 248-629-2747 to schedule your free case evaluation. We will help you gather medical records and other evidence to strengthen your medical malpractice claim.
How to Prepare for a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
It’s important to understand exactly how to begin a medical malpractice case. Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys in Southfield will guide you through the basics of how to file medical malpractice claims. Below, we list the basic steps involved in most medical malpractice lawsuits.
- Contact the healthcare provider involved in your case. This is highly beneficial, as it can result in a quick fix if your condition isn’t too serious. In many cases, your doctor will agree to remedy the problem, oftentimes at no charge to you. If this doesn’t help, we recommend taking further action.
- Contact the medical licensing board. This will often result in a warning being issued to the responsible medical professional. They may even decide to discipline the provider and give you advice about how to proceed.
- Find out how long you have to file your medical malpractice claim. As with most other personal injury cases, there is a time period during which you must file your claim. The statute of limitations varies by state and sometimes by case type. Speak with your medical malpractice lawyer to learn more.
- Get a certificate of merit to validate your case. This usually requires that you contact another medical provider. They will verify that your provider breached the standard of care in your situation.
- Consider a settlement. Lawsuits can be expensive for everyone involved. If you are offered a fair settlement amount, it may be in your best interest to accept it.
Types of Medical Malpractice
Practice Areas
What Is Doctor Malpractice?
Doctor malpractice occurs when a doctor commits medical malpractice. Medical malpractice occurs when medical professionals negligently fail to uphold the standard of care for a patient. This can result in injury, illness, or wrongful death of the patient.
What Is Medical Negligence?
Medical negligence is one of the elements required for successful medical malpractice claims. It is basically any act by omission or commission that deviates from the accepted standard of medical care.
It is a very important legal concept that can make or break your medical malpractice lawsuit. However, keep in mind that medical negligence isn’t the only element you must prove to win a case. The patient must have also suffered serious injury or illness as a result of medical errors, negligent medical care, or even surgical errors.
So when exactly does medical negligence turn into medical malpractice? What are the differences between medical malpractice vs medical negligence? The moment at which the patient suffers a personal injury from the negligent act is when it becomes medical malpractice.
Examples of Doctor Malpractice
Our skilled medical malpractice attorneys can help you recover financial compensation for incidents of doctor malpractice that include:
- Amputation mistakes
- Anesthesia mistakes
- Birth injuries affecting the newborn baby or mother
- Failing to diagnose cancer or another medical condition
- Failing to properly test the patient
- Medication errors
- Physician fatigue
- Surgical mistakes
- Emergency room errors
There are many other ways in which a doctor’s negligence can result in a patient suffering additional complications, a worsening of a condition or other injuries, such as failure to diagnose, especially in the case of cancer or sepsis patients.
Can You Sue a Doctor for Malpractice?
Yes, absolutely. You can file a medical malpractice claim against just about any medical professional, so long as you have a legitimate claim. However, it’s important to remember that these are not the simplest types of personal injury cases. Most medical malpractice cases take a great deal of evidence to validate, let alone win. Your best chance at a successful lawsuit will come from working with experienced medical malpractice lawyers.
At Lipton Law, are attorneys are well versed in medical malpractice law. We stand ready to represent you as a victim of medical malpractice. We have an experienced attorney with experience handling medical malpractice cases standing by to help your case.
It’s important to remember that doctors are not the only providers you can file a claim against. Other medical professionals that you can file a claim against include nurses and other staff members.
How to Sue a Doctor for Malpractice
Before you do anything else, we recommend that you speak with our medical malpractice lawyers about your case. Our law firm understands all the applicable medical malpractice laws in Michigan, and we have extensive experience holding healthcare providers accountable.
Once you have found a medical malpractice attorney, you must notify the doctor against whom you intend to file suit. Consult with your attorney to ensure that you include all the necessary information in this notice. Then, you will likely have a waiting period before you can officially file suit.
Once the healthcare provider responds to your claim, this is where your case has several potential paths. You might receive a fair settlement, or you might have to go to court. Speak with your legal team to ensure that your legal rights are protected throughout the process.
How to Report a Doctor for Malpractice
Another option is reporting doctors and other healthcare providers for medical errors to the appropriate regulatory boards. It’s important to notify all the appropriate parties of the harm caused by your doctor. This way, you could potentially save others from experiencing the same medical mistake that caused you harm.
File a Complaint Through the Michigan Bureau of Professional Licensing
Through this website, you can file a complaint against a number of different licensed professionals, including doctors. We recommend having your medical malpractice lawyer help you with this step. You’ll need to create an account with the Michigan Professional Licensing User System in order to file your complaint online.
You can also call the BPL to submit your complaint. The intake number to call is 517-241-0205. Again, we recommend speaking with our attorneys before proceeding with your complaint. We will help you gather all the necessary information prior to calling or submitting your form online.
Report Your Experience on Consumer Websites
Another option of warning the public is submitting a review or complaint about the care you received to certain consumer websites. When other potential consumers read your client review, they may be wary of that doctor. You can even submit reviews of hospitals or clinics if your experience with the entire business was unpleasant.
How to Find Out if Your Doctor Has Malpractice Suits
The best way to figure out if your doctor has had previous medical malpractice suits against them is to check your state’s medical board records. You can actually search the system for your doctor’s name to see if they have had any actions against them in the past. Additionally, you can even check clinics, offices, and hospitals by name.
How Much Can You Sue a Doctor for Malpractice?
A patient or family member who suffered injury or illness from medical malpractice may be entitled to compensation for their losses related to the incident. Losses in a medical malpractice case may include medical treatment costs, legal fees, lost wages, and much more. In Michigan, you can sue for both economic and non-economic damages.
Michigan places a limit only on non-economic damages, which are intangible. The regular cap sits at a maximum of $445,000. The cap for cases involving catastrophic injury or wrongful death sits at $795,500. Again, there is no cap on economic damages for medical malpractice in the state of Michigan.
The specific compensation you may receive in your case could include the following:
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Lost income or lost wages
- Scarring, disfigurement, or disability
- Loss of consortium
- Mental and emotional anguish
- Wrongful death costs
What Is the Average Settlement for Medical Malpractice Cases?
Without first speaking with a medical malpractice lawyer, it is difficult to determine the value of your case. Looking at an average of all medical malpractice settlements is not very helpful for cases, as each case is unique in its own way.
Case values are determined by a number of factors, including the following.
- Strength of the evidence you present
- Severity of your illness or injury
- Depth of the losses you incurred financially
Michigan Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations
It’s important to understand that every personal injury case has a time limit. Depending on when the malpractice occurred and when you discovered it, this will determine whether or not you still have a legal right to file a claim. In Michigan, you must file medical malpractice lawsuits within two years of the negligent action or inaction.
Additionally, you must file a claim within six months of the discovery of the malpractice in order to be eligible for compensation. The upper limit of when you can file a medical malpractice claim is six years after the incident occurs. This applies to all cases, except those in which the doctor attempts to cover up the malpractice.
For cases involving minors under the age of 18, the filing deadline may be extended. It’s important to work alongside medical malpractice attorneys who can advise clients on their options.
Hold Your Provider Accountable for Doctor Malpractice
At Lipton Law, our lawyers understand how important it is for you to receive the compensation you need and deserve. We know that you and your family are facing high expenses as a result of a doctor’s negligence. We will do everything we can to help you right this wrong.
Call our office in Southfield today at 248-557-1688 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with one of our skilled lawyers to determine whether you have a valid claim. We are one of the premier law firms in Michigan handling various medical malpractice cases. This means our experience will be of great use to you in court.