Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Texas

When you go to a doctor, hospital, urgent care, or other medical facility, you expect to receive medical care that makes you better, not worse. Like lawyers, doctors have a duty to perform their jobs to a standard that ensures the treatment you receive is quality care. When a doctor or medical facility fails you, you can suffer injuries and illnesses that can be devastating. You might even search for a medical malpractice lawyer because you lost a loved one to medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice is negligence by a healthcare provider during treatment, or failed to perform treatment, while a patient was under its care. If you believe physician or facility was negligent to you or a family member, you should talk to Texas medical malpractice lawyers right away. Medical malpractice claims, like other personal injury claims, entitle you to seek justice and demand compensation for your losses and injuries.

Who can be responsible for medical malpractice injuries?

Medical malpractice occurs any time a healthcare provider fails to provide treatment to a patient in its care at the medical standard of care for the profession. Medical malpractice can be the fault of more than just a doctor or hospital. Healthcare providers that may commit medical malpractice include:

Doctors, including primary care physicians
Surgeons
Nurses
Nurse practitioners
Radiologists
Radiology technicians
EMTs
Hospitals
Surgical centers
Urgent care facilities
Doctor’s offices and clinics
Pharmacists
Physical therapists
Medical testing facilities

Sometimes multiple providers or facilities are responsible for your injuries due to medical malpractice. For example, you may suffer catastrophic injuries due to a negligent act during a surgery. The responsible parties may include the surgeon, the surgeon’s physician group, the hospital and its staff, the anesthesiologist and its physician group and a neuromonitoring provider. Determining who shared responsibility for the negligent act is often complicated and requires medical experts on your side. Experienced personal injury lawyers who represent clients in medical malpractice claims know how to hold the negligent parties responsible for your injuries.

Common forms of medical malpractice in Texas

Medical malpractice can occur at any time or during any event while you are in a healthcare provider’s care. There are a few common ways medical malpractice leads to serious bodily injury.

Failure to diagnose

Some patients arrive at a medical facility with life-threatening diseases. There may be a limited time to diagnose and treat the illness before it becomes fatal. If healthcare providers fail to perform their jobs to the appropriate standard of care, it can result in long term injury or even wrongful death.

Doctors have a duty to carefully note symptoms described by patients, conduct appropriate diagnostic testing and interpret the results. A differential diagnosis is an important part of that process to ensure a possible cause of the patient’s symptoms is not ignored.

Communication errors between providers or staff

Often patients require treatment by several providers over the course of treating an illness or injury. That might be a series of staff or doctors during a hospital stay, or seeing multiple physicians and staff across appointments. It is critical that providers communicate and create appropriate records to ensure the next person can obtain the necessary information to continue adequate care. When communication is incomplete or inaccurate, it can result in delayed treatment, injury, illness, or even death.

Failure to obtain informed consent from the patient

Physicians have an obligation to inform patients of procedures and obtain their consent before performing a procedure. Informing patients means explaining the procedure in layperson’s terms and explaining the risks involved. The patient must consent to the precise procedure explained. When the physician fails to inform the patient, the patient may suffer an injury or illness otherwise avoided. The patient must consent to any procedure beforehand; otherwise it is a form of assault and medical malpractice.

Surgical error

There are few times in life we are more vulnerable to negligence than during surgery. We depend upon surgeons to perform surgical procedures competently with attentiveness. When they fail to rise to the occasion, patients can suffer serious injuries or illness, or even wrongful death. Surgical errors can include performing a procedure on the wrong patient or wrong part of the right patient, using too little or too much anesthesia, leaving surgical instruments in your body, or negligently damaging your body.

Prescription medication errors

When a physician writes a script for new medications, you trust that the doctor prescribed the correct medication and dose and the pharmacist correctly filled the script. An incorrect medication or dose can lead to serious consequences including harmful interactions with other medications, allergic reactions, injuries, or death.

Childbirth injuries to the mother or infant

One of the most heartbreaking forms of medical malpractice is during the delivery of a child, leading to injury, illness, or death to the child or mother. Texas medical malpractice lawyers pursue claims against hospitals, physicians and their staff for negligence during pregnancy, childbirth and neonatal care. Negligent care during this critical time can result in many injuries to the mother, infant, or both. These include:

Anoxic brain injury
Birth defects and injuries
Birth-related seizure disorders
Brachial plexus palsy
Brain damage
Cerebral palsy
Fetal brachycardia
Forceps injuries
Klumpke’s palsy
Nerve damage
Peinatal asphyxia
Perinatal hypoxia
Prenatal asphyxia
Shoulder dystocia

In childbirth-related medical malpractice claims, the physicians and hospitals often deny responsibility. They commonly insist the injuries were natural, unavoidable, or the fault of the mother. Texas medical malpractice lawyers understand that these cases are difficult to pursue and you need experts on your side to fight for justice. Just because the healthcare providers say they are not responsible does not make it true. Your medical malpractice lawyer will investigate your case with the help of medical experts and work to obtain compensation for your injuries and losses.

Talk to Texas medical malpractice lawyers about your case

If you or a family member suffered what you believe may be negligent medical care in Texas, you should talk to experienced Texas medical malpractice attorneys right away. Medical malpractice claims are difficult cases to pursue and the healthcare providers know you have an uphill battle. Texas law makes these claims virtually impossible to pursue without experience handling these types of personal injury claims. Insurance companies will try to lowball you to get rid of your case or deny your claim entirely. You suffered once, you don’t need to continue to suffer fighting with healthcare providers, their insurance companies and their attorneys. You need an experienced medical malpractice attorney fighting for you and your case. That way, you can focus on your health and getting better while your attorney handles the rest.