Lawrence Medical Malpractice Lawyers

You trust your doctor for high-quality medical care when you have an illness or injury. If they negligently breach your trust and you are injured, you have a right to seek compensation through an insurance or legal claim. Unfortunately, errors by medical practitioners that hurt patients happen all too often. Our Lawrence medical malpractice lawyers hold doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other health care providers accountable for surgical errors, misdiagnoses, birth injuries, and other harm to patients.

If you believe the carelessness of a doctor or another medical provider caused your injuries, an experienced attorney from Palmer Law Group can examine the facts of your case and counsel you about your options.

Call us today at (785) 233-1836 to speak with a respected medical malpractice lawyer. We know how to take on the health care establishment and win on behalf of injury victims.

WHY CHOOSE PALMER LAW GROUP?

Award-Winning Lawrence Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Our law firm has successfully fought for justice for medical malpractice victims for over 40 years. We will fight for you if your case shows evidence of negligence.

• Our attorney team has won over $100 million in compensation for clients.
• As you can see on our accomplishments page, we have been honored with many high-profile legal awards for our skill and professionalism.
• We have been an established law firm in Kansas since 1980 and have in-depth knowledge of the state’s medical malpractice laws, insurance system, and civil courts.
• We provide free, no-obligation consultations so we can learn about your case and you can learn more about us in a pressure-free environment.

Still wondering whether to reach out to our Lawrence medical malpractice lawyers? The experiences of other people who have worked with us may help you decide. Read what previous clients have to say about our services on our testimonials page. We look forward to learning how we can help you.

WHAT OUR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYER CAN DO FOR YOU

Taking on the medical establishment is intimidating. Doctors stick together, and your doctor is not going to readily admit they made a mistake that injured you. You will need strong evidence that your doctor injured you due to their negligence before you file a claim.

Here are some of the ways we can help you:

• We will investigate all the evidence.
• We will review your damages and help you determine the value of your claim.
• We will work diligently to prove liability.
• We will aggressively negotiate a settlement with the insurer.
• If the doctor will not settle, we will counsel you about going to court.

In essence, when you work with one of our medical malpractice lawyers, we will be there for you from beginning to end. You can rest easy knowing that you are in sound legal hands with a law firm that wants to get the best possible outcome for you.

MEDICAL ERRORS THAT MAY LEAD TO MALPRACTICE CLAIMS

Medical errors are not uncommon. According to information at the National Library of Medicine website, medical errors in hospitals and clinics result in approximately 100,000 deaths each year and cost billions of dollars annually. The most common reasons for medical malpractice claims are surgical errors and diagnosis mistakes.

Here is a list of some of the types of mistakes that health care providers make:

• Misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose illnesses
• Performing surgeries on the wrong part of the body
• Performing unnecessary surgeries
• Leaving surgical tools or debris inside patients’ bodies
• Ordering the wrong tests or improperly reading test results
• Prescribing or administering the wrong medications
• Mixing up patient medications
• Discharging patients too soon
• Not providing proper follow-up instructions after surgeries or procedures
• Not taking correct actions in emergency situations.

Doctor’s offices, hospitals, and operating rooms are busy places. It is perhaps not surprising that overworked and tired health care providers can make mistakes.  While not every error in a medical setting is a case of malpractice, if a patient was injured and the doctor’s actions were negligent, they can be sued for malpractice.

Proving Medical Malpractice

When beginning a medical malpractice claim, you have to prove a few key elements:

• A medical professional had a duty of care toward you.
• The medical professional breached their duty of care.
• The breach led to your injuries.
• You can be compensated for your injuries.

You have to show that you and the physician had a patient-doctor relationship and that there was an established duty of care that the medical professional should have met and didn’t. It’s not always simple to do this because demonstrating that the doctor didn’t act as they should could require knowledge of medical procedures.

To add to the complexity of these claims, it’s usually the case that someone who suffers an injury because of medical malpractice was already injured or suffering from an illness when they sought out care from the medical professional. It can be tough to prove that the new issues you’re battling with are the result of negligence and not of a worsening condition.

That’s why it’s important to have lawyers who can bring expert witnesses to offer testimony. By relying on witnesses with extensive medical knowledge, you can show that your doctor’s actions were negligent.

Available Damages in Medical Malpractice Claims

Compensation You Can Claim to Cover Your Losses

In Kansas, you can claim a number of different damages, including compensatory damages, which cover economic and non-economic losses, and punitive damages. Learn more about what each of these offers.

Economic Damages

Economic damages compensate you for the tangible losses you suffered as a result of medical malpractice. They cover out-of-pocket costs, including medical expenses. Whether you needed a hospital visit, physical therapy, special devices, or anything else that you wouldn’t have required if the injury hadn’t occurred, you can claim those expenses as part of economic damages.

If the injury was severe, you may not be able to go to work. That means a loss of income, including salaries and commissions. You can recover these as part of economic damages. If you have to reduce the amount of work you do, or if you’ve suffered a disabling injury that doesn’t allow you to work at all, you also have the chance to claim loss of earning potential.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are those that seek to compensate you for the less tangible losses you suffered. Many people think about the medical expense of treating an injury, but the related trauma can also cause severe physical and emotional distress, and you deserve to be compensated for that. The same thing applies if you are unable to live your life as you used to before the medical malpractice. In that instance, you can claim loss of enjoyment of life.

How much you recover as part of non-economic damages depends on many factors, including the severity of the injury, how long it will take to heal, and how it impacts your life. The more disabling the injury, the more non-economic damages you can claim.

If a loved one died as a result of medical malpractice, you can also claim loss of consortium. It compensates you for the loss of companionship and support. The complexities of these claims require that you turn to a medical malpractice lawyer in Lawrence, KS.

Keep in mind, however, that Kansas does put a cap of $350,000 on non-economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages have one goal: to punish the defendant. They’re rarely awarded, but you and your lawyer can file for them if you can demonstrate that the defendant acted in a willful, malicious, or wanton manner.

Understanding Modified Comparative Fault

Kansas is one of 33 states that follow modified comparative fault doctrines, which allow the court to assign a percentage of the blame to the parties involved in the claim. Any recovered losses are reduced in proportion to the degree of fault. Kansas also follows the 50% rule, which means that you can only recover losses if your percentage of fault is 49% or less.

For example, imagine your doctor prescribes a medication and you become ill because of a disclosed allergy that your doctor should have taken into consideration. If that was the only factor, then the medical professional should take full blame, but if you didn’t follow dosing instructions or if you took the medication with alcohol, making the symptoms worse, you also hold a degree of fault in the illness you suffered. The court will take all of this into account when apportioning fault.

LAWRENCE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEYS ANSWER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Following are frequently asked questions about medical negligence claims.

What damages can I claim in a medical malpractice case?

Damages available in medical malpractice cases may include payment for:

• Medical costs
• Lost wages
• Loss of future income
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress.

Economic damages, which are those that have tangible values, don’t have a cap. Non-economic ones, like pain and suffering, do have a cap in Kansas of $350,000.

Punitive damages may also be available in cases of especially gross negligence. We will assess your losses to help you determine damages to pursue.

How will your medical malpractice attorney prove negligence by my doctor?  

Elements involved in establishing negligence by doctors include the following:

• A doctor-patient relationship existed; thus, the doctor owed you a duty of care.
• The doctor did not live up to the accepted standard of medical care that another doctor would have in a similar situation.
• You were injured due to the doctor’s negligence.
• You suffered damages because of your injuries.

Our medical malpractice attorneys clearly understand the complexities of proving negligence by doctors and what evidence is necessary for success.

How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim?

Under the Kansas statute of limitations, you have two years from the date of your injury, or the date you found out you were injured, to file a lawsuit. If you miss the deadline, barring some exceptional situations, you may be unable to file. Our Lawrence medical malpractice lawyers can explain specific deadlines for your case.

Who can be held liable in a claim?

Physicians are not the only medical providers who can be held liable in malpractice claims. Nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, dentists, therapists, X-ray technicians, nursing assistants and aides, hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies can be named in suits. Sometimes more than one party may be liable.

 Will I have to go to court and testify in front of my doctor?

Many medical malpractice cases are resolved through negotiations with medical malpractice insurance companies. However, there are instances in which doctors and their insurance providers will not settle. This can happen, for example, if the doctor disputes that they are at fault. These cases may need to be resolved in court; if this happens in your case, you may have to testify. But cases can settle at any time, even before or during trial.

What are the most common types of medical malpractice?

Misdiagnosis is a very common type of medical malpractice. This is when your doctor fails to accurately recognize the issues you’re dealing with. It can result in getting the wrong kind of treatment or not getting any treatment at all, exacerbating the problem.

Hand-in-hand with a misdiagnosis is a delayed diagnosis. If your doctor takes too long to give you a diagnosis, the condition can progress and may even become impossible to resolve.

Surgical errors are also very common types of medical malpractice. They include behaviors like:

• Performing unnecessary surgery
• Performing the wrong surgery
• Using surgical instruments that weren’t sterile
• Offering inadequate aftercare
• Causing avoidable damage to organs or tissues
• Leaving medical equipment in the patient.

Birth injuries happen often, as well. Doctors who don’t carefully monitor the mother and baby or who delay giving the mother a C-section when there’s fetal distress can cause a variety of life-altering injuries. Turning to a birth injury lawyer can help.

Anesthesia errors are another serious type of medical malpractice that can result in severe injuries and even fatalities. If your doctor or anesthesiologist provided you with the wrong dose of anesthesia, or if they failed to give you proper instructions on how to prepare and how to recover from it, they could be liable.

Don’t hesitate to contact Palmer Law Group to learn more about the medical malpractice claims process.

GET HELP FROM EXPERIENCED MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYERS IN LAWRENCE, KS

Being injured by a medical provider to whom you have entrusted your health and well-being is distressing and confusing. If the injuries were due to the provider’s negligent actions, you deserve to be compensated for the damages you have suffered.  Our medical malpractice lawyers in Lawrence, KS, are here for you. We can help you understand whether you have a case based on all the facts of the doctor’s error and your injuries. If you do, we will explain the legal process for pursuing compensation and guide you throughout every step.

Reach out to us today to arrange a free consultation with one of our attorneys at (785) 233-1836. You can trust our reputable law firm for sound guidance and knowledgeable representation.