Medical Malpractice Lawyer Arlington, VA

Medical Malpractice Lawyer Arlington, VA

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, you know you need the help of a medical malpractice lawyer Arlington, VA community members can rely on from The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC. We have worked with many clients who were the unfortunate victims of doctors or other medical professionals who behaved negligently. This can cause someone to suffer from severe and permanent injuries, and it could even lead to death.

When you want to create a claim for medical malpractice, you should understand what evidence you will need for your claim and what kind of damages you may be entitled to recover. Call our office if you would like a consultation with a member of our team now. 

What does it mean to be the victim of medical malpractice?

If you believe you have suffered from injuries due to medical malpractice, it means that a medical professional acted negligently while you were in their care. This could be either because they did an action or did not do an action that other medical professionals would have done in the same position. Their efforts fell below what we call “the standard of care.” 

Common Examples of Medical Malpractice

Our medical malpractice lawyer has seen people who were the victims of medical malpractice in many different ways. Some of the most common types of medical malpractice are:

• Birth injuries or injuries during delivery
• A physician not treating a condition or illness
• Prescribing the wrong dose of medication or the wrong kind of medication
• Not providing sufficient medical testing for an illness
• Misdiagnosing an illness
• Leaving tools or items inside a person after surgery
• Performing surgery on the wrong part of a person’s body
  

These are just some examples of the types of medical malpractice that can occur. 

Showing a Duty of Care

When it comes to your medical malpractice claim, you will want to show a duty of care owed to you. To establish this, you will need to show that you were in the care of a medical professional or facility. You will then need to show that they somehow breached this duty of care and that the care you received was substandard. Because of this breach of duty, you were subsequently injured and have suffered some loss.

If you would like to learn more about filing a medical malpractice claim, call The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC today.  

Types of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is a very broad term and encompasses practically all types of negligent errors that could be made by a medical professional or facility. The law extends beyond healthcare workers’ negligent actions and into medicine, medical equipment, and more. Every medical professional, including physicians, surgeons, obstetricians, nurses, anesthesiologists, technicians, dentists, pharmacists, and so forth, must adhere to the medical standards of care. This obligation is meant to prevent harm to any patients. 

As a medical malpractice lawyer might tell you, not all medical errors, complications, or adverse reactions result from malpractice. There is always a risk of something going wrong with any procedure. If you don’t know whether or not you were a victim of malpractice but suspect it is possible, you should call a lawyer right away. Our firm has the experience, knowledge, and resources to review your case and determine if malpractice is a factor. Give us a call today. 

Types of Medical Malpractice

As discussed, there are many types of medical malpractice. Some of the most common cases we handle as medical malpractice lawyers include:

• Failure to Diagnose / Misdiagnosis – Thousands of people are misdiagnosed every single year. When a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose happens, a patient might lose the ability to be treated for a medical condition or receive specific treatment methods. Ignoring patient complaints, misinterpreting results, or failure to test could be a costly mistake. Commonly misdiagnosed medical conditions include lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, stroke, and heart attacks.
• Birth Injuries: These injuries can result from oxygen deprivation, breech position, prolonged labor, failure to perform a c-section, improper use of forceps, and so forth. Many birth injuries can be treated and will heal with time. Serious ones can cause long term or permanent injuries such as Erb’s Palsy, Cerebral Palsy, and cognitive impairment.
• Surgical Mistakes – Puncturing an organ, using unsanitary tools, medication errors, or operating on the wrong site are examples of a surgical mistake. These can happen when a patient has been improperly cleared for surgery, medical instructions have not been reviewed, or a medical chart has been misread. A surgical mistake can lead to loss of function, impairment, disfigurement, or death in severe cases.
• Medication Error – Prescription errors are all too common. They can be related to a medication mix-up, prescribing the wrong drug or dosage, failure to consider a patient’s medical history, disregarding allergies, and more. Medication errors can happen in hospitals, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, and nursing homes. They are easily traceable but should be overseen by a medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, VA. 

If you or a loved one believes you have been injured by medical malpractice, we encourage you to call our firm. We will be happy to review your case, answer your questions, and help you to understand what legal options are available. If you are ready to find out what next steps you should take, call a medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, VA.

Steps to Take if You Suspect Medical Malpractice

As any medical malpractice lawyer will tell you, cases involving medical malpractice are often complicated and contentious. Often medical mistakes result in high damages, in turn yielding large payouts to victims. As a result, it should come as no surprise that such cases can be highly litigious. Taking the proper steps in the wake of an injury will be critical. Medical malpractice can be life-altering for victims and their families, and swift, proper action should be taken.

At The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC, our lawyer has extensive experience in representing clients in complex legal matters. If you suspect medical malpractice, taking the following steps will be critical to reaching a successful resolution to your case.

Step #1: Seek a Second Opinion

There are various ways for malpractice to occur; while some situations may be subtle, others may result in blatantly apparent injuries. If you suspect that something isn’t right or you are not receiving the treatment you are entitled to, it’s critical to seek a second opinion from a medical professional as soon as possible. This not only prevents further damage from occurring, but your new medical provider can also ensure that you receive the proper treatment and any problems are immediately repaired or corrected.

Additionally, seeking a second opinion and subsequent treatment is not only critical for your health, but it can also produce essential documentation in support of your case. 

Step #2: Contact a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you suspect that you have not received treatment that upholds the medical standard of care, our Arlington medical malpractice lawyer representing Virginia can help take action. They can assist with taking the proper steps needed towards pursuing a claim for medical malpractice. 

Step #3: Gain Access to Medical Records

Medical records are essential for several reasons. They can serve as a piece of evidence in support of your medical malpractice case. This can help to gain an understanding of what went wrong while you were undergoing treatment. Typically gaining access to records is obtained by submitting a written request with either the hospital or doctor that you received treatment from. Naturally, your lawyer can help guide you through the process of gaining the medical records needed for your case. 

Step #4: Consider a Medical Expert

Proving your case and deciphering medical records can be a complicated process. Medical terminology can be challenging to understand. Typically, a lawyer will reach out to a medical expert for help. They can play an essential role in malpractice cases. They will review all evidence and help make sense of the treatment that was received and whether the doctor upheld the medical standard of care. Medical records and treatment can be difficult for the average person to understand, so an expert plays an important role. The medical expert can also provide critical testimony to the court to help parties understand what went wrong so that all can understand. 

STEPS TO TAKE IF YOU SUSPECT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INFOGRAPHIC

Arlington Medical Malpractice Statistics

According to Hopkins Medicine via Forbes Advisor, medical errors are responsible for more than 250,000 deaths each year in the U.S. Medical malpractice is now considered the third most common cause of death in the country.

If you’ve suffered an injury due to medical negligence, contact a medical malpractice lawyer from our office to discuss what your legal options are. Virginia law allows malpractice victims to pursue damages for medical expenses, loss of income, pain and suffering, disability, and more.

Before You File: Understanding Negligence

When you file a personal injury lawsuit, you are claiming that another person is responsible for your injuries. Commonly, if someone is liable for your injuries, he or she had to act negligently. Negligence is required for most personal injury cases. In general, it means that the person acted recklessly and the actions resulted in your injuries.

What Are the Elements of Negligence?

If you want to prove negligence, there are a few different elements that you need to prove. The first element that you have to prove is that the other party owed you a legal duty. The next element is breach. You have to prove that the person breached his or her legal duty through action or inaction. Causation is the next element.  The actions have to cause your injury. If you suffered injuries during the impact, then the driver caused your injuries. The last element is damages. There is no personal injury case without damages.

What Is Breach of Duty?

The breach of duty is important in a negligence case. If a person does not have any reason to believe that someone could be hurt from his or her actions, then there is no breach of duty. However, if you were to cut through someone’s property on a walk and injure yourself on a hazard that the owner was unaware of, he or she had no reason to believe that you would be harmed on the property.

Determining the Amount of Your Settlement

Figuring out how much you stand to gain when launching a personal injury lawsuit can be tricky. Many factors go into determining the amount you qualify to win. The following information can help with calculating the worth of your situation.

Settlement Amount Basics

Settlements happen when a defendant agrees to pay a plaintiff for dropping a case. This is different from a trial, wherein a jury determines the financial outcome. Legal adversaries come up with their own conclusions for how much a plaintiff should be paid. Both insurance adjusters and attorneys use past cases with similar qualities as guidelines for deciding upon amounts. These figures are then adjusted according to the situation’s particulars.

Amount Factors

Numerous components alter how much someone claiming an injury may win from a settlement. For instance, if the defendant lacks personal assets or insurance, a plaintiff will simply be unable to receive a high figure. In cases that go to trial, however, a losing defendant’s wages can be garnished in order to satisfy the ruling.

The amount a suing party stands to gain equals the value of all losses incurred as a result of the defendant’s actions. This may include the cost of medical treatments, lost income or any other relevant expense. In cases where a defendant is proven guilty of exceptional irresponsibility, punitive damages might also be included.

Amount Research

Certain aspects of personal injury lawsuits, such as the value of a tangible object like a vehicle or building that has been destroyed, might be easy to assess. Other variables, such as the ultimate cost of future medical treatments, are likely to be contested. The better your ability to prove losses, the greater your chance of receiving a satisfactory conclusion. A personal injury attorney can help enormously with the task of collecting demonstrable evidence.

Settlement Amount Negotiations

The process begins with demand letters and compensatory offers being traded. During this stage, the amount by which a suing party could be awarded is likely to change. After a dollar figure has been agreed upon, paperwork indicating the agreement’s specifics is signed. In exchange for payment, the plaintiff sacrifices all rights to pursue further compensation.

Demanding payment for personal injuries does not need to end in a courtroom confrontation. The mere threat of legislation may be enough to grant you relief. This path, however, still requires the services of a qualified legal professional. Call one immediately if you deserve amends for any form of wrongdoing.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers You Can Rely on 

There are certain groups of people we feel that we should be able to put our trust in on a regular basis: those who defend our country, the teachers who take care of our children, and the doctors and nurses at our hospitals who heal the sick and injured. However, not everyone who goes to a hospital comes out feeling better. In some cases, it is possible that someone is more severely injured or ill than they were when they went in.

While it is not always the fault of the hospital or its staff, the hospital accident attorneys at The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC know that you deserve compensation if someone’s negligence made you worse. If a hospital caused you or your loved one to become injured after visiting them, you should speak with a member of our team now. We care about getting you results and want to ensure you get justice after putting your health and life in someone else’s hands. 

What does a medical malpractice lawyer do?

This is a great question and you may not have heard of a medical malpractice lawyer before. While you may be wondering if you can just hire a personal injury lawyer, it is best to hire a lawyer specific to medical malpractice because we understand the legal and medical jargon that will be specific to your case.

When do my injuries qualify as medical malpractice?

Remember, just because you came out of a hospital with an injury or illness does not mean it was the fault of a doctor, nurse, or staff member. One of the first things we will want to know when we meet with you is how your injury came to be. We are looking to see that a staff member did not meet the required standard of care when they were treating you.

For example, if you were diagnosed with cancer and you went through certain treatments, there is no guarantee that chemotherapy or radiation will take your cancer away. If you did not get the result you were hoping for it does not automatically mean you have a legitimate medical malpractice claim. On the other hand, if the nurse who was treating you administered you heart medication instead of your diabetes medication and made you extremely ill, this is when we would gather evidence to show that your nurse was not acting in a way that lived up to the standard of care.

Call The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC Today

Malpractice cases are complicated and time-consuming, which is why retaining a lawyer will be a critical component to achieving the best outcome possible. With considerable experience in representing cases and successfully recovering millions of dollars in damages for clients, you can rest assured in knowing that you have secured a lawyer who can provide the positive case outcomes you deserve. If you suspect medical negligence has happened to you, call a medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, Virginia from The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC to stand by your side and assist with every step of the process.

A medical malpractice lawyer Arlington, VA from The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC has represented victims of doctor’s errors for many years. We understand the nuances of these complex cases, and are not afraid to firmly advocate for our clients. 

Medical malpractice happens when the negligence of a doctor or healthcare professional harms a patient. Various circumstances account for the majority of the nation’s medical malpractice lawsuits.  

What Are The Criteria for Proving Medical Malpractice?

It will be important in the outcome of your case to visit a lawyer seasoned in handling medical malpractice cases. Legal professionals, such as ourselves, may refer to the “Four D’s” when assessing the validity of medical malpractice claims. These are:

1. Duty of Care: It is necessary to establish a professional relationship in which a healthcare provider has a duty of care to protect a patient from harm. 
2. Dereliction of Duty: It is necessary to prove that a healthcare provider did not treat and care for a patient in a manner expected of any reasonably competent provider. 
3. Direct Causation: It is necessary to establish that a healthcare provider’s breach of duty is a direct cause of a patient’s damages.
4. Damages: It is necessary to prove that the healthcare provider’s actions or negligence result in a patient’s physical or mental harm.

What Are The Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice Claims?

Every year, the negligence of healthcare professionals results in thousands of patient injuries. We understand that while most people get into the medical field to alleviae suffering and save lives, there are those who fail to provide a reasonable standard of care when treating patients, which may lead to their harm or death. These are the reasons behind most medical malpractice claims:

Missed or Delayed Diagnosis

Physicians who do not diagnose medical conditions on time or at all may put their patients’ lives at risk. Proving malpractice may rely upon expert medical witnesses to suggest alternative symptom causes and diagnostic or treatment protocols that support allegations of a defendant’s negligence.

Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can have long-term consequences on a patient’s quality of life. Examples include leaving equipment used during an operation inside a patient’s body, operating on the wrong body part, and ignoring vital medical information before surgery. Still, surgical errors having no repercussions or which doctors take all reasonable precautions to prevent do not constitute medical malpractice.

Failure to Treat

A doctor who refuses to start, change or stop treatment despite a patient’s deteriorating condition may be guilty of medical malpractice. In addition, prematurely discharging a patient from the hospital and failing to provide follow-up are forms of malpractice that can negatively impact a patient’s health. 

Prescription Error

Physicians who prescribe the wrong drug dosages or fail to consider drug interactions may be responsible for patients’ life-threatening side effects. A pharmacist who fills the wrong prescription can also seriously harm a patient.

Birth Errors

Injuries during birth account for a significant number of medical malpractice claims. Mistakes involve physicians failing to prevent or detect infants’ congenital disabilities or causing injuries to the mother or child during birth. 

Medical Malpractice Lawyer FAQs

What is a medical malpractice lawyer?

A medical malpractice lawyer Arlington, VA is a type of personal injury lawyer. They help people who have been injured by the negligence of a medical professional. This can include doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other medical staff. If you have been injured because of medical negligence, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the responsible party.

What are some common medical malpractice claims?

Some common medical malpractice claims include birth injuries, misdiagnosis, and surgical errors. If you have been injured because of any of these things, you may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

How much does it cost to hire a medical malpractice lawyer?

The cost of hiring a medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, VA varies depending on the case. Some lawyers work on a contingency basis, which means they only get paid if you win your case. Other medical malpractice lawyers in Arlington, VA may charge an hourly rate.

What are the chances of winning a medical malpractice case?

The chances of winning a medical malpractice case vary depending on the facts of the case. If you have strong evidence that the medical professional was negligent, you may have a better chance of winning.

How much money can I potentially receive if I win my case?

The amount of money you could potentially receive if you win your case depends on the facts of the case and the damages you have suffered. If you have suffered severe injuries, you may be able to receive a large amount of money.

Should I hire a medical malpractice lawyer?

Whether or not you should hire a medical malpractice lawyer depends on the facts of your case. If you have been severely injured and you have strong evidence that the medical professional was negligent, you may want to consider hiring the Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC.

What should I expect if I decide to pursue legal action?

If you decide to pursue legal action, you should expect the process to take several months or even years. You will also need to gather evidence and testimony from witnesses. The medical malpractice lawyer from the Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC. you hire will help you with this process.

What are some common medical malpractice myths?

There are many myths about medical malpractice. Some people believe that medical malpractice lawsuits are easy to win, but this is not always the case. Other people believe that you need to have a lot of money to hire a medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, VA, but this is also not true.

If you have been injured because of medical negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. A medical malpractice lawyer in Arlington, VA can help you understand your rights and options. Contact a medical malpractice lawyer from the Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC. today to get started on your case.

Call The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC Now

We can imagine that right now, you may be in pain and worried about the future to come. Let us handle the legal side of things while you get proper treatment from a different physician or facility. If a healthcare provider you trust injures you or someone you love, contact an Arlington, VA medical malpractice lawyer from The Law Offices of Ryan Quinn, PLLC now to discuss the damages you deserve.