Question 1

What is Medical Malpractice?

Accepted Answer

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider is negligent (i.e., fails to meet the “standard of care”). Thus, negligent medical care is medical malpractice.

For example, if a nurse negligently places an IV in a patient’s arm, the nurse has committed medical malpractice. Virtually any type of healthcare provider can commit medical malpractice — doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.

If you think you or a loved one may have been the victim of medical malpractice, it’s important to have a law firm specializing in medical malpractice review your potential claim. The Atlanta-based medical malpractice lawyers at Davis Adams not only provide an unmatched level of client service, but we’ll review your case at no charge and with no obligation.

Question 2

What does “the standard of care” mean?

Accepted Answer

The standard of care is simply the level of care the medical community agrees is required in a particular situation. 

For example, a pharmacist must put the correct pills in a pill bottle when filling a prescription. If the prescription is for Coumadin (a blood thinner), but the pharmacist fills the bottle with Dilaudid (a powerful pain medication), the pharmacist is negligent — no reasonable person would argue otherwise. But the answer isn’t always so clear. Let’s say a patient is taken to an ER with mild chest and shoulder pain after lifting weights at a gym. Vital signs appear normal, and the patient reports that he thinks he sustained a muscle injury while exercising. Does the standard of care require this patient to be worked up (including sometimes expensive medical tests) for a potential heart attack? The answer here is far less obvious than with the pharmacist example above. 

Some doctors may say yes, a heart attack must be considered as part of a “differential diagnosis” and ruled out before the patient is discharged. But other doctors may say that a heart attack in this situation is so unlikely that it need not be considered and ruled out before the patient is discharged. Who’s right? Ultimately, if a lawsuit is filed and can’t be settled before trial, the jury will hear testimony from expert witnesses testifying for the plaintiff patient and the defendant doctor, and the jurors will decide who they believe is right about what the standard of care required.

The difference between winning and losing a medical malpractice trial often comes down to who can present the most compelling expert witnesses at trial. Thus, it’s essential for medical negligence victims to hire a malpractice law firm with access and connections to the best doctors at the most prestigious hospitals in the United States. Davis Adams maintains close relationships with medical providers in virtually all fields, and can often begin discussing your case with these accomplished physicians within 24 hours of your contacting our firm.

Question 3

Who can I sue for medical malpractice?

Accepted Answer

You can sue virtually any healthcare provider for medical malpractice, including, but not limited, to, doctors (MD and DO), physicians’ assistants (PA), licensed practical nurses (LPN), registered nurses (RN), nurse practitioners (NP), clinical nurse specialists (CN), chiropractors, podiatrists, certified nursing assistants, physical therapists, phlebotomists, certified nurse midwives (CNM), and pharmacists.

Question 4

What are the most common types of medical malpractice cases?

Accepted Answer

Medical malpractice can take almost any form. For every type of healthcare available, there’s a way to do it wrong, or negligently. So while it’s hard to say which types of cases are “most common,” here are some examples of malpractice handled by the Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers at Davis Adams:

Delay in treating bacterial infections, such as meningitis and necrotizing fasciitis
Negligent nursing care leading to bedsores and pressure injuries
Pharmacy negligence, including prescription errors
IV errors, including infiltration and extravasation
Failure to recognize and treat sepsis
Failure to order needed diagnostic medical tests
Misreading or ignoring laboratory results
Improper medication or dosage
Surgical errors or wrong-site surgery
Poor follow-up or aftercare
Nursing home negligence or abuse
Preventable falls in hospitals and nursing homes
Emergency room errors

Question 5

Can any personal injury lawyer handle my medical malpractice case?

Accepted Answer

No. Not even close. That’s a little like saying, “I need brain surgery, can’t I just call any doctor?” If you needed brain surgery, you’d find the very best brain surgeon — someone who specializes in brain surgery, who does it all day, every day, someone who has a long track record of success, and someone who stays on the cutting edge of any relevant developments. You certainly wouldn’t call a foot doctor, but you also wouldn’t look for a physician who occasionally performs brain surgery, but not often. You need an expert with laser-sharp focus.

Many personal injury lawyers — including those who advertise heavily on television and billboards — claim to handle medical malpractice cases . . . along with car wrecks, trucking accidents, slips, and falls, worker’s compensation, and many others. You have one chance to make the right decision in hiring someone to handle a medical malpractice case, thus, we’d suggest asking the following questions of anyone you’re considering hiring:

- Do you specialize in medical malpractice or do you also handle other types of cases?
If you handle other types of cases also, what percentage of your firm’s cases are medical malpractice?
- How many medical malpractice cases have you handled in the past, and how many are you handling right now?
- Can you tell me about cases similar to mine that you’ve successfully handled?
- Can I have the personal cell phone number of the lawyer handling my case?
 
When you’ve asked these questions, and listened to the answers, you’ll find that very few — if any — other law firms are able to honestly provide good answers. Because the reality is that most personal injury law firms mainly handle other types of cases, and just do some medical malpractice work on the side. But at Davis Adams, medical malpractice cases are always our primary focus.

Question 6

What’s the difference between medical malpractice and wrongful death?

Accepted Answer

A medical malpractice claim becomes a wrongful death claim when medical negligence results in a death. At that point, the decedent’s estate can pursue a claim for final expenses and pain and suffering, while the decedent’s heirs (children, parents, siblings, etc.) can pursue a claim (as part of the same case) for the “full value” of the decedent’s life.

Question 7

What should I do if I suspect medical malpractice?

Accepted Answer

If you suspect that you or a loved one has fallen victim to medical malpractice, your first course of action should be to contact an experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer. A comprehensive review of the case information consisting of anything from gathering relevant medical records to interviewing the client and loved ones needs to be carried out by the lawyer to establish whether the case is actionable. The Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers at Davis Adams are not afraid to take action against hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, clinics, surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare professionals whose negligence has caused injury to their patients. We do anything in our power to secure the optimum settlement our clients require and are worthy of to cover injury-related expenses.

Question 8

What are the elements of a medical malpractice lawsuit?

Accepted Answer

To win a medical malpractice case we have to prove the following evidence: duty, breach, causation and damages.

Duty: We essentially have to show that the medical provider had an obligation to render care in accordance with the applicable standard of care. This is rarely a contested element of a claim. For example, if you visit your family physician or an ER, there’s generally no good argument that the nurses or physicians who care for you don’t have a duty to meet the requisite standard of care.

Breach: We have to show that the standard of care wasn’t met. It’s our burden, as the plaintiff, to establish that the healthcare provider simply didn’t meet their obligation to provide appropriate care. This is typically done by calling expert witnesses who can define the standard of care, and then demonstrating through medical records and testimony that the defendant provider failed to comply with the standard.

Causation and Damages: An important, and often overlooked, element of a viable medical malpractice claim is what’s known as causation. It’s probably best explained by example. Let’s say that the standard of care required an oncologist to give a certain regime of chemotherapy for an aggressive form of liver cancer. And assume that the oncologist failed to give the appropriate chemotherapy regime. Well, in this instance there’d be no good argument that the doctor didn’t breach his duty to the patient, right? But what about causation? Let’s assume that the patient had a 90% chance of dying even if the chemotherapy had been properly administered. Do we still have a valid wrongful death claim related to the doctor’s medical negligence? No, because we can’t prove that the patient’s death was caused by the doctor’s negligence — the patient was, far more likely than not, going to pass away even but for the doctor’s mistake. Thus, we always have to prove that the provider’s negligence (more likely than not) caused the injury (or damages) we’re alleging in our lawsuit.

Also, related to the issue of damages, most viable medical malpractice cases require a substantial injury. Unfortunately, the Georgia state legislature, big insurance companies, and hospitals have all worked together to ensure that trying to hold any healthcare provider responsible for medical malpractice is extremely difficult and expensive. For example, is a doctor’s negligence results in a patient having to stay in a hospital for an additional week, but the patient is otherwise fine, that’s probably insufficient damages over which to sue. However, anytime a patient sustains a severe injury at the hands of a healthcare provider, it’s worth consulting with a qualified Georgia medical malpractice attorney.

Question 9

Are all medical mistakes medical malpractice?

Accepted Answer

Generally, if a healthcare provider makes a “mistake,” that’s what we’d call a deviation from the standard of care, which normally constitutes medical negligence. But doctors rarely agree that they’ve made a mistake, rather, more commonly they’ll say that what we call a mistake is really just a “known complication” or an “accepted risk” of the procedure.

Question 10

How much will it cost to have your firm represent me?

Accepted Answer

Our firm, like all reputable medical malpractice firms, operates on a contingency model. That is, if we recover money for our client, we earn a percentage. And if we don’t, not only are we not paid for our work, but we also do not charge the client for any of the expenses associated with our representation, which often total tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Question 11

Will my medical malpractice case settle out of court?

Accepted Answer

The vast majority of medical malpractice cases settle before trial. However, all cases must be prepared for trial from day one — because we never know which cases will end up in a courtroom before a jury. Thus, from the start, our firm begins building the case with trial preparation in mind, which puts our client in the strongest position for pre-trial settlement negotiation, and which ensures we’re ready to take our case to a jury if we can’t reach a negotiated resolution.

Question 12

My doctor made a mistake and admitted it. Will I win my case?

Accepted Answer

Maybe, but not necessarily. First, doctors sometimes “admit” mistakes to patients, but then change their story by the time a lawsuit is filed and they’re testifying at their deposition or at trial. Other times, what a patient hears as an admission of fault may really just be an expression of remorse. For example, “I’m so sorry the outcome wasn’t better, I wish this complication hadn’t happened.”

Further, even when a doctor does express regret, Georgia law severely restricts a medical malpractice victim’s ability to use the doctor’s words at trial. OCGA § 24-3-37.1 states:

“In any claim or civil action brought by or on behalf of a patient allegedly experiencing an unanticipated outcome of medical care, any and all statements, affirmations, gestures, activities, or conduct expressing benevolence, regret, apology, sympathy, commiseration, condolence, compassion, mistake, error, or a general sense of benevolence which are made by a health care provider or an employee or agent of a health care provider to the patient, a relative of the patient, or a representative of the patient and which relate to the unanticipated outcome shall be inadmissible as evidence and shall not constitute an admission of liability or an admission against interest.”

Occasionally, but very rarely, we’ll see cases where a doctor candidly tells a patient that an avoidable mistake occurred. Those cases tend to settle quickly. But most often when any doctor offers what may sound like an apology, it’s not as helpful for your case as you might otherwise think.

Question 13

How long will my medical malpractice case take?

Accepted Answer

Every case is different. Some take a few months, and some take a few years. As a general rule, we tell our clients that their case will likely settle, or go to trial, within 24 months of our firm being hired.

Question 14

Can I still file a lawsuit if I signed an informed consent form?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. As an initial matter, the American Medical Association describes proper informed consent as much more than a physician simply handing a patient a stack of forms to sign before a procedure is performed. Rather, the patient and physician must have a clear and meaningful conversation about the nature of the procedure, the risks and benefits, and any alternatives. Yet this often doesn’t happen.

But even when informed consent is properly obtained, the patient’s consent for the procedure never excuses a healthcare provider’s negligence. Informed consent is simply an acknowledgement by the patient that even if the provider complies with all standards of care (that is, acts non negligently), sometimes complications and bad outcomes can still happen. But when a doctor, nurse, or any other providers of medical services commits medical malpractice, they can’t dodge legal responsibility by pointing to the consent form. A patient never consents to a doctor’s negligence.

Question 15

Can I still find out if my doctor has ever been sued before?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can learn more about your doctor, including information regarding previous medical malpractice lawsuits, on the Georgia Composite Medical Board’s website.

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