Medical Malpractice Attorneys Washington DC

Licensed medical professionals are expected to follow their duties of care in order to provide care to patients through prudent and reasonable practices intended to “do no harm.” Of course, this does not mean that they must guarantee positive outcomes or are accountable for failed treatments, but when a doctor or other medical professional engages in dangerous or risky behavior by using unapproved treatments or making avoidable errors that harm a patient, they are liable for the resulting damages. 

Medical malpractice takes a variety of forms, and trying to understand whether or not you are even the victim of malpractice can be a difficult and complicated first step towards a personal injury claim or lawsuit. Fortunately, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you make sense of your situation, give you a clear understanding of your legal rights and options, and suggest how you move forward with your case.

Contact Balkin & Mausner To Connect With a Medical Malpractice Attorney With Ease

Instead of trying to make sense of your legal options on your own — especially as you try to recover from your medical malpractice injury, seek additional treatment, and get your life back on track — contact our law firm to speak with a lawyer. They will help you understand your situation and build a case on your behalf. Working directly with medical malpractice insurers can be overwhelming and opaque, and knowing that you are working with people who are focused on saving money instead of paying you what you deserve can be frustrating. 

We encourage you to reach out to us as soon as possible to get a firm legal footing right away. Once you know that there is a lawyer willing to do what it takes to get you a settlement or award you deserve, you can stay focused on moving forward from your injuries with confidence. 

Examples of Medical Malpractice

The following are a few of the MANY different ways that a medical professional can engage in malpractice. Whether or not you see the cause of your injuries listed below, contact us as soon as possible to talk about the details of your unique situation with an attorney after we schedule a free consultation for you. 

Diagnosis Errors

Getting a second opinion is very important to ensure that your doctor has made an accurate diagnosis or has not missed something important. However, even a second opinion does not guarantee that you will be diagnosed and treated for the correct issue. A diagnosis failure can result in further harm in many ways. If you or a loved one has suffered from negative health outcomes due to a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose, contact us as soon as possible to connect with an attorney.

Prescription Mistakes

Pharmacists and doctors need a lot of different information before confidently writing a prescription, including things like other medications the patient is taking, medical history, allergic sensitivities, and more. Mixing prescriptions can be deadly, and if a doctor writes a prescription without addressing these risks beforehand, then they may be held accountable for any injuries that a patient suffers as a result.

Surgical Mix-Ups

There are an alarming number of surgical mix-ups in the United States each year, and what should have been a routine procedure can end up altering the course of a patient’s life permanently because of a paperwork error or other avoidable mistake. There is no excuse for a surgical mixup, and a victim is entitled to compensation for the range of damages they suffer.

Improper Treatment Plans

When a medical professional makes an accurate diagnosis but pursues an unapproved or dangerous treatment plan, the patient is at risk of their issues progressing or may find themselves suffering avoidable injuries because of the treatment itself. In either event, choosing a treatment plan that is not approved or recognized in the greater medical community, that ultimately causes harm to the patient, is another example of medical malpractice that may entitle a victim to compensation.

Calculating Damages After a Medical Malpractice Injury

The most important part of a personal injury case is the compensation that a victim ultimately receives, which requires substantial research and calculations before going through a series of negotiations with the liability insurance company representing the at-fault medical professional. Damages come in various forms, including those that have set dollar values (economic damages) and abstract damages that do not have set financial values (non-economic damages). As you can imagine, gathering all of these damages, reaching a clear total, and then defending these calculations through settlement negotiations can be a complex task for even the most experienced attorney — let alone a victim who is trying to recover from their injuries. 

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the basis of a personal injury case and apply to all effects of an accident that have set dollar values associated with them. The most obvious economic damages are things like the cost of medical care after the injury, as well as impacts on the victim’s income. In the event of a fatal medical malpractice injury, there are additional economic damages like the long-term loss of financial support from the deceased and contributions to retirement funds, pensions, 401K accounts, and more. 

Working with a detail-oriented attorney who will go through all of the finer points of your life to ensure that they capture each of these damages accurately and completely is an important step. The reason is that it ensures that you get the money you deserve without footing the financial repercussions of someone else’s negligent behavior.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are the impacts of an accident or medical injury that do not have set or measurable dollar values, meaning that an attorney must use one of a number of methods to assign a dollar amount to them. Common non-economic damages include the pain and suffering a victim must endure from their injuries, as well as the emotional and physiological effects they experience in the aftermath of their injuries. 

As you can imagine, assigning a value to something like “pain and suffering” can be complicated. Still, an experienced attorney understands this process and knows how to reach a clear and reasonable amount to ensure their client gets what they deserve.