You put a lot of faith in doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other medical professionals responsible for your health. Unfortunately, that trust isn’t always well placed. In some situations, the actions of a medical practitioner may constitute medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice is all too common in the United States. A study conducted at Johns Hopkins found that medical mistakes kill more than 250,000 Americans each year, making it the third-biggest cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer.
Contact Richard Schwartz & Associates if you believe you or someone you know was the victim of medical negligence. Our legal team will analyze your situation for free in a no-obligation case evaluation. If you have a case, we will devote all of our efforts to ensuring that the negligent party is held responsible and that you receive complete compensation.
As one of the larger law firms in Mississippi, we can handle almost any medical malpractice case. Over the past 40+ years, we have obtained favorable settlements time and again.
Why Hire a Medical Malpractice Lawyer?
Do not wait to contact one of our Tupelo, Mississippi, medical malpractice attorneys if you believe that you or a family member has been the victim of medical malpractice. We can thoroughly examine your circumstances in a FREE, no-obligation legal consultation to see if you have a viable case.
If you decide to pursue a claim, we’ll begin an in-depth investigation that will include the following:
Medical Treatment Records
We’ll procure copies of all of your related medical documents, including:
- Doctor’s notes
- Lab results
- Prescriptions
- Hospital admission and discharge forms
We will pursue records regarding the incident or incidents that prompted your malpractice claim. This will assist us in demonstrating that the medical staff who treated you failed to fulfill their legal responsibility to provide competent care.
We’ll get documents from before your accident or illness occurred. This will assist us in refuting the defendant’s likely allegation that your injury was caused by a preexisting medical condition rather than the doctor’s care.
Our attorneys in Tupelo, Mississippi, can also access medical experts who can assist us in reviewing your records to identify all instances when doctors provided substandard treatment and how this resulted in your medical problems.
Hospital Records
We’ll obtain records from the hospital or facility where you received poor medical treatment. Furthermore, to establish a pattern of negligence, we’ll look for prior instances of carelessness at the facility.
Doctor Records
We’ll check the doctor’s or medical expert’s background for any prior instances of severe negligence.
Bills and Receipts
We’ll work with you to gather all receipts and bills for your incurred medical costs, including co-pays, hospital bills, and lost wages.
Personal Accounts of Your Injuries
It’s a good idea to begin tracking the difficulties you’re having due to your medical issues, such as the suffering you’re experiencing, problems with daily activities, and any decrease in enjoyment in various aspects of your life.
Interviews with Witnesses
We’ll look for any witnesses to the incident or series of events that may have caused your injuries. Again, this is critical evidence as we try to settle your claim or pursue your case in court.
The Tupelo, MS medical malpractice lawyers at Schwartz & Associates have significant expertise with Mississippi medical negligence laws and how to apply them. We know who to contact and what questions to ask in order to build a solid case. We understand you’re facing severe medical problems, and we want you to be able to concentrate on your recovery.
Common Examples of Medical Malpractice
Medical mistakes can occur in several settings while a patient is being treated, including primary care office visits, medical procedures, and hospital stays. Medical malpractice can be committed by a variety of medical professionals, including doctors, surgeons, nurses, hospital personnel, dentists, anesthesiologists, and pharmacists.
Failure to Obtain Patient Information
Obtaining information from the patient is one of the most essential aspects of treatment. If physicians do not obtain all the required information, they might put their clients in danger of significant injury. These forms of negligence include failing to:
- Obtain consent from the patient
- Take a patient’s medical history
- Listen to the patient
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors may lead to death, brain damage, or permanent disability. Anesthesia errors include:
- Administering too much anesthesia
- Failing to monitor the patient’s vital signs while they’re under anesthesia
- Failing to intubate a patient properly
- Failing to provide the patient with necessary instructions, such as not eating for a certain period before surgery
Medication Errors
Prescriptions can be essential in treating or overcoming an illness. Medication mistakes, on the other hand, can be very harmful to a patient. Medication errors include:
- Prescribing the incorrect medication or dosage
- Prescribing a drug to treat an ailment that is not on the drug’s label or packaging
- Prescribing a dangerous combination of drugs
- Prescribing a drug that the patient is allergic to
Birth Injuries
A baby’s birth should be a joyous occasion. However, doctors may make poor judgments or fail to take necessary steps, resulting in unfortunate birth injuries. Examples of negligence leading to birth injuries are:
- Failing to observe and act upon indications of fetal distress
- Failing to recommend and perform a C-section at the appropriate time
- Failing to monitor the mother and infant for signs of distress properly
- Failing to recognize problems with the baby’s oxygen supply
- Improper use of tools that aid in the delivery
Misdiagnosis
One of the most critical duties of doctors and other specialists is to detect patients’ health issues. Misdiagnosis errors can include:
- Failing to diagnose a patient’s illness
- Diagnosing a patient with the wrong illness
- Delaying diagnosis of a health problem
- Misinterpreting test results
Surgical Errors
Surgical Errors include:
- Failing to give patients appropriate postoperative instructions
- Beginning surgery without a surgical plan
- Unsanitary actions that cause dangerous infections
- Performing a procedure on the wrong body part
- Damaging tissue, organs, or blood vessels around a surgical site
- Completing a procedure without removing all surgical tools and instruments from inside a patient
- Cosmetic surgery negligence
- Carelessness when implanting a medical device
You have rights if you have been a victim of medical malpractice. Our medical malpractice lawyers can defend your rights and seek appropriate compensation for your losses.
What Are the Mississippi Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice?
Mississippi specifically lays out the medical malpractice statute of limitations in Mississippi Code § 15-1-36. Under Mississippi state law, medical negligence claims must be filed within two years of the day the harm occurred.
If malpractice was not apparent when it occurred, the statute of limitations may begin when the error is discovered. You then have two years from that point to file a medical malpractice suit.
Note that in Mississippi, a patient is not permitted to file a medical malpractice claim for events that occurred more than seven years ago. If more than seven years have passed, the court will not start the two-year statute of limitations over. This is true even if you exercised due diligence and could not have discovered the error earlier.
There are two exceptions to this seven-year limitation. Even after seven years have passed the court may start the statute of limitations over from the day of discovery, if:
- The case involves a foreign object that was left inside a patient during surgery
- Through fraud, the health care provider concealed a medical error.
Are There Other Exceptions to the Mississippi Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations?
The Mississippi medical malpractice statute of limitations law gives a few situations where the filing deadline may vary. One of these is if a patient was younger than six years old when the incident occurred. Under this circumstance, a lawsuit can be filed within two years of the patient’s sixth birthday.
Also, a person who was not mentally competent at the time of the medical mistake has two years from when they regain mental fitness to bring a claim. This exception only applies if the individual’s mind is restored within 21 years of the misadventure.
Talk to a Tupelo, Mississippi Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
If you or a family member has been hurt as a result of your doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional’s mistake in treating you, you may be eligible to file a medical malpractice claim and seek monetary compensation. The Tupelo, Mississippi medical malpractice attorneys at Richard Schwartz & Associates are ready to evaluate your claim, assist you in analyzing your case, and offer suggestions on how to proceed.
