LOUISVILLE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY

Only an experienced attorney can determine whether you have a medical malpractice lawsuit, which is why our law firm offers free consultations to all potential clients. In general, though, your injuries must have been the direct result of a medical professional’s negligence.

What Is Negligence?

Negligence occurs when a person or entity fails to act reasonably. Nurses, doctors and any other medical professionals who fail to act as any other reasonable member of the medical community would have (e.g., by failing to order standard tests, failing to provide proper follow-up care, etc.) in a similar situation may be considered negligent. If this negligent behavior causes a patient to suffer an injury, the victim may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Example of Medical Malpractice

While giving birth, a woman struggles to deliver her child naturally and her doctor suggests that a vacuum-assisted delivery may be required to move the unborn child through the birth canal. The Louisville hospital’s policy, however, is that delivery vacuums should only be used on infants who are experiencing heart rate abnormalities. Regardless of this, the doctor orders the procedure. The child suffers brain damage from the vacuum’s suction and is later diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

In this case, the doctor could be considered negligent because he ordered a vacuum-assisted delivery – a procedure any other reasonable doctor would have avoided in this instance – when there was no apparent need to rush the delivery. As a result, the mother may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor alleging that his negligence caused her son to develop a debilitating birth injury.

Other injuries that can result from medical malpractice in Louisville include:

• Spinal injuries
• Back injuries
• Infections
• Brain injuries
• Damaged nerves
• Injuries from misdiagnoses or operations on the wrong patients and/or body parts

This will depend on the details of your case. In general, you will take legal action against the person whose negligence caused your injury or, in many cases, their employer.

Hospitals. Hospitals are liable for the actions of their employees. Therefore, if a Louisville hospital employee, such as a nurse or medical technician, caused or contributed to your injury, you may be able to sue the hospital where the medical malpractice occurred.

Doctors. Because doctors typically aren’t hospital employees, you may be able to hold your general care doctor, surgeon or anesthesiologist accountable for his or her actions if you suffered an injury while under his or her care.

Nursing homes. Similar to hospitals, nursing homes are liable for their employees’ actions. Therefore, you may be able to file a lawsuit against a nursing home if an employee, such as a nurse or healthcare aide, acted negligently and caused your loved one to suffer an injury.

In-home health care aides/agencies. In most cases, you will file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the agency your in-home healthcare aide works for, as these agencies are responsible for their employees’ actions; however, you may also be able to file a lawsuit against your healthcare aide if he or she is self-employed.

At Morgan & Morgan, our lawyers may be able to help you file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the person who caused or contributed to your injury and/or their employer. To do so, we may speak with a number of people who can support your claim that the injury could have been avoided if it were not for another’s negligence. We may reach out to witnesses, for instance, who can provide additional information on the cause of your injury.

Furthermore, we may speak with medical experts who can offer insight into whether your doctor or hospital acted in accordance with the medical community’s accepted standards of care. Using this information, we may compile a legal document known as a complaint, which, when filed, officially starts your lawsuit. The complaint will outline the details of your injury, how the defendant is responsible for your condition, and the compensation you should receive.

At any point, the at-fault party (or their insurance company) may offer you a settlement to prevent you from filing your lawsuit or bringing your case to trial. At Morgan & Morgan, our attorneys have years of experience negotiating settlements and can help ensure that any offers you receive accurately reflect your financial needs. If we believe the defendant’s settlement offers are too low, we will take your case to trial. Morgan & Morgan prides itself on being a trial law firm whose attorneys are not afraid to take their cases to court to get their clients the compensation they deserve.

The attorneys in our Louisville office will only receive a fee if they are able to favorably resolve your case. The fee is typically a percentage of your final settlement or judgment.

In a Louisville medical malpractice lawsuit, you may be able to collect compensation for any losses stemming from your injury, including:

• Medical expenses
• Rehabilitation costs
• Household accommodations
• In-home healthcare aides
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium (loss of a family relationship)

The amount of compensation you may be able to collect, however, will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the extent of your injury and whether your own actions may have contributed to your injury.

If you or a loved one was injured after being treated by a doctor when undergoing a surgery or receiving any other type of medical treatment in Louisville, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. For more information on filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact us today.