Experienced Atlanta Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, have a responsibility to make a proper diagnosis and provide quality medical services. When they fail to meet that responsibility and patients are harmed, those victims have a right to seek full and fair compensation. Malpractice cases are complex. Our experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers at Hilley & Frieder, P.C., have been helping clients throughout Georgia with personal injury, medical negligence and medical malpractice claims for over 50 years.

Our Team Pursues All Types Of Medical Malpractice Claims

Our medical negligence and medical malpractice lawyers handle a broad range of medical malpractice claims throughout Georgia, including:

• Failure to diagnose breast cancer: If a doctor has misdiagnosed or failed to properly diagnose breast cancer, then you have a right to seek damages for their serious errors.
• Failure to remove objects: Failing to remove sponges, catheters and other objects left in patients after surgery can lead to infection or worse.
• Failure to diagnose a heart attack: Improperly diagnosing a heart attack can be life threatening.
• Traumatic brain injury: If a surgeon or doctor has inflicted further injury to you or your loved one’s brain, you may have an action for damages against them and the hospital.
• Nerve damage: All too often, surgeons will unintentionally cut nerves or leave instruments behind that cause nerve damage.
• Misdiagnosis: Misdiagnosing any disease can lead to serious injury and even death. Doctors should be held accountable for these negligent acts.
• Surgical errors: Errors in surgery are unacceptable. The stakes are high enough already without a doctor acting negligently.
• Prescription and medication errors: Health care professionals can cause serious harm when they commit a prescription error, overlook a harmful interaction or when they fail to give you clear instructions.
• Birth injuries and obstetric negligence: A delayed C-section, improper use of tools or failure to treat problems in the mother can cause preventable birth injuries to the baby or the mother.
• Anesthesia errors: Giving too much or too little anesthesia, placing a breathing tube incorrectly or missing key health risks may lead to stroke, brain damage or death.
• Gynecological errors: A delayed diagnosis or surgical injury during a gynecologic procedure may qualify as gynecological errors when they result from negligent care.
• ER errors: Not recognizing the urgency of an illness or injury or taking too long to provide care can allow a patient’s condition to worsen quickly.
• Allergy-related errors: A provider may be at fault if your chart lists a drug allergy but they give it to you and you have an allergic reaction.
• Retained surgical objects and preventable surgical injuries: Surgeons sometimes leave sponges, instruments, catheters or other materials in the body after an operation, and these retained objects can cause infection, chronic pain, additional surgery and lasting nerve or organ damage.

These medical malpractice cases can be very complex and expensive. If you are seeking compensation from those responsible for your injuries, you need a team with the ability to analyze all the issues involved and successfully represent your interests at trial.

How Do You Prove A Medical Malpractice Claim?

In a medical malpractice case, the burden of proof rests with the injured patient (the plaintiff). This means that if you file a lawsuit, it is up to you or your lawyer to prove the elements of your case. You will need to prove your case by a preponderance of the evidence, which means that you need to provide clear and convincing evidence. Evidence that can support your claim includes:

• Your medical records and documents
• X-rays and medical test results
• Photographs and videos
• Notes from doctors and nurses
• Signed eyewitness statements
• Testimony from medical experts

Medical expert testimony is often vital evidence for malpractice claims in Georgia. A medical expert can confirm that the defendant named in the case did not do what a reasonable and prudent doctor would have done under the same or similar circumstances, for example. Working with a lawyer can make it easier to preserve, collect and present key evidence to support your medical malpractice lawsuit.

How Do Medical Malpractice And Medical Neglect Differ?

People often use “medical malpractice” and “medical neglect” to mean the same thing. But in everyday conversations, the two frequently overlap.

Under Georgia law, medical malpractice is a form of professional negligence. It occurs when a health care provider delivers treatment that falls below the accepted standard and causes an injury.

To bring this type of claim in Georgia, you generally must establish four points:

• A provider-patient relationship created a duty of care
• The provider failed to meet the applicable standard
• That failure caused or worsened an injury
• You suffered actual damages, such as added medical bills or lost income

A poor result does not always mean a provider was negligent. Some treatments carry known risks, and complications can occur even when the medical team does everything expected.

The broader phrase “medical neglect” often enters the picture when the concern is what did not happen. This may mean a patient did not receive needed treatment or monitoring, staff did not respond to symptoms or no one followed up on abnormal results. The term can also cover a failure to protect someone who depends on others for care and cannot speak for themselves.

Whether the conduct is called malpractice or neglect, the real question is what happened. Your legal options will depend on who was responsible for your care, what they did or failed to do and how it affected you.

Georgia’s Statute Of Limitations For Medical Malpractice

All civil lawsuits must adhere to the statute of limitations, which is a rule that places a deadline by which you must file your claim. In Georgia, you have two years from the date of the negligence to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you do not file within this time period, then the court will dismiss your lawsuit – and you will lose your chance at collecting any monetary damages.

There are some exceptions to the two-year time limit. These include the following:

• If you did not know about the malpractice until a later date, then the state will extend the statute of limitations up to five years after the actual malpractice occurred.
• If you discover a foreign object in your body, such as a surgical instrument, then you have one year from the date that you discovered the foreign object to file your claim.

Georgia does not allow plaintiffs to file medical malpractice lawsuits more than five years after the date of the negligence. It is important to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible to ensure that you meet any potential filing deadlines.

Who Can Be Liable For Medical Malpractice In Georgia?

Medical care rarely comes from one person. A doctor or surgeon may direct treatment, while nurses, an anesthesia team, emergency staff, pharmacists and other providers handle different parts of it.

That also brings the employer into the picture. A medical group, hospital or outpatient surgical center may share responsibility when an employee or agent causes harm while carrying out their work.

Not every doctor who works at a facility is an employee, however. Some are independent contractors, and under Georgia law, the hospital is not always liable for their work. The written contract, notices to patients and how much control the facility kept can all affect the answer.

A hospital or surgical center may still have made mistakes of its own. Poor supervision, unsafe policies or the decision to grant privileges to an unqualified provider may support a separate claim if those choices contributed to the injury.

A medical chart does not always show who worked for whom. We can investigate those relationships and identify the people or organizations that may be responsible.

How Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys Can Help You

You’ve been through enough as the victim of malpractice. Allow our medical malpractice attorneys in Atlanta to take care of the legal process for you so that you can focus on healing. A lawyer can handle issues connected to your case that require legal knowledge and skills, such as filling out confusing legal forms and dealing with insurance companies on your behalf.

A lawyer can also answer your questions and help you understand all your legal options so that you can proceed with better peace of mind. The right medical malpractice lawyer can increase your odds of case success, negotiate for maximum compensation and resolve the matter in your best interests to help you move forward.

Schedule Your Free Case Evaluation And Consultation

Call 404-795-6099 today to discuss your situation with an Atlanta medical malpractice attorney. You can also send us an email through our convenient online form. We offer a free consultation to discuss your options and only collect attorney fees out of any compensation our team recovers for you.