Connecticut Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Medical errors are a leading cause of injury and death. In fact, more than 100,000 die each year from preventable medical mistakes. If you were injured by substandard medical care, you need a legal team committed to seeking compensation for your injuries. Connecticut law holds doctors and other medical professionals to a high standard of care, and patients can receive compensation when these professionals fall short of their professional duties.
Contact Etemi Law to speak with a Connecticut Medical Malpractice lawyer today. We can analyze whether you can sustain a legal claim and talk about possible compensation.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
We have brought malpractice lawsuits for a variety of errors, including:
- Diagnostic errors, such as missed, incorrect, or delayed diagnosis
- Prescription drug errors
- Surgical mistakes, including leaving implements behind or damaging healthy organs in a botched surgery
- Anesthesia errors
- Healthcare acquired infections
- Pressure ulcers
- Failure to obtain informed consent
We can bring a malpractice claim against any professional who treated you, such as:
- Physicians
- Chiropractors
- Dentists
- Nurses
- Surgeons
- Anesthesiologists
- Radiologists
- Pharmacists
- Hospitals
- Health clinics
- Nursing homes
- Pharmacies
What You Need to Prove
Medical malpractice cases are legally complex. Unfortunately, you need to do more than prove you had a poor health outcome. Instead, a patient must prove the following elements:
- Duty of care. You can only sue a provider if they agreed to treat you. Typically, this element is easy to achieve if the doctor, dentist, or other provider voluntarily accepted you as a patient or if you were admitted to an emergency room.
- Breach of duty. Providers must follow the standard of care in the community. Generally, we expect medical providers to provide a level of care that other providers in the area would have provided under similar situations. If the provider can’t meet this standard, they have been negligent.
- Causation. You need to connect the provider’s failure to provide quality of care to whatever injury you are alleging.
Damages. Most medical malpractice results in bodily injuries. Damages typically include more medical care, income loss, and bodily pain and suffering. When the provider’s negligence causes your damages, you have a legal case.
Reach out to a Connecticut Medical Malpractice Lawyer near Hartford, CT for help. The most common disputed issue is whether the doctor breached his duty. The fact that you didn’t get well doesn’t automatically mean you suffered from medical negligence. Some conditions are impossible to fix, and pain accompanies many surgeries. Nonetheless, your provider might have failed to perform their job properly, and a lawyer can investigate.
We typically need to present expert witnesses who can testify about what your provider should have done differently. And to file a lawsuit, Section 52-190a of the General Statutes requires that you submit a “good faith certificate” with your complaint. This certificate states that another provider believes the defendant departed from the standard of care.
Reasons Medical Errors Occur
Medical mistakes are surprisingly common. Some people never know they have been victimized by malpractice. There are many reasons a medical team might fail to follow the correct standard of care, including:
- Lack of training
- Outdated equipment
- Understaffing
- Failure to supervise staff
- Poor data collection systems
- Communication errors
- Drug or alcohol addiction
- Burnout
- Insufficient background checks
Hospitals and doctor’s offices do not easily turn over patient records or a provider’s notes. Instead, you might need to rely on a lawyer to formally request information, as well as possibly interview your provider to find out what happened.
Compensation for Medical Negligence
A provider who fails to follow the correct standard of care ends up harming patients, who typically need additional medical care and suffer intense anguish. We have sought compensation to cover:
- Prescription medication, including pain meds
- Corrective surgery
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy
- Additional testing and blood work
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Income loss
You can bring a wrongful death claim if a loved one dies from a medical mistake. This is a special type of lawsuit certain family members can file in court for losses they have suffered.
Medical Malpractice Deadlines
Connecticut provides a two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases. That is not a lot of time. You could spend years rehabbing a botched surgery and not be aware that you need to hire a lawyer quickly.
The statute works like this: if you go over the deadline, you can’t sue. It’s that simple. The defendant gets to avoid paying any compensation for their mistakes. Consequently, you should schedule a free consultation with a Connecticut Medical Malpractice lawyer just to go over what you think happened.
How Do I Find a Connecticut Medical Malpractice Lawyer Near Me?
Hundreds of lawyers in Connecticut provide representation for victims of medical malpractice. How do you find the right one for you? We recommend searching online and seeing if the lawyer has tackled medical malpractice cases. You should avoid hiring someone learning the law for the first time in your case. Your attorney should also have a proven track record of success obtaining settlements or winning trials.
Please schedule a consultation with our law office. We can explain more about medical malpractice cases we have handled. The best Connecticut malpractice lawyers have broad experience involving a variety of medical errors. Also, ask about the odds of success on your claim.
A lawyer can’t promise any result, but they can discuss how similar cases have settled. This will give you some sense of whether you want to file a lawsuit for your injuries.
Get the Help You Need from Our Connecticut Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Patients and their family members often have many questions. Maybe your loved one went into a hospital and never came back out, and no one can explain what happened. Or you suddenly experienced a bad side effect from a drug, but your doctor doesn’t explain why before switching your prescription. You need answers.
Etemi Law can listen to your story and help analyze the legal issues involved with any claim. Please contact our law firm to schedule a consultation.
