Kansas City Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Doctors and other medical care professionals have a responsibility to ethically and properly care for their patients. Medical malpractice, hospital negligence, and medical negligence laws prevail to keep medical professionals accountable for the quality of their services and care.
There are many circumstances where a patient might need to file a Kansas City medical malpractice claim, from performing medical procedures without consent, misdiagnosis, misreading x-rays, medication errors, birth injury, failure to inform patients of treatment risks or side effects, wrongful death, serious injury, surgical error, or other medical mistakes. Healthcare providers should be held accountable if they decline to maintain a proper standard of care for patients.
Have you or someone you love suffered debilitating injuries or wrongful death due to a doctor’s negligence in Kansas City? Medical malpractice victims have rights, and the Eslinger Law Firm is here to help you understand them. We appreciate how scary medical negligence can be. Still, our medical malpractice lawyers are experienced and unafraid to take on doctors, hospitals, clinics, and any other health care provider for the pain, suffering, and injury they have inflicted on you.
You can go over your legal options with our experienced medical malpractice attorneys. We will fight hard to get you the compensation you need for your well-being and peace of mind.
When a medical professional takes an oath to never intentionally harm a patient, they make a promise to their patients. Patients expect a certain standard of care from any medical professional, meaning that their medical care should never deviate from how other medical professionals would treat them. Sadly, not all healthcare professionals provide this level of care to all patients.
Your medical malpractice attorney can help you recover the financial compensation you deserve so you can cover medical expenses, emotional and physical suffering, and lost wages.
Why Should You File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?
You may be wondering what Missouri’s medical malpractice laws are and why you should consider filing a medical malpractice claim.
Medical malpractice cases happen when a healthcare professional is the cause of an injured patient due to omission or a negligent act such as a misdiagnosis, poorly performed surgery, mistreatment, and more. Patients who suffer a personal injury from a medical procedure typically have life-changing trauma that makes it challenging to continue living normally.
It is imperative to consider hiring a Kansas City area medical malpractice attorney to dispense legal counsel and offer advice on how you should best move forward.
Filing a medical malpractice claim with an experienced Kansas City attorney assures that you get the very best legal advice and representation when fighting against large insurance companies that will try to deny you financial compensation for your injuries.
Types of Medical Malpractice Claims
While any discrepancy from acceptable ethical standards can end in medical malpractice, some claims are more common than others, including:
- Failure to provide adequate treatment: Failing to treat a patient violates their standard of care. This can include failing to order diagnostic tests, providing after-care instructions, releasing a patient too soon, and consulting a patient’s medical records when prescribing treatment or medication.
- Misdiagnosis: When a doctor fails to recognize symptoms, order diagnostic testing, refer the patient to a specialist, identify a disorder or illness, loses test results, mislabels test results, and more.
- Delayed diagnosis: A timely diagnosis is essential in life or death situations.
- Medication errors: A mistakenly prescribed prescription drug can cause symptoms from an allergic reaction to wrongful death. These types of medical errors can include: prescribing the wrong prescription drug, prescribing the wrong dosage, failing to recognize potential legal drug interactions or allergic reactions, failure to identify signs of addiction or abuse, or sending the patient home with the wrong medication.
- Surgical errors: No matter if the surgery is elective or necessary, many policies are in place to keep patients safe. Common mistakes that can happen during surgery include: performing surgery on the wrong body part, performing surgery on the wrong patient, wrongly administering anesthesia, leaving gauze or tools inside the patient, failure to follow up with the patient after the surgery, and failure to properly communicate vital information with the patient or other healthcare providers.
- Childbirth injuries: Devastating injuries that occur before, during, or after birth can be caused by inadequate prenatal care, excessive force when removing the baby from the birth canal, not understanding fetal distress, failure to see the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck, mouth, or nose, failure to carry out a C-section when needed, dropping a baby, and failure to inform the mother that the baby had severe conditions.
- Anesthesia Errors: This is common when a medical professional fails to administer anesthesia at the correct time or makes an error regarding dosage.
- Nursing home abuse: When you send your beloved family member to a nursing home, you expect a high standard of care and compassion, not serious injury, illness, or even wrongful death.
- Wrongful death: Medical malpractice happens when a healthcare professional is negligent and the patient is harmed. Wrongful death occurs when someone dies as a direct result of said negligence, inaction, or mistreatment.
How a Missouri Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help You
If you or someone you love has suffered pain and suffering due to Kansas City medical malpractice, you should immediately contact a malpractice attorney.
At the Eslinger Law Firm, our Kansas City personal injury lawyers can go through the details of your case, determine who is liable, and help you recover damages for your suffering.
You could be compensated for medical bills, lost wages, and other devastating losses. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Kansas City can also prevent another person from being injured by a reckless physician, nurse, or hospital.
Building a Medical Malpractice Case
The first important variable to all medical malpractice cases is determining a relationship between the patient and the doctor. Typically patients have documented visitation records with their primary physician.
In cases where a specialist is involved, a consent form and paperwork mark the beginning of the doctor/patient relationship.
To create successful medical malpractice suits in Kansas City, you and your lawyer may need to determine the following:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Damages
- Evidence that negligence resulted in patient injuries
Typically, medical malpractice happens when a medical professional injures a patient by failing to utilize their skill and training. Medical malpractice can mark a challenging time for patients, some of whom may suffer life-altering injuries and whose quality of life dramatically suffers.
Victims of medical malpractice have suffered at the hands of someone they trusted completely. The healthcare provider who was negligent or reckless does not typically let the patient or their family know of their failure. In many cases, the patient or family has a sense that something is not right.
Our medical malpractice attorneys often file cases against healthcare professionals like:
- Hospitals
- Healthcare facilities
- Nursing homes
- Doctors
- Physician’s assistants
- Nurses
- Nurse practitioners
- Therapists
- Surgeons
- Pharmacists
Confirming that negligence occurred can be challenging without the assistance of an attorney. We will examine your claims and gather evidence that supports your medical negligence case.
Medical malpractice lawsuits place a significant burden on the patient to produce actual evidence of medical negligence, while the at-fault medical professional can easily retain a professional colleague to defend and justify their actions. Your Missouri medical negligence attorneys must have enough relevant medical knowledge and experience in wrongful death and malpractice cases to determine if malpractice occurred, and if you have sufficient grounds to file.
It’s essential that you hire a professional law firm as soon as you can; they will ensure that any relevant evidence that proves the medical professional is at fault is preserved and not destroyed or altered. On top of that, your attorney may order third-party tests to help verify your claims in your malpractice suit. If the case involves wrongful death, your attorney may request a copy of the autopsy.
How to File a Medical Malpractice Claim
According to Kansas Statute § 65-4901, anyone can request a medical malpractice panel to oversee medical malpractice cases.
Within 180 days of the request, the panel will serve written endorsements on whether the medical professional deviated from the Kansas City, MO standard of care. Their judgments will be used at trial, and the members can be asked to testify in court.
When we file a malpractice suit, the patient also must file an affidavit of merit within 90 days, which must also contain the assessment of an experienced healthcare provider who recognizes that medical professionals have deviated from the standard of care.
Statute of Limitations on Medical Malpractice Cases
In Kansas City, CO, a patient has two years to file a malpractice claim, with the discovery rule being a significant exception.
The discovery rule determines that a patient may be able to have their statute of limitations delayed if they were unaware that they had received negligent medical treatment. For example, if a surgeon left a tool in the patient during surgery, it may take several years to be discovered.
Typically, a patient must file a claim within two years from when the malpractice occurred or the discovery of negligence occurred.
Contact Our Medical Malpractice Law Firm Right Away
Depending on the circumstances of your claim, you may be limited in the time you have to take legal action.
At the Eslinger Law Firm, our Kansas City, MO attorneys work on a contingency basis. We are prepared to take medical malpractice action by independently investigating and collecting evidence related to your case to determine how the malpractice happened and who is liable.
We will mediate to seek a fair settlement that reimburses any medical bills, expenses, and wage loss that have resulted from your injuries. We are also prepared to file a suit to fight on your behalf if the insurance company is unwilling to offer a fair settlement.
If you have determined that you or someone you love are victims of reckless or negligent treatment from a medical professional, reach out to a skilled legal team with considerable experience with medical malpractice cases. Our personal injury attorneys have been successful in seeking fair compensation for victims of medical neglect.
A significant part of your case involves excellent attention to detail and adhering to the statute of limitations, regulations, and requirements to avoid having your case dismissed.
By hiring the Eslinger Law Firm, you have assured representation that is proficient in medical malpractice laws so you can feel confident that your pain and suffering will be justly compensated—all you need to do is rest and recover from your illness or injuries.
After a medically traumatic event, you should only worry about focusing on your health and the prosperity of your loved ones while we do the hard work.