Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Torrance

Were You Injured Due to the Negligence of a Medical Practitioner? Learn About Your Options Today.

If you have been injured due to mistakes made by a healthcare provider, we can help. You may have had every reason to trust this person with your health, but that trust was misplaced.

Factors of medical malpractice to keep in mind, include:

• Medical mistakes are a widespread cause of injuries and deaths, according to the American Association for Justice. Those injuries may cause lifelong disabilities and medical treatment.
• The Institute of Medicine's study of preventable medical errors estimated as many as 98,000 people die every year due to these mistakes at a cost of $29 billion.
• Human error accounts for 80% of medical malpractice incidents.
• If the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included preventable medical errors as a category, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in the country.
• The Congressional Budget Office found that there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence in 2003.
• HealthGrades, the nation's leading healthcare rating organization, found that Medicare patients who experienced a patient safety incident had a one in five chance of dying as a result.
• The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that one in seven Medicare patients are injured during hospital stays and 180,000 patients die.
• One in three Americans say they or a family member has experienced medical error.
• According to the Journal of Patient Safety, between 210,000 and 440,000 patients will suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death.

Medical malpractice occurs when:

• A healthcare professional breaches the standard of care when treating a patient.
• The standard of care is the generally accepted procedures and practices that all healthcare practitioners in the area would use when treating a patient suffering from a specific disease or ailment.
• This breach must directly cause injury to the patient for the patient to have a valid medical malpractice case.

Hospital & HMO Employees Nurses Could Commit Medical Malpractice.

If a patient is injured due to the negligence of a hospital employee, the hospital is liable if that employee acted negligently while acting in the scope of his or her employment.

A doctor may or may not be a hospital employee depending on the relationship between the two parties. Most doctors are not hospital employees but are independent contractors, which means that the hospital cannot normally be held responsible for the doctor's medical malpractice, even if the malpractice happened in the hospital.

The doctors and medical professionals HMO's employ have duty to provide reasonable medical care. These organizations and their licensed medical professionals can be held liable for medical malpractice.

Any medical professional, including nurses, not treating patients up to the applicable standard of care could be sued for medical malpractice. In many instances, nurses are the ones providing most of the care to patients, not doctors. Since they have many more interactions with patients, there are far more opportunities to make mistakes.

Pharmacy Malpractice Can Result in Serious Injuries and Death.

If a pharmacist fails to properly fill a prescription, he or she may be liable for the resulting injury or death.

Claims for pharmacy liability normally arise when a pharmacy fails to uphold the proper standard of care when filling and dispensing prescription drugs, including:

• Giving the wrong drug to a patient.
• Failing to realize a patient's drug allergies.
• Failing to recognize and prevent potential drug-drug and drug-disease interactions.
• Failing to recognize an incorrect dosage and take steps to avoid harm to the patient.
• Failing to properly counsel a patient regarding potential side effects, risks, and proper usage of a prescription medication.

Birth Injuries Result in Lifelong Disabilities.

Injuries to newborns caused by medical malpractice can be catastrophic. If the birthing process is not handled properly, oxygen can be cut off to the newborn resulting in brain damage that cannot heal. Types of birth injury medical malpractice can include:

• Failing to anticipate birth complications with a larger baby or due to the mother's health.
• Failure to respond appropriately to bleeding.
• Failing to observe or respond to umbilical cord entrapment.
• Failure to respond to fetal distress (including irregularities in the fetal heartbeat).
• Delay in ordering cesarean section (c-section) when medically appropriate.
• Misuse of forceps or a vacuum extractor during delivery.

If you or a loved one may be a victim of medical malpractice, contact AgnewBrusavich by calling (310) 793-1400, so we can review your situation and propose the best options for you to seek compensation for your injuries. There is a limited time to file these types of legal claims so do not delay.