Columbus Medical Malpractice Lawyer

At some point in your life, you will likely seek medical attention. For individuals living in Columbus, Georgia, that attention may come from a local hospital system like Emory Healthcare or Piedmont Columbus Regional. However, disasters can occur, resulting in injury and death. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed while seeking medical attention, a Columbus medical malpractice lawyer can help.

When an incident of medical malpractice arises, it is vital that you seek the assistance of a legal professional who can help you hold the liable physician and hospital system accountable for the actions that led to your injury or the death of a loved one. In some cases, this may look like inaction that kept you or your loved one from receiving necessary medical care.

At The Tolson Firm, LLC, our proud Black attorneys are here to guide you through every step of the legal process surrounding medical malpractice cases and ensure you receive justice and compensation.

If you have suffered an act of medical malpractice at Emory Healthcare, Piedmont Columbus Regional, or any other medical facilities in the area surrounding Columbus, Georgia, the legal team at The Tolson Firm, LLC is prepared to fight the good fight in order to see you recover the damages you have been made to sustain.

The laws surrounding medical malpractice cases can be intricate, and involved insurance companies will try to place you at a disadvantage. Don’t let them. Instead, work with our personal injury attorneys who can stand by your case and work to ensure you receive the most favorable outcome possible for your unique situation of medical malpractice.

Defining Medical Malpractice in Columbus, Georgia

Residents of Columbus, Georgia place their trust in their doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers every single day. These professionals have received training and are held to a specific level of care or standards of ethics when they treat patients. Unfortunately, these standards are not always met. When this happens, incidents of medical malpractice become more likely. Every year, thousands of victims are injured or killed due to medical negligence.

In Georgia, all medical professionals are held to the same reasonable standard of medical care. This standard is measured by how another professional might treat a patient with the same or similar kind of medical condition or situation. An act of medical malpractice typically arises when there is a deviation or movement away from the accepted level of care practiced widely within the medical community. These deviations can happen in a number of ways, including:

• Surgical errors. In cases where a surgical injury is the cause of medical malpractice, the doctor who performs the surgery must have failed to follow the proper procedures or standards of care, and the surgery error itself must have been the cause of harm sustained.

Common surgical errors can include cutting a nerve, cutting in the wrong location of the body, operating on the wrong location of the body, performing unnecessary surgery, error in anesthesia, leaving a tool or surgical instrument inside the body, puncturing an organ during surgery and failing to fix it, and not asking the patient for a full and complete medical history.

• Failure to treat. When a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional fails to take the necessary actions or measures in order to treat or successfully diagnose an individual illness, which results in further injury to the patient, this is considered to be a failure to treat or diagnose.

The most common examples of a failure to treat or diagnose include the diagnosis of an illness based on inadequate or inaccurate test findings, a failure to order or complete needed tests or medical procedures, the failure to send a patient to a specialist when the need arises, not informing an individual of all the treatment alternatives available to them, and delaying a diagnosis or treatment when the medical condition requires swift action.

• Birth injuries. In most cases, birth injuries arise during the labor and delivery of a baby. These injuries can be devastating and lead to lasting damage and even death of the mother, the baby, or both.

Common instances of birth injuries can include brain damage to the baby, nerve damage to the baby, broken bones, newborn jaundice, vacuum extraction issues or complications, intrauterine fetal demise, Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), injuries to the spinal cord, kernicterus, Erb’s palsy, or cerebral palsy.

• Misdiagnosis. Often, the most common kind of medical malpractice seen in Georgia is a missed diagnosis or incorrect diagnosis. A missed or delayed diagnosis can often lead to the patient suffering further harm or ineffective and improper treatment, which, in some cases, could lead to death. A doctor who has received the necessary treatment to diagnose a patient’s condition should be able to do so if the patient is suffering from the disease.

The misdiagnosis of a patient can often cause situations of extreme danger, leading to severe injury and even death, especially in situations where the patient has been prescribed the incorrect medication or treatment for an illness they are not actually suffering from.

• Defective medical device installation. In certain medical malpractice cases, parties outside of your medical care professionals may be held liable for the injury caused. If a patient receives a defective or malfunctioning medical device, they can run the risk of suffering incredible amounts of harm if the device does not perform the functions it is designed to carry out.

This can include certain blood-clot prevention devices or IVC filters, which can malfunction and spread into the patient’s bloodstream, causing them to suffer catastrophic harm and even death. In other cases, a device may simply fail to deliver the promised advantages or benefits, causing the condition of the suffering individual to worsen.

• Medication errors. On a national level, nurses are required to stick to the regulations and guiding principles of medical administration so that the medication they are offering their patients is administered in the correct dosage, to the required patient, at the necessary time, and via the proper mode of administration.

Common examples of medication errors can include giving the wrong medication to a patient, which can result in serious harm and further illness, or administering an excessive dosage to the patient, which may result in further damage or even death. Unfortunately, these errors are quite common and widespread throughout the healthcare community.

How The Tolson Law Firm LLC Can Help

No one seeks medical attention and expects to become a victim of medical malpractice. However, these situations happen all the time, and in the unfortunate circumstance that this happens to you, it is wise to be aware of your rights. When you work with the team at The Tolson Firm, LLC, we can be here for you every step of the way throughout your medical malpractice case.

Our record of success helps you fight for your rights as the victim of medical malpractice. We can obtain your medical records and healthcare bills in order to gather and analyze any evidence present in your case. We can then help you file the necessary paperwork for your medical malpractice case and enter into negotiations with the at-fault party, the hospital system, their legal teams, and the involved insurance companies.

Keep in mind that the involved insurance companies will not work in your favor and will most likely try to offer you a lowball settlement amount with the hope that you will take it out of desperation and an urgent need for financial recovery. Don’t fall for this unfair treatment. Instead, work with the team at The Tolson Firm, LLC, and let us protect your rights to maximum compensation and justice after suffering at the hands of a negligent or reckless medical professional or hospital system in Columbus.

Damages Typically Recoverable in Medical Malpractice Cases

There are several kinds of damages you may be eligible to recover in cases of medical malpractice in Columbus, Georgia, depending on the nature and severity of the harm you have suffered. The most common forms of compensation seen in medical malpractice claims can include the following:

• Lost wages due to an inability to work
• Reduced earning capacity in the future due to temporary or permanent disability from injuries
• Diminished quality of life
• Loss of consortium or the enjoyment of life
• Pain and suffering
• Costs of any medical bills, current or anticipated, for future related treatment
• Mental anguish
• Emotional distress
• Punitive damages, in rare cases where the liable party has been found to have acted in a particularly egregious or grossly negligent manner
• Wrongful death damages

When you work with an attorney from The Tolson Firm, LLC, we can review the details of your case and the bills incurred from the harm you have suffered and work to calculate the value of your overall medical malpractice claim.

Have You Suffered Due to Medical Malpractice? Contact The Tolson Firm, LLC

If you or a loved one has suffered from an act of medical malpractice at Emory Healthcare, Piedmont Columbus Regional, or another local hospital or medical facility, the team at The Tolson Firm, LLC is here to help. Our highly skilled and professional Black injury lawyers can assist you on the road to recovery and help ensure you are given the tools and finances needed to get back on your feet. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.