Des Moines Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Advocates for Injured Patients Across Iowa
When you visit a doctor, a dentist, a hospital, or any healthcare provider, you have a right to expect quality care. So, when a healthcare provider makes a careless error that harms you, you have a right to full and fair compensation.
At Hope Law Firm, we are determined to help injured patients recover for their losses. Medical injuries require complex proof that establishes causation and the full extent of the harm committed. We have the knowledge, experience, and resources to investigate your medical injury, identify the at-fault parties, and prosecute your case vigorously. If you’ve been seriously injured by a healthcare professional anywhere in Iowa, our Des Moines medical malpractice attorneys are prepared to help. With Hope, you can move forward with your life.
Contact our team today by calling (515) 298-5056. Your initial consultation is free of charge.
What is Medical Malpractice?
When a patient is injured due to a medical provider’s negligence or failure to act, it can constitute medical malpractice. It can help to ask, “Would a different, reasonable medical provider make the same decisions and actions in the same situation?” If the answer is no, then the medical errors in question could be medical malpractice. Defining and understanding medical malpractice is always a challenge, so it is best to explore the situation with the counsel of an attorney.
Types of Medical Malpractice
Essentially, medical malpractice is a breach of a healthcare provider’s duty of care that results in an injury to a patient. In a malpractice case, a provider must commit an act or omission that a reasonably competent practitioner would not.
This can happen in many ways, including:
- Diagnostic error: A doctor can make a mistake about diagnosis, delaying treatment so the patient’s condition worsens. Diagnostic mistakes also cover failing to order appropriate medical tests, misreading test results, failing to observe symptoms, and failing to associate symptoms with the correct condition.
- Treatment error: A doctor can order inappropriate treatment that either is ineffective, allows the condition to worsen, or directly harms the patient in some way.
- Medication error: There are several types of medication errors, including prescribing the wrong drug, filling the prescription with the wrong drug, prescribing the wrong dosage, administering the wrong dosage, and ordering or administering drugs in dangerous combinations.
- Surgical error: No surgery is without risks, but too often patients suffer harm from anesthesia errors, incision errors, wrong-side surgery, wrong-site surgery, objects left in the body cavity, and other avoidable mishaps.
- Postoperative errors: Providers must monitor patients closely after surgery. Postoperative infections are almost entirely preventable when patients receive competent care.
Hope Law Firm represents Iowans who have been harmed by medical doctors, dentists, surgeons, nurses, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, pharmacists, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Causes of Medical Malpractice
Common contributing factors of medical malpractice include:
- Poor Communication: Miscommunication between healthcare providers or between providers and patients can lead to errors in treatment plans, missed follow-ups, or incorrect patient information being recorded.
- Inadequate Patient Monitoring: Failing to monitor a patient properly, especially after surgery or when administering certain medications, can result in complications going unnoticed and untreated.
- Lack of Informed Consent: If a patient is not fully informed about the risks of a procedure or treatment and is harmed as a result, this may constitute malpractice.
- Hospital System Failures: Overworked staff, insufficient training, or inadequate policies and procedures can create an environment where errors are more likely to occur.
- Failure to Follow Up: Not providing necessary follow-up care or ignoring patient complaints after initial treatment can lead to deteriorating conditions that should have been addressed.
These factors often interact, creating situations where multiple failures lead to a harmful outcome for the patient.
Who is Liable for Medical Malpractice?
In medical malpractice cases, several parties can potentially be held liable depending on the circumstances. Here’s a breakdown of who can be held responsible:
- Physicians: Doctors who make errors in diagnosis, treatment, surgery, or patient care can be held liable for malpractice. This includes general practitioners, specialists, and surgeons.
- Nurses: Nurses who provide incorrect care, fail to monitor patients properly, or make medication errors can also be held responsible. Nurses are often involved in direct patient care, so their actions are critical to patient outcomes.
- Hospitals and Medical Facilities: Hospitals can be held liable for the actions of their employees, including doctors, nurses, and other staff. Liability may also arise from systemic issues such as inadequate staffing, poor training, or failure to maintain proper standards of care.
- Pharmacists: Pharmacists who fill prescriptions incorrectly, provide the wrong medication, or fail to warn about potential drug interactions can be held liable for malpractice.
- Medical Technicians: Technicians responsible for conducting tests, such as radiology or lab tests, can be liable if they perform tests incorrectly or misinterpret results, leading to harm.
- Anesthesiologists: Anesthesiologists can be held liable for errors related to administering anesthesia, such as incorrect dosages, failure to monitor the patient, or not accounting for a patient’s medical history.
- Dentists and Oral Surgeons: These professionals can be liable for errors during dental procedures or surgeries that result in harm to the patient.
- Chiropractors and Other Healthcare Providers: Non-traditional medical providers like chiropractors can also be held liable if their actions or treatments cause harm.
- Healthcare Corporations: In cases where a healthcare provider is employed by a corporation, the company may be held liable for the provider’s negligence, especially if the company’s policies or practices contributed to the malpractice.
- Manufacturers of Medical Devices or Pharmaceuticals: If a medical device or drug is found to be defective and causes harm, the manufacturer could be held liable. This is especially relevant if the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings or instructions.
Liability in medical malpractice cases can be complex, often involving multiple parties, depending on the nature of the error and the chain of events leading to the patient’s injury.
How Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers Can Help
Medical malpractice can be difficult to pursue because the defendant often has extensive resources to deny the claim and liability. You could be facing an individual medical practitioner and an entire medical institution, for example. When we work on your case and act on your behalf, you can feel confident that you will be able to stand up to them.
Our roles as your Des Moines medical malpractice lawyers include:
- Investigating your medical care to identify what went wrong.
- Networking with third-party medical experts to get expert testimonies.
- Calculating the full compensation owed to you.
- Filing a demand letter to negotiate a settlement.
- Filing a claim to pursue a lawsuit and litigation if necessary.
- Handling any other issue that arises, so you can focus on resting.
What Types of Damages Can You Recover From a Medical Malpractice Claim?
Suffering an injury or worsened illness due to medical malpractice can be physically, emotionally, and financially costly. The purpose of a medical malpractice claim will be to recover your losses and secure compensation for future harm and complications. As such, the value of your medical malpractice claim will be unique to your situation.
Damages that you may be able to recover through a medical malpractice claim include:
- Past and future medical care
- Specialized therapy
- Lost wages
- Reduced income earning ability
- Pain and suffering
- Costs associated with a permanent disability
- Reduced enjoyment of life
- Shortened life expectancy
Medical Malpractice FAQs
What is the statute of limitations for medical malpractice in Iowa?
In Iowa, medical malpractice claims are subject to a two-year statue of limitations. This date begins when the plaintiff knew, or should have known, about the injury or death. This means that it’s crucial for you to contact an attorney right away if you were injured by a medical professional’s negligence.
Is a “bad medical result” the same as medical malpractice?
A bad medical result, like a treatment not providing the expected benefits, is not automatically medical malpractice. Every treatment has risks of side effects and a chance to fail, even routine care and minor surgeries. If the bad medical result was not caused by a mistake or decision that was caused by inadequate care, then it might not be medical malpractice that can be answered with a civil claim.
Can a hospital be responsible for medical malpractice?
A medical malpractice claim can be filed against a hospital or another medical clinic if that institution negligently hired or employed an unfit medical practitioner. It can also be liable for other reasons, such as incorrectly following the order of triage in an emergency room setting.
How do I report medical malpractice in Iowa?
The Iowa Board of Medicine should be notified of suspected medical malpractice. The Board has the resources and authority to investigate such claims and keep a record of known malpractice. Our Des Moines medical malpractice lawyers can use information from the Iowa Board of Medicine to help build your claim.
Is a delayed diagnosis a form of medical malpractice?
If the correct diagnosis is reached but not until an otherwise avoidable delay occurs, then it could constitute medical malpractice. Doctors have the responsibility to use available diagnostic tests and tools to reach an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible.
Our Recognitions
Trust Our Reputable Medical Malpractice Law Firm
If you’ve suffered serious harm from negligent medical care, our Des Moines medical malpractice lawyers can help you recover the compensation you deserve. Our attorneys have the skill and experience to prosecute your case vigorously.
Schedule a free consultation. Call (515) 298-5056 or contact us online.
Why Hope Law Firm?
See How We Stand Apart
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Thousands of cases successfully handled for our clients.
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No fee until we win & flexible hours to meet your needs.
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We treat you with compassion, honesty, dignity and respect.
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We take an aggressive approach & have a proven track record.