General Medical Malpractice Resulting in Catastrophic Injury or Death

Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor or other healthcare professional causes injury, sometimes resulting in death, to a patient because of a negligent act or a failure to act that does not conform to medical standards. Contact MUELLER LAW for a free consultation about your case. Medical malpractice takes many forms and may include a failure to diagnose, a misdiagnosis, surgical error, procedure error, prescription or medication error, failure to read or negligent interpretation of diagnostic scans and tests or the failure to prevent or treat infection. The following cases from around the United States (not handled by MUELLER LAW) are examples of medical malpractice:

• Misdiagnosis or Failure to Timely Diagnose
• Prescription or Medication Error
• Surgical or Procedure Error/Complications
• Failure to Order, Read, or Interpret Diagnostic Scans and Laboratory Tests
• Failure to Diagnose or Properly Prevent or Treat Infection

Unfortunately, medical malpractice is a serious issue in the United States. A 2008 study of Medicare data by HealthGrades estimated that nearly 200,000 hospitalized patients died from potentially preventable medical errors each year. A 2006 Institute of Medicine study found that medication errors harm at least 1.5 million people every year. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that 7 percent of patients failed to receive notification about significant clinical findings in medical test results. In spite of these numbers and instead of concentrating on reducing medical errors, supporters of so-called “tort reform” have succeeded in imposing mandatory limits on the damages available to individuals injured as a result of medical malpractice. Because lobbyists paid for by doctors and health care organizations as well as insurance companies have been successful in falsely persuading state legislatures that medical malpractice law suits and not medical errors are responsible for the rise in healthcare costs, unfortunately the really bad law and bad press have made it ever more difficult for injured patients and their lawyers to obtain fair compensation for life-changing injuries and in pursuing justice for people seriously injured by medical malpractice.