Fighting For Medical Malpractice Victims in Charleston
We turn to the medical community in times of the greatest need — in times of birth and times when our lives are threatened. Unquestionably, doctors and medical professionals are some of the best and brightest people in our society. That said, they are humans and even the best make mistakes. Medical errors are just part of the truth of life. Our medical system is too often motivated by profit and pushes people for long hours, overworking them, decreasing communication, and patient care quality.
When this happens, the outcome can be disastrous. When people are injured or killed due to malpractice, such as injection errors or improper practice, they should never have to shoulder the burden alone. While the civil justice system cannot undo these tragic events, it can provide malpractice compensation that allows people to heal, recover, and elevate the quality of life as best as possible in their wake.
A Law Firm With More Than 50 Years of Combined Experience
If you or someone close to you has been seriously injured because of physician negligence or medical malpractice in or near Charleston, Huntington, Beckley, Parkersburg, Morgantown or throughout Kanawha County, our personal injury attorneys at Johnstone & Gabhart, LLP, are ready to bring more than half a century of combined personal injury experience to obtain the accountability, justice, and compensation you deserve.
Surgical Errors
Our attorneys handle a range of errors in surgery, including anesthesia errors, medication errors, mistakes made by surgeons or staff in the emergency room, and other related claims. Even with the new technologies such as the DaVinci robotic surgical devices, errors still occur. Unfortunately, those errors can also bring on more pain, more suffering, and more medical expenses.
Failure to Diagnose & Diagnostic Errors
Medical malpractice cases do not just involve actions taken by a physician or other medical professional that harm or kill a patient. When these professionals fail to diagnose a condition in a timely manner or they misdiagnose it, the results can be just as serious.
When a doctor does not spot obvious signs of cancer, heart disease, or other serious health concerns, the problems usually become much worse. The challenging part of misdiagnosis medical malpractice claims is determining whether the doctor’s negligence actually caused increased problems for the victim, and determine the degree of these increased complications.
An early and accurate diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. It is key to being able to successfully treat many types of cancer, such as those involving the colon, breast, lung, and skin. Even heart attacks are sometimes incorrectly diagnosed, especially among women, for whom the symptoms can be very different than those traditionally associated with a heart attack. Failure by a physician or other medical personnel to recognize that someone has suffered or is suffering a heart attack can be a deadly error.
While diagnostic tools have become increasingly sophisticated, we still have to rely on human beings to read them, understand them, and act on the findings. Misreading X-rays, mammograms and other diagnostic tests can be fatal to a patient. Even misreading or failing to fully read something as simple as a patient’s medical chart can lead to a misdiagnosis or lack of diagnosis.
Injuries In Nursing Homes
When elderly nursing homes and assisted living residents suffer malnutrition, bedsores, and other serious problems, it is usually a clear sign of malpractice, negligence, or abuse from the nursing home staff. We can protect your rights in a nursing home injury claim.
Protecting Clients From Catastrophic Medical Malpractice in Charleston
When inattentiveness, carelessness, elder abuse, or negligence creep into reading and interpreting reports, pre- and post-operative procedures, and other processes, the outcome can be catastrophic. We encourage you to get in touch with a Charleston medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible if you believe you have suffered an injury due to any medical malpractice.
How to Document Medical Malpractice in Charleston
It takes hard work and thorough preparation to file a successful medical malpractice claim in West Virginia. As an injured patient – or as the loved one of someone killed by medical negligence – it is important to understand your role in how quickly your case is resolved and how positive the outcome will be.
Document Everything: We Will Guide You to Success
Medical malpractice victims deserve to work with attorneys who are committed to building the strongest case possible. Building the strongest case possible, however, requires having all the information and medical proof necessary to support your claim. This is accomplished by:
- Obtaining copies of your medical records
- Keeping a record of all conversations you have with your doctor
- Documenting the reason for each visit
- Keeping track of your symptoms and subsequent treatment
- Having your medical record reviewed by an independent physician
- Constant monitoring of your medical condition
Be sure to keep all of your information together and well-organized.
Providing accurate, informative reports about your medical care to your West Virginia medical malpractice attorney can be a great way to improve your chances of a favorable outcome. Please download our Medical Treatment Diary form to assist you in documenting information about a potential medical malpractice claim.
Why Is Careful Documentation So Important?
West Virginia requires medical malpractice victims to prove that the actions of his or her health care provider fell below an acceptable level of care. The court will look to see if the care a patient received fell below the standard that is expected of a reasonable, prudent physician given the circumstances. He or she must also demonstrate that the failure to provide an acceptable level of care contributed to an injury or death.
This is a high standard to meet, especially since doctors who know they did something wrong are unlikely to admit to that fact. As a result, it falls onto other medical professionals to analyze your symptoms, treatment, and care to determine if your injury was caused by medical negligence. Providing neutral physicians with detailed medical records, conversations, and other important information is essential in building your case. The more information you have, the easier your case will be.
Why Johnstone & Gabhart Malpractice Injury Attorneys?
As Charleston medical malpractice lawyers, we have helped malpractice victims with many different types of medical malpractice cases. We understand that a medical malpractice lawsuit is not the same as most other types of personal injury claims. In a medical malpractice case, your personal injury lawyer needs to know just as much about your medical injuries as they know about the legal issues behind other types of personal injury litigation such as those that arise from car accidents.
When medical providers make a mistake, it takes a healthcare professional, an expert, to help prove the mistake and how you’ve been affected by it. We work with medical experts who will act as expert witnesses and can testify to the causes and effects of your injuries in a malpractice case.
From birth injuries to surgical errors or a mistake made by an anesthesiologist during surgical procedures, we deal with malpractice claims in all medical practice areas. Our team will do everything in our power to make sure that you and your family members are taken care of. We believe that once a doctor-patient relationship is formed, you, as the patient, are owed a high standard of care, and if that standard is not met, you should be compensated for any suffering that results.
Speak To Qualified South Carolina Medical Malpractice Attorneys
The attorneys at Johnstone & Gabhart, LLP are experienced Charleston medical malpractice attorneys and understand that the legal process can be overwhelming and confusing. Our job is to simplify everything so you can focus on your recovery, rather than worry about your case.
We’ll cut through all the legal red tape, negotiate with the insurance companies, argue with the opposing legal team, and let you do what’s important, work on getting well, and getting on with your life. We’re proud to say that we’ve helped many in the Charleston, SC area do just that.
If you believe you have been the victim of medical malpractice injuries that occurred in the Charleston area or anywhere else in South Carolina, you can contact us anytime online through our contact form or call 866-495-9423 to set up a confidential and free consultation.
We’ll go over the details of your case and give you a full case evaluation. From there, we’ll discuss exactly what we can do and give you our honest legal advice about moving forward with your malpractice claim.
