QUESTION
I am inquiring on the type of attorney I should contact and how to start a malpractice negligence suit.
Asked on Feb 01st, 2012 on Medical Malpractice - California
More details to this question:
I was a victim of a violent crime, I was transported to a local hospital. Where I only had an x-ray(s) of my nose and discharged after a few hours, was told I only had a broken nose. Was given minimal restrictions, I went to work the Monday morning, that night I went to another ER hospital where they immediately admitted me and told me I had multiple facial, skull, & orbital fractures, as well as a broken jaw. I had to endure a 7 hour reconstructive surgery of my face. I feel the first hospital was very negligent and over looked my injuries. which could have been life threatening. what do I do from here! please help me.
1 ANSWER
I am sorry to hear about your situation. You need to contact a local medical malpractice attorney who does plaintiff's work. Most attorney's do not charge for a consultation and getting an appointment should be fairly easy. Start calling around and bring your medical records with you. If you don't have your medical records yet, you may want to go ahead and request them from both of the hospitals. Medical malpractice laws differ in each state and a local attorney would be able to advise you best. However, please note that you must have pretty severe damages in order to pursue a medical malpractice/negligence case. Here, while it is unfortunate what happened and seems as if the first doctor misdiagnosed you, I am not sure if there is enough for medical malpractice. What you would need is additional damages as a result of the first doctor failing to give you the correct diagnosis. Example: if you would have had to have the same surgery at the first hospital, had the doctor diagnosed you correctly, then you probably don't have a strong enough claim. But, as I stated, you should probably start calling around attorney's offices who handle medical malpractice claims in your area. Good luck.
NOTE: This response is general in nature and should not be considered legal advice. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information.
Answered on Feb 06th, 2012 at 2:10 PM