Minneapolis Medical Malpractice Attorney
Medical malpractice frequently results in devastating injuries or the death of a patient. National statistics have recently shown that during the past decade, more than 225,000 patients per year have died as a result of medical negligence:
- 12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery
- 7,000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
- 20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
- 80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
- 106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs
Medical malpractice may occur in a variety of ways:
- A delay or failure to diagnose a disease
- A surgical or anesthesia-related error during an operation
- Physician failing to gain the consent of the patient
- Physician failing to properly treat the disease
- Misuse of prescription drugs or medical device
A medical malpractice claim is really another form of personal injury claim, and is based upon the same principles. In order to win in a medical malpractice action, the patient must prove that the doctor or other health care provider was negligent.
A bad outcome in a surgical procedure does not necessarily mean that the doctor was negligent. In order to prove negligence, it must be proven that the outcome was not a reasonably foreseeable complication of the surgery or procedure. Proving negligence of a doctor requires another doctor to testify regarding the violation of the standard of care (the doctor’s negligence).
In addition, you must be able to prove that the doctor’s negligence was the cause of your injury (or a family member’s death). This, too, requires the testimony of another doctor.
Therefore, in order to investigate whether or not you have a valid claim, it is necessary to collect all of your medical records. Your records must then be thoroughly reviewed by both the attorney and a medical professional. Once the review of your medical records is completed, Minnesota law requires that the outside expert who examined your file, must state, under oath, that the treating doctor or hospital, failed to meet the standard of care, and that their failure has resulted in an injury.
Unfortunately, this process is expensive, and therefore, many people who have been injured due to medical mistakes never file their claims. However, if you, or a family member has been seriously injured or killed as a result of a medical mistake, contact one of our attorneys to discuss the merits of your claim.
The attorneys at Terry, Slane & Ruohonen are skilled, dynamic litigators with years of experience in medical malpractice cases. Our partners have been named Super Lawyers many times by Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine. Contact us today at 612-362-0000.
