Injury Attorneys Oregon

Medical Malpractice Attorneys Oregon

Injury Attorneys Oregon

Medical Malpractice

A Leading Medical Malpractice Law Firm in Oregon

If you have been the victim of malpractice, please call our Oregon medical malpractice attorneys for help. For years, Andersen & Linthorst has been dedicated to helping men, women, and children who were victims of the careless actions of medical professionals. Through our due diligence, we’ve successfully recovered millions of dollars in both settlements and verdicts. If you have been injured at the hands of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional, let us be your advocate and voice. Call Andersen & Linthorst today to get an honest opinion about your case. 

Understanding Medical Malpractice in Oregon

When any medical professional or facility causes harm to a patient, and that harm was done by negligence, carelessness, or wrongdoing, it may be considered malpractice. For example, if you underwent a surgery, but were given too much anesthesia, and was directly harmed by this action, you may have grounds for a case. Examples of medical malpractice include:

• Misdiagnosis
• Misreading or ignoring test results
• Medication errors
• Failure to treat
• Premature discharge
• Poor aftercare
• Surgery errors
• Disregarding a patient’s history
• + More

Medical Malpractice Laws in Oregon

In order to file a medical malpractice claim, you will need to demonstrate the following:

The standard of care was breached. By law, all medical professionals must adhere to certain standards. If they fail to do so, and a patient is harmed, it may be a violation of care. 

Negligence caused the injury. Once the standard of care can be proven, it will be up to our Oregon medical malpractice attorneys to prove negligence was a factor. Furthermore, that the patient would not have been harmed had the negligent action taken place.

The injury caused losses. It must be shown that the injury caused harm and significant damages, including medical treatment, lost wages, pain and suffering, and so forth. 

There are Statutes of Limitations

If you are considering pursuing compensation for your injuries, you should not delay in consulting with our firm. As soon as you call us, you can expect to ask you questions like:

• When did the procedure or treatment take place?
• When did you realize your injury or harm?

These two questions should give us some insight into whether or not a claim is pursuable. In general, medical malpractice victims have two years to file a claim. The exception may be when the victim is under 18, the injury was not immediately noticeable (perhaps even for many years), or a healthcare worker attempted to conceal the injuries. When a government entity is a potential defendant, the statutes of limitations is much less. 

Many people don’t call a lawyer. This is because they didn’t think about it, assumed they didn’t have a claim, or were told by doctors that the mistake was inevitable (or impossible to avoid). Delaying legal action can only add hurdles to the process. Not only can it take longer to reach a settlement, but evidence can be destroyed. Regardless of what you think, or have been told, you should not assume anything until you speak with our medical malpractice attorneys in Oregon. 

What You Should and Should Not Do

Once you decide that legal action is possible, we would recommend that you DO the following:

• Keep a detailed journal of your pain, medical visits, injuries, and anything else related to the case. 
• Take as many pictures as possible and as often as you deem necessary. 
• Get copies of your entire medical record, and make extra copies of it. 
• Follow all of your doctor’s orders. 
• Contact a medical malpractice lawyer

Please DO NOT:

• Take fault for anything
• Accept blame or apologize
• Accept an under the table offer
• Attempt to negotiate a settlement on your own
• Sign or agree to anything without letting a lawyer view it
• Talk about what is happening on social media

What Forms of Compensation Are Available? 

Following a medical malpractice incident, three primary forms of compensation might be available depending on your case. Contact Oregon medical malpractice attorneys today at Andersen & Linthorst for help, and review the three types of compensation below:

What Are Economic Damages?

The first form of compensation you might be eligible for is economic damages. You can more easily calculate economic damages as they often carry a specific dollar amount. Examples of economic damages may include the following:

• Current and future medical expenses, including—but not limited to—operations, physical therapy, modifications to your home, hospital stays, and prescriptions.
• Lost wages, as an incident, may leave you unable to work for an extended period of time. It’s also possible to obtain job rehabilitation if an injury leaves you unable to work at your old job. Disability benefits are also possible.
• Out-of-pocket expenses like transportation costs to getting to your doctor appointments.

What Are Non-economic Damages? 

With the help of medical malpractice attorneys in a lawsuit, there are simply some things you can’t put a price-tag on. While there can be raw data for calculating your future medical expenses, putting a dollar figure on factors like pain and suffering is much harder. Your attorney will look at similar cases in your area to try to find a dollar amount for possible factors like:

• Emotional distress, including developing PTSD
• A blow to your self-confidence
• Inability to maintain relationships or reduced sex drive
• Temporary or permanent disfigurements

While compensating for these burdens can’t reverse the damages someone suffered, it can ease the process.

What Are Punitive Damages? 

Economic and non-economic damages are designed to make victims feel “whole and complete.” Punitive damages, however, are designed to punish the perpetrator and can even be used as a way to deter similar actions from similar parties. A victim receiving punitive damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit is rare, but not impossible. Typically, to receive punitive damages, you must be able to prove that the other party exercised extreme negligence or malice. For example, if it can be proven that a physician knowingly prescribed the wrong treatment or if a facility knowingly used outdated or defective equipment.

Why Do You Need an Attorney to Help?

Trying to prove that medical malpractice happened can be extremely tricky. Even if it seems like you have all of the evidence in the world, it’s important to note that hospitals and other medical facilities likely have a strong legal team. They may try to use tactics like saying you had a preexisting condition. Or they simply will offer you a settlement that doesn’t begin to cover all of your medical expenses, let alone account for factors like pain and suffering. An attorney will help ensure you obtain the compensation you deserve.

Will My Case Go to Trial?

While trials make for great television, the truth is that most personal injury and medical malpractice claims are settled outside the courtroom. Simply put, going to trial will cost both sides precious time and money. Additionally, the courtroom can be unpredictable. You may go in with what you believe is a “slam-dunk” case only to lose. A qualified attorney isn’t afraid to show up to the courtroom. An experienced attorney understands how unpredictable the court can be and will strive to get you a fair settlement outside the court. Contact medical malpractice attorneys today at Andersen & Linthorst.

Where Can Medical Malpractice Be Reported?

If medical malpractice leaves you or a member of your family injured, you will likely want to seek damages. You will also want to hold the responsible party accountable and wonder if you should report an act of malpractice to a specific organization or institution. It’s also important to seek damages and to hold the responsible party accountable to help prevent these unfortunate circumstances from happening to any further individuals. Reach out to Andersen & Linthorst for assistance with reporting medical malpractice and to get a potential case started.

Make a Report To Your State’s Medical Complaint Board

It is tempting to believe that any complaint about a medical professional will fall on deaf ears or disappear within the bureaucracy of your state’s medical complaint board. Still, it is vital to file a report about medical malpractice to ensure you get the damages you deserve if you decide to file a lawsuit. You will probably not receive a response, but your complaint will remain on record and may even inspire action or sanctions against a provider who is the subject of repeat offenses.

Contact The Joint Commission

The Joint Commission, established in 1951, is the nation’s oldest standard-setting and accrediting body for healthcare organizations. Its goal is to promote safety and accountability for patients from a wide range of providers, including:

• Hospitals
• Home care organizations
• Laboratories
• Out-patient surgical facilities
• Behavioral health organizations

The Joint Commission welcomes feedback and investigates patient safety complaints against organizations it accredits.

Leave a Review on a Consumer Website

Official government investigative agencies will not release details about your experience to the public. Therefore, in addition to filing a medical malpractice complaint with a government organization, you may choose to report and rate your experience on any of a wide variety of consumer health services websites. Although you will not instigate an official investigation of a healthcare professional or organization responsible for your injury or negative outcome, you can use these platforms to alert others about your experience and potentially prevent someone else’s negative experience.

Notify a Medical Malpractice Law Firm

If you or your loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, you may experience betrayal, anger, sadness, and confusion. As a result, you may not be in the best position to make decisions that are in your best interests. The best course of action is to contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Oregon who can guide you forward about reporting your experience to the appropriate organization and ensure that you file a complaint within your state’s statute of limitations. Having an experienced professional or professionals guide you can be the difference between receiving damages and not. It can also be the difference between having the best chance at the responsible party being held accountable to the highest degree and not.

Contact Andersen & Linthorst to help guide you forward about how to report an act of medical malpractice and begin the process of regaining your life.

Call Andersen & Linthorst to Learn More

A person who has suffered serious injury or death as a result of the fault or carelessness of a medical provider might have a medical malpractice claim. This does not mean, however, that all health problems are evidence of medical malpractice. Malpractice occurs only when a physician fails to exercise that degree of care, skill and diligence used by ordinarily careful physicians in the same or a similar community. For example, if a doctor fails to diagnose a condition that later becomes incurable because it was not detected in its early stages, or surgically operates on the wrong body part, or fails to inform the patient of important laboratory results, this may be malpractice. If you believe you are the victim of medical malpractice, contact us for a free interview to review the case and determine your rights.