Medical Malpractice

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional or provider fails to provide the standard of care expected in their professional community and causes harm, injury, or death to a patient. This failure can be the result of errors in diagnosis, treatment, aftercare, or health management.

For an incident to be considered medical malpractice, it must involve a breach of the duty of care that directly results in patient harm and results in damages such as physical pain, mental anguish, additional medical bills, and lost work and earning capacity.

A medical malpractice lawsuit holds healthcare professionals accountable for their actions and provides compensation to the affected patients or their families.

Types of Medical Malpractice Cases We Handle

At Swanson Gardner Meyers Cohon PLLC, our reputation for skillfully handling and succeeding in medical negligence and malpractice claims is well-known throughout Washington State. We are committed to advocating for patients and their families who have suffered due to medical professionals' failures to meet the required standards of care. Our dedicated team has over fifty years of experience handling numerous types of medical malpractice claims, including but not limited to:

Who Is Responsible For Medical Malpractice Injuries?

In medical malpractice cases, responsibility for injuries can fall on various healthcare providers and institutions, depending on where the negligence or failure to meet the standard of care occurred. Those potentially liable for medical malpractice injuries include:

• Doctors: Physicians can be held responsible for errors in diagnosis, treatment, surgery, and patient management if their actions deviate from the accepted standard of care.

• Nurses: Nurses may be liable for patient harm resulting from medication errors, improper patient monitoring, failure to communicate significant information to doctors, and other negligent acts.

• Hospitals and Medical Facilities: These institutions can be held accountable for systemic issues such as inadequate staffing, insufficient training, errors in patient records, and lack of proper equipment that lead to patient injuries.

• Other Healthcare Professionals: This includes physical therapists, anesthesiologists, radiologists, pharmacists, and any other medical staff members whose negligence could harm a patient.

• Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Companies: Manufacturers of medical devices and pharmaceuticals can be responsible if their products are found to be defective or have harmful side effects that patients were not adequately warned about.

Determining responsibility in medical malpractice cases often requires a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the injury, expert medical testimony, and a clear understanding of the standards of care for the medical services provided.

How Long Do I Have To File a Medical Malpractice Claim in Washington?

The statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims is a deadline that ensures timely proceedings and fairness in the legal system. It prevents undue delays that could affect the defendant's ability to mount a defense. The specific duration for this period varies by state and the nature of the legal claim.

In Washington State, injured patients and families have three years from the date of the negligent act or omission to initiate a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, if the injury was not immediately apparent, the victim has one year from the discovery of the injury to file. A common scenario for delayed discovery is finding a foreign object left inside the body after surgery, with the filing period starting on the discovery date, not the surgery date.

There are special provisions for minors in Washington, stemming from the 1995 Gilbert v. Sacred Heart Medical Center case. The state Supreme Court decided that minors have until their 18th birthday to file a medical malpractice claim, allowing parents or guardians to file within three years of the incident or discovery or letting the minor wait until reaching adulthood. For wrongful death claims related to medical malpractice, the lawsuit must be filed within three years of the death date.