Biloxi Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Medical malpractice concerns both patients and healthcare providers. Patients worry about receiving subpar care, while more and more medical professionals feel pressured to practice defensive medicine to avoid a lawsuit. The anxiety over medical malpractice is not without basis — negligence by doctors, nurses, surgeons and other practitioners can lead to severe, even life-ending injuries or conditions. In fact, the Institute of Medicine reports that more than 100,000 patients die annually as a result of medical errors and even more suffer non-fatal conditions.

When malpractice does occur in Biloxi or elsewhere in Mississippi, our Biloxi medical malpractice lawyers move swiftly to provide victims with award-winning representation and personalized counsel. Our firm recognizes your need for recovery, and we could work tirelessly to help you obtain the compensation you deserve.

What are the Duties of Medical Professionals?

Every person who visits a doctor, dentist, nurse, or other medical professional has the right to receive competent care. More specifically, state law requires medical providers to act with a degree of skill and care that a reasonable health care professional would provide under similar circumstances.

As a result, there is no direct definition of medical malpractice for every situation. Rather, malpractice occurs when a medical provider does not take every appropriate action to provide the best possible care. A Biloxi attorney could collect evidence to prove a healthcare provider made an error due to insufficient care.

Common Types of Medical Malpractice in Mississippi

Injuries resulting from medical malpractice can range from mild to fatal and include birth injuries, wrongful deaths and emergency medical errors. Consider the following medical negligence categories and their potential effects:

• Surgical errors—Negligent mistakes by surgeons, such as careless pre- or postoperative planning or errors made in the operating room can cause a patient undue pain, injury, distress and even death.
• Misdiagnosis/failure to diagnose—Doctors are responsible for thoroughly examining patients and taking complete medical histories. If a patient suffers because a doctor fails to diagnose an illness correctly or at all, the doctor may be negligent.
• Medication errors—If doctors make mistakes prescribing, dosing or administering drugs or combine medications that produce dangerous drug interactions, they can be found negligent. Additionally, a pharmacist who incorrectly fills or distributes a prescription could be liable.
• Failure to monitor—A physician who fails to monitor the condition or recovery of a patient could easily miss warning signs of complications, especially those that worsen rapidly. For example, a patient who develops a dangerous blood clot following surgery could die without timely detection and treatment.

If you or your loved one is the victim of medical malpractice, you do not have unlimited time to file a lawsuit. For community hospitals, the statute of limitations is one year, and for private hospitals, the statute of limitations is two years making it important to contact a Biloxi medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.

Requirements For a Claim

Prior to filing a medical malpractice claim, you should speak with a skilled lawyer. An experienced attorney can explain that to prove medical malpractice, you must show that you and the defendant had a doctor-patient relationship, that the defendant acted negligently and that the negligence caused you actual harm. To establish negligence, you or your Biloxi medical malpractice attorney must show that the defendant deviated from the standard of care for the medical community and, in doing so, caused your injury.

Expert Witness

Due to the complexity of modern medicine, a person without medical training may not be able to understand exactly why malpractice occurred. For example, a failure to provide a correct combination of drugs after a stroke may be beyond a normal person’s understanding.

As a result, lawyers in Biloxi handling medical error claims need to work with a qualified medical expert to form their cases and explain their arguments to a jury. Working with these experts is a requirement to bring a case to court. According to Mississippi Code Annotated §11-1-58, a plaintiff cannot file a complaint in court alleging medical malpractice unless that complaint includes an affidavit from his or her attorney that they have consulted with an expert and there is a good faith to bring the claim.

The purpose of a medical wrongdoing case is to collect the compensation needed to make an injured patient whole again. This requires a complete examination of how a person’s life has changed as the result of the malpractice.

Recoverable losses are separated into two categories. The first is economic damages. These include the costs of additional medical care, future medical needs, and any lost wages or other out-of-pocket expenditures related to the professional misconduct. The second is non-economic damages. These include pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring and disfigurement. A Biloxi attorney could help injured patients evaluate their losses and demand proper compensation from negligent medical providers.

Are There Medical Damage Caps in Mississippi?

The cap for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases is $500,000. Therefore, if a jury finds the doctor or hospital guilty of medical malpractice, the maximum amount of compensation you can receive for pain and suffering is $500,000. This cap does not apply to past medical expenses, future medical bills, lost wages or reimbursement for any limitations on your ability to earn a living because of the medical mistake.

Have you suffered an injury due to possible doctor negligence, and do you need to speak with a Biloxi medical malpractice attorney? We can help. After a serious personal injury, financial loss or insured loss, you need a lawyer who knows how to present your best case in court. We can begin to evaluate your case today.  To schedule your free initial consultation, call today. We serve clients in Biloxi, Gulfport, and throughout Mississippi.