South Carolina Medical Malpractice Attorney

If you were injured by a negligent South Carolina doctor, hiring an experienced medical malpractice lawyer is crucial to obtaining justice and letting you focus on getting better. Andrew Johnson has assisted in numerous medical malpractice cases. Although these cases cost a substantial amount of money to litigate, we advance the costs for experts and file review; it costs the client nothing for us to review their case. If you are not sure whether you have a case against a Columbia physician or medical provider, this article should give you some direction. If you are outside of the Midlands, we are happy to travel to you.

What Constitutes Medical Malpractice

Doctors owe a professional duty to "do no harm." Doctors owe a legal duty not to breach what is called the "standard of care." This standard depends upon the treatment being performed, the patient's background, and a multitude of other subjective factors. Ultimately, when this standard is breached and results in an injury to the patient, a medical malpractice case exists.

Three requirements are needed for these cases: there must be a patient relationship, a negligent physician, and injuries that result from that negligence.  Determining the negligence of the physician is the most important step in analyzing whether a case is viable. Once established, the question then becomes, "Why did my doctor not properly do what all other doctors do?"  Getting to the bottom of this question not only allows our firm to obtain recovery to make you whole, but it also allows us to illuminate problems with the doctor, which in turn helps keep other patients safe.

Common Injuries Due to a Negligent Doctor

When a doctor breaches the necessary standard of care, innocent people are put at risk. It does not matter if it is a general physician, oncologist, pharmacist, orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, or any other medical professional: negligence risks lives.

There are many different outcomes to a doctor's negligence. However, below is a non-exclusive list of the most common types of medical malpractice claims and their causes:

• Surgery Errors - Doctors can cause substantial harm by leaving foreign objects in a patient, operating on the wrong part of the patient's body, or causing nerve damage.

• Infections - Cleanliness is next to Godliness; however, when medical professionals fail to use proper sterilization techniques, fail to properly close an incision, or fail to disinfect surgical openings, infections may be severe enough to result in death.

• Anesthesiology Errors - Mismanagement of drugs during surgery is frightening and may either (1) force the patient to feel the cutting/pulling/needles or (2) cause an overdose that results in brain damage or a wrongful death case.

• Misdiagnoses - The timing of a diagnosis could be life or death. If a physician breaches their duty by not properly diagnosing a patient, an innocent life may be lost. Alternatively, an over-eager doctor may misdiagnose and treat a patient, causing irreversible damage to a patient who never needed the prescribed treatment.

• Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect - Nursing homes are meant to help elderly individuals at a time when they are most vulnerable. When assisted living staff members or doctors cause damage to a resident, those professionals should be held liable. The most common injures we see in nursing home cases are pressure sores (bed sores), medication errors, falls, and harm inflicted after a patient is allowed to wander off-premises.

Do I Need an Attorney

This depends. Our evaluation is hands-off for the client so that s/he can focus on getting through the medical hardships s/he is dealing with due to the physician's negligence. Yet, we will always keep the client apprised of the case and review.

Our initial process includes the following steps: Andrew meets with you, he reviews the facts of the case, he obtains the medical records, and he has a medical expert review the evidence and come to a conclusion on liability. The worst-case scenario is that the medical expert determines the evidence fails to show the requisite negligence by the doctor. In this scenario, we always urge the client to continue their search for a differing opinion if they would like. The best-case scenario is that we can prove the malpractice, and we get moving quickly on the rest of your case.

How We Help

We understand that most doctors and medical providers do exactly what they promised to do and what the law requires. Yet, if you or a family member has been injured by a physician, the question is not whether most doctors would have treated you properly; the questions is, "Why did this doctor act improperly and harm me?" Getting to the bottom of this question is our focus and end-goal.

When you hire us, the first thing we do is put the medical professionals and their employer on notice that no evidence is to be destroyed. We request all relevant medical records. We team up with experts to perform a thorough analysis of the facts and evidence. Then we have a discussion with you over the findings and the next steps.

It is likely that you have been waiting for answers or apologies from your doctor, and you have yet to receive any. We don't wait: we act. Give Andrew a call today for a free evaluation of your potential medical malpractice claim.