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Hurt By a Doctor in Alabama? Can You Collect?

by | Oct 21, 2024 | LawCall Q&A | 0 comments

Question:  During my wife’s gallbladder surgery, they tore and then cauterized her liver. Anything we can do? This just happened, so though she is weak and sore, I don’t know how this will hit her long-term.

BILL: Not every medical mistake is malpractice. This is a very tricky area of the law. It boils down to whether this is a known and accepted risk of the procedure.

You know all those waivers you signed? There was probably a stack of papers that was way thick and covered about everything that could 100 of 1 percent go wrong. So, the doctors will say they told you this could happen.

You must prove that the doctor, or nurse, or whomever breached the standard of care. It’s complicated, but I explain it like this: what they did – there was no good reason to do.

I had a lady call me. The hospital had ruptured her colon and her bowels. Here is the most shocking part: the doctors didn’t know it and sowed her back up without fixing the problem. It took about 5 days, and her incision busted. She was in the hospital for 6 months.

We had several experts look at this, and they said, believe it or not, that this was an accepted risk.

Medical negligence cases are the hardest personal injury cases to win by far. You have to prove an extremely high standard of incompetence. The standard is much higher than you have to prove for a person in a car wreck.

Now, this might sound unfair, but if you could easily sue a doctor or hospital, the doctors and hospitals wouldn’t want to go that extra mile to try to help people. As a result, most medical negligence cases require someone to be permanently and catastrophically injured.

I would be grateful your wife, it appears, is going to be ok.

This doesn’t mean you should not talk to a medical negligence attorney. Let me caution you that not every type of attorney knows about medical malpractice cases.

So don’t talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. Talk to someone who knows about this type of case and find out your rights.

CALL BILL

Injured? You can call Bill directly at 251-255-5000. He will talk to you for free.

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