No one should suffer at the hand of a medical professional, but it still happens alarmingly often. If you’re one of the many victims of medical malpractice, get in touch with a Seattle medical malpractice attorney associated with our firm.

No matter how cordial and intelligent your physician may be, he or she is still human, which means he or she might make costly mistakes, whether due to stress, inexperience, or bias.

While it’s tempting to dismiss a doctor’s errors, you’ll quickly realize that your health won’t simply restore itself on its own—something more is needed.

Luckily, Washington state’s medical malpractice laws allow those who have suffered at the hands of a medical practitioner to receive compensation for the harm to which they’ve been subjected.

To get a sense of what your case may be worth, contact a Seattle medical malpractice lawyer who partners with Craig Swapp & Associates.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice cases can take a variety of forms, which in some ways reflects all that can go wrong during a procedure—or even a regular checkup.

Some examples of medical malpractice in Seattle include the following:

  • Improper Treatment – Doctors should never provide discriminatory or careless treatment to a patient for any reason, although such abuse does happen on occasion. Proving that your doctor treated you differently than he or she would treat an average patient can provide strong evidence of medical negligence for your medical malpractice suit.
  • Misrepresentation of Credentials – Although it’s rare, some doctors have been caught in the past for inflating or completely fabricating their credentials, which represents a form of deceit. If an injury results from this lack of experience, you may have a viable medical malpractice claim on your hands.
  • Failure to Diagnose – Failing to diagnose a disease or illness or diagnosing it as something it was not can lead to liability on the part of a medical professional. If you can prove that receiving the proper diagnosis would have prevented further health deterioration or complications, your case will likely have a better shot at success.
  • Failure to Warn – Should you presented with the option of undergoing a procedure, the physician must explain any potential risks. If the doctor fails to do so and you’re later injured as a result of the procedure, you may be able to argue that you wouldn’t have made the decision to go through as you did, enabling you to sue for damages.

Relevant Laws

The state of Washington has a number of laws pertaining to how and when medical malpractice suits can be filed and litigated. For example, you will want to be cognizant of Washington’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases, which is three years.

A case’s “statute of limitations” is a fancy way of saying the date by which a suit must be filed, which is measured from the day the injury occurred.

Keep in mind that if the injuries emanating from a medical malpractice case are discovered after these three years have already elapsed, you will be given an additional year to file your Seattle medical malpractice claim.

Something else to be aware of is the fact that Washington does not impose caps on the amount an injury victim can recover in a medical malpractice suit, the result of a state Supreme Court decision in the late 1980s.

Because damages are effectively uncapped, medical malpractice victims in Seattle are often eligible to receive as much as they need—a privilege that should not be overlooked.

One obstacle for many who file medical malpractice suits, however, is the requirement that they prove that the physician in question was negligent, which often requires expert testimony. Thankfully, this testimony often simply entails getting a doctor of the same speciality to validate the merits of your complaints.

Overall, there is a lot to consider, which is why we recommend contacting our firm to be put in touch with a medical malpractice lawyer in Seattle when you decide to take a closer look at your options.

Call a Seattle Medical Malpractice Attorney

No one ever expects to sustain physical injury and financial loss because of a medical professional; such harm is precisely what a physician is supposed to help ward off. Nonetheless, some doctors, whether purposefully or carelessly, violate the standards of their profession and harm their patients in the process.

Here’s the good news: If you’ve been hurt by a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional, you are likely eligible to receive relief in the form of compensatory damages.

To get what you need and deserve, contact a Seattle medical malpractice lawyers associated with Craig Swapp & Associates and other trusted partners. Call us at 1-800-404-9000 to schedule a free consultation. Alternatively, you can get in touch by completing the online contact form at the bottom of this page.