Charleston Medical Negligence Lawyer
People go to the hospital, urgent care clinic, doctor’s office or other health-care facility in hopes of getting better. Unfortunately, for too many people in South Carolina, they end up getting worse — sometimes much worse — due to medical errors and other forms of medical malpractice.
In fact, preventable cases of medical negligence take the lives of nearly 100,000 Americans each year, according to several studies, and roughly 1 million people suffer some form of injury due to medical malpractice. Many more cases go unreported. To put those figures in context, about 34,000 people die in car crashes each year.
If you believe that you or a loved one was injured because of medical malpractice, it is important that you talk to a qualified South Carolina medical malpractice attorney. These cases are usually very technical and require sophisticated expert analysis and review of pages and pages of medical records.
Contact Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers Today
The proven South Carolina medical malpractice attorneys at Joye Law Firm can help you through the stress and confusion that follow an injury due to medical negligence. Respect, compassion and care are what you can expect from our lawyers and staff. Since 1968 we have helped injured people recover not just the money they are entitled to, but also their lives.
Let us help you too. Just Call Joye. You can reach us at (877) 537-1920 or fill out an online form for a free case review.
Joye Law Firm has offices in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, but our medical malpractice attorneys are ready to take care of your case anywhere in South Carolina. We’ve successfully represented clients all over the state, including Florence, Richland County, Orangeburg, Columbia, Horry County (including Conway and North Myrtle Beach), North Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Summerville.
Experience Counts
The South Carolina medical malpractice attorneys at Joye Law Firm have over 110 years of combined experience helping victims of life-changing injuries in South Carolina. Our lawyers have received an AV rating from the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell, and several have been recognized as Super Lawyers.
While every case is different, and past results are in no way intended to imply that a similar result can be obtained in a particular case, verdicts and settlements previously obtained by a law firm are an indication of the firm’s experience when it comes to serious injury cases. For more details about the results obtained for previous Joye Law Firm clients, please click on the Results tab on our home page.
Medical Malpractice in South Carolina
Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional falls short of the standard of care in the treatment of a patient because the medical professional acts or fails to act, resulting in an injury to the patient. Medical professionals can include doctors, nurses, chiropractors, dentists, surgeons, physician’s assistants, pharmacists and more.
In addition to the individual who made the mistake, injured patients can also bring a lawsuit against the hospital, medical practice, clinic, nursing home or other medical institution that employed the at-fault professional.
In order to prove a medical malpractice claim, the injured patient must show that:
- There was a relationship between the medical professional and the patient, giving rise to a duty of care;
- The medical professional breached the duty of reasonable care; and
- The patient was injured as a result of the breach of the medical professional’s duty of care.
That means that it is crucial that the patient suffered some sort of injury. If there was a mistake but no harm, there is no compensable claim. However, in many instances, medical malpractice causes serious, life-changing injuries, and even death.
Some of the damages that an injured patient might be able to recover include:
- Medical costs to repair the damage caused by the negligent act, including future and ongoing medical costs;
- Lost income;
- Pain and suffering, disfigurement, mental anguish and other non-economic damages.
- A spouse’s loss of consortium; and
- Punitive damages (in exceptional cases).
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Injuries due to medical malpractice can take many forms and can happen in almost any setting or context, including emergency rooms, operating rooms, doctor’s offices and more.
Some of the more common types of medical malpractice include:
- Surgical injuries. Some patients suffer injuries when a surgeon performs an operation on the wrong body part or even on the wrong patient. A recent report in the Archives of Surgery revealed that wrong-site or wrong-patient surgeries occur about 2,700 times per year. Surgical errors are still common even when the surgeon operates on the correct patient in the right place, particularly with laparoscopic and bariatric operations. Another common type of surgical error happens when sponges or other instruments are left inside the patient. Malpractice can also occur after surgery when medical personnel fail to properly monitor the patient and provide proper post-operative care.
- Anesthesia errors. Anesthesia is administered so that lifesaving procedures can be performed on patients about 40 million times per year. An anesthesiologist must carefully administer the anesthesia and monitor the patient’s vital signs throughout the operation. Brain injury, suffocation, paralysis, heart attack, coma and even death can result from mistakes in dosage and monitoring. In some instances, improper dosage can allow a patient to “wake up” during an operation, experiencing pain and distress.
- Medication errors. One of the most common forms of medical mistakes, medication errors cause a significant number of injuries and deaths each year. Illegible handwriting and confusing abbreviations sometimes result in medication errors, as can medical professionals’ failure to properly communicate with each other. Another issue is drugs that have similar sounding or appearing names.
- Failure to diagnose and treat in a timely manner. Failure to properly diagnose a serious condition early when the condition is still treatable leads to many preventable deaths each year. Commonly misdiagnosed illnesses include cancer, heart attacks, appendicitis, strokes and pulmonary embolisms. Sometimes diagnostic errors happen because doctors fail to spend enough time talking to patients about their symptoms, other times they are the result of bad communication among the medical personnel themselves.
- Labor and delivery. The birthing process is a dangerous time for both the baby and the mother, and medical mistakes can result in injuries or death for both. Medical personnel present at a birth have a duty to monitor the status of mother and child, and to act quickly when problems develop. If they are negligent, permanent injuries can occur that will affect the child’s life.
- Emergency room malpractice. South Carolina emergency room staffs can sometimes be overwhelmed with patients and become chaotic, inefficient and mistake-prone. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that nearly half of all medical malpractice-related deaths are from ER errors.
Contact Our Charleston Medical Negligence Lawyers Today
If you or someone you love has been seriously injured by medical malpractice in South Carolina, you can trust our dedicated attorneys to get you the money and benefits you are entitled to.
Call Joye Law Firm at (877) 537-1920 or fill out our free online case evaluation form.
