Medical malpractice/negligence
What You Need to Know About Medical Malpractice/Negligence
When a doctor, hospital, or other healthcare provider makes a serious mistake, the consequences can affect every part of your life. Your health, your ability to work, and your family’s sense of security are all affected. At W. Thomas Yi & Associates, we can help you understand your options and fight for the justice you deserve.
What Constitutes Medical Malpractice?
All personal injury claims, including medical malpractice cases, are based upon one premise: an individual has been injured in an event that was someone else’s fault. Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, nurse or other health care provider deviates from the acceptable standard of care in their treatment of a patient.
Medical malpractice cases are some of the most complex and difficult to prove because the person bringing the case must clearly demonstrate that the medical provider deviated from the standard of care and that the deviation was the cause of their injuries.
THE BASICS
Practice Areas We Handle
Medical malpractice is among the most complex and costly areas of personal injury law. Building a winning case takes medical records, qualified expert witnesses, and a command of the differing rules in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Because the Washington metropolitan area spans three jurisdictions, and a physician may live in one while practicing in another, where and how a claim is filed can change its outcome. We investigate what went wrong, secure the medical opinions the law requires, identify every responsible party, and stand up to the well funded insurers and defense teams that routinely fight these claims.
Birth injuries and OB/GYN negligence
Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and failure to diagnose
Surgical errors, including wrong site and wrong patient surgery
Objects left behind after surgery, such as instruments or sponges
Anesthesia errors
Medication and prescription errors, including improper dosing
Emergency room errors
Hospital negligence and improper procedures
Failure to monitor a patient's condition
Laboratory and pathology errors
Nursing home neglect and abuse
Dental and chiropractor malpractice
How we can help
What Makes a Medical Malpractice Claim
Medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider, such as a doctor, nurse, hospital, physician's office, radiology group, or nursing home, fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure causes injury, illness, or death. An unfavorable outcome alone is not malpractice: medicine carries real risk, and not every bad result is someone's fault. Just as a prosecutor must prove guilt, the injured patient must prove liability. In D.C., Maryland, and Virginia alike, a successful claim generally requires four elements.
01
DUTY
The provider owed you a duty of care, which begins once a provider patient relationship is established.
02
BREACH
The provider breached that duty by deviating from the accepted standard, failing to act as a reasonably prudent provider in the same specialty would have acted.
03
CAUSATION
That breach actually caused your injury or illness, connecting the error to the specific harm you suffered.
A minor injury requiring nothing more than a bandage rarely carries enough harm to justify a full claim. Meaningful damages are a necessary part of any case.
04
DAMAGES
The injury resulted in real, compensable harm, such as added medical expenses, lost income, disability, or significant pain and suffering.
BUILDING YOUR CASE
Pure Contributory Negligence
One of the most important, and least understood, features of practicing in the Washington metropolitan area is that all three jurisdictions follow the strict rule of pure contributory negligence. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are among only a handful of places in the country that still apply it. Under this rule, if an injured patient is found to bear even a small share of fault for their own injury, they can be completely barred from recovering any compensation, even when the provider was overwhelmingly responsible. This is far harsher than the comparative negligence systems used in most states, where a plaintiff's recovery is simply reduced by their percentage of fault.
can be enough to bar 100% of a patient's recovery, even when the provider was overwhelmingly at fault.
1% Fault
Insurers and defense attorneys know that establishing even minor patient fault can end a case entirely, and they will look for any opening to do so. Building a case that clearly places responsibility on the provider is central to what we do.
A RULE THAT AFFECTS EVERY DMV CASE
You don’t need to have everything figured out
You don't need to know whether you have a case before calling. You only need to know that you were injured and have questions. We'll listen to what happened on the road, ask focused questions about the accident, and help you understand whether W. Thomas Yi & Associates can help you recover.
Guidance When You Need It Most
Since 1994, W. Thomas Yi & Associates has proudly served the diverse communities of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Our attorneys understand the physical, emotional, and financial weight that a serious medical error places on a family, and we bring decades of personal injury experience to the pursuit of fair compensation for everything you have lost. The clearest way to learn whether your experience qualifies as malpractice is a conversation with an experienced attorney who can review the facts of your case.
We offer every prospective client a free, confidential consultation. As a multicultural, multilingual firm, we can assist clients in several languages so the details of your case are never lost in translation.