Lawrenceville Surgical Error Lawyer

Lawrenceville Surgical Error Attorney

Going through surgery can feel extremely stressful for patients. When you’re out of control of what happens to you, you need to feel like you can trust your surgeon to care for you. Working with a Lawrenceville surgical error lawyer can help protect your rights if you’ve suffered an injury during surgery, whether it was emergency care or a scheduled procedure.

Hire a Surgical Error Lawyer to Fight on Your Behalf

At The Tolson Firm, LLC, our attorneys have over 30 years of experience helping Georgia citizens during their most difficult times in life. As a firm of proud Black attorneys and legal professionals, we’re passionate about changing the lives of our clients for the better.

Our firm offers free case evaluations to those living in Lawrenceville and the surrounding areas in Georgia. When you come to meet with our lawyers, you are treated with empathy and understanding from the first hello.

The Quality of Hospitals in and Around Lawrenceville

Patients don’t have many choices when determining where to receive surgery. If the surgery is a medical emergency, they don’t have any choice. Even when they do, they typically choose the place closest to home that accepts their insurance. Lawrenceville residents have two nearby hospitals to choose from: Northside Hospital Gwinnett and Piedmont Eastside Medical Center.

In 2022, 61 medical malpractice claims were filed per 100 United States doctors, according to a report by the American Medical Association. Knowing your legal rights is crucial in the event you suffer from such a mistake, and understanding common examples of medical negligence can help clarify if your experience might form the basis of a claim.

Deadline for Filing Your Surgical Error Claim in Georgia

Victims generally have two years to file their medical malpractice claim in Georgia, as detailed in the state’s medical malpractice statute of limitations. For residents of Lawrenceville, this can be done at the Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center, located at 75 Langley Drive. However, if you don’t discover your injury until years later, there’s a five-year deadline for filing.

If your injury involves a medical item being left inside you during the surgery, such as a medical sponge or rag, the deadline limit doesn’t apply. In 2023, there were 110 cases of objects being left inside surgical patients. 35% were medical sponges, 10% were guide wires, and 8% were fragments of medical instruments, such as catheter fragments.

While this timeline may seem long, it’s crucial to file as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it can be to prove your side of what happened. Evidence can continue to fade, and your losses may continue to pile up.

Who You Can File Your Surgical Error Case Against

Surgeries typically require an entire medical team to complete. This means that when a surgical error happens, it’s common for victims to file their case against multiple parties. Depending on the circumstances of what happened to you, you may be able to file your case against:

• The nurses
• The doctors/surgeons
• The anesthesiologist
• Paramedics
• Other hospital staff
• The hospital itself

Be sure to hire a surgical error lawyer to help determine who to file your case against.

Punitive Damages in a Surgical Error Case

Punitive damages are a specific type of damage that you may be able to request, depending on the specifics of what happened to you. These damages are awarded to victims when the responsible party acted with extreme malice or negligence. They were designed to further punish the guilty party and deter them from committing similar acts in the future.

Punitive damages generally have a $250,000 limit. However, if the responsible party was acting under the influence of drugs or alcohol or intentionally committed the harmful act, there is no limit to the amount of punitive damages you can request.

Your attorney can help you understand if punitive damages can be requested in your case.

FAQs

What Four Things Do I Need to Prove to Georgia Courts in a Surgical Error Case?

The four things you need to prove to courts in Georgia during a surgical error case start with showing that the responsible party had a legal duty to care for you. Most doctors have a legal duty to care for their patients. You then need to show that they failed to uphold this duty, and their failure directly caused your injuries. Finally, you need to show that your injuries led to a loss in your life, either financial or emotional. The process of proving fault in a medical malpractice case relies on strong evidence for each of these elements.

What Evidence Is Needed to Strengthen My Medical Malpractice Claim?

To strengthen your medical malpractice claim, you need extensive and diverse evidence. Your lawyer can help collect testimony from witnesses and professionals in similar medical fields to give their opinion about what happened. Include photos of your injuries, medical bills and records, and other official documentation. 911 calls and surveillance footage of the incident can help provide clarity to the court. It can be helpful to include a detailed, written timeline of events and your resulting losses.

How Do Courts in Georgia Determine How Much Compensation to Give Victims in a Malpractice Case?

Georgia courts determine how much compensation to give victims in medical malpractice cases by reviewing the evidence provided by both sides and the real losses suffered by the victim. These losses are also called damages and are used to calculate compensation. Economic damages help victims recover compensation for medical bills and lost income due to missing work from injuries. Non-economic damages help victims recover compensation for emotional losses, such as pain and suffering.

How Do Georgia Courts Determine Fault in a Surgical Error Case?

Courts in Georgia determine fault in surgical error cases by assigning everyone involved a percentage of fault. Because these cases are typically shared between multiple responsible parties, those parties only have to pay their percentage of fault. For example, if you win $100,000 in your case, and your surgeon was assigned 80% at fault and the hospital was assigned 20% at fault, they would pay their respective portions of the settlement.

Work With Experienced and Empathetic Personal Injury Lawyers

The Tolson Firm, LLC, understands how difficult life can be after experiencing an injury by a medical professional. Contact our office today to learn how our skilled attorneys can help you. We provide free consultations to new clients living in Lawrenceville and the surrounding cities in Georgia.