MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Health care providers, including physicians, nurses, chiropractors and other providers, can—and do—commit malpractice. In a Harvard Medical Practice Study, first published in 1991, it was estimated that there were 80,000 deaths per year in the U.S. attributable to medical malpractice. Incredibly, this same study determined that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the patient never realized that they had been negligently treated, and that fewer than 5% of negligently treated patients ever filed suit!

Medical malpractice may occur in a wide variety of cases. The most common examples include:

• birth injury or death due to negligent obstetrical care
• inappropriate medications or medication administration or dosage errors
• failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis of life threatening conditions—such as cancer or heart disease
• negligently performed surgical procedures
• performance of unnecessary tests or surgical procedures
• wrong surgery on the wrong patient
• failure to properly monitor patients post-operatively
• failure to timely diagnose or properly treat infections
• failure to refer a patient to a medical specialist
• errors in administration of anesthesia or analgesia
• incomplete or cursory emergency room examination or treatment
• nursing home or convalescent hospital negligence, such as inadequate care leading to bed sores, malnutrition or death

The medical malpractice specialists at Hackard & Holt have decades of experience evaluating and litigating medical malpractice cases. Every potential claim is fully and carefully investigated, evaluated and reviewed—by physicians, and by attorneys who have specialized in the trial of medical malpractice cases. The firm's goal is to aggressively pursue to trial or successful resolution clearly meritorious claims of medical malpractice, as well as nursing home or convalescent hospital negligence or elder abuse.