Were you harmed because a doctor or healthcare provider made a mistake in South Fulton, GA? Our team at Malone Law is here to help you fight for justice. An experienced South Fulton medical malpractice lawyer can help you fight to hold a negligent doctor responsible for your medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering, and more.
Our award-winning attorneys have been fighting for victims like you since we founded our law firm in 1965. We’re well-qualified to help you stand up to deep-pocketed hospitals and their insurance companies. In fact, we have over 50 years of experience doing just that–and we’ve successfully recovered hundreds of millions of dollars.
If you were injured as a result of medical negligence, don’t wait to get legal advice. Contact or call our law offices in South Fulton, Georgia at (770) 390-7550 to schedule a free consultation today.
How Can Malone Law Help With My South Fulton Medical Malpractice Case?
Patients trust healthcare providers with their lives. When they make mistakes, it’s the patient who is left to suffer the consequences.
Medical malpractice laws exist to provide some protection. They allow us to hold negligent doctors accountable for their actions. While filing a claim can’t restore your health, it can get you the money you need to move forward.
That said, medical malpractice laws are complex for a reason. They impose strict requirements so that only patients who have truly been harmed can take legal action. To satisfy these standards, it’s critical to have the help of an experienced South Fulton medical malpractice attorney.
When you hire Malone Law, you’ll benefit from an AV-rated team that’s been recognized by Super Lawyers and the Best Lawyers in America.
When you hire us, your attorney will:
- Identify your doctor’s mistake
- Determine who is responsible for paying your damages
- Consult medical experts to testify about the medical standard of care and how your doctor deviated from that standard
- Assess the value of your case
- Negotiate with the insurance companies for the best settlement possible
You deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing an experienced attorney is handling your case. Call today to learn more about our South Fulton medical malpractice lawyers and how we can help.
What is Medical Malpractice in Georgia?
Doctors are held to high standards for a reason. One mistake can change the course of a patient’s life forever. That said, not every mistake amounts to malpractice. Medical professionals are only held liable for a patient’s bad outcome when they’re negligent.
Under Georgia law, doctors can be liable for malpractice if someone is injured because they fail to use a “reasonable degree of care and skill.”
What constitutes reasonable care and skill will vary from case to case.
In Georgia, any medical professional can be held liable for negligence, including:
- General practitioners and family doctors
- Surgeons and specialists
- Nurses
- Physician assistants
- Hospital staff
- Anesthesiologists
- Pharmacists and pharmacies
- Diagnosticians
- Hospital administrators
- Hospitals and medical clinics
If you’re wondering whether you have a valid claim for medical negligence, contact Malone Law today. We’ll review your case for free so that you can understand your legal options.
Our Experienced Medical Malpractice Lawyers Handle All Types of Cases
At Malone Law, we handle any type of medical malpractice claim, including those involving:
- Failure to diagnose
- Delayed diagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Family doctor errors
- Medication errors
- Emergency room errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Nursing negligence
- Hospital negligence
- Birth injuries and OB-GYN malpractice
- Urology errors
- Foreign objects left in the body
Hospitals have virtually unlimited resources to fight your claim. Contact us today to learn how an experienced South Fulton medical malpractice attorney can help you level the playing field.
What is My South Fulton Medical Negligence Case Worth?
All medical malpractice claims are incredibly unique. To get a fair sense of your case value, you’ll need to have an experienced lawyer review the details.
When our lawyers in Fulton County are calculating the value of a client’s case, we evaluate:
- The severity of the harm you have suffered
- Whether you will make a full recovery or suffer permanent damage to your health
- Your financial losses, including the increased cost of medical treatment to fix the mistake
- How the injury impacts your earnings
- Any long-term impact the malpractice will have on your work, lifestyle, and quality of life
- Damage to your mental health and emotional well-being
- How the error impacts your family members
More serious injuries generally lead to higher settlements or verdicts, but it’s important to have a skilled lawyer evaluate all of the details before taking any insurance deal.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Victims of Medical Malpractice in South Fulton, Georgia?
“Damages” is the term for the money you receive in a successful case. Victims of medical negligence in Georgia can receive compensation for their economic damages and non-economic damages. These “damages” compensate for the specific losses you’ve suffered.
Examples of the types of compensation you may be entitled to receive include:
- Past medical bills
- Additional medical expenses to treat a worsened condition or new issue
- Lost wages while you recover
- Reduced earning potential if you’ll suffer a long-term impairment
- Nursing care
- Rehabilitation
- Funeral costs in fatal injury cases
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Depression
- Diminished quality of life
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
Our experienced lawyers will help you prove the amount of compensation you’re entitled to under Georgia law.
How Do I Prove Medical Negligence in Georgia?
Medical negligence cases are different from cases involving general negligence theories.
Like your typical car accident case, you’ll have to prove the basic elements of negligence:
- A legal duty of care existed (that’s true if you were a patient)
- A breach of duty occurred
- The breach of duty directly caused some type of harm
- You suffered damages
However, you’ll also have to provide evidence about the level of care you should have received. This element is called the medical standard of care. Establishing the medical standard of care involves asking what a reasonable, trained medical professional would have done under similar circumstances.
At Malone Law, we have relationships with medical experts who can testify about the standard of care in your case. In fact, under Georgia medical malpractice laws, you’re required to include an expert’s opinion when you file your claim for compensation.
Medical Malpractice Can Leave Patients Struggling With Life-Changing Injuries
Medical mistakes can change a person’s life forever. It’s important to evaluate the long-term impact that medical negligence will have on your life.
Some of the potential long-term consequences of a serious medical error include:
- Development of new medical conditions
- A worsened underlying condition
- Infection
- The need for painful, ongoing medical treatments
- Reduced life expectancy
- Loss of your ability to enjoy certain activities
- Nerve damage
- Organ damage
- Amputations
- Paralysis
- Catastrophic injuries
- Sepsis and shock
- Loss of fertility
- Serious depression and other mental health issues
- Coma
- Wrongful death of a loved one
The exact harm that you suffer will depend on many different factors. All cases are different–and our lawyers in South Fulton are here to give you the personal attention you deserve.
What Are the Leading Causes of Medical Malpractice in South Fulton, Georgia?
Medical errors happen for many different reasons, including:
- Failure to order the appropriate diagnostic tests
- Communication and charting errors
- Failure to take a full medical history
- Misinterpreting lab results
- Lab mix-ups
- Failure to monitor the patient before, during, and after a procedure
- Failure to recognize a patient’s symptoms and refer to a specialist
- Mistaken patient identity
- Inexperienced healthcare providers
- Failure to provide proper pre-and post-operative instructions
- Failure to obtain informed consent
Most patients don’t have medical training. You probably have no idea what your doctor should have done–you just know that you’re suffering because they did something wrong. Our lawyers can help you determine what happened.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit After a Doctor’s Mistake in Georgia?
The statute of limitations in Georgia medical malpractice cases is typically two years. Once the deadline passes, the victim forfeits the right to recover compensation.
Medical malpractice cases are different from your ordinary personal injury case, where the clock starts running on the date the injury happened. Malpractice victims often don’t realize the damage has happened until time has passed. The two-year clock thus starts to run on the date you discover or reasonably should have discovered the mistake.
A “statute of repose” also applies to protect healthcare providers. Regardless of when you discover the mistake, you cannot sue for damages once five years have passed.
Yet another exception exists if a foreign object was left in your body. Even if the five-year period has passed, you can sue for damages within one year of the date you discover the object.
Contact a Skilled South Fulton Medical Malpractice Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Cases involving medical negligence are notoriously complicated. You don’t have to handle yours alone call us at(770) 390-7550 or contact our experienced South Fulton medical malpractice lawyers at Malone Law to explore your legal options today.