Greenville Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Greenville Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Complications after a medical procedure are stressful, draining, and often painful. But if the difficulty you are enduring was caused by a doctor’s incompetence, you deserve to know if you are owed compensation.

A doctor’s carelessness or lack of training or skill sometimes causes harm instead of healing, and a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose can lead to worsening symptoms and sometimes irreparable damage. If you’re dealing with medical challenges caused by your doctor, it’s time to look into the possibility of a medical malpractice claim.

We often put our trust in medical experts to provide care, surgery, or general advice. When our expectations of doctors and medical experts fall short, we are often left with recurring injury or no solution due to negligence, shortcuts, or medical wrongdoing. At Christian & Christian Law, our firm believes that you should have the right to fair compensation from medical malpractices.

Our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers will fight for compensation no matter your age or how big your case is. We want all affected individuals to receive claims from any medical shortcuts. There are multiple cases we’ve already won, so you can put your trust in our 100+ years of combined experience.

Types of Medical Malpractice Cases

Our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers cover a wide range of challenging and complex medical malpractice cases, including:

• Birth injuries (shoulder dystocia, cerebral palsy, etc.)
• Emergency room errors
• Failure to diagnose a heart attack or stroke
• Misdiagnosis of any condition or illness
• Complications developing from an improperly executed medical procedure
• Surgical errors, including foreign objects left in patients’ bodies after surgery
• Medication mistakes in nursing homes, hospitals, and neighborhood pharmacies
• Traumatic brain injuries resulting from medication errors

We’ve helped our clients recover millions of dollars in financial compensation from medical malpractice cases. No case is too small, and we’ll leave no stone unturned in our fight to bring justice to victims of medical malpractice. Please contact our team today to schedule a free legal consultation. Let us fight for the compensation to help you and your family get back on track.

Why Do I Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer?

Too often, people mistakenly believe that they’ll save money in their claim by skipping the lawyer. This is almost always not the case. People who take on their claims alone usually receive many times less in compensation than people who retain a lawyer. This is often because the right attorney can protect the value of your claim.

• Our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers have the knowledge to investigate the circumstances in your case to identify all at-fault parties. They also have the ability to establish crucial connections to show that malpractice occurred and harmed you. This is called causation, which is necessary to winning your claim. Showing causation when you lack experience in medical malpractice claims and aren’t sure what to look for can be confusing and difficult.
• An experienced lawyer will avoid the traps insurance companies use to get out of paying you compensation. These manipulations include finding ways to blame the patient for their condition, so the insurance company is not responsible for your damages.
• Turning over communications with the insurance company to our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers is one of the best ways to protect your claim from being damaged. Your attorney will know what to say and what not to say when providing a statement for your claim.
• Your lawyer has the experience to set an accurate value for your claim, based on the facts of the accident investigation and your damages. Getting your claim’s value correct ensures you can request maximum compensation.
• When you hire a lawyer to handle your medical malpractice claim, it tells the insurance company they must take your claim seriously. They’ll know they cannot ignore you, delaying or denying your medical malpractice claim, because refusing to offer a fair settlement will get them sued.
• Your attorney can provide guidance when settlement offers arrive. This is extremely helpful, as it removes the stress that comes with not knowing whether you should accept an offer. You’ll know which offers are worth looking at and which you can just pass up. And when you hire the right lawyer, you aren’t vulnerable to the mistake of jumping at a lowball offer, because you don’t have to — your lawyer is capable of taking your claim to trial, if necessary. Having this option gives you legal leverage in settlement negotiations. It also gives you the capacity to take your case to the next level and go to trial if you must.
• When you hire the right attorney, you can rest and focus on recovery. You don’t have to figure out how to win a medical malpractice claim against a big insurance company. You’ve got a professional to handle that for you.

Millions of Dollars Recovered

When our attorneys handle medical malpractice cases, we offer more than our legal skills. We are here to help protect your rights in the aftermath of medical mistakes.

Medical professionals take an oath to protect above all else, but when negligence causes you harm, you need someone looking out for you. Our firm has helped recover millions of dollars for victims of medical malpractice in the Darlington, Greenville, and Florence area and we may be able to help you. Don’t face your case without the skilled representation of our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers on your side.

When “Do No Harm” Fails and Patients Suffer

Click here to read more about medical malpractice on our blog. [https://www.cclawfirm.com/categories/medical-malpractice]

Christian & Christian Law assist people with personal injury matters in the following locations: Anderson, Clemson, Easley, Fountain Inn, Greenville County, Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville, Spartanburg, and Travelers Rest.

How You Can Protect Your Claim

Even before you find the right medical malpractice lawyer, take the steps below to protect your claim’s value from the very start.

Be Your Own Advocate

It’s often tough for people to second-guess their doctor or medical professional. They worry about feeling silly, looking stupid, or angering “the expert.” But a truly excellent doctor will welcome questions and encourage open communication. If you’re getting push back or feel bullied when you ask questions, there’s a problem.

Your doctor should prepare you for what to expect regarding your condition and its treatment. This includes the recovery experience and expectations of recovery time and ‘normal’ pain or discomfort levels. You’ll need this information so you know when to alert your medical team that something may be wrong.

No matter how great your doctors are, you’ve still got to be your own best advocate. After all, you are the only person in the room experiencing your present condition from within your body. You have the right to ask questions and communicate concerns.

When you communicate with your medical team, there’s nothing wrong with thanking them for their time, but don’t apologize for asking questions. You are the patient, and their job is to help you understand what’s going on. Make a list of questions you want to ask, be as concise as possible in stating questions and concerns, and write down the answers you receive so you can refer to them later if necessary. Having these notes will also be helpful should you end up moving forward with a medical malpractice claim in the future.

Stick to Your Treatment Plan

Following the treatment you were given to help you recover from your condition is extremely important. It helps you gain traction in your recovery, and it can also protect the value of your claim.

If you ignore your treatment plan, the insurance company can use this against you.

Take, for example, a person with a hip injury who is advised to rest, attend physical therapy, and refrain from all strenuous activity until cleared by the doctor.

If an insurance investigator catches this person on surveillance video going to ballroom dance lessons, the insurance company can accuse the patient of disregarding their treatment plan. If they then hit a roadblock in recovery, the insurance company will be more than happy to blame the patient instead of the severity of the accident. They can suggest that if the patient had followed instructions and rested their hip, they’d have made a full recovery.

This is how disregarding your treatment plan can put the value of your claim at risk. Protect the value of your medical malpractice claim by following your treatment plan.

Don’t Allow the Insurance Company to Record Your Statement

We’ve noted the helpfulness of allowing your lawyer to handle all communications with the insurance company. This is something you are allowed to do even if you have yet to hire a lawyer. You can — and should refuse to provide a statement until you have legal counsel.

If you try to give the insurance company a statement on our own, you are opening yourself up to the likelihood of being manipulated into saying something they can use against you. Insurance adjusters are well trained in conducting these interviews. They ask the same questions in numerous ways, angling for answers they can use to lower the value of your claim. They use answers that contradict each other in any way to suggest you are being less than truthful in your claim (translation: maybe you’re faking it).

Speaking to the insurance company is a verbal minefield. Your best bet is to delegate all communications to your Greenville medical malpractice lawyers.

Don’t Put Off Hiring an Attorney

We’ve mentioned that it’s okay to turn down the interview with the insurance company until you have an attorney to handle communications for you. This is one of the reasons hiring our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers as soon as you are reasonably able to is important. You’ll be able to hand off calls about your claim to someone who knows all the tricks the insurance company is going to throw at you.

Another reason it’s crucial to retain a lawyer early is to allow them to begin an investigation as quickly as possible. If you were harmed by malpractice during a medical procedure, it may be possible to locate evidence that would otherwise be lost or thrown out. And the sooner your lawyer can speak to witnesses, the better. These may include a nurse or physician’s assistant, who probably sees hundreds of patients a year and may assist with dozens of the same type of procedure. If this person remembers information pertaining to your claim, your lawyer will want to speak to them as quickly as possible.

Long before you need to worry about the filing date for a medical malpractice claim, you can strengthen your claim by giving your SGreenville medical malpractice lawyers the earliest possible start in building your case.

Make Sure Your Lawyer Is the Right Fit

Not all lawyers can bring you the same results in your medical malpractice claim. That would be like believing any surgeon could perform your eye surgery with the same results. Make sure you choose an attorney whose practice area focuses on personal injury. In addition, they should be a trial lawyer with a successful history of winning medical malpractice claims.

While most claims are settled around the negotiating table, some must go before a jury to bring you the compensation you deserve. If your medical malpractice claim is one of those, you’ll need a lawyer who can win your claim in front of a jury.

South Carolina Medical Malpractice Client Story

We are sharing a client story below to help you know what to expect in a medical malpractice claim. Please read it through, as the information is helpful, even though names and details have been changed to protect client privacy. When you’re done, please reach out to schedule your free legal consultation to talk about your claim.

On a warm day in October in Greenville, South Carolina not so long ago, Kaleb Werner’s wife Leah squeezed his hand and kissed his forehead. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, soothingly. “You’ll be back before you know it.”

Leah made her way to the surgical waiting room as her husband was prepped for surgery. It was 6:45 a.m.

They told her he should be done and out of recovery in three hours, tops. Determined to be available as soon as he was out, she sat in a chair in the waiting room corner and worried. She knew it wouldn’t help, but she seemed unable to stop herself.

This was Kaleb’s second surgery in six months. They’d thought her husband’s intestinal surgery had been a success back then. He’d had a hemicolectomy to remove a piece of his colon where cancer had been detected. The doctors told them it was localized and there was an excellent chance of removing it all if they took out a relatively short section of Kaleb’s colon.

The recovery had been rough, and her husband had been in a lot of pain, but the doctors were confident the operation had been a success. That is, until Kaleb got sick again.

Well, they’d called it again, but in Leah’s opinion, he’d never completely recovered from the first surgery. The first few days were roughest, but even ten days after surgery when he was back home, he’d complained of nausea and stomach pain.

She’d brought Kaleb back to the same doctor twice for his symptoms. Each time, the doctor seemed unconcerned. At first, she’d found it reassuring that Kaleb must not have anything serious to worry about. After the second time, they’d been sent home with instructions to cut out acidic and spicy foods, however, the apprehension crept in.

Then three days ago, Kaleb broke into a cold sweat and began throwing up. She’d brought him to the emergency room, and here they were.

Nothing had shown up on scans, but Kaleb had a raging infection. They’d kept him in the hospital, administering antibiotics as they prepared to operate again. Leah twisted her hands, lost in her worry. Kaleb was only 63. He was much too young to leave her. She smiled, thinking about how their friends teased them for being so “lovey dovey” after 30 years of marriage. But she knew it was real. They were happy. Truly happy.

When Leah checked her phone and realized it was 10:45, she went to the nurse’s station and asked for information. The nurse clicked her keyboard for a minute, then she smiled reassuringly. “Mr. Werner is still in surgery. If you’d like to wait in the surgical waiting room, the doctor will meet with you when surgery has been completed.”

“How could he still be in surgery?” Leah asked, completely confused.

“I’m sorry, that’s all I know,” the nurse said apologetically.

It would be almost two more hours before the surgeon found Leah asleep in the corner, propped awkwardly on an arm that had gone numb. She shook it out as the surgeon brought her up to date, barely noticing the painful pins and needles as the circulation returned. What she heard brought her to the law offices of Christian & Christian Law.

“A clamp!” she sputtered, pacing behind her husband’s chair in Attorney Harold Christian’s office. “How on earth does a doctor forget a clamp?” Her hands twisted together until her knuckles gleamed white. Kaleb reached for her as she passed and caught her sleeve.

“Please sit, dear. You’re making my neck hurt trying to see you pacing behind me like a caged cat.”

Leah sat down with a sigh. “You could have died!” she said to him, wiping angry tears from her cheeks.

“Please, neshama sheli,” Kaleb said. “I am here with you now, and this nice man is here to help us.”

How much does it cost to hire a lawyer?

He turned to Attorney Christian with an apologetic smile. “Before we go too far into this, I need to know what it costs to hire your firm.”

“Of course,” said Attorney Christian with a smile. “Our firm works on a contingency-fee model, fronting all case expenses from beginning to end. You pay nothing out of pocket as we go. When your case is over, we only receive payment when we successfully resolve your claim.”

“You don’t need money now?” Leah blinked in disbelief.

“Nope,” said Christian. “And this free consultation is just that, so ask away.”

What is my claim worth?

Kaleb took his wife’s hand. He was still gaunt after surgery, but his color was better, and he was slowly regaining his strength. Time would tell whether he’d have lasting repercussions from the damage the clamp had done. In the months it had been in his body, it had caused internal bleeding and eventually the dangerous infection that had brought them to the emergency room.

“How much is my claim worth, in your estimate?” he asked.

“Our firm takes the assessment of your claim’s value very seriously,” Christian said. “We begin with a thorough investigation of what happened, then we carefully assess your damages.

“To determine your damages, we’ll need to wait until you’ve reached maximum medical improvement. This will be the point at which you’ve recovered as much as you are going to be capable of. We need this to happen to understand how much of a negative impact your experience has — and will have on your life.

“When you reach maximum medical improvement, we can be sure you’re through with surgeries and know what the future looks like regarding treatment for any lingering issues.

“All of this means that your sole focus, Kaleb, must be on getting the rest you need so you can recover as efficiently as possible. Follow doctors’ orders to help you achieve this. Doing so will also protect the value of a medical malpractice claim, should you choose to pursue one. We do not want to give the insurance companies any excuse to blame you for a shortfall in your recovery, should you encounter any difficulties.”

“‘Insurance companies,’ plural?” asked Kaleb.

“As we investigate, we’ll gather supporting information for your claim. We’ll also identify all parties responsible for the negligence that has harmed you. This may involve your primary care physician, the surgeon, possibly the hospital who hired the surgeon. The hospital may lack the necessary surgery protocols to safeguard against these types of errors, or it may have a history of spotty background checks on their doctors, things like that. We investigate your case to find out all there is to learn regarding what happened and who may be at fault. This is critical to ensuring we properly value your claim,” said Christian.

“When you reach maximum medical improvement, we will know your damages with certainty,” he added. “At that point, we’ll use all the information we’ve gathered and arrive at a case value you can be confident in.”

How long will my claim take?

“How long does a claim like this take?” asked Leah.

“The timeline of your claim is going to depend first on how long it takes your husband to reach maximum medical improvement,” said Attorney Christian, turning to Kaleb.

“You’re no doubt anxious to get this behind you, Mr. Werner. But after all you’ve been through, I’m sure you also agree that making sure you recover as well as you are capable of is necessary to really get your life back,” Christian said. “So go as fast as your health reasonably permits, but as slow as you must for lasting recovery.”

“Yes, you have my complete cooperation,” said Kaleb, nodding as he squeezed Leah’s hand.

The attorney continued. “Once you’ve reached maximum medical improvement, we’ll be able to sum up your claim’s value and send a demand letter to the insurance companies. From that point forward, how long your claim takes to get resolved will depend on whether they are interested in working toward a fair settlement,” Christian said.

“If they are, we’ll be set to get you paid and wrap things up. But if they fight us, we’ll sue them in court. This is why no matter whom you choose to represent your claim, I urge you to retain a personal injury trial attorney — one with experience winning medical malpractice cases in court, not just through settlements.

“Sometimes, a stubborn insurance company will relent and settle when faced with the prospect of being sued. But even if they don’t settle, with the right attorney, you’ll have what you need to win in court,” said Christian.

Kaleb and Leah were satisfied they’d found what they were looking for in Christian & Christian Law. They retained Attorney Harold Christian, and he won Kaleb’s claim, getting him over six times the amount initially offered by the insurance company.

Call Our Greenville Medical Malpractice Lawyers Today

We hope the information on this page has helped you get a better idea of what to expect in a medical malpractice claim. Since every claim is unique in many ways, we urge you to reach out to our Greenville medical malpractice lawyers to schedule a free legal consultation as soon as possible. Let us answer your questions at no obligation to you. We’d love to show you how we can help you get the compensation you deserve, so you can focus on healing.