Medical Malpractice

CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEYS

With a full time doctor-lawyer on our staff, we offer clients a service not found elsewhere. The breadth of our experience in medical matters includes obstetrics, gynecology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, pediatrics, infectious diseases and cardiology. Whether the problem involves a delay in diagnosis, a failed procedure or an operative complication, our medical malpractice lawyers can handle it.

Our medical malpractice team  is skilled in claims against physicians, nurses, hospitals and pharmacists. We have successfully prosecuted claims for over 40 years against healthcare providers. Our medical liability attorneys specialize in cases against HMO’s, including Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, and Kaiser Hospitals . (You can visit our Kaiser Health Plan information site at www.kaiserinjurylawyers.com.)

We have successfully represented both adults and children in medical negligence claims. If your child has sustained brain damage or cerebral palsy because of a medical error, call us. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a mis-prescription, call us. If a loved one has died because of a missed diagnosis or a treatment error, call us.

We provide comprehensive medical malpractice representation for clients injured while receiving medical care. Our medical malpractice lawyers have successfully represented clients injured and clients who lost loved ones under a wide range of circumstances, including claims involving:

• Birth Injuries
• Failure To Diagnose
• Kaiser Health Plan Negligence  
• Cerebral & Erb’s Palsy
• Emergency Room Negligence
• Surgical Errors
• Nursing Home Negligence

Our medical malpractice attorneys have considerable experience examining, preparing, and presenting complicated medical evidence. We work with a dedicated team of medical experts to be sure every potential avenue of liability is explored in every medical malpractice case.

For more information on our Kaiser Malpractice claims, please visit: http://www.kaiserinjurylawyer.com

EXAMPLES OF OUR SUCCESS

Negligent Spine Surgery – $2,800,000 Brain Damage Settlement

Our medical negligence team negotiated a settlement having a present cash value of over $2,800,000 on behalf of a 44-year-old grocery store manager who suffered major brain damage following anterior cervical fusion surgery. Nine hours after the surgery had concluded, our client sustained a massive cardiac arrest and was discovered in a vegetative state by hospital personnel. Our attorneys demonstrated, using experts in the field of hospital administration and nursing, that the attending nurses had negligently failed to timely observe and report signs and symptoms consistent with a post-operative hematoma. Our medical liability team showed that the nurses assigned to the patient’s care were inexperienced and that as his vital signs deteriorated, they failed to bring these ominous changes to the attention of the attending physicians. Under the terms of the settlement, periodic payments were negotiated to provide for our client’s present and future attendant care needs. More than $1,000,000 was paid in a lump sum, from which various liens were satisfied.

Failure to Diagnose Cervical Cancer – Confidential Settlement

Our malpractice attorneys concluded a case on behalf of the two surviving daughters of a 35-year-old woman who died of cervical cancer. Our attorneys proved that both the woman’s primary care physician, and a laboratory which failed to follow up properly on biopsy slides, were responsible for the failure to diagnose and treat cancer in its early stages. Through the testimony of experts in pathology, our attorneys demonstrated that the pap smears were under-reported. Experts in cytology testified that the laboratory should have brought these abnormalities to the attention of the primary care physician. The settlement, which was in a confidential amount, included an initial cash payment and future installment payments to cover the surviving children’s educational and other maintenance expenses through age 23.

Failure to Diagnose Aneurysm – Confidential Settlement

Our malpractice attorneys negotiated a settlement in a confidential amount on behalf of a 46-year-old bank employee who suffered an intracerebral bleed, with resulting brain damage, as the result of an undiagnosed leaking aneurysm. Roughly two months before the catastrophic event, our client had awakened in the night with a persistent headache and sensed that she has lost vision in her right eye. She first consulted the defendant ophthalmologist who incorrectly diagnosed her with “optic neuritis.” After making three visits to her regular doctor, without having a correct diagnosis entered, our client was found semi-comatose in her apartment having sustained a major cerebral bleeding episode. The recovery included the cost of past medical expense, and the cost of future attendant care. Our attorneys, through the use of forensic economists, also recovered an amount equal to the value of our client’s major lost wages. Her general damage recovery was limited by California’s artificial malpractice damage “cap” of $250,000.

Failure to Diagnose Pelvic Fractures – Wrongful Death

Walkup medical liability attorneys represented the wife and adult child of a 48-year-old junior high school principal who died of complications from undiagnosed pelvic fractures after a fall. Our attorneys demonstrated that x-rays taken at the time of his initial treatment were misinterpreted, and that as a result, the deceased developed pulmonary emboli which ultimately resulted in a cardiac arrest. The defendant hospital and its physicians claimed that the original injuries from the fall were sufficient in and of themselves to produce death, and that the failure to correctly interpret the x-rays was not negligent. The amount of the settlement, confidential in nature, included the maximum   available for general damages representing loss of care, comfort, society and love, as well as an amount equal to the present cash value of the decedent’s lost future wages, earnings, support and benefits.

Contact Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced medical malpractice attorney.