Ann Arbor Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Trustworthy And Ethical Ann Arbor Medical Malpractice Lawyers

We Have Represented the Interests of Medical Malpractice Victims for Years

When you visit a hospital or other healthcare facility, you expect the medical professionals to provide proper care, but this does not always happen. Medical errors sometimes occur, which harm patients. When doctors make errors, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim and receive compensation from them or their facility.

Medical malpractice claims are one of the most complex personal injury actions, requiring the experience and knowledge of medical malpractice lawyers. Our Ann Arbor medical malpractice lawyer at Goodman Acker, P.C., is well-versed in Michigan medical malpractice laws and has successfully represented several victims of medical malpractice.

We will help you understand your injuries, what your rights are, the liability of the at-fault party, and how to recover damages from the at-fault party. Contact us at 248-286-8100 to schedule a free initial consultation.

Why Choose Our Ann Arbor Medical Malpractice Lawyer to Represent You?

At Goodman Acker P.C., our attorneys understand the complexity of medical malpractice cases and the laws that apply to them. We have decades of experience and the negotiation and trial skills to secure a favorable outcome. We know the Michigan legal system inside and out and create strategies that protect your rights and interests.

Also, our attorneys understand the devastating impacts of medical malpractice and how it affects your life, so we do all we can to help you get your life back on track. We treat each case and client as unique and offer solutions that are in your best interest. We do not charge upfront fees, so call us at 248-286-8100 for a no-obligation, no-fee consultation.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — doctor, hospital, nurse, HMO, chiropractor, therapist, etc. — or any other entity licensed to provide medical care fails to exercise the ‘reasonable standard of care’ by acting in a way that a competent professional wouldn’t have. Such a medical provider or facility will face a medical liability claim if their action causes an injury, disability, physical impairment, or death.

Medical malpractice manifests in different ways, including the following:

• Misdiagnosis
• Anesthesia complication
• Surgical errors
• Dangerous drugs
• Elder malpractice
• Defective medical devices
• Failure to diagnose
• Birth injuries
• Early hospital discharge
• Emergency room errors, etc.

Any of the above can lead to an injury, disability, physical impairment, or death, and medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. If you believe your medical provider made an error in your treatment that harmed you, contact our medical malpractice lawyer in Ann Arbor immediately.

Negligence in a Medical Malpractice Claim

Negligence is a key ingredient in proving medical malpractice, but proving it is not always easy, as it involves several technicalities. Also, you must establish the following:

Doctor-Patient Relationship

You must have a doctor-patient relationship with the doctor you believe made an error to have a valid claim. The physician must be the person in charge of your care, like your primary care physician. So, suppose you went with a friend to the hospital and heard the doctor recommend a particular drug for migraine. The drug was not prescribed for you, but since you have migraines, you decided to use it and developed side effects that left you hospitalized. You cannot sue that doctor for prescribing the wrong medication. This is because you were not the doctor’s patient, and they never prescribed the drug to you; you acted out of your volition.

Standard of Care

The standard of care is crucial to medical malpractice cases. It refers to the type of care that a reasonably skilled and competent medical provider with a similar level of education within the same area would have provided to a patient under the same treatment circumstances in which the alleged malpractice occurred.

What the standard of care amounts to differs from case to case, as the standard a surgeon is held to differs from a general practitioner. Usually, our Ann Arbor medical malpractice attorney will call an expert in the same field and with similar qualifications as the doctor who treated you to show that they did not uphold the standard of care. However, the medical expert must:

• Be a licensed healthcare professional practicing or teaching in the same specialty as the defendant
• Have the same board certifications the defendant has (if any).

If the expert does not meet these qualifications, they cannot testify in the medical malpractice lawsuit.

Breach of the Standard of Care

It is also crucial to establish that the medical practitioner or facility breached their duty of care. There will be no valid medical malpractice claim without breached duty. Also, what amounts to a breach depends on the type of medical malpractice claim. So, what amounts to a breach for an anesthesiologist would differ from that of an emergency room doctor.

Causation

Causation is pretty important as it ties the breached duty to the injury suffered. The medical malpractice case will fail if the medical practitioner or facility did not cause the harm you suffered. This would be the case even if there were an error in the treatment. The error must be the ‘proximate or actual cause’ of the harm you suffered for your claim to stand.

Damages

Finally, there must be a wrong for there to be a remedy. As such, you must have suffered an injury, physically, financially, and psychologically, to be entitled to compensation. Compensation, here, takes the form of economic and noneconomic damages, and examples include:

• Medical bills
• Cost of medical equipment
• Cost of home improvement
• Lost wages
• Loss of earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Mental distress and emotional anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life, etc.

There is other compensation you may be entitled to, including punitive damages. Our lawyers will inform you of your entitlements during the initial consultation.

Evidence Needed in a Medical Malpractice Claim

Evidence is needed to support the allegation of negligence in a medical malpractice claim. You need the following to prove a breach of the standard of care and how the negligence caused your injury:

• Medical records
• Evidence of the injury suffered
• Healthcare regulations
• Hospital records
• Prescription records
• Test results
• Expert witness reports and testimony
• Witness statements
• Income records and other proof of financial losses.

Depending on your case’s facts, you might require other evidence, and we can help you gather the proof you need.

Ann Arbor Medical Malpractice Lawyer FAQs

Suffering an injury from a medical error can leave you with many questions, and we answer some of the frequent ones below:

How long does it take to conclude a medical malpractice lawsuit?

A lawsuit could take one or two years from the time it gets filed till both parties reach an out-of-court settlement or the trial concludes. But it could also take longer due to the amount of evidence involved, the discovery period, and the court’s schedule.

Do medical malpractice cases settle or go to court?

Most medical malpractice cases are settled before the trial. This is because a trial could take a long time, and most juries award over $1 million in compensation, which medical malpractice insurance companies want to avoid.

How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in Ann Arbor, Michigan?

Under Michigan law, you have two years to file a medical malpractice claim, and the time starts counting from when the malpractice happened or when you should have discovered the error that harmed you.

Do I need a lawyer for a medical malpractice claim?

Not necessarily. You can handle your medical malpractice claim alone, like most personal injury cases. However, due to the complexity of these cases, getting a lawyer who will protect your rights and represent your interests is vital.

These may not be your only questions; our attorneys will discuss your specific concerns in your initial consult.

How Our Ann Arbor Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help You

At Goodman Acker, P.C., we will help you investigate your case and gather evidence to determine if the medical professional or facility made a mistake. We will consult medical experts to testify to how the physician breached the standard of care and how their negligence impacted your life. Also, we will draw from our past experience and knowledge of Michigan’s laws to build a strong case.

Our attorneys will handle negotiations with the physician’s insurer, and if it does not yield the desired outcome, we will file a lawsuit and take the case to trial. We will answer all your questions and inform you about the progress of your case throughout the process.

Get the Help You Need from Goodman Acker, P.C.

If you or a loved one are a victim of medical negligence, our attorneys at Goodman Acker, P.C. can help you. We are dedicated to getting our clients the best results and will work tirelessly to obtain a successful outcome. Call us at 248-286-8100 to schedule a free case evaluation.

LEGALLY REVIEWED BY BARRY J. GOODMAN

Barry J. Goodman has devoted his professional life to keeping courthouse doors open for victims seeking justice. Always a tireless advocate for his own clients, Goodman sees his responsibility as a Detroit personal injury attorney in a broader sense as well. [ Attorney Bio ]