Medical Malpractice Lawyers: Helping Seattle Get Results

You’ve likely heard of cases where a doctor operated on the wrong patient, left surgical tools inside a patient or misdiagnosed an illness that proved to be fatal. It happens more often than you might think, and it can be shocking when you discover that you or a loved one has been the victim of medical negligence, such as emergency room errors, birth injuries, or improper use of medical devices.

Unfortunately, over one million instances of medical malpractice occur every year. These mistakes are made at every level of the healthcare system. You may be seriously injured by mistakes made by surgeons, general practitioners, nurses, EMTs, and other healthcare workers. You may even be injured by hospital policies. 

Many victims of medical malpractice experience permanent injuries or even death. If you survive, you may still be facing a lifetime of medical debt. You may be unable to continue with your career or maintain your standard of living if you experience a destabilizing injury like brain damage. 

The Washington medical malpractice attorneys at Tinker Law Firm, PLLC, have the skills and experience to handle even the most complex cases involving medical malpractice. Let us use our skills and experience for you. From Seattle or elsewhere in Washington, including Kitsap County, Bainbridge Island, and the Tri-Cities, you can simply call us at (206) 752-4366 or use our convenient online form.

How Our Top Seattle Medical Malpractice Lawyers Help You

Our lawyers have extensive experience in this area of law and have assisted our clients with many injuries resulting from medical negligence.  On our verdicts and settlements page, you can learn more about how we’ve helped clients secure significant settlements and judgments to cover their medical bills, funeral expenses, and other costs that resulted from the injury. The Tinker Law firm team has:

• Secured more than $6 million in response to a birth injury
• Secured $5.2 million for a patient injured by a medical device
• Secured 3.6 million for a patient who was given the wrong drug

These are just a few examples of the kinds of medical malpractice cases that our team handles. Please contact us to learn more about how we can help you when negligent medical professionals have upended your life.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice, also known as medical negligence, occurs when a medical professional’s negligent act or omission results in injury. There are numerous situations in which medical malpractice occurs. You may be a victim of any of the following kinds of medical malpractice:

Surgical Errors

Errors are shockingly common during surgery. Surgeons can make a number of mistakes that can lead to serious illness or permanent injuries. You or a loved one may have been injured in any of these common examples:

• The wrong dose of medication was administered: This can happen when surgeons fail to read charts properly or follow the protocols set for procedures. The wrong medication can result in serious injuries, especially if the patient is allergic or has already been dosed with the proper amount of medication.
• The wrong dose of anesthesia was administered: Anesthesia is a component in most surgeries that depend on the patient being unconscious. Too little or too much anesthesia can result in injuries or even death.
• Essential hygiene procedures were disregarded: Surgeons are required to engage in a multi-step process to ensure their hands and equipment are safe for use. When surgeons fail to follow disinfection protocols, severe injury can result. Infections are one of the most common injuries and can lead to death in some cases.
• Surgery was performed on the wrong site: Surgery on the wrong site can lead to serious complications for the patient. These mistakes may result in the removal of healthy tissue in ways that cannot be prepared. These mistakes are often the most serious when they involve organs or amputations. In these cases, patients can be permanently disabled by a medical mistake.
• Surgery was performed on the wrong patient: Due to record mix-ups and other acts of negligence, surgeons have occasionally performed surgeries on the wrong patient. This can cause injuries to both the patient who received the incorrect operation and the patient who had their operation delayed.
• Surgical equipment did not function properly or was not used properly: Surgeons use many different pieces of equipment. They can be held responsible if they use equipment that they know is not in working order, misuse surgical equipment, or use this equipment for unintended purposes.

Failure to Treat or Monitor Properly

This form of medical negligence occurs when healthcare professionals fail to monitor their patients during any kind of treatment. Medical practitioners are considered to have a duty toward patients in their care, and failing to monitor patients can be proven to be negligence of that duty.  Some examples of failure to monitor properly include:

• Failing to spot an emergency condition: When medical staff fail to notice the signs of a medical emergency, severe injury or death may result. If you have been injured because medical staff did not respond to your changing condition fast enough, negligence may be the reason.
• Failure to educate patients properly about medical conditions: Medical professionals are expected to provide good information to their patients to help them manage conditions or recovery from surgery. When doctors provide bad advice, or fail to inform patients of essential detail, the court may find that they have been negligent. 
• Failing to order the right tests: Tests are used in healthcare to ensure that illnesses and injuries are properly diagnosed and that the right course of treatment is being pursued. When doctors or other medical staff refuse to order tests that could clarify the right condition or treatment, injuries may easily result.
• Failing to follow up with the patient: If you have received care recently, medical professionals are often expected to follow up and verbally confirm there are no unexpected side effects or reasons to be concerned. Injuries resulting from a doctor’s failure to follow up may be considered an injury from negligence.

It is not always individual caregivers who fail to monitor patients. Sometimes, hospital or health network policies make it impossible for staff to monitor patients effectively. In cases like these, the policies may be the cause of the injury.

Misdiagnosis 

Medical misdiagnosis occurs when doctors provide the wrong kind of care because they diagnosed a patient with the incorrect disorder or medical problem. If it can be shown that the misdiagnosis resulted from doctors not following proper diagnosis procedures, this can easily be considered negligence. 

This can happen when doctors don’t recognize the signs of serious disorders. For example, a patient may come in with chest pains and be diagnosed as having indigestion, only to have a heart attack a few hours after leaving the hospital. Similar incidents can happen with other disorders. Strokes can be misdiagnosed as headaches; appendix rupture can be misdiagnosed as stomach pain.

Failure to Diagnose

It is not considered negligent when a doctor doesn’t know what’s wrong with a patient. However, when there are clear protocols that could aid in diagnosis that the doctor is ignoring, a failure to diagnose can be considered an act of negligence.

Prescription Errors 

Prescription errors occur when doctors or other healthcare professionals prescribe their patients the wrong prescription medication. This can take several different forms, and all of them can be dangerous to your health or the health of a loved one. Common prescription errors include:

• Prescription errors resulting from poor handwriting
• Prescription errors resulting from the doctor remembering the wrong name
• Poor or erroneous instructions about taking medications from doctors
• Errors from the wrong dosage or quantity being provided
• Mistaken prescription of drugs that interact with one another
• Prescription of unauthorized drugs

When medical negligence results in injury or wrongful death, a medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed against the healthcare professional who deviated from generally accepted standards of practice.

Most people equate medical malpractice lawsuits with surgeons and doctors. The fact is that almost anyone acting in a licensed medical capacity can be held liable for medical malpractice. This includes anesthesiologists, emergency care professionals, pharmacists, nurses, technicians, and others. Hospitals, medical centers, and nursing homes can also be negligent for improper care, medication errors, and sanitation issues.

Washington Medical Malpractice and the Statute of Limitations

Medical malpractice lawsuits in Washington State must be filed within three years of the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury or within one year of the date the injury was, or reasonably should have been, discovered; whichever is later. However, medical malpractice actions may not be filed more than eight years after the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury.

If you’ve been injured by the careless act of a doctor or hospital worker, do not delay, and contact Tinker Law Firm, PLLC today. Our medical malpractice attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for clients who have been injured due to medical malpractice. Contact us today to discuss your situation, and let us explain how we can safeguard your legal rights and those of your family.

Contact Our Team of Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Do you need help from medical malpractice lawyers in Seattle? Our legal team has a significant amount of experience handling all types of medical negligence claims. We aim to be Seattle’s Medical Malpractice Law Firm. 

Are you ready to start working on your case? Your first step should be to contact our lawyers to schedule a free consultation. Please leave your details on our Malpractice Case Contact Form, and one of our lawyers will get back to you to let you know if we can help.

At the free case evaluation, you’ll get a chance to ask the questions that have concerned you since you first experienced your injury. We encourage you to contact us today. If you have any remaining questions before your appointment, you can find more information in our FAQs below.

FAQs About Medical Malpractice

How do I know whether I have a medical malpractice claim?

If you or a family member has sustained an injury, tell us about your situation, even if you’re not sure whether someone else is at fault. Every personal injury case follows a basic framework. The plaintiff must prove:

1. The defendant had a duty to the plaintiff
2. The defendant violated that duty
3. The plaintiff was harmed
4. The defendant’s breach of duty caused that harm

Some cases are quite obvious:  we all have a duty not to run red lights and crash into each other. Other duties are more complicated or technical. 

In medical negligence cases, for example, identifying the doctor’s specific duty, concluding whether they breached that duty, and determining whether that breach caused injury requires a thorough understanding of the treatment involved and the standards the medical profession imposes on doctors performing such treatment. 

At Kidman Tinker, PLLC, we have the training and experience to address those issues. A variety of negligent medical errors may be the subject of a malpractice lawsuit. Malpractice claims often allege one of the following types of medical errors:

• Missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnosis.
• Surgical or other treatment errors.
• Improper monitoring of patient health.
• Anesthesia errors.
• Medication errors.
• Childbirth injuries.

How do I know whether I have a good case?

We can learn a lot about your potential case by having an in-depth phone conversation with you. If we feel your case meets our initial criteria, a full evaluation of your case will include a thorough review of your medical records, legal and medical literature research, and, in many cases, consultation with medical and other professional experts. 

We consider who may have been negligent (it may be more than one person or entity), the nature and extent of the injury, and whether negligence was the actual cause of the injury. There is no charge for our initial consultation and review.

At Kidman Tinker, PLLC, we have a record of successfully representing victims of negligent medical errors in Seattle and throughout Washington State. Contact us to discuss your case and your legal rights in a free consultation. You can reach us by phone or by using our online contact form.

Why Tinker?

Kidman Tinker, PLLC stands out due to our experience and our results. We focus nearly our entire practice on a specific type of case (medical negligence) and we have been doing it well for decades. Our attorneys work as a team. Each of our clients enjoys the pooled knowledge and expertise of the entire firm behind his or her case.

I don’t live in Seattle or Bainbridge Island. Are you the right lawyer for me?

We represent clients from all over Washington. In the last five years, we’ve represented clients from Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Issaquah, Lynnwood, Everett, Shoreline, Anacortes, Port Townsend, Port Orchard, Silverdale, Poulsbo, Kingston, Bainbridge Island, Longbranch, Gig Harbor, Puyallup, Enumclaw, Buckley, Olympia, Long Beach, Raymond, Chehalis, Ellensburg, Omak, Moses Lake, Leavenworth, Yakima, Spokane, and Kennewick. We often travel to meet with our clients.

If I have a medical malpractice claim, don’t I have to sue by a certain time?

For every type of case, there is a time frame within which you must file your claim with the court. The time frames are called “statutes of limitations” and are determined by state and federal law. You must file your claim within the applicable statute of limitations, or your case will be forever barred, no matter how badly you’ve been injured or how negligent the conduct of the defendant.

In general, the statute of limitations that applies to most personal injury and wrongful death cases arising in Washington is three years. In some medical negligence cases, including those involving children under 18, there are exceptions that may give you more time.

The limitations period applicable to lawsuits against the United States government is different, even if the case arises in the state of Washington. In general, a claim for personal injury against a United States government agency or anyone working for the government (for example, the VA Hospital and physicians working there) must be filed within two years of the negligent act causing injury. Again, exceptions extending the applicable limitation periods may exist, and special notice requirements may apply.

WARNING: If you believe that you or a family member has been injured by someone else’s negligence, do not delay in consulting an attorney. Do not assume that you have plenty of time to call a lawyer. The above is only general information and may or may not apply to your case. Also, Congress or the state legislature may change the statute of limitations at any time. Conversely, even if it has been several years since you were injured, do not assume the limitations period has expired. Call us, and we will evaluate whether your claim can still be pursued.

How much is my case going to cost? 

In most cases, we do not charge an hourly fee. Instead, we work on a contingency fee basis, meaning we receive fees only upon the successful resolution of your case. In plain language, we get paid only if we succeed. Our fee is a percentage of the total settlement or award you receive. The percentage is agreed upon before we take your case, and you pay us nothing up front.

A serious personal injury case can also require substantial out-of-pocket costs, including everything from postage to hiring expert witnesses. Our typical practice is to use our own money to advance those costs.  The costs of the case are then reimbursed to us out of any settlement or verdict.

How long will my case take?

In most cases, our intake specialist will be your initial contact. They will take notes on key information and then discuss the potential case with the attorneys as soon as possible. Then, they will set up a meeting for the attorneys to discuss your case. We know you are anxious to hear back about your claim. You can expect to hear from us with our initial evaluation within days of your call.

In the next evaluation stage of your case, you should expect the process of collecting the facts and, if necessary, locating and retaining favorable experts to take some time. We update clients as we have new information. Our clients are also welcome to call with questions and check the status of our progress.

After your case has been filed, the court will set (or we will ask for) a trial date. Typically, there is a lengthy wait for a trial date. In King County, for example, civil cases are ordinarily set for trial a year or more after they are filed.

Although many cases settle before trial, it is often only after we have done a significant amount of work. We prepare every case to go to trial. Much of the time, after we’ve done the necessary work preparing for trial, the defendant will be open to settlement negotiations. Each case is a little different and requires a unique strategy.

What kinds of compensation could I recover in a medical malpractice claim?

Plaintiffs are legally entitled to recover money damages for losses, expenses, and injuries they incur as a result of an injury-causing event. These are called “compensatory damages.” Compensatory damages can generally be divided into two categories: economic damages like medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of love and affection.

With few exceptions, plaintiffs in Washington are not entitled to “punitive damages.” Punitive damages, unlike compensatory damages, have nothing to do with compensating the victim. Instead, punitive damages are designed to punish the defendant.

What do I do if I’ve been contacted by an insurance company or health care provider offering to settle my claim?

It has become more common for insurance companies and risk management departments to contact persons injured by medical negligence to get you to settle with them directly. The key thing to remember when dealing with liability insurance or risk management representatives is that the person does not represent you. 

On the contrary, their interest is to protect themselves and their money. If you have been injured by medical negligence, it may be preferable not to speak to an insurance company or risk management department before you have spoken with an attorney. Call us first, and let us help you determine your rights.

Of particular concern is a situation where you settle your claim for an amount of money and then discover later that your injuries were more serious than you thought. Once you agree to release your claims in exchange for money, you usually forever give up the right to sue based on that incident.

Can someone other than a doctor commit malpractice?

Any medical professional providing healthcare services may be liable for negligent care. This includes doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, physical therapists, technicians, dentists, pharmacists, and the hospital where care was rendered, among many others.