Orange County Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Skilled Medical Malpractice Attorneys Serving Orange County, California

Experiencing medical malpractice can feel like an unimaginable betrayal. A doctor—a professional bound by the oath to “do no harm”—has made an error that has caused you injury. This can occur in various settings, whether it’s during surgery, in an exam room, or even at the pharmacy when you’re given a medication that should never have been prescribed. Regardless of how it happened, you are now dealing with pain, stress, and unforeseen expenses that you shouldn’t have to bear. When healthcare professionals and their teams make dangerous mistakes, it is crucial for victims to seek the help of a lawyer who understands the complexities of pursuing compensation from medical providers and their insurers. At Aitken * Aitken * Cohn, our Orange County medical malpractice attorneys are dedicated to defending the rights of Californians who have been harmed by healthcare providers. If you have suffered an injury due to a medical error, contact us today.

Our Results

At Aitken* Aitken * Cohn, we have a track record of success in recovering significant settlements and judgments for our clients in medical malpractice cases. Here are a few examples:

• A jury awarded our client, a promising young student, nearly $15,000,000 after an anesthesiologist failed to monitor his oxygen and ventilation levels during routine outpatient surgery to fix his broken ankle. Our client went into cardiac arrest during the procedure and suffered a permanent brain injury that left him blind and with memory and sensory deficits. Lawyers for the defendant’s anesthesiologist tried to argue numerous alternative explanations for our client’s injury, but the team at Aitken* Aitken * Cohn prevailed in demonstrating the defendant’s fault.
• We recovered a $650,000 wrongful death settlement on behalf of the family of a high school principal whose surgeon nicked his bowel during surgery, which led to an infection that wasn’t discovered until it was too late to save the patient’s life.
• We achieved a $750,000 settlement on behalf of a client whose doctor failed for two years to diagnose breast cancer, despite warning signs. The doctor’s failure to deliver the standard of care to our client allowed their cancer to progress from Stage I to Stage III and significantly complicated her recovery process.
• We recovered a $450,000 wrongful death settlement on behalf of the family of a woman—a mother of six—who died after giving birth when doctors failed to spot her need for a blood transfusion in time, despite excessive bleeding.

This is just a glimpse of the medical malpractice cases that Aitken * Aitken * Cohn has successfully handled for clients and their families. We have also secured compensation for individuals who suffered severe and enduring hand and arm injuries due to negligent drug injections. Additionally, we have represented parents whose newborns sustained injuries resulting from obstetrical negligence.

At Aitken * Aitken * Cohn, we recognize that financial compensation cannot solve every problem for those affected by medical malpractice, nor can it bring back a loved one lost due to a physician’s error. However, the compensation we secure for our clients can help ease the stress and burden that a medical malpractice injury brings. It can also serve as a safeguard, helping to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated by doctors in the future.

Our skilled and compassionate team is dedicated to advocating for our clients’ best interests and achieving the best possible outcome in every unique case.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider—such as a doctor, physician’s assistant, nurse, surgical technician, or therapist—causes harm to a patient through negligent or intentionally harmful medical care. It does not typically include predictable complications from treatments, especially when those risks have been thoroughly discussed with the patient and their family. Instead, medical malpractice primarily involves preventable errors that negatively impact a patient’s quality of life, potentially leading to a wrongful death lawsuit.

Lawyers with experience in medical malpractice matters focus on several core components of proving whether a medical provider made a preventable mistake that led to harm:

The presence of a doctor-patient relationship. To file a medical malpractice claim, a personal relationship with the doctor is not required. In some cases, particularly during surgeries, patients may never even meet all the healthcare professionals involved in their care. However, there must be a relationship in the sense that the medical provider knowingly agreed to offer treatment. For instance, casually asking a doctor about your back pain at a social gathering does not typically establish the doctor-patient relationship necessary for a medical malpractice claim.

Failure to meet the “standard of care”. Doctors and other healthcare providers are required to deliver a “standard of care” to their patients, which refers to the level of care that a patient can reasonably expect from a provider in a particular situation. What might be considered adequate care in one context—such as an emergency field hospital after a natural disaster—may not be sufficient in another, like a specialized surgical hospital. Similarly, the standard of care expected from a general practitioner may differ from that of a specialist who focuses on a particular treatment or condition. In every case, it is up to lawyers, insurance companies, and medical experts to assess whether the care provided met the “standard of care” appropriate for the specific circumstances.

The existence of an injury. It’s typically not sufficient for patients to simply prove that their healthcare providers made a mistake. To seek damages for medical malpractice, patients must demonstrate that they suffered an injury as a result. These injuries don’t always have to be physical; the stress and trauma of facing uncertainty about future health issues due to a doctor’s error can also constitute a significant injury.

Causation. Proving the cause of an injury or death in medical malpractice cases can be challenging. In clear-cut scenarios, such as when a surgeon leaves a surgical tool inside a patient or amputates the wrong limb, the link between the error and the injury is obvious. However, when a patient already has a serious condition, like a bleeding disorder, it becomes more difficult to determine whether the doctor’s mistake or lack of care directly caused the injury or death. Establishing this connection is often a critical and complex part of a malpractice case.

Given the potential complexity of medical malpractice cases, it’s crucial for injured patients to consult with an attorney who has extensive experience in handling these matters. To learn more about medical malpractice, explore insights from our esteemed attorneys here.

Common Types Of Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice injuries can stem from various medical issues and settings. Here are some of the more common instances we’ve encountered over our years of representing victims of medical malpractice:

• Failure to Warn Patients of Procedure Risks: Before performing any procedure, doctors are required to inform patients about the risks involved so they can make an informed decision about their care. This includes discussing potential medication side effects, the risks associated with certain surgical procedures, and the likelihood of recovery.
• Improper diagnosis or Failure to Diagnose a Serious Condition: Medical providers may fall short of the standard of care when they overlook or fail to recognize symptoms and warning signs of specific medical conditions. While there isn’t always a clear rule for when a missed or incorrect diagnosis constitutes malpractice, cases often arise when a provider makes an incorrect judgment about a set of symptoms or conditions. In such situations, experienced legal advice can help determine if and how a provider failed to meet the standard of care.
• Medication errors: Prescribing the wrong medication or administering an incorrect dosage can have severe consequences. Medical providers have a duty to investigate, warn about, and, if possible, avoid adverse drug reactions and side effects while ensuring the correct dosage is administered.

In these and other cases, working with a skilled and experienced medical malpractice lawyer is often the most effective way to identify malpractice and seek appropriate compensation.

Who Is Responsible for Medical Malpractice?

Typically, the doctor or nurse who provided negligent medical care is held responsible for the patient’s injuries. However, other healthcare professionals involved in the patient’s care may also be liable if they failed to recognize potential issues or complications, or if they didn’t speak up when necessary, leading to improper treatment. While the treating doctor is most often held accountable, nurses who commit significant errors can also be found liable for medical malpractice.

The hospital or medical facility where the medical malpractice occurred may also be directly or indirectly responsible. This is particularly true if the facility:

• Failed to check the credentials of a doctor or nurse employed by the facility, leading to hiring someone who was ill-prepared to properly treat patients
• Neglected to fire an individual who routinely did things to cause harm to patients
• Failed to put proper procedures in place, or enforce proper procedures, in order to keep patients safe

In some cases, defective medical devices can harm a patient. When this happens, the manufacturer of the defective equipment can be held responsible for injuries that occur as a result.

What Compensation Can Orange County Medical Malpractice Victims Recover?

Medical malpractice can result in severe, long-lasting harm. Due to the serious nature of these consequences, medical malpractice cases often lead to substantial compensation for victims. These damages typically include:

Medical Expenses: Victims may require emergency and ongoing medical treatment, physical therapy, and medications—all of which they wouldn’t have needed if not for the malpractice. The costs of these services are often included in the damages awarded in a medical malpractice claim.

Pain and Suffering: Although difficult to quantify, the physical and emotional pain suffered by a victim of medical malpractice is a crucial component of compensation. This recognizes the significant hardship caused by a medical provider’s mistakes.

Lost Wages or Earning Potential: Patients injured by medical errors may be unable to work for extended periods or may face a permanent reduction in their earning capacity due to disability. Compensation for lost wages or diminished earning potential is commonly sought in medical malpractice claims.

Loss of Companionship and Support: When medical malpractice leads to a patient’s death or results in injuries that impair their life functions, the victim’s family may be entitled to damages for the loss of companionship and support, including the emotional and financial contributions the victim previously provided.

How Do Those Responsible Try To Escape Liability?

Most doctors carry medical malpractice insurance that is designed to help protect them in the event of errors in care. These insurance companies will often attempt to minimize the amount they should pay to victims of medical malpractice. Their tactics may include:

Attempts to prove that the doctor did not cause the injuries in question. Insurers may, for example, try to provide that, in the case of a missed diagnosis, there was no reasonable evidence to support a specific diagnosis, that there wasn’t enough information on hand for the doctor to order specific tests, or that the patient had an undisclosed preexisting condition that the patient failed to tell the doctor about.

Offering quick and lowball settlements. When it’s clear a medical provider made a mistake and has a significant liability, insurance companies may attempt to reach a quick settlement with victims and their families before they’ve had the chance to explore their legal rights. This settlement offer is routinely lower than it should be, and it usually comes with a demand that the victim/family “release” the insurer from further liability.

Working with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer is the most effective way for patients and their families to ensure they do not fall victim to these tactics.

What Are the Costs of Hiring an Orange County Medical Malpractice Lawyer?

Victims of medical malpractice already face significant pain, challenges, and expenses, so the cost of hiring a lawyer should not be an additional concern. At Aitken * Aitken * Cohn, we provide free initial consultations to assess whether you may be entitled to compensation. If we determine you have a case, our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning we only get paid if the lawsuit is successful or settles favorably out of court. Contingency fees are typically a percentage of the client’s net recovery.

Contact An Orange County Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today

If you’ve sustained a medical malpractice injury in Orange County, you may be entitled to significant compensation. Contact the experienced Orange County medical malpractice lawyers at Aitken * Aitken * Cohn today online or by phone to schedule a free consultation and explore whether we can help.