Bellingham Attorneys for Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Bellingham and surrounding cities in Whatcom County are home to several medical facilities including PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center; Vitality Healthcare; Unity Care NW; Pacific Northwest Headache Clinic; Sea Mar Bellingham Medical Clinic; Mount Baker Clinic; and the Bellingham Asthma, Allergy & Immunology Clinic. Each is staffed with licensed physicians, specialists, nurses, and staff members and care may be inpatient, outpatient, or both. Adult care at PeaceHealth, for example, is available in a hospital-based Inpatient Services Program, but there is also an outpatient primary care clinic and the hospital itself. When you go to a hospital or to see your doctor, you assume that you will be diagnosed and treated with the professional care. Unfortunately, doctors and other health care providers do make serious mistakes, and these can result in serious injuries or even death. If you or a loved one were a patient harmed by the negligence of a doctor or other health care provider, you should give the experienced Bellingham medical malpractice attorneys of Walton Law a call. Our founder Chris Walton is an award-winning trial attorney and rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell.
Medical Malpractice
Healthcare providers owe a professional duty of care to patients. Not every mistake made by a health care provider counts as medical malpractice, however. To establish medical malpractice, our attorneys will need to prove: (1) the defendant owed you a professional duty of care, (2) the defendant departed from the professional standard of care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. The circumstances will determine the professional standard of care owed, and whether it was breached by a particular defendant. Often, we must consult a seasoned expert to determine both of these elements.
Situations that may result in medical malpractice lawsuits include birth injuries like cerebral palsy, medication errors, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, surgical errors, and anesthesia errors. For example, if your doctor failed to diagnose your breast cancer and as a result, it progressed and required much more expensive and painful treatment, our medical malpractice lawyers based in Bellingham would likely seek a doctor expert to determine whether a reasonably competent primary care provider or oncologist would have diagnosed your breast cancer in a timely fashion, such that you wouldn’t have sustained harm.
Similarly, if your mother’s doctor prescribed a dangerous dose of a drug, and as a result, she needed to seek emergency care for your injuries and died, you may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim. We may need to retain a medical expert to provide us with an opinion as to whether her doctor deviated from the professional standard of care, given the circumstances.
Sometimes doctors and their insurers mount the defense that the harm experienced by a plaintiff was the natural result of an illness or injury. For example, your oncologist may argue that your cancer would have spread even if a different type of treatment had been provided. It’s critical to seek knowledgeable counsel that works with credible experts for these types of cases.
Damages
Our medical malpractice lawyers representing Bellingham patients may be able to recover damages if we establish a defendant’s liability. These damages are typically compensatory, meaning they are intended to put you back in the position you would have been in had there been no malpractice. Damages may include medical expenses, lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, lost earning capacity, mental anguish, and pain and suffering. Sometimes we must retain an expert to establish items of loss such as future earnings loss or future medical care required because of the malpractice. If, for example, your spouse suffered brain injuries as the result of a surgical error, she might need lifelong care and replacement services for the rest of her life, and these are items of loss we might be able to pursue.
Consult an Experienced Medical Malpractice Lawyer
People trust that doctors will act with an appropriate level of care when diagnosing them or providing treatment. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes do harm, and the consequences can be dire. If you were harmed by medical malpractice, you should retain an experienced Bellingham medical malpractice lawyer. Walton Law aims to provide thoughtful, personalized service to every injured patient who becomes our client. We understand you might not be able to meet with us during normal business hours, so we offer both evening and weekend appointments. Call us at (866) 338-7079 or online to schedule a free consultation.