San Diego Medical Malpractice Attorney

Medical malpractice can be a complex topic in terms of what you have to prove to be successful in court and when you have to file your claim to make sure you don’t miss out on your opportunity for compensation. The deadlines for your lawsuit change depending on whether your malpractice claim is due to an injury or the death of a loved one.

If you’re looking for a San Diego medical malpractice attorney who knows the ins and outs of the legal system, Dr. Bruce Fagel is the attorney for you. Call the office today at 800-541-9376 for a free consultation. Dr. Fagel handled medical malpractice cases in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and across Calfiornia.

Common Medical Malpractice Claims

Some common circumstances where medical malpractice claims are pursued include the following

Misdiagnosis

If a doctor fails to diagnose your condition correctly, this doesn’t automatically mean that you have a successful medical malpractice claim. Practicing medicine is complex, and doctors are human and make mistakes. However, in some instances, this type of mistake does in fact rise to the level of medical malpractice. Set up a free consultation with Dr. Bruce Fagel so he can help you determine if you have a claim.

Failure To Diagnose

Failing to diagnose a patient is similar to a misdiagnosis. Again, you won’t automatically be successful in a medical malpractice claim if a doctor fails to diagnose you. However, if you hire Bruce Fagel, he will help prove to the court that the failure to diagnose was negligent and that another healthcare professional in the same or similar circumstances would have come to a different conclusion or done things very differently.

Surgical errors

If you believe you have a medical malpractice claim due to a surgical error, Dr. Bruce Fagel can help. Well-versed in law and medicine, he will be able to determine if the surgical error rises to the level of negligence or a wrongful act, or if it’s just a tragic error that sometimes sadly occurs. Some examples of situations where surgical errors would give rise to a successful medical malpractice claim include:

Poor communication that leads the surgeon to operate on the incorrect body part.
Fatigue on the part of the surgeon to the point where the doctor knew they shouldn’t have operated but did so anyway.
Insufficient planning, which leads to mistakes being made during the surgery
Incompetence – the surgeon doesn’t have enough experience to do the surgery but does it anyway.
The surgeon is neglectful during the surgery. This could include believing that an instrument might not be sterilized but failing to check that instrument and using it anyway.
Operating under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This will almost always give rise to a medical malpractice claim and probably a successful one.

Birth Injuries

One of Dr. Bruce Fagel’s expertise areas is medical malpractice claims that lead to birth injuries. The two common types of birth injuries that often give rise to medical malpractice claims are severe trauma during the delivery, such as a lack of oxygen to the brain, and injuries to the brain due to trauma, both caused by negligent medical professionals. These injuries can cause lifelong severe and debilitating medical issues.

Nursing Home Abuse

Dr. Bruce Fagel has experience in trying and settling cases of nursing home abuse medical malpractice. If you or a loved one is experiencing abuse or neglect in a nursing home, reach out immediately and call our office so we can help you. For someone to abuse or neglect a resident in a vulnerable state while they are in a nursing facility is entirely unacceptable. Dr. Fagel will help you put an end to that despicable behavior and get you and your loved ones the compensation and treatment you all deserve.

Medication Errors

With reports of more than 1.5 million cases each year, medication errors are one of the most common medical problems that occur in hospitals in the United States. Dr. Fagel has a tremendous amount of experience handling these types of cases. He knows what tactics are often used by the doctors and hospitals to try and downplay these types of mistakes. Therefore, he understands what to look for in these types of situations to make sure your claim is successful.

Who May Be Held Liable for Medical Malpractice?

Medical negligence claims in California can be filed against any healthcare provider whose negligence caused you harm. Depending on the facts of your case, there may be more than one party who shares responsibility, which could increase the value of your claim dramatically.

Some of the parties that could potentially be held liable in these cases include:

The treating physician who made the error
Surgeons and anesthesiologists involved in a procedure
Nurses and other medical staff who failed to provide adequate care
The hospital that employed the negligent provider
Pharmacists who dispensed the wrong medication
Laboratories that provided inaccurate test results

In some cases, the hospital itself may be held directly liable under a theory of corporate negligence if its own policies contributed to the harm. Our medical malpractice attorneys in San Diego can investigate your case and identify every party that may bear legal responsibility.

How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice?

To succeed in a medical malpractice claim in California, you generally need to prove four key elements “by a preponderance of the evidence,” around a 51% or higher likelihood:

Duty of care: The healthcare provider owed you a professional duty of care based on the existence of a provider-patient relationship
Breach of duty: The provider failed to act in a manner consistent with what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done under similar circumstances
Causation: The provider’s breach directly caused you to suffer an injury and was also the proximate cause
Damages: You suffered actual harm as a result of your injury, such as financial losses and pain and suffering

Medical malpractice cases almost always require testimony from a qualified medical expert witness who can explain what the standard of care was and how the defendant fell short. Since Dr. Fagel is himself a licensed physician, our firm is uniquely positioned to evaluate these issues from the very start of your case.

What Are Significant Injuries One May Face After Malpractice?

The injuries caused by medical negligence can range from temporary setbacks to permanent, life-altering conditions. In many cases, the harm caused by a provider’s error is more severe than the condition the patient originally sought treatment for.

Some of the most significant injuries our San Diego medical malpractice lawyers see include:

Brain injuries resulting from things like surgical errors and mismanaged anesthesia
Spinal cord damage leading to paralysis
Organ damage caused by a delayed treatment
Surgical injuries such as wrong-site surgery or damage to surrounding tissue
Severe infections that develop due to improper sterile technique or post-operative neglect
Birth injuries affecting the child, the mother, or both
Wrongful death in the most severe cases

These injuries often require long-term medical care and ongoing support. If you or a loved one has suffered any of these outcomes due to a healthcare provider’s negligence in San Diego, our legal team can help you pursue the full amount of compensation you need to move forward as best as you can.

California Statute Of Limitations

One of the most essential elements in all types of lawsuits is the statute of limitations. If you miss the deadline to file your claim, you will be barred from recovering any compensation, even if it’s evident that the doctors or the hospital were negligent and engaged in medical malpractice.

In a medical malpractice case in California, you must file a lawsuit within three years of the date of the injury, one year after you discovered the injury, or when with reasonable diligence you would have discovered the injury, whichever occurs first.

Turn to a San Diego Medical Malpractice Attorney

No matter what type of medical malpractice claim you have, Dr. Bruce Fagel can help. He will work on your case with dedication, patience, and compassion from start to finish. He will review your case and give you a realistic idea of what you can expect will take place. Additionally, Dr. Bruce Fagel and his team will investigate, do all of the research, and try to get your case settled for an amount of money that is reasonable and fair, as quickly as possible.

If you believe you have a medical malpractice claim, call a San Diego medical malpractice attorney today at 800-541-9376 for a free consultation. Dr. Fagel is incredibly well respected in the medical malpractice community. He has authored many articles that have been published in the L.A. Daily Journal, The Forum (Consumer Attorneys of California), The Advocate (Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles), and other noteworthy publications. If you’re looking for a medical and legal expert to assist you with your malpractice claim, look no further than Dr. Bruce Fagel.