medical malpractice lawyers in Kansas City

The medical profession requires each health care provider and hospital to follow what is known as a “standard of care.” This means a hospital, doctor, or nurse must exercise the same degree of skill, learning, and good judgment ordinarily used by members of the profession under the same or similar circumstances.

In other words, if a doctor does something that a reasonable doctor would not do or fails to do something that a reasonable doctor would do under the same or similar circumstances and harm results, that is malpractice. Think about it like driving a car.  Each driver has an obligation to adhere to a certain “standard of care” to keep others safe while driving. That standard of care requires us to follow things like traffic signs and the rules of the road. If we fail to exercise the degree of care required of someone driving a car, it’s considered negligence. The same is true for health care providers. If a health care provider fails to exercise the degree of care required of the health care provider and causes injury, that is malpractice. 

Here are three of the main causes of medical malpractice. 

1. Missed diagnosis

A missed diagnosis occurs when a provider fails to diagnose a medical condition or makes an incorrect diagnosis. This can happen as a result of misinterpreted test results, failure to take medical history into account, failure to properly evaluate symptoms, or failure to initiate testing and referrals. 

2. Delay in treatment

A delay in treatment is when a provider does not offer timely medical care for a known condition. This can happen when a provider fails to recognize the urgency of a situation, fails to order diagnostic tests promptly, does not refer the patient to a specialist, or fails to communicate with other members of the treatment team. 

3. Failure to properly treat

Failure to treat is when a provider does not properly administer treatment that falls within the accepted standard of care. This can happen due to prescribing the wrong medication, performing a procedure incorrectly, failing to provide proper follow-up care, or overlooking concerning symptoms. 

Medicine is a specialized and complex field. Accordingly, evaluating medical issues often requires expertise outside of the knowledge ordinarily possessed by a layperson. Because of this, the law often requires a plaintiff to support a medical malpractice case with expert testimony. Because medicine is so specialized, it is critical for medical malpractice lawyers in Kansas City to have access to expert witnesses in the various medical subspecialties. For instance, in order to evaluate a birth injury case, it may be important for the medical malpractice lawyer to consult with experts in multiple fields, such as obstetrics, neonatology, and pediatric neurology. Bartimus Frickleton Robertson Rader has developed an extensive network of medical experts with whom we regularly consult. These experts can offer opinions about whether malpractice has occurred and can provide the building blocks for a medical malpractice case.

Medical malpractice cases are the most difficult type of cases to pursue. For the most part, people trust the medical profession and trust that providers did what they should have. Because of this, juries want to see very defined evidence of negligence against a healthcare provider. 

Additionally, the medical concepts involved in medical malpractice cases can be very confusing. If jurors are confused, their default is to not hold the defendant responsible. 

At Bartimus Frickleton Robertson Rader, our extensive experience in medical malpractice helps us foresee potential challenges and navigate them. When you work with our team of medical malpractice lawyers in Kansas City, you’ll be guided by our proven track record and history of success. 

Generally speaking , the law allows plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases to recover two broad categories of damages: (1) economic damages and (2) non-economic damages. There are several subcategories under each.

Economic damages include things like past and future medical expenses. Medical malpractice often requires the injured person to need additional medical care they otherwise would not have needed. The law allows for the recovery of the medical expenses associated with such care both in the past and for what might be needed in the future.  We work with experts who have special training in evaluating injured persons and estimating what medical needs they might reasonably have through the remainder of their lifetime.

Other examples of economic damages include past and future lost wages. That is, if medical malpractice prevents someone from working and causes a loss of income, that economic loss may be recovered both for what the injured person has already lost and what they lose in the future due to an inability to work. Things such as lost household services can also be claimed as economic damages. These losses are called economic losses because they can be measured or estimated to a specific dollar figure.

The other major category of damages are non-economic damages. These damages compensate injured persons for losses such as pain, suffering, mental anxiety, or distress. Some states place “damage caps” on these types of damages, which limit the amount of money a plaintiff can recover for these losses.

At Bartimus Frickelton Robertson Rader, we have been handling medical malpractice cases for more than 40 years. Our expansive network of doctors, both locally and nationally, helps us investigate and pursue even the most complex cases. When you work with our attorneys, you can feel confident that we have the necessary tools, resources, and experience to seek justice for your case. 

Oftentimes, birth injuries happen if a healthcare provider fails to properly address signs of fetal distress during labor. Fetal distress occurs when the baby does not receive adequate oxygen supply through the placenta. 

Healthcare providers must monitor vital signs and respond quickly to signs of fetal distress. Appropriate responses to remedy the situation and increase oxygen delivered to the baby can include repositioning the mother and/or administering oxygen or IV fluids. If these attempts fail and the baby continues to show signs of fetal distress, an emergency C-section may be necessary. 

When fetal distress is not properly and quickly treated, the lack of oxygen supply will start to cause damage to the baby’s developing organs. In these situations, tissue damage will usually start in the brain, the tissue that has the highest level of oxygen demand. 

Failing to identify and respond to signs of fetal distress is a common reason for birth injury in cases of medical malpractice, but other acts of negligence can also lead to injury, including: 

• Failure to diagnose and treat infections in the mother or baby
• Improper use of delivery tools that causes injury to the baby
• Failing to timely identify a placental abruption
• Failing to timely identify a uterine rupture

To know if you were the victim of medical malpractice, it’s necessary to contact medical malpractice lawyers in Kansas City. A healthcare provider is very rarely going to tell a patient if they have been the victim of prior malpractice. 

Medical malpractice attorneys are uniquely situated between the medical field and the general public. They will review medical records and work with a team of physician experts to determine if medical malpractice occurred. Some of the specialists we work with in these cases include:

• Neonatologists
• Obstetricians
• Pediatric neurologists
• Pediatric physiatrists
• Pediatric neuroradiologists
• Labor and delivery nurses
• Maternal-fetal medicine doctors

Birth injuries and their effects on the child and family can vary greatly. Some birth injuries are mild, while others can permanently disable or take the life of the child. The most common birth injuries we see as a result of medical malpractice include: 

• Brain injuries
• Cerebral palsy
• Brachial plexus injury and shoulder dystocia
• Infection
• Meningitis
• Paralysis or hemiparesis

A missed or incorrect diagnosis is medical malpractice if two things occur:

1. The healthcare provider strays from the standard of care.

The standard of care is a legal concept that refers to the care a trained healthcare provider would give under the same or comparable circumstances. Deviation from this standard occurs when a provider within the same specialty, facing similar circumstances, would have accurately diagnosed or treated the patient based on their presenting symptoms. 

1. The breach in care resulted in direct harm to the patient.

If straying from the standard of care resulted in harm to the patient, you may have a case for medical malpractice.

If you think you may have a case for medical malpractice, it is crucial to contact medical malpractice attorneys in Kansas City who can help you through the legal processes.

A missed or incorrect diagnosis can cause the patient to experience both physical and emotional harm. Some of the most common types of harm victims of medical malpractice experience include: 

Delayed Treatment

Failing to diagnose a condition can delay the start of necessary treatment. For medical conditions that require timely treatment, delaying this could result in progression of the illness or in the development of complications, making the illness more difficult (or impossible) to treat. 

Worsened Health Outcomes

For many health conditions, an early diagnosis leads to a better prognosis. When diagnosis is missed or delayed, the patient’s health can start deteriorating. The patient may experience increased pain, more severe symptoms, and an overall decreased quality of life. 

Emotional Distress

An incorrect diagnosis can lead to unnecessary emotional distress. This emotional distress can lead to major consequences for their mental health and overall well-being. 

Lost Trust in Healthcare Providers

When a missed diagnosis occurs, it can quickly destroy a patient’s trust in the healthcare system. This may lead to the patient avoiding seeking care for conditions that may arise in the future. 

Financial Harm

In addition to the physical and emotional harm that can result from a missed diagnosis, patients can incur costly medical expenses for unnecessary treatments or for treatments that could have been avoided with an accurate and timely diagnosis.

Medical malpractice lawyers in Kansas City will collect evidence and work closely with expert medical professionals to determine if the healthcare provider’s actions deviated from the accepted standard of care and if this directly resulted in patient harm.

While surgical errors are relatively rare, there is a lot that can go wrong while you’re in surgery. Some of the most common types of surgical errors include: 

• Operating on the wrong side of the body or the wrong body part completely
• Performing a different procedure than what was planned
• Leaving instruments, sponges, or other foreign objects inside the patient
• Damaging nerves, organs, or blood vessels during surgery
• Administering too much or too little anesthesia
• Inadequate sterilization and infection control
• Failure to provide adequate post-operative care
• Failure to inform the patient about potential risks and alternatives

The specific damages that patients can recover after a surgical error will vary depending on the harm caused by the surgery. Patients can recover both economic and non-economic damages. Examples of these include: 

• Medical expenses to cover the cost of corrective surgeries, rehabilitation, or other necessary medical treatments
• Lost wages from the recovery period or long-term disability that resulted from the surgical error
• Emotional pain and suffering caused by surgical error
• Reduced quality of life
• Funeral expenses (in the case of wrongful death)

Sometimes it’s obvious if you were the victim of surgical error (for example, if the surgeon operates on the wrong body part). However, other times you can’t see visible evidence. Signs to look out for include: 

• Worsening symptoms
• Unexpected complications
• Prolonged recovery 

When you work with medical malpractice attorneys in Kansas City, they will complete a thorough investigation into your case. They will review your medical records, consult with medical experts, seek second opinions, and conduct interviews with witnesses. With all of this information, our attorneys can figure out everything that happened while you were in the operating room. 

Surgical errors occur at a higher rate than most people realize. Studies estimate that at least 4,000 surgical errors take place every year in the United States.

A medical malpractice lawyer in Kansas City must establish that a patient experienced substantial harm because of a healthcare provider’s negligence or carelessness. A lawyer accomplishes this by proving the following aspects of an individual’s case:

Healthcare Provider-Patient Relationship

To prove medical negligence, a lawyer must establish that a patient and a medical provider had a provider-patient relationship at the time of treatment. This shows that the healthcare provider owed the patient the professional duty of caring for them to the standard of care.

Standard of Care

The medical malpractice lawyer in Kansas City also must establish that the medical professional did not act in a way that another trained healthcare provider would have in a similar or the same situation.

Causation

Next, the individual’s lawyer will need to prove that the healthcare provider’s negligence damaged the patient. This step ties the standard of care and the damages together and is essential in establishing a person’s medical malpractice case.

Damages

Finally, a medical malpractice lawyer in Kansas City must show that the damage a patient sustained was caused by the healthcare provider not upholding the standard of care. Damages come in many forms, including:

• Medical bills from the negligent action
• Future medical bills
• Emotional distress
• Diminished mental capacity
• Disability
• Scarring and disfigurement
• Loss of physical abilities

A medical malpractice lawyer in Kansas City must have experience handling medical negligence cases. Medical malpractice cases are very complicated and require a lawyer who can handle the following tasks:

• Gathering evidence
• Reviewing an individual’s medical records
• Interviewing appropriate witnesses
• Having access to medical experts who are necessary to litigate the case

When a lawyer properly handles this information, an individual is more likely to experience a positive outcome.