Because They Deserve the Truth
Patients seeking medical care have the right to expect a high standard of treatment. They place their trust in doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals, believing that these highly trained experts will provide the care they need. Unfortunately, this trust is sometimes broken, with devastating consequences. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, resulting in harm to a patient. These cases can involve surgical errors, misdiagnoses, medication mistakes, and a range of other medical errors that can leave patients permanently injured or even result in death.
The consequences of medical malpractice can be catastrophic. According to the National Academies of Sciences, between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in U.S. hospitals as a result of medical errors. Additionally, more than 7,000 deaths each year are attributed to medication errors, which occur both in and outside of hospitals.
Medical malpractice cases are not just about compensating victims. They are about holding hospitals, healthcare corporations, and negligent medical professionals accountable for their mistakes. These cases shine a light on the systemic failures that put patients at risk, including understaffing, inadequate training, and corporate cost-cutting. They push for higher standards of care, better patient safety protocols, and more rigorous oversight. When hospitals and healthcare corporations know they will be held financially accountable for their mistakes, they have a strong incentive to improve patient care and reduce the risk of future harm.
For the attorneys at McHugh Fuller Law Group, medical malpractice cases are an opportunity to make a real difference. They have spent decades taking on powerful healthcare companies, exposing dangerous practices, and fighting for the rights of patients who have been harmed by medical negligence. Because patients deserve the truth about what happened to them, and those responsible must be held accountable for the harm they caused.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can take many forms, each with its own set of challenges and complexities. These cases often involve serious, life-altering injuries and require a deep understanding of both medicine and the law. At McHugh Fuller Law Group, our attorneys have decades of experience handling a wide range of medical malpractice claims, from surgical errors to misdiagnoses. They understand that each case is unique, and they approach every client’s situation with the care and attention it deserves.
Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
A missed or delayed diagnosis can be one of the most dangerous forms of medical malpractice. When a doctor fails to correctly identify a patient’s condition, critical treatment can be delayed, allowing the illness to progress unchecked. This can result in far more severe health problems, unnecessary suffering, and death. Common examples include missed cancer diagnoses, untreated heart attacks, and undiagnosed infections that spread throughout the body.
Surgical Errors
Surgical mistakes can have devastating consequences for patients. These errors can include operating on the wrong body part, performing the wrong procedure, or leaving surgical tools or sponges inside the patient. Even seemingly minor surgical errors can lead to severe complications, including nerve damage, infections, and internal bleeding. In extreme cases, these mistakes can be fatal.
Medication Errors
Medication mistakes are a leading cause of preventable harm in hospitals and healthcare settings. These errors can include administering the wrong drug, giving the wrong dose, or failing to check for dangerous drug interactions. In some cases, patients are given medications they are allergic to or that conflict with other prescriptions they are taking. These errors can result in severe allergic reactions, organ damage, or death.
Birth Injuries
Childbirth is one of the most critical moments in a patient’s life, and when medical professionals fail to provide proper care, the results can be devastating. Birth injuries can include brain damage, nerve injuries, fractures, and even death. These cases often involve failures to monitor fetal distress, improper use of delivery tools, or delays in performing emergency C-sections.
Hospital-Acquired Infections
Hospitals and medical facilities are supposed to be places of healing, but they can also be breeding grounds for dangerous infections if proper hygiene protocols are not followed. Patients can contract severe, life-threatening infections like sepsis, MRSA, and C. difficile while receiving treatment. These infections can be prevented through proper handwashing, sterilization, and infection control measures.
Objects Left in the Body
Leaving surgical instruments or sponges inside a patient’s body after a procedure is a serious form of medical negligence. These “retained surgical items” can cause severe pain, internal bleeding, and life-threatening infections. They often require additional surgeries to remove, putting patients at further risk of complications.
Improper Transfusions
Blood transfusions are critical in many medical procedures, but when they are done incorrectly, the results can be catastrophic. This can include giving a patient the wrong blood type, using contaminated blood, or failing to properly match a donor and recipient. These errors can cause severe allergic reactions, organ failure, and death.
Mistaken Patient Identities
Medical errors involving mistaken identities can have devastating consequences. These cases can involve a patient receiving the wrong treatment, undergoing unnecessary surgery, or being given medications intended for someone else. In the most extreme cases, this kind of mistake can be fatal.
Systemic Issues in the Healthcare Industry
Medical malpractice is rarely the result of a single, isolated mistake. More often, it is a symptom of deeper, systemic problems within the healthcare industry. These problems are often driven by corporate cost-cutting, understaffing, and a relentless focus on profits over patient safety. Hospitals, medical practices, and healthcare corporations are under constant pressure to reduce costs and increase revenue, and these financial incentives can lead to dangerous shortcuts and compromises in patient care.
One of the most common systemic issues is understaffing. Hospitals and nursing homes are expensive to operate, and labor is often the largest cost. To boost their bottom lines, some healthcare corporations reduce staff levels to the bare minimum, forcing nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals to take on more patients than they can safely handle. This can lead to rushed care, missed diagnoses, and medication errors. It can also contribute to burnout and high turnover among healthcare workers, further compromising patient care.
Training is another critical issue. Proper medical training is essential for patient safety, but it is also expensive and time-consuming. Some healthcare corporations cut corners by reducing training budgets, relying on under qualified staff, or failing to provide ongoing education for their employees. This can lead to dangerous mistakes, from missed warning signs to improper surgical techniques.
Communication breakdowns are another common cause of medical errors. In busy hospitals and medical practices, critical information can be lost in the shuffle. Electronic medical records, while intended to improve communication and reduce errors, can sometimes contribute to the problem if they are not properly maintained or used correctly.
Finally, corporate profit motives can lead to risky shortcuts and dangerous cost-cutting measures. For example, some hospitals may push doctors to see more patients in less time, prioritize profitable procedures over necessary treatments, or discharge patients too quickly to free up beds. These decisions can put patients at serious risk and lead to catastrophic outcomes.
Because They Deserve More than Apologies
Medical malpractice cases are among the most complex and challenging types of personal injury claims. They require a deep understanding of both medicine and the law, as well as the financial resources to take on powerful healthcare corporations. These cases often depend on the testimony of top medical experts, who can provide objective, credible assessments of what went wrong and how it could have been prevented. Families deserve more than apologies when a loved one is harmed by medical negligence. They deserve real accountability and meaningful change.
What sets McHugh Fuller apart is their willingness to take on difficult, high-stakes cases that other firms might avoid. They have the experience, financial resources, and trial skills needed to take on hospitals, healthcare corporations, and insurance companies that put profits ahead of patient safety. They understand that these cases are about more than just compensation. They are about holding the powerful accountable, pushing for meaningful changes in the healthcare industry, and ensuring that those responsible for patient harm face real consequences.
For many families, one of the most painful aspects of medical malpractice is the lack of clear answers. They are left in the dark about what really happened to their loved one, often receiving conflicting or incomplete explanations. The justice system provides a way to uncover the truth, to demand accountability from those responsible, and to prevent similar harm to others in the future. At McHugh Fuller, the attorneys believe that families deserve the truth about what happened to their loved ones, and they fight to expose the dangerous practices that put patients at risk. They understand that the truth is not just about financial compensation. It is about providing families with the answers they deserve and holding those responsible accountable for the harm they caused. Because families deserve more than apologies. They deserve the truth.
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