Texas Medical Malpractice Lawyers
If you were the victim of medical malpractice, you’ll need an experienced law firm on your side. At Gibson Hill Personal Injury, we fight aggressively and skillfully to protect our clients’ rights and recover the full and fair compensation they deserve.
Most people trust that medical professionals are honest individuals who won’t cause any harm. However, they’re human and can easily make a mistake that causes someone a severe injury or fatality. Some procedures don’t go as planned, or a doctor will misdiagnose their patient.
When a healthcare professional is negligent in their duties to care for their patients, and it leads to an injury, that’s known as medical malpractice. You deserve justice for the suffering you endured. Ty Gibson and Brett M. Hill are dedicated medical malpractice attorneys who will stand by your side throughout the case and work hard to achieve the positive outcome you need. Their clients appreciate their compassion and assertive representation.
To find out how we can help you, call us at (713) 659-4000 to speak with one of our Texas medical malpractice lawyers. We’re ready to get started on your case.
Hire a Lawyer With Experience Handling Medical Malpractice Cases
Medical malpractice cases are often much more complicated than other types of cases. There are specific procedures you must follow if you want to receive the maximum financial award available. If you miss a deadline or submit inaccurate information, you risk losing the case. Medical malpractice cases must be investigated meticulously and exhaustively. A qualified medical malpractice attorney will have the resources to hire esteemed medical and financial experts who can provide invaluable input and testimony on your case.
At Gibson Hill Personal Injury, our Texas medical malpractice lawyers don’t take on cases from different types of practice areas. We focus only on personal injury, which includes medical malpractice. We have the experience, knowledge, and resources to effectively manage our clients’ cases and reach a favorable outcome.
Examples of medical malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Improper medication
- Failure to warn about potential risks
- Lack of pre or post-operative care
- Failure to order proper test
- Misreading medical charts or test results
- Failure to sterilize medical tools
- Improper use of tools or medical devices
- Treating someone without their expressed consent
- Failure to listen to the patient
What Gibson Hill Personal Injury Can Do for You
If you suffer an injury from your doctor or get misdiagnosed, you’ll need to hire an attorney that knows the right steps to take next. Gibson Hill Personal Injury will open an investigation and gather records that prove medical malpractice occurred. Some of the information we’ll gather to support your case will include:
Background Information
To begin with, we’ll collect basic information regarding your medical condition. We’ll request copies of your prescriptions, medical records before and after the incident happened, diagnostic reports, and mental health documentation. Prior records can be crucial to show that your injury wasn’t from a preexisting condition or previous accident.
Expert Witnesses
Medical malpractice cases require more than just medical records and medical bills. We’ll thoroughly research your specific circumstances and leverage testimonies that support your claim. Medical and financial expert witnesses can support your case and testify that you did not receive the standard of care that would have been provided by a reasonably prudent health care professional, and that your injury was caused by their negligence.
Financial Information
To ensure we ask for fair compensation, we’ll need to calculate how much money you spent on medical treatment and other expenses related to the incident. Some of the records we’ll request include:
- Medical bills from hospitals, rehab facilities, etc.
- Out of pocket costs
- Paystubs from your job to show wages you couldn’t earn because of the injury
- Insurance information for the maximum available coverage
You also might want to sue for compensation for emotional trauma or lost quality of life. If so, we’ll find evidence of your intangible losses, such as psychology records and affidavits from people who saw the impact of the incident on your life.
Additional Evidence
Some other relevant input and evidence we’ll obtain include:
- Doctor notes and letters related to the incident that injured you
- Medical device instructions or manuals if there was a malfunction that caused your injury
- Invoices, receipts, and other records showing the medical procedure’s timeline and resulting injury that required treatment
Medical Malpractice Is a Form of Negligence You Must Prove
Negligence is an essential element of medical malpractice cases. If you can’t prove negligence on the part of the medical provider, you’ll have a hard time convincing a jury that you deserve financial compensation.
The five main components of negligence you have to prove existed at the time of the incident includes:
- Duty: The medical provider owed you a reasonable duty of care to prevent you from suffering harm;
- Breach of duty: They breached their duty;
- Cause in fact: Their action (or inaction) was the direct cause of your injury;
- Proximate cause: The medical provider should have known you would suffer an injury because of their actions; and
- Damages: You incurred damages.
You Deserve Compensation for Your Damages
When we file your claim or lawsuit, we’ll attempt to compensate for your damages. Damages include all losses suffered from an accident or injury. There are economic and non-economic damages available in a medical malpractice case.
Economic damages are expenses. The compensation you receive should reimburse you for any costs related to your injury, such as:
- Medical bills
- Out of pocket expenses
- Lost wages and lost future earnings
Non-economic damages are intangible losses that a jury will quantify based on different factors. Non-economic damages in a medical malpractice case include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement
- Disability
The factors that could contribute to the compensation provided for non-economic damages include the following:
- If the injury prevents the ability to maintain employment
- An impairment, disfigurement, or disability that resulted from the injury
- The type and severity of the injury
- Length of medical treatment necessary to recover
- Total economic damages
- Availability of sufficient evidence
Typically, a severe injury leads to higher compensation, while a minor injury results in low compensation. If you end up with a physical or mental impairment that affects your daily lifestyle, you’ll likely receive more money. Loss of a limb or loss of essential bodily function could also lead to a substantial financial award.
Unfortunately, Texas places a cap on non-economic damages. If you sue a doctor, hospital, or individual healthcare provider, the most you could receive is $250,000. There’s also a total cap of $500,000 if you pursue a lawsuit against multiple providers.
What Is a Statute of Limitations?
A statute of limitations is a law that determines the deadline by which an injured victim must pursue civil action against another party for financial compensation. Every state has statutes for different types of personal injury cases. In Texas, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two years.
That two-year statute means you have two years from the date you sustained an injury due to medical malpractice to file a lawsuit against the medical provider. After two years pass, you’ll lose your right to compensation for that specific matter.
What If Medical Malpractice Caused My Loved One’s Death?
If your loved one died as the result of medical malpractice, you could file a lawsuit on their behalf for wrongful death damages. Texas statute 71.001 defines the action of wrongful death and who can seek a financial award.
The following surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death case based on this order:
- Surviving spouse;
- Surviving children; or
- Surviving parents.
If there isn’t a surviving spouse, child, or parent, or no one brings forward a wrongful death claim within three months of the deceased’s death, their estate’s personal representative can file.
Adult children are allowed to pursue a wrongful death case if their parent dies due to medical malpractice. If they are adopted children, they can pursue a lawsuit on behalf of their deceased adoptive parent but aren’t entitled to compensation if their biological parent passes away.
Wrongful death damages are supposed to compensate the victim’s estate and their surviving family members for the losses suffered as a result of the unexpected death. They include:
- Lost earning capacity
- Lost companionship, comfort, society, and love
- Lost care, household services, support, and advice the victim would have provided if they survived
- Lost inheritance and other funds the deceased would have saved and left for their family members if they survived
The compensation awarded in a wrongful death case gets divided between each surviving family member based on the extent of their suffering after the death of their loved one.
As with a medical malpractice injury case, a wrongful death lawsuit follows a two-year statute of limitations. The clock on that deadline begins on the date your loved one passed away.
Gibson Hill Personal Injury Legal Fees and Costs
Our Texas medical malpractice lawyers take cases on a contingency-fee basis. Unlike other law firms that charge by the hour and for each phone call and appointment with their clients, we work on contingency. You don’t have to pay us up front to take your case and try to secure a positive outcome. You won’t owe us legal fees unless we win compensation. If we don’t win, you won’t have to pay us for our time and effort.
Contact Us
At Gibson Hill Personal Injury, we have a team of dedicated attorneys ready to fight for your rights. When you hire us, you can depend on excellent customer service, open communication, and reliable legal professionals. We will treat you with compassion and respect throughout your whole case. We’ll make sure you always know that your case is a priority for us.
We know you experienced something traumatic. Medical malpractice cases often lead to severe injuries and expensive treatment to recover. Some people sustain a permanent disability and have a lifelong battle ahead of them. Others are no longer able to support their family.
Whatever situation you’re in, Gibson Hill Personal Injury will work hard to seek justice from the negligent party and get you the maximum compensation available. Call us at (713) 659-4000 if you sustained an injury due to medical malpractice in Texas. One of our Texas medical malpractice lawyers will be happy to meet with you and discuss your case.