Are you or a loved one suffering because of a doctor’s mistake in Sandusky, OH? You could be entitled to significant compensation for your medical costs, pain, suffering, and more. Proving medical negligence, however, can be challenging. An experienced Sandusky medical malpractice lawyer at Wisehart Wright Trial Lawyers can help you recover every dollar you deserve.
Between us, our lawyers have over 181 years of experience advocating on behalf of injury victims and their families. Our dedicated attorneys have worked hard, and it shows–we’ve recovered over $100 million in settlements and verdicts over the years.
Our team is passionate about holding negligent medical professionals accountable for the damage they cause. To learn more about your legal options, contact our law offices in Sandusky, Ohio, at (419) 625-7770 to schedule a free consultation today.
How Can Wisehart Wright Trial Lawyers Help With a Medical Malpractice Claim in Sandusky, OH?
Medical malpractice cases are particularly complicated. You deserve a law firm with the experience and resources to take on the hospitals, insurance companies, and defense teams you’ll run up against.
Injury victims have trusted our Sandusky personal injury attorneys for decades to fight for them since our firm was founded. Over the years, we’ve been recognized by Super Lawyers, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Hiring us gives you someone in your corner who will:
- Carefully investigate and locate evidence to prove your case
- Identify all parties who share legal responsibility
- Evaluate your losses and calculate your case value
- Hire leading experts who can strengthen your case
- Negotiate aggressively to secure a full settlement award
- Prepare your case for trial if the insurance company refuses a fair deal
You don’t have to go through this difficult time alone. Call our experienced Sandusky personal injury lawyers today to learn more about our team and how we can protect your right to compensation.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical providers can never guarantee a perfect outcome. Patients respond differently to treatment. Some medical conditions can be so serious that treatment simply isn’t effective.
That said, all healthcare providers are expected to adhere to certain standards when treating patients. This “medical standard of care” varies from case to case. In all cases, however, medical providers can be liable for malpractice when they fail to provide the proper level of care.
Medical malpractice can occur at any stage in the treatment process.
At Wisehart Wright Trial Lawyers, we handle all types of medical malpractice claims, including those involving:
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical errors
- Emergency room errors
- Nursing negligence
- Errors involving medications and prescription drugs
- Hospital-acquired infections
- Pharmacy errors
- Defective medical devices
- Hospital negligence
- Birth injuries
- Radiology errors
If you were harmed due to a medical error, call our attorneys in Sandusky today. We offer free case reviews, so there’s no risk in learning about your legal rights and options.
Statistics on Medical Malpractice in the U.S.
Medical negligence is a serious problem in the United States. Statistics on the severity of medical errors vary from study to study. Some studies estimate that over 200,000 patients die due to preventable mistakes each year. Others estimate that around 400,000 suffer some type of preventable harm due to medical malpractice.
Medical errors are also extremely expensive. In 2023, insurance companies in Ohio alone paid out more than $64 million for claims related to medical negligence.
How Much Is My Sandusky Medical Malpractice Case Worth?
Every medical malpractice claim is unique. It’s important to carefully evaluate all of the losses you’ve suffered due to the error. Insurance companies, of course, will do everything they can to downplay those losses.
When our lawyers are assessing the value of your case, we’ll consider many factors, including:
- Whether you will suffer a permanent or long-term impairment
- How your prognosis has changed due to the error
- Your medical treatment costs to date
- Your expected need for ongoing medical care and the cost
- How your quality of life has changed due to the error
- The nature of the healthcare provider’s mistake
- How the error has impacted your earnings
- Anticipated future impacts, including lost earnings and how the injury will affect your ability to enjoy life
Doctors and hospitals already have teams of defense lawyers to protect them. It’s important to hire an experienced attorney to succeed and recover the full compensation you deserve.
Our lawyers can offer more insight into your specific case value during a free case evaluation. Just give us a call today to learn more about how we can stand up and fight for you.
What Types of Compensation Are Available to Victims of Medical Malpractice in Sandusky, Ohio?
Your financial award should include compensation for economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are awarded to compensate for the financial losses you have suffered due to the medical error, including:
- Increased medical treatment costs
- Future medical expenses
- Lost wages and employee benefits
- Lost future earning potential
- Rehabilitation
- Nursing care or in-home assistance
- Home and vehicle modifications
- Out-of-pocket expenses, such as childcare costs, transportation expenses, etc.
Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are meant to compensate for much more personal losses, including:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Diminished quality of life
- Reduced life expectancy
- Physical disfigurement and scarring
- Mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and PTSD
- Damage to personal relationships
- Loss of consortium in wrongful death cases
You can recover the full amount of your economic damages without limit. Ohio law caps the value of a non-economic damages award in medical malpractice cases. The cap depends on the circumstances and the nature of your injuries.
Your non-economic damages can be a substantial portion of your overall compensation award. Of course, you won’t have receipts to establish their value. That makes it critical to have an experienced attorney who can help you prove the value of these losses.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Ohio?
Like most medical malpractice attorneys in Ohio, we work on a contingency fee basis. You can hire Wisehart Wright Trial Lawyers without any initial costs. Once your case is resolved, we take a pre-agreed upon percentage of your settlement or jury verdict.
What Do I Have to Prove to Win a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Ohio?
Medical malpractice is a type of negligence. Someone is negligent when they have a legal duty to behave carefully and fail to exercise a reasonable amount of care.
In medical malpractice cases, you must prove several specific elements, including:
- You were a patient, so you were owed a legal duty of care
- The medical standard of care you should have received
- Your doctor made some type of mistake that caused them to deviate from the standard of care
- You suffered some type of identifiable harm, or damages, due to the error
Establishing the standard of care can be challenging. Our lawyers will call in medical experts who can testify about the level of care you should have received.
What Are the Leading Causes of Medical Malpractice?
Medical errors happen for all different reasons. Doctors and hospital employees are often overworked and tired. Some simply don’t have the experience necessary to provide adequate care without supervision. When hospitals are understaffed, it can be difficult to properly supervise workers.
That’s no excuse for substandard care. Our attorneys can help you identify the root cause of a medical mistake.
Medical malpractice claims are often based on:
- Failure to diagnose a disease
- Ignoring a patient’s symptoms
- Misreading lab results, which can lead to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
- Failing to take a full patient history
- Failure to monitor a patient during and after procedures
- Failure to provide proper pre- or post-operative care or instructions
- Unsanitary conditions
- Outdated technology
- Charting and communication errors
- Failure to order the proper diagnostic tests
- Lab mixups
- Mistaken patient identities
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Drug or alcohol use
- Failure to refer patients to specialists when appropriate
- Physician bias
Any number of things can happen to allow medical mistakes to occur. When they do, it’s the patient who is left to struggle with the consequences. If you were harmed due to a doctor’s mistake, call our Sandusky medical malpractice attorneys today. We can help you find out what happened.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Ohio?
You have one year from the date of the mistake to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. In cases where you don’t discover the mistake immediately, the one-year statute of limitations starts to run on the date you knew or reasonably should have known about the error.
A statute of repose also applies. Regardless of when you discover the mistake, you’re barred from seeking compensation after four years have passed.
Contact a Trusted Sandusky Medical Malpractice Lawyer for a Free Consultation Today
Do you have questions about your legal options after a medical error? Our lawyers at Wisehart Wright Trial Lawyers can help you fight for compensation. Contact our Sandusky medical malpractice lawyers today to set up a time to talk about your case.