Key Takeaways About Medical Malpractice in Boston
- Medical malpractice in Boston involves medical professionals failing to meet the standard of care, resulting in patient harm.
- Our Boston medical malpractice lawyers specialize in holding negligent medical professionals accountable, ensuring fair compensation for their clients’ injuries with personalized care and trust-building.
- Common medical malpractice in Boston includes birth injuries, misdiagnosis, surgical mistakes, and prescription errors, which can result in severe complications and life-altering injuries.
- Medical malpractice victims in Boston can receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more, with a cap on non-economic damages at $500,000 in Massachusetts, except for severe cases.
- To determine if you have a medical malpractice case in Boston, Massachusetts, ensure your claim is within the statute of limitations, prove negligence caused your injury, and consider comparative negligence if applicable.
Handling Medical Malpractice Cases Throughout all of Massachusetts
Have you been injured due to medical malpractice by a doctor or medical facility in Boston, MA? You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries through a medical malpractice claim.
When a physician you have trusted with your health has caused you injury instead, a Boston medical malpractice lawyer can help you hold them accountable.
Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers takes pride in building trust and confidence through a personalized approach to every case we accept. Contact our law office at (774) 214-2515 or through our contact form to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case and how we can help you.
What Qualifies as Medical Malpractice in Boston?
While Boston may be known for its excellent health care system, sometimes medical professionals make mistakes.
Patients can be left with severe complications and life-changing injuries when they do. Massachusetts medical malpractice refers to a medical provider who is negligent through omission or action and causes personal injury to a patient.
Malpractice can occur at any stage of medical care, including diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, and chronic illness management. It may be committed by any medical provider. This includes hospitals, primary care physicians, pharmacists, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, paramedics, and technicians.
In Massachusetts, medical providers are held to a very high standard of care. A medical provider must provide the standard of reasonable care for someone in the same field in similar circumstances.
Medical negligence is not simply having a poor outcome for a treatment or procedure. To determine if a medical provider breached the standard of care, a personal injury lawyer will typically work with expert medical witnesses who can testify as to the care standard.
Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
Medical malpractice in Boston comes in many forms. The following are common examples of medical negligence.
Birth Injury
Birth injuries can occur when a medical provider fails to recognize signs of distress, does not provide the correct treatment to a pregnant woman, does not recognize a prenatal condition, or causes injury during the birth itself.
Common examples of birth injuries in Boston usually caused by medical negligence include cerebral palsy, shoulder dystocia, and brachial plexus injuries.
Misdiagnosis, Delayed Diagnosis, and Failure to Treat
Medical malpractice can happen when a condition is diagnosed and treated.
Sometimes malpractice happens when a patient is incorrectly told there is nothing wrong with them. They may even be diagnosed with the wrong condition.
When the wrong condition is diagnosed, a patient is sent away believing there is nothing wrong or the correct treatment is not provided; negligence can lead to serious harm.
A patient’s condition may worsen, potentially to the point where the treatment that could have saved them or cured them will no longer be effective. This is particularly true with conditions such as cancer or serious heart conditions.
Surgical Mistakes
According to the National Library of Medicine, it’s estimated that around 4,000 surgical errors occur every year across the country. These mistakes can happen pre-op, during surgery, or post-op. A surgical error can require revision surgery, worsen a patient’s condition, or cause serious complications or even death.
Examples of surgical errors include wrong-site surgery, leaving surgical equipment in a patient, perforating an organ, anesthesia mistakes, and nerve damage.
Prescription Errors
A prescribing physician or pharmacist may commit a prescription drug error. These mistakes happen when the wrong drug or dose is prescribed or administered. It may also happen when a medication interacts with a patient’s other prescriptions.
Components of a Boston Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
When you visit a healthcare facility or emergency room, you trust the professionals within to treat you with professionalism and care. However, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals can always make mistakes. If these mistakes cause significant harm to their patients, they may be considered medical malpractice.
Victims of medical malpractice or their families have the legal right to file a claim for compensation for their losses. To achieve a successful outcome, your attorney must prove the following elements are present in your case:
Duty of Care
The first step of any medical malpractice case is to identify the duty of care that the medical professional owed the victim. While the duty of care can be challenging to establish in other personal injury cases, you only need to establish that the victim and the medical professional had a doctor-patient relationship in a medical malpractice case. If the doctor was treating you, they had a duty of care to uphold accepted medical practices and do what any other doctor would reasonably do.
Deviation from Duty of Care
Unfortunately, doctors or nurses may breach their duty of care when treating a patient. This can be more challenging to prove as many doctors may deny making an egregious mistake. It is essential to remember that not every negative medical outcome results from medical malpractice. To prove that the doctor acted negligently, you must establish that they did not exercise the standard of care that most professionals would in the same situation. Some examples of deviating from the duty of care include:
- Surgical mistakes: Countless things could go wrong when a patient goes under the knife. Sometimes, healthy tissue could be severely damaged, or the doctor could operate on the wrong body part entirely.
- Misdiagnosis: Misdiagnosis can be an extremely dangerous form of medical malpractice. If a doctor fails to diagnose an illness or treats a patient for the wrong illness, the patient could suffer irreversible damage.
- Delayed Diagnosis: Even if the doctor eventually arrives at the correct diagnosis, the patient’s illness may have progressed significantly. Depending on the length of the delay and the nature of the illness, a delayed diagnosis may even be fatal.
Your attorney will investigate every detail of your case to establish that your doctor or nurse professional breached their duty of care. If their breach of duty directly caused you harm, you may be entitled to damages for the losses you have suffered. Some damages you may be eligible to recover include medical bills, cost of medication, pain and suffering, and more.
Direct Causation
The final element to prove a medical malpractice case is establishing that the breach of care directly resulted in the victim’s damages. Your lawyer may bring in expert witnesses to testify to help prove that the doctor’s actions resulted in an injury. Your injury may cause further damages, such as increased medical costs or lost wages. Without causation, an injury is not necessarily an indicator of medical malpractice.
What Damages Are Available for Medical Malpractice Victims in Boston?
When you are harmed by a medical provider’s negligence, you may recover compensation for the economic and non-economic damages you have suffered.
Our Boston personal injury attorneys will fight for the maximum compensation you deserve for:
- Medical bills, including the future expenses you will likely face related to your injuries
- Lost wages
- Lost future earning capacity or disability
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death
Note that Massachusetts caps non-economic damages at $500,000 in medical malpractice claims. However, this cap is lifted in some circumstances, including cases involving the impairment of bodily function or significant disfigurement. You may also qualify to have this cap lifted if you can show it deprives you of fair compensation for the injuries you sustained.
How to Determine if You Have an Eligible Medical Malpractice Case
Even when relying on medical professionals, it is still possible for things to go wrong. However, not every incidence of a displeasing medical outcome can be considered medical malpractice. A medical malpractice case must meet specific stipulations to be eligible for a lawsuit.
Is Your Case Within the Statute of Limitations?
In Massachusetts, the patient must file a medical malpractice case within three years of the date they discover their injury. Typically, the three-year time limit doesn’t begin until the patient becomes aware of the malpractice, as it may not be immediately evident.
However, certain exceptions can lengthen this time, and others shorten it. For example, children under the age of six have a different statute of limitations. Their suit must be brought by their ninth birthday.
Except in cases where they have retained foreign objects post-surgery, patients cannot file a lawsuit more than seven years after the negligent act.
Was Negligence the Cause of Your Injury?
In any personal injury case, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving the following elements:
- The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care
- The defendant was negligent, violating that duty of care
- The plaintiff was injured as a result of the defendant’s negligence
- As a result of the defendant’s negligence, the plaintiff suffered losses
These elements may be easy to understand, but proving negligence in a medical malpractice case is often an involved process requiring expert testimonies. Experienced Boston medical malpractice lawyers may have access to valuable resources and expert practitioners who can benefit your case.
Were You Mostly Responsible for Your Injury?
Comparative negligence is a personal injury rule that plays a factor in your ability to recover damages and the total damages you can recover. A medical professional may allege that the plaintiff was negligent and that their negligence was a major contributing cause of the injury they sustained.
If the plaintiff is indeed partially responsible for their injury, they may only be able to recover damages as long as their contribution is not more significant than the defendants’. However, the compensation will be reduced by the plaintiff’s negligence percentage.
What Must be Shown to Prove Negligence in a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?
Massachusetts has very strict laws regarding medical malpractice claims. Before your case can proceed, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 231 Section 60B requires that you go before a tribunal. However, a superior court ruling effective 2018 makes this tribunal necessary only if requested by the defendant.
This tribunal includes:
- One justice of the Massachusetts supreme court
- A Massachusetts licensed physician, and
- A Massachusetts licensed attorney.
- The tribunal’s purpose is to determine whether your evidence is enough to raise a legitimate question about whether the medical provider was negligent.
When you file your lawsuit, you are required to file and serve an offer of proof in your case. If desired, the defendant then has 30 days to answer and specifically request a tribunal.
If the tribunal finds you have sufficient evidence, your case will proceed to court. Otherwise, your lawsuit can only go forward if you file a $6,000 bond with the clerk of court to cover the defendant’s court costs and legal fees if your case is unsuccessful.
Once your case proceeds to court, you will need to prove several elements in your case:
- A doctor-patient relationship existed
- The medical provider was negligent
- This negligence caused your injury, and
- The injury led to specific damages or harm.
This means it isn’t enough that a physician committed a medical error; it must rise to the level of negligence, and it must have caused you harm.
How Our Experienced Boston Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help
When your trust in a medical provider has been misplaced, and you are left harmed instead of helped, you may feel overwhelmed, angry, and unsure where to turn. Unfortunately, medical malpractice is a common problem, and it can be an uphill battle to recover fair compensation for the harm you have suffered. Medical malpractice cases can be extraordinarily complex. You deserve to have a fierce advocate in your corner if you have suffered harm due to a medical professional’s negligence in Boston.
The medical malpractice attorneys at Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers have dedicated their careers to helping their clients in Boston and the surrounding areas get the justice they deserve. Our attorneys will advocate tirelessly for your right to compensation for the losses you have suffered. Some of the ways our experienced and skilled legal team can help you include:
Speaking With Insurance Companies on Your Behalf
When you partner with one of our highly-qualified personal injury attorneys, you can rest assured that they will negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf so you can focus solely on your recovery. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not always have the victim’s best interests in mind and may try to offer them the lowest amount of compensation possible for their claim. A skilled attorney will fight for your interests during negotiations so that you get the compensation you deserve.
Discovering the Full Value of Your Claim
Every medical malpractice case is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all formula to determine compensation. Furthermore, victims may assume the value of their claim is much higher, or worse, much lower than it really is. Your lawyer will use their years of expertise to determine the total value of your claim so that you are fairly compensated for the harm you have endured.
Saving You Time and Money
While hiring a lawyer may seem daunting, it is often much more expensive to go without one. The cost of extended hospital stays, prescription drugs, or physical therapy can be astronomical. A highly-qualified attorney can ensure you receive the maximum amount of compensation possible to cover all of your losses.
Medical malpractice cases can be extraordinarily dense. Filling out and filing paperwork correctly, interviewing expert witnesses, and establishing negligence can be draining and time-consuming, especially if you have never done it before. Your lawyer will make sure every form is filled out correctly and on time and apply their vast wealth of knowledge to every aspect of your case.
Getting Access to Our Resources
When you partner with a medical malpractice lawyer, you also gain access to their connections. A trusted lawyer can put you in touch with skilled medical professionals to diagnose and treat your injuries. Additionally, your lawyer can enlist the help of expert witnesses to testify and establish the medical malpractice that occurred and the damages you suffered as a result.
Defending Your Interests in Court
While some cases can be settled before going to trial, many others are argued before a judge and jury. Often, the success of a medical malpractice case hinges on the ability to present and argue your case flawlessly. Your attorney will get to know you and every detail of your case so they can use their skills to defend your interests and tailor your case to your unique needs.
Expertly Handling Every Aspect of Your Case
Our medical malpractice lawyers in Boston have recovered hundreds of millions in compensation for our clients. This includes a $40 million verdict (with interest) which was the largest 2015 verdict in Massachusetts and 20th overall in the US.
When you choose Sweeney Merrigan Law, LLP, to represent you in your medical malpractice claim, you can trust us to:
- Offer legal advice with a relationship built on confidence and trust
- Perform an in-depth investigation into your case
- Gather evidence to establish causation and the extent of your damages
- Work with medical experts to establish the standard of care and how your provider deviated
- Fight back against claims that the provider was not negligent or you were not seriously injured
- Negotiate for a fair settlement on your behalf
- Present your case before a jury if a fair settlement offer cannot be reached
Our Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyers always prepare every case for trial. We are not afraid to take your case to court and will not pressure you to accept a low-ball settlement that does not fairly compensate you. Contact the Super Lawyers at Sweeney Merrigan Law, LLP, today to schedule your free consultation to explore your legal options.
What Is the Deadline or Statute of Limitations for Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim in Boston?
You have a limited amount of time to file a Massachusetts medical malpractice lawsuit. Typically, the statute of limitations is just three years from the date of the malpractice under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 260 Section 4. However, you can bring a claim up to 7 years after the date of injury if the malpractice wasn’t known or reasonably knowable. For malpractice affecting children under six, the window is extended up to six years, but the case must be filed before the child turns 9.
It’s crucial to consult with a Boston medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible to protect your claim. Three years may seem like a long time, but it’s vital that your case is investigated and evidence gathered quickly.
WHEN SHOULD I CALL A MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYER IN MASSACHUSETTS?
Medical professionals can make mistakes while treating you. While doctors and nurses cannot guarantee that you will recover, they are responsible for giving you the best possible treatment. If proper care is not taken, patients can suffer from preventable medical errors, resulting in significant injuries, substantial complications, and even death.
After recognizing these signs, you should call an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to discuss your case and help you file a claim. Medical malpractice claims can be challenging to resolve.
You Experienced Complications With Your Surgery
Surgical errors occur more often than anyone would expect. Surgical errors are preventable mistakes that occur during a surgical operation and often contribute to major complications and even patients’ deaths.
While all surgeries involve an element of risk, it is unacceptable for patients to suffer harm if their surgeon is incompetent, fatigued, or under the influence of drugs and alcohol. If you experience complications with your surgery, this could be a sign that your surgeon or another medical staff member was negligent during your procedure.
You Were Misdiagnosed, and There Were Negative Consequences
A diagnosis is instrumental in developing a treatment plan for a person’s ailment. Though treatments aim to make a person well, they can have harmful side effects along the way. If you were given the wrong diagnosis, you suffered these side effects for no reason.
On the other hand, a misdiagnosis could also lead to delayed treatment. Allowing a condition to continue unchecked could lead to a patient suffering or even dying from an illness that could have been preventable or treated earlier.
In either scenario, misdiagnoses can have debilitating consequences. If you received a misdiagnosis from your healthcare provider and suffered because of it, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer for legal advice.
You Were Seriously Injured and Suffered Losses
An integral part of any medical malpractice case is that negligence in your interaction with a medical professional led to your injury and losses. To verify that your claim meets these criteria, you must establish that:
- The medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- The medical professional was negligent and breached their duty of care.
- Because of the medical professional’s negligence, you were injured.
- You have suffered losses because of the medical professional’s negligence.
You can experience negligence in various ways in a healthcare setting, but if these conditions are not met, you have no case. If these conditions do apply to you, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible to start working on your case.
A Medical Error Caused Your Loved One’s Death
At best, a medical error causes you a minor inconvenience, but at worst, it could result in your death or the death of a loved one. Common medical errors include a variety of scenarios, such as giving a patient the wrong medication, neglecting the patient, or making a surgical error. After a patient dies from this carelessness, their surviving family members may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit to seek damages.
When a medical error results in the loss of a loved one, you should contact a medical malpractice attorney for assistance in recovering the total amount of compensation.
Get a Free Consultation With a Boston Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Have you suffered serious injury or complications caused by medical malpractice? Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers will help you hold the responsible party accountable for the harm you have suffered.
Contact our law office today at (774) 341-5778 or through our contact form to schedule a free case review with a compassionate Boston medical malpractice lawyer who will help you explore your legal options.
Helpful Articles From Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers
- What Is the Difference Between Negligence and Malpractice?
- Can a Doctor Lose Their License When Sued for Negligence?
- Understanding Pharmacy Errors and When to File a Claim
Additional Resources
- Massachusetts Health License Lookup
- General Massachusetts Medical Practice Laws
- Library of Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Forms
Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Malpractice in Boston
Can I Still Sue for Malpractice if I Signed an Informed Consent Document Before the Medical Procedure?
Yes. The consent documentation is not a waiver. The document is arguably not admissible in a trial, although the case law on this issue is less clear in Massachusetts than it is in other states. But, simply put, the consent document is a consent to a procedure being performed, documentation that the doctor has advised you of the risks and benefits as they are required. However, the meaning of this document is consenting to the risks when the procedure is performed correctly. It does not constitute a waiver to an incorrectly performed medical procedure as that would result in many instances of medical malpractice by giving the doctors a free pass, forever.
Can a Misdiagnosis or Failure to Read Test Results Correctly Be Grounds for a Medical Malpractice Claim?
Yes, as a medical negligence case requires a breach of the standard of care. However, typically these cases turn on what the resulting harm was from that misdiagnosis or misread (i.e. breach of care). If the harm is significant, then typically the breach and significant harm tends to result in a strong case.
Can I Sue if My Doctor Did Not Tell Me About the Risks of a Procedure?
Yes, but these cases can be difficult as they are often “he-said she-said” cases. However, if the doctor failed to have you sign an essential informed consent document, then that is clear documentation that you were not informed of the risks.
How Common Is Medical Negligence?
Medical malpractice is a shockingly common problem. According to a major John Hopkins study, medical mistakes are the third leading cause of death in America. It is believed that up to 440,000 patients die every year as a result of mistakes by medical professionals. However, many more suffer injuries, sometimes catastrophic.
What Types of Evidence Do I Need in Medical Malpractice Cases?
Most evidence in a medical malpractice case begins with the medical records. One thing that makes medical malpractice cases unique is that the evidence is logged in records that are, for the most part, kept contemporaneously. Usually, these records contain many of the red flags that doctors ignored, failed to appreciate, or didn’t even read, long before a preventable event occurs. Therefore, in order to have your case reviewed for medical malpractice, it is best to work on obtaining copies of the records right away.
What are the 4 things that must be proven to win a medical malpractice in Boston?
To win a medical malpractice case in Boston, MA, four key elements must typically be proven: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. This involves demonstrating that the healthcare provider owed a duty to provide competent care, that they breached this duty through negligent or reckless actions, that the breach directly caused harm or injury, and that the plaintiff suffered damages as a result.
What is the most important document in a medical malpractice case?
The most important document is often the medical records of the patient involved. These records provide crucial evidence regarding the patient’s medical history, treatment received, and any complications or errors that may have occurred.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys J. Tucker Merrigan, Esq. and Peter M. Merrigan, Esq.
Contact our experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Sweeney Merrigan Law, LLP today for a consultation if you have suffered from medical malpractice or negligence in Boston or anywhere in Massachusetts.
