Our Experienced Seattle Injury Lawyer Helps Clients Harmed by Medical Negligence Understand Their Rights and Options
Dealing with medical issues can be concerning, but you can typically trust that your doctors and other providers have the proper education, training, and skills to administer appropriate care. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Medical errors and misconduct are more common than most people realize, affecting hundreds of thousands of patients each year, and even well-trained, experienced medical professionals can make careless mistakes.
Understanding the legal landscape is essential if you or a loved one suffered physical or financial harm due to medical negligence. At Kode Law Firm, skilled Seattle medical malpractice lawyer Preet Kode helps clients and their families explore options and protect their right to recovery. Discover how our dedicated team could assist you.
Get the Facts on Medical Malpractice Cases in Washington State
Washington insurers, self-insurers, and attorneys resolved more than 3,000 medical malpractice claims and lawsuits between 2018 and 2022. Nearly half—47.7 percent—of these cases closed with indemnity payments to claimants or plaintiffs. Medical malpractice litigation can be challenging. Here’s what you should know about these complex cases and how Kode Law Firm can help you navigate unfamiliar legal processes.
Recognizing Medical Negligence
Medical malpractice is more than a bad health outcome. Winning a medical negligence claim requires proving that:
- The provider owed you or your family member a professional duty of care, meaning that, as a nurse, doctor, or other medical professional, they were obligated to provide an appropriate standard of care based on their training, qualifications, and the situation’s circumstances.
- The medical provider breached their professional duty by deviating from the expected standard of care.
- The breached duty of care harmed you or your loved one.
- Your or your family member suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result.
Common Types of Medical Errors and Misconduct
Serious medical mistakes can happen in numerous ways. Some of the most common types of medical malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or failure to diagnose
- Failure to order the right tests or respond appropriately to results
- Unnecessary surgery or incorrect procedure
- Surgery performed on the wrong part of the body
- Leaving surgical tools or materials inside the patient
- Premature discharge
- Failure to follow up
- Pressure sores or potentially fatal infections acquired in the hospital
- Prescribing the wrong medication or dosage
- Device or equipment failure
- Improper supervision
- Failure to obtain informed consent
- Facility fires
How Our Washington Malpractice Attorney Helps Clients Hold Health Care Providers Accountable for Medical Negligence
Medical malpractice claims can lead to complex litigation that entails strict deadlines and complicated statutes and pits victims and their families against savvy corporate counsel. At Kode Law Firm, our exceptional legal team helps clients level the playing field and fight for the financial recovery they deserve. Here’s how we could help your case.
- Review your case and determine whether you have grounds for an insurance claim or lawsuit
- Identify the appropriate defendant; potentially liable parties include doctors, specialists, nurses, surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, pharmacists, paramedics, hospitals, health clinics, and nursing homes
- Gather vital evidence to support your medical malpractice claim, such as patient medical records, provider training and employment documentation, damage estimates, and receipts
- Interview witnesses and arrange for experts such as medical specialists, rehabilitation professionals, and life care planners to testify on your behalf
- Handle communications with insurers, defense attorneys, and other parties
- Analyze and negotiate settlement offers
- Meet strict legal deadlines, such as the statute of limitations, which gives victims just three years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit
- Take your case to trial
Most importantly, Preet Kode works diligently to relieve your stress, taking on the day-to-day burdens of litigation so you can focus on your health and healing.
What You Might Recover in a Washington Medical Malpractice Case
Depending on the facts and evidence, your medical malpractice recovery might include compensation for:
- All malpractice-related medical expenses, including the estimated cost of future or ongoing care for severe injuries
- Lost wages and reduced or lost earning capacity
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Anxiety, depression, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Permanent disability
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Reduced quality of life
- Reduced or lost enjoyment of life
Unlike other states, Washington doesn’t limit what you can recover in medical malpractice cases. Additionally, if the provider’s conduct is deemed particularly egregious, you could be awarded punitive damages.
