Oxford Medical Malpractice Attorney Serving Clients in Mississippi
The Mississippi medical malpractice lawyers at Roberts Wilson, P.A. are committed to helping injured Mississippians recover the maximum compensation they deserve after a medical mistake.
If you were harmed due to the negligence of a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other medical party, contact Roberts Wilson, P.A. today online or at (662) 533-9111 for a FREE case review. Our trusted attorneys fight passionately on behalf of our neighbors in Oxford, Holly Springs, Batesville, Pontotoc, Desoto & Tate counties, and other areas throughout Mississippi and beyond.
Our firm handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency basis. That means you don’t pay us anything unless we win your case. During your free case evaluation, our attorney will listen to your story, assess the merits of your claim, and explain your rights and legal options. You risk nothing by calling our office today. You are under no obligation to move forward with our firm after contacting us.
You Have a Limited Time to Make a Medical Malpractice Claim in Mississippi
Every state has laws called “statutes of limitations” that govern how much time people have to file a lawsuit in the civil court system. This applies to medical malpractice cases, as well. Under Mississippi law, you only have two years from the date of your injury – or from the date you should have discovered the injury with “reasonable diligence” – to file a lawsuit (see Miss. Code § 15-1-36).
However, Mississippi also has a “statute of repose” for medical malpractice claims. Mississippi’s statute of repose states that medical malpractice lawsuits cannot be filed more than seven years after the date of the medical negligence, even if you could not have discovered the mistake during those seven years. The only exceptions to this seven-year deadline are for cases that involve:
- When healthcare professionals “fraudulently concealed” the malpractice
- Foreign objects left in the patient’s body during a surgical or medical procedure
In the two situations listed above, the two-year “clock” begins running when the malpractice is discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence.
The statute of limitation is strictly enforced in Mississippi. If you fail to take action within the specified time limit, you will lose your right to recover damages for your losses.
Medical malpractice cases can be extremely complex and require time to conduct a thorough investigation. The sooner you contact a medical malpractice lawyer, the sooner your attorney can begin working on your case.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
When you go to a doctor or hospital, you expect them to be competent and to treat your condition or injury correctly. Like many other professions, doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and other medical professionals have standards of care to which they must adhere. When they fail to meet the standard of care, the consequences can be severe, resulting in long-term, life-altering injuries, and even death.
The medical malpractice lawyer at Roberts Wilson, P.A. can evaluate your negligence claim and advise you on what to do next. Our firm covers a wide range of medical malpractice claims, including the following:
Emergency Room Errors: Heart Attack, Stroke, and Aneurysm Cases
The most common type of case we see in our office is when hospital emergency rooms fail to diagnose strokes or other cardiovascular problems like heart attacks or aneurysms. Far too often, people with life-threatening issues are sent home when they should be admitted for further evaluation. In these urgent matters, time is critical. It may be necessary to seek a second opinion immediately if you suspect you are suffering a stroke or other cardiovascular emergency.
Common examples of emergency room errors include:
- Improperly discharging a patient
- Administrative errors, including test results
- Errors in administering medication
- Failure to properly perform a procedure
- Taking too long to review test results
- Failure to consult a specialist or perform adequate diagnostic testing
- Failure to communicate effectively
- Delayed treatment
- Staff and resource shortages
- Failure to perform an adequate physical exam or obtain an adequate medical history
Prescription and Medication Errors
Medication errors occur regularly in hospitals but are easily prevented with proper training. Sometimes, there is no harm when a person gets the wrong medicine or the wrong dose; other times, these mistakes can cause allergic reactions, catastrophic harm, or even death.
Medication errors can include:
- Incorrect dosage
- Wrong drug
- Incorrect route of administration
- Wrong dose times
- Wrong formulation
- Patient mix-ups
- Drug combination errors
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors involve mistakes made by surgeons or hospital staff members before, during, or after surgical procedures. These errors can cause serious injury or death to patients.
Common types of surgical errors include:
- Wrong-procedure surgery (an incorrect surgery performed on the correct body part)
- Wrong Limb Amputation
- Wrong-site surgery (surgery performed on the wrong limb, organ, or other body part)
- Wrong-patient surgery (the procedure for one patient is performed on another patient)
- Improperly performed surgery
- Surgical instruments left in the body, such as a sponge, gauze, scalpel, or another foreign object
- Failure to perform a medically necessary surgery in time
- Failure to administer the correct blood type
- Failure to explain the risks of surgery or obtain informed consent
- Failure to review all instructions and charts properly before surgery
- Failure to provide the correct anesthesia
- Failure to monitor patients for postoperative complications
Unnecessary Surgery
Surgeries are never routine and always carry a risk. However, unnecessary surgeries cause unnecessary risk. Unfortunately, unnecessary surgeries are often performed for the sake of profit – not the health and well-being of the patient. When doctors recommend unnecessary procedures and perform surgery negligently, those doctors should be held accountable to prevent potential harm to future patients.
Joint Reconstruction Mistake Cases
Our medical malpractice lawyer has extensive experience handling cases that involve joint repair and reconstruction. In one instance, our client’s doctor attempted to place a rod into a leg that already had a rod in it. In another case, the knee replacement was out of plumb by over 30 degrees and gave the person a terrible limp. There are numerous cases in which joint replacements broke or separated from the surgical cement used to secure the implants.
Diagnosis Errors
Failure to Diagnose and Delayed Diagnosis
Failure to diagnose occurs when a doctor fails to diagnose a patient’s condition. When a condition goes undiagnosed, it will likely go untreated, and a number of harmful outcomes can occur. This type of error could allow a serious condition to worsen and cause new injuries to the patient. It may even change the amount of recovery that is possible once the condition is diagnosed.
If the negligence of a doctor or hospital allows a condition to go undiagnosed, and further injury occurs, the patient may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Failure to Diagnose Cancer
Failing to diagnose cancer is one of the most common types of medical malpractice claims.
If someone has a colonoscopy, for example, the doctor is looking for abnormalities to give the patient a clean bill of health or make other recommendations for their care. If the doctor fails to notice a lesion or malignancy and gives a patient a clean bill of health, that doctor may be liable for missing the diagnosis if the situation worsens because of the misdiagnosis.
When doctors fail to order necessary testing to diagnose cancer or fail to follow up on abnormal test results in a timely manner, patients can suffer grave harm.
Common errors that can lead to a delayed cancer diagnosis include:
- Failure to recognize existing signs and symptoms of cancer
- Failure to order a biopsy for an abnormal lesion or mass
- Failure to order diagnostic imaging including a mammogram, a CT Scan, or MRI
- Failure to refer to the appropriate specialist
- Failure to correctly interpret the testing results
Misdiagnosis
A misdiagnosis occurs when doctors fail to diagnose their patients’ conditions accurately. A misdiagnosis, however, can involve more than just a failure to identify a problem. Misdiagnoses can result from:
- Misinterpretation of diagnostic tests
- Misinterpretation of lab results
- Failure to screen for specific medical conditions that could impact the diagnosis or treatment
- Failure to anticipate a complication that could aggravate a condition
- Failure to refer patients to specialists
- Failure to obtain accurate and relevant information from the patient, such as symptoms or medical history
- Failure to test appropriately based on symptoms
Birth Injuries
Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have an obligation to deliver babies safely. When a medical practitioner’s negligence results in a birth injury, they can – and should – be held accountable for their wrongdoing. Medical mistakes that can lead to birth injuries include:
- Failure to resuscitate a newborn properly
- Failure to respond to bleeding appropriately
- Failure to treat preeclampsia (maternal elevated blood pressure)
- Failure to provide appropriate prenatal care
- Failure to manage prolonged or post-term pregnancy properly
- Misuse of a vacuum extractor or forceps during delivery
- Failure to provide appropriate interventions during labor and delivery
- Failure to perform a cesarean section or prompt vaginal delivery for a baby in distress
- Failure to respond to signs of fetal distress
Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Seniors are among the most vulnerable members of our society. While many nursing homes take adequate care of their patients, others do not. Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect are appalling and very preventable.
Unfortunately, many nursing homes accept money from the government only to cut corners and compromise patient care. Cutting corners (like eliminating staff to save money) leads to patient injuries and deaths. These injuries can often be traced directly to cost-cutting measures taken by the corporation running the nursing home.
Common errors in nursing homes include:
- Failure to Alert Physicians
- Failure to Monitor Vitals
- Bed Sores
- Falls
- Medication Errors
- Bug Infestations (ants, bedbugs, lice)
Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Cases
In some tragic cases, medical negligence results in death. Under Mississippi law, certain family members of the deceased may bring a wrongful death claim to recover damages when the decedent’s death was caused by negligence, recklessness, or intentional wrongdoing. If your spouse, parent, or child passed away as a result of negligent medical care, you may have the right to pursue compensation for:
- Medical expenses
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Lost income and benefits
- Lost inheritance
- Loss of society and companionship
Do I Need a Lawyer to File a Claim?
Medical malpractice claims are extremely complex and require the knowledge, skill, and resources of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. Hospitals take these cases very seriously and work diligently to defend themselves against claims of negligence. You need an attorney on your side who can effectively investigate the cause of your harm and gather evidence to support your claim.
Your lawyer will negotiate on your behalf to achieve a fair settlement. If a fair settlement cannot be negotiated, your attorney may recommend taking your case to court.
The medical malpractice lawyers at Roberts Wilson, P.A. are experienced negotiators and litigators. We aren’t intimidated by hospitals or their large legal teams. We fight tirelessly for our neighbors in Mississippi. If you were harmed due to the negligence of a hospital or medical professional, we want to hear your story.
There is no risk in contacting our office right away. We offer free, no-obligation case reviews and work on a contingency basis, which means you don’t pay unless we win.
Benefits of Hiring Roberts Wilson to Handle Your Medical Claim
When you hire Roberts Wilson, P.A., you get attentive, local attorneys and staff who bring a skilled team together to handle your medical malpractice claim with care. These are complex cases that require time, money, and attention to pursue. We are here in your community and know the lay of the land, including, how best to advise you with regard to how you should proceed.
“Roberts Wilson P.A. is great in doing things to inform the community on law and making the community safe. Entire staff is friendly and working to help you with your legal needs.”
Talk to a Mississippi Medical Malpractice Lawyer for FREE
If you were harmed by medical negligence, you need an attorney you can trust to help you get back on track. The medical malpractice lawyers at Roberts Wilson, P.A. have built a reputation for excellence helping clients throughout Mississippi. We have the knowledge, skill, and resources necessary to handle these difficult cases.
Our results speak for themselves.
Don’t postpone the justice and compensation you deserve another day. Contact Roberts Wilson, P.A. now online or at (662) 533-9111 for a FREE case review. We serve clients in Oxford, Holly Springs, Batesville, Pontotoc, Desoto & Tate counties, and other areas throughout Mississippi and beyond.