You trust your healthcare providers to make your health and safety their highest priority. When a doctor or medical professional fails in their duty to treat you at the industry-accepted standard of care and the result is an injury, you deserve full compensation for the resulting damages.
If you were injured due to a doctor’s negligence, that doctor is liable for compensating you for the economic losses you’ve endured as well as for your physical pain and suffering. South Jersey residents who experience the trauma of an injury caused by the medical provider they trusted with their very lives deserve full compensation. It’s true that monetary compensation can’t erase the harm caused by medical malpractice, but it can help pay the costs of corrective treatments and provide a sense of justice.
Call the medical malpractice attorneys at the South Jersey legal team of Grungo Law today for a free case consultation. This call is the beginning of finally feeling heard in your medical malpractice claim.
Why Choose a South Jersey Medical Malpractice Lawyer From Grungo Law?
Medical malpractice is a specialty area of personal injury law requiring knowledge and experience in both the medical and legal fields. The South Jersey personal injury attorneys at Grungo Law of South Jersey are uniquely qualified to navigate these complex injury claims. At Grungo Law:
- We provide guidance and skilled representation through every step of the legal process
- We believe in open and frequent communication so our clients are never left in the dark about the progress of their cases
- Our skilled investigators and their medical contacts will investigate all aspects of your malpractice injury
- Your Grungo South Jersey attorney will determine the liable party and document evidence of negligence to draft a compelling demand letter to the appropriate medical malpractice insurance company for your damages
- Our team has obtained over $135 million in settlements and jury awards for our clients
- We harness cutting-edge technology together with classic methods of client advocacy for each case
- We offer compassionate, thorough legal representation with the dignity and respect you deserve after a malpractice injury
By scheduling a free consultation with the attorneys at Grungo Law today, you take the first important steps toward financial recovery so you can focus your energy on your physical recovery.
For a free legal consultation with a medical malpractice lawyer serving South Jersey, call (856) 528-4494
What is Medical Malpractice In South Jersey?
Sadly, medical errors account for up to 251,000 deaths a year in the United States. When a medical provider causes a patient to suffer a preventable injury, it’s medical malpractice. This type of incident occurs when a doctor or other healthcare provider fails to treat a patient according to the accepted standards of care within the medical community. If another reasonable medical provider had treated the patient differently in the same circumstances, the injury victim would have had a strong case for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
A medical malpractice lawsuit is South Jersey’s method of providing legal recourse for this type of injury victim. Some sadly common medical malpractice claims in South Jersey include:
- Misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis
- Medication mistakes
- Surgical errors including wrong-site, wrong-side, and wrong-patient surgeries and foreign objects left behind
- Failure to promptly diagnose and treat post-surgical infection
- Birth injuries
- Brain injuries
Some medical malpractice injuries can have a significant impact on the health of the injury victim. In some cases, the injury may be catastrophic, with life-altering effects, or even fatal. In that case, an experienced South Jersey wrongful death lawyer can help maximize your chances of recovering damages so you or your injured loved one can take steps toward maximizing recovery.
South Jersey Medical Malpractice Lawyer Near Me (856) 528-4494
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases We Handle In South Jersey
Medical malpractice cases range from minor medical mistakes resulting in expensive injuries to the most egregious malpractice cases with life-altering consequences for our clients. Contact the South Jersey law firm of Grungo Law today to tell us about your unique malpractice case. Cases we’ve successfully navigated for our medical malpractice clients include the following:
- Medical misdiagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Birth injuries
- Failure to diagnose a post-operative infection
- Failure to gain informed consent
- Wrong site surgeries
- Wrong side surgeries
- Wrong patient surgeries
- Surgical tools left behind
- Anesthesia errors
- Medication mistakes
- Failure to treat
- Defective medical devices
- Wrong-type blood transfusions
Any circumstances in which a medical provider causes harm to a patient due to negligence or a medical mistake could warrant a medical malpractice claim in South Jersey.
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Causes of Medical Malpractice In South Jersey
Despite safety protocols in place in all medical facilities, medical malpractice continues to occur, including the “Never Events” so named by the medical community because they are outrageously egregious and should never occur. These never events include wrong-patient surgeries and wrong-type blood transfusions. Many studies reveal the underlying causes of medical errors and negligence in hospitals and other facilities. Medical malpractice still occurs at high rates due to the following:
- Poor employee hiring practices
- Inadequate employee training
- High employee turnover rates
- Medical provider burnout (present in 44% of physicians according to the American Medical Association)
- Poor record-keeping practices in medical facilities
- Physician knowledge gaps
- Overworked medical staff
When any of the above causes of medical malpractice occur, it leaves the facility or the medical provider liable for the patient’s economic and non-economic damages.
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Liability in South Jersey Medical Malpractice Cases
Doctors owe a special duty of care toward their patients. When an act of medical negligence results in an injury, the injury victim must prove the legal points of liability by showing the following:
- That a medical provider/patient relationship existed at the time of the injury
- That the doctor owed a duty of care to treat you at the medically accepted standard of care
- The doctor failed in this duty by committing an act of negligence
- That the negligent action directly caused your injury
- That you sustained significant economic and non-economic damages due to the injury
A South Jersey personal injury attorney understands how to address the above points of liability to craft a compelling case for your compensation, typically paid through the provider’s medical malpractice insurance.
How To Proving Liability In A Wrongful Death Claim
Medical malpractice cases are complex and require skilled investigation to prove liability. These cases require medical expert testimony and substantial evidence. A medical malpractice lawsuit cannot stem from simple dissatisfaction with the results of a medical procedure but requires proving that negligence occurred and caused significant damages like medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Your South Jersey medical malpractice lawyer from Grungo Law will meet the burden of proving liability for medical malpractice by consulting with medical experts to establish the accepted standard of care in the medical industry and prove the connection between medical negligence and an injury. It takes testimony by a medical expert to demonstrate liability to the jury by showing that the injury occurred because a provider didn’t do what a reasonable doctor would have done under the same circumstances. They must also provide testimony linking the injury directly to damages like medical costs and lost wages. From there, your attorney must show through a preponderance of the evidence that the provider or the facility itself is liable for the damages.
In many cases, a strong demand letter to the appropriate insurance company outlining the evidence and medical expert testimony results in a settlement without the need for a lawsuit in court.
What Damages Can I Recover in a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in South Jersey?
If a doctor’s negligence caused your injury, you deserve full compensation for the damages. These may include the following:
- Costs associated with corrective medical treatment
- Lost wages and future lost income for ongoing treatment or corrective procedures
- Diminished earning capacity if the injury caused a disability
- Pain and suffering
Non-economic damages like pain and suffering can be even more devastating than tangible economic damages. Monetary compensation can help injured victims achieve a sense of justice.
How Much is My South Jersey Medical Malpractice Claim Worth?
Every medical malpractice claim is unique, and the compensation a victim receives depends largely on the proving damages like medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering caused by the malpractice injury. According to the National Practioner Data Bank (NPDB), New Jersey medical malpractice claims resulted in injury victims recovering a total of $215.41 million in 2022, a year that saw 496 total medical malpractice cases filed in New Jersey. While damages are unique to each case, the average recovery for medical malpractice clients in New Jersey in 2022 was $434,000 per case. Many claims are settled out of court through a skilled attorney’s negotiations with the medical malpractice insurance provider.
Will I Have to Go to Court?
The majority of medical malpractice claims do not require a lawsuit. When a medical malpractice attorney in South Jersey does a thorough investigation and carefully documents evidence, they can make a compelling case for a victim to recover their damages through a direct settlement. However, doctors and other providers have the right to defend themselves against malpractice claims in court and some choose to do so, requiring a court case. In other cases, insurance companies sometimes fail to offer acceptable settlement amounts or deny claims outright. In these cases, a claim becomes a lawsuit in court.
If your case requires court litigation, you may be asked to provide testimony. Your attorney from Grungo Law is ready to advocate strongly on your behalf in court if necessary to pursue your compensation. While court cases take longer to resolve than settlements, jury awards for damages tend to be higher than most settlements. If a medical malpractice case becomes a lawsuit, your attorney must file the petition within the state’s statute of limitations.
New Jersey’s Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Cases
New Jersey allows two years from the date of the malpractice incident in which to file a lawsuit to recover damages. This typically allows ample time to investigate the injury, prove liability, and calculate damages, before negotiations begin with the insurance company of the party at fault. Only in those cases in which a physician denies negligence or an insurance company fails to offer an acceptable settlement does the claim become a lawsuit in court.
The two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases in New Jersey applies in most circumstances—even when the malpractice results in wrongful death; however, some exceptions apply:
- If the injury occurs to a child under age 18, they have until two years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit
- If a child suffers a birth injury, their parents have until the child turns 13 to file a lawsuit for damages, unless the child dies from the injury, in which case the parents have two years after the child’s death to file a lawsuit
- If a patient doesn’t discover their medical malpractice injury until some time after it occurs, the two-year statute of limitations begins on the date of discovery.
Contact A South Jersey Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today
At Grungo Law, we have enormous compassion for those harmed by the very medical professionals tasked with caring for their health and safety. It takes specialized knowledge of medical liability and strong resources within the medical community for a successful medical malpractice case. Contact our South Jersey office today for a free evaluation of your case so we can begin working toward your financial recovery while you focus on your physical recovery.
Call or text (856) 528-4494 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form