Medical Negligence

I don't practice in Washington, but in every state, medical negligence laws are extremely technical. States have all made it more difficult to win damages in a lawsuit against a doctor, because most state legislatures believe that not doing so will lead to higher medical costs, higher health insurance premiums and lower overall availability of medical care.

To find out if you have a valid claim, speak to an experienced medical malpractice attorney in your area.

In the state of Washington, is a surgeon liable for:

1) injury he or staff causes due to negligence

I can say for sure that the surgeon is liable for HIS own negligence. Are the staff the staff of the surgeon? Here in California the hospitals try to say that all the staff work for another company or are independent contractors or whatever they can think of to escape blame.

The answer to your question is not as easy as you may think. Often times the question isn't whether or not the surgeon or other staff are liable, but the question is whether it is economically feasable to bear the cost of bringing a lawsuit given the nature of the injuries and the likely verdict a jury would give.

In my practice I hear many cases where there was probably some degree of medical negligence that occurred. That alone is not enough. Medical malpractice cases costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to take them to trial. It is frequently a business decision whether it makes sense to spend $50,000-$100,000 in order to present a case to a jury that will probably not award even that amount.

Give me a call if you want a more detailed explanation. I'm happy to give you a free consultation.