When you take your child to their pediatrician, you expect a certain standard of care to be exercised. When this duty is breached due to negligence, the aftermath can be overwhelming, confusing, and disheartening. Misdiagnosed test results, incorrect prescription medications, and inadequate communication are all forms of medical malpractice that can result in serious consequences for the child and their family.
If your child is currently facing the consequences of being treated with negligent medical care, your family is owed damages for the incurred losses, bills, and suffering. With over 65 years of combined experience, Davis & Davis is here to offer professional and compassionate service with the goal of getting you the financial compensation and justice you need to start fresh.
What Constitutes Pediatric Medical Malpractice?
Healthcare providers, including pediatricians, nurses, telehealth professionals, and more, are held to a prevailing standard of care. This means that they are required to provide the same level of care to every patient, no matter the circumstances.
For many pediatric medical malpractice claims, the resulting factor is the same: failure to adhere to their duty. This manifests itself through misread test results, inadequate communication amongst staff or patients, incorrect prescription medications, and more.
Often, the major factors contributing to this malpractice include:
- Showing up to work intoxicated or under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Excessive tiredness or lack of adequate sleep or breaks
- Understaffing
- Inadequate training
- New equipment
The consequences of the negligence of your child’s pediatrician can range in severity. For example, if they misread a vital test result or fail to properly diagnose a medical condition, your child can go untreated, often escalating side effects and making the condition worse. No one deserves to suffer because their doctor acted recklessly, and that’s where Davis & Davis comes in.
How a Houston Pediatric Malpractice Attorney Can Help
While you focus on your family and your child’s recovery, a Houston medical malpractice attorney can immediately get to work building your case by completing the following:
Establishing Liability
In order to establish the pediatrician as liable for your child’s injuries, negligence must be proven. This is done through the four components of negligence, which include duty, breach, cause or link, and damages. For example, the expected duty of care is for the pediatrician to assess your child’s initial injury and prescribe medication. When they fail to properly read test results and prescribe the incorrect dosage and medication for treatment due to tiredness or intoxication, this is deemed a direct breach of care.
In order to demonstrate this to the court, your Houston medical malpractice attorney will collect and assess relevant evidence. This can include medical reports with the test results, provided treatment options, and resulting injuries, as well as expert medical testimony.
Adhering to Filing Regulations
Filing a claim on your own behalf is possible, but it’s important to remember that the insurance companies are not on your side. It’s likely that your claim, when filed without the help of a dedicated Houston medical malpractice lawyer, will be met with a low settlement or even possibly dismissed due to failure to adhere to any imposed regulations.
When you partner with a Houston medical malpractice lawyer from Davis & Davis, you are partnering with someone who will file your claim for you while meeting Texas’s two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims.
Fighting for a High Settlement
Medical malpractice injuries can leave the victim in debt, unable to collect their regular wages due to the inability to work, and with serious emotional trauma to work through. Your Houston medical malpractice attorney will fight for a settlement that adequately covers the cost of your actual losses, including compensation for the following:
- Economic losses: For tangible losses, like the cost of emergency hospital visits, prescription medications, and past, present, and future medical visits, economic damages are there to alleviate the accumulated debt. There is currently no cap on economic damages in Texas.
- Non-economic losses: Non-economic damages cover the cost of losses that are not so easily measured, like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and anxiety and depression. In Texas, there is currently a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages.
We understand that financial compensation is sometimes the only viable route back to a happy and healthy future, and that’s why we fight as hard as we do for your damages.
Consult a Dedicated Pediatric Malpractice Attorney Today
Don’t try to navigate the whirlwind of a pediatric medical malpractice claim alone. With the help of a knowledgeable attorney from Davis & Davis, you are giving yourself the best chance at the outcome your family not only deserves, but needs. Our team possesses the compassion, dedication, and steadfast knowledge of the legal workings of a medical malpractice case to help you recover the highest settlement possible.
For a free case evaluation today, please don’t hesitate to fill out our contact form or call our office at (888) 522-9444. We proudly accept referrals from Texas attorneys and law firms nationwide.