Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice claims
A bad outcome isn't always malpractice. We say that first, then find out. A doctor in the same field reads your chart before we tell you whether you have a case.
Malpractice means a doctor, nurse or hospital did something a careful one wouldn't have, and it hurt you: a missed diagnosis, a surgical error, a wrong medication, a delay that let something get worse. The hard part is proving the first half, and that takes an expert who practices in the same field.
We get the complete chart, including the nurses' notes and the imaging itself, not just the report. Signe reads all of it, and then an outside physician reviews it. If the review says the care was reasonable, we tell you so plainly, and you don't owe us for the review.
The file
What goes in the file
The whole chart
Doctor and nursing notes, orders, medication records and discharge papers from every place that treated you.
The images themselves
The actual scans and slides, so a second reader can look at what the first one saw.
An outside review
A physician in the same specialty reads the chart and says, in writing, whether the care fell short.
The cost of the harm
Further treatment, lost work and what the injury changes in the years ahead.
Questions
What patients and families ask
How do I know if what happened to me is malpractice?
You usually can't tell from the outside, and neither can we until the chart is reviewed. Call us with what you know; we'll tell you what we'd need to find out.
Is there a deadline?
Yes, and it can be shorter than people expect, with different rules for when the clock starts. Call as soon as you suspect something went wrong.
Will I have to sue my own doctor?
Sometimes the claim is against a hospital or a clinic rather than a person. Many cases settle without a trial, but we prepare every one as if it might go to one.
Something went wrong in your care? Ask us to read the chart.
Signe takes most of these cases from the Seattle office. The first call is free.
No fee unless we recover money for you. Case costs, like records and expert reviews, come out of the recovery; if there is no recovery, you owe neither.