Johnson City Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Holding Healthcare Providers Accountable in East Tennessee

The relationship between patient and medical provider should be one of utmost trust. When a patient chooses a hospital, physician, or nursing home, they should be able to trust that the facility and those who work there will be professional and competent. Sadly, medical professionals don’t always uphold their duty, leaving injured patients to pay the price. At Meade Law Group, our Johnson City medical malpractice attorneys assist victims of issues like a provider’s failure to diagnose, surgical errors, or other preventable acts of negligence.

Seek compensation with the help of our team. Call (423) 464-7779 now or contact Meade Law Group online for a free consultation.

Tennessee Law Concerning Medical Negligence

Although lawsuits against doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers are usually called “medical malpractice” suits by the public, Tennessee statutory law refers to them as “health care liability actions.”

Such suits can be brought against:

• Physicians
• Residents
• Interns
• Nurses
• Physician assistants
• Pharmacy technicians
• Orderlies
• Others employed by hospitals, surgical centers, or other facilities

In order to prove negligence on the part of a medical professional, you will need to prove four specific points:

• The defendant owed the victim a legal duty, such as healthcare that falls within reasonable expectations
• There was a breach of that duty by the defendant
• The claimant suffered actual damages as a result
• There was a causal relationship between the claimant’s damages and the defendant’s breach of duty

Medicine has a recognized standard of acceptable professional practice, and plaintiffs must strategize to effectively demonstrate this. An effective Johnson City medical malpractice lawyer can help you show that there was indeed a standard in effect at the time of the injuries in question. Doing so requires expert testimony from a professional licensed in either Tennessee or one of the states that contiguously borders Tennessee (Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, or Missouri) during the year preceding the act complained of.

Tennessee law also requires that a claimant file a certificate of good faith stating that he or she has consulted an expert prior to filing suit.

Just because a patient was injured does not mean a doctor acted negligently. Exceptions occur when a medical instrument is found to be the problem. This means the medical professional operated the tool properly but the victim was still injured as a result.

Our firm helps clients with medical malpractice lawsuits involving:

• Actos
• Amputation
• Avandia
• Birth injuries
• Cerebral palsy
• Chiropractic malpractice
• Dangerous drugs
• Defective medical devices
• DePuy hip replacement
• Distracted doctoring
• Erb's palsy
• Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
• Fake cancer drugs
• Hip replacement
• Hospital negligence
• Internal injury
• Knee replacements
• Legal malpractice
• Metal on metal hip replacements
• Nursing home negligence and abuse
• Professional malpractice
• Psychologist malpractice
• Serious accident injuries
• Spinal cord injury
• Tired doctor medical errors
• Tennessee bone graft lawyer
• Traumatic brain injury
• What you must prove
• Wrong site surgery

Statute of Limitations & Statute of Repose

For medical malpractice actions, you will generally need to file your lawsuit within one year. If the injury is not discovered within that statute of limitations period, you will need to request additional time in which to sue—no more than three years from the act of malpractice, unless the defendant fraudulently concealed his or her actions or left a foreign object inside a patient.

Issues of Consent

All medical procedures come with some risk, and doctors must explain those risks if patients are to know how to proceed. If a doctor or other health care provider fails to provide enough information about the risks of the procedure, and that lack of information leads to a claimant’s injuries, the patient must show that.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Johnson City

If you or a loved one has suffered harm at the hands of a negligent healthcare provider, we can help. The Johnson City medical malpractice lawyers of the Meade Law Group have been handling these types of cases for decades, and we welcome the opportunity to review your case.

Call (423) 464-7779 now to get started on your case.