Medical and Professional Malpractice

Health Care Negligence Attorneys Serving Muskegon and Other Michigan Cities

Insurance companies have lobbied for tort reform for years in order to limit the rights of those who are seriously injured by medical and professional malpractice. These efforts have resulted in laws that are complex and difficult for a layperson to navigate. If you are hurt by the carelessness of a doctor or another health care professional, you should consult the experienced Muskegon medical malpractice lawyers at McCroskey Law as soon as possible. In addition to restrictions imposed by the statute of limitations and the statute of repose, there are other procedural requirements. An injury attorney will need time to review your case and consult experts in the field to strengthen your claim. Our offices are located in Muskegon, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek, from which we can represent people in many areas of Michigan.

Bringing a Medical Malpractice Claim in Michigan

Not all mistakes made by a health care provider constitute malpractice. Instead, the health care provider’s actions must breach the standard of care and cause an injury in order to be actionable. The standard of care consists of the procedures or practices generally employed by similar medical professionals to treat a similarly situated patient suffering from a particular condition or illness. The standard of care may vary depending on a patient’s medical history, age, and other factors. In some cases, it may also vary depending on geographical location.

If you establish malpractice, you likely can recover damages. Tort reform has severely affected the types of damages that may be recovered in a Michigan medical malpractice lawsuit. There is no cap on economic compensatory damages, such as your medical costs and lost income. If you are able to prove these losses with documentation and testimony, you may be able to recover them with the assistance of a medical malpractice lawyer in the Muskegon area. However, compensation for noneconomic losses that are more subjective, such as mental anguish, is capped, with the cap changing based on the cost of living.

Your medical malpractice case will start with your attorney filing a Notice of Intent to File Suit that complies with procedural requirements, at least 182 days before suing. Your attorney will also need to submit an affidavit of merit by a qualified medical professional, who must be a licensed health care professional who practices or teaches in the same specialty as the defendant in your case. Only a professional with the same board certifications as the defendant may provide an expert’s affidavit of merit. For example, a family doctor cannot provide an affidavit against a board-certified Ob-gyn.

You should consult a medical malpractice attorney in Muskegon as soon as possible if you suspect that malpractice may have occurred. In Michigan, you usually have two years from the action that constitutes medical malpractice to bring your claim. In some cases, these injuries are not apparent right away. In that case, you have up to six months after learning of the injury to file suit. For example, if you suffer complications due to a surgeon leaving a sponge inside your body three years after your surgery, you will have six months to sue. However, if you only learn of the injury more than six years after the original act of malpractice, you are generally barred from suing by the statute of repose, except in certain limited instances, such as when fraud may have been involved.

Discuss Your Case With a Muskegon Lawyer

When you pay a doctor or other professional for help, you trust that the professional is competent to do his or her job, and you do not expect to be harmed due to that person’s carelessness or misconduct. At McCroskey Law, our Muskegon medical malpractice attorneys maintain strong ties to the community. We can handle your claim with the experience and tenacity necessary to vigorously assert your rights. We have successfully handled medical and other professional malpractice claims for over 60 years and can arrange for in-hospital visits as necessary. If you need a car accident attorney or guidance with any other type of personal injury claim, we can assist you as well. We maintain additional offices in Grand Rapids and Battle Creek, and we also represent people in Kalamazoo, Niles, Jackson, Ludington, and Holland, among other areas of Michigan. Contact us at 800-442-0237 or via our online form to set up a free consultation.