Medical Malpractice Overview

As a Los Angeles Medical Malpractice lawyer, I get calls and emails every day from malpractice victims and their families. When a doctor or nurse carelessly causes an injury or death, a medical malpractice action may exist. 

I devote 100% of my time to the prosecution of medical malpractice cases on behalf of malpractice victims and their families.  Healthcare providers are licensed by the State of California and include physicians, physicians’ assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, nurses’ aides, physical and respiratory therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, paramedics, hospitals, medical groups, health clinics, and outpatient surgery centers, to name a few.  

Medical malpractice cases take many shapes and forms, but they all require the same proof: (1) Negligent care by a healthcare provider, (2) Causation, and (3) Damages.  All three must be shown to a “reasonable degree of medical probability” defined as “more likely than not” or a “greater than 50% likelihood”. All three issues require the testimony of expert witnesses. “Possible negligence”, meaning negligence that “possibly caused injury or death” or “possible damages”, are speculative and not recognized under California law.  

“Negligence” is the failure to use the level of skill, knowledge, and care in diagnosis and treatment that other reasonably careful healthcare providers would use in the same or similar circumstances.  This is sometimes called the “standard of care”.

“Causation” or “legal cause” is a negligent act that is a substantial factor in bringing about the injury, harm, or death.  A “substantial factor” is something that is more than a trivial or remote factor in bringing about the harm and there may be more than one legal cause of an injury.  For example, if someone dies from a curable cancer that was misdiagnosed and not timely treated, the cancer and the negligent care are both substantial factors.

Healthcare providers always claim there was no negligence and even if there was, it would not have made a difference, that other doctors and even the patient were negligent and caused the harm, and the plaintiff’s damages are being exaggerated.  Not every lawyer is qualified to handle medical malpractice claims.  You need one with years of experience and knowledge.  It takes a lot of time and effort to properly evaluate a malpractice case.  My 45+ years of experience is a great asset for my clients.

I have handled hundreds of malpractice cases against a wide variety of physician specialists, including gastroenterologists, general surgeons, vascular surgeons, ENTs pediatricians, radiologists, obstetricians, emergency room doctors, anesthesiologists, weight loss surgeons, cardiologists, pulmonologists, dermatologists, family medicine practitioners, as well as hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, and medical groups.