City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix Patients and Families

The Types of City of Hope Phoenix Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm handles City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix lawsuits in Goodyear, Arizona, over medication and infusion errors, surgical errors, and radiation errors. Our attorneys build each lawsuit from the orders, pharmacy checks, and treatment records that show what the patient actually received. We separate expected side effects of cancer treatment from harm caused by substandard care, and only the second is a claim we bring.

The cases we see most often at a cancer hospital like City of Hope Phoenix include:

• Chemotherapy, infusion and cancer drug mistakes. A patient can be given the wrong drug, the wrong dose or an infusion at the wrong rate, or two medicines can interact dangerously. Side effects can also go unwatched and untreated. The result can be organ damage, a pause in cancer treatment the patient needed, or the loss of a loved one. Our Arizona medication error lawyers compare each order and pharmacy check against the infusion record of what the patient actually received.
• Mistakes in a cancer operation or reconstruction, or a complication overlooked after it. A surgical error can damage nearby organs, and a leak, bleed or infection after the operation can be missed during recovery. Either one can mean more surgery, a delayed treatment plan, and permanent harm. Our Phoenix surgical error lawyers set the operative report beside the nursing notes and vital signs recorded in the days after surgery.
• Radiation given at the wrong dose or to the wrong area, or radiation injury left unmanaged. A mistake in planning or delivering radiation can burn healthy tissue or damage organs near the treatment site. When that injury is not treated promptly, the patient can live with lasting pain and lost function. Our Arizona radiation oncologist malpractice lawyers trace the prescribed plan through every treatment session the patient received.

While these are common claim types, our hospital malpractice attorneys handle any valid medical negligence case that arises at this hospital.

About City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix on Celebrate Life Way in Goodyear

City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix is a state-licensed cancer hospital with inpatient beds at 14200 W. Celebrate Life Way in Goodyear. City of Hope describes the location as just west of downtown Phoenix and says the hospital serves patients across the Valley. City of Hope’s pages also call it City of Hope Cancer Center Arizona.

The Goodyear hospital was formerly a Cancer Treatment Centers of America hospital and now carries the City of Hope name, after City of Hope acquired Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Our firm also represents patients of other West Valley area hospitals, including Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear and Banner Estrella Medical Center in Phoenix.

City of Hope lists departments at this campus for medical oncology with chemotherapy and infusion, radiation oncology, radiology and imaging, interventional radiology, and laboratory medicine. Its surgical oncology team performs breast, reconstructive, liver, pancreatic and colorectal cancer surgery, including minimally invasive procedures. The blood cancer program offers autologous stem cell transplantation, which uses the patient’s own cells, and CAR T cell therapy.

Patients also have an in-house oncology pharmacy and supportive care services for treatment side effects. City of Hope states that the campus holds The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for hospital accreditation.

Can You File a Lawsuit Against City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix, the Doctor, or Both?

A patient may sue City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix, an individual provider, or both, depending on which decisions caused the harm. Under Kopp v. Physician Group of Arizona, a hospital answers for the negligence of its own employees acting within the scope of their jobs. That rule reaches only true employees, so the records showing who employed each provider shape who belongs in the case.

Possible defendants include the hospital, a medical oncologist, a surgical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, an oncology nurse, a pharmacist, or a physician group. The law calls the hospital’s responsibility for its employees vicarious liability. If the nurse who gave an infusion or the pharmacist who prepared it worked for City of Hope Phoenix, the hospital can be held responsible for a negligent mistake.

Doctors outside the hospital’s employ are a different question. Arizona can sometimes hold a hospital responsible for such a doctor when something the hospital did led the patient to reasonably conclude the doctor was part of its staff. In every case, the physician remains accountable for their own treatment decisions.

Arizona also expects a qualified medical expert to back the claim early in the case. For anyone looking for a lawyer to sue a hospital, a doctor or both, our Phoenix hospital malpractice lawyers explain how these rules apply anywhere in the Valley.

Must the Expert in a City of Hope Phoenix Claim Share the Treating Specialist’s Field Under Arizona Law?

The expert in a City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix claim must share the specialty of the provider being faulted whenever that provider is a specialist. Under A.R.S. 12-2604, a board-certified defendant must be measured by an expert board certified in that same specialty. In the year before the injury, the expert must have devoted most of their professional time to practicing or teaching in it.

That rule carries extra weight at a cancer hospital, because the physicians guiding one patient can each practice a different specialty. A medical oncologist directs chemotherapy, a surgical oncologist performs the operation, and a radiation oncologist plans the radiation. A claim that questions all three parts of that treatment may call for three experts rather than one. Our Arizona oncologist malpractice lawyers match every provider with a peer from the same field.

Each expert speaks to the two points every Arizona malpractice claim must prove under A.R.S. 12-563. The first is that the provider did not use the care, skill and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent provider in that profession. The second is that this shortfall caused the patient’s injury.

Those opinions are put in writing early, in a sworn preliminary expert opinion affidavit, which A.R.S. 12-2603 requires. In it, the expert lists their qualifications, the factual basis for each claim, the acts or omissions that broke the standard of care, and how they caused the harm. If a required affidavit is never served, the court can dismiss the claim.

Arizona enforces the affidavit and the expert’s qualifications as two independent checks, and failing either one can end a claim. The Arizona Supreme Court’s opinion in Rasor v. Northwest Hospital let a defendant attack an expert’s qualifications without first attacking the affidavit. When an expert fails the qualification rule, the patient cannot count on a chance to bring in another, so choosing the right specialists comes first.

How We Work With Injured City of Hope Phoenix Patients and Their Families

Hastings Law Firm handles hospital malpractice claims for City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix patients and families in Goodyear, Arizona, from the first call to resolution. Our attorneys and medical professionals take on the work of the claim, so the patient and family can keep their attention on treatment and recovery.

Your first call about harm at City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix is answered by a member of our intake team. When a patient is too sick to make the call, a spouse, parent or grown son or daughter can make it for them. Describe the treatment, the dates you remember, and the people who provided it. Our team works to make sure you are heard, and that account is the starting point of our review.

We then request the full medical records ourselves. Our attorneys and medical professionals go through the infusion and medication records, operative reports and radiation treatment records to set out each step of care in order. When our hospital negligence lawyers accept a case, we build it from that record, with physicians in the matching specialties to explain what it shows.

Once we represent you, the hospital, its insurer and its lawyers direct every contact to us. Our board-certified patient advocates keep in touch and put each development into plain language as it happens. Our attorneys press for a settlement that accounts for everything the injury has taken from you and your family. If an offer does not reflect those losses, we are prepared to take your case to a jury.

If You or a Loved One Were Injured at City of Hope Phoenix, Speak With Our Medical Attorneys Today

Hastings Law Firm takes on hospital malpractice claims in Goodyear, Arizona, for patients and families hurt during treatment at City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix. Our lawyers use the medical records to explain who may be responsible, and if a hard result came from the illness rather than negligence, we tell you so.

Our team is here for you. We perform a free case review to find out whether you have a valid claim. Anything you tell our Goodyear medical malpractice lawyers is kept confidential, and there is no fee unless we win. Let us help you find the answers you deserve.