Abogado especializado en negligencia médica en Houston

The Cases Our Houston Medical Negligence Law Firm Handles

Misdiagnosis, surgical errors, birth injuries, medication and anesthesia errors, pediatric malpractice and hospital negligence are among the most common claims Hastings Law Firm handles in Houston. Our lawyers also take on negligencia médica y dangerous drug injury cases, building each claim around the kind of error involved and the records that show it. In every one of these claims, the question is whether the care met the accepted standard.

Houston families come to us most with these claims:

• Mal diagnóstico y diagnóstico tardío. A serious illness can be mistaken for something minor, or recognized only after it has progressed. The delay can cost a patient the treatment that would have worked best earlier. Our abogados de errores de diagnóstico y failure to diagnose attorneys organize each symptom, test, and result by date to show when the diagnosis should have been made.
• Errores quirúrgicos. A procedure can injure a nearby organ or nerve, or a complication afterward can go untreated. The patient may need another operation and more time to heal. For surgical error claims, we read the operative report against the nursing notes from the patient’s recovery and look for irregularities or red flags that were missed.
• Lesiones por nacimiento. Signs of trouble during labor can be missed, or a delivery can be delayed too long. An injury at birth can affect a child’s development and a family’s life for years. Our abogados especializados en lesiones durante el parto compare the fetal monitoring with the labor and delivery notes, minute by minute, to determine where negligent care allowed an injury to happen.
• Errores de medicación. A patient can receive the wrong drug, the wrong dose, or a drug that reacts badly with another. The result can be a serious reaction, a longer illness, or lasting damage. In Cargos por error de medicamentos, we follow each order from the prescriber through the pharmacy to the patient and look for obvious signs of errors or failed responses to side effects.
• Errores de anestesia. A patient can be given too much or too little anesthesia, or breathing and oxygen levels can go unwatched during sedation. A lapse of minutes can leave a brain injury or other permanent harm. Our anesthesia malpractice lawyers review the anesthesia record and monitoring data for each stage of the procedure to find where such errors occurred.
• Pediatric malpractice. A child’s serious illness can be dismissed as routine, or treatment can come too late. A child can carry the effects of that care into adulthood. For pediatric malpractice claims, we study the growth charts, vital signs and notes from every visit to see if negligence was involved.
• Negligencia del hospital. Short staffing, gaps in monitoring or a breakdown in communication can let a patient’s condition worsen unnoticed. The patient can be left with a fall injury, an infection or a pressure wound that should not have happened. Our abogados de negligencia hospitalaria examine the nursing notes, staffing records and policies behind the care.

These are the most common medical malpractice claims we see in Houston, but they do not represent every case type we accept. If the type of medical error you or someone you love experienced is not on this list, contact us so a Houston medical malpractice lawyer at our firm can review it with you.

How Our Houston Medical Malpractice Lawyers Handle Your Claim

When you bring a medical malpractice claim to our Houston lawyers, we take on the work of finding out what happened and explain each step as it comes. At Hastings Law Firm, that means gathering your medical records, reviewing them with our medical professionals, and seeing your claim through to a settlement or a verdict.

Every claim begins with the care itself, which can take place anywhere from a doctor’s office or urgent care clinic to a surgery center or hospital. Many Houston families receive care at the hospitals of the Texas Medical Center, such as Houston Methodist Hospital, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, and Ben Taub Hospital. Others are treated at community hospitals, clinics, and practices across the metro.

Regardless of where your care took place, your first call goes to a member of our intake team. They will ask about the care, when it happened, and who provided it. From there, we request the medical records on your behalf, at no cost to you. Our attorneys and medical professionals then review those records to understand what happened in your care.

Some cases are clear from that review alone, while others need the opinion of a medical expert, often a specialist in the same field as the care involved. A specialist can say what the accepted standard of care required in that field, and whether the care met it. Capítulo 74 del Código de Prácticas y Recursos Civiles Texas generally requires a medical expert’s report early in a lawsuit, so we bring experts in from the start.

Once the records and any expert opinion have been reviewed, you hear from us with a straight answer. If the law does not support a claim, we explain why. Other options may still be available, such as a complaint to the Texas Junta Médica, which takes complaints about physicians.

When the law supports a claim, we send the written notice Texas law requires and then file the lawsuit. Where it is filed depends on Sección 15.002 del Código de Práctica Texas Civil y Recurso. A lawsuit may generally be filed in a county where all or a substantial part of the events or omissions occurred. If a substantial part of the care took place in Harris County, the suit can generally be filed in a Harris County civil district court.

Those suits are filed with the Harris County District Clerk at the Juzgado Civil del Condado de Harris, 201 Caroline Street, Houston, Texas 77002. When care elsewhere in the metro makes Fort Bend County the proper county, its district courts sit at the Justice Center, 1422 Eugene Heimann Circle, Richmond, Texas 77469. In Montgomery County, new suits are filed with the Montgomery County District Clerk, 301 North Main Street, Suite 103, Conroe, Texas 77301. Appeals from Harris and Fort Bend County district courts generally go to the First or Fourteenth Court of Appeals, both at 301 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas 77002.

Whatever court hears the case, our board-certified patient advocates stay in contact with you as it moves toward a settlement or a jury trial. They let you know when something noteworthy happens, answer your questions as they come up, and explain what each development means for you.