Tucson Hospital Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for Tucson Patients and Families

The Types of Tucson Hospital Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm’s Tucson hospital negligence lawyers handle lawsuits over birth injuries, emergency care, surgery, medication errors, and missed diagnoses at hospitals in Tucson, Arizona. Our attorneys start every lawsuit with the patient’s full hospital chart. We read that chart with qualified medical experts to show where the care fell below the standard and what the harm has cost the family.

The cases a Tucson hospital malpractice lawyer at our firm sees most often include:

• Labor, delivery, and newborn injuries. Fetal distress can go unrecognized during labor, a needed cesarean delivery can come too late, or a mother’s bleeding or high blood pressure can go untreated. A birth injury can mean years of therapy, specialist visits, and changes to how a family lives. Our Arizona birth injury lawyers line up the fetal heart tracings with the nursing and physician notes to see when each warning sign appeared.
• Emergency department errors. A stroke, heart attack, or internal bleeding can be mistaken for something minor, or treatment can start after the window to act has closed. A condition that could have been treated can then leave a permanent disability. Our Arizona emergency room malpractice attorneys follow the visit through the triage record, the timing of each test, and the discharge decision.
• Surgical errors. An organ or blood vessel can be injured during an operation, a procedure can be done at the wrong site, or bleeding afterward can go unaddressed. The patient can face more surgery, a longer hospital stay, and additional recovery time. Our Arizona surgical error lawyers compare the operative report with the anesthesia record and the nursing notes from recovery.
• Medication errors. A patient can receive the wrong drug or the wrong dose, or a known allergy or drug interaction can be overlooked. The result can be organ damage, brain injury, or other serious and lasting harm. Our Arizona medication error attorneys trace each dose from the physician’s order through the pharmacy to the bedside record.
• Missed and delayed diagnoses. Signs of sepsis, a blood clot, or a stroke can be missed on a hospital floor as well as in the emergency department. Every hour of delay can narrow the treatment options that remain. Our Arizona failure to diagnose lawyers set the symptoms charted by nurses against the tests ordered and when the results were read.

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

Tucson Hospitals Where Negligence Claims Arise

Hospital negligence claims in the Tucson area can arise at any hospital, from Level I trauma centers to hospitals serving the smaller communities of southern Arizona. The Arizona Department of Health Services list of designated trauma centers names Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital as Level I trauma centers. Arizona law measures the care at each hospital against what a reasonable, prudent provider would do.

A Tucson hospital malpractice lawyer at our firm handles claims at hospitals across Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Graham counties. What a hospital offers shapes the claims that can arise there and the records each claim is built on.

Two of Tucson’s major hospitals have their own pages, which cover the services each one provides and the claims we see there in more detail.

• Banner – University Medical Center Tucson is a large academic medical center on North Campbell Avenue, home to Diamond Children’s Medical Center, where emergency and trauma, transplant, high-risk pregnancy, and newborn intensive care claims can arise.
• Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital is a large hospital on North Wilmot Road with a Comprehensive Stroke Center and a Level II EQ neonatal intensive care unit, where trauma, stroke, joint replacement, and labor and delivery claims can arise.

Can You File a Lawsuit Against a Tucson Hospital, the Doctor, or Both?

Arizona law allows a malpractice lawsuit against a Tucson hospital, against a treating doctor, or against both, depending on whose care caused the harm. Under A.R.S. 12-563, the patient must prove the provider did not use the care, skill and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent provider in that field. The patient must also prove that failure caused the injury.

Hospital malpractice is that same claim brought against a hospital or the people working for it. The definition of a licensed health care provider in A.R.S. 12-561 includes an institution licensed to provide health care, along with its officers, employees and agents working under its supervision. A hospital answers for the negligence of its own employees, such as nurses and employed physicians, when they act within the scope of their jobs.

Some doctors who treat patients in a hospital are not its employees. Carondelet Health Network states that its physicians are independent contractors, not its employees or agents. Banner Health’s billing FAQ notes that emergency physicians, radiologists, pathologists and anesthesiologists “may not actually work for the hospital.”

A contract label does not settle who is responsible. In Beeck v. Tucson General Hospital, an Arizona appeals court looked at how much control the hospital actually had over the doctor’s work. A hospital can also answer for an independent doctor when its own conduct led the patient to reasonably believe the doctor worked for it. A clear, signed disclosure of the doctor’s independent status can defeat that claim, as it did in Fadely v. Encompass Health.

Finding out who employed each provider is one of the first tasks for a lawyer to sue a hospital, because it decides who is named in the claim. Our Arizona hospital malpractice lawyers explain how these claims are brought against hospitals anywhere in the state.

What Does It Take to Prove Hospital Negligence in Arizona?

Proving hospital negligence in Arizona generally takes a qualified medical expert whose opinion supports the claim early in the case. When expert testimony is needed, A.R.S. 12-2603 requires the patient to serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit. The affidavit states the expert’s qualifications, the facts, what the provider did wrong, and how that caused the harm.

The process starts with a written statement, filed with the claim, saying whether expert testimony is necessary to prove the standard of care. When it is, the affidavit is served with the first required disclosures in the case, and a court can extend that time for good cause. A court dismisses the claim when a required affidavit is never served.

The expert must also be the right match for each provider. Under A.R.S. 12-2604, an expert testifying about a specialist must practice in that same specialty, and must share its board certification when the provider holds one. The expert must have spent most of the year before the injury practicing or teaching in that field. An expert whose fee depends on the outcome of the case cannot testify.

Each requirement stands on its own. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that a defendant can challenge an expert’s qualifications without first attacking the affidavit. Falling short on either one can end a claim, so both have to be right from the start.

A hospital chart can involve nurses, an emergency physician, a surgeon, and an anesthesiologist, and each may call for a different expert. When the hospital is sued over an employee’s care, the expert rule applies as if that employee were the defendant. Our attorneys work out those matches before the affidavit is served, because they shape the claim from its first filing.

How We Work With Injured Tucson Hospital Patients and Their Families

Hastings Law Firm works with patients and families in Tucson, Arizona, on hospital malpractice claims, from the first phone call through settlement or trial. Our Tucson medical malpractice lawyers meet families where it is easiest for them, in Tucson and across southern Arizona.

Your first call goes to a member of our intake team. A relative can call for a patient who is too injured or ill to do so. Tell us what happened, which hospital was involved, and who treated the patient, as far as you remember. Your account is where our review begins.

We request the complete medical records for you. Our attorneys and medical professionals review the emergency notes, operative reports, medication records, and nursing charts to establish what was done, what was missed, and when. If our Tucson hospital negligence lawyers take your case, we build it on those records and on qualified experts who can explain them.

From there, we deal with the hospital, its insurer, and its lawyers, so you never have to face them yourself. Our board-certified patient advocates stay in contact with you and explain each development in plain language as it happens. We pursue a settlement that reflects what the injury has cost your family, and when an offer falls short, we are prepared to take your case to a jury.

If You or a Loved One Were Injured at a Tucson Hospital, Speak With Our Medical Attorneys Today

Hastings Law Firm’s Tucson hospital malpractice lawyers handle claims for patients and families hurt by hospital care in Tucson, Arizona. Our attorneys look into what happened and who may be responsible. They also tell families plainly when a bad outcome was not caused by negligence.

Our team is here for you. We perform a free case review to find out whether you have a valid claim, and everything you share with us stays confidential. You pay no fee unless we win.