The Woodlands Medical Malpractice Lawyer

The Cases Our Medical Negligence Law Firm Handles in The Woodlands

In The Woodlands, Hastings Law Firm handles medical malpractice claims involving hospital negligence, misdiagnosis, medication errors, birth injuries, surgical and anesthesia errors, and pediatric malpractice. As a medical negligence law firm, we also represent patients in dangerous drug injury and doctor malpractice claims. Every one of these claims is built from the records that show whether the care met the accepted standard.

Families in The Woodlands come to us most with these claims:

• Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis. The symptoms of a serious condition can be put down to stress, a virus, or a strained muscle, and the patient is sent home. By the time the real cause is found, the chance for simpler and more effective treatment may be gone. Our misdiagnosis attorneys and the failure to diagnose lawyers on our team set the complaints from each visit against the tests ordered and the tests skipped. That comparison shows what a careful provider would have checked.
• Surgical errors. An operation on the wrong site, a punctured bowel, or a sponge left behind can mean a second surgery, an infection, and weeks of added recovery. Texas requires covered hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to report certain preventable adverse events. A foreign object unintentionally left in a patient after surgery is on the Department of State Health Services list. In surgical error cases, our attorneys study the consent form, the operative report, and the orders written after surgery to learn whether the operation matched the plan.
• Birth injuries. High blood pressure in the mother, an infection, or a baby in distress can go unrecognized in the hours before delivery. A newborn deprived of oxygen can face seizures, cerebral palsy, and years of therapy. For birth injury claims, we read the mother’s blood pressure readings and lab results together with the fetal heart tracing, asking when the signs called for a faster delivery.
• Medication errors. A medication list can be copied wrong when a patient moves between units or goes home, so a stopped drug is restarted or a needed one is dropped. The patient can end up back in the hospital with a bleed, a seizure, or an organ injury. Our medication error lawyers compare each version of the list, from admission to transfer to discharge, and identify which one introduced the error.
• Anesthesia errors. Sleep apnea, heart disease, and other conditions raise the risk of anesthesia, and a rushed evaluation before surgery can leave that risk unplanned for. Breathing can slow dangerously during or after the procedure. For anesthesia error claims, we read the pre-anesthesia assessment beside the recovery room notes to judge whether the plan fit the patient.
• Pediatric malpractice. A toddler’s normal heart rate differs from an adult’s, so a fever with a racing pulse can be read as ordinary when it signals a spreading infection. A child whose infection goes untreated can lose hearing, a limb, or brain function. In pediatric malpractice cases, our attorneys check each charted heart and breathing rate against the normal range for the child’s age, which shows whether the warning signs were there.
• Hospital negligence. Important details can be lost when one nursing shift hands a patient to the next. A patient at risk of falling can also go without the precautions the hospital’s own assessment called for. A fall can break a hip or cause bleeding in the brain. Our hospital negligence attorneys gather the fall-risk assessments, shift handoff notes, and call-light records to learn who knew of the danger and what was done about it.

These are the most common medical malpractice claims we see in The Woodlands, but they do not represent every case type we accept. Your family can still contact us about a medical error that is not listed, and one of our medical malpractice lawyers in The Woodlands can look into it with you.

How Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers in The Woodlands Handle Your Claim

Once a family in The Woodlands hires Hastings Law Firm in a medical malpractice claim, our lawyers set out to learn what happened in the patient’s care. We collect and study the medical records with our medical professionals, consult medical experts when the case needs them, and pursue the claim to a settlement or a verdict.

That work starts wherever the care was given, and a claim can begin in a doctor’s office, an urgent care clinic, a surgery center, or a hospital. Many families in The Woodlands receive care at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center, Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital, or St. Luke’s Health The Woodlands Hospital. Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands cares for many local children, and community hospitals, clinics, and practices serve patients throughout Montgomery County and the north side of the Houston area.

Your first step is a call with a member of our intake team, who asks what care you received, who gave it, and when. After that call, we request the medical records ourselves, and you pay nothing for them. Once they arrive, our attorneys and medical professionals study them to understand what happened.

Some claims are clear once those records are reviewed. Others need a medical expert, often a specialist who practices in the same field as the provider. A specialist can say what the accepted standard of care required in that field, and how the provider’s care compares. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 74.351 generally calls for an expert report early in a lawsuit, so our experts start work as soon as the records arrive.

With the review finished, you get a straight answer from us. When the law will not support a lawsuit, you hear the reasons plainly. Another path may remain open, such as a complaint to the Texas Medical Board, which can discipline a licensed physician.

When the law supports a claim, each health care provider first receives the written notice Texas requires. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.002 then generally points the case toward a county where all or a substantial part of the events or omissions happened. The Woodlands spans Montgomery and Harris counties, and the Village of Creekside Park lies in Harris County.

Care given in Montgomery County can support filing there. The county’s 284th and 457th civil district courts sit at the Montgomery County Courthouse, 301 North Main Street, Conroe, Texas 77301. A new Montgomery County medical malpractice suit goes to the Montgomery County District Clerk, 301 North Main Street, Suite 103, Conroe, Texas 77301. Civil appeals from those courts ordinarily go to the Ninth Court of Appeals, 1085 Pearl Street, Suite 330, Beaumont, Texas 77701.

Care given in the Harris County part of the area, such as Creekside Park, can make Harris County the proper county instead. A Harris County suit is filed with the District Clerk’s civil intake at 201 Caroline Street, Houston, Texas 77002, in the Harris County Civil Courthouse. For Harris County cases, the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals share 301 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas 77002, and a civil appeal ordinarily goes to one of them.

Whichever court ends up with the case, our board-certified patient advocates keep in touch with your family until it resolves in a settlement or a jury verdict. They call when something noteworthy happens and can answer your questions as the case moves forward.