Methodist Dallas Medical Center Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for Methodist Dallas Medical Center Patients and Families

The Types of Methodist Dallas Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm handles Methodist Dallas Medical Center lawsuits in Dallas, Texas, involving emergency and trauma care, surgery and organ transplants, and labor and delivery. Our hospital malpractice lawyers ground each case in the full medical chart and in opinions from physicians who practice in the same field. We use that evidence to show where the treatment departed from accepted practice and how the injury has changed the patient’s life.

The cases we see most often at a Level I trauma center and teaching hospital like Methodist Dallas Medical Center include:

• Emergency and trauma care errors. An injury from a fall, a crash, or another accident can go unrecognized, or its treatment can start after the window to prevent lasting harm has closed. A delay like that can turn a treatable injury into a permanent disability or the loss of a loved one. Our Dallas medical misdiagnosis lawyers set the imaging results beside the trauma notes to show when the injury should have been found.
• Surgical and transplant errors. A mistake can happen during general, vascular, or transplant surgery, or a complication after the operation can go unnoticed until it is harder to correct. Correcting that harm can mean a return to the operating room and additional recovery time. Our Dallas surgical malpractice lawyers check the operative report against the orders and nursing notes written after surgery.
• Labor and delivery errors. A mother’s complication or a baby’s distress during labor can be missed, or a delivery decision can come too late. Harm at birth can affect a mother’s health and a child’s whole life, with years of care and therapy to follow. Our Dallas birth injury lawyers match the fetal heart tracings to the labor and delivery notes.

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

About Methodist Dallas Medical Center on North Beckley Avenue

Methodist Dallas Medical Center is a large nonprofit hospital in the Methodist Health System, at 1441 North Beckley Avenue in Dallas, Texas. Its About page calls it “the main teaching and referral center for Methodist Health System.” Its services range from trauma care and transplant surgery to childbirth.

The state’s hospital licensing list classifies Methodist Dallas as a nonprofit. The system’s General Surgery Residency trains residents at Methodist Dallas, and the Obstetrics & Gynecology Residency Program at Methodist Dallas Medical Center is based at the hospital. Cardiology fellows in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship train mainly at Methodist Dallas and the Dallas VA Medical Center.

The hospital’s Emergency & Trauma service is a Level I Trauma Center and includes the G60 Geriatric Trauma Program for older patients. Methodist Dallas appears at Level I on the state health department’s roster of designated trauma facilities. The hospital provides stroke care as well.

Surgical care includes the Methodist Dallas Transplant Institute, which performs adult liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants, and General Surgery using robotic-assisted techniques. The campus offers vascular surgery, a Burn Center, and the Sam & Anne Kesner Heart Center. Its brain and spine care comes through Methodist neurosciences and the Methodist Moody Brain and Spine Institute.

For mothers and newborns, the maternity and newborn service offers labor and delivery, a five-room Obstetrics Emergency Department, and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit. The state’s neonatal roster lists that NICU at Level III as well. The Department of State Health Services lists Methodist Dallas as a Level III (Subspecialty Care) facility on its maternal designation list.

One patient’s care can pass through several of these units and several teams, each with its own records. Our firm also represents patients treated at other Dallas hospitals, among them Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Can You File a Lawsuit Against Methodist Dallas Medical Center, the Doctor, or Both?

A patient can sue Methodist Dallas Medical Center, a treating doctor, or both. Which of them is responsible depends on who made the error and who employed that person. Under Section 74.351 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the patient must serve an expert report on each defendant within 120 days after that defendant files its answer.

A hospital can be responsible for negligence by the nurses, technicians, and other staff it employs. It can also answer for its own decisions, such as how it staffs its units and keeps patients safe. Each physician is accountable for their own treatment decisions.

Methodist Health System states that physicians on its medical staff are independent practitioners, not employees or agents of the system or its affiliated hospitals. Its physician billing page adds that those physicians bill separately from the hospital. The system also says Methodist Medical Group physicians are employees of MedHealth, not of the hospital.

For a patient, that means a claim over a physician’s care is brought against that physician. The medical records and the bills show whom each provider worked for. Residents and fellows also take part in care at a teaching hospital, which is one more reason the full chart matters. The chart shows who wrote each order and who saw the patient.

Sorting out those roles is the first job of a lawyer to sue a hospital, because the answer determines which defendants a claim names. Our Dallas hospital malpractice lawyers explain how claims against a hospital, its staff, and its physicians are brought. Medicine carries risk, and a bad outcome is not always negligence. When a patient’s injury was preventable, the providers responsible should be held accountable.

What Does Texas Informed Consent Law Require Before Surgery or a Transplant at Methodist Dallas?

Texas informed consent law holds a physician or provider at Methodist Dallas responsible for undisclosed surgical risks that could have influenced a reasonable person’s decision to consent. Under Section 74.101 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a failure to disclose those risks is a negligence claim. Which risks must be disclosed depends on the procedure and the state’s disclosure lists.

The Texas Medical Disclosure Panel, a state panel created under Sections 74.102 and 74.103, decides which treatments and procedures require disclosure and which do not. It also sets how much must be disclosed and in what form. For a procedure on its list that requires disclosure, Section 74.104 says the physician or provider must disclose its risks and hazards. Under Section 74.105, that disclosure is made in writing, is signed by the patient or an authorized person and a competent witness, and states the specific risks.

The way a disclosure was handled creates presumptions under Section 74.106, and each one is rebuttable, meaning evidence can overcome it. A disclosure made in the required form is presumed adequate. A failure to disclose a risk the panel lists is presumed negligent, unless there was an emergency or disclosure was not medically feasible. For a procedure the panel has not addressed, the physician or provider has the duty otherwise imposed by law. A signed consent form goes to disclosure. Whether the operation itself met the standard of care is a separate issue.

Consent conversations take place before transplant, vascular, and general surgery at Methodist Dallas, and the signed forms become part of the medical records we request. Our Texas surgical malpractice attorneys read those forms alongside the operative records.

How We Work With Injured Methodist Dallas Patients and Their Families

Hastings Law Firm’s hospital malpractice lawyers represent patients and families in Dallas, Texas, after an injury or a loss connected to treatment at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. A member of our intake team takes your first call, and a relative can phone for a patient who cannot. We start by hearing your account of the care, the dates, and the people involved.

Next, our team gathers the complete medical chart on your behalf. Our attorneys and medical professionals study the trauma notes, the operative and transplant records, and the labor and delivery charts. They mark what the care included, what it left out, and when each step happened. When we accept a case, our hospital negligence lawyers build it on that evidence and on medical experts qualified to explain it.

Once you hire us, all contact with the hospital, its insurer, and its defense lawyers goes through our office. Our board-certified patient advocates keep you informed, and when something changes in the case, they explain it in plain terms. Our hospital malpractice attorneys negotiate for a settlement that matches the full cost of the injury. If the offers fall short, we are ready to try the case before a jury.

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

Hastings Law Firm handles malpractice claims for Dallas, Texas, patients and families harmed at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, helping them learn what went wrong and who may be responsible. Our Dallas medical malpractice lawyers look at the records, the providers involved, and whether the care met the accepted standard. We tell you plainly what we find.

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