Phoenix Children’s Hospital Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for Phoenix Children’s Patients and Families

The Types of Phoenix Children’s Hospital Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm represents children and their families in Phoenix, Arizona, in claims against Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the physicians and medical groups who practice there, and its staff. Our attorneys handle claims over missed and delayed diagnoses in emergency care, pediatric surgery and anesthesia errors, and NICU and pediatric intensive care errors.

The cases we see most often at a Level I pediatric trauma center and children’s hospital like Phoenix Children’s include:

• Missed and delayed diagnoses in a child’s emergency care. A serious illness or injury in a child can go unrecognized in the emergency department or trauma center, or be treated later than it should have been. For a child, that lost time can mean a condition that is harder to treat, a lasting disability, or a death that might have been prevented. Our Phoenix medical misdiagnosis lawyers set the triage notes, vital signs and test results against what the care team did and when.
• Pediatric surgery and anesthesia errors. A child can be hurt by a mistake during an operation or by sedation or anesthesia dosed or monitored wrongly for the child’s size. A complication no one caught after surgery can also cause harm. The result can be more operations, more weeks in the hospital, or a brain injury from a loss of oxygen. Our Phoenix surgical error attorneys read the operative and anesthesia records alongside the notes from recovery.
• NICU and pediatric intensive care errors. A premature or critically ill newborn, or a child in intensive care, depends on monitoring, medication and a quick response to any change. When that care falls behind, the harm can be permanent. A few hours in an intensive care unit can shape the rest of a child’s life. Our Arizona NICU malpractice lawyers examine the unit’s monitoring data, medication records and nursing notes hour by hour.

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

About Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Its Campuses

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is a large pediatric hospital at 1919 E. Thomas Rd. in Phoenix, in Maricopa County, and its main site is known as the Thomas Campus. The hospital belongs to Phoenix Children’s, a private nonprofit pediatric health system, according to the hospital’s own community health needs assessment.

The Arizona Department of Health Services lists the Phoenix hospital as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. The emergency department on the Thomas Campus is home to the hospital’s Center for Trauma Care.

The Thomas Campus offers pediatric surgery from routine procedures to complex operations, along with pediatric neurosurgery, heart surgery and orthopedics, anesthesiology and sedation, and pediatric pharmacy services. Its pediatric intensive care unit monitors critically ill children around the clock. Phoenix Children’s describes its Sharon D. Lund Newborn Intensive Care Unit on the Thomas Campus as a Level IV NICU, certified by the Arizona Perinatal Trust.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is also a teaching hospital. Its graduate medical education program includes residency programs and ACGME-accredited fellowships, and its partner medical schools are the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, Creighton and Mayo Clinic. A child may be seen at more than one Phoenix Children’s location, and each visit adds to the record:

• Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s Thomas Campus, Phoenix (the main hospital)
• Arrowhead Campus, Glendale (a hospital with emergency, surgical and inpatient services, listed by the state as a Level IV trauma center)
• Avondale Campus (an emergency department, also listed as a Level IV trauma center)
• Specialty care in Gilbert

Can You File a Lawsuit Against Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the Doctor, or Both?

You may be able to file a lawsuit against Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the doctor who treated your child, or both, depending on who made the error and who employed them. Under Arizona law, a hospital can be held responsible for the negligence of nurses, doctors and other staff who are its actual employees, acting within their jobs. At Phoenix Children’s, the harder question is which doctors fall into that group.

Some physicians there are employed and bill through Phoenix Children’s Medical Group. The hospital’s billing FAQ also says some members of its medical staff are not its employees. Each treating doctor’s status has to be checked, because it shapes who is named in the case.

A contract label does not decide that question alone. Arizona courts look at how much control a hospital actually had over a doctor’s work. A hospital can also answer for an independent doctor when its own conduct led the family to reasonably believe that doctor worked for it.

When a hospital and a doctor are both found at fault, each is generally responsible only for its own share of the damages. The first job of a lawyer to sue a hospital is therefore to identify every health care provider or facility that shares the fault.

Arizona also requires the family to certify whether expert testimony is needed. If it is, the family must serve a sworn preliminary expert opinion affidavit under A.R.S. 12-2603 early in the case. A qualified expert sets out the standard of care, how it was breached, and how that caused the child’s injury, and a claim without the affidavit can be dismissed. Our Phoenix hospital malpractice lawyers explain employee liability, apparent agency and the affidavit requirement in more depth.

When Does the Filing Deadline Start for a Child Harmed at Phoenix Children’s in Arizona?

For a child harmed at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the filing deadline generally does not start until the child turns eighteen. Arizona gives an injured patient two years to file a malpractice claim under A.R.S. 12-542, and A.R.S. 12-502 does not count the time a patient spends under eighteen. For a baby, a toddler, a school-age child or a teenager, those two years generally begin at eighteen.

When the injury came to light matters too. Under Arizona’s discovery rule, the two years begin when the patient knew, or reasonably should have known, enough to suspect the injury was caused by negligence. That is not necessarily the date of treatment. The Arizona Supreme Court set out that test in Walk v. Ring, and the clock does not wait for a doctor or lawyer to confirm malpractice.

The pause for a minor delays the deadline but does not remove it. For most children, that means the two years run out around the twentieth birthday. A teenager hurt at sixteen therefore has far less time from the date of care than a child hurt as a toddler. Every child’s dates have to be worked out from the records.

Waiting still carries a cost, even when the deadline is years away. Medical records, imaging and the recollections of the doctors and nurses who cared for your child are easiest to gather while they are recent. Our team requests them promptly so the review can start while those details are clear.

How We Work With Families of Injured Phoenix Children’s Patients

Hastings Law Firm handles hospital malpractice claims for families of Phoenix Children’s Hospital patients in Phoenix, Arizona. When you call us about your child’s care at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, a member of our intake team takes that first conversation. A grandparent or another relative can call if the parents cannot.

Tell us what your child went through, which campus and unit were involved, and what you were told. Our team works to make sure you are heard, and your account is where our review begins.

Next, our team requests your child’s complete medical records so your family does not have to chase them. Our attorneys and medical professionals study the emergency notes, the operative and anesthesia records, the intensive care flowsheets and the medication orders to learn what was done and when. If our hospital negligence lawyers take the case, it rests on those records and on the medical experts who can explain them. Every claim our Phoenix medical malpractice lawyers bring is shaped around what the injury means for your child’s future.

From then on, every contact with the hospital, its insurers and its defense lawyers goes through us, and your time stays with your child. Our board-certified patient advocates keep in contact with you and explain each development in plain language when it happens. We press for a settlement that covers what your child has lost and the care still ahead. When an offer falls short, we are prepared to take your case to a jury.

If You or a Loved One Were Injured at Phoenix Children’s, Speak With Our Medical Attorneys Today

Hastings Law Firm handles hospital malpractice claims in Phoenix, Arizona, for children hurt during care at Phoenix Children’s Hospital or one of its other campuses. Our hospital negligence lawyers will look at what happened, tell you who may be responsible, and say so honestly when we believe a hard outcome was not malpractice. Our Phoenix pediatric malpractice lawyers also help families whose children were harmed elsewhere in the Valley.

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 fees or costs unless we win. Let us help you find the answers you deserve.