Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Patients and Families

The Types of Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm’s hospital malpractice lawyers handle Western Arizona Regional Medical Center lawsuits in Bullhead City, Arizona, over surgical errors, heart attack and heart care errors, and stroke care delays. Our attorneys build each lawsuit from the charting of every department that treated the patient, measured against what careful care required at each step.

The cases we see most often at an acute-care hospital like Western Arizona Regional Medical Center include:

• Surgical errors. A nerve, organ, or blood vessel can be injured during a general, gynecological, or joint replacement operation, a patient can undergo the wrong or an unnecessary procedure, or a complication can go unnoticed until it has done damage. Repairing that harm can mean another operation, weeks away from work, and additional recovery time. Our Arizona surgical malpractice lawyers compare the operative report with the anesthesia notes and the recovery chart to establish the moment of injury and how quickly the team responded.
• Heart attack and heart care errors. Chest pain can be treated as something minor, a heart attack can go unrecognized, or a problem during catheterization or stenting can be left unmanaged. Delay allows damage to the heart muscle to spread, and the result can be a permanently weakened heart or a fatal outcome. Our Arizona heart attack misdiagnosis attorneys set the EKG tracings, lab results, and cath lab log against the clock to show when treatment was due.
• Stroke care delays. The signs of a stroke can be missed, or treatment that could have limited the damage can be given too late. A late response can leave a patient with paralysis, lost speech, or a need for care for the rest of their life. Our Arizona stroke misdiagnosis lawyers trace the time symptoms were first charted against the time of the scan and the first treatment order.

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

About Western Arizona Regional Medical Center on Silver Creek Road in Bullhead City

Western Arizona Regional Medical Center stands at 2735 Silver Creek Road in Bullhead City, Arizona, and describes itself as an acute-care hospital serving the greater Bullhead City community. Its services range from 24-hour emergency, heart and stroke care to general and joint replacement surgery, a wound care clinic, and inpatient rehabilitation. In a report on its recent care, the hospital calls that community the Tri-state area.

Its emergency department is open 24 hours a day, staffed by emergency physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses. The hospital’s awards and accreditations page lists a Level IV Trauma Center designation from the Arizona Department of Health Services. The same page lists an Accredited Chest Pain Center with PCI from the American College of Cardiology, and a designation as an Arizona Cardiac Receiving Center. PCI is a catheter procedure used to open a blocked heart artery.

Western Arizona Regional’s heart care program runs a cath lab for catheterization, angioplasty, and stents, and it places pacemakers. The hospital’s stroke care services, as it lists them, include clot-dissolving medicine, catheter treatments, and minimally invasive procedures.

Surgical services at the hospital include hernia, appendix, gallbladder, and bowel obstruction operations, along with gynecological and urological surgery. Its orthopedic program performs total knee, hip, and shoulder replacement and holds Joint Commission Gold Seal designations for all three. The hospital’s robotic surgery page says its surgeons may perform robotic surgery.

Inpatient rehabilitation is provided at the hospital, and outpatient therapy is offered at 2020 Silver Creek Road. Western Arizona Medical Group is affiliated with the hospital. One patient’s care can move from the emergency department to the cath lab, the operating room, and rehabilitation, and each of those keeps its own records.

Our firm has also written about other hospitals in western Arizona, including Kingman Regional Medical Center in Kingman and Havasu Regional Medical Center in Lake Havasu City.

Can You File a Lawsuit Against Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, the Doctor, or Both?

A Western Arizona Regional Medical Center lawsuit can name the hospital, the treating doctor, or both, depending on whose negligence caused the injury and who employed that person. Under Kopp v. Physician Group of Arizona, a hospital answers for negligent work its own employees do on the job. A doctor answers for the care he or she personally gave.

The hospital’s billing and insurance page tells patients they may receive separate bills from their personal physician, surgeon, pathologist, radiologist, or other health care professional. Those bills do not reveal who employed each provider. A doctor’s affiliation with Western Arizona Medical Group does not answer that question by itself either, so the records must establish the relationship for every person who treated the patient.

When you work with a lawyer to sue a hospital, that question is answered from the records before anyone is named as a defendant. Arizona then sets out what the patient must prove. Under A.R.S. 12-563, the provider must have fallen below the care, skill, and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent provider in the same field, and that failure must have caused the injury.

Early in the case, A.R.S. 12-2603 calls for a preliminary expert opinion affidavit. That is a sworn statement from a qualified expert describing how the care fell short and how it caused harm. Our Arizona hospital malpractice lawyers explain how a Western Arizona Regional Medical Center lawsuit is built on these requirements.

Can a Bullhead City Patient Still Bring a Malpractice Claim in Arizona After Signing a Surgical Consent Form?

A Bullhead City patient who signed a surgical consent form can still bring a malpractice claim in Arizona, because agreeing to an operation is not agreeing to negligent care. The signature accepts the known risks of a procedure performed properly. Under A.R.S. 12-563, the claim depends on whether the care fell below the accepted standard and caused the injury.

Western Arizona Regional Medical Center’s own statement of patient rights says patients may give or withhold informed consent to their care. It also says patients are to be told the benefits, risks, side effects, recuperation problems, and reasonable alternatives of what is proposed. Informed consent means a patient has heard enough about a treatment to make a real choice before agreeing to it.

Arizona treats a claim that a provider did not adequately explain the risks or alternatives of an agreed procedure as a negligence claim. It is judged against what a reasonably prudent provider in that field would have disclosed. For a knee replacement, a robotic operation, or gallbladder surgery, the question is what the patient was told before signing and whether a careful surgeon would have said more.

A separate rule covers a procedure the patient never agreed to, or one that went beyond the consent given. That can be a battery, a legal term for touching a person without permission. In Duncan v. Scottsdale Medical Imaging, the Arizona Supreme Court confirmed that patients keep this claim despite a statute that tried to remove it. Our Arizona failure to obtain informed consent attorneys read the consent paperwork alongside the surgeon’s notes to see what was explained and what was agreed.

How We Work With Injured Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Patients and Their Families

Hastings Law Firm works with Western Arizona Regional Medical Center patients and families in Bullhead City, Arizona, on malpractice claims from the first call through settlement or trial. Our attorneys and medical professionals handle the records, the experts, and the negotiations, so the family can focus on the patient’s recovery.

When you call us about harm at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, a member of our intake team takes that call. A relative can call for a patient who is unable to. Tell us what took place, where in the hospital the care was given, and who provided it, as far as you know. Our team works to make sure you are heard, and your account is the starting point for our review.

We request the complete medical records on your behalf, from every department that treated the patient. Our attorneys and medical professionals read them side by side to establish what was done, what was missed, and when each decision was made. If our hospital negligence lawyers accept a Western Arizona Regional Medical Center lawsuit, we build it on those records and on physicians qualified to explain them.

From that point, we deal with the hospital, its insurer, and its attorneys on your behalf. Our board-certified patient advocates stay in contact with you and explain each development in plain language when it happens. Our hospital malpractice attorneys pursue a settlement that reflects the full cost of the injury to you and your family. When an offer falls short of that, we are prepared to take your case to a jury.

If You or a Loved One Were Injured at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, Speak With Our Medical Attorneys Today

Hastings Law Firm represents patients and families in Bullhead City, Arizona, in hospital malpractice claims over care at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center. Our hospital malpractice lawyers will look at what happened, identify who may be responsible, and tell you plainly if we believe the outcome was not malpractice.

Our team is here for you. When the care in question came from a doctor’s office or clinic nearby rather than the hospital, our Bullhead City medical malpractice lawyers can review it as well.

We perform a free case review to find out whether you have a valid claim, and everything you share with us is kept confidential. You pay no fees or costs unless we win. Let us help you find the answers you deserve.