- Steiden Law Offices
- ›
- Personal Injury
- ›
- Medical Malpractice
Medical Malpractice
People throughout Ohio and Kentucky place their trust in a variety of different caregivers. We can help you pursue a lawsuit for money damages against any of the following types of health care professionals and their employers including:
- physician;
- doctor;
- nurse;
- dentist;
- the professional staff of an area hospital;
- employees of a medical facilities; or
- the directors, health aids, and support staff of nursing homes.
Medical errors can result in serious or possibly even fatal injuries. Victims or the families of those killed because of a caregiver’s negligence may be entitled to compensation for their losses.
Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Cincinnati, OH
If you sustained catastrophic injuries or your loved one was killed because of a caregiver’s error or neglect, you should immediately seek legal representation. Steiden Law Offices represents the victims of medical negligence and nursing home neglect throughout Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky. We also represent clients in medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic claims of malpractice.
Our firm has offices in Cincinnati and Mainesville, Ohio, as well as Covington and Florence, Kentucky. Our caring and compassionate personal injury attorneys can review your case when you call to schedule a free discussion.
Types Medical Malpractice Cases in Ohio
Some of the types of medical mistakes that may be grounds for a legal claim including, but are not limited to:
- Anesthesia Errors — Defective equipment, improper intubation, failure to inform the patient of risks, failure to monitor vital signs, failure to recognize possible complications in patient's medical history, or too much anesthesia.
- Birth Injuries — Brachial plexus injuries, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, Klumpke palsy, or shoulder dystocia resulting from negligent prenatal care (such as failure to diagnose medical condition of mother or failure to identify birth defects) or errors during childbirth (failure to anticipate birth complications, failure to respond to signs of fetal distress, failure to order cesarean section, or incompetent forceps or vacuum extractor usage).
- Cosmetic Surgery Errors — Infections, necrosis, nerve damage, operating on wrong part of body, scarring, surgeries exceeding scope of patient’s informed consent, or surgeries performed by non-plastic surgeons.
- Emergency Room Errors — Blood transfusion mistakes, diagnostic errors, EMT or paramedic neglect or errors, failure to treat the patient in timely fashion, ignoring obvious signs of distress, improper monitoring, or incorrect patient priority assessment.
- Medication Errors — Dangerous drug combinations, failure to explain possible side effects, failure to recognize drug allergies, mislabeled drugs, wrong medication prescribed or dispensed, wrong dosage given, wrong usage directions.
- Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose — Delayed referral to specialists, failure to act appropriately on patient’s complaints, failure to perform regular screenings, failure to order appropriate tests, failure to provide adequate follow-up care, failure to recognize potential indications of a problem, improper examination, misinterpretation of test results, or other misdiagnosis errors.
- Surgical Errors — Delayed surgery, failure to advise patient potential risks, failure to recognize symptoms, negligent sanitary preparation, negligent use of surgical tools, negligently leaving surgical instruments in the patient, performing surgery on wrong part of body, prematurely discharging patient, leaving a foreign object in a patient's body, or unnecessary surgeries.
- Wrongful Death — This claim may apply if your loved one dies as a result of any of the medical errors listed above.
Who Can Be Sued for Medical Malpractice or Other Medical Claims?
The term "medical malpractice" has a limited definition that applies only to certain types of professionals, such as physicians. Other types of medical employees, such as nurses and laboratory technicians, are not subject to malpractice claims but are subject to medical claims.
In Ohio, many different types of medical professionals can be sued in civil court for medical malpractice or other types of medical claims that arise out of the medical diagnosis, care, or treatment including:
- a hospital;
- a nursing home;
- a residential facility;
- any employee or agent of these medical professionals or medical facilities including:
- a physician;
- a podiatrist;
- a licensed practical nurse;
- a registered nurse;
- an advanced practice nurse;
- a physical therapist;
- a physician assistant;
- an emergency medical technician-basic;
- an emergency medical technician-intermediate, or
- an emergency medical technician-paramedic.
Other Types of Claims of Negligence by Medical Professionals
We can help you file a civil lawsuit seeking money damages against a medical center for medical malpractice, negligence or negligent supervision and training of the medical center’s employees.
Under Ohio law, the term “medical claim” is defined as:
any claim that is asserted in any civil action against a physician, podiatrist, hospital, home, or residential facility, against any employee or agent of a physician, podiatrist, hospital, home, or residential facility, or against a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, * * * and that arises out of the medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of any person.
R.C. 2305.113(E)(3).
The terms “medical diagnosis” and “treatment” are terms of art, which relate to the identification and alleviation of a physical or mental illness, disease, or defect. When considering the statute of limitations for “medical claims,” the term “care” has been defined as the prevention or alleviation of a physical or mental defect or illness.
“Medical claims” include, among other things, derivative claims for relief that arise from the plan of care, medical diagnosis, or treatment of a person; and claims that arise out of the plan of care, medical diagnosis, or treatment of any person and to which either of the following applies:
- The claim results from acts or omissions in providing medical care.
- The claim results from the hiring, training, supervision, retention, or termination of caregivers providing medical diagnosis, care, or treatment.
R.C. 2305.113(E)(3)(a) and (b).
Affidavit of Merit for a Medical Claim
Your attorney must protect you against any claim that you failed to properly file an affidavit of merit as required in Civil Rule 10(D)(2). Pursuant to Civil Rule 10(D)(2), an affidavit of merit is required to establish the adequacy of a medical complaint, and the failure to file an affidavit of merit renders a complaint subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
Civil Rule 10(D)(2) states that a “complaint that contains a medical claim * * * as defined in section 2305.113 of the Revised Code, shall include one or more affidavits of merit relative to each defendant named in the complaint for whom expert testimony is necessary to establish liability.”
A “medical claim” is defined broadly as “any claim that is asserted in any civil action against a physician, hospital * * * ” and arises from the “medical diagnosis, care, treatment of any person” or “results from the acts or omissions in providing medical care.” R.C. 2305.113(E)(3).
Slip and Falls at a Hospital or Medical Facility in Ohio
Hospitals and medical professionals have a professional duty to exercise care in the service of individuals arriving at the hospital emergency room, or medical facility. Negligence and medical claims against hospitals and other medical facilities can involve:
- falling out of a wheelchair while on the way to lunch at an assisted living facility;
- falling while attempting to stand from a wheelchair outside the hospital upon discharge;
- falling while going from a hospital bed to the bathroom;
- falling backwards while washing hands in a bathroom while receiving rehabilitative care following surgery;
- improperly being placed on a stretcher;
- falling while attempting to walking from the bed in the examination room to a gurney; and
- injuries while lifting and assisting ill and injured people from a seated position to a wheelchair.
In these types of cases, the hospital or medical facility can be sued for negligence even when the injury did not arise out of medical diagnosis, care, or treatment.
Find a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Ohio
Steiden Law Offices stands up for the victims of caregiver neglect in Ohio and Kentucky. Our personal injury attorneys will investigate your case and work to hold all negligent parties accountable. We represent clients in personal injury lawsuits involving a medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic claim.
Our attorneys help our clients bring medical malpractice action against hospital or emergency room facility for failing to read medical reports correctly, failing to order a CT scan, failing to order an MRI, failure to provide care, failure to refer a patient to a specialist, failure to perform the correct or necessary medical tests, failure to inform the patient of available treatment options, failed to diagnose the patient properly, failure to follow drug manufacturer's recommendation for drug, and failure to maintain adequate medical records.
Many of these lawsuits include counts for fraud, fraudulent concealment, negligent understaffing, and failure to transfer.
We can review your case and help you understand your legal options when you call today to take advantage of a free, no obligation discussion. Our firm represents clients on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you owe us nothing unless we win your case.
No legal advice is provided in this article. Instead, this article is provided for educational purposes to help you understand some of the issues that might exist in your case. For legal advice, contact us to discuss the case. The law and its application to a particular set of facts can change over time. This article was last updated on Friday, September 1, 2017.
