Proven Medical Malpractice Attorneys in St. Louis
Experienced & Compassionate Legal Representation
At Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C., our medical malpractice attorneys assist clients in holding healthcare providers liable for negligent mistakes that cause injury or death. Doctors, dentists, nurses, psychiatrists, podiatrists, chiropractors, and hospitals—when any healthcare provider delivers a substandard level of care, they must be held responsible for their actions.
We know that victims of medical malpractice want answers. Our St. Louis medical malpractice lawyers, strive to uncover the how and why of what happened because we understand that this knowledge can help our clients heal in ways that even money cannot. We fight on behalf of our clients to recover the compensation they deserve and the answers they seek because we are committed to helping them move on with their lives.
If you have been a victim of medical malpractice in St. Louis, please reach out to us immediately.
Resourceful Counsel for Clients Anywhere, Any Time
Medical malpractice cases have a reputation for being notoriously difficult to prove, so many lawyers will not even agree to take them on. Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. have the experience to know what to look for, which minimizes the risk and expense typically involved in these kinds of cases. Our attorneys have handled medical malpractice and personal injury cases for clients in St. Louis, Brentwood, Joplin, throughout Southwest Missouri, and across the U.S., and we have an excellent track record of success.
Contact us if you or a loved one have been a victim of medical malpractice due to the following:
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Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
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Lack of informed consent
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Failure to obtain complete patient information or history
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Failure to disclose significant risks
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Misread charts, ultrasounds, x-rays, or slides
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Birth injury or newborn injury
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Errors in medication or pharmaceuticals
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Nursing home abuse or medical negligence
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Surgical mistake or injury
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Dental injury or malpractice
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Mistakes with anesthesia
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Unclean or unsanitary medical devices or tools
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Gynecological or obstetrical mistakes
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Chiropractic negligence
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Post-operative infections
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Catastrophic injury
Our medical malpractice attorneys in St. Louis are available to meet with you whenever and wherever is convenient for you. We proudly represent clients in Missouri and throughout the rest of the country. You will not owe us a penny unless we recover money for you. Discover the outstanding personalized attention from Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. when you call us today.
Anesthesia Errors
Legal Help from Medical Malpractice Lawyers in St. Louis, MO
Anesthesia is a risky but necessary component in many surgical treatments and medical procedures. Anesthesiologists have the difficult job of precisely administering anesthesia and monitoring unconscious patients. Because their jobs leave no room for error, they are compensated greatly for their work. Unfortunately, errors occur even when anesthesiologists are careful.
If you or a loved one were the victims of an anesthesia error, contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. Missouri, to schedule a free consultation. Our Brentwood medical malpractice lawyers can help you file a claim and seek maximum financial compensation.
Call our medical malpractice attorneys at (314) 635-7606 to discuss your legal options.
Anesthesia Injuries
This is a profession where even a small medical mistake can have devastating consequences for a patient. There’s a reason wrongful death is the leading cause of anesthesia-related medical malpractice claims.
Potential anesthesia injuries include:
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Stroke
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Heart attack
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Paralysis
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Coma
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Brain injury
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Spinal injury
Approximately 45% of all anesthesia-related medical malpractice cases are due to respiratory issues that result in brain damage or patient death. There are about 300 anesthesia-related deaths each year due to patients experiencing adverse side effects or overdosing.
Causes of Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors can have serious physical and mental consequences for patients. If an anesthesiologist is inattentive, overlooks a medical issue, or ignores a warning sign, it can lead to patient endangerment.
Common errors made by anesthesiologists include:
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Failing to properly administer the correct dosage
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Utilizing defective equipment
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Forgetting to educate patients about how to prepare for the surgery
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Failing to properly place the oxygen tube
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Neglecting to check a patient’s vital signs
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Overlooking a patient’s medical history and allergies
Seek Legal Representation in Missouri
At Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C., we understand how difficult it can be to retain legal representation while paying for medical care. We work on a contingency fee basis, so our clients don’t have to worry about affording our services. If we don’t win, you don’t pay. Our personal injury team is available at your convenience for evening and weekend appointments. We can also visit your home or hospital room if your medical condition restricts you from visiting our office.
LOUIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEYS FOR EMERGENCY ROOM ERRORSOur Contingency Fee Basis Means You Don’t Pay Until We Win Your Medical Malpractice Case
Of the 100 million patients admitted to emergency rooms each year, an estimated 5-10 million are the victims of devastating medical errors. The chaotic environment of an emergency room is due to overworked and overwhelmed doctors and nurses struggling to cycle through the number of gravely ill and injured patients. These emergency rooms are often understaffed due to deliberate hospital staffing decisions.
There is no excuse for emergency room medical errors, and hospitals must be held accountable for offering their patients poor and inattentive treatment. Call the Missouri medical malpractice lawyers at Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. if you’ve been injured because of an emergency room error. To ensure you receive the legal counsel you deserve, we offer free consultations and work on a contingency fee basis.
Contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. in Missouri at (314) 862-6865 to file a medical malpractice claim.
Misdiagnosing Patients in the Emergency Room
Unfortunately, when an emergency room doctor fails to properly diagnose a patient, it can exacerbate the medical condition or even cause death. About 30% of all emergency room medical malpractice lawsuits are filed due to patient misdiagnosis.
Dangerous medical conditions that are often misdiagnosed include:
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Appendicitis
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Stroke
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Heart attack
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Brain aneurism
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Pulmonary embolism
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Internal bleeding
These are all dangerous medical conditions that can lead to a patient’s death.
How Emergency Room Errors Occur
Patients are admitted to emergency rooms when they require urgent medical care. What they usually experience is endless wait times in overcrowded waiting rooms. It’s not uncommon for a patient’s condition to decline while they wait for medical attention, thus being a victim of medical malpractice.
When patients are finally allowed to see their overworked doctors, they are quickly examined before being sent for testing. The medical staff in emergency rooms don’t have the time or resources to properly examine patients. In fact, many patients are improperly discharged before the doctor can even review their test results. These patients are sent away with medications and treatments that may aggravate their symptoms.
Common emergency room errors as a form of medical malpractice in Missouri include:
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Medication errors
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Delayed test results
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Surgical errors
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Delayed treatments
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Contaminated surgical tools
Seek Legal Representation in Missouri
At Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. Missouri law firm, our medical malpractice lawyers have over 95 years of combined legal experience. We understand how difficult it can be to seek legal representation while paying for your medical bills and treatments. We are available for evening and weekend appointments at our Brentwood office, and we can even visit you at your home or in the hospital.
Contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. Missouri at (314) 862-6865 to schedule your free consultation.
FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE CANCER
Discuss Your Legal Options with a St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer Today
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and thus in Missouri too. The statistics are startling. According to the National Cancer Institute, one out of every two people will be diagnosed with some type of cancer during their lifetime.
The good news is that advances in modern medicine have made most forms of cancer treatable if caught soon enough. However, most cancers must be detected at an early stage. Many cancers are fast-growing, and the critical window for catching the early stages is often narrow. Early detection and diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. The legal team at Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien may be able to help you pursue compensation if a medical professional’s failure to diagnose cancer caused you or your family undue suffering.
If your loved one suffered as a result of a medical practitioner’s failure to diagnose cancer, contact a St. Louis personal injury lawyer at Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien today for a free consultation.
Why the Detectable Goes Undetected
Unfortunately, doctors and medical providers in Missouri sometimes fail to detect the early signs and symptoms of cancer. When this happens, families wonder how a trained medical professional could have missed the seemingly obvious signs of such a devastating diagnosis. The reality is that delayed and missed cancer diagnoses happen far more often than you think.
Common reasons for delayed cancer diagnosis include:
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Inattentive doctors and nurses
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Understaffed and over-worked medical providers
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Poorly trained doctors and nurses
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Failure to deliver test results
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Failure of the doctors to read test results
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Failure of pathologists, radiologist, and other professionals who test for cancer to properly diagnosis
Commonly Overlooked Cancers
We handle cases involving all types of delayed and misdiagnosed cancers, including:
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Colon and rectal cancer
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Breast cancer
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Skin cancer (melanomas)
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Prostate cancer
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Lung cancer
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Kidney (renal) cancer
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Lymphoma
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Bladder cancer
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Cervical cancer
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Uterine cancer
Our law firm helps people who have been injured by medical malpractice due to the failure to diagnose cancer. We offer a free consultation so that you may discuss your concerns with experienced medical malpractice attorneys who understand the gravity of the situation and the unique challenges of this type of situation.
When you meet with Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien law firm in Missouri, ask about:
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Evening and weekend appointments
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Home and hospital visits
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No attorneys’ fees unless you collect
HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
Contact a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri, for Help
When you go to a hospital, you rightfully expect physicians and support staff to provide you with high-quality medical care. When treating patients, effective hospitals organize their staff to work as a team. While a physician is directly responsible for diagnosing and treating your illness or injury, the nurses and other hospital staff provide you with additional assistance and medical support. However, when the system breaks because the organization is sacrificed, overworked and stressed medical staffers start making mistakes that are detrimental to patients.
Patient care is also dependent on hospitals providing functional, state-of-the-art technology and equipment. When a hospital provides faulty systems and equipment, additional mistakes may be made in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Hospitals also need to be held responsible when patients are directly hurt or injured by this faulty equipment.
If you’re a victim of hospital negligence, it’s important to reach out to a medical malpractice lawyer. Contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. if you’ve been injured or misdiagnosed due to hospital carelessness.
Call our medical malpractice lawyers in St Louis, MO, at (314) 635-7606 to review your legal options.
File a Medical Malpractice Claim Against a Broken System
Patients deserve to be treated in clean, well-run hospitals. Unfortunately, in the rush to treat as many patients as possible, hospitals tend to sacrifice quality care. When the system that ensures quality care is broken, medical mistakes are made, and it’s the patients who suffer the consequences. This is considered hospital negligence and medical malpractice.
Examples of hospital negligence as a medical malpractice include:
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Doctors prescribing the wrong medication
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Medical personnel providing outdated or broken equipment
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Surgeons performing the wrong medical procedures
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Medical staff overlooking the needs of their patients
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Specialists failing to deliver timely test results
Staff Negligence
Patients depend on nurses and hospital orderlies for their daily care. While a doctor treats and investigates a patient’s symptoms, it’s the nurses and orderlies who provide personal care and assistance.
Cases of staff negligence as a medical malpractice include:
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Dropping patients
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Failing to provide necessary medical assistance
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Drawing blood improperly
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Not being careful when pushing patients in wheelchairs
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LOUIS MEDICATION ERROR ATTORNEYS
File Your Medical Malpractice Claim Today
You depend on your medical care providers to prioritize your health and administer proper medications and treatments. However, it’s unfortunate that medical professionals are often unable to provide the level of personal attention and care every patient needs. Medication is a regular and important part of treatment, and when overworked and exhausted doctors make prescription errors, it’s the patients who suffer the consequences.
Prescription errors can occur when healthcare providers prescribe or administer the wrong dose of a drug. However, these types of medical negligence cases can also occur when patients are prescribed drugs that interact badly with other medications.
If you’re the victim of a medication error, contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C., law firm to discuss your legal options. If you’re planning to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, it’s imperative you retain the legal representation of a law firm with a thorough knowledge of medications and pharmaceutical practices, cases, and the law. Our medical malpractice lawyers in St. Louis are highly experienced in this area of law and can work with medical specialists to thoroughly investigate your case.
Call Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. at (314) 862-6865 to discuss your claim with our Brentwood-based personal injury attorneys.
Causes of Medication Errors
From the moment your prescription is written, there are many opportunities for an administrative or pharmaceutical mistake to occur. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that nearly 7,000 deaths are caused by medication errors each year. Most medication error cases go unnoticed, and the FDA claims they occur in as many as 1 in 5 patients.
Medication errors can be caused by:
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Doctors prescribing the wrong medication
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Doctors prescribing the wrong medical dosage
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Miscommunication between doctors and pharmacists
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Medical staffers and health care providers failing to recognize drug allergies
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Pharmacists dispensing the wrong medication
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Medical professionals failing to properly label drugs
These errors can be easily avoided if medical personnel are attentive to the proper precautions and procedures of the law.
Our firm works on a contingency fee basis, so you don’t pay until we win your case! Contact a medical malpractice lawyer in St Louis from Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. at (314) 862-6865 to schedule your free consultation.
MISDIAGNOSIS LAWYERS IN ST. LOUIS
What Is Misdiagnosis/Delayed Diagnosis & How Does It Occur?
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are among the most common medical errors and result in many medical malpractice claims. Some sources say that as many as 40% of medical malpractice cases are from misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis. Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are clear patient safety problems.
Misdiagnosis and delayed-diagnosis medical malpractice occur in many settings. For example, a doctor might misdiagnose a muscle strain in the chest or back when, in fact, the patient is having a heart attack. Delayed diagnosis is a related problem that occurs when the correct diagnosis is given but after a delay that harms the patient. Delayed diagnoses often occur when a doctor fails to order tests such as lab work, colonoscopies, or breast imaging studies in a timely manner.
Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien understands how frustrating and challenging this type of medical malpractice can be. We have experience addressing the specific issues that arise from these situations, and we want to help you recover the compensation you deserve.
If you believe misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis caused you or a loved one harm, contact a St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer at our Brentwood firm today. Call (314) 862-6865 to request a free initial consultation.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnoses are especially dangerous. In such medical malpractice cases, two bad things are often happening. First, the patient is not receiving the treatment needed for the medical problem they actually have. Second, the patient may be treated for an illness he or she does not have. The unnecessary treatment oftentimes causes injury to the patient.
For example, we worked on a medical malpractice case where a doctor failed to diagnose MALT lymphoma and instead diagnosed and treated the patient for a condition known as CVID. The patient was given a bone marrow transplant that actually made his MALT lymphoma worse, ultimately leading to his death.
Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis may be the most common diagnostic error made by doctors. The consequences of these errors can be catastrophic, particularly when conditions like cancer are involved.
Ensuring Accountability
The civil justice system plays an important part in improving the quality of patient care. The system holds doctors and hospitals accountable for their medical errors and for good reason. Doctors and hospitals are held in high regard in our society, and they are paid handsomely for their expertise. When they fail to live up to this trust, they should be held accountable, just as the rest of us are accountable for our actions by the law.
We help people who have been injured by misdiagnosis and delayed-diagnosis medical malpractice. Our St. Louis personal injury lawyers, offer a free consultation so that you may discuss your malpractice concerns with an experienced attorney.
When you meet with us, ask about the following:
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Evening and weekend appointments
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Home and hospital visits
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No attorneys’ fees unless you collect
BIRTH INJURIES AND SURGICAL ERROR ATTORNEYS IN ST. LOUIS
When Do Birth Injuries Occur?
Birth injury medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional fails to recognize and treat a prenatal condition or recognize signs of fetal distress that require immediate action. This type of medical error can result in a birth injury. Failure to properly monitor the baby and the mother during birth can harm both mother and the baby or lead to permanent consequences.
When birth injuries are caused by medical experts’ errors or medical negligence, the evidence and medical records should be carefully reviewed. However, parents may have the right to seek compensation that can help them deal with a child’s birth injury that can affect their whole life. Our experienced medical malpractice attorney may be able to help.
Seek Justice & File Your Medical Malpractice Claim Today
When it comes to acts of hospital negligence, a surgical error is one of the worst medical mistakes that can possibly be made. While a surgical error doesn’t necessarily indicate medical malpractice, it is still a preventable mistake that can lead to catastrophic consequences and even patient death.
Common examples of surgical errors include:
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Harming muscles and ligaments
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Leaving surgical equipment inside patients
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Operating on the wrong patient
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Accidentally damaging tissues and nerves
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Operating on the wrong body parts
As the law states, you have a right to seek compensation for injuries caused by surgical errors. Contact Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C. if you’re interested in filing a medical malpractice claim. We can help you seek compensation to cover your medical expenses and any loss of income you’ve experienced due to a surgical error.
What Challenges Do Medical Malpractice Lawyers in St. Louis Face in Litigating Cases?
A Louis medical malpractice attorney in St. Louis faces a range of challenges in litigating cases. Firstly, proving a medical provider’s negligence requires an understanding of both medical and legal nuances. These cases often hinge on whether the care provided was below the generally accepted standard in the medical community. This necessitates expert testimonies from other medical professionals, which can be difficult to secure.
Additionally, the defense teams for medical providers are typically well-resourced and equipped, adding to the complexity. Lawyers also face the challenge of accurately calculating and justifying damages, which include medical costs, lost wages, and emotional distress. A Personal Injury Law Firm must convincingly present these financial and non-financial losses to the court.
Furthermore, medical malpractice cases can take considerable time to resolve, requiring attorneys to manage clients’ expectations and emotions. Despite these hurdles, committed attorneys persist in ensuring victims of negligence receive fair compensation.
What Kind of Evidence is Typically Needed in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits in St. Louis?
In medical malpractice lawsuits in St. Louis, a robust collection of evidence is essential. Key pieces of evidence include comprehensive medical records from the medical provider in question. These records should clearly show the treatment provided and any deviation from accepted medical practices.
Medical negligence claims often require expert testimony from other medical providers. These experts can confirm whether the treatment provided fell below the accepted standard of care. They analyze the medical records, compare the practices to standard protocols, and provide an informed opinion on any observed negligence.
Further, it may be necessary to gather evidence that demonstrates the direct link between the alleged negligence and the harm suffered by the patient. This could include additional medical reports, patient testimonies, and expert opinions.
In certain cases, evidence like emails, text messages, or internal reports from the medical provider may also be significant, showcasing a pattern of negligent behavior.
Seek Compensation
At Buchanan, Williams & O’Brien, P.C., we prioritize our clients. To ensure you’re able to seek justice by the law, we offer our clients free medical malpractice consultations and work on a contingency fee basis. We also work around your schedule! When you call to schedule your free consultation, you can request to meet with one of our lawyers after work or on the weekend. If a medical condition prevents you from coming to our office, we can meet you at your home or hospital room.
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