Medical Malpractice:
Diagnostic & Surgical Error / Doctors, Nurses & Caregivers / Hospital & Nursing Home Neglect

Medical Malpractice is an especially demanding field of personal injury law. There are procedural roadblocks and evidentiary hurdles that don't exist in many other cases. Because of the complexities of the law, it could be harder to win a $10,000 verdict against a doctor in a medical error case than it would be to win a $10,000,000 verdict in a vehicle accident case.

David Oliveira has been handling medical malpractice cases for more than twenty years. He knows the law; he knows the procedure; he knows the lawyers who will represent the other side.

David is an Adjunct Professor of Law and Medicine at the Roger Williams University School of Law because his qualifications are matched by his ability to communicate complex legal issues to others -- be they students hoping to become lawyers, or jurors hoping to do justice in a case. He teaches the same cutting-edge law that he practices.

The essence of any medical malpractice case is this: the conduct of one or more medical professionals is alleged to have fallen below "the standard of care" that applies to his or her field of practice. David is skilled in locating and obtaining the assistance of capable board-certified physicians who will evaluate a patient's records and history and, where negligence is found, testify on behalf of the patient at deposition and at trial.

There are many kinds of medical malpractice cases and these are only a few examples:

Wrong-site or incompetent surgery: A surgical team might remove a healthy organ and leave the diseased organ in place; or might operate on the veins of the wrong leg; or while cutting out diseased tissue the doctor might damage or destroy a nearby healthy nerve bundle.

Diagnostic Error: A healthy organ might be removed because of an incorrect finding that it was cancerous; or medication might be prescribed for a disease that the patient didn't have; or the failure to spot a disease in time might lead to disaster when it is identified too late.

Laboratory or Imaging Error: Samples or imagery taken from two patients might be mixed up or switched; a report might be misfiled or otherwise attributed to the wrong patient; results from X-rays, CT scans or MRIs might be misinterpreted.

Psychological or Psychiatric Error: A doctor might prematurely release a suicidal patient; or prescribe medication that makes a treatable condition worse.

Fetal, Birth and Newborn Error: A physician might fail to intervene soon enough in a difficult delivery, causing injury to the mother or the child or both; or might fail to identify in time conditions that need immediate treatment after delivery.

Continuity of Care Error: A Primary Care Physician might not refer a patient to a Specialist; the PCP and the Specialist might not share their patient histories, test results and findings; because of an inaccurate chart, a nurse might give the wrong medications to an allergic patient; or a disease detected early might be allowed to fester too long because no doctor took "ownership" of the problem.

Hospital, Nursing Home or Other Institutional Error: Whether in the hospital for a short stay, or in a long-term facility for months or years of care, patients in any institutional facility might be exposed to infection, bed sores (pressure ulcers), malnutrition, bad hygiene, medication errors, and even abuse.

Don't let a medical error overwhelm you.

Contact our office right away to arrange a free consultation.