Carmel Medical Malpractice Attorneys

We've Recovered Millions for Our Clients

When we seek medical treatment, schedule a surgery, or go to the hospital for a health emergency, we expect medical professionals to prioritize our health and safety and to treat us correctly and reasonably. We trust doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel with our lives and to improve our health, not to make it worse.

Unfortunately, a stark reality is that medical professionals are human and sometimes make negligent human errors in healthcare that cause serious injury and harm to patients. Medical malpractice can result in serious injuries and deaths. In such cases, those who act negligently must be held accountable for their negligence.

The Cline Law Firm provides professional legal counsel to those who have been injured by the negligence of healthcare providers. Our Carmel medical malpractice attorneys have decades of experience in medical malpractice cases and have successfully resolved hundreds of such cases. We prioritize our clients’ interests and fight for your rights to financial compensation.

Contact our experienced malpractice lawyers online or by phone at (317) 526-4467 to schedule a free consultation today. No case is too big or daunting for us to handle.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is a form of negligence that occurs when a medical professional fails to perform his or her duties in a reasonable or safe manner and, as a result, causes injury or illness to a patient.

How to Prove Liability in a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

You have the option to hold these negligent medical professionals liable though a medical malpractice claim.

To prove that medical malpractice has occurred, you must be able to show that:

• A doctor-patient relationship existed between the patient and the negligent health care provider.
• The medical professional was negligent. A medical professional is not responsible for injuries and damages to a patient because a patient is unhappy with the results of their treatment. A victim of medical malpractice must prove that a physician failed to comply with reasonable standards of medical care and caused injury to the patient as a direct result of the negligent treatment.
• The injuries have caused specific damages. A patient will not be successful in a lawsuit unless the patient can prove that he or she sustained injuries and damages as a result of negligent health care.

How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Claim?

Injuries incurred from malpractice are typically more complicated than other injuries sustained in straightforward accidents. The reason for this is, by nature, medical procedures usually have a recovery time and it is not always obvious what pain is a result from a medical procedure and what is a result from malpractice. Because of this the statute of limitations works a little different for medical malpractice cases.

What Is the Indiana Statute of Limitations?

According to Indiana Code section 34-18-7-1, you have two years from the date you were injured or the date you discovered your injury to file a medical malpractice claim. If you did not discover your injury right away you will have to provide proof of that fact to the court.

Additionally, injury victims who are under the age of six years old have until their eighth birthday to file a claim. The statute of limitations can be a complex area of medical malpractice law, as there are other situations or options that may change your time period to file a lawsuit. If you have questions or want to learn more about your options, call our firm today.

What Damages Can You Recover for Medical Malpractice in Indiana?

Victims of medical malpractice have the option to pursue all three types of damages available in all other personal injury claims.

These types of damages are:

• Economic damages
• Non-economic damages
• And punitive damages

Economic damages compensate for financial losses associated with your injury and non-economic damages cover non-financial losses. These more abstract losses are usually referred to as pain and suffering.

Punitive damages are different than the first two categories of damages in that the main purpose of them is to punish the negligent party instead of compensate the injury victim. Unlike other personal injury claims however, Indiana imposes a cap on the total amount of compensation an injury victim can recover.

While Indiana has had a history of raising this cap over the years it currently stands at a limit of $1.8 million for cases where the malpractice happened after June 30, 2019. Have questions about this law can affect your case? Call our firm for a free consultation today!

What Are Common Types of Medical Malpractice?

There are many different types of medical malpractice. Our team has successfully handled a variety of different medical malpractice claims for injured patients.

Three primary examples of medical malpractice claims include:

Failure to Diagnose

Many patients sustain injury as a result of a doctor failing to correctly and timely diagnose their illness and treat it. If a competent physician could have diagnosed the health issue in a timely manner leading to a better outcome for the patient, then a physician who fails to diagnose the condition in a timely manner may be liable to the patient for the injuries caused by the delayed diagnosis.

An example of failure to diagnose is if an individual is not timely diagnosed with cancer and the cancer becomes worse and a patient's chance of surviving the cancer is reduced as a result of the delay in diagnosis.

Improper Treatment

Improper treatment occurs when a patient is treated in a way that no reasonable physician would have treated the condition.

Failure to Inform Patients

All medical professionals have a duty to inform their patients about the risks of treatments and procedures before they are performed upon the patient. In some cases, knowing the risks can change the mind of the patient about what treatment to undergo.

If a physician is found to have breached this duty by not properly informing a patient of the risks of a treatment and injury occurs as a result of the treatment, then the physician may be liable to the patient for the resulting injury.

The Importance of Seeking Help

While personal injury claims are generally complicated to navigate, medical malpractice claims are the most complicated and difficult to handle. Medical malpractice claims require the testimony of a physician to prove that a health care provider acted negligently and caused injury to a patient.

This requires an attorney to have substantial medical knowledge and financial resources. Injured individuals need a law firm to guide them through their medical malpractice claims. Our team has decades of experience and the passion needed to fight for your rights to compensation in medical malpractice claims.

We have handled cases involving birth injuries and brachial plexus injuries with success. We are known among our peers and throughout the state for our devotion to our clients and can be relied on in your time of need. Our attorney, Lance Cline, is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, which is comprised of some of the most successful plaintiff lawyers in the United States.

Visit our testimonials to see what our clients have to say about working with our firm!

Do not hesitate to call our Carmel medical malpractice lawyers at (317) 526-4467 to review your case. Our team works on a contingency fee basis. You do not pay a fee unless and until you win. You focus on healing – we handle the rest.