Decatur Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Let a law firm with healthcare expertise be your personal advocate
Injuries due to medical malpractice can be complicated legal cases. These cases also often involve severe injuries or potentially life-threatening illnesses. That’s why it’s important that you have an experienced medical malpractice attorney investigating your injury. Otherwise, your injury or illness might not get the attention it deserves.
You can count on our experienced Georgia medical malpractice lawyers at Kurle Justus, LLC, to put your best interests first ever step of the way. We’re familiar with many of the most serious injuries and illnesses due to medical malpractice. That’s because we have years of experience handling these cases throughout Georgia. One of our lawyers even worked in the healthcare field for 10 years before becoming an attorney.
We never take anything for granted at Kurle Justus, LLC. We do the work that needs to be done to build the strongest legal case. We know how negotiate with medical providers and their insurance companies. If they refuse to cooperate, we will not hesitate to file a medical malpractice lawsuit on your behalf. We can be your voice for justice.
What type of medical malpractice injury are you dealing with?
Medical malpractice refers to any injury that occurs due to mistakes made by medical professionals. Some of the most common medical malpractice injury cases we deal with at our law firm include:
- Birth Injuries
- Failure to Monitor
- Stroke
- Heart Attacks and Acute Coronary Syndrome
- Sepsis
- Necrotizing Fasciitis
- Nerve Damage
- Wrongful Amputations
Whatever type of medical malpractice injury you’re dealing with, you can count on us to put your best interests first throughout your case.
What makes medical malpractice injuries so complicated?
You might wonder why you even need a lawyer if you or a loved one sustained a serious injury due to medical malpractice, but these injuries are often among the most complicated legal cases. Some of the reasons why include:
- The doctor who caused your injury insists he or she followed the standard medical practices.
- Other medical professionals involved in your treatment take the doctor’s side.
- The hospital that treated you claims your injury occurred after you were released.
- Medical records related to your injury have been altered or gone missing.
- The medical professional’s insurance company denies your injury claim.
These might seem like far-fetched explanations, but our legal team has often met a wall of resistance when investigating medical malpractice cases involving serious injuries. That’s because there’s often so much money at stake (thousands or even millions of dollars) when it comes to medical bills and other injury-related expenses.
Don’t suffer in silence. We can be your voice for justice. Contact us.
While the money is important, that’s not what drives our legal team to work hard for clients. For us, it’s about holding medical professionals accountable for their actions. It’s about making sure these mistakes never happen again. It’s about justice.
Put your trust in a law firm that puts your family’s needs first. Contact our law firm and schedule your free case evaluation. We can review your case with you and explain all the available legal options. Make an appointment with a Georgia medical malpractice attorney you can trust. Contact Kurle Justus, LLC right now.
The birth of a child should be an exciting event in a parent’s life. Unfortunately, some medical professionals make mistakes, and when they do, a serious birth injury can occur. Birth injuries happen primarily during one of three stages in a newborn’s life:
- During pregnancy
- During childbirth
- Soon after childbirth
Some of the most common – and most serious – birth injuries include:
- Cerebral palsy – Muscle disorder which affects the baby’s brain during pregnancy. Cerebral palsy often occurs due to hypoxia, or lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain.
- Brachial Plexus – Sometimes referred to as shoulder dystocia, a brachial plexus injury involves nerve damage to the neck near the collar bone. As a result, a newborn child may have trouble moving that part of the body for the rest of their life.
- Erb's Palsy – A type of brachial plexus injury which affects the nerves in the arms, hands, and fingers. The area of the body affected by Erb’s palsy often has a reduced range of motion.
- Bell’s Palsy – A common neonatal injury (injuries which occur involving newborn children), Bell’s palsy is a type of paralysis which affects one side of a child’s face.
- Dystocia – A common injury which often occurs during childbirth, dystocia is a medical term used to describe injuries sustained by a child when they become trapped inside the mother during the delivery process.
- Skull Fracture – Birth injuries involving skull fractures often occur during delivery, especially if the medical professionals involved in the delivery put too much pressure on the child’s skull during the delivery.
- Brain Damage – Brain damage to a newborn child often involves mistakes made by medical professionals during the mother’s pregnancy or delivery. That’s the reason why doctors need to carefully check a child’s development during pregnancy and during the child’s birth.
- Spinal Cord Injury – Spinal cord injuries involving newborn children often occur during pregnancy or during the delivery. Whether it’s the positioning of the child (often called abnormal fetal positioning) or excessive pressure applied to the child’s spine during birth, spinal cord injuries demand strong legal action.
- Asphyxia – A serious condition where a lack of oxygen during or shortly after birth can lead to severe brain injury or other long-term complications, often due to issues in the delivery process or insufficient monitoring of the baby’s oxygen levels.
Whatever type of birth injury your family may be dealing with due to mistakes made by medical professionals, you can count on our legal team to put your family’s needs first.
Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals need to carefully monitor patients (especially in hospitals) to make sure their medical condition does not get worse. This includes checking a patient’s temperature, blood pressure and other vital signs.
This responsibility falls under “duty of care,” one of the key responsibilities of medical professionals. When they fail to take this responsibility seriously, you or loved one can develop a serious illness, infection, or another health problem due to failure to monitor your medical condition. These mistakes often occur during certain situations, including:
- During the birth of a child
- When a patient undergoes surgery
- When a patient undergoes anesthesia
- During an extended hospital stay
Whatever the circumstances of your failure to monitor case, you can count on us to be your voice for justice when taking on the medical establishment.
Medical malpractice cases often involve people who have a stroke. One of the most serious medical conditions, a stroke involves a sudden interruption in the blood supply to the brain, resulting in the oxygen supply being cut off to the brain. Depending on the severity of someone’s stroke, brain damage and other serious medical complications are common due to a stroke.
In terms of medical malpractice, a stroke can occur due to mistakes made by medical professionals. These may include:
- Misdiagnosis of medical condition resulting in a stroke
- Medication error resulting in a stroke
- Delay of treatment resulting in a stroke
Whatever happened to you or your loved one, you can count on our medical malpractice attorneys to fight for your rights.
Heart Attacks and Acute Coronary Syndrome
A heart attack occurs when the blood flow to the heart is interrupted. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) may be a less well-known medical term which refers to a wide range of medical conditions involving a blockage of the blood supply in the heart, including a heart attack. Other examples of acute coronary syndrome include:
- Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI)
- ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)
- Unstable angina
In terms of medical malpractice, a heart attack or another type of acute coronary syndrome can occur due to due to mistakes made by medical professionals. These medical errors include:
- Delay in diagnosis of a medical condition resulting in a heart attack
- Delay of treatment, resulting in medical complications caused by a heart attack
- Misdiagnosis of a medical condition, resulting in a heart attack
Whatever medical condition you or your family may be dealing with, if someone suffered a heart attack or ACS, talk to our experienced medical malpractice lawyers to learn more about your legal rights.
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical condition caused by a severe reaction to an infection. As a result, a person with sepsis often goes into septic shock, which can result in organ failure (including kidney failure) and dangerously low blood pressure.
Sepsis often occurs in hospitals due to unsanitary or unhygienic conditions. As a result, medical malpractice lawsuits are common. These legal cases can be complicated, especially since many hospitals often deny responsibility for sepsis.
Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys know how to analyze complex cases. We know what evidence to look for and the reasons why sepsis often occurs in hospitals. In many cases, medical negligence plays a significant role. It is our job to find out exactly what happened to you.
Sometimes commonly known as “flesh-eating disease,” necrotizing fasciitis is a type of infection that results in the death of soft tissue, which can include tendons, skin, muscles, nerves, and connective tissue. Arms and legs are often the most common area affected by necrotizing fasciitis. While rare, necrotizing fasciitis can be serious and often spreads rapidly.
Necrotizing fasciitis often occurs due to a severe infection, which often starts in a break in the skin caused by a burn or a cut. In terms of medical malpractice, this severe type of infection can often be prevented if medical professionals properly care for the wound and keep the infected area clean. Surgery is also often performed to remove the infected area and the patient is often treated with a combination of powerful antibiotic drugs.
If a doctor or surgeon did not properly diagnose necrotizing fasciitis in a timely manner, you may have a strong medical malpractice case against the doctor or the hospital they work for. Many medical malpractice lawsuits involving necrotizing fasciitis also involve unsanitary conditions in the hospital. Whatever the circumstances in your case, you can count on us to investigate your claim and find the facts you need to build the strongest possible legal case.
Nerve damage occurs when the nerves, which are fibers containing neurons responsible for transmitting signals between the brain and the rest of the body, are injured. These nerves play a critical role in sending and receiving information throughout the body, and even minor damage can disrupt this communication.
In cases of medical malpractice, nerve damage can result from various errors or mishandling during medical procedures. Some common causes of surgical nerve damage include:
- Poorly administered anesthesia: Incorrect dosage or administration of anesthesia can lead to nerve injury or compromise nerve function.
- Improper blood sample extraction: Errors made while drawing blood samples, such as using needles incorrectly, can cause damage to nearby nerves.
- Incorrect use of medical tools: Tools like surgical retractors and tourniquets, if used improperly, can cause nerve damage.
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis: Failing to correctly identify or diagnose injuries or conditions affecting the nervous system can lead to worsening nerve damage.
- Scalpel injury: A scalpel, if mishandled, can cause direct damage to nerves.
- Inflammation from surgical equipment: Incorrect use of surgical equipment can cause inflammation in surrounding tissues, affecting nerve function.
- Excessive force: Applying too much force on a nerve during surgery can result in damage.
- Incorrect patient positioning: Poor positioning of a patient during surgery can lead to nerve compression or injury.
A wrongful amputation is when a limb or body part is removed due to errors made by healthcare professionals, rather than for necessary medical reasons. This can result from a variety of negligence and mistakes including:
- Surgical errors: During surgery, an error in judgment or technique can lead to the removal of a limb.
- Misdiagnosis: If a healthcare provider misdiagnoses a condition that does not actually require amputation, and then proceeds with the surgery, it is considered a wrongful amputation. For instance, a misdiagnosed infection or tumor might be incorrectly treated with amputation when other treatments would have sufficed.
- Inadequate monitoring: In some cases, improper monitoring of a patient’s condition can lead to complications that necessitate amputation. If a healthcare provider fails to recognize signs of infection or worsening conditions that could be managed with different interventions, it may result in a wrongful amputation.
- Errors in medical records: Mistakes or inaccuracies in a patient’s medical records can lead to wrong decisions about treatment, including amputation. For example, if a medical team relies on incorrect or outdated information, they may perform an amputation that was not required.
- Failure to consult or review: Sometimes, a failure to seek a second opinion or review the patient’s condition thoroughly can lead to wrongful amputation. A second opinion might have revealed alternative treatments or prevented unnecessary surgery.
Wrongful amputations caused by medical malpractice can significantly impact a person's life, leading to physical disability, psychological trauma, and financial strain. If you believe you or a loved one has been a victim of wrongful amputation due to medical malpractice, it’s crucial to consult with a knowledgeable attorney to explore your options for seeking justice and compensation.