Ellensburg, WA Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Have you or someone you love suffered catastrophic injury, permanent disability, or even death due to preventable medical errors in Ellensburg or Kittitas County, WA? Seeking justice against healthcare providers that breach reasonable standards of care is difficult but essential. If misdiagnosis, surgical mistakes, medication errors, childbirth injuries or negligence harmed you, the accomplished medical malpractice lawyers at Moseley Collins Law can help.

For over 40 years, our lawyers have fought for injured victims when medical negligence caused devastating, lasting damages. We are committed to holding healthcare professionals fully accountable if errors, inattention or negligence resulted in significant injury or loss of life.

Introduction

When you put your trust in a doctor, nurse, or healthcare facility in Ellensburg or Kittitas County to provide competent, safe care, you rightfully expect that they uphold reasonable standards to avoid preventable harm. However, far too often profit-driven decisions and overloaded schedules lead to medical errors impacting unsuspecting patients.

If you believe subpar medical treatment or mistakes during diagnosis, surgery, childbirth, medication management, or any aspect of care caused you or someone you love to suffer an injury, permanent impairment, or wrongful death, you may have grounds for a Washington medical malpractice lawsuit. The experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Moseley Collins Law can investigate what went wrong and fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.

This page covers the basics of proving medical negligence claims in Washington, typical errors that lead to lawsuits, statute of limitations, working with lawyers, and more details specific to Ellensburg and Kittitas County. Our goal is giving residents a better understanding of their options if the medical care they received contributed to added health problems or disability.

Overview of Ellensburg, WA

Overview of Ellensburg, WA

Ellensburg is a town located in picturesque Kittitas County in central Washington, about 100 miles east of Seattle. Nestled along Interstate 90 in the Kittitas Valley, Ellensburg serves as the county seat and is home to over 20,000 residents.

The local economy has deep roots in ranching, farming and logging, but has diversified over the years. Today Ellensburg is also home to some manufacturing and tech jobs with companies like Amazon, as well as two major universities. Tourism and outdoor recreation also draw many visitors to the area situated just east of the Cascade Mountains.

Some of the main medical facilities serving Ellensburg patients include:

Kittitas Valley Healthcare Hospital - This nonprofit community hospital provides emergency services, surgery, childbirth and women's care, diagnostic imaging, specialty clinics and more for residents across Kittitas County.

Columbia Basin Hospital – Located in nearby Moses Lake, this medical center has provided care for over 60 years across multiple service lines including primary care clinics, cancer treatment, general surgery, orthopedics, pediatric care and emergency services.

Confluence Health Central Washington Hospital – Based in Wenatchee, this regional medical center offers top-rated cardiac care, cancer treatment, neurosurgery and other specialty services to patients from Kittitas County and beyond.

Ellensburg Clinic - Large physician-owned family medicine and specialty clinic with over 25 medical providers offering comprehensive wellness and disease treatment services for local residents.

What Qualifies as Medical Malpractice in Washington?

Medical malpractice occurs when a Washington healthcare professional fails to meet accepted standards of care, resulting in patient injury or harm. Doctors, nurses, surgeons, medical technicians, pharmacists and other providers have a duty to adhere to reasonable, safe practices suited for each patient's situation and needs.

Under RCW 7.70, medical malpractice happens when a healthcare provider breaches this duty of care through negligent actions, inattention or errors, and injuries or advancement of illness results.

Some examples of medical negligence that may warrant a malpractice lawsuit when harm occurs include:

  • Misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose illnesses and conditions
  • Surgical mistakes and procedural complications
  • Childbirth injuries to mother or baby
  • Improper medication management
  • Failure to quickly identify and treat emergency medical crises
  • Ordering or conducting unnecessary procedures
  • Poor infection prevention and control practices
  • Lack of informed consent
  • Insufficient patient monitoring and follow-up

The effects of medical malpractice often lead to catastrophic, permanent damages or even wrongful death. That’s why pursuing legal accountability against a negligent healthcare provider is so important – to ensure sufficient compensation that covers all losses stemming from substandard medical treatment.

Key Cities and Towns We Serve in Kittitas County

In addition to the city of Ellensburg, Moseley Collins Law helps medical malpractice victims from communities all across Kittitas County after negligent medical care causes harm, including:

  • Cle Elum
  • Kittitas
  • Roslyn
  • Ronald
  • South Cle Elum
  • Suncadia
  • Teanaway
  • Thorp
  • Vantage

No matter which of these Kittitas County cities or towns you live in, our experienced medical malpractice legal team offers free consultations and comprehensive representation to injury victims and families. If someone you love suffered permanent disability or wrongful death due to subpar medical care from any local healthcare provider, we encourage you to reach out for skillful, caring guidance regarding your situation and options.

Examples of Common Medical Errors

Examples of Common Medical Errors

While no doctor or healthcare facility intends grave results, medical care still involves substantial risks even when all reasonable precautions are taken. When breaches in accepted standards of care do transpire because of negligence, inattention or errors, patients often sustain catastrophic, permanent damages.

Some examples of potentially devastating yet avoidable medical errors that commonly prompt malpractice lawsuits include:

Failure to Diagnose Serious Conditions

Catching and treating grave illnesses like cancer, infections, aneurysms or strokes early on leads to vastly better prognosis. However delayed or inaccurate diagnoses - missing clear symptoms and warning signs - happen too frequently and violate reasonable standards of care when subsequent harm befalls patients.

Surgical Mistakes

Already risky procedures like operations become exceedingly more dangerous and irresponsible when physicians operate on wrong body parts, leave foreign objects inside patients after closing up, or puncture organs unnecessarily. Traumatic mistakes during surgery often necessitate extensive, complex correction procedures with lengthy, painful recoveries.

Medication Errors

Similarly, healthcare professionals giving or prescribing the incorrect drugs or dosages fails to account for pharmaceutical contraindications and constitutes negligence with often dangerous, sometimes fatal ramifications.

Childbirth Injuries

Avoidable mistakes during labor and delivery due to subpar prenatal management, failure to monitor fetal distress, improper use of vaccines or procedures to induce or hasten labor, inadequate handling of umbilical cord crimping, and other errors frequently leave newborns with lifelong developmental disabilities.

Infection Transmission

Likewise, patients stricken with serious bacterial or viral infections due to unsterile medical equipment and tools or overall unsanitary facility conditions and poor safety protocols may endure extended hospitalization, lasting disabilities or wrongful death.

This list merely scratches the surface of the types of medical errors that commonly prompt malpractice lawsuits on behalf of injury victims and bereaved families. Our extensive first-hand medical negligence litigation experience confirms that catastrophic, avoidable medical errors cause far more severe injuries and fatalities annually than most people realize. Victims deserve accountability when healthcare professional negligence upends lives.

Our Track Record of Verdicts and Settlements for Clients

With over four decades focused strictly on intricate medical negligence litigation on behalf of injured patients and grieving families, Moseley Collins Law boasts an accomplished record of precedent-setting verdicts and settlements.

While past results do not guarantee future outcomes, our proven ability leveraging findings of medical negligence to secure 8 and 7-figure financial recoveries showcases our competence. Ellensburg medical malpractice victims can expect our fierce commitment battling out of court or in the courtroom if necessary to recover maximum available compensation for all facets of loss when local healthcare providers breach sacred duties to patients.

Demonstrating Valid Justification for a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Like any negligence claim, demonstrating medical malpractice liability under Washington law fundamentally requires establishing:

  • A provider-patient relationship existed that established a professional duty of care owed to the patient;
  • Via omission or commission, the provider breached their duty through substandard actions or negligence;
  • The substandard medical care violated accepted local practices, state laws or federal regulations;
  • The provider's breach directly resulted in causing the patient's claimed physical injuries, advancement of illness, disability or death along with quantifiable losses.

With so much at stake for victims following an adverse medical event, leveraging an accomplished medical malpractice law firm levels the playing field when battling large healthcare systems and insurers. Skilled lawyers adept at marshaling persuasive arguments and evidence can clearly establish whether reasonable grounds exist or not for a potential malpractice claim. Reputable independent specialists must certify that providers violated sound practices. It’s an intricate investigative process we have mastered over decades to clients’ benefit.

Why Choose Us for Your Medical Injury Case?

With extensive background focused exclusively on intricate medical negligence litigation combined with decades of proven success holding Washington healthcare facilities and practitioners fully accountable after negligence causes catastrophic patient harm, Moseley Collins Law delivers uniquely informed legal guidance injury victims require for the best possible outcomes. Some top reasons injured victims and grieving Ellensburg families consistently choose us include:

Highly Esteemed Reputation

Our 40+ years track record of precedent-setting verdicts and settlements garners tremendous respect from opposing parties. Healthcare organizations and insurance carriers recognize we stand fully prepared to go the distance advocating for clients if suitable settlement offers do not promptly materialize.

Award Winning & Ethical

Both the firm and our lawyers individually have earned consistent special recognition and awards upholding utmost professional integrity - an ethical commitment to clients we take very seriously.

Elite Level Experience

With extensive background focused strictly on medical malpractice law, our lawyers boast granular legal understanding more generalized practitioners often lack regarding the intricacies of these cases. We become true subject matter experts able to excel even against top institutional medical defense counsel.

Meticulous Preparation

We invest substantial time and ample resources meticulously preparing every aspect of client cases because we remain ever ready to take claims to trial if opposing parties opt not to negotiate reasonable settlements in good faith.

Personal Service

Clients are people - not just case numbers - at Moseley Collins Law. We keep clients intimately informed on case progress, ease frustrations, accommodate unique needs, and counsel sensitively during exceptionally difficult times. Our passionate dedication routinely earns loyal referrals from past clients.

In Ellensburg and across Kittitas County, the medical malpractice lawyers of Moseley Collins Law tenaciously pursue maximum compensation for injured victims when healthcare professionals fail to meet reasonable standards of patient care. We encourage injury victims and families to connect today online or call 800-426-5546 for a free consultation to discuss your options.

Statute of Limitations on Medical Malpractice Claims in WA

Statute of Limitations on Medical Malpractice Claims in WA

If injured due to provider negligence anywhere in Washington State, strict statutes of limitation under RCW 4.16.350 impose firm deadlines for injury victims to pursue legal action or forfeit all rights forever. Adults typically must file medical malpractice lawsuits within three years from the date of medical error or within one year after reasonably discovering an act of negligence occurred, whichever is later.

Other provisions extend strict limits for children harmed by healthcare treatment errors until reaching age eight, developmental delays cease, or adulthood is reached - whichever period proves longer. Still other rules can restrict timing requirements when evidence of negligence gets actively concealed. Only skilled medical malpractice lawyers can safely navigate these complex state regulations governing legal deadlines and exceptions.

Bottom line, at Moseley Collins Law, we advise medical negligence victims to contact us immediately after experiencing concerning medical treatment results. Preserving evidence quickly and promptly initiating pre-trial investigative work while memories remain clear, witnesses available and records intact greatly benefits injury victims seeking just accountability. Never gamble with expiration of strict legal deadlines potentially sacrificing all recourse against a negligent healthcare provider in Washington.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What Constitutes Medical Malpractice in Ellensburg or Kittitas County, WA?

Medical malpractice happens under Washington law when healthcare professionals fail to meet prevailing accepted standards of medical care and harm patients because of that negligent treatment or lack of treatment. Some examples include surgical mistakes, medication dosing errors, failure to diagnose conditions accurately or promptly, not obtaining informed consent properly, ignoring symptoms or abnormal test results, and hundreds of other potential acts of medical negligence. The key factor is whether subpar medical care caused preventable patient injury, disability or death.

What Demonstrates Reasonable Justification to Sue an Ellensburg Medical Provider?

To demonstrate reasonable justification for pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit against an Ellensburg or Kittitas County healthcare provider, four key legal elements must exist. An injured patient must successfully establish (1) a provider-patient relationship existed establishing a duty of care, (2) the provider's actions breached this duty through negligence, (3) breaching medical standards directly caused distinct patient damages, and (4) considerable losses and suffering occurred because of the provider's breach. Skilled medical malpractice lawyers carefully investigate cases to prove these factors conclusively.

What Types of Damages Might Ellensburg Medical Malpractice Victims Recover?

When negligence is proven, available compensation under Washington medical malpractice laws may encompass payment of all accident-related medical bills, rehabilitation costs, income and benefits lost from missed work, reduced future earnings, as well as coverage for pain, change in quality of life, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium between spouses, and potentially funeral costs plus loss of companionship for grieving loved ones in rare fatal cases. Maximum recoveries hinge on injury victims hiring esteemed, accomplished medical malpractice counsel.

How Much Does Enlisting an Ellensburg Medical Malpractice Lawyer Cost Upfront?

Highly reputable medical malpractice law firms like Moseley Collins Law represent all clients exclusively on a contingency fee basis. This means the client owes zero upfront payments or recurring fees for legal services. As a lawyer takes on all the financial risk advancing case costs over months or years, they receive payment only when positively concluding cases through settlement or litigation reward. Standard contingency fees range from 30-40% of total amounts recovered for clients.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
"When I was injured I felt truly hopeless. I didn't know where to turn when I was released from the hospital. Luckily, I remembered your phone number and I called you. You won a nice settlement for me. Thank you!" Charles T.
★★★★★
"May God bless you always, Moseley and your wonderful staff. You all were there for us when we needed it most. We are forever grateful." Tina N.
★★★★★
"Everyone at the law firm was helpful, considerate and courteous. I would highly recommend Moseley Collins. Thank you so much." Robyn D.