Pierce County Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Have you or someone you love suffered harm due to medical errors made by doctors, nurses, hospitals, or other healthcare providers in Pierce County, WA? You may be eligible to pursue legal action and financial compensation with the help of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.

At Moseley Collins Law, our team of seasoned medical negligence lawyers has over 40 years of experience representing families harmed by substandard medical care nationwide. We have seen firsthand how catastrophic oversights like surgical mistakes, failure to diagnose illnesses, medication errors, childbirth injuries, and more can devastate patients and loved ones.

If questionable medical care altered your life forever, please read on to learn how our Pierce County medical malpractice lawyers may be able to help investigate what went wrong, build a strong negligence case on your behalf, hold responsible healthcare practitioners fully accountable, and give you the power to demand justice.

As the second most populous county in Washington State, Pierce County residents have access to some of the most advanced and specialized healthcare available:

MultiCare Health System

Headquartered in Tacoma, MultiCare operates numerous facilities throughout Pierce County and the South Puget Sound region offering emergency medicine, cancer treatment, neurosurgery, high-risk maternity services and infant care, senior rehabilitation units, heart attack intervention and virtually every medical specialty imaginable.

Primary facilities include Tacoma General Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Allenmore Hospital, Auburn Medical Center, Covington Medical Center and more, as well as many primary and specialty care outpatient clinics.

CHIFranciscan Health

CommonSpirit Health's CHIFranciscan division provides emergency, orthopedic, stroke and cardiac care to Tacoma and Pierce County residents primarily through St. Joseph Medical Center but also in associated urgent care clinics, breast care clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and physician groups countywide.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

This joint healthcare network backs some of the most prominent specialists in cardiovascular medicine, neurology, urology and other specialty care practices relied upon by Pierce County families. They also operate urgent care clinics and imaging centers throughout the region.

Emergency Physicians Medical Group

Contracted to staff emergency rooms and similar facilities for MultiCare, CHIFranciscan Health and other systems, this physician group provides lifesaving trauma, stroke intervention, and critical care.

Our experienced medical malpractice lawyers have seen virtually every type of preventable healthcare mistake imaginable over decades advocating for injury victims nationwide. Some of the frequent medical oversights that can completely devastate patients and families we have successfully litigated in Pierce County and across Washington include:

Surgical Errors

Operating room errors remain among the most catastrophic types of malpractice, often permanently damaging patients. We see surgeons operating on the wrong body part or wrong patient entirely far too often when basic protocols like pre-op checklists and markings go ignored. They sever essential nerves and tissues in the wrong locations. They leave foreign objects like sponges or scalpels inside after closing surgical sites – causing agonizing pain and risky infection.

We have seen organs like bladders or bile ducts punctured during rushed laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures when doctors fail to adequately view monitors. Reconstructive surgeries of faces, breasts and limbs become disfiguring when improper techniques cause bone or tissue death. Our clients suffer spinal instability and paralysis when fusion attempts fail and structures shift. The extensive scarring and repeat surgeries leave them unable to work and dependent on heavy medications just to cope.

Virtually no major surgery possesses zero risks. But patients rightfully expect surgeons will take every reasonable precaution to minimize preventable errors. When basic safety steps get bypassed, patients’ wellbeing and very lives suffer long-term.

Medication Errors

With pharmaceuticals playing such a central role managing both chronic conditions and acute illness today, medication errors have become rampant affecting millions. A single misplaced decimal point on dosing instructions can be lethal. Hospital nurses frequently administer drugs at the wrong times, to the wrong patients, or after dangerous interactions with other pharmaceuticals have been overlooked.

Anesthesia requires tailored calculations based on patient size, weight and health factors – make mistakes, and organs can shut down during surgery. Pharmacists often misfile prescriptions with similar sounding but entirely different medications. Even simple oversights like neglecting medication allergies documented in charts spell disaster.

Failure to Diagnose & Delayed Diagnosis

Spotting illnesses early when they are most treatable defines quality healthcare – yet repeatedly clinicians fail to recognize symptoms and warning signs right in front of them. By falsely reassuring patients all is fine after cursory exams, they delay life-saving treatment for weeks while diseases rapidly spread. They ignore odd imaging results and unusual lab work that should prompt further testing.

Some examples include dismissing chest pain as indigestion before heart damage leaves patients forever debilitated, ignoring PSA blood marker changes before prostate cancer metastasizes, attributing vision problems to normal aging rather than detecting operable brain tumors, and sending young adults home with “harmless” fever before sepsis claims limbs or kills them. Apathetic, rushed, or negligence interpretations of test results steal patients’ chance for recovery every day.

Childbirth Injuries

Labor and delivery hardly proceed perfectly predictably, however clear protocols exist protecting fetus and mothers’ wellbeing that providers must adhere to when complications arise. Failing to adequately monitor for and respond to signs of fetal distress like irregular heart rhythms or dropping oxygen levels over extended periods leaves children inflicted with devastating cerebral palsy and permanent disabilities from oxygen starvation before birth.

As you can see, the types of medical errors that can forever change patients’ lives span nearly every aspect of healthcare. The skilled medical patient advocates at Moseley Collins Law leverage decades of combined medical negligence case experience to prove where healthcare practitioners failed our clients using science, facts and impartial medical experts.

Successfully resolving medical malpractice suits often hinges on comprehensive, detailed analysis of what exactly went wrong and identifying breaches in standards of care.

Upon signing with our firm, our lawyers immediately issue sweeping requests for complete medical charts, surgical records, laboratory/pathology reports, pharmacy logs, vascular imaging films, telemetry strips, medical billing/insurance records and so much more. No document is too obscure. Our lawyers will not rest until we have all evidentiary materials needed to illustrate the full sequence of events.

We then engage multiple respected independent specialists serving in relevant medical roles to exhaustively review treatment records and provide unbiased opinions on likely mistakes made. For example, a single client’s case could involve a cardiologist evaluating cardiac care, a neurosurgeon assessing spine intervention, an oncologist commenting on cancer detection practices, a maternal fetal medicine expert analyzing prenatal measures, intensive care specialists commenting on hospital treatment, anesthesia professionals weighing in on sedation protocols, and so on.

Building an ironclad negligence case requires demonstrating:

• Duty of Care – The provider owed the patient a duty to meet accepted standards.
• Breach of Duty – The provider failed to adhere to accepted standards.
• Causation – Breaches directly caused subsequent patient injuries or damages.
• Damages – Quantifiable past and projected future costs stemming from the incident. This includes but is not limited to additional medical expenses, lost income, loss of household contributions, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life.

With so much at stake, our legal team leaves no detail overlooked while constructing arguments demonstrating how clients’ rights were violated, health compromised, and lives damaged from profit-centered business mistakes. We utilize multiple medical experts to prove errors while communicating compassion.

The dedicated medical malpractice lawyers at Moseley Collins Law assist injured patients and bereaved families in communities throughout Pierce County, including:

• Tacoma
• Lakewood
• University Place
• Puyallup
• Bonney Lake
• Sumner
• Gig Harbor
• DuPont
• Fife
• Milton
• Spanaway
• Parkland
• Frederickson
• South hill
• Midland
• Summit

And many more towns and cities countywide. Our lawyers also represent those injured by medical negligence within Pierce County but who reside elsewhere. Flying all over the region meeting clients fits our commitment to compassionate communication.

Through relentless investigation tactics centered on irrefutable evidence of negligence paired with outstanding litigation skills, the lawyers from Moseley Collins Law succeed in reaching maximum recoveries in even highly complex medical error cases. We pour heart and soul into every patient's journey.

The experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Moseley Collins Law leverage deep knowledge of medical standards and facility procedures to prove negligence and force accountability. We also utilize quantified life care plans and vocational assessments to demonstrate long-term income loss and care needs resulting from health complications. No case is too complex for our lawyers to unravel in pursuit of justice. We provide tireless advocacy for patients and families harmed by medical errors in Pierce County and across the state. Please reach out for a free consultation and case assessment.

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider violates accepted standards of care, causing preventable patient injury or harm. This can include surgical mistakes, failure to diagnose conditions, medication errors, childbirth injuries, inadequate infection control, anesthesia errors, and other negligent acts.

Experienced medical malpractice lawyers evaluate potential cases by gathering medical records, billing/insurance information, and provider statements then having numerous independent specialists review all aspects of care surrounding the incident to identify breaches. If your unexpected complications resulted from subpar treatment, you may have a valid claim.

The impacts of malpractice range from temporary illnesses to severe lifelong disabilities or even wrongful death. Some examples we see are surgical injuries causing disfigurement, delayed cancer diagnosis resulting in premature death, paralysis from anesthesia errors, birth injuries causing developmental delays, severe preventable infections, loss of limb function, chronic pain, and more.

Not necessarily – through intense negotiation leveraging case merits, many medical negligence lawsuits settle out of court before reaching an actual trial. Skilled malpractice lawyers are always prepared to take appropriate claims to court, however, and potential jury awards motivate reasonable settlements.