Medical Malpractice Lawyers Serving Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale and the Surrounding Areas

At Phillips & Associates based in Phoenix and serving Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, and areas throughout Arizona, our lawyers represent medical malpractice victims against doctors, hospitals, dentists and other healthcare professionals who may have been negligent in the performance of their duties. Even though most medical care providers are highly qualified and competent, medical errors kill or permanently disable roughly 98,000 Americans every year.

In order for our Phoenix and Tucson area, Arizona attorneys to consider a medical malpractice claim, a person must have suffered serious and permanent injury directly caused by substandard care, treatment, or evaluation by a doctor, hospital, or other healthcare provider. Examples of substandard care include, but are not limited to, leaving a sponge inside a person after surgery, operating on the wrong part of the body, giving a person the wrong prescription drug, birth trauma, brain trauma, failure to diagnose cancer, unnecessary operations, defective orthopedic implants, and difficulty with cosmetic implants.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, our Phoenix and Tucson area attorneys will discuss your case with you free of charge.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical and healthcare providers can be sued for injuries caused by their negligence under the theory of medical malpractice, also referred to as medical negligence. Medical malpractice occurs when treatment falls below the standard of care generally accepted and established by the appropriate medical community.

In a medical malpractice case, our Phoenix and Tucson area, Arizona attorneys must prove that the medical provider did not meet the applicable standard of care in your or your loved one's particular case in order to recover monetary damages. Doctors, dentists and other medical specialists, including hospitals and surgical physicians, have an obligation to conduct themselves professionally and not harm their patients. When they make mistakes, patients in their care can be seriously injured. Unfortunately, such errors are often avoidable and result from medical professionals who are inadequately trained or who are just too busy to be thorough.

A bad or undesired result doesn't automatically mean that there was medical malpractice. In order for a doctor or hospital to be liable for medical malpractice, our lawyers must show that the medical services fell below the standard of care and therefore the persons providing these medical services were negligent. This usually means that the doctor did something which should not have been done, performed a procedure improperly or failed to do something which was medically necessary. Common instances of medical malpractice include wrong-site surgery, objects left inside patients, medication errors, and failure to diagnose a time sensitive illness before it is too late.

We Provide Experts to Prove Your Medical Malpractice Case

Medical negligence cases are sometimes complex. For this reason, our medical malpractice lawyers often consult with other law firms and expert witnesses to provide our clients with the best legal representation possible.

Arizona law requires our medical malpractice attorneys serving Phoenix, Tucson, and elsewhere, to produce an expert who will confirm under oath that your medical provider did not meet the applicable standard of care required under the specific circumstances. At Phillips & Associates we can help find the medical experts who have the expertise to make such a determination. While clients remain liable for costs under Arizona law, we can front these costs to obtain qualified expert witnesses.

Please do not take a chance with your serious medical malpractice case. Call an experienced attorney - call Phillips & Associates. Based in Phoenix, and serving Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, and communities throughout Arizona, our attorneys have the experience and the resources to properly handle your medical malpractice case.

Medical Malpractice Cases Handled by Our Lawyers

Cerebral palsy
Dental malpractice
Failure to diagnose cancer
Hospital malpractice
Injuries to babies at birth
Failure to diagnose fracture
Internal medicine
Laparoscopic cholecystectomies
Misperforming tests
Neonatal resuscitation
Orthopedics
Stroke management
Surgical procedures

Our Attorneys Help You Determine if You Have a Medical Malpractice Case

We can help you find out if you have a meritorious medical malpractice case against a medical care provider. When a patient has a bad result or is left with a greater disability than before the medical treatment, there is a possibility that medical negligence caused the bad result and disability.

To determine whether or not you have a case, you need to consult with our medical malpractice lawyers serving the Phoenix and Tucson areas in Arizona. We will supervise a focused interview with you, provide answers to you concerning general matters, and then decide whether further investigation is warranted by obtaining your medical and hospital records.

Upon receiving your medical and hospital records, our experienced and knowledgeable medical malpractice attorneys and legal team will read and analyze the information recorded in your medical records. Even though many times the events relating to the medical negligence are not recorded in a patient's records, a review of the records is still mandatory. After we have finished our review, if we believe it is appropriate, we will then consult with a physician who specializes in your illness or condition in an effort to determine whether there was medical malpractice and whether the injuries could have been prevented.

If it is determined that you or your loved one is the victim of medical negligence, our Phoenix and Tucson area, Arizona medical malpractice attorneys will work hard to obtain the full amount of compensation you are entitled to under the law.

Medical malpractice involves a very small percentage of doctors and hospitals. However, doctors can make mistakes and be careless just like all other people. In those cases where negligence causes serious injury, we help people recover money damages. If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, our Phoenix and Tucson area lawyers want to help. Contact Phillips and Associates to schedule a free consultation.

Hospital Malpractice

Hospital malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse or other hospital staff member causes harm to patient by committing an act of negligence when caring for that patient. Hospital malpractice is a form of medical malpractice. Our lawyers in Phoenix and Tucson area have represented hundreds of hospital patients who did not receive proper and timely medical care during their hospitalization and were hurt by medical or nursing negligence.

Perhaps our medical malpractice attorneys can be of some help to you and answer your questions concerning whether you were the recipient of hospital malpractice by providing you with some information. If you have further questions or wish to consult with our Phoenix and Tucson area, Arizona medical malpractice lawyers directly, please contact us.

A hospital has a duty to use reasonable care in hiring and supervising its employees, including doctors, interns, residents, and such non-physician personnel as nurses, technicians and aides. A doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider at a hospital commits medical malpractice or negligence by failing to do something that a reasonably careful doctor, nurse or healthcare provider would do under the circumstances of a patient's medical condition in the hospital. Just as in other walks of life, physicians, nurses and healthcare providers have a responsibility to conduct their practice of medicine in conformity with standards of hospital protocol and state regulations.

Unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen to good people. When a patient has a bad result or is left with a greater disability than before the medical treatment, there is a possibility that medical malpractice was a cause of the bad result and disability. There are no guarantees that a physician can make a person's medical condition better or cure it. However, to determine whether or not you have a medical malpractice case, you need to consult with a lawyer.

Our medical malpractice lawyers serving Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, and other Arizona areas are highly experienced in the prosecution of hospital malpractice. We will supervise a focused interview with you and other witnesses as to your medical care and treatment, answer questions you may have concerning general matters and then decide whether investigation into a claim of medical malpractice is warranted, which would then necessitate obtaining the patient's medical/hospital records.

Upon receiving the records at our law office in Phoenix, serving Tucson, our medical malpractice attorneys and staff will index, read and analyze the information recorded in those records. Many times the medical malpractice and events relating to medical negligence are not recorded in the records but the review of the records is mandatory. In Arizona, it is also mandatory that our medical malpractice lawyers then consult with a licensed physician to discuss whether or not there is a basis or merit to a medical malpractice case and based on those discussions a lawsuit then can be started.

Please contact our medical malpractice lawyers at the Phoenix, Mesa, or Scottsdale offices. Phillips and Associates will discuss your hospital negligence case at no cost to you.

Delay in Cancer Diagnosis

Delay in breast cancer diagnosis is a form of medical malpractice. Our lawyers serving the Phoenix and Tucson areas with Phillips and Associates help those who have been harmed by this delay receive the compensation they are legally entitled to.

These are the facts:

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the U.S.
1 out of 9 women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
Breast cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death for all women and the leading cause of death in women ages 40-55.
About 85% of women whose breast cancer is detected before it has spread to the axillary nodes will survive at least 5 years.
Delay in diagnosis of breast cancer is the #1 basis for medical malpractice lawsuits in the U.S.

Once the diagnosis of cancer is made, the physician identifies the type of cancer by microscopic appearance of the cells and classifies the cancer according to how advanced it is. This is called staging. Cancer treatments vary widely depending upon the type of cancer and its stage.

The incidence of medical malpractice related to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is alarming. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the United States and the second leading cause of death for all women. Nonetheless, too many women "fall through the cracks" when physicians negligently fail to diagnose their condition early on. The unacceptable result of this negligence is often the loss of treatment options and/or the loss of chance of survival.

Any undue delay in diagnosing or treating breast cancer can have devastating consequences and result in a medical malpractice claim. The probability that breast cancer will recur in a patient is directly related to the stage of the malignancy when initially diagnosed. If breast cancer is detected and addressed before the cancer has spread to any lymph nodes, the chances of survival are significantly better than otherwise.

Unfortunately, too often obvious warning signs are ignored and/or precautionary measures are not taken. If the diagnosis and treatment of cancer is delayed by the negligence of a health care provider, you may be the victim of medical malpractice and entitled to compensation for the harm caused by that delay. If a doctor misinterprets a test result or x-ray and fails to make an appropriate diagnosis, the proper treatment may never be prescribed, resulting in further injury or even death. Our medical malpractice lawyers are available to consult in these matters.

The following are among the more common forms of medical malpractice by physicians in diagnosing and/or treating breast cancer:

Failing to perform a breast examination (during a physical or while treating a patient for certain other reasons) which would have identified a clinically obvious tumor;
Failing to identify a palpable lump during a breast examination;
Mistaking a tumor for a breast infection;
Mistaking a tumor as benign and failing to recommend biopsy or removal;
Disregarding history of sharp pain in breast;
Disregarding signs of retraction;
Failing to determine the cause of nipple discharge;
Relying upon negative aspiration biopsy;
Relying upon mammography in lieu of physical breast examination;
Failing to order a mammogram;
Misinterpreting a mammogram;
Failing to react to mammogram findings;
Failing to order additional radiological tests;
Failing to order a biopsy;
Failing to order ultrasound when indicated; and,
Failing to follow-up with the patient.

Please keep in mind that the foregoing are merely examples, and are by no means intended as an exhaustive list of failures that may result in delayed diagnosis of breast cancer. Anyone who believes that a physician's failure to timely diagnose breast cancer may have resulted in loss of treatment options and/or loss of chance of survival should contact our medical malpractice attorneys as soon as possible in order to preserve and protect their legal rights.

Delay in cancer diagnosis is a form of medical malpractice. As a result, it is necessary to obtain an experienced expert witnesses to proceed with your case. Our medical malpractice attorneys serving the Phoenix and Tucson areas have the experience and the resources to pursue these types of cases and we are available to help you. Please contact us.

Dental Malpractice

Dental malpractice is a form of medical malpractice. Dentists, like other medical specialists, have an obligation to conduct themselves professionally. If they make a mistake as a result of carelessness, they can be held accountable through the legal theory of medical malpractice.

Dental malpractice occurs when the treatment provided falls below the standard of care generally accepted by the dental community. In order to show that the dentist is liable for this negligent act, medical malpractice lawyers must show that the services performed fell below the standard of care. For example, a dentist did something that should not have been done, performed a procedure improperly or failed to do something that was necessary.

Dental malpractice can lead to serious painful injuries. However, a bad or painful result does not automatically mean there was medical malpractice. It is best, if you suspect possible dental malpractice, to seek the advice of an experienced attorney.

The medical malpractice attorneys at Phillips and Associates in Phoenix, and serving the Tucson area, can help you evaluate your dental malpractice claim. Please contact us.