Arizona Medical Malpractice

Arizona medical malpractice lawsuits occur when patients in Arizona believe their healthcare provider has been negligent in his or her healthcare duties. Arizona malpractice claims can include allegations that healthcare providers failed to act in a manner that a reasonable healthcare provider of the same medical specialty would act, by either taking actions that fall outside the realm of medically competent care or by failing to take necessary actions to provide competent care. Arizona medical malpractice lawsuits can compensate patients for injuries that are the result of a healthcare provider's negligence.

In Arizona, patients wanting to file a medical malpractice claim must provide an "affidavit of merit," in which a qualified healthcare professional not affiliated with the case states that the lawsuit deserves to be heard in court. This must be provided within 60 days of a medical malpractice lawsuit being filed.

Arizona follows comparative negligence laws in which the plaintiff's award is decreased proportionally to the amount that he is responsible for his own injury. If the court finds the plaintiff 10 percent liable for his own injury and awards $100,000, the award would be decreased by 10 percent.
  For a plaintiff to be successful in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the plaintiff must show that the healthcare provider had a duty of care, the healthcare provider breached that duty, the breach in duty resulted in damages to the plaintiff, and the damages were directly caused by the healthcare provider's actions or inactions.

Plaintiffs usually have to provide expert testimony, medical reports, diagnoses, and other evidence related to their injury and the alleged damages.
  In 2015, the family of Byron Van Tassell was awarded $6.5 million in damages, after a lawsuit was filed alleging University Medical Center (now Banner-University Medical Center Tucson) was negligent in allowing Van Tassell to develop a pressure ulcer that advanced to stage three. Van Tassell also reportedly suffered from malnutrition and lost 45 pounds while he was in the hospital. He died two years later of "complications of paraplegia". His family alleged his pressure ulcer began the downward spiral. An expert testifying at the trial said Van Tassell might have been rehabilitated from the fall that put him in the hospital in the first place if he had not developed the ulcer.
 

Arizona Medical Malpractice Legal Help

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Last updated on Apr-27-20