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What Is The Deadline To File A Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Arizona?

snyder-wenner · Dec 7, 2020 ·

Generally speaking, there is a 2 year statute of limitations to file a medical malpractice lawsuit from the time the injured person knew or should have known of the facts that would put a reasonable person on notice to investigate a claim. There are several exceptions, though. This blog will provide some information about the deadline and how it applies.

Statute of Limitations For Children

One of the most important exceptions to the general rule is when a child is injured by medical malpractice. The statute of limitations for a minor (under the age of 18) does not start to run until the child reaches the age of 18. When the child turns 18, he or she has 2 years from their birthday to file suit. This exception does not apply, though, if the medical malpractice lawsuit is for the death of the child. In that situation, the parent or guardian still must comply with the 2-year statute of limitations.

If a child’s parent dies as a result of medical malpractice, the child has 2 years from the date of his or her 18^th birthday to file a lawsuit.

Statute of Limitations For Adults

If an adult is the injured person, he or she must bring the lawsuit within 2 years of the date of the incident (or within 2 years of when a reasonable person would have been put on notice to investigate). This is true whether you are the victim of the medical malpractice, or whether you are the spouse, parent, or child of the victim. As long as you are an adult, the two year deadline applies.

Medical Malpractice Cases Against the Government

Another important exception to the general rule is when the medical malpractice lawsuit is against the state, a state government agency, or a state/county hospital and/or employee. In Arizona, if your claim is against a state run hospital, a state employee, or a state agency, you only have 180 days to file a notice of claim from when you knew or reasonably should have known that medical malpractice occurred. This applies to both adults and children. However, for children, the 180 days starts on their 18^th birthday. This deadline is crucially important, as it can often take several months just to get the medical records from a doctor and/or hospital.

What Can Happen If I Miss The Deadline?

Failure to abide by these statutes of limitation may mean you will never be able to recover any money from the doctor or healthcare provider that harmed you. That’s why it is important to hire an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who can make sure your case is filed to comply with the correct statute of limitation for your case. The experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner are ready to represent you. Contact us here or call us now at 602-224-0005.

St. Joseph’s Medical Center Fined by DHHS

snyder-wenner · Nov 11, 2020 ·

This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (St. Joe’s) has agreed to pay a $160,000 fine and 2 years of monitoring for failing to provide a patient with his entire medical record for nearly 2 years. The OCR determined that St. Joe’s committed a possible violation of HIPAA by failing to provide the entire medical record to the patient. In addition to the fine, St. Joe’s provided the OCR with a 2-year corrective action plan to ensure proper compliance with HIPAA and grants 2 years of federal government monitoring over St. Joe’s to ensure compliance with the plan. OCR Director Roger Severino was quoted saying, “It shouldn’t take a federal investigation to secure access to patient medical records, but too often that’s what it takes when healthcare providers don’t take their HIPAA obligations seriously.”

A recent JAMA medical journal article found that many healthcare providers, not just St. Joe’s, are failing to follow the HIPAA requirements to provide the patient’s entire medical record. This is a disturbing trend that hopefully will soon be reversed.

Birth Injury In Tucson, Arizona

snyder-wenner · Nov 4, 2020 ·

What Is a Birth Injury?

As the name suggests, a birth injury is an injury to a baby caused during labor and/or delivery. Birth injuries caused by doctors, nurses, or midwives can take what should be one of the most memorable times in your and your child’s life and turn things upside-down. Tucson healthcare providers who are negligent during the birthing process can cause life-long injuries and, in certain cases, the death of your baby.

What types of birth injuries are there?

Some of the more serious Tucson birth injuries include:

Cerebral palsy
Erb’s palsy
Asphyxia
Neonatal stroke
Brachial plexus injury
Facial paralysis
Spinal cord injury

Doctors, nurses, and midwives in Tucson have to act as a reasonable, prudent provider to prevent these common birth injuries. Although there is no cure for any of these injuries and the attendant life-long consequences, prompt intervention is critical to a better developmental outcome. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that early diagnosis and treatment will result in a better outcome, it is very important you get your baby the best care possible to reduce the effects of a medical negligence induced birth injury in Tucson.

If your baby or a loved one’s baby sustained a birth injury in Tucson, contact the experienced Tucson birth injury lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C. now for a free consultation at 602-224-0005.

Wrongful Death Cases in Phoenix, Arizona

snyder-wenner · Oct 26, 2020 ·

What is “wrongful death”?

Wrongful death is a legal term that means a person’s death was negligently caused by someone else. For medical malpractice cases, A.R.S. Section 12-561 is what permits a family to file a lawsuit. That statute says:

“Medical malpractice action” or “cause of action for medical malpractice” means an action for injury or death against a licensed health care provider based upon such provider’s alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions, or breach of contract in the rendering of health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services or for the rendering of such health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services, without express or implied consent including an action based upon the alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions or breach of contract in collecting, processing or distributing whole human blood, blood components, plasma, blood fractions or blood derivatives.

Who can file a wrongful death case?

Under Arizona law, to file wrongful death lawsuit, you must be the surviving husband or wife, child, parent, guardian, or personal representative of the person who passed away. The personal representative can only sue for the estate, which limits the type of damages he or she can claim.

If a loved one has died as a result of the negligence of another person or a company in Phoenix, Arizona law permits you to file a wrongful death lawsuit to recover money damages against them within two years of their death. However, it is important to note that if the death was caused by any governmental entity or employee, you must file a notice of claim within 180 days of their death to preserve your claim.

What type of damages can I claim in a wrongful death case?

Arizona law is what determines what a person can claim in a wrongful death case. Some of these elements may not apply to every specific case. According to the Revised Arizona Jury Instructions, a plaintiff in a wrongful death case can claim:

The loss of love, affection, companionship, care, protection, and guidance since the death of your loved one now and in the future.
The pain, grief, sorrow, anguish, stress, shock, and mental suffering you have already experienced, and will experience in the future.
The loss of income and services you have lost since the wrongful death and that are reasonably probable to be lost in the future.
The reasonable expenses of funeral and burial.
The reasonable expenses of necessary medical care and services for the injury that resulted in the death.

What type of cases can be considered wrongful death?

Any negligent act that causes death fits into a wrongful death case. That said, the most common types of cases we handle are:

Phoenix wrongful death cases Snyder & Wenner handles include:

Medical malpractice
Birth Injuries Causing Death
Car Crashes
Motorcycle Crashes
Truck Crashes
Commercial Vehicle Crashes
Nursing Home Injuries Causing Death
Product Malfunction or Product Liability

What should I do if I have a case?

If you have a case due to the loss of a family member, you should contact an attorney right away. Since no two cases are alike, you need to be sure you find a firm with the experience and skills necessary to take your case through trial. Snyder & Wenner has been handling wrongful death cases in Phoenix, Arizona for over 35 years. We have extensive trial experience. Contact us today for a free case consultation.

Banner Health Starts Using Artificial Intelligence To Help Radiologists

snyder-wenner · Oct 22, 2020 ·

Medical malpractice stemming from radiology is a growing concern. Banner Health partnered with an artificial intelligence company, Viz.ai, to help diagnose and treat stroke patients faster. This technology will supposedly supplement the radiologist looking at the stroke patient’s imaging studies. Banner and Viz.ai believe it will help diagnose strokes faster than a radiologist could. According to Dr. Jeremy Payne, Director of the Stroke Center at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, the artificial intelligence scans CT imaging and notifies the doctors “where a stroke is happening, how much damage has been done and how much tissue is still salvageable before the patient has left the CT.” Dr. Payne further stated, “every second someone is having a stroke, we estimate 32 thousand brain cells are dying.”

Banner Health utilizes this technology at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, Banner Del Webb, and Banner Desert. More Banner hospitals will be added to the list within the next few months.

With the implementation of this technology across the Banner Health network, it remains to be seen if there will be issues or glitches with the system. If you or a loved one has suffered a stroke resulting from medical malpractice at Banner Health, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C. today.