Negligent medical care causes many thousands of injuries and deaths each year.  Medication errors, delays in diagnosis, performance of unnecessary procedures, and other such events often lead to devastating and preventable outcomes.  Many of these errors stem from inherent conflicts, such as when generation of income receives more attention than patient safety.  Representing patients in medical malpractice cases requires  experience and resources, as these cases are frequently defended by well-financed insurance companies who spare few expenses to ensure that patients do not receive just compensation.

Stein, Mitchell & Muse has an unsurpassed track record for representing clients who have been seriously hurt by the negligence of healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, pharmacists and others.  Washingtonian magazine has described Gerard Mitchell as "the area's most effective medical malpractice attorney."  Laurie Amell, formerly a registered nurse, has been called one of Washington’s top trial lawyers by Washingtonian magazine and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.  Christopher Mitchell, Denis Mitchell, Ari Casper and Julie Mitchell have successfully advocated in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia on behalf of injured patients.  These lawyers have combined experience of more than 80 years and hundreds of cases in medical malpractice law. 

Our specialty areas within the field of medical malpractice include: 
 
  - Brain-damaged newborn babies.   A variety of mishaps can occur in the labor and delivery process that result in serious lifelong disability for infants and substantial emotional and financial burdens on their families.  Perhaps no area of malpractice work requires as much skill, dedication, knowledge and experience to win a successful result.  Lawyers who prosecute cases for obstetric malpractice must be familiar with the stages of labor, signs of fetal distress on electronic fetal monitoring, diabetes in pregnancy, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and a variety of other medical issues.

  - Other injuries to infants and children.  We have major experience working for children and their families in a host of tragic medical malpractice situations.  Some examples: 

 
•    Nerve injury from improper delivery techniques (sometimes known as Erb's palsy). 
 
•    Neonatal intensive care unit mishaps. 
 
•    Pediatric intensive care unit errors. 
 
•    Anesthesia errors. 
 
•    Brain damage from negligence by neurosurgeons. 
 
•    Pediatricians causing death or serious injury by failing to recognize a problem until it was too late. 
 

  - Brain and spinal cord injuries.   A variety of negligence in medical practice, from anesthesia errors to malpractice by neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons, can lead to terrible injuries to the brain and spinal cord.  Stroke, for example, is often preventable, but its early signs (known as transient ischemic attacks) are ignored or misinterpreted by some doctors.  Aggressive treatment of stroke in its early stages also can greatly lessen the disability it causes. 

  - Cancer misdiagnosis and failure to detect cancer.   Many cancers can be completely cured if early signs are appropriately recognized and treated aggressively. Patients may have a good malpractice claim if doctors have ignored or failed to recognize the significance of signs and symptoms.  We have substantial experience with a wide range of cancer malpractice cases, including: 

•    Breast cancer (misread mammograms or failure to take other appropriate diagnostic steps) 
 
•    Cervical cancer (misread Pap smears and biopsies) 
 
•    Colon cancer 
 
•    Lung cancer
 
•    Lymphatic cancer 
 
•    Prostate cancer 
 
•    Kidney (renal cell) cancer 
 
•    Liver cancer 

  - Emergency Room Care.    Our medical malpractice team has assisted many patients or their loved ones who have suffered serious injuries because they were not treated with the seriousness they deserved in the emergency room.

  - Other types of medical negligence and malpractice.  We have experience in almost every field of medicine and every major type of disease, having handled cases involving: 

•    Anesthesia and anesthesiology 
 
•    Allergic reactions 
 
•    Angioplasty of the heart 
 
•    Bariatric surgery for weight loss 
 
•    Blood clot mismanagement leading to fatal pulmonary embolism 
 
•    Cardiology 
 
•    Diabetes 
 
•    Glaucoma 
 
•    Gynecologic surgery 
 
•    Heart attack 
 
•    Hematology 
 
•    Infections 
 
•    Internal Medicine 
 
•    Laparoscopic surgery 
 
•    Neurology 
 
•    Neurosurgery 
 
•    Optometry 
 
•    Ophthalmology 
 
•    Otolaryngology 
 
•    Orthopedic surgery 
 
•    Pathologist errors 
 
•    Pediatric cardiology 
 
•    Pediatric pulmonary medicine 
 
•    Pediatrics 
 
•    Prenatal care 
 
•    Psychiatry 
 
•    Pulmonary medicine 
 
•    Rheumatology 
 
•    Radiology 
 
•    Stroke 
 
•    Surgical errors 
 
•    Urology 
 
•    Vascular surgery 

If you think you or a family member has been seriously injured from medical malpractice or neglect by a doctor, hospital, nurse or other healthcare provider, contact us for a free no-obligation consultation.