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When Medical Treatment Causes Preventable Harm
An unexpected injury after medical treatment can leave patients needing additional care without knowing what went wrong.
A missed diagnosis, surgical injury, medication error, or delayed response to an emergency may lead to further treatment, lost income, or permanent disability.
A medical malpractice claim requires evidence that negligent care caused an injury that appropriate treatment would have prevented.
At Marasco & Nesselbush, our Middletown medical malpractice lawyers represent patients and families affected by negligent health care in Middletown and throughout Rhode Island.
Our legal team examines the treatment history and works with qualified specialists to determine whether a medical provider breached the standard of care.
Clients can meet with us at our Middletown office, regardless of where in Rhode Island they received treatment.
Contact Marasco & Nesselbush for a free medical malpractice consultation.
We handle qualifying cases on a contingency fee basis, with attorney fees and case expenses addressed in a written agreement.
What Separates Medical Malpractice From an Unavoidable Complication?
Medical malpractice is an area of personal injury law involving negligent professional care that causes a legally recognizable injury.
A procedure failure, changed diagnosis, or known complication does not by itself establish negligence.
To prove medical malpractice, a patient generally must show that a doctor-patient relationship existed or another professional duty applied, that the provider breached the accepted standard of care, and that the breach caused damages.
How the Standard of Care Is Determined
The standard of care concerns what a reasonably competent professional would have done under similar circumstances, using the information available at the time.
A doctor assessing possible stroke symptoms, for example, may need to order tests, evaluate the treatment window, and seek timely specialist care.
A delayed test alone does not establish malpractice without evidence that the delay caused additional harm.
Connecting Negligence to the Injury
Unlike personal injury claims arising from a car accident or unsafe property, medical malpractice litigation often requires reviewing a patient’s medical history to distinguish harm caused by negligence from an existing illness.
In a sepsis case, experts may examine when warning signs emerged, how quickly clinicians responded, and whether earlier intervention would likely have changed the outcome.
Similar causation questions arise after nerve damage or paralysis following an inherently risky procedure.
Why Qualified Medical Experts Matter
Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-19-41, witnesses offering expert opinions about specified medical malpractice claims must be qualified in the relevant field through their knowledge, experience, training, skill, or education.
Qualified experts can explain accepted medical practices, the provider’s decisions, and the connection between any departure from the standard of care and the patient’s injury.
Rhode Island courts recognize a narrow exception when negligence is apparent to an ordinary person without specialized knowledge, but most diagnostic and treatment disputes require expert testimony.
Marasco & Nesselbush’s Medical Malpractice Experience
Joseph Marasco and Donna Nesselbush founded our law firm in 1999, and our attorneys have more than 350 years of combined legal experience across our practice areas.
The firm has recovered more than $500 million for clients across its practice areas, including medical negligence cases.
Our trial lawyers have handled surgical negligence and anesthesia-related death claims involving contested medical causation.
Mark H. Grimm has been recognized by Best Lawyers for plaintiffs’ medical malpractice work since 2019 and received its Providence Lawyer of the Year recognition in that practice area for 2022.
$3 Million Rhode Island Surgical Negligence Settlement
We obtained a $3 million settlement for a Rhode Island woman left paralyzed after elective spinal surgery.
Joseph P. Marasco and Mark H. Grimm consulted specialists, including a neurosurgeon experienced in complex spinal injuries.
Their expert evidence addressed the decision to operate and the lack of appropriate precautions during and after surgery.
$5.1 Million Settlement After Fatal Surgical Negligence
We secured a $5.1 million settlement for the estate of a woman who died after a bowel injury during gallbladder surgery went untreated for hours.
The defense argued that the outcome was related to recognized surgical risks and the patient’s preexisting conditions.
Joseph Marasco, Mark Grimm, and Thomas L. Moran used expert evidence to challenge both the surgical technique and delays in treating the infection that progressed to septic shock.
$2.05 Million Recovery Involving Anesthesia Negligence
We recovered $2.05 million for the family of a patient who died during an outpatient procedure involving anesthesia.
Our experts concluded that the physician inadequately assessed the patient’s known risks, selected an unsuitable treatment setting, and failed to monitor anesthesia properly.
Joseph Marasco and Jane R. Duket challenged the defense’s explanation that the death resulted from the patient’s underlying conditions.
Past results do not guarantee a similar recovery in another medical malpractice case.
Injured and not sure what your case is worth? Find out for free.
Types of Medical Negligence We Investigate
Potential medical negligence claims arise in hospitals, doctors’ offices, outpatient surgical centers, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities.
A nursing home claim may involve professional medical negligence or other duties, depending on the care involved.
Missed Diagnoses and Delayed Treatment
Common examples of diagnostic negligence include overlooked symptoms, misread imaging, tests that were not ordered, and urgent results that were never communicated.
A delayed cancer diagnosis, including lung cancer, may worsen a patient’s prognosis when earlier testing would have led to effective treatment.
Other cases involve missed strokes, heart attacks, internal bleeding, or serious infections.
In a 2018 analysis of 10,618 closed medical professional liability claims, diagnosis-related allegations accounted for 33% of the claims reviewed from 2013 through 2017.
The figure reflects Coverys’ historical claims data, not all U.S. malpractice cases.
A delayed diagnosis supports a malpractice claim only when the delay caused preventable additional harm.
A cancer claim may turn on whether earlier testing would have found a more treatable disease, while a stroke claim may require reviewing imaging and treatment eligibility.
Surgical Errors and Postoperative Failures
Surgical malpractice can involve wrong-site surgery, negligent damage to nearby organs or nerves, retained instruments, or a failure to address a serious problem identified during the operation.
A procedure can be performed correctly yet still lead to a malpractice claim when health care professionals miss dangerous bleeding, infection, respiratory distress, or other serious complications after surgery.
Operative reports, anesthesia charts, and nursing observations can help reconstruct the surgery and subsequent care.
A known surgical complication is not automatically malpractice, but its existence does not necessarily excuse negligent preparation, technique, or follow-up treatment.
Anesthesia and Medication Errors
Anesthesia-related claims may concern inappropriate dosing, inadequate monitoring, airway-management failures, or a failure to account for medical conditions affecting the patient’s risk.
Medication negligence may involve giving the wrong medication or dose, overlooking allergies or interactions, making a dispensing error, or failing to monitor an adverse reaction.
Medication orders, administration logs, laboratory results, and vital signs may show whether an error caused organ damage or another injury.
Emergency Department and Hospital Care
Emergency staff must make decisions using the information reasonably available at the time, often before the full diagnosis is known.
A potential claim may arise when a clinician fails to recognize critical symptoms, delays required treatment, discharges a patient despite significant warning signs, or does not arrange necessary specialist care.
Hospital cases may also involve gaps in nursing observations, failures to communicate abnormal test results, or delays in escalating a deteriorating patient’s condition.
Experts may need to determine whether an earlier response would probably have prevented additional injury.
Birth Injuries and Obstetric Negligence
A birth injury claim may involve an inadequate response to fetal distress, delayed delivery, improper use of delivery instruments, failure to treat a maternal emergency, or negligent care of a newborn.
Congenital conditions and unavoidable complications may also explain some birth injuries.
Obstetric and pediatric experts may need to examine fetal-monitoring records, labor and delivery decisions, neonatal assessments, and whether a different intervention would have prevented the harm.
Informed Consent and Decisions About Treatment
A patient may have a separate basis for a claim when a provider fails to obtain legally adequate informed consent before treatment.
The dispute may concern undisclosed material risks, the procedure authorized, and whether proper disclosure would have changed the patient’s decision.
Rhode Island law governing informed consent requires the court to determine initially whether a disputed informed-consent issue should be submitted to the jury.
A signed consent form does not excuse negligent treatment or settle every dispute about what the patient was told.
How We Review Medical Records and Establish What Happened
Medical malpractice records often span multiple hospitals, practices, and specialists.
We compare treatment decisions with what clinicians knew at the time, rather than judging care solely by the outcome.
Records Needed to Assess Medical Negligence
Relevant evidence may include:
- Hospital admission records, clinical notes, and discharge instructions.
- Nursing observations, vital signs, and medication administration records.
- Laboratory results, radiology images, and reports showing when results became available.
- Operative reports, anesthesia charts, and postoperative monitoring records.
- Referral requests, specialist consultations, and communications between providers.
- Patient portal messages, prescription records, and records of later corrective treatment.
- Bills, employment records, and documentation of the injury’s effect on daily activities.
Patients generally have a right to obtain copies of their medical and billing records from covered providers under federal HIPAA rules, subject to limited exceptions.
Relevant records may come from providers involved before and after the suspected error.
Reviewing When Treatment Decisions Were Made
The timing of tests, referrals, and clinical responses may determine whether a delay caused harm.
In a suspected failure-to-diagnose case, an attorney may compare the initial symptoms, test orders, results, follow-up calls, and the point at which appropriate treatment began.
For a postoperative injury, the review may consider when the patient’s condition changed, who was notified, and whether a necessary response was delayed.
Patient and family accounts may identify gaps in the timeline that can be checked against clinical records and messages.
Evaluating the Evidence With Medical Specialists
Medical expert support helps establish whether a different treatment decision would probably have prevented the injury.
Cases involving multiple specialties may require several experts, and an unfavorable expert review can prevent a claim from proceeding.
Who Can Be Responsible for Negligent Medical Care?
Liability may extend beyond the treating physician to a hospital, medical practice, or another responsible provider.
Physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, dentists, and other healthcare professionals may face claims for negligent care.
Hospitals may be held liable for employees’ negligence or their own failures in staffing, supervision, or patient care, but not automatically for every independent physician who treats a patient there.
Employment, agency relationships, control of treatment, and the specific conduct alleged can affect which defendants are properly included.
Claims involving public institutions can have additional procedural requirements or liability limits, so the identity and legal status of each defendant matter.
A defective implant or other medical device may also give rise to a product liability claim against its manufacturer, which requires different proof from negligent treatment.
Rhode Island’s Medical Malpractice Filing Deadline
Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14.1, a medical malpractice action generally must be filed within three years of the incident giving rise to the claim.
The statute provides exceptions for certain undiscoverable injuries and qualifying disabilities.
When the Injury Was Not Reasonably Discoverable
If the malpractice could not reasonably have been discovered when it occurred, a qualifying patient generally has three years from when it should have been discovered through reasonable diligence.
A new diagnosis does not automatically restart the filing period.
Symptoms, medical records, and communications may establish when the malpractice should reasonably have been discovered.
Filing Deadlines for Minors and Patients With Disabilities
The statute also addresses claims involving minors and patients with qualifying disabilities.
For a minor whose claim was not filed during the ordinary three-year period, the statute generally permits an action up to age 21, subject to the applicable circumstances.
For certain other disabilities, the deadline may run from when the disability ends.
Families should not assume the same extension applies to every related claim or that delaying investigation carries no risk.
Fatal Medical Errors and Wrongful Death Deadlines
When medical negligence causes a patient’s death, R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-7-2 generally provides a separate three-year period measured from death, with a discovery provision for qualifying circumstances.
The executor or administrator ordinarily brings the wrongful death action, while certain family members may have distinct claims under applicable statutes.
A deceased patient’s original claim and the estate’s wrongful death claim may have different legal requirements and deadlines.
Compensation for Injuries Caused by Medical Malpractice
Recoverable damages must arise from negligent treatment, not losses the underlying illness would have caused anyway.
Damages may include:
- Additional hospitalization, corrective procedures, medication, and rehabilitation.
- Future medical expenses for rehabilitation, assistive equipment, home care, and long-term support when medically justified.
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity caused by lasting limitations.
- Non-economic damages for physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of daily activities.
- Permanent disability, disfigurement, and other expenses attributable to the negligent care when recoverable under law.
Paralysis or other neurological injuries may require home assistance, accessibility modifications, and long-term therapy.
Patients unable to work may also qualify for Social Security disability benefits, which have separate eligibility rules.
Medical and financial experts may help establish the cost of future care and lost earning capacity.
Rhode Island does not impose a general statutory cap on compensatory damages in ordinary medical malpractice actions against private defendants, but claims involving certain government defendants or other special circumstances may be subject to different limitations.
When negligent treatment causes death, damages may be pursued under the applicable Rhode Island wrongful death laws and any separate claims authorized by statute.
Past personal injury settlements cannot predict another patient’s recovery.
What to Do if You Suspect Medical Negligence
Seek appropriate care for new or worsening symptoms before investigating a possible malpractice claim.
If you are able, take the following steps:
- Request your medical records. Obtain the records of the suspected negligent treatment, including test results, operative reports, and discharge instructions.
- Keep a separate timeline. Record when symptoms appeared, which providers you contacted, and when important decisions or conversations occurred.
- Save relevant communications. Retain patient portal messages, referral paperwork, prescriptions, and follow-up instructions.
- Document the additional harm. Keep records of corrective treatment, medical bills, work restrictions, and changes in your ability to function.
- Consider an independent medical evaluation. A new treating provider may help address your current medical needs and explain the clinical situation.
- Ask an attorney about expert review and filing deadlines. Medical malpractice investigations can require substantial records and time to obtain qualified opinions.
Keep your personal timeline separate from the official records, and continue any necessary treatment while the claim is evaluated.
Talk to a lawyer and get a free case evaluation today.
How a Middletown Medical Malpractice Case Proceeds
We identify the healthcare facilities and clinicians involved, gather medical records, and seek expert review when warranted.
When the evidence supports legal action, we assess damages and determine whether to file suit.
Medical malpractice litigation may involve written discovery, depositions of treating clinicians and experts, and arguments from the defendant’s attorney about the standard of care and causation.
We also handle communications with the medical provider’s insurance company, review settlement offers, and explain the terms of any proposed settlement agreement before clients decide whether to accept it.
Clients receive explanations of the medical evidence, litigation costs, and decisions about settlement or trial.
Discuss Your Care With a Middletown Medical Malpractice Lawyer
We represent patients and families in Middletown and throughout Aquidneck Island.
Visit us at 809 Aquidneck Avenue, Unit 201C, Middletown, RI 02842.
Call (401) 236-7006 or contact Marasco & Nesselbush to request a free consultation about suspected medical negligence.
For qualifying cases, we provide legal representation under a written contingency fee agreement addressing attorney fees, litigation expenses, and responsibility for costs if no recovery is obtained.
