A Serious Surgical Injury in Alabama: What a Malpractice Claim Requires

Attorney Answer

You may be able to. An injury caused by a doctor's mistake during treatment is what a medical malpractice claim is for. In Alabama that claim is governed by the Alabama Medical Liability Act, which sets requirements other injury claims do not have: a defined standard of care, proof from a qualified provider in the same field, a complaint that spells out each act, and deadlines that can close for good after four years. Speak to a malpractice lawyer soon.

What the doctor owed you. Ala. Code § 6-5-484(a):

(a) In performing professional services for a patient, a physician’s, surgeon’s, or dentist’s duty to the patient shall be to exercise such reasonable care, diligence, and skill as physicians, surgeons, and dentists in the same general neighborhood, and in the same general line of practice, ordinarily have and exercise in a like case. In the case of a hospital rendering services to a patient, the hospital must use that degree of care, skill, and diligence used by hospitals generally in the community.

And § 6-5-484(b):

(b) Neither a physician, a surgeon, a dentist nor a hospital shall be considered an insurer of the successful issue of treatment or service.

The question is not whether the result was bad. It is whether the care fell below that standard. A serious, permanent injury from something that should not happen in a properly performed procedure is the kind of case where that question is asked.

What you must prove, and how. Ala. Code § 6-5-548(a):

(a) In any action for injury or damages or wrongful death, whether in contract or in tort, against a health care provider for breach of the standard of care, the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving by substantial evidence that the health care provider failed to exercise such reasonable care, skill, and diligence as other similarly situated health care providers in the same general line of practice ordinarily have and exercise in a like case.

In practice, that proof comes from a qualified medical expert in the same field as the doctor.

What the complaint must say. Ala. Code § 6-5-551 requires more detail than an ordinary lawsuit:

The plaintiff shall include in the complaint filed in the action a detailed specification and factual description of each act and omission alleged by plaintiff to render the health care provider liable to plaintiff and shall include when feasible and ascertainable the date, time, and place of the act or acts.

Any complaint which fails to include such detailed specification and factual description of each act and omission shall be subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

That is why your records matter from the start: they are what the complaint is built from.

What you can do

1. Request a complete copy of your medical records for the treatment, including the operative or procedure notes and any consent forms.

2. Get the follow-up care you need, from another provider if you prefer, and keep every record.

3. Write down the dates of the treatment and of every visit since, while you remember them.

4. Speak to an Alabama medical malpractice lawyer now. Most offer a free first consultation, and they will need time to obtain an expert's review.

⏱ Time limits apply. Ala. Code § 6-5-482(a):

(a) All actions against physicians, surgeons, dentists, medical institutions, or other health care providers for liability, error, mistake, or failure to cure, whether based on contract or tort, must be commenced within two years next after the act, or omission, or failure giving rise to the claim, and not afterwards; provided, that if the cause of action is not discovered and could not reasonably have been discovered within such period, then the action may be commenced within six months from the date of such discovery or the date of discovery of facts which would reasonably lead to such discovery, whichever is earlier; provided further, that in no event may the action be commenced more than four years after such act; except, that an error, mistake, act, omission, or failure to cure giving rise to a claim which occurred before September 23, 1975, shall not in any event be barred until the expiration of one year from such date.

Two years from the treatment is the usual deadline. The six-month discovery extension is narrow, and the four-year limit is absolute.