Were you harmed because a provider failed to treat your condition in Forest Park, GA?
At Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers, we are trusted failure to treat lawyers serving clients across Forest Park and the surrounding area.
If a doctor, hospital, or dentist near Forest Park recognized a medical problem but did not treat it in time, the provider may be responsible for the harm that delay caused. Our Forest Park, GA failure to treat lawyer can compare what your providers knew with what they did and pursue compensation for the injuries that followed.
Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers handles both medical and dental malpractice claims, including claims involving untreated infections. Our attorneys represent clients in Forest Park and across Clayton County. Schedule a free consultation.
Failure to Treat Lawyer Forest Park, GA
Failure to treat is a form of medical malpractice in which a provider identifies a condition that requires care but does not provide or arrange that care within a reasonable time. It isn’t the same as a missed diagnosis. The problem was known or evident, and the response still fell short.
About 24.9% of Forest Park residents under 65 have no health insurance, according to Census Bureau QuickFacts. A patient’s coverage doesn’t lower the standard of care once a provider undertakes treatment. Failure-to-treat claims can involve an untreated infection, a fracture left unaddressed, or an abnormal test result no one acted on. Our failure to treat attorney in Forest Park, GA can evaluate whether the response to your condition met the accepted standard.
Types of Failure to Treat Cases We Handle in Forest Park
These claims arise when a known problem is left unaddressed in a clinic, a dental office, a hospital, or an emergency department. Our failure to treat lawyers in Forest Park pursue claims involving all of these providers.
- Untreated infections. When an infection does not receive appropriate antibiotics, it can spread and become life-threatening. The chart shows when signs of infection appeared and when treatment finally began.
- Dental infections. An abscess or a post-extraction infection can spread into the jaw, neck, or bloodstream without timely care. These claims examine what the patient reported to the dental office and how staff responded.
- Ignored test results. An abnormal lab value, imaging finding, or biopsy result may sit in the chart without follow-up. The record identifies who received the result and whether anyone acted on it.
- Delayed surgery. A condition that requires an operation, such as a bowel obstruction, can worsen while a patient waits. We measure the time between the surgical decision and the procedure.
- Untreated fractures and orthopedic injuries. A fracture that is not set or stabilized can heal improperly or damage nearby nerves and blood vessels. Our review compares the imaging with the treatment actually provided.
- Failure to refer. A provider who cannot manage a condition is expected to send the patient to someone who can. We examine whether a referral was needed and whether it was made.
- Hospital negligence. Hospital staff may document a worsening condition without notifying a physician or starting treatment. These claims can include the hospital as a defendant, not only the individual providers.
- Emergency room malpractice. A physician in the emergency department may recognize a serious problem yet discharge the patient without treating it. We weigh the discharge decision against the findings recorded at the visit.
- Birth injury. When fetal distress or a maternal complication is identified during labor but not acted on, the baby can suffer lasting harm. The monitoring records show how long the delay lasted.
Why Choose Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers as My Failure to Treat Lawyer in Forest Park, GA?
Medical and Dental Malpractice Experience
Two verdicts obtained by Daniel J. Moriarty are among the ten largest malpractice awards in Georgia history, and one of them came in a dental case. He has taken cases to the Eleventh Circuit and to Georgia’s Court of Appeals. He graduated from Notre Dame with honors and completed law school at UT Law. His career began in 2012 on the defense side, where he represented doctors and hospitals for six years, and he has represented patients since 2018. Our medical malpractice lawyer in Forest Park, GA applies that trial and appellate background to claims involving care that came too late.
Case Results in Medical and Dental Malpractice
Our firm has helped clients recover more than $200 million.
- A $50 million dental malpractice verdict
- $20 million resolved by settlement for a malpractice client
- $15.5 million returned by a jury in a medical negligence case
- $7.9 million obtained in a separate malpractice matter
Our failure to treat attorneys in Forest Park take these cases on contingency, so clients owe no attorney fees without a recovery.
Understanding Failure to Treat Cases
What Should You Bring to Your Failure to Treat Consultation?
Delay is the core of these claims, so dates matter more than almost anything else. A simple written timeline of when symptoms began and when you contacted each provider is especially helpful.
- Appointment records or portal messages showing when you reported symptoms
- Test results and imaging reports you received
- Prescriptions, or notes showing that none was given
- Records from the provider who eventually treated the condition
Our Forest Park failure to treat attorney can compare those dates with the providers’ records and tell you whether the delay may support a claim.
What Is The Failure to Treat Case Timeline?
The length of a failure to treat case depends largely on how many providers were involved during the delay.
- Records. We can request the charts, call logs, and message histories from each provider.
- Medical review. Physicians or dentists in the relevant field evaluate when treatment should have started.
- Filing. Lawsuits arising in Forest Park may be filed in courts including the Clayton County State Court, which hears civil actions.
- Discovery. The parties exchange records and take sworn testimony from the providers involved.
- Resolution. Cases end through settlement, mediation, or a jury’s decision.
Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71, most of these lawsuits must be brought within two years of the injury. The statute also generally cuts off any claim once five years have passed from the negligent act or omission, and in these cases the omission is often the key event.
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Failure to Treat Cases
Liability consists of four elements: a duty to treat the patient with reasonable care, a delay or refusal of treatment that the standard required, a worsening of the patient’s condition caused by that delay, and resulting losses. The third element is often the most contested. The defense may argue the outcome would’ve been the same with earlier treatment.
Georgia’s comparative fault rule, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, can reduce an award if a patient missed a scheduled follow-up visit. It bars recovery when the patient’s share of fault reaches 50 percent. Recoverable damages generally include the added medical costs caused by the delay, income the patient could not earn, and pain and suffering. An untreated infection, for example, can progress to necrotizing fasciitis, which may require extensive surgery. Our Forest Park, GA failure to treat lawyer can document how the delay changed the treatment the patient ultimately needed.
What Are Important Aspects of a Failure to Treat Case?
Failure to treat claims often depend on what the provider knew and when the provider knew it. Our failure to treat lawyers in Forest Park build each case around that timeline.
- Treatment decisions are measured against the standard in the provider’s own field, whether the provider is a physician, a nurse, or a dentist.
- A provider’s inaction after abnormal findings can matter as much as an incorrect treatment.
- Some conditions call for immediate treatment. CDC guidance for emergency department triage states that antibiotics and other appropriate therapies for sepsis need to be started as soon as possible.
- Dental offices must also respond to signs of infection. That can include prescribing antibiotics after an extraction when the patient’s history calls for it.
- State agencies handle licensing concerns separately from a malpractice lawsuit. The medical board accepts physician conduct complaints. The Department of Community Health runs a facility complaint process. Neither one awards compensation.
Reach Out to Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation
Contact us to set up a no-cost consultation with our Forest Park failure to treat lawyer. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers represents patients from Forest Park and throughout Clayton County, and there is no attorney fee unless the firm recovers compensation. We can examine how your care unfolded, explain how Georgia’s filing deadline applies, and outline your options.