Medical and Pharmacist Malpractice: Kidney Damage

Atlanta Husband & Wife Attorneys Who Can Help You File a Lawsuit

The kidneys perform an important function within the human body, and they are vital for survival. A kidney’s task is to purify the blood by filtering out waste. This helps your blood maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals. When a kidney is damaged and fails to function adequately, waste products build up and cause serious health issues.

A number of things can lead to kidney damage: diabetes, high blood pressure, physical trauma, smoking, and obesity are among the more common causes. But medical errors can also result in kidney damage, which is unfortunate for patients who’ve put their faith in medical professionals.

If you or a loved one has suffered kidney damage due to a mistake made by a medical facility, doctor, or pharmacist, you have a right to seek compensation. For a successful medical malpractice claim, you need the representation of an attorney who has handled such cases before. For over 25 years, the husband and wife team at Atlanta’s Grant Law Office has been helping Georgia medical malpractice victims recover for their losses. Let us put our experience, skill, and compassion behind your claim.

For a free case evaluation, call us at (404) 995-3955.

Back to Top

Recent Medical Malpractice Verdicts and Settlements

• Confidential Settlement (Seven Figures) - Pharmacy malpractice resulting in permanent kidney damage.

Click here for more verdicts and settlements.

Types of Medical Malpractice That Can Lead to Kidney Damage

• Failure to diagnose
  When a physician fails to diagnose kidney disease, or a condition that could lead to kidney disease, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, that would be considered medical malpractice. Examples would include failure to order certain tests warranted by a patient’s symptoms, misreading lab results or X-rays, etc., or making an incorrect diagnosis.
• Delayed diagnosis
  In certain cases, a physician may diagnose kidney disease in a patient, but not in a timely manner. This would allow the condition to progress and cause irreparable damage to the organ. If your physician did not diagnose the condition in a time frame that a reasonably competent physician would have, that would be considered medical malpractice.
• Failure to treat
  When a doctor diagnoses a condition, but fails to treat it or treats it improperly, that is considered medical malpractice. For instance, if the common treatment for kidney disease is dialysis, and the patient’s doctor does not order it, that would be considered medical malpractice.
• Medication error
  If a physician orders the wrong type of medication, the wrong dose, or fails to see the potential for a negative interaction with another medication the patient is taking, that would be considered medical malpractice. A pharmacist can also be held liable for medical malpractice if he filled a prescription incorrectly or ignored a warning against using a certain medication to treat a patient’s condition.
• Surgical error
  Surgical errors include performing the wrong procedure, performing a procedure on the wrong body part, leaving a foreign item like a sponge in the body, or damaging an organ while performing a procedure. If the nerves around the kidney or the kidney itself are lacerated during surgery, the patient will have lifelong kidney damage.
• Post-surgical error
  In many cases, a patient is at his most vulnerable following a surgery. This is when patients are at the most risk for infections and other complications. In a recent case we handled, a man experienced a rapid drop in blood pressure following a gastric bypass operation. When it was not treated in time, the man experienced kidney failure. In such a case, the hospital and attending physicians could be held liable for the man’s injuries.

Back to Top

After Experiencing Kidney Damage, Call Grant Law Office

Kidney damage can drastically affect a person’s life, resulting in high medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and mental and emotional duress. It is very expensive to treat over a lifetime. To recover for your losses, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Atlanta’s Grant Law Office. Call (404) 995-3955 for a free consultation.

Back to Top

Additional Information

• Kidneys Can Be Hit Hard by Medical Malpractice
• Kidney Diseases | Renal Disease | MedlinePlus
• National Kidney Foundation
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases