Arizona Medical Malpractice is a civil course of action taken by the patient when they feel they have been under serviced in the medical field. The patient must prove that they were provided substandard service compared to what the same medical specialty would do in a similar scenario. Here are five quick things to ask yourself when seeking a malpractice lawsuit.

  1. In Arizona the Statue of limitations is set to 2 years.  Therefore if your accident or incident happened longer than 2 years ago you are not eligible to claim malpractice.
  2. Understand that there are 2 different types of damages you can claim.
    • Actual Damages – These are damages that incurred actual treatments, loss of ability to work and loss of future work ability.
    • Punitive Damages – These are awarded when the physician is proven to be acting in a reckless or willful behavior.
  3. You must submit an Affidavit of Merit in Arizona. This means you must have a healthcare professional outside of the case state that there is a strong enough argument for this claim to be heard in court. This step was put in place to limit the amount of lawsuits and wasted time and money of everyone involved when there is not enough evidence to proceed.
  4. In Arizona the state constitution prohibits limitations on recover of damages. This means there is no set cap to the amount of damages. Many states have rules limiting the total lawsuit amounts in order to keep cases from growing out of control.
  5. Arizona does limit actions of negligence. In Arizona you may not file a lawsuit if you were helped by a free clinic or a clinic where neither the doctor nor organization receive compensation for the procedure.

Arizona medical malpractice law has many more determining factors but if you pass the above 5 factors you should contact Udall Shumway today and speak with an attorney about your case. We are here to help set things right.