Primary Location
Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers
2700 N Central Ave Suite 320, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Phone: (602) 905-7766
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Medical errors hurt people in Phoenix every single day. We hear it from clients who walk through our door - they went in for routine surgery and came out worse. They trusted a doctor who missed something obvious. Now they're dealing with the fallout.
This page breaks down how medical malpractice works in Arizona, what you need to prove, and what to do if you think a provider screwed up. The Simon Law Group handles these cases across Maricopa County, and we'll tell you straight whether yours has legs.
Here's what we tell clients: a bad outcome doesn't automatically mean malpractice. Surgery has risks. Medicine is complicated. But when a provider ignores the basics or cuts corners, and you get hurt because of it? That crosses the line.
Phoenix runs on a massive hospital network. Banner Health, HonorHealth, Mayo Clinic - these systems see enormous patient volume. More patients means more room for things to go sideways.
The mistakes we see most often fall into a few categories:
Surgical errors - wrong site, retained instruments, nerve damage that shouldn't have happened. One wrong move in an OR and you're living with the consequences.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis. Your doctor reads the scan wrong. Orders the wrong test. Tells you it's nothing. Months later you find out it was cancer, and now your treatment options are limited. We get calls about this all the time.
Medication mistakes - wrong drug, wrong dose, dangerous interactions the pharmacist or prescriber should have flagged.
Anesthesia errors. Too much puts you at risk for brain damage. Too little and you wake up during the procedure. Neither one should happen.
Birth injuries - this is the one that really gets to us. Improper forceps use, failure to monitor fetal distress, a C-section that came too late. These errors can cause cerebral palsy, nerve damage, oxygen deprivation. Families from Arcadia to Ahwatukee to North Phoenix deal with the lifelong consequences. Our brain injury counsel in Phoenix handles these exact cases.
Something feel off about your care? You have every right to ask questions and get answers. Serious medical errors often cause catastrophic injuries that our Phoenix attorneys pursue aggressively.
Arizona won't let you sue just because you had a bad experience. Fair enough. But here's what you actually need to show - four things, and they all have to line up.
First: duty of care. Were you this person's patient? Did they owe you competent treatment? If yes, check the box.
Second: breach. The provider did something a reasonable, trained professional in Arizona wouldn't have done. Or they failed to do something they should have. This isn't about perfection. It's about basic competence.
Third comes causation, and this is where cases get tough. You walked into that office already sick or injured. So the question is: did the doctor's mistake actually make things worse? Your attorney and a medical expert have to connect those dots.
Fourth: real damages. Bills you shouldn't have. Wages you lost. Pain that didn't need to happen. No damages, no case. Simple as that.
One more wrinkle - Arizona requires a qualified medical expert to review the whole thing and confirm the provider fell short [1]. Maricopa County Superior Court handles most of these filings. Having strong expert support from day one makes the process move faster.
One thing people don't realize? Your doctor might not be the only one on the hook. Arizona lets you go after multiple parties in a single case.
We've seen cases where the surgeon made the mistake, but the hospital created the conditions that let it happen - understaffing, broken equipment, lax oversight. Both are liable.
Parties you can pursue:
Phoenix-area hospital systems share liability when their own systemic failures contribute to your injury. Hired an underqualified surgeon? Ignored safety reports? They own that alongside the individual provider.
Sorting out responsibility takes real investigation. When malpractice proves fatal, our wrongful death lawyers in Phoenix pursue every liable party. Medical records, internal policies, depositions. It's not something you want to figure out on your own.
Don't sit on this. Arizona gives you two years. That's it. Miss the window and your claim is gone - doesn't matter how strong the evidence is.
The two-year clock starts when you discovered the injury, or when you should have discovered it. Arizona calls this the discovery rule [1]. And it matters because some injuries aren't obvious.
Picture this: a surgeon leaves a sponge inside you. You feel fine for months, then start having pain. You get imaging and there it is. Your clock started when that imaging revealed the problem, not the day of surgery.
Same logic applies to missed diagnoses. If your doctor failed to catch cancer and you didn't find out until a year later, the two years run from when you learned about the error.
Minors get more time. If the patient is under 18, the deadline pauses until they turn 18. Then they have two years from that birthday.
Here's the other piece: Arizona requires an expert affidavit [2]. A qualified medical professional has to review your case and sign off that malpractice likely occurred. This gets filed with or right after your lawsuit. It adds time pressure, which is another reason to get an attorney involved early.
All of this goes through Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix. Starting early gives your lawyer time to pull records, line up experts, and hit every deadline.
Here's something that works in your favor: Arizona doesn't cap malpractice damages. The state constitution prohibits it [3]. That makes Arizona different from a lot of states where there's a ceiling on what juries can award.
So what can you actually recover?
Economic damages - the hard numbers:
Non-economic damages - harder to calculate but just as real:
Hospitals prefer to settle. Their insurers do too. But the first offer is rarely fair. Strong evidence gives you the leverage to push back. Juries in Maricopa County don't take medical negligence lightly, and that reality keeps defendants honest at the negotiation table.
Insurance companies love this move: they argue you were partly at fault. Didn't follow your treatment plan, skipped appointments, whatever they can find.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence. Even if a jury says you were 20 percent at fault, you still recover 80 percent of your damages. A $500,000 award becomes $400,000. You don't walk away empty-handed.
Bottom line? Shared fault doesn't kill your case. Don't let an adjuster convince you otherwise.
These cases are nothing like a fender bender claim. Not even close.
Arizona mandates expert testimony. You need a qualified medical professional to testify about standard of care and exactly how the provider violated it. Finding the right expert, one whose credentials hold up under cross-examination, takes connections and experience.
Then there's the opposition. Hospitals and their insurance carriers hire teams of defense attorneys. Their entire job is paying you as little as possible. Going up against that without experienced representation? Rough odds.
And the medical records themselves are dense. Operative notes, lab values, medication logs, nursing charts. Your lawyer has to be able to read them, spot the problems, and translate them for a jury.
At The Simon Law Group, we take these cases on contingency. You pay zero upfront. We only get paid if we recover money for you. With over 250 years of combined experience and more than a billion dollars recovered for our clients, our Phoenix injury attorneys have the resources to go toe-to-toe with hospital defense teams.
So something went wrong with your care and your gut is telling you it shouldn't have happened. Here's what to do - right now, before anything else.
Pull your medical records. All of them. Operative notes, discharge papers, lab work, imaging, nursing notes. Arizona law says they're yours. Don't wait for someone to send them.
Write everything down while it's fresh. Symptoms, timeline, every provider who touched your case, how your condition changed. If you can see the injury, take photos.
Get a second opinion from a different doctor. Have them look at what happened and whether it looks like the original provider dropped the ball. That second opinion becomes evidence later.
Whatever the hospital sends you - waivers, releases, settlement offers - don't sign a thing. Hand it to your attorney. Signing too early boxes you in.
Call a Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer. The faster an attorney gets involved, the faster they can lock down evidence before records get altered or memories fade.
And one more thing worth knowing: you can file a complaint with the Arizona Medical Board at the same time you pursue a civil claim. Two separate tracks, both creating a record of what happened.
Medical malpractice in Phoenix occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet Arizona's accepted standard of care, causing injury to a patient. Arizona law requires proof of four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
Our attorneys have handled personal injury cases across Arizona and California. We know how Phoenix insurance companies operate, and we know how to push back.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Accidents do not follow business hours. Neither do we. Call (602) 905-7766 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
Our Phoenix team works out of 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320. We know the roads, the courts, and the insurance adjusters you are up against.
“After a crash, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your options, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”
Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
Phoenix office at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320 |
Licensed in Arizona and California
A surgeon operates on the wrong knee. A sponge gets left inside you after an appendectomy. These are not rare events. Arizona hospitals report hundreds of preventable surgical complications every year. When a doctor makes a mistake in the operating room, the injuries are often permanent and the medical bills pile up fast. Learn more about surgical error claims.
Your doctor says it is a pulled muscle. Six months later you find out it was cancer. A wrong diagnosis, a missed diagnosis, or a delayed diagnosis can cost you treatment time you cannot get back. We look at what your doctor knew, what tests they should have ordered, and whether a competent physician would have caught it sooner. Learn more about misdiagnosis claims.
When delivery room mistakes cause cerebral palsy, Erb's palsy, or brain damage, the consequences last a lifetime. These cases often involve delayed C-sections, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, and failure to monitor fetal distress. Your child deserves care and support. We fight to make sure someone pays for the harm that was done. Learn more about birth injury claims.
Wrong drug, wrong dose, dangerous interaction. Medication errors happen at every stage, from the doctor writing the prescription to the pharmacist filling it to the nurse administering it. In Arizona, these mistakes injure thousands of patients each year. If a pharmacy or provider gave you the wrong medication and you suffered harm, you have a claim. Learn more about medication error claims.
When hospitals or healthcare providers fail to protect patient records, it can lead to a healthcare data breach. Exposed medical records put patients at risk of identity theft on top of the harm already caused by malpractice.
A provider must have fallen below the accepted standard of care and caused you harm. A bad outcome alone is not enough. A medical expert will need to review your case to confirm the provider's actions were negligent.
Arizona gives you 2 years from when you discovered, or should have discovered, the injury. Minors may have more time. There is also an outer limit from the date of the negligent act, so don't delay.
Yes. Arizona law allows claims against multiple parties, including hospitals that employ negligent providers. If the hospital's systems, staffing, or protocols contributed to your injury, they share responsibility.
Yes. Arizona requires a qualified medical expert to file an affidavit and testify that the provider breached the standard of care. Your attorney will find and retain the right expert for your case.
Many do. Hospitals and insurers often prefer settlements. But a strong case with solid evidence gives you more leverage. If a fair settlement can't be reached, your case can go to trial.
Medical bills, lost income, future care costs, pain and suffering, and loss of quality of life. Arizona does not cap malpractice damages, so the full scope of your losses can be recovered.
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