Medical Negligence (or 'Medical Malpractice')

For more than 30 years, the Law Offices of John Day, P.C. has assisted victims of medical malpractice prove doctors and health care providers caused them to suffer an injury.  Medical malpractice is negligent conduct by a health care provider that causes injury or death to a patient. It is more appropriately called "medical negligence" because the use of the word "malpractice" often connotes incompetence or a lack of professionalism. An otherwise competent health care provider may negligently injure another, just like an otherwise careful truck driver can negligently change lanes and hit another vehicle. The fact that a person is negligent does not mean that he or she is incompetent; it only means that at the time of that event, he or she did not act in keeping with the standard of conduct society expects.

Medical negligence, or medical malpractice, may be committed by any health care provider. This includes doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and technicians that provide patient care. Medical negligence can occur in any setting where healthcare providers come into conduct with patients, such as doctors' offices, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, mental health clinics, ambulances and diagnostic clinics.

A competent lawyer who is experienced in this field will do a lot of work before filing a medical negligence claim. He or she will review the medical records, consult appropriate medical specialists, and evaluate the potential damages before he or she will accept the case. This process can take several months; indeed, it often takes six to eight weeks to obtain the medical records. Those records must be obtained before the case can be fully evaluated.

Thus, it is essential that you promptly contact an experienced health care liability lawyer to evaluate your claim after you or a loved on has been harmed. Tennessee law requires appropriate legal action be taken within one year of the event causing injury or death (certain exceptions apply) and therefore a delay in contacting a lawyer may result in that lawyer's inability to review your potential case because of the time it takes to obtain the records, review them, and have them reviewed by appropriate medical consultants.

In our office, we have a full-time registered nurse to help us assist in evaluating medical negligence cases. We receive calls on over 1500 potential medical negligence cases per year and are able to accept only a small number of them. These cases are labor-intensive and very expensive to pursue. Therefore, we limit our caseload to give high-quality representation to our existing clients and accept new clients only when we believe that they have a meritorious case, and we have the time to help them with it.

Our award-winning lawyers are experienced in handling medical malpractice cases.  John Day has been recognized twice by Best Lawyers as Medical Malpractice Layer of the Year for Nashville.  John is also certified as a medical malpractice specialist by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.  We invited you to read more about the professional honors and awards we have received for helping injury victims.

The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. handles medical malpractice claims for clients throughout Tennessee. If you would like to speak to us about a potential medical malpractice claim, please contact us online or call us at one of our three convenient Middle Tennessee locations.  As always, if you are unable to come to us for any reason, we will gladly come to you. 

Nashville: 615-669-3993

Murfreesboro: 615-867-9900

Brentwood: 615-742-4880

Toll-Free: 866-812-8787

Medical Malpractice Case Results

$1,250,000 judgment for death due to lack of dialysis. A mother whose kidneys had failed needed dialysis three times a week. As one of her dialysis sessions began, her nephrologist canceled the dialysis because the young woman was bleeding. The nephrologist had the patient transferred to the local emergency room, where the ER doctor placed a suture to stop any more bleeding. The nephrologist testified that she also told the ER doctor by telephone to order bloodwork to see if the patient needed to have dialysis restarted. The ER doctor testified that the nephrologist never told him to order any bloodwork. An order for bloodwork was nonetheless entered at the emergency room, but the patient was sent home before any bloodwork was done. Hours after the patient was sent home, someone from the hospital canceled the order for bloodwork from the hospital's computer system. The next day, the patient's family called her nephrologist, who assumed the bloodwork had been completed and was normal. The nephrologist's office told the patient's family that the patient could wait another day for her dialysis. The young mother died that evening due to hyperkalemia, meaning an excessive amount of potassium that would have been cleaned from her system by dialysis. The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. filed suit for the patient's elementary school-aged son against the ER doctor, the hospital, two ER nurses, and the nephrologist. After thirteen days of trial, a jury returned a verdict of $1,250,000 against the ER doctor, the hospital, the nephrologist, and one of the nurses.

Click here to see more Medical Malpractice Successes

More information on medical malpractice lawsuits in Tennessee is below -- just click on a link:

Client Reviews
★★★★★
Everything was great. You guys are a great representative. I was satisfied with everything. Truly appreciate John Day and his hard-working staff. Jamar Gibson
★★★★★
We thought that you did an excellent job in representing us in our lawsuit. We would recommend you to anyone. Mitch Deese
★★★★★
The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. is, without a doubt, the best in Nashville! They treated me with the utmost respect and tended to my every need. No question went unanswered. I was always kept informed of every step in the process. I received phenomenal results; I couldn't ask for more. I would definitely hire The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. again. Anthony Santiago
★★★★★
I would definitely recommend to anyone to hire John Day's law firm because everyone was helpful, made everything clear and got the job done. I am satisfied with how my case was handled. June Keomahavong
★★★★★
It's been a long battle but this firm has been very efficient and has done a remarkable job for me! I highly recommend them to anyone needing legal assistance. Everyone has always been very kind and kept me informed of all actions promptly. Linda Bush
★★★★★
I had a great experience with the Law Offices of John Day. The staff was very accommodating, and my phone calls/emails were always responded to in a timely manner. They made the entire process very easy and stress-free for me, and I had confidence that my case was in good hands. I am very happy with the results, and I highly recommend! Casey Hutchinson