Doctors and Hospitals Make Mistakes. We Make Them Answer For It.

Most doctors and nurses are good at what they do. The ones who are not, and the systems that protect them, cause real and avoidable harm. A medical malpractice case is the law's answer to the question of what to do when a patient is hurt by the very people who were supposed to help.

A claim for medical negligence in West Virginia requires proof that the care provided fell below the accepted standard of care for that specialty, and that the breach caused the injury. The standard of care is what a reasonably careful provider in the same field would have done in the same situation. Proving it requires qualified expert testimony from a physician practicing in the same specialty. Under the West Virginia Medical Professional Liability Act, the case cannot even be filed until a screening certificate of merit, signed by a qualified expert, is served on the defendant providers. That requirement alone closes the door on cases that are not properly worked up.

Medical malpractice covers surgical errors, including operations on the wrong site or the wrong patient and retained foreign objects. It covers misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of cancer, stroke, heart attack, and infection. It covers medication errors, anesthesia errors, and the failure to recognize and respond to deterioration in a hospitalized patient. It covers birth injuries to mothers and infants caused by failure to monitor, delayed cesarean section, or the misuse of delivery instruments. It covers nursing negligence, hospital systems failures, and corporate decisions that put profit ahead of patient safety.

These cases are difficult, and they are expensive to bring. Many firms will not take them. Stroebel & Stroebel does. We invest in the experts the case requires. We retain board-certified specialists in the same field as the defendant. We obtain and review every page of the medical record. We work with life care planners, economists, and treating providers to document the true cost of what happened. And we prepare the case, from the moment we accept it, with the assumption that we will be in trial. That preparation is what changes outcomes. Defense counsel and their carriers know the firms that will try a case and the firms that will not, and they price their offers accordingly.

If you believe you or a family member was hurt by medical negligence, the most important thing you can do is preserve the records and talk to a lawyer before any internal investigation closes. Initial consultations are free. Call (304) 346-0197.

The cases we take on.

• Surgical errors, including wrong-site surgery, retained foreign objects, and avoidable post-operative complications.
• Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of cancer, stroke, heart attack, sepsis, and other time-sensitive conditions.
• Medication errors involving wrong drug, wrong dose, or harmful drug interactions in the hospital and outpatient setting.
• Birth injuries to mothers and infants, including hypoxic injury, brachial plexus injury, and avoidable cesarean delays.
• Anesthesia errors and failure to monitor patients in recovery.
• Hospital and nursing home negligence, including pressure ulcers, falls, infections, and failures of communication between providers.

“Medicine is hard. So is preparing a case that holds a hospital accountable. We do the work.”

Our approach, step by step.

1. 01

   Free Initial Review

   We talk through what happened, gather initial records, and explain what the law requires to bring a case under the West Virginia Medical Professional Liability Act.

2. 02

   Expert Workup

   We obtain the complete medical record and engage a qualified specialist to review the care. If the case meets the standard, we prepare the screening certificate of merit.

3. 03

   Filing and Discovery

   We file suit, take the depositions of every involved provider, and develop the testimony that will tell the story to a jury.

4. 04

   Trial-Ready Resolution

   Most cases resolve before trial. The ones that resolve well do so because the defense knows the case has been built to be tried.