Back and spine injury claims can be complicated. An insurance company may argue that your pain is temporary, unrelated to the accident, or caused by a condition you had before the incident. It may also pressure you to accept a settlement before doctors understand whether you will need injections, physical therapy, surgery, rehabilitation, or long-term care.

Perez Law Group works to build a claim that reflects the full effect of your injury—not just the medical bills you have received so far.

The central question in a medical malpractice case is not simply whether something went wrong. It is whether a reasonably careful healthcare provider in the same profession would have acted differently under similar circumstances—and whether that difference probably would have prevented or reduced the patient’s injury.

You may have reason to investigate a potential claim when:

• A serious condition was repeatedly dismissed or misdiagnosed.
• Test results were overlooked, misread, or not communicated.
• Treatment was delayed even though warning signs were present.
• You received the wrong medication or an unsafe dosage.
• A surgical procedure injured an organ, nerve, or healthy tissue.
• Medical equipment or material was left inside your body.
• Your condition deteriorated because hospital staff failed to monitor you.
• A healthcare provider performed a procedure without meaningful consent.
• You developed complications that another provider believes were preventable.
• A family member died after an unexplained or avoidable medical error.

These circumstances do not prove malpractice by themselves. A proper evaluation usually requires a review of the complete medical record and an opinion from a qualified provider in the appropriate medical specialty.

Arizona defines a medical malpractice action as a claim for injury or death against a licensed healthcare provider based on negligence, misconduct, errors, omissions, breach of contract, or treatment provided without proper consent.

To establish malpractice, the injured patient generally must prove that:

1. The healthcare provider owed the patient a professional duty of care.
2. The provider failed to exercise the level of care, skill, and knowledge expected of a reasonably prudent provider in the same profession.
3. That failure caused or substantially contributed to the patient’s injury.
4. The patient experienced measurable harm as a result.

Arizona law specifically requires proof that the provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care and that this failure was a proximate cause of the injury. You can review the state’s requirements in Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-563.

This is one reason medical malpractice claims are more complicated than many other personal injury cases. The attorney must understand not only the law, but also the medicine, the patient’s underlying condition, the expected outcome, and the difference the medical error made.

Medicine cannot guarantee a perfect result. A patient can experience complications even when every provider acts appropriately. Some diseases are difficult to diagnose, some treatments carry unavoidable risks, and some patients do not respond to treatment as expected.

A viable malpractice case usually requires evidence of preventable harm, not merely dissatisfaction with care.

For example, a patient may not have a claim simply because cancer treatment was unsuccessful. A claim may be possible, however, if a provider ignored an abnormal scan for several months and the delay allowed a treatable cancer to progress.

Similarly, an infection after surgery does not automatically establish negligence. The case may be different if the evidence shows that staff failed to use sterile equipment, ignored clear signs of infection, or waited unreasonably long to begin treatment.

Our attorneys focus on the difference between the patient’s likely outcome with appropriate care and the outcome caused by the alleged error.

• Emergency room records
• Physician and nursing notes
• Laboratory reports
• X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and other imaging
• Pathology slides and reports

• Operative reports
• Anesthesia records
• Fetal monitoring strips
• Medication administration records
• Pharmacy records
• Electronic health record audit trails

• Discharge instructions
• Referral records
• Billing records
• Prior medical history
• Records from follow-up and corrective treatment

The investigation may also include witness testimony, hospital policies, professional guidelines, expert opinions, employment records, communication logs, and evidence of the patient’s financial and personal losses.

Medical malpractice defendants frequently have experienced insurers, defense attorneys, risk-management teams, and medical experts working on their behalf.

Perez Law Group can help by:

• Listening carefully to your concerns and treatment history
• Identifying the providers and entities involved
• Requesting and organizing medical records
• Developing a detailed chronology of treatment
• Consulting appropriately qualified medical experts
• Evaluating standard of care and causation
• Identifying the full extent of your economic and personal losses
• Handling communications with insurers and defense attorneys
• Meeting court and expert-disclosure requirements
• Negotiating for an appropriate settlement
• Preparing the case for trial when a fair resolution is not offered

Founding attorney Cristina Perez Hesano has more than a decade of experience representing Arizona individuals and families in serious personal injury and wrongful death matters. Perez Law Group combines determined legal advocacy with personal communication, treating each client as a person rather than a file number.

You can also review examples of the firm’s work on our personal injury case results page. Past outcomes do not guarantee a similar result because every case depends on its individual facts, injuries, evidence, and applicable law.