# Medical Malpractice Lawyer - Springfield & Westfield, MA | Dunn & Phillips, P.C. > Springfield medical malpractice lawyers. Honest case evaluation with qualified medical experts, Massachusetts tribunal experience, and no fee unless we win. Deadlines are strict - call early. [Canonical page](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) --- - [All injury cases](/practice/personal-injury/) - [Car Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Medical Malpractice](/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) [Practice Areas](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/) [Personal Injury](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/) Medical Malpractice # Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Springfield, MA A bad outcome isn't automatically malpractice - and real malpractice often goes unquestioned. We evaluate these cases honestly, with the right medical experts, and tell you plainly whether there's a case. [New injury? Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Request a free consultation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/contact/?practiceArea=Personal%20Injury) Not sure you have a case? [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/). A few quick taps. Have the firm call you Free. A real person calls you back. Phone That phone number looks too short. Please check it so we can call you back. What happened? (one line is fine) Have the firm call me Short version is fine. Save the details for the call. Sending this does not make us your lawyers yet. Something went wrong. Please call or text the 24-hour injury line at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) instead. Thanks. We have it. A real person will call you back. If this is urgent, call or text [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657). People come to us with malpractice questions carrying two fears at once: that something preventable happened to them or someone they love, and that no one will give them a straight answer about it. Hospitals investigate themselves. Providers close ranks. The one thing an injured patient needs first is an honest, independent read of the records - and that is where we start. We evaluate and litigate malpractice cases across Western Massachusetts from our offices in [Springfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/springfield/) and [Westfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/westfield/). A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657); the evaluation is free. ## The honest evaluation comes first Malpractice is the practice area where telling people the truth costs a firm the most, and where it matters most. These cases are expensive to build, brutal to litigate, and defended hard. Taking a weak one helps no one; missing a strong one is worse. So we do the work before anyone makes promises: obtain the complete records, have them reviewed with qualified medical experts in the right specialty, and come back with one of two answers. Either the care fell below the standard and we can prove it caused the harm - in which case we build the case as if it will be tried - or the evidence is not there, and we tell you exactly why. Both answers are free. ## What has to be proven Massachusetts malpractice liability requires more than an error and more than a bad result. The proof runs in three parts: the **standard of care** - what a reasonably careful provider in that specialty would have done; a **departure** from it - the misread scan, the missed diagnosis, the medication error, the surgical mistake, the discharge that should not have happened; and **causation** - that the departure, not the underlying illness, produced the harm. The third part is where defendants fight hardest, and where expert work decides cases. ## The hurdles Massachusetts puts in the road These cases run through machinery that ordinary injury cases never see: - **The tribunal.** Early in every case, a judge, a physician, and an attorney screen the evidence. An adverse finding means posting a bond to continue. Cases must arrive expert-ready. - **The clocks.** Three years from when you knew or should have known - and a hard **seven-year outer limit** from the act itself, discovered or not, with a narrow exception for foreign objects. Special rules protect young children. - **The cap.** Pain-and-suffering damages are capped at $500,000 **unless** the case involves substantial or permanent loss of bodily function, substantial disfigurement, or comparable circumstances. Economic losses - the lifetime medical costs, the lost earnings - are never capped, and in catastrophic cases they are the larger number. None of these hurdles is a reason not to bring a real case. They are reasons the case must be built properly from the first month. ## The cases we see in Western Massachusetts Delayed and missed diagnoses - cancers, strokes, infections - where the window for effective treatment closed. Surgical and anesthesia errors. Medication and dosing mistakes. Birth injuries. Emergency-department discharges that sent someone home with the very condition that put them there. If a death resulted, the malpractice case proceeds as a [wrongful death claim](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/), with its own rules and its own measure of what the family lost. ## What it costs you Nothing to evaluate, nothing up front, nothing unless we recover. We front the expert and litigation costs these cases demand, our fee comes only out of a recovery under a written agreement - within the limits Massachusetts sets for malpractice fees - and if there is no recovery, you owe nothing at all. Common questions ## Medical Malpractice FAQs How do I know if what happened was malpractice or just a bad outcome? You usually can't know from the inside, and neither can we until the records are reviewed. Malpractice means the care fell below what a reasonably careful provider would have done - not that the result was bad. Some tragedies follow flawless care; some 'complications' were preventable errors. The evaluation is free, and if the honest answer is that there is no case, we will say so plainly. How long do I have to bring a Massachusetts malpractice case? Generally three years from when you knew or reasonably should have known the harm was caused by the care - but Massachusetts also imposes an outer limit of seven years from the negligent act itself, no matter when you discovered it, with a narrow exception for objects left in the body. Children's cases have their own rules, including extra time for very young children. These clocks are unforgiving; call early. What is the Massachusetts medical malpractice tribunal? Every malpractice suit in Massachusetts is screened early by a tribunal - a judge, a physician, and an attorney - that decides whether the evidence raises a legitimate question for a jury. If the tribunal finds against the patient, the case can continue only by posting a bond. It is one of several reasons these cases must be built with expert support before filing, not after. Is there a cap on what I can recover? Massachusetts caps pain-and-suffering damages in malpractice cases at $500,000 - but the cap lifts in cases involving substantial or permanent loss of bodily function, substantial disfigurement, or other special circumstances, which describes many of the cases worth bringing. Economic damages - medical costs, lost earnings, care needs - are not capped. What does a malpractice lawyer cost, given how expensive these cases are? You pay nothing up front and nothing out of pocket. Malpractice cases require qualified medical experts and substantial preparation, and we front all of it. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery under a written agreement, subject to the limits Massachusetts law sets for malpractice cases, and if there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs. New Personal Injury Direct A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day. Call or text, or start with the intake form and we will get back to you. [Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Start the injury intake form](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/#start-your-case) [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/) Where we are Springfield, Main Office 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108 [(413) 787-9955](tel:+14137879955) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=185%20Belmont%20Avenue%2C%20Springfield%2C%20MA%2001108) Westfield, Personal Injury Law Center 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085 [(413) 562-8300](tel:+14135628300) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=56%20Washington%20Street%2C%20Westfield%2C%20MA%2001085) Other injury case types we handle - [Car Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Wrongful Death](/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) **“Pay nothing unless we win” applies to personal injury matters only.** If we win, our fee is a percentage of the amount recovered and is paid out of that settlement or verdict, along with case costs; if there is no recovery, you owe no fee or costs. The percentage and terms are set out in a signed written fee agreement. This promise does not apply to our other practice areas, whose fees are charged as described in your fee agreement. This page is general information only, not legal advice for any specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Every matter depends on its own facts; for advice on your particular circumstances, talk to a licensed attorney. Published by Dunn & Phillips, P.C., 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108. Responsible attorney: Cornelius W. Phillips, III. 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