Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Encino

Helping Clients Pursue Fair Compensation

We trust our doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other medical providers with our health and wellness. More importantly, we trust them with the health and well-being of our spouses, our children, and other loved ones. When a medical professional fails in their responsibility to “do no harm” and a patient suffers because of it, the violation of trust can feel unbearable. And because medical care happens when we are at our most vulnerable, a medical mistake can cause catastrophic injuries or worse.

At V&A Law Firm, our medical malpractice attorneys in Encino and Los Angeles represent patients and families who have been harmed by the negligence of healthcare providers. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. 

To speak with our team, call (818) 369-3270 for a free 15-minute case evaluation.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider’s negligence causes injury or the wrongful death of a patient. You may file a medical malpractice lawsuit to pursue financial compensation for your losses, medical bills, and pain and suffering. Proving these claims is rarely simple. If you intend to pursue legal action, working with experienced medical malpractice attorneys who understand California law gives you a meaningful advantage.

Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Attorney

Medical malpractice victims should have the space to recover. They should not be left dealing with insurance companies, hospital legal teams, and complex procedural rules on their own. Not all law firms are equipped to handle these cases. Many avoid them because of the demands they require. You want attorneys who have done this work before, who have relationships with qualified medical experts, and who are ready to go to trial if the situation calls for it.

The legal team at V&A Law Firm brings decades of combined experience to medical malpractice claims and lawsuits. Our firm has secured over $350 million in compensation across our practice areas, and we approach each case with the same rigor we would bring to our largest. We serve clients in English, Spanish, and Farsi, and we offer a free 15-minute consultation to every person who reaches out. If we cannot recover compensation for you, you owe us nothing.

Common Types of Medical Malpractice

Medical errors take many forms, and not all of them are obvious at first. Some of the most common types of medical malpractice claims we handle include:

• Surgical Errors: Leaving instruments inside the body, operating in the wrong area, or damaging internal organs can cause infections, long-term injury, or even death. Wrong-site surgeries — operating on the wrong body part or the wrong patient entirely — represent some of the most serious and preventable errors in modern medicine.
• Birth Injuries: Negligence during labor or delivery can lead to permanent harm, including cerebral palsy, nerve damage, or oxygen deprivation in newborns.
• Medication Errors: Prescribing or administering the wrong drug, or the wrong dosage of the right one, can cause dangerous drug interactions, allergic reactions, or serious injury.
• Anesthesia Errors: Improper dosing, failure to monitor, or a delayed response to complications during anesthesia can result in brain injuries, cardiac arrest, or death.
• Misdiagnosis, Delayed Diagnosis, and Failure to Diagnose: When a condition is identified incorrectly or not at all, patients may receive the wrong treatment or no treatment, with consequences that can be severe or fatal. Delayed diagnosis of conditions like cancer, infection, or stroke significantly reduces the chances of recovery.
• Failure to Monitor: When healthcare professionals fail to track vital signs or post-operative conditions, patients may deteriorate without anyone catching it in a timely manner.
• Failure to Ensure Informed Consent: Patients have the right to understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives to any treatment before consenting to it. Without proper consent, even routine procedures can create legal and ethical liability.
• Radiology Errors: Misread X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs can delay diagnosis, prompt unnecessary procedures, or allow serious conditions to go undetected.
• Inadequate Hospital Staffing and Nursing Errors: Understaffed facilities lead to rushed care. Nursing mistakes — including incorrect charting, medication errors, or poor supervision — can compound patient harm in ways that are difficult to reverse.
• Unnecessary Surgery: Operating on a patient when no medical need exists exposes them to unnecessary risk and causes real physical, emotional, and financial harm.
• Wrongful Death: When medical negligence leads to the loss of a life, surviving family members are left facing grief, financial hardship, and a need for accountability. Families in this situation may be entitled to pursue a wrongful death claim.

If any of the above apply to your situation, contact our Encino law offices to discuss your case.

What Injuries Result From Medical Malpractice?

Healthcare professionals understand the trust placed in them. When that trust is broken, the consequences can be life-altering.

Severe injuries caused by medical negligence include:

• Traumatic brain injuries and brain damage
• Cerebral palsy
• Birth injuries and nerve damage
• Amputations and paralysis
• Strokes and heart attacks
• Burns and non-healing wounds
• Disabilities and disfigurement
• Loss of sight, hearing, or speech
• Emotional anguish
• Death

If you or a family member suffered any of these injuries because of a healthcare provider’s negligence, our medical malpractice lawyers are ready to help.

How Attorneys Prove a Medical Malpractice Claim

Proving medical malpractice requires more than showing that a bad outcome occurred. You must establish several elements: first, that a valid doctor-patient relationship existed; second, that the provider acted negligently, recklessly, or failed to act when circumstances required it; third, that a reasonably competent physician would have acted differently under the same circumstances; and fourth, that the provider’s conduct was the direct cause of your injury, pain and suffering, or death.

Medical experts play a central role in these cases. Their testimony, combined with a thorough review of medical records, helps establish what the accepted standard of care required and how the provider fell short. Our legal team works with qualified medical professionals to build cases backed by credible, detailed evidence.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Claims in California?

California law sets strict deadlines for filing medical malpractice claims, and missing them can result in permanently losing your right to seek compensation.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5, a medical malpractice claim must be filed within one year of the date you discovered — or reasonably should have discovered — the injury, or within three years of the date the injury occurred, whichever occurs first. The one-year clock begins running once a patient knows, or with reasonable diligence should have known, that their harm was caused by professional negligence.

Three exceptions can toll, or pause, these deadlines: proof of fraud, intentional concealment by the provider, and the presence of a foreign body left inside the patient that has no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose. For children under the age of six at the time of the injury, the claim must be filed within three years of the wrongful act or before the child turns eight, whichever provides a longer period.

Do not assume time is on your side. Contact our office as soon as possible so we can evaluate your case before any deadline passes.

California’s Pre-Filing Notice Requirement

Before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in California, there is one additional procedural step. Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 364, a plaintiff must give the healthcare provider at least 90 days’ prior written notice of their intent to sue. The notice must identify the legal basis of the claim and describe the nature of the injuries suffered. No specific court form is required, but the rules for how notice must be served are precise.

The purpose of this notice is to allow both parties to resolve the matter before formal litigation begins. If the notice is served within the last 90 days of the applicable statute of limitations, the filing deadline is extended by 90 days from the date the notice is served.

This procedural step adds another layer of complexity to California medical malpractice cases, which is one more reason to consult legal counsel promptly after you suspect patient harm has occurred.

How California’s MICRA Damages Cap Affects Your Case

California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), codified at California Civil Code § 3333.2, places a cap on noneconomic damages — things like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and disfigurement — in medical malpractice cases. Economic damages such as medical bills, lost wages, and future care costs are not capped.

For nearly five decades, the noneconomic damages cap was frozen at $250,000. That changed in 2022, when Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 35 into law. For cases not involving wrongful death, the cap started at $350,000 for claims resolved in 2023 and increases by $40,000 each year through 2033, when it reaches $750,000. In wrongful death cases, the cap started at $500,000 for claims resolved in 2023 and rises by $50,000 annually, reaching $1,000,000 in 2033. Beginning January 1, 2034, both caps adjust upward by 2% annually to account for inflation.

The cap that applies to your case is determined by when the case resolves — whether by judgment, arbitration award, or settlement — not when it was filed. Our attorneys account for these limits when evaluating the full value of a claim and building a strategy aimed at maximizing every available category of compensation.

Where Medical Malpractice Cases Are Filed in the Encino Area

Encino is located in Los Angeles County, which means most medical malpractice lawsuits arising from incidents in the area are filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. With multiple courthouses across the county, including the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Courthouse in Van Nuys, venue and local court procedures can have real practical effects on how a case moves forward.

Our attorneys have extensive experience litigating in Los Angeles County courts. We understand local procedures, work with investigators and medical experts familiar with the region, and are prepared to represent clients through every stage of the process from pre-litigation negotiations to a jury verdict, if that is what it takes.

What Financial Compensation Can Be Pursued?

Medical malpractice cases sometimes produce the largest verdicts and settlements in personal injury law. You may be entitled to both economic and non-economic damages under California law.

Economic damages may include medical bills, future medical expenses, funeral costs, lost wages, and lost earning capacity. Non-economic damages may include compensation for mental anguish, lost companionship, pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, lost consortium, and wrongful death losses.

Our attorneys aggressively pursue every category of compensation available and will not accept less than what your case is worth.

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Case Evaluation

Our Encino and Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers have years of experience representing injured patients and grieving families. No outcome can be guaranteed, but our track record of success — combined with our commitment to thorough preparation and aggressive advocacy — reflects how seriously we take every case we accept.

Call (818) 369-3270 today or contact our office online to schedule your free 15-minute consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Why Choose V&A Law Firm?

When medical care goes wrong, the consequences reach into every part of your life. At V&A Law Firm, we understand the physical, emotional, and financial weight that medical malpractice places on patients and families, and we take that weight seriously.

• Focused Legal Experience: We bring years of experience handling complex medical malpractice cases, with the skill to take on hospitals, insurance companies, and well-funded healthcare institutions.
• Personalized, Compassionate Support: You are not a case file. We take the time to understand your situation, explain your options clearly, and guide you through every step.
• Thorough Case Investigation: We work with qualified medical experts to analyze records, identify negligence, and build evidence-driven cases.
• Aggressive Advocacy: Whether negotiating a settlement or going to trial, we fight to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable.
• Multilingual Services: We serve clients in English, Spanish, and Farsi.
• No Fees Unless We Win: You owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Call (818) 369-3270 or contact our Los Angeles County law offices online to schedule your risk-free, free 15-minute consultation today.