Medical malpractice cases
When medical care causes harm
Understanding whether you or a family member has a viable medical malpractice claim is the first step. Mark Birmingham has spent 38 years on both sides of these cases — and can help you see yours clearly.
What is medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — a doctor, surgeon, hospital, nurse, or other licensed professional — fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure causes injury or death.
Not every bad outcome is malpractice. Medicine involves uncertainty, and patients can suffer serious harm even when care is delivered properly. What the law asks is whether the provider acted as a reasonably competent professional would have acted under the same circumstances.
That distinction — between an unavoidable complication and a preventable error — is exactly where 38 years of experience matters.
Common case types
Cases Mark Birmingham handles
Surgical errors
Wrong-site surgery, unintended organ damage, retained instruments, anesthesia errors, and post-operative negligence.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis
Failure to diagnose cancer, heart attack, stroke, infection, or other serious conditions in time to prevent serious harm.
Medication errors
Prescribing the wrong drug or dosage, dangerous drug interactions, and pharmacy dispensing errors.
Birth injuries
Injuries to mother or child during labor and delivery, including cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, and hypoxic brain damage.
Emergency room negligence
Failure to properly triage, evaluate, or treat patients presenting with serious symptoms in an emergency setting.
Wrongful death
When medical negligence results in the death of a patient, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim.
What must be proven
The four elements of a malpractice claim
California law requires that four elements be established to succeed in a medical malpractice case. Mark Birmingham evaluates each one carefully before advising any client to proceed.
Duty of care
A doctor-patient relationship existed, creating a legal duty for the provider to meet the standard of care.
Breach of that duty
The provider's conduct fell below what a reasonably competent professional would have done in the same situation.
Causation
The breach directly caused the patient's injury — not an underlying condition or an unavoidable complication.
Damages
The patient suffered measurable harm: physical injury, additional medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, or death.
The defense perspective advantage
30 years defending doctors — now working for patients
For three decades, Mark Birmingham represented hospitals, physicians, and medical groups. He knows how defense teams evaluate cases, what arguments they make, and where their strategies are vulnerable.
That experience is now entirely in your corner. When he reviews a potential claim, he sees it through both lenses simultaneously — which means he can give you an honest assessment of its strengths and weaknesses before you commit to anything.
"I spent 30 years learning how the defense thinks. That knowledge doesn't disappear when I'm sitting across the table from them."
— Mark Birmingham
California law
Time limits you need to know
California has strict deadlines for filing medical malpractice claims. Missing them can permanently bar your right to recover.
3 years from the date of injury
The general statute of limitations for medical malpractice in California, regardless of when you discovered the harm.
1 year from discovery
If you did not and could not reasonably have discovered the injury, the clock starts when you knew or should have known — but no later than 3 years from the act.
6 months for government entities
Claims against public hospitals or government-employed providers require a government tort claim within 6 months of the incident.
Different rules for minors
Special rules apply when the injured patient is a child. Do not assume the standard deadlines apply — contact us promptly.
Not sure if you have a case?
That uncertainty is exactly why the initial evaluation exists. Mark Birmingham will review what happened, tell you honestly whether he sees a viable claim, and explain what the path forward would look like — at no charge and with no obligation.
Request a confidential evaluationNo charge. No obligation. No attorney-client relationship is formed by contacting us.