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Medical Malpractice Help in Rawlins
If you or someone you love was hurt by a doctor, nurse or hospital in Rawlins, you may be dealing with new medical bills, lost work and worry about what comes next.
The sections below set out the Wyoming law that applies to malpractice claims and explain how to reach, through needanattorney.net, an attorney in our network who handles them.
What Counts as Medical Malpractice in Wyoming
The statute that sets the filing deadline, W.S. § 1-3-107, speaks of an act, error or omission in rendering licensed or certified professional or health care services, and that is the conduct a malpractice claim is built on.
Wyoming law defines fault to include acts or omissions that are a proximate cause of injury and are in any measure negligent (W.S. § 1-1-109), so a claim has to connect what the provider did or failed to do to the harm.
A bad result alone is not enough. The question is whether the care departed from accepted practice and whether that departure, rather than the underlying illness or a known risk, caused the harm.
Kinds of Cases That Need a Malpractice Attorney
Malpractice claims come in many forms. The ones below are common, and each depends on linking a failure in care to the injury.
Diagnostic errors
When a provider fails to order the right test, misreads a result or dismisses symptoms, the harm may come from lost time. A claim asks whether an earlier diagnosis was reasonably available and what difference it would have made to treatment.
Surgical errors
A surgical complication is not always a mistake, but a wrong site procedure, a retained object or an avoidable injury during an operation may be. The claim looks at what was done and at what caused the harm.
Wrong drug or wrong dose
A prescription or dosing mistake may involve a physician, a pharmacy or a hospital staff member. A claim looks at who made the error and what it caused.
Harm to a mother or baby at birth
Birth injury claims examine monitoring, decisions about delivery and care after the baby is born, and ask whether any departure from accepted practice caused the harm.
How Long You Have to File in Wyoming
The deadline is measured from the date of the alleged act, error or omission, and the period is two years (W.S. § 1-3-107).
The discovery rule in W.S. § 1-3-107 is an exception, not a way around the clock: the claimant must establish that the error was not reasonably discoverable, or was not discovered despite due diligence, within the two years.
W.S. § 1-3-107 adds six months when the act, error or omission comes to light in the second year of the two year period.
Children and people with a disability are treated differently in W.S. § 1-3-107: a minor has until the eighth birthday or two years from the act, error or omission, whichever is greater, and a plaintiff with another legal disability has one year after it is removed.
Wrongful Death After a Medical Error
A wrongful death action may be brought when a death is caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default that would have entitled the patient to sue had the patient lived (W.S. § 1-38-101).
A wrongful death representative, not the family members individually, brings the action (W.S. § 1-38-102).
The wrongful death clock is two years from the death itself (W.S. § 1-38-102); a properly filed action to appoint the representative tolls it until thirty days after the appointment order (W.S. § 1-38-103).
Damages in a wrongful death case can include pecuniary and exemplary damages, and each beneficiary may prove loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort (W.S. § 1-38-102).
What the Wyoming Constitution Says About Damage Limits
A malpractice plaintiff in Wyoming is not held to a statutory damages cap: Wyo. Const. art. 10, § 4 provides that no law shall limit the amount of damages for causing injury or death.
The constitution permits a general law requiring alternative dispute resolution or review by a medical review panel before a suit against a health care provider (Wyo. Const. art. 10, § 4); an attorney can check whether that affects a particular claim.
What a claim is worth depends on the injury, the proof and the allocation of fault, not on a statutory ceiling.
Shared Fault in Wyoming
A claimant is not barred from recovering if the claimant’s own fault is not more than fifty percent of the total fault of all actors, and any damages are reduced in proportion to the claimant’s share (W.S. § 1-1-109).
Under W.S. § 1-1-109, a defendant pays in proportion to its fault, and the fact finder considers every actor whose fault was a proximate cause of the injury, party or not.
Because fault can be assigned to providers who are not defendants, identifying every provider involved in the care early matters.
If the Provider Is a Public Entity
When care came from a public employee, W.S. § 1-39-110 allows a claim against the governmental entity for medical malpractice by its employed health care providers.
A written, itemized claim is required first: W.S. § 1-39-113 asks for it within two years of the act, error or omission, with the time, place and circumstances of the injury, the claimant’s name and address, and the amount demanded.
One year from the filing of the claim is the deadline to sue (W.S. § 1-39-114), and for the providers listed in W.S. § 1-39-110 the limit is $1,000,000, a figure that differs from the general limits in W.S. § 1-39-118.
Choosing the County to File In
Where to file depends on the facts. W.S. § 1-5-109 allows the county where the claim arose or where the defendant resides or may be summoned, and for a Rawlins claim Carbon County is often one of them.
Courts and Hospitals Near Rawlins
Carbon County is the county the Census Bureau assigns to Rawlins. For Carbon County, the Wyoming Judicial Branch lists a district court in Rawlins, part of the Second Judicial District, at 415 West Pine Street, Rawlins, WY 82301. The Wyoming Department of Health trauma center list shows Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in Rawlins as a Community Trauma Hospital. Ask the hospital’s records office for your complete chart and itemized bill, and note which doctors and nurses were involved.
Speak With a Rawlins Malpractice Attorney
A short written account of what happened, with the names of the providers and the dates, gives an attorney a useful starting point, even if you are missing some records.
The form on this page sends your details to an attorney in our network who handles medical malpractice claims in Wyoming, so you can talk through what happened and what your options are.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I was partly at fault?
You can recover if your fault is not more than fifty percent of the total, and damages are reduced by your share (W.S. § 1-1-109).
Where is a malpractice lawsuit from Rawlins filed?
W.S. § 1-5-109 allows either county, the one where the claim arose or the one where the defendant resides or may be summoned. Carbon County is often one of them for a Rawlins claim.
What if the patient was a minor when the injury happened?
A minor has until the eighth birthday or two years from the care if that is later (W.S. § 1-3-107).
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in Wyoming?
The general period is two years from the alleged act, error or omission (W.S. § 1-3-107); a claim may be started up to two years after discovery if the problem was not reasonably discoverable.
Does Wyoming have a discovery rule for malpractice?
W.S. § 1-3-107 has a discovery exception, and a discovery in the second year adds six months to the period.
Who can bring a wrongful death claim in Wyoming?
Two years after the death (W.S. § 1-38-102), and the action is brought by the wrongful death representative for the beneficiaries.
Does Wyoming limit what I can recover for medical malpractice?
There is no statutory cap: Wyo. Const. art. 10, § 4 bars a law limiting the amount of damages for injury or death.
Other Pages That May Help
If the care happened elsewhere in Wyoming, these pages may be a better starting point.
