Medical Malpractice
When the people trusted to heal you cause permanent harm, accountability demands the same level of precision and expertise they used in treating you.
Medical Malpractice
Michigan's medical malpractice law requires that a qualified medical expert testify that the defendant deviated from the accepted standard of care. Getting that expert—and getting them right—is the difference between a case that reaches a jury and one that never gets to trial.
Medical malpractice is the most technically demanding category of personal injury litigation. Michigan law imposes procedural requirements—including a mandatory affidavit of merit—that must be satisfied before a lawsuit can proceed. The affidavit requires a qualified medical professional to certify, under oath, that the defendant's conduct fell below the applicable standard of care and caused the plaintiff's injury. Filing without a properly executed affidavit results in dismissal. Filing with the wrong expert results in dismissal. Getting this right from day one is not optional.
Medical malpractice defendants—physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, hospitals, and health systems—carry institutional defense resources built to minimize claims and outlast plaintiffs who aren't prepared for the duration and complexity of this litigation. They retain experts who specialize in testifying for the defense. They deploy risk management teams before suit is even filed. Matching that preparation requires an attorney who has done this work before and understands what it takes to take a malpractice case to verdict.
Our medical malpractice practice handles surgical errors, misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose, medication errors, birth injuries, anesthesia negligence, and hospital and nursing home negligence claims. Every case begins with a complete medical record review and independent expert consultation before any filing decision is made—because the quality of the initial expert assessment determines the quality of the entire case.
Professional Standards of Care
Medical malpractice is not about a bad outcome. It is about a breach of the duty a licensed medical professional owes every patient—to perform at the level of care that a reasonably competent practitioner in the same specialty would provide under the same circumstances.
The "standard of care" is the central legal concept in every medical malpractice case. It is not defined by perfection—medicine involves uncertainty, and bad outcomes occur without negligence. The standard of care is defined by what a reasonably competent physician, surgeon, or healthcare provider in the same specialty, with the same training, would have done under the same or similar circumstances. When a provider's conduct falls below that standard and causes injury, the law provides accountability.
Breach of duty in practice: Standard of care violations take many forms. A surgeon who operates on the wrong site violates the standard. A physician who fails to order a diagnostic test that a competent practitioner would have ordered in light of the patient's presenting symptoms has breached the duty. A nurse who administers a medication to which the patient's chart clearly documented an allergy has violated the standard. An obstetrician who delays a necessary C-section in the face of documented fetal distress has breached the duty owed to both mother and child.
Establishing the standard through expert testimony: Michigan law requires that the plaintiff's standard of care expert be a licensed health professional who practices or has recently practiced in the same specialty as the defendant, and who is qualified by training and experience to offer an opinion on the applicable standard. Selecting the right expert—one with the credentials, the communication skills, and the willingness to withstand intensive cross-examination—is among the most critical decisions in every malpractice case.
Hospital and institutional liability: Hospitals are not immune from malpractice liability simply because the negligent provider was a credentialed physician. Hospitals can be held liable for negligent credentialing—granting privileges to a physician with a documented history of incompetence. They can be held liable for systemic failures in protocols, staffing, and supervision that create the conditions for individual provider error. And they can be held vicariously liable for the negligence of employed nursing staff and other employees whose actions caused patient harm.
The Affidavit of Merit Process
Michigan's mandatory affidavit of merit requirement is a procedural gatekeeping mechanism that filters out unmeritorious malpractice claims before they burden the court system. It also filters out cases where plaintiffs chose the wrong attorney—one who doesn't understand the requirement or doesn't take it seriously.
Under MCL 600.2912d, a plaintiff filing a medical malpractice lawsuit must attach an affidavit of merit signed by a health professional who meets specific qualification standards. The affidavit must contain: (1) the applicable standard of practice or care; (2) the opinion of the signing expert that the standard was breached; (3) the actions that should have been taken or omitted to comply with the standard; and (4) the opinion that the breach caused the plaintiff's injury, loss, or death.
Qualification requirements for the signing expert: The expert must be a licensed health professional who specializes—or has specialized within the previous five years—in the same specialty as the defendant whose conduct is at issue. A general surgeon cannot provide an affidavit of merit in a case against a cardiologist. A physician who retired from the specialty ten years ago may not qualify. These requirements are strictly enforced, and a defective affidavit results in dismissal of the entire complaint.
The notice of intent requirement: Before filing suit, Michigan law also requires service of a Notice of Intent on each defendant (MCL 600.2912b). The Notice of Intent must contain the same substantive information as the affidavit of merit and must be served at least 182 days before filing. This 182-day period runs concurrent with the 2-year statute of limitations, which means the deadline for service of notice can arrive before the filing deadline has expired—a trap for attorneys unfamiliar with the timing requirements.
Why this matters for your case: The affidavit of merit requirement means every medical malpractice case begins with an expert review before any filing decision is made. We conduct a complete medical record review in consultation with a qualified expert before advising any client to pursue a malpractice claim. If the expert review does not support the claim, we tell you that—before you invest further in litigation that will be dismissed. If it does support the claim, you know from day one that your case is grounded in qualified expert opinion that will survive the procedural gauntlet Michigan has erected.
Recovering from Systemic Failure
Behind every surgical error, every misdiagnosis, every medication mistake is a human being whose trust in a medical professional was violated. Recovery—financial and personal—requires accountability for the full scope of what was taken.
Surgical errors: Wrong-site surgery, retained surgical instruments, intraoperative nerve or organ damage, and anesthesia errors are among the most serious and most clearly negligent categories of surgical malpractice. These cases often involve clear liability—the harm is documented in the operative report, the deviation from standard surgical protocol is evident from the records, and the causation link between the error and the injury is direct. They also frequently involve catastrophic damages, particularly when the error results in permanent disability, organ loss, or death.
Failure to diagnose: Delayed or missed diagnosis is the most common category of medical malpractice. When a physician fails to order appropriate diagnostic testing, fails to refer to a specialist, or dismisses symptoms that a competent practitioner would have investigated, and the patient suffers harm from the progression of an untreatable-at-discovery condition—cancer, cardiac disease, stroke—the failure to diagnose becomes actionable. These cases require expert testimony that the defendant's diagnostic workup fell below the standard of care and that earlier diagnosis would have produced a materially better outcome.
Medication errors: Prescribing contraindicated medications, incorrect dosing, failure to review for drug interactions, and dispensing errors at the pharmacy level all constitute actionable negligence when they cause patient harm. Electronic medical records have not eliminated medication errors—in many cases they have introduced new opportunities for them—and when a healthcare system's technology failures contribute to patient harm, the institutional liability is as important as the individual provider's.
Damages in malpractice cases: Michigan imposes a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases (currently adjusted annually for inflation), but economic damages—past and future medical expenses, lost earning capacity, and cost of long-term care—are uncapped. In catastrophic malpractice cases involving permanent disability, the economic damages frequently dwarf the non-economic cap. We retain qualified economic experts and life-care planners to document the full scope of economic loss that will accompany the plaintiff for the rest of their life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Michigan medical malpractice claims — what you need to know
Medical Malpractice FAQ
Medical malpractice claims carry procedural requirements that do not exist in standard personal injury cases — and failing to satisfy them means losing your claim before it begins.
Unlike a car accident or slip and fall case, Michigan medical malpractice claims require:
- Affidavit of merit: A signed statement from a qualified medical expert (meeting specialty requirements under MCL 600.2912d) filed with the complaint, attesting that the standard of care was breached
- Notice of intent: A 182-day notice period under MCL 600.2912b before a lawsuit can be filed, giving the defendant an opportunity to review and respond
- Expert testimony at trial: Unlike most injury cases, lay witness testimony is generally insufficient — establishing breach of the standard of care requires qualified expert opinion at every stage
- Damages cap: Non-economic damages (pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment) are capped by statute, with a higher cap for certain severe injury categories
These procedural requirements exist specifically to screen out weak claims — but they also create traps for victims with valid claims who don't understand them. Retaining counsel early is essential.
The affidavit of merit is a sworn statement from a qualified medical expert that must accompany every Michigan medical malpractice complaint. Without it, the case is dismissed.
Under MCL 600.2912d, the affidavit must:
- Be executed by a health professional who practices or has practiced in the same specialty as the defendant
- State that the affiant has reviewed the relevant medical records
- State the applicable standard of care and how the defendant's conduct deviated from it
- State that the deviation caused the plaintiff's injury
The specialty matching requirement is strictly enforced — an affidavit from a general practitioner cannot support a claim against a cardiologist. Identifying and retaining the right expert early is one of the most important steps in a Michigan medical malpractice case, and it is one of the primary reasons these cases require experienced legal counsel before the notice period begins.
The standard statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims in Michigan is two years from the date of the negligent act — but the applicable deadline in your case depends on the specific facts.
Michigan's medical malpractice limitations rules are among the most complex in personal injury law:
- Discovery rule: If the injury was not and could not reasonably have been discovered until after it occurred, the limitations period may begin when the injury was or should have been discovered — but the absolute outer limit is six years from the negligent act
- Fraudulent concealment: If the provider concealed the negligent act, the limitations period may be tolled
- Minor claimants: Special tolling rules apply for minors, but they are subject to maximum caps
- 182-day notice: The notice of intent must be served before filing suit, and service of the notice tolls the limitations period during the notice period
Yes. Michigan caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, but economic damages — medical expenses, lost wages, future care costs — are not capped and can be substantial.
Under MCL 600.1483, non-economic damages (pain, suffering, disability, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of companionship) are subject to annual indexed caps. There are two tiers:
- Standard cap: Applies to most medical malpractice cases
- Higher cap: Applies when the plaintiff has suffered specific severe categories of injury, including: loss of a body system or organ, permanent loss of a vital bodily function, permanent serious disfigurement, or death
Economic damages — including past and future medical expenses, lost earnings, the cost of ongoing care identified in a life-care plan, and the economic value of household services the injured person can no longer perform — are not subject to any cap. In catastrophic malpractice cases, economic damages often dwarf the non-economic cap and represent the primary recovery.
Not every bad medical outcome is malpractice — but many medical injuries that patients accept as "just one of those things" are the result of actionable negligence. The distinction requires a medical-legal evaluation.
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider's conduct falls below the standard of care — what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done under the same or similar circumstances. Common forms include:
- Failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis of a condition that a reasonable physician should have identified
- Surgical errors — wrong-site surgery, retained instruments, organ or nerve damage from improper technique
- Medication errors — wrong drug, wrong dose, known contraindication
- Failure to order indicated tests or properly interpret results
- Inadequate informed consent — failure to disclose known risks of a procedure
- Premature discharge or failure to monitor known complications
If you suffered a serious injury following medical treatment and believe something went wrong, a confidential legal consultation — with your medical records reviewed by counsel with access to qualified medical experts — is the only reliable way to evaluate whether you have a claim. You do not need to know for certain before calling.