Skip to main content

Auburn Medical Malpractice Lawyer


You should be able to trust your medical care providers. After all, they’re the ones who’ll be operating on you, providing you with medical advice, and helping you manage your overall health. But if they betray that trust, your Auburn, CA medical malpractice lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve. At Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm, we’re ready to use our decades of legal experience to walk you through your next steps. Read on to see how a healthcare negligence lawyer can help, and contact us today.

Medical Malpractice Lawyer Auburn, CA

Medical care is expensive enough. Whether it’s a routine checkup or an intensive surgery, you’ll have to deal with a whole maze of payments, insurance, and (worst-case) denied claims. When your medical care provider fails to keep you safe – or fails to provide adequate care – you may be on the hook for even more bills just to get back to square one.

Unfortunately, your insurance provider may not be so generous if you need a second, or even third procedure to correct the mistakes of your first. And if this happens, you may have to pay entirely out of pocket. You already have to balance car payments, rent (or a mortgage) and your typical expenses. You don’t need this kind of financial pressure on top of all that, especially if you’re just trying to get better.

This is why your Auburn medical malpractice lawyer is such an important ally. They can investigate your injuries and your history of medical care to determine who is at fault, and what should have been done differently to keep you out of this situation. They can also fight against your insurance provider to make sure you get paid enough to cover any further medical procedures you may require.

When your medical negligence lawyer investigates a malpractice case, they can also make sure you’re getting compensated for any paychecks you missed out on during your recovery. By seeking financial damages with your legal team, you can get out from under your financial burdens, and get real closure after your inadequate medical care.

Why Experience Matters In Medical Malpractice Cases

There are many doctor malpractice lawyers out there, but only one Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm. Here’s how our experience sets us apart from the competition:

  • We have over four decades of combined experience. We know the best strategies for cases like yours, and we’ll help you through every step.
  • We’ve won millions of dollars for our clients. It’s all thanks to our dedicated case management and attention to detail.
  • Our personal injury experience includes medical malpractice, car accidents, and more. Many cases include multiple angles, and we’ll find the overlap.

If you’ve experienced an injury due to medical malpractice, we can help you find closure. Contact us today.

Contact Us Today

At Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm, we’re ready to use our decades of legal experience to help you, next. Get in touch with us today, and see how an Auburn medical malpractice lawyer from our team can make a difference.

Types Of Medical Malpractice Cases We Handle

Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Auburn, CaliforniaWhen a doctor, hospital, or healthcare provider fails to follow accepted standards of care, the consequences can be life-altering. Our Auburn medical malpractice lawyer represents individuals and families who have been affected by these mistakes and are seeking accountability. Below are the different types of medical malpractice and negligence cases we have experience handling, along with some strategies we may employ while building your claim.

Misdiagnosis And Delayed Diagnosis

A missed or delayed diagnosis can prevent a patient from receiving timely treatment. Conditions such as cancer, infections, heart attacks, and strokes often require prompt care to avoid worsening outcomes. When symptoms are dismissed or test results are misread, patients may lose valuable time. These cases focus on whether another reasonably careful provider would have recognized the signs earlier. Our team will review medical records and timelines to connect the delay to the harm you experienced.

Surgical Errors

Mistakes during surgery can lead to long-term injuries, additional procedures, or permanent damage. These cases may involve operating on the wrong body part, leaving surgical tools inside the body, or causing unnecessary harm to surrounding tissue. Surgical errors can occur in routine procedures as well as more involved operations. Our Auburn medical malpractice attorney will examine operative reports, post-surgical care, and follow-up treatment to show where the breakdown occurred and how it affected your recovery.

Medication Errors

Medication mistakes can happen at many points, including prescribing, dispensing, or administering drugs. Giving the wrong medication, the wrong dosage, or failing to account for known allergies can cause serious complications. These cases often involve hospitals, pharmacies, or individual providers. We focus on identifying where the error occurred and how it led to injury. Our injury attorneys will work to present this information clearly so your claim is supported by the facts.

Birth Injuries

Errors during pregnancy, labor, or delivery can affect both the parent and the child. Birth injury cases may involve lack of oxygen, improper use of delivery tools, or failure to respond to signs of distress. These injuries can require ongoing care and place emotional and financial strain on families. We approach these matters with care and attention, focusing on how the medical decisions made during delivery contributed to the outcome.

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia must be carefully administered and monitored. Too much anesthesia, too little, or failure to observe a patient’s vital signs can lead to brain injury, organ damage, or other serious harm. These cases often involve anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and surgical teams. Our Auburn medical malpractice attorneys review records related to dosage, monitoring, and response times to determine whether proper care was followed.

Hospital And Nursing Negligence

Hospitals and nursing facilities are responsible for maintaining safe environments and providing appropriate care. Falls, infections, pressure injuries, and failure to monitor patients can all form the basis of a malpractice claim. These cases may involve staffing issues, poor communication, or failure to follow basic care procedures. We’ll review all the relevant records and reports to support your case and show how the injury could have been avoided.

Medical malpractice claims are not about blaming healthcare providers for every bad outcome. They focus on situations where clear mistakes caused harm that should not have occurred. At Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm, we take the time to understand what happened, how it affected you, and what steps can be taken next. If you believe medical negligence played a role in your injury or a loved one’s condition, we encourage you to reach out. Contact us today to speak with a trusted member of our team and learn how we can help you seek justice and recovery.

Common Causes of Medical Malpractice

medical malpractice lawyer in Auburn, CAMedical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care and a patient is harmed as a result. These failures can happen in many different ways, and understanding the most common causes can help patients and their families recognize when something may have gone wrong.

Diagnostic Errors

Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are among the most frequent causes of medical malpractice claims. When a condition is missed or incorrectly identified, a patient may receive the wrong treatment or no treatment at all during a critical window. Common diagnostic failures include:

  • Misdiagnosis of serious conditions such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes, or infections where early intervention is essential to survival or recovery
  • Delayed diagnosis caused by a failure to order appropriate tests, follow up on abnormal results, or refer a patient to a specialist in a timely manner
  • Failure to consider a patient’s full medical history when evaluating symptoms, leading to an incomplete or inaccurate assessment
  • Misreading or misinterpreting test results, including lab work, imaging studies, or pathology reports

An Auburn, CA medical malpractice lawyer can help determine whether a diagnostic error fell below the accepted standard of care and caused measurable harm.

Surgical Errors

Operating room mistakes can have severe and lasting consequences for patients. While some surgical complications are known risks, others are the direct result of negligence. These include:

  • Wrong-site surgery, meaning operating on the incorrect body part or performing the wrong procedure entirely
  • Accidental damage to surrounding tissue, nerves, or organs during a procedure
  • Anesthesia errors, including administering too much or too little anesthesia or failing to monitor a patient’s response
  • Leaving surgical instruments or materials inside a patient after a procedure is completed
  • Inadequate post-operative monitoring that allows preventable complications to escalate

Medication Errors

Prescription and medication mistakes happen at multiple points in a patient’s care, from the prescribing physician to the dispensing pharmacist. Common errors include:

  • Prescribing the wrong medication or an incorrect dosage for a patient’s condition
  • Failing to account for known drug interactions that create dangerous side effects
  • Pharmacy dispensing errors where the wrong drug or dose is provided to a patient
  • Inadequate instructions about how and when to take a medication, leading to improper use
  • Prescribing medications to patients with known allergies that were documented in their medical record

Failure to Obtain Informed Consent

Patients have the right to understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives of any proposed treatment before agreeing to it. When a provider proceeds without properly informing the patient, it can form the basis of a malpractice claim. This includes:

  • Failing to disclose known risks of a procedure or medication that a reasonable patient would consider significant
  • Performing additional procedures during surgery that were not discussed or consented to in advance
  • Pressuring or rushing patients into decisions without providing adequate time or information to make an informed choice

Birth Injuries and Obstetric Negligence

Labor and delivery carry inherent risks, but some birth injuries are the direct result of medical error. These cases may involve:

  • Failure to recognize or respond to fetal distress during labor, leading to oxygen deprivation and permanent injury
  • Improper use of delivery instruments such as forceps or vacuum extractors that cause trauma to the infant
  • Delayed decisions to perform a necessary cesarean section when vaginal delivery poses a clear risk
  • Inadequate prenatal care that fails to identify or address complications in time to prevent harm

Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm works with injured patients and families throughout the Auburn area to investigate whether a provider’s actions fell short of acceptable medical standards.

Inadequate Follow-Up and Aftercare

A provider’s responsibility does not end when a procedure is complete. Failing to monitor a patient’s recovery, missing warning signs of complications, or not following up on referrals and test results can all cause a patient’s condition to worsen unnecessarily.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, medical errors remain a significant patient safety concern across healthcare settings in the United States. You can review current research through the AHRQ patient safety resources page.

Medical malpractice cases are among the most technically demanding personal injury claims, requiring detailed medical review and a clear understanding of professional standards. If you believe a healthcare provider’s error caused you harm, an Auburn, CA medical malpractice lawyer can help you evaluate what happened and explore your legal options. Reach out to the team at Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm to discuss your situation.

Auburn Medical Malpractice FAQ

medical malpractice lawyer in Auburn, CaliforniaMedical malpractice cases raise a lot of questions, and the answers are not always straightforward. Below are some of the most common questions people have when they suspect a healthcare provider’s error caused them harm.

What is medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care and that failure causes injury or death. The standard of care refers to what a reasonably competent provider in the same field would have done under similar circumstances. Not every bad medical outcome qualifies as malpractice. There must be a clear connection between the provider’s negligence and the harm that resulted. An Auburn, CA medical malpractice lawyer can help evaluate whether that connection exists in your situation.

How do I know if I have a valid medical malpractice claim?

A valid claim generally requires four elements: a provider-patient relationship existed, the provider deviated from the accepted standard of care, that deviation directly caused your injury, and you suffered measurable damages as a result. Proving all four requires medical records, expert review, and a detailed understanding of how similar cases are handled. Not every medical error meets this threshold, which is why a thorough case evaluation is an important first step before moving forward.

How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in California?

California generally requires medical malpractice claims to be filed within three years of the date of injury or one year from the date the patient discovered or reasonably should have discovered the injury, whichever comes first. There are exceptions for cases involving minors or fraudulent concealment by a provider. Missing the deadline typically bars a claim entirely, regardless of its merits. Acting sooner rather than later gives your legal team more time to gather evidence and build a complete case.

What damages can I recover in a medical malpractice case?

Recoverable damages typically fall into two categories. Economic damages cover measurable financial losses such as additional medical expenses, lost income, and future care costs. Non-economic damages address pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of quality of life. California places a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, though that cap has been adjusted in recent years. You can review the current limits through the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm helps injured patients throughout the Auburn area pursue the full range of damages available under California law.

What types of healthcare providers can be held liable?

Medical malpractice claims are not limited to physicians. Nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, pharmacists, dentists, and mental health providers can all be held liable when their actions fall below the accepted standard of care. Hospitals and healthcare systems may also face institutional liability when systemic failures, inadequate staffing, or improper credentialing contributed to a patient’s harm. Identifying all potentially responsible parties is an important part of building a complete and well-supported claim.

Do I need a medical expert to pursue a malpractice case?

In almost every medical malpractice case, yes. Expert testimony is typically required to establish what the standard of care was, how the provider deviated from it, and how that deviation caused the patient’s injuries. These experts are usually licensed practitioners in the same or a closely related field as the defendant. Building a credible expert foundation takes time, which is another reason why starting the legal process early gives your case the best possible foundation for success.

Medical malpractice cases are among the most demanding personal injury claims to pursue, but patients who have been harmed by provider negligence have real legal options worth exploring. If you believe a healthcare error affected your health or the health of someone you love, an Auburn, CA medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand what the process looks like and what your case may involve. Reach out to the team at Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm to take the first step.

Get To Know Our Team


James V. Choulos, Esq.

James V. Choulos, Esq.

Founding Partner

Our founding partner, James V. Choulos, has been practicing law since 1990. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Santa Clara University, he combines legal knowledge with a personal, client-focused approach to representation.

Learn More
Victor Tsoi

Victor Tsoi, Esq.

Partner

Victor Tsoi earned his J.D. in 2011 from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. With experience spanning personal injury, entertainment law, and business law, he’s committed to bringing a sense of calm to any legal storm.

Learn More

Start The Conversation


It all begins with reaching out. Call or message us today to request your free consultation, and a team member will be in touch shortly about next steps.

Where To Find Us

Our California firm serves clients across Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Auburn, the Bay Area, and the surrounding communities. Find an office near you, and give us a call today to set up a free case evaluation.

580 California St. 12th Floor,
San Francisco, CA 94104

415.433.8500

Office Hours

Mon- Fri | 8 AM–5 PM
Sat & Sun | Closed
Live Call Answering | 24/7

520 Broadway, Suite 200
Santa Monica, CA 90401

310-589-3963

Office Hours

Mon- Fri | 8 AM–5 PM
Sat & Sun | Closed
Live Call Answering | 24/7

11764 Inverness Way
Auburn, CA 95602

530.732.3005

Office Hours

Mon- Fri | 8 AM–5 PM
Sat & Sun | Closed
Live Call Answering | 24/7