When Medicine Fails, Finding the Truth Matters.
When patients seek medical care, they place their trust in physicians, nurses, hospitals, and healthcare professionals. They expect that symptoms will be recognized, diagnoses will be made accurately, surgeries will be performed safely, medications will be prescribed thoughtfully, and accepted standards of care will be followed. Most of the time, that trust is well placed. But when preventable medical errors occur, the consequences can be devastating. A delayed diagnosis. A missed warning sign. A surgical mistake. A medication error. A failure to act when time matters most. In a matter of hours—or even minutes—a preventable error can permanently alter a life or take it altogether.
At Petersen & Petersen, we represent patients and families whose lives have been changed by medical negligence. We investigate complex medical cases with one objective: to determine what happened, why it happened, and whether it could have been prevented.
Every Bad Outcome Is Not Medical Malpractice
Medicine is complicated. Even when healthcare professionals provide excellent care, complications sometimes occur. Not every unexpected outcome is negligence. The law requires something more. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to exercise the degree of care, skill, and judgment that a reasonably careful provider would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances—and that failure causes injury. Determining whether that occurred requires far more than reading a medical chart. It requires understanding the medicine, reconstructing the timeline, consulting independent medical experts, and following the evidence wherever it leads.
We Handle Complex Medical Negligence Cases
Petersen & Petersen represents patients and families in cases involving:
- Failure to diagnose cancer, stroke, heart attack, sepsis, and other life-threatening conditions
- Delayed diagnosis and delayed treatment
- Surgical negligence
- Medication and prescription errors
- Emergency department negligence
- Hospital and nursing negligence
- Wrong-site and wrong-procedure surgery
- Failure to obtain informed consent
- Anesthesia errors
- Failure to order appropriate diagnostic testing
- Failure to consult specialists
- Failure to monitor deteriorating patients
- Birth injuries and obstetrical negligence
- Bariatric and gastric bypass complications
- Defective medical devices
- Wrongful death resulting from medical negligence
Every investigation begins with the same question: Could this injury have been prevented?
The Medical Record Is No Longer the Whole Story
For generations, medical malpractice litigation began with a simple assumption:
Obtain the medical records.
Review the chart.
Follow the timeline.
The chart was considered the story. Today, that assumption no longer holds. Modern healthcare exists inside sophisticated electronic systems that generate far more information than appears on a printed medical record. Electronic health records contain audit trails, metadata, revision histories, secure messaging, access logs, archived information, and digital footprints documenting how care was delivered and how documentation changed over time.
The printed chart is no longer the complete record. It is only a report generated from a much larger system. Sometimes the most important evidence never appears on the page.
Looking Beneath the Surface
At Petersen & Petersen, we investigate not only the care that was provided—but also the electronic systems that document it. When appropriate, we pursue court-ordered inspections of live electronic health record systems to determine whether critical information exists beyond what was produced during discovery. Those inspections have uncovered evidence that otherwise would have remained hidden, including electronic records, audit information, and system data unavailable through traditional medical record requests. As healthcare technology evolves, understanding how records are created, modified, stored, and retrieved has become as important as understanding the medicine itself. Because the truth increasingly lives beneath the printed chart.
Nationally Recognized Leadership
Complex medical negligence litigation requires more than legal experience. It requires an understanding of medicine, healthcare systems, and the rapidly evolving technology that now documents patient care. One of Petersen & Petersen’s founding partners has earned national recognition for work involving electronic health record discovery, digital evidence, and healthcare data integrity. Through published scholarship, national presentations, participation in healthcare technology initiatives, and court-ordered inspections of live electronic health record systems, the firm’s work has contributed to the evolving discussion surrounding transparency and accountability in modern healthcare.
That experience benefits every client we represent. Because today’s medical malpractice cases often depend not only upon what the records say—but also upon understanding what the records may not reveal.
Preparing Every Case for Trial
Medical malpractice litigation is among the most demanding areas of civil practice. These cases require significant resources, nationally respected medical experts, detailed investigation, and attorneys willing to challenge large hospitals, healthcare systems, insurers, and nationally recognized defense experts. At Petersen & Petersen, we prepare every case with the expectation that it may ultimately be decided by a jury. We believe careful preparation produces better outcomes, whether through settlement or trial.
When Families Need Answers
Many of our clients come to us with the same questions:
Was this preventable?
Did someone make a mistake?
Could more have been done?
Those questions deserve thoughtful answers—not assumptions. Our responsibility is to investigate the medicine, analyze the evidence, consult independent experts, and help families understand whether accepted standards of care were violated and what legal options may exist. If you believe you or someone you love has suffered serious injury because of medical negligence, we invite you to contact Petersen & Petersen for a confidential consultation. There are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.
The First Story Is Rarely the Full Story.
Medicine is complex. Electronic health records are more complex still. The printed chart rarely tells the complete story. We investigate the care. We investigate the technology. We investigate the evidence. Because accountability begins with understanding everything that happened—not just what appears on the page.
We Dig Deeper.