Do I have a viable medical malpractice case considering the injury is a result of elective cosmetic surgery?

Medical Malpractice cases come down to a 'standard of care". In other words, did the doctor give you an acceptable level of care as compared to the rest of the medical community. If a medical mistake was made in an elective surgery, the standard of care still applies. Therefore, you may want to speak with a local medical malpractice attorney.

From a practical standpoint, I do not believe you'd have a viable legal claim. Even were your surgeon deemed thoroughly negligent, I do not think your damage model would be sufficiently large to economically justify pursuing a lawsuit. These cases cost tens of thousands of dollars to litigate. Plus the attorney must get paid. Therefore, a projected settlement must usually exceed $120,000 or so just to envision the possibility of the injured patient seeing a dime. Cases based primarily on disfigurement, particularly disfigurement that is hidden to the general public, are generally expected to achieve only modest awards from a jury. They are not usually anywhere big enough to overcome the case expenses and legal fees. So they are economically nonviable.

I would agree that the issue here is whether there was a breach in the standard of care for medical malpractice and you should contact a medmal attorney in your state to discuss, however, there may be another rout to take to get back the cost of the surgery if it was not performed properly or the result was not what you bargained for. It is a different type of lawsuit. I would not give up on this mess up simply because it may be too expensive to litigate. Just my 2 cents.

you could potentially have a malpractice claim if the doctor breached the standard of care for physicians in his specialty. Note that you will need an expert to testify as to the breach of standard of care which is inevitably expensive. You do mention a "unique technique" which does not sound standard that would have to be reviewed by an expert which may be your out of state specialist. Note that the three year statute of limitation started to run on the date of surgery this year. Nonetheless you should not wait. Contact me and I will give you referrals to some medical malpractice attorneys in the Puget Sound area that you can consult with.

Medical malpractice cases in the great State of Washington are governed by statutes. RCW 7.70. (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=7.70). The main question is usually whether the health care provider failed to follow the accepted standard of care in the field. RCW 7.70.030. There can also be causes of action for health care providers making promises they didn't fulfil, or acting without the informed consent of the patient. These cases are extremely difficult and require the testimony of an expert witness. Miller V. Jacoby, 102 Wn. App. 256 (2000). (You can read relevant cases at the MRSC website.) Doctors are trained to work cooperatively (unlike lawyers who are trained to be adversarial), so doctors are often reluctant to testify against each other. Doctors who are willing to testify as expert witness usually charge significant quantities of money to do so, and often must be flown in from out of State. Some law firms who are really good at medical malpractice cases in Washington State include the following: Chris Otorowski (http://www.medilaw.com/); Chemnick, Moen, Greenstreet (http://cmglaw.com/); and Fuller & Fuller (http://www.fullerlaw.com/). Only a small percentage of victims of medical malpractice make a claim, and of those that do, only about 20% ever get any money to compensate them. Nonetheless, sometimes justice requires assigning responsibility where it is due.