Rachel O'Neal
Oregon Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Oregon Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Rachel O'Neal
About Rachel
Rachel O’Neal is an Oregon medical malpractice trial lawyer with 15 years of experience litigating medical negligence claims on behalf of patients and their families. Her practice has a particular emphasis on women’s health, obstetrical and gynecological malpractice, pelvic medicine, maternal injuries, and birth injuries affecting both mothers and babies, while encompassing serious medical malpractice cases across a broad range of medical specialties.
Rachel has represented patients in complex litigation against hospitals, medical clinics, physicians, surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, midwives, nurses, and other health care providers. She has recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for clients who have suffered serious and permanent injuries because of negligent medical care.
In 2020, Rachel obtained a $2.855 million jury verdict for a woman and her husband against a midwifery practice for failure to diagnose a fourth-degree obstetric perineal tear following childbirth. The verdict was recognized among the Top 20 Medical Malpractice Verdicts in the United States in 2020. Rachel was also recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in personal injury law in 2020.
A Particular Focus on Women’s Health, Pelvic Medicine, and Birth
Rachel has a particular interest in representing women and families in cases involving pregnancy, labor and delivery, birth injury, gynecology, urogynecology, and pelvic medicine. Her experience litigating these cases includes matters involving hysterectomy, pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence procedures, obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS), bowel and bladder injuries, pelvic floor injuries, surgical complications, and failures to timely recognize and treat postpartum and postoperative complications.
Rachel represents mothers who have been injured during pregnancy or childbirth as well as babies who have suffered serious birth injuries because of negligent medical care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery.
For Rachel, birth is not an unfamiliar or abstract subject. She is the mother of three children, all born at home, and was herself born at home. Her professional work has given her extensive experience examining the medical and legal issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, while her own life has given her a personal familiarity with birth, home birth, and midwifery care. Her experience as a mother also informs her understanding that a serious injury to a mother or baby rarely affects just one patient—it can change the course of an entire family’s life.
Experience Across Medical Malpractice
Rachel’s medical malpractice practice extends well beyond women’s health and birth injury. She has litigated cases involving failure to diagnose and delayed diagnosis of cancer, including breast, lung, prostate, and other cancers, as well as cases involving orthopedic injuries and nerve damage, injuries arising from spinal surgery, surgical errors, bowel and organ injuries, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism, infection and sepsis, and delayed diagnosis of other serious medical conditions.
Rachel evaluates medical malpractice cases based on the seriousness of the injury and the quality of the evidence, not simply the medical specialty involved.
Background and Professional Experience
Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2011 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Humanities from the University of West Florida. While still in law school, Rachel began working for an experienced Portland plaintiff’s attorney whose practice focused primarily on medical malpractice and serious personal injury litigation, giving her early exposure to the complexities of medical negligence cases before she became a lawyer.
Rachel’s court record reflects a longstanding medical malpractice practice, with medical negligence cases appearing throughout her career from her earliest years as an attorney through her current caseload. Medical malpractice is a highly specialized area of civil litigation requiring lawyers to understand complex medical records and terminology, work closely with medical experts, take depositions of physicians and other health care professionals, and litigate complicated questions involving medical causation and standards of care.
Throughout her legal career, Rachel has worked on the plaintiffs’ side of the bar, representing injured patients and families rather than hospitals, medical providers, or insurance companies.
Rachel is a member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice. She represents medical malpractice clients in Portland, Multnomah County, and throughout Oregon.
You deserve a trial lawyer Committed to your case
Over 15 years of experience
pursuing medical negligence cases in Oregon