Stephen A. Barnes, MD, JD, FACLM

About Dr. Barnes

Dr. Steve Barnes is the founding partner of Barnes & Associates. He is both a board-certified (and re-certified) general surgeon/surgical oncologist and a licensed attorney practicing in Texas, New Mexico, and Montana. Dr. Barnes has lived in Houston since 1997, when he moved to Houston after completing his surgical residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Barnes developed a busy surgical practice both at Baylor College of Medicine and in private practice. He then completed law school in 2007. Prior to going to law school in 2004, Dr. Barnes gained litigation experience on both the defense and plaintiff sides of medical malpractice as a physician expert witness. And since law school, Dr. Barnes has been a full-spectrum trial attorney whether that be in trials, settlements, consultations, arbitrations, mediations, or other innovative uses of his dual-degree background. These cases include patients who have suffered from devastating injuries such as anoxic-hypoxic brain damage, spinal cord injury and paralysis, botched surgeries, botched nursing care, and permanent injury or death to the newborn or unborn child. And these cases have involved millions of dollars of recovery to Dr. Barnes' clients. That is real money, not subject to appeals or reconsideration.

Dr. Barnes' legal practice extends beyond medical malpractice. Dr. Barnes also has trial experience in Drug and Medical Device Litigation, Personal Injury, Fraud, Deceptive Trade Practices, and Deceptive Insurance Practices. Dr. Barnes has also represented individuals in real property disputes and other personal and professional matters. He has acted, and currently acts, as counsel for several Texas companies including start-ups. Thus, Dr. Barnes also practices in the fields of business organization and transactions, contract law, and intellectual property law (including patents and trademarks). In fact, Dr. Barnes wrote his first patent application, which was accepted and approved, within months of beginning his legal career.

Dr. Barnes' experience as an "insider" in the world of surgery and medicine gives the firm an advantage when crafting innovative claims and litigation strategies that go beyond the routine medical malpractice lawsuit. That's because Dr. Barnes knows from personal experience how doctors, nurses, and hospitals work. Examples of such innovation include the work Dr. Barnes has done on the Texas Pattern Jury Charges (instructions received by a jury before deliberating on a case), formulating a negligence per se approach to nurse and hospital defendants who do not adhere to Texas rules and regulations, a pursuit of the unauthorized practice of medicine or nursing, and direct hospital liability based on non-existent, faulty, or unenforced policies and procedures.

Other examples of "thinking outside the box" that Dr. Barnes has developed include the use of injunctions (when a Court orders a Defendant to stop an activity) to protect not only clients but also Texas citizens from future bad acts. This goes beyond the typical lawsuit, which simply demands damages (money) due from past bad acts. Typically, the firm asks for an injunction when there is an ongoing risk to client or public safety. This approach can even go so far as to ask the Judge to shut the negligent company down.

Dr. Barnes still cares for Texas patients, and he still utilizes his surgical and skills overseas on charitable missions, including missions to Guatemala and El Salvador where he has repaired cleft lips, cleft palates, pediatric hernias, and managed a charitable medical clinic as the sole physician in attendance.

Dr. Barnes is the lead author of both peer-reviewed surgical journal articles and medical textbook chapters. He has presented both his surgical and legal work at local, national and international meetings. Dr. Barnes is a Fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine and is a member of many medical organizations including the Southwestern Surgical Congress, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the State Bar of New Mexico, the State Bar of Montana, the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association and Foundation, and the Pound Civil Justice Institute.

Dr. Barnes is admitted to practice before Texas State Courts, New Mexico State Courts, Montana State Courts, the Southern District of Texas Federal Court, the Federal Fifth Circuit Court, and he has consulted with other attorneys nationwide including as pro hac vice in several other states. That means that wherever you are as a client, Dr. Barnes can help.

Having grown up in Wisconsin and Ohio, Dr. Barnes loves all outdoor sports, including skiing, hunting, and fishing, and travels north often in pursuit of such activities.

But Houston is where Dr. Barnes and his wife Amy make their home.

Dr. Barnes and his wife Amy in Houston