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Medical mistakes injure or kill hundreds of thousands in the United States every year. Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, hospital, or medical provider is negligent and hurts or kills a patient. If you or a loved one has suffered harm because of a medical error, the experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers at Galfand Berger LLP can help.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when doctors, hospitals, or other health care providers fail to follow their own professional standards and cause injury or death.
What are the Most Common Types of Medical Mistakes?
The most common types of medical mistakes include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Birth injuries
- Failure to treat
The experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Galfand Berger LLP have seen a wide range of medical mistakes, including the following:
- Failure to call a Code Blue in time. Our client’s heart stopped while she was at the hospital. The hospital delayed in responding to this life-threatening emergency until 30-minutes had passed. By the time our client was revived, she had suffered severe and irreparable brain injury. Galfand Berger LLP obtained a confidential multi-million dollar settlement in this hotly contested medical malpractice case.
- Failure to diagnose a paralyzing infection. Our client obtained treatment at a medical facility for bone fractures suffered after a fall. The attending physician sent our client home without diagnosing or treating our client’s signs and symptoms of a severe infection. Because of his doctor’s negligence, our client suffered major complications including long-term paralysis. Galfand Berger LLP filed a lawsuit and recovered $1.3 million on behalf of our injured client.
Who can be Held Liable for Medical Malpractice?
Health care professionals may make mistakes during the testing, diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients. Medical malpractice is a kind of personal injury law that seeks to hold health care professionals accountable when they have been negligent in their duties and have harmed patients. Professionals and institutions potentially liable for medical malpractice include the following:
- Doctors
- Hospitals
- Surgical Centers
- Nursing Homes
- Aides and technicians
- Psychiatrists
- Dentists
- Other health care workers
Filing a lawsuit against negligent parties can accomplish three important goals:
Provide financial assistance to injured patients or their survivors, seek justice by holding negligent parties accountable for their actions, and deter negligent actions to prevent harm to others in the future.
What Laws Govern Medical Malpractice Law?
State law typically governs medical malpractice matters. Each state dictates its own time limits and deadlines for filing malpractice claims. In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two years. To preserve their right to recover damages, injured people or their estates must file a claim within two years.
Do I Waive My Right to File a Medical Malpractice Claim If I Sign a Consent Form?
Injured patients who sign a consent form do not waive their right to file a medical malpractice claim. They may still recover damages if they can show that their health care provider was negligent and that negligence caused the patient’s injury.
Consent forms typically include language stating that the health care provider has given patients information about their treatment options, the patients reviewed the information, and they have willingly given their consent to the specific treatment they have chosen. The information on the form usually includes the following:
- Diagnosis
- Name and purpose of treatment
- Risks and benefits of treatment
- Risks and benefits of alternative treatments
However, signing a consent form does not always excuse health care providers or institutions from negligence. Injured patients who have any questions regarding the legal implications of signing a waiver should seek professional guidance from an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.
How can I Prove Medical Malpractice?
Many times, patients or their loved ones know that a health care provider made a mistake, but they are not quite sure how to prove it. To prove medical malpractice, patients must be able to show the following:
- The health care provider had a legal duty to provide care or treatment for them.
- That health care provider breached that duty because they failed to provide the patient with the appropriate level of care that another health care worker would have legally provided.
- The breach of duty caused the patient to suffer injury.
- The patient experienced significant monetary, physical, and/or emotional damages because of the injury.
Proving medical malpractice requires legal experience and investigative skill because doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, surgical centers, and insurance companies employ a large staff of lawyers to support their side of the story. Their goal is to prevent or minimize any claim that an individual patient may attempt to make. Arguments made by opposing lawyers or insurance companies may include the following:
- The doctor or institution did not violate the standard of care.
- If there was a violation of the standard of care, it did not cause the injury.
- The patient did not endure any significant financial or emotional harm from the injury.
Patients harmed through no fault of their own can level the playing field and improve their chances of filing a successful medical malpractice claim by enlisting the help of Galfand Berger LLP.
How Will a Lawyer Begin Investigating My Medical Malpractice Case?
A lawyer will begin investigating a medical malpractice case by speaking with you and your family about what you think went wrong. The attorney will review medical records or other documents that you have, and may have to obtain additional records as part of the initial investigation. Before filing any lawsuit, a lawyer will need a medical expert to certify that, in the expert’s opinion, malpractice occurred.
Medical negligence lawsuits are typically quite complex and lengthy, requiring extensive reviews of records, research of medical literature, and interviews with medical experts. Galfand Berger LLP is experienced in representing victims of medical malpractice and are available anytime to answer questions about the process and review cases at no charge.
Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Galfand Berger LLP are Committed to Helping People Harmed by Medical Mistakes
Thousands of patients suffer harm each year due to the negligence of health care providers. The Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers at Galfand Berger LLP are committed to helping innocent individuals harmed by medical mistakes. We work hard to ensure that patients and their families uncover the truth about the circumstances surrounding their injuries. To schedule a free consultation, call us at 800-222-8792 or contact us online. From our offices in Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Reading, Pennsylvania, we proudly serve clients throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including Allentown and Harrisburg.