PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYERS

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia errors may be the result of negligence by doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other medical staff who assist in administering anesthetic drugs.

Types of Anesthesia

• General anesthesia — renders a patient unconscious
• Spinal and epidural anesthesia — injected into the spinal cord and most commonly used during childbirth
• Local anesthesia — numbs a specific part of the body
• Dissociative anesthesia — creates a trance-like state
• Regional anesthesia — numbs larger areas of the body

Common Errors Include:

• Administering too much or too little of a drug
• Improperly incubating the patient
• Failing to establish intravenous access for a patient
• Failing to monitor a patient’s vital signs while anesthetized
• Waiting too long to administer anesthesia
• Administering the wrong type of anesthesia drug
• Failing to prevent interactions with other medications
• Failing to monitor a patient or to properly administer oxygen during surgery
• Failing to instruct patients on limiting food or liquid intake prior to surgery
• Administering anesthetic drugs to which the patient is allergic
• Common Injuries and Outcomes of Anesthesia Negligence
• Brain injury
• Dizziness and confusion
• Heart problems
• Brain or organ damage
• Blood pressure complications
• Spinal cord injury
• Strokes and seizures
• Larynx damage
• Serious allergic reaction
• Respiratory problems
• Blood clots
• Coma or death

Death Cases

“Wrongful Death” - Lawsuits filed following a person’s death are generally called ‘wrongful death’ actions. In fact, when someone dies as a result of the carelessness of a doctor, nurse or hospital, whether it be in the hospital, a nursing home, or at home following care, their heirs and ‘survivors’ have two types of claims. One is a ‘survival action,’ which seeks damages personal to the individual who has just died, such as the pain and suffering the victim endured between the time of injury and the time of death. The other is a ‘wrongful death’ claim, which is filed to benefit certain close relatives and to compensate them for the loss of their husband, wife, parent, child or other relative.

Conceptually, a survival action simply substitutes the estate for the person who has died to recover the decedent’s losses, while a wrongful death action is generally filed for the benefit of dependents and young children to recover for the loss of guidance, parenting, and services customarily supplied by a parent, though others may have a claim. Although wrongful death actions are very similar to suits brought on behalf of live victims, there are some important differences and it is important to hire an attorney who knows and understands the procedural rules that apply so that all aspects of the claim may proceed.

Whether it is a malpractice case involving the death of a baby because of birth injuries, or an adult due to a misdiagnosis of cancer, a heart or vascular condition, a surgical error, or the misreading of an X-Ray, CT scan, or pathology slide, estates have to be raised and the proper representatives designated to be able to be able to pursue a claim. Consultation with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer is even more important in death cases.

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Birth Injuries, Trauma, Obstetrical & Neonatal Malpractice

What should be the happiest time of any parent’s life can be turned upside down by medical negligence related to substandard care during pregnancy and at the time of delivery. When a doctor or nurse treating a pregnant woman breaches their duty of care, the baby may be at risk of serious injuries that can be permanent and seriously impair the child’s quality of life. However, negligent care not only exposes babies to needless risk, it can also jeopardize the health and safety of the mother causing catastrophic injury to one or both of them as a result of the medical negligence.  

Common Conditions

• Head & brain injuries
• Bleeding, bruising, or swelling
• Broken bones
• Infections
• Spinal cord injury or nerve damage
• Paralysis
• Cerebral palsy
• Forceps injuries
• Kernicterus
• Hypoxia and Lack of Oxygen to the Brain
• Spasticity
• Death
• Common Errors
• Failing to diagnose and treat Pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure during preganancy
• Failing to diagnose and treat Infection
• Failing to to perform adequate fetal monitoring of the mother and baby’s heartbeat and vital signs of fetal distress before and during delivery
• Improper and or excessive use of pitocin to induce labor contractions, resulting in fetal distress.
• Failing to promptly perform an emergency cesarean section delivery when a baby is in distress, potentially resulting in cerebral palsy, brain injury or death
• Improperly using forceps or a vacuum extractor to remove a child from the birth canal causing traumatic injury
• Brachial plexus injuries and erb’s palsy due improper management of shoulder dystocia
• Improper medication or medication dosages administered
• Communication errors
• Common Injuries to Mother and Baby
• Head & brain injuries
• Seizures & Coma
• Bleeding, bruising, or swelling
• Broken bones
• Infections
• Spinal cord injury or nerve damage
• Paralysis
• Cerebral palsy
• Forceps injuries
• Kernicterus 
• Hypoxia or Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
• Spasticity
• Death

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Emergency Room

While individuals often visit an emergency room to receive life-saving care, many leave with serious injuries or pass away as a result of the negligence of a doctor or other healthcare professional who is there to protect them.

Common Conditions Missed or Mistreated in the Emergency Room

• Heart Attacks
• Stroke Symptoms
• Bacterial Infections
• Auto-Immune disorders
• Vascular issues
• Lyme Disease
• Common Errors
• Failure to properly triage and timely treat
• Failure to perform required tests or studies
• Delayed or misdiagnosis of heart attack, stroke or other conditions
• Medication errors leading to incorrect dosage, prescription interactions, or allergic reactions
• Misreading or reporting of x-ray or other test results
• Delayed treatment of heart conditions or stroke
• Contaminated or wrong blood type
• Premature discharge
• Failure to follow up after discharge
• Failure to communicate all test results to patients and their primary care physicians

Hospital Malpractice

Hospitals can be held accountable for the negligence of its agents and employees, that is the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals who are providing care to its patients. If a doctor or a nurse provides substandard or negligent care the hospital can be held accountable for the errors made by the individual. This is referred to as vicarious liability, where the hospital corporation is responsible for the negligence of the individuals who have breached their duty of care to the patient...

Hospitals in Pennsylvania may also be held accountable to their patients when they are directly at fault as a company for either:  

a) failing to maintain safe and adequate premises or equipment

b) failing to select and retain competent physicians

c) failing properly to oversee all who provide medical services at their facility,

d) failing to have and enforce policies to ensure its patients receive quality care.

  Where there are systems failures at the hospital, the hospital itself may be held to account.

Common examples of a hospital’s direct responsibility include:

a. Providing inadequately trained nursing staff in a labor and delivery department unable to properly interpret signs of a baby’s fetal distress.

b. Failing to enforce strict policies on medication usage and administration allowing for medication errors resulting in the wrong medication being given or an over dosage.

c. Failing to have adequate policies as to infection control where the hospital knew or should have known that its patients were at risk. Cases of medical malpractice in the setting of a hospital may be due to the systemic failures of the hospital which allowed for the substandard negligent medical care,rather than being due to an isolated medical error.

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Medication Errors

The Institute of Medicine and the National Academies ( a non profit, independent organization) recently concluded that medication errors harm at least 1.5 million patients annually, at a cost of at least 3.5 billion annually in additional medical expenses to try to repair the harm caused by these hospital errors. These figures do not include emotional loss and physical pain, nor do they include the wage losses or other additional health costs.

The Institute reported that there wer 400,000 preventable drug related hospital injuries annually and twice as many at long term care facilities. It reports another 530,000 injuries among senior citizens at outpatient clinics. It is believed these statistics under state the scope of the problem.

Common Causes of Medication Errors

• Communication errors
• Illegible handwriting causing mistakes identifying the medicine, the quantity prescribed, or the administration rate.
• Verbal mis-statements of the name of the drug
• Pharmacy incorrectly hearing what was ordered or requested
• Human error by pharmacists, nurses and doctors in the use of assistive technology

Common Claims Involving Medication Error

• Programming mistakes by nursing in the use of PCA or patient controlled analgesia pumps
• Nurses overriding the safety mechanisms on the PIXYS dispensing machines
• Medical professionals failing to properly convert values into the metric system or between metric units.
• Nursing failing to follow standard safety precautions and before administering medications or pain relieving narcotics.

Despite efforts to curb medication errors, medication errors continue to occur both I inside hospitals and in outpatient settings such as doctors offices and clinics causing serious consequences, including death.

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Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis of Cancers, Strokes, and Other Conditions

When we are sick, injured, or suffering with unexplained symptoms, we take for granted that our medical providers will be able to promptly diagnose our condition and provide the treatment we need to recover. Unfortunately, in an alarming number of cases, this doesn’t happen. Medical mistakes and errors are on the rise throughout the country, and cases involving misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of medical conditions are common for cancer, strokes, bacterial infections, sepsis, aneurysms and many other conditions.

Studies conducted by the Institute of Medicine show that as many as 12 million people each year suffer from diagnostic errors made by healthcare providers, leading to roughly 10% of all patient deaths.

Common Errors

• Medical misdiagnosis of serious conditions resulting in delays in treatment and worsening of patient health, such as with cancer, and heart disease.
• Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of emergency situations that require an immediate medical response, such as with strokes, aneurysms, or pseudoaneurysms/
• Diagnostic errors that result in treatments that are contraindicated for the symptoms
• Failure to diagnose symptoms of major illnesses or diseases
• Failure to detect emergency situations requiring immediate care
• Mistakenly diagnosing and treating patients for conditions they do not have causing unnecessary and damaging treatment.

Common Claims

Failure to timely administer clot busting drugs for stroke in patients experiencing symptoms in the emergency room and as a hospital inpatient..
Failure to order and perform proper screening and testing for breast, colon, lung, prostate, and other cancers resulting in the progression of the cancer and causing the loss of an opportunity for cure.
Failure to properly report and communicate the findings on imaging and other studies to the patient and their family doctor causing diagnostic delay of spinal cord tumors, breast and lung cancers, and aneurysms.

Misdiagnosis and resulting Delays in Diagnosis of :

Breast cancer, Cervical Cancer, Colon Cancer, Endometrial Cancer, Kidney Cancer, Lymphoma, Lung Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Sarcomas, Skin Cancers, Stomach Cancers, Spinal Cord, tumors, Testicular Cancer, and Other Cancers, by a doctor’s negligence and failure to provide standard of care treatment can result in the need for more aggressive and debilitating treatment, and increases the risk of an early death from the cancer.
Misdiagnosis of spinal cord or brain tumors resulting in paralysis and death.

Surgical Error Malpractice

All surgeries come with inherent risks, including the possibility that a surgeon or hospital staff member might make a mistake. Often, these mistakes can occur due to inattention on the part of medical professionals, and the results can be devastating — even deadly — for the patient.

Common Errors

• Performing unnecessary surgery
• Operating on the wrong part of the body
• Using surgical tools in a negligent manner
• Failing to properly sterilize tools or the operating room causing infection
• Improperly administering anesthesia
• Causing accidental damage to nerves or muscles during the operation
• Failing to prevent avoidable postoperative complications, such as infections
• Failure to check for common postoperative complications such as bleeding and bloodclots
• Failing to follow required safety precautions to avoid injury
• Common Surgical Error Claims
• Cutting the common bile duct during gallbladder surgery resulting in the need for additional surgical care
• Cutting the median nerve during carpal tunnel surgery causing significant injury
• Cutting the laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery
• Causing unnecessary injury to Blood vessels during hysterectomy resulting in hemorrhage and death.
• Failure to administer adequate cardioplegia to protect the heart muscle during
• Cardiothoracic surgery

More information for Cancer misinformation's click here

Nursing Home Negligence and Neglect

Often our beloved senior citizens have little choice, after illness or injury, but to relocate from their familiar homes into rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. For various reasons, these friends and relatives often suffer further illnesses and injuries in these surroundings because of negligent medical or nursing care.

Common signs of neglect include:
• Bed sores
• Dehydration
• Fractures
• Medication Overdose
• Malnutrition
• Sepsis and Infection

Common examples of the types of negligence occurring in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, long term care facilities and other care centers include:

• advanced stage bedsores which develop because proper precautions were not taken to turn the patient, and monitor for signs of skin irritation;

• fractures occurring from falls from bed because of bed rail error, alarm failure,

or poor nursing observation;

• falls while walking due to inadequate precautions or inattention by poorly trained nursing staff and doctors;

• missed signs and symptoms of serious conditions such as pulmonary embolism,sepsis, and other infections; and

• the misuse and misplacement of catheters by inexperienced staff.

As in cases of other types of medical malpractice and medical negligence cases, nursing home litigation requires expert testimony to establish the acceptable standards of care, how the defendants breached that standard, and to prove what injuries and damages flow.

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CHILDREN INJURIES, ABUSE & NEGLECT

Claims on behalf of children who suffer from medical negligence or are the victims of abuse or neglect, differ from those of adults in at least two ways. While parents typically have two years to bring a claim for losses and injuries they have suffered because of another’s negligence, children can bring legal claims up to their twentieth birthday in Pennsylvania.

As a result, injured children whose conditions may not be recognized until years after they happened, benefit from a long time window for starting suit. If your child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy or a developmental delay related to a loss of oxygen at birth, is identified as having had a birth injury years later, or determined to have been misdiagnosed by their pediatric physician years earlier, he/she will still be able to bring a lawsuit for the injury that occurred if there is evidence that negligence or malpractice caused the injury. Pennsylvania courts also protect minors’ settlements and judgments requiring such money to be placed in insured and restricted accounts and allowing expenditures only when it can be shown they are for the direct benefit of the child and that the expenses cannot or should not be made out of the parents’ own funds.

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Do I Have Grounds For A Medical Malpractice Claim In Pennsylvania Against a Doctor, Hospital, Nurse or Nursing Home?

Under the law in Pennsylvania state victims of negligence can bring personal injury claims against a liable party or parties. Included within the persons or entities who can be sued are medical professionals including doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, as well as the corporations or groups who provided the medical care including hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and other entities. In order to bring a medical malpractice or medical negligence claim in Pennsylvania you will need to prove the following things:

1) A Duty of Care - The doctor, hospital, nurse, or other medical provider who undertakes to treat you, owes you a duty of care. A “duty of care” is simply an obligation to act with reasonable care and non negligently when carrying out activities that could potentially cause harm. A doctor has a duty to do everything he or she can to provide patients with an acceptable standard of care similar to that expected of other medical professionals.

2) A Breach of the Duty of Care

3) Injuries or Damages Suffered as a Result of the Breach of Care - The last thing you must show is that the medical doctor or nurse’s breach of their duty of care and their failure to act reasonably and comply with the standard of care, caused you physical or emotional injury and damages. You must have a personal injury but beyond your physical injury there may also be financial and other related damages you have suffered such as medical bills, lost wages or loss of income, pain and suffering, disability, and more. In order to bring a medical negligence claim, you will have to prove all three of these elements. If a doctor, acted negligently, but you did not suffer any resulting injuries/damages, you will not be able to bring a claim. Similarly, if the party in question did not owe you a duty of care, you also will not be able to bring a claim. It is important that you discuss your situation with an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can help you clearly understand all of your legal rights and options. In Pennsylvania, you typically have two years from the date of the accident/injury (or the date at which you reasonably should have become aware of the injury in certain limited circumstances) to bring a personal injury claim for medical negligence. This is known as the statute of limitations and, once it has passed, you will most likely not be able to pursue a legal claim for compensation.

Medical Malpractice Attorneys Answering Your Common Questions

Our medical malpractice attorneys handle lawsuits in Philadelphia and throughout the five county region including Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester counties and beyond. We offer FREE CONSULTATIONS, and can answer your questions about pursuing a medical malpractice claim.

However, here we address some of the common questions posed by clients and prospective clients to our medical malpractice lawyers.

Question: Is there a statute of limitations or time limit for medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania?

Answer: Generally, suit must be brought within two years of the injury unless the claim involves a minor or unless the negligence was discovered later.

Question: Can I bring a lawsuit against more than one medical practitioner as the result of the same injury?

Answer: Yes. Pennsylvania medical malpractice law, allows for more than one party to be held liable for an injury caused by medical negligence.

Question: I signed a consent form. Does that waive my right to bring a medical malpractice case?

Answer: No. Consent forms do not waive your right to pursue a medical malpractice claim for injuries you sustained because of a doctor’s negligence.

Question: Is there a cap on the amount of damages I could be awarded in Pennsylvania?

Answer: No. In Pennsylvania, and in the neighboring states of New Jersey, and Delaware as well, there are no pre-set limits placed on the size of the damages a jury may choose to award in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Punitive damages which act to punish for reckless conduct may, however, have some limitations in medical malpractice lawsuits in Pennsylvania.

Question: What happens in a medical malpractice case if the injured victim has died as a result of the medical negligence?

Answer: When medical malpractice leads to the patient’s death the patient’s estate stands in the shoes of the patient, and the executrix if there was a will, or the administrator if there was no will can continue to pursue the claim for the injuries sustained before the death, under a law known as the Survival Act.

Question: How long does a medical malpractice case take once filed?

Answer: On average, a medical malpractice case will take anywhere from two to five years. Every case is different and every county in Pennsylvania has a different timeline for scheduling medical malpractice cases for trial so there is no easy answer. Currently, cases in Philadelphia County are getting listed for trial at an average rate of within two to three years of the case filing.

Question: How much is the average medical malpractice settlement?

Answer: There are no hard and fast rules as to what a typical settlement looks like. Medical malpractice cases are all different and very fact specific. Every case is different. The two most significant factors that affect the value of a medical negligence case are the strength of the case, that is, the likelihood of success, and perhaps more importantly, the extent of the harm or the injury caused by the negligence. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can help you assess your chances of success as well as the type of recovery that you may be able to expect in a settlement once the case is ready to proceed to trial.

Question: How do I select a medical malpractice lawyer to represent me in a case?

Answer: Pursuing a medical malpractice case is different than pursuing other types of personal injury cases. Any lawyer you choose should have experience in litigating malpractice cases, and specialize in this area of the law. Most importantly, you should feel comfortable with the lawyer who will represent you.