Medical errors in the USA are far too common. More Americans die from medical malpractice than from opioid drug overdoses, gun violence, and car accidents, combined.
As patients, we put an enormous amount of trust in doctors. Our health and our lives are in their hands – literally, in some instances. When medical providers make a grave mistake, you have every right to hold them accountable for the damage they have caused. You have the right to answers, justice, and the compensation you need to afford the best medical care.
Don’t allow a careless physician to get away with turning your family’s life upside down like this. Hire a PA medical malpractice attorney to fight for you.
Do you think you have a case? It’s free to call and find out. Our Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers listen to your questions, give you honest answers, and deliver the results you deserve.
You have more important things to worry about. We’ll deal with the insurance company so you can focus on getting better.
What exactly does it mean for a health care professional to practice medicine badly?
Many patients believe that a negative outcome is malpractice, but that’s not always true. Even a clear medical mistake might not rise to the level of malpractice.
To lawyers who practice this branch of law, the medical malpractice definition is medical care that deviates from the standard of care.
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Medical malpractice claims can be very complex. To make your case a success, you need a Pennsylvania malpractice lawyer who understands medicine, health care protocols, and PA malpractice law on your side. There are many complications that can arise when pursuing a PA medical malpractice lawsuit case. While every case is different, proving your claim generally requires three main factors:
To make your claim successful you need an understanding of PA law. You’ll need to know what rights you have in a medical malpractice claim and how to build a compelling case. On top of this, you’ll need the financial resources, time, and energy required to face off against the doctor’s lawyers. When you let us handle your claim, however, we do this all for you. And, thanks to our no fee promise, you don’t pay anything until or unless we win.
Accidents happen even when your doctor does everything right. An accident or infection is not automatically a sign your doctor performed poorly. In Pennsylvania, to qualify for medical malpractice, you need to do more than prove something went wrong. You need to prove negligence. Either the doctors did something they were not supposed to, or they failed to do something they should have and that resulted in your injury.
To prove negligence, one of the key pieces of evidence will be your medical records. Your charts, doctor’s notes, and history of care will help an attorney establish what went wrong, and why it did. To help establish malpractice, an expert witness will need to review your records. They’ll draw on their expertise to determine if your medical provider did not follow the standard of care.
Having a medical expert is essential for getting a settlement in a PA malpractice claim. Medical experts are doctors licensed and qualified to practice in the same field as the professional who caused your injury.
Because of this, their services can be costly. It can cost thousands of dollars to have a medical expert review your claim. You might need to have the testimony of multiple experts before you reach a settlement.
At Console and Associates, we advance the costs of all experts, so you don’t have to worry about paying anything upfront. Their testimony is an important piece of your claim, and your ability to pay for their aid should never be a factor in getting the compensation you deserve.
Standard of care is an important medical and legal concept, but outside of those fields, few understand what it means. Put simply, it’s a set of guidelines for medical professionals. Sometimes called the duty of care, these standards help your doctor understand his responsibility.
Your doctor is only one of the individuals that make up the medical community. As a group, this community of medical professionals decides what care is appropriate for different situations.
What tests should a patient undergo if he or she has certain symptoms or risk factors? What treatment methods are effective for a given medical condition?
The medical community reaches this consensus. The guidelines that the medical community agrees upon become the standard of care.
Responsible physicians adhere to this standard of care. They understand which tests or treatments are appropriate for your risk factors or symptoms. Your doctor may prefer one type of test, medication, or procedure over another. However, he or she should always use the standard of care as a guide when making decisions about your treatment.
To bring a medical malpractice claim in Pennsylvania, you need to prove more than negligence. For your case to succeed, you also need to have medical malpractice damages.
Damages refer to the harms or losses that you have suffered. Your damages are one of the most important medical negligence elements. They determine not just how much your Pennsylvania malpractice case is worth, but also if you have a case at all.
PA malpractice law is clear, you can’t sue a doctor for something that might happen. If your doctor made a mistake but caught it before it caused harm, you cannot sue for malpractice. Your doctor’s actions must cause you real, measurable harm. If your attorney can’t prove this, the law says you don’t have a claim.
Unfortunately, this means that it’s possible for your doctor to fail to meet the standard of care but avoid accountability. The medical mistake could be a serious one, but if you don’t suffer severe, permanent physical harm, you may have little recourse.
When you contact Console and Associates, our medical malpractice team will review your claim and let you know your options. We’ll help you determine if you have a case, and what steps you can take next. There is no risk in calling. If you don’t file a claim, you don’t pay a dime. If you do let us handle your case, you don’t pay anything for legal support until and unless we get you a settlement.
When you’re hurt, it’s tough to focus on anything but trying to get better. Getting your life back on track seems to take all of your time and energy. But, if you wait until you’re finally feeling better, if could be too late to pursue a case.
There’s a limit on how long you have to file a claim. The legal term for this is the statute of limitation and it applies to all PA medical negligence proceedings. If you don’t demand compensation before your statute of limitations expires, you lose your legal right to do so.
In Pennsylvania, victims of medical mistakes typically have only two years to pursue a claim. When you’re undergoing months of treatments, those two years can pass quickly. If you wait until after recovery to seek out a lawyer, it might already be too late. Doctors and hospitals depend on this as a way to protect their profits.
It doesn’t matter how serious your injuries are, or how obvious the case of negligence you have is. If you don’t file your claim within the statute of limitations, you won’t get the compensation you deserve.
The discovery rule is the legal term that means the time by which you should know you are a victim of medical malpractice. In some cases, like a botched surgery, you know right away that something went wrong. But in other examples of malpractice, such as a missed diagnosis, it can take months or years.
The discovery rule says that the statute of limitations for your claim begins when you know, or should know that you are a victim. This helps to protect your rights as a patient.
In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations is different for minors. If they are the victims of medical malpractice, they have until their 20th birthday to file a claim. This is because, no matter when the negligence occurred, their statute of limitations begins when they turn 18.
If your child is a victim of medical malpractice, you don’t have to wait until they’re 18 to get justice. As a legal guardian, you can sue for negligence right away. The extended statute of limitations exists to protect your child’s rights, not limit yours.
If you think your child is a victim of malpractice you should contact a lawyer as soon as possible. This can be even more important if they require expensive medical care.
Even attorneys find medical malpractice cases among the most challenging claims. They’re difficult and costly to pursue, even when you understand the complexities of Pennsylvania law. This isn’t a burden you can handle on your own.
You need an advocate with experience on your side. You need someone who knows the law and will fight for every penny you deserve.
All health care providers must follow the standard of care. When they don’t, their patients can sue them for medical malpractice. In most cases, the negligent professional is a doctor, but other healthcare workers are also potentially liable, including:
However, it’s important to remember that when you file a medical malpractice claim, you’re not seeking money from the individual. To practice medicine, professionals must have malpractice insurance. Recovering from the injuries caused by malpractice — if you’re able to recover — can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even a highly-paid surgeon doesn’t have the money personally to cover these costs. Malpractice insurance can offer the compensation you deserve.
In cases of gross negligence, our lawyers work to make sure the provider faces disciplinary action. In the past, we’ve filed complaints against pill-pushing doctors that resulted in them losing their medical license.
Some instances of medical malpractice involve more than one negligent provider. Our PA attorneys have experience handling complicated claims against multiple providers. We’ll make sure that every health care worker who played a part in your injury faces the consequences.
Most doctors and healthcare workers are responsible. They take seriously their obligation to do no harm to patients and to follow the standard of care. However, the few physicians who do commit malpractice cause a shocking amount of harm.
Medical malpractice rates in the United States are alarming. Medical malpractice kills more Americans than guns – more than 13 times more, in fact.
More people in the U.S. die from medical mistakes than from strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, the flu, pneumonia, and nephritis combined.
Medical errors are the third leading cause of death, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) reported. Only heart disease and cancer (all forms of it) claim more American lives in a single year than medical mistakes do.
In all, as many as 440,000 patients in the U.S. lose their lives to medical errors, according to the AAJ.
Countless more victims suffer serious, but ultimately not fatal, harm at the hands of negligent doctors. These patients have to cope with severe, and often lifelong, disabilities as a result of their medical providers’ failures.
As the medical malpractice statistics show, there’s a massive amount of harm being done to patients every year. Yet relatively few of these victims and their families ever get the medical malpractice settlements or jury verdicts they deserve. Less than two percent of all civil lawsuits are medical malpractice claims, according to the AAJ.
It’s not right that medical malpractice resulting in death or a serious injury should go unpunished. Patients have the right to expect their doctors to act with caution and follow the standard of care. When doctors betray their patients’ trust, the victims of medical malpractice have every right to take action.
Many factors go into determining how much a case is worth, including how severe your damages are and how clear the doctor’s negligence is. Our Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers can help you figure out the value of your case – and fight for every dollar you deserve.
If you’re wondering what to do after a medical error, there are two important steps you must take right away.
The award-winning PA malpractice attorneys at our firm handle cases throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. In particular, we have two offices in the Keystone State, in Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley. In addition, we’ve helped our clients receive settlements from some of the state’s largest hospitals, networks like:
When you contact Console and Associates, our medical malpractice team will review your claim and let you know your options.
If you feel that you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, call us today. Let an experienced attorney review your claim and let you know what your options are under Pennsylvania law. The call is free, and if you choose to let us file a claim on your behalf you don’t pay a penny out of pocket for the lawsuit until we win. We’ll hold the people who harmed you responsible.
Disclaimer: Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances
Rick is an exceptional advocate for his clients. He is extremely talented in navigating legal matters and shows an empathy to his clients that is hard to find. Rick is a good guy and I highly recommend him.
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Chris K.
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