Medical Malpractice Attorney in Philadelphia Helping You Seek Restitution Due to Poor Medical Care
A patient books an appointment with her physician because she’s been experiencing heart palpitations and minor pain. The physician performs some basic exams but fails to recognize the common symptoms of serious cardiac events. A few months later, the patient has a heart attack. This patient may have a medical malpractice claim.
Stories of misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, surgical errors, and other careless mistakes from medical professionals are more common than you think and often result in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Medical errors represent nearly 251,000 deaths in the United States. They are the third leading cause of death, according to pubmed.com, behind cancer and heart disease. Negligent behavior comes in many forms and can cause patients and family members unnecessary pain, suffering, and financial strain. Common medical malpractice cases stem from, among other things:
- Failure to diagnose a serious condition
- Surgical errors
- Incorrect treatment
- Improper use of prescription medication
- Birth injuries
- Cancer misdiagnosis
- Medication errors
- Bedsores due to neglect
- Anesthesia errors
An experienced medical malpractice attorney with the Liberty Law Team can help you better understand your medical malpractice claim, your rights as a patient, and how to proceed with a personal injury claim. Call our legal professionals today for a free consultation: 215-732-3474.
What is Medical Negligence?
Members of the medical community, such as medical doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and other healthcare professionals, are trained to follow specific standards to ensure patient safety and good patient care.
When a patient goes untreated for a medical condition for which they sought care, a condition worsens, or a medical professional fails to properly diagnose an illness, these careless medical mistakes can cause serious harm, debilitating injuries, or death.
A John Hopkins study found that medical errors cause more than 250,000 preventable deaths in the United States every year. There are four elements that must be proven in a medical malpractice case, including duty of care, deviation from the standard of care, damages, and direct cause.
- Duty of care: This means that the medical professional had a moral and professional responsibility to follow standard practices to ensure your health and safety.
- Deviation from the standard: This means that the medical professional in question did not follow what is considered standard practice in the medical field.
- Damages: It must be proven that you suffered damages as a result of the negligent medical professional’s actions.
- Direct cause: The injury and subsequent damages must be proven to have been directly caused by the medical negligence that occurred.
Signs of medical malpractice can be obvious or less apparent and difficult to track. A medical professional’s negligence might include failing to properly diagnose an illness, interpreting lab results incorrectly, performing the wrong surgical procedure, causing birth injuries, or failing to review a patient’s medical history for allergies or drug interactions, for example.
Medical malpractice claims can be difficult to build evidence around, and the more obscure a medical professional’s negligence is, the more difficult it can be to prove. From serious injury to wrongful death, your injuries deserve compensation. A medical malpractice attorney will give you the advantage you need to possibly recover compensatory damages.
If you or a loved one has suffered injuries from a medical error or medical procedure, our Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers can provide helpful legal guidance to pursue your medical malpractice case. Book a free consultation today: 215-732-3474.
What are My Rights as a Patient in Philadelphia, PA?
People seek treatment with the hope that their conditions will improve. All patients of a health system or individual medical provider have civil rights related to access to care, patient dignity, confidentiality, and consent to treatment.
When it comes to health care, individuals have an equal opportunity to receive medical attention from doctors and hospitals as a mutual contract, in a way, with informed consent, payment for services rendered, and performance of surgery or treatment.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) demands that doctors treat patients with respect, provide medical records when asked, provide privacy and confidentiality at all times, allow refusal of treatment and the right to choose treatment, and the ability to make decisions about end-of-life care.
When injuries have damaging consequences in a doctor-patient relationship, you have the right to question a medical professional’s approach if adverse effects occur. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer with the Liberty Law Team can examine your case under the law and file a medical malpractice lawsuit to prove a medical provider caused life-altering damage.
Medical malpractice cases can take a year or longer to resolve, and oftentimes, physicians win more than 70 percent of the time due to weak evidence. The sooner we get involved, the sooner we can use our strategic approach and industry knowledge to negotiate a fair settlement for your pain and suffering. Book an initial consultation with one of our medical malpractice attorneys today by calling us at 215-732-3474.
When Should I File a Medical Malpractice Claim?
Medical malpractice victims can experience physical and emotional suffering, trauma, injuries, and financial hardship as a result of improper treatment, mistaken surgical procedures, faulty medical equipment, or misuse of medication.
A Pennsylvania medical malpractice law firm like the Liberty Law Team understands the complex world of medicine and can be a go-to resource if you have experienced a loss of quality of life, a permanent disability, or a serious injury as the result of medical malpractice.
We can review your potential medical malpractice case if you are suffering as a result of:
- Medical errors during childbirth that impacted you or your child, including brain damage, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, or failure to diagnose maternal diabetes
- Surgical errors that caused damage to your organs, nerves, or tissues, failure to stop internal bleeding, or permanent effects of too little or too much anesthesia
- Diagnostic errors and inability to recognize common symptoms, failing to refer patients to specialists, or incorrectly interpreting lab results and imaging tests
- Negligent sanitation processes that trigger illnesses such as pneumonia or staph infections
- Emergency room-related issues such as discharging patients too early or failing to review a patient’s medical history, as well as lack of follow-up care
- Prescription drug discrepancies such as prescribing too high or low a dose, prescribing the wrong drug, filling the wrong medication, or administering a drug to the wrong patient
- Informed consent negligence, including a lack of explanation related to a procedure, a medication, or any risks involved
When a medical practitioner fails to meet the proper standard of care, our medical malpractice attorneys can manage your medical malpractice claim, review your case, and work toward feasible solutions to recovering compensation to improve the outcome of your traumatic situation.
Why Choose An Experienced Medical Malpractice Lawyer?
There are more than 100,000 reports of medication errors every year and 400,000 drug-related injuries in hospitals. Hundreds of thousands of deaths are caused by medical mistakes or surgical errors at a cost of at least 3.5 billion dollars annually.
Most medical malpractice lawsuits settle out of court with the help of a skilled law firm with experience and knowledge in handling medical malpractice claims, one of the more complex areas of law.
The American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys (ABPLA) requires a medical malpractice claim to include a violation of the standard of care, a present injury caused by negligence, and an injury caused by significant damages.
If you are an injured patient due to a doctor’s negligence, whether due to a negligent diagnosis, birth injury, brain injury, or another medical mistake, we can help you recover from the emotional trauma and pursue justice and punitive damages, among other compensation, to help with medical bills and lost wages.
Our legal victories are your victories. The Liberty Law Team of experienced attorneys excels in helping victims of medical malpractice lawsuits get the justice they deserve after unanticipated trauma, disability, or serious injuries change their life.
Let our Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers handle your case for a better outcome, and book an initial consultation today to find out how by calling our offices at 215-732-3474.