Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyers
HELPING PHILLY Medical Malpractice VICTIMS
Get The Compensation They Deserve
Sometimes, as a result of negligence, you can experience a serious injury or illness at the hands of your medical providers. These incidents can leave you in considerable pain, at a financial loss, and physically affected for the rest of your life. When medical malpractice occurs, you have legal rights to claim damages against the liable party or parties involved.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice happens when the accepted standard of care, as determined by how a comparably skilled medical professional in similar circumstances would have acted, is breached, resulting in bodily and emotional harm. “Medical malpractice” is an umbrella term that includes surgical errors and doctor and hospital malpractice.
Types Of Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Cases
- Surgical mistakes & negligence
- Doctor & hospital mistakes & negligence
- Birth trauma & injuries
- Brain injuries
- Emergency room negligence
- Misdiagnosis of cancer
- Gallbladder surgery errors
- Claims against cardiologists
- Misdiagnosis leading to a heart attack
- Defective medical devices
- Misdiagnosis of a stroke
- Negligence involving medication and prescriptions
- Misread X-Rays, CT scans, MRIs, and other imaging studies
- Wrongful death
If your doctor or medical team was medically negligent and left you or a loved one injured or sick, you may have a medical malpractice lawsuit on your hands.
What is Required to Prove Medical Malpractice in Philadelphia?
Each year, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) over 225,000 deaths are caused due to poor medical treatment or advice.
Astonishingly, this is the third leading cause of death in our country.
We can help you determine if you have a medical malpractice lawsuit case. We also understand the stress and uncertainty you or your family may face in proceeding with a medical malpractice lawsuit case. This is where the attorneys at The Thistle Law Firm step in. We work with experienced medical experts in determining whether the loss suffered by you or your family member was caused by a preventable medical error. If so, we will work hard to ensure you not only receive compensation for the losses you have suffered, but also the peace of mind that comes through the acknowledgement that mistakes were made that caused your loss.
What Kind of Damages Can I Get in a Medical Malpractice Case in Philadelphia?
In the state of Pennsylvania, you are eligible for certain kinds of damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. Compensatory damages apply to actual costs, like medical care and treatment costs, as well as lost wages due to the inability to work (either during your illness or treatment, or in the future). Non-economic damages are awarded for pain and suffering and emotional distress. Pennsylvania does not have caps on compensatory or non-economic damages, so there aren’t limits to how much you can receive for those types of damages.
Pennsylvania has its own specific set of laws and procedures for medical malpractice cases. For example, when proving medical negligence, a medical expert is required to submit a sworn affidavit that the accepted standard of care was breached by your doctor. This is an essential step in your case. You must also prove that the breach in the standard of care directly caused your injury or illness, and that you have suffered physically and financially as a result.
At The Thistle Law Firm, we understand that even the best doctors and hospitals can make mistakes resulting in grave consequences for you or your loved ones. Although healthcare professionals and the facilities in which they work have standard protocols that are followed, if you or a family member becomes injured as a result of these standards not being adhered to, then you may have a medical malpractice lawsuit case.
Like a claim for negligence, in a medical malpractice claim it must be shown: (1) there was a duty owed to the patient by the medical care provider; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) that this breach was a cause of the harm suffered; (4) the damages suffered were a direct result of this harm. Unlike a typical negligence claim, in order to prove negligence on that part of a physician or medical care provider, it must be shown he or she departed from the accepted medical standards of care, and this departure resulted in harm to the patient. In order to show this, a medical malpractice lawsuit case must be supported by a medical expert that has the same specialty, subspecialty, or practices in the same field of medicine as the physician or medical care provider being sued.
However, there are caps on punitive damages, which are intended to punish the responsible party by making them pay for the harm that they caused. Punitive damages serve to act as a deterrent, by demonstrating that there are penalties for acting negligently and dissuading others from acting in such a manner. Assuming that the misconduct was not intentional, the cap on punitive damages in Pennsylvania is set at 3x the compensatory damages that are awarded, and 25% of the punitive damages are required to be allocated to the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Fund. MCARE is set up to pay other victims of medical malpractice whose insurance does not fully cover their claim.
If you can prove that your doctor acted intentionally and maliciously to cause your injury or illness, then Pennsylvania’s punitive damages cap does not apply.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Philadelphia?
The statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Pennsylvania is two years from the date that you became aware or reasonably should have become aware of the resulting injury or illness. You may not know that anything is wrong for a few years, but luckily, you are not left high and dry.
However, there is an additional statute in place that takes precedence over the two-year statute. It states that a case must be brought within seven years of the date that the negligent act occurred, even in cases where you did not become aware of the injury right away. For example, if you did not discover the injury for six years after the negligence occurred, you will only have one year to file a lawsuit instead of two, as the maximum allowed time is seven years.
What Should I Do If I Think I’ve Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
Since time is of the essence in these types of cases, it is essential that you begin the process of filing a claim if you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice. With decades of experience in medical malpractice lawsuits, the attorneys at Thistle Law can help you understand and build your case. Medical malpractice lawsuits can be complicated and time-consuming, and when you’re suffering from an avoidable injury or illness, it can be overwhelming. We’re here to make it easier on you. Call us at 215-525-6824 or fill out our contact form for a free consultation.