Category: Medical Malpractice

So many of us place great amounts of trust in our medical providers to give us the care we need to stay healthy or improve our health. Unfortunately, medical mistakes are far too common. When a medical mistake is the result of substandard medical care, a lapse in a medical professional’s duty of care to their patients, substantial harm to a patient’s well-being can be the result. If you have suffered due to negligent medical care, you can seek compensation for the harm you have suffered. Some states, however, place a cap on recoverable medical malpractice damages. They do this to help dissuade people from pursuing legal action against their doctors and health care providers. Is Pennsylvania one of the states that places a cap on medical malpractice damages?

What is the Cap on Medical Malpractice Damages in Pennsylvania?

Many states have a cap in place to limit the amount of damages a medical malpractice victim can recover. In fact, most states have such a cap in place. In these states, regardless of the catastrophic level of a plaintiff’s injuries resulting from medical malpractice, the jury will be limited to the state’s cap. Pennsylvania, however, is not one of those states. The state currently has no cap on either economic or non-economic medical malpractice damages. Thus, there is not even a cap on pain and suffering damages in Pennsylvania medical malpractice cases.

In medical malpractice cases, as with other types of personal injury claims, the bulk of damages are intended to compensate the plaintiff for harm suffered. As such, these are referred to as “compensatory damages.” Compensatory damages fall into the categories of “economic” or “non-economic” damages. Economic damages include those easily calculable damages such as:

• Medical expenses
• Cost of future medical care
• Lost wages
• Loss of future earning capacity

Conversely, non-economic damages are more subjective and, thus, are more difficult to put a number on as far as valuation is concerned. Non-economic damages include:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium
• Emotional distress

While there is no cap on compensatory damages in Pennsylvania medical malpractice claims. The state does impose a cap on punitive damages in medical malpractice cases. It should be emphasized, however, that punitive damages are extremely rare in medical malpractice cases. In the rare case where punitive damages may be available, the punitive damage award cannot exceed 200% of the compensatory damages awarded. Furthermore, 25% of the punitive damages awarded in a medical malpractice lawsuit must be paid to the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund. This fund was established for the explicit purpose of helping to ensure reasonable compensation for those injured as a result of medical malpractice.

Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys

If you have suffered as a result of medical negligence, talk to the dedicated team at Cooper, Schall & Levy about bringing a medical malpractice claim seeking full and fair compensation for the losses you have sustained. Contact us today.

Anesthesia is an integral part of many important medical procedures. When anesthesia errors occur, serious injury to the patient can result. If you have been injured due to an anesthesia related mistake, you may be entitled to compensation through bringing a medical malpractice claim. You should note, however, that not all anesthesia mistakes, or medical errors in general, will result in compensable injuries. In order for medical malpractice to have occurred, the treating medical professional must have been negligence. In other words, they must have provided substandard care which caused injury to a patient. Here, we’ll take a closer look at some of the anesthesia errors that may result in a medical malpractice claim.

Anesthesia Errors and Medical Malpractice

There is a range in types and uses of anesthesia. In the medical context, there are three types of anesthesia. First, there is local anesthesia. This is used to numb a certain part of the body. Local anesthesia is most often used in less invasive procedures. Next, there is regional anesthesia, which numbs a broader area of the body than local anesthesia. One example of a regional anesthesia is an epidural. The third type of anesthesia is general anesthesia. This is the type of anesthesia that puts a patient into total unconsciousness so they are unable to feel pain.

Each type of anesthesia carries certain risks and requires certain procedures be followed in order for the administration of the anesthesia to be effective. The potential for mistakes in administering anesthesia is always looming and the utmost care must be exercised even before the anesthesia is given to the patient. That is why anesthesia errors leading to medical malpractice claims can occur even before the anesthesia is administered.

Preoperative anesthesia mistakes most relate to patient education. Failing to educate the patient about the potential risk of the anesthesia and the procedure they are about to undergo can lead to medical malpractice liability. Failure to review the patient’s medical history to check for potential complications can also lead to liability exposure as well as putting the patient at great risk. 

Then there is, of course, those mistakes that can be made concerning the actual administration of the anesthesia. Some of the most common surgery anesthesia mistakes include:

• Delayed anesthesia administration
• Incorrect anesthesia dosage
• Incorrect anesthesia type
• Improper monitoring of surgical oxygen
• Improper monitoring of patient vital signs
• Failure to identify developing complications

There are also post-operative anesthesia mistakes that can lead to medical malpractice liability. A patient may have been left sedated for longer than necessary. An anesthetized patient may have been left unattended. A patient may not have been provided with proper post-operative instructions. All of these mistakes can lead to patient injury and medical malpractice liability exposure.

Anesthesia errors can have truly devastating consequences for a patient. Potential harm and complications may include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Confusion
• Anaphylaxis
• Nerve damage
• Blood clots
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Brain damage
• Death

Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys

Have you suffered due to negligent medical care? Talk to the team at Cooper, Schall & Levy about pursuing a medical malpractice claim to get the monetary compensation you deserve for the harm you have suffered. Contact us today.

One common type of medical malpractice claim stems from prescription drug errors. While prescription drug errors pop up frequently in medical malpractice claims, the nature of the prescription drug error can run a wide range. Here, we will take a closer look at the kinds of prescription drug errors that can have serious consequences for patients and lead to the filing of a medical malpractice claim against negligent medical cal providers.

Medical Malpractice and Prescription Drug Errors

Medical professionals owe patients a duty of care. This means they are obligated to provide patients with a level of care comparable to that of similarly situated medical professionals under similar circumstances. This is true of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers tasked with patient care. Prescribing, providing, and administering prescription drugs with reasonable care to help ensure patient health and safety is included in this duty owed to patients. 

Failure to exercise reasonable care when it comes to prescription drugs can have devastating consequences for a person’s health and well-being. Some common types of prescription drug errors that can lead to medical malpractice claims include:

• Administering the incorrect medication
• Administering the incorrect medication dosage
• Mislabeling medication
• Prescribing medication to a patient with an allergy to said medication
• Prescribing medication with adverse reactions to other medications being taken by a patient
• Failure to warn the patient of the common medication side effects

Any of these prescription drug errors can have devastating impacts on the patient. Which medical professional can be held responsible for the harm suffered as a result of such an error will depend on the circumstances surrounding the error. For instance, a physician or nurse may be found liable for the prescription or administration of an incorrect medication. This is true regardless of whether the error was prescribing the wrong medication or prescribing the incorrect dosage. It is also true about errors in medication administration. After all, certain medications will need to be injected into different places in the body. Failure to properly administer medication can also result in harm suffered by the patient.

Doctors can also be held responsible if they prescribe medication that has known adverse reactions to other medications that are being taken by a patient. Some medications do not work well together and can either counteract the effects of other medication or have adverse reactions to other medication. A doctor should take other prescriptions being taken by a patient into consideration when prescribing medication. Failure to do so may expose them to medical malpractice liability.

Pharmacists can also be exposed to liability for medical malpractice should their negligence in labeling medication or providing the incorrect medication or medication dosage to a patient result in harm to the patient. In some instances, it may have been the drug manufacturer’s error that led to the mislabeling of the mediation. In that case, a product liability claim may result should the patient suffer harm due to the mislabeling of the medication.

Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Attorneys

When doctors and other medical professionals fail to exercise due care, people can be tragically and needlessly harmed as a result. The dedicated team of medical malpractice attorneys at Cooper, Schall & Levy fight for the rights of injured patients to recover compensation for the harm they have suffered. Contact us today.

Medical malpractice is the act of a medical professional committing medical negligence. This means that a medical provider violated their duty of care by providing substandard care. When someone like a doctor fails to provide a level of care that another, similarly situated medical professional would provide under the circumstances, and a patient suffers harm as a result, the patient may be able to seek compensation for the harm suffered through bringing a medical malpractice claim. The compensable harm suffered due to medical malpractice is referred to as a person’s “damages.”

Damage Caps in Medical Malpractice Cases

While there are a few different types of damages available in a medical malpractice claim, the bulk of damages in these types of cases will usually be compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are, as the name suggests, intended to compensate an injured party for the harm they have suffered. Compensatory damages are divided into economic and non-economic. Economic damages are those damages that are easier to calculate as they are based on things like bills, pay stubs, and other numerical records. Economic damages in a medical malpractice case may include:

• Medical expenses
• Cost of future medical care
• Lost wages
• Loss of earning capacity

Non-economic damages, on the other hand, can be quite difficult to calculate as they are largely subjective in nature, specific to the person who has experienced and sustained the damage. Non-economic damages include things like pain and suffering as well as emotional distress.

While other states place caps, or limits, on the amount of recoverable compensatory damages in a medical malpractice case, Pennsylvania does not. Caps are put in place in an attempt to discourage plaintiffs from pursuing litigation against doctors and other medical professionals. It also, however, works to limit the available recovery of those who have sometimes been seriously injured due to medical malpractice. Fortunately, Pennsylvania allows a victim of medical negligence to pursue damages for the harm they have suffered in full.

There may not be a cap on compensatory damages in Pennsylvania medical malpractice cases, but there is, however, a cap on punitive damages in such cases. Punitive damages are rare and reserved for the most egregious of cases. They are not intended to compensate the plaintiff but are instead intended to punish the perpetrator of medical negligence in the hopes that such conduct would be deterred by this consequence in the future.

Pennsylvania caps punitive damages in medical malpractice cases at 3 times the compensatory damages award. It is important to note that this cap can be circumvented. The plaintiff needs to be able to prove that the defendant was acting to intentionally cause harm. The intentional act as opposed to a negligent act will allow the plaintiff to get around the damage cap and there will be no limit to the amount of recoverable punitive damages.

Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys

You should be able to trust your treating medical professionals to provide you with quality care. If you have been harmed by substandard medical care, do not hesitate to reach out to the trusted medical malpractice attorneys at Cooper, Schall & Levy.  Contact us today.

We place a great deal of trust in our doctors and other health care professionals. We trust them with our health and well-being. We trust that they will uphold the duty that comes with the standards of their profession. Unfortunately, there are often medical treatment errors that occur and can have serious adverse consequences for a patient. While no one is infallible. There will be errors and they may not be the result of any negligence on the part of your health care providers. Other times, however, preventable medical errors occur because of the negligence on the part of your doctor and team of medical professionals. When these types of errors occur and you suffer as a result, you may be able to bring a medical malpractice suit to seek compensation for the harm you have sustained. There are a range of medical errors that can lead to a malpractice claim. One common type of medical malpractice claim is that which stems from misread test results.

Misread Test Results and Malpractice

Doctors rely on medical test results to guide a patient’s diagnosis and, subsequently the treatment the patient receives. Doctors and other medical professionals receive training in reading tests ranging from radiographic studies like x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs to other lab tests like blood tests and more. Sometimes, the results of these tests are misread and can lead to some serious complications for patients.

A misread test result may lead to a failure to diagnose a patient at all. It may lead to a misdiagnosis of a patient. It may also lead to a critical delay in properly diagnosing a patient. This type of error can mean that a patient is not treated or receives improper treatment for their medical condition. Mistreatment or failure to treat can, in turn, lead to a worsening of the patient’s existing medical problems or even the development of new medical problems.

As previously mentioned, not every incident of misread test results is going to merit a medical malpractice claim. Certain elements need to be present for this to happen. In order to prove a misread test results claim, you will need to first prove that there was a duty of care owed to you. This is often pretty clear as patients are owed a duty of care by the medical professionals they retain to treat and diagnose them. You will also need to prove that this duty of care was violated or “breached.” This can be the trickiest part to prove. You need to be able to show that the medical provider failed to act in a way that a similarly situated, similarly qualified medical provider would have acted under the same or similar circumstances. You will also need to prove that the breach in the duty of care caused you injury. Finally, you will need to prove that you suffered damages. Damages are the negative impacts and consequences that resulted from your malpractice injuries. Damages can range from financial to physical to mental and beyond.

Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys

If you have suffered because your health care provider failed to properly read your medical test results, do not hesitate to contact the trusted medical malpractice attorneys at Cooper, Schall & Levy to discuss your options for recovering just compensation. Contact us today.

Did you know that it is not just doctors, surgeons, and hospitals that can be held liable in medical malpractice claims? It is true. A wide variety of medical professionals owe a duty to patients to provide them with reasonably reliable care. This includes emergency medical technicians (EMTs). This makes sense considering who crucial the initial diagnosis and treatment that happens at the ambulatory stage can be. Errors in evaluating and treating a patient at that stage can have devastating, and even life-threatening, consequences.

What EMT Errors May Lead to a Medical Malpractice Claims?

EMTs, along with paramedics, are commonly the first responders at the scene of a medical emergency. Should they be properly trained, these professionals should be able to assess life-threatening medical conditions, as well as provide emergency medical treatments and life-support services at the accident scene. Additionally, EMTs are tasked with preparing patients for transport as well as safely transporting patients to the hospital, providing medical support to the patients until everyone arrives at the hospital or emergency care center.

The importance of EMTs performing their duties with the utmost care cannot really be understated. They can literally hold a person’s life in their hands. This makes it easy to understand the fact that they are held to a legal duty of care to the patients they serve. In most cases, EMTs diligently perform their duties. Sometimes, however, they fall down on the standard of care they are obligated to provide and people needlessly suffer as a result. This is considered malpractice and an EMT can be held legally responsible for paying damages a person sustains as a result of the malpractice.

In order to successfully bring a medical malpractice claim against an EMT, the injured party, the patient, must show that:

• The EMT owed him or her a duty of care. This duty of care is a duty to the patient to act reasonably. Reasonableness of the actions is usually compared to how a reasonable, similarly situated EMT would have acted under comparable circumstances.
• The EMT breached the duty of care owed to the patient because the EMT failed to act in a way that a reasonable, similarly situated EMT would act under comparable circumstances.
• The breach of duty resulted in injury to the patient.

Common breaches of a duty owed to a patient by an EMT, or, in other words, common reasons why a medical malpractice case is brought against an EMT include:

• EMT delayed response to the accident scene
• EMT failed to bring adequate medical equipment to the accident scene
• The ambulance equipment was improperly used
• The EMT failed to properly diagnose the patient
• The EMT failed to follow standard evaluation protocols, like checking the breathing and heartbeat of the patient
• The EMT failed to properly administer medications (either the wrong type or wrong dosage of a medication

Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys

If you have suffered due to the negligent action or inaction of an EMT at an accident scene, talk to the trusted personal injury attorneys at Cooper Schall & Levy. We will discuss your legal options with you and how we can fight to enforce those legal rights so that you are properly compensated for the harm you have suffered. Contact us today.

We rely on our doctors and treating medical professionals to accurately monitor our health as well as address any health problems. Vision problems, in particular, can cause a great deal of fear and stress. After all, most of us depend on our vision as an essential tool to get through our everyday lives. Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that addresses the eye, its functions, anatomy, pathology, and, of course, its treatment. Ophthalmologists are the physicians who specialize in treating eye problems. While it can be difficult to consider, sometimes ophthalmologists fail to provide their patients with the level of care they deserve. This lapse in quality of care can, in turn, cause injury to the patient. If you have suffered due to the negligence of your ophthalmologist, you may be able to bring a medical malpractice claim seeking compensation for the harm you have suffered.

Overview of Ophthalmologist Malpractice

In order to establish malpractice against an ophthalmologist, a person needs to first establish that a doctor-patient relationship existed. In a doctor-patient relationship, the doctor owes a standard of care in treating the patient. More specifically, the standard of care is a reference to the level of care that a reasonably prudent doctor (an ophthalmologist, in this case) in a similar geographical area would have used under the same or comparable circumstances. To substantiate a claim that your treating ophthalmologist breached the requisite standard of care, evidence is generally presented in the form of your medical records as well as supporting opinions of expert witnesses. In addition to demonstrating that the ophthalmologist breached the standard of care, you must be prepared to prove that this breach was the direct cause of the harm you sustained. 

An ophthalmologist may have committed any number of errors that substantiate a breach in the standard of care he or she owed to a patient. Some examples of ophthalmologist error that may lead to a medical malpractice claim include:

• Surgical errors
• Lasik errors
• Failure to adequately monitor a patient post-surgery
• Errors in type or dosage of medication
• Misdiagnosis (wrong diagnosis) of an eye condition
• Failure to diagnose an eye condition
• Negligent conduct causing eye infection

These types of errors committed by an ophthalmologist can have truly devastating consequences. Due to any one of these errors, a patient may suffer from:

• Double vision
• Blurred vision
• Partial loss of vision
• Total loss of vision
• Eye infection
• Corneal haze
• Injury to the eye flap

Errors in properly treating a patient’s eye condition often result in the patient needing to further undergo eye treatments and procedures that would not have been necessary should he or she have received proper care in the first place.

In a successful medical malpractice claim, an injured party may be compensated for the cost of medical care incurred due to the harm sustained from the lapse in adequate medical care. Additionally, the injured party may be entitled to recover for lost wages and loss of future earning capacity. Pain and suffering damages are also recoverable in a medical malpractice claim.

Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If you or someone you love has suffered due to an ophthalmologist providing substandard care, the dedicated medical malpractice at Cooper Schall & Levy are here to help. We will fight for you as we pursue your right to recover compensation from the harm you have suffered. Contact us today.

Your treating medical providers owe you, their patient, a duty of care right from the start. This is true when you walk into your primary care doctor’s visit, it is true when you are getting lab work done, and it is true if you need emergency treatment in a hospital emergency room. While emergency rooms can often operate at or above capacity and may be chaotic in nature, you are still owed a duty of care. Should your doctor and other treating health care professionals fail to uphold this duty, and you are injured as a result, you may be entitled to compensation through pursuing a medical malpractice claim.

What is considered emergency room malpractice?

A focal point in any medical malpractice case is the applicable standard of care. The law requires doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to uphold a certain standard of care when treating patients. They are required to provide the same level of treatment that a similarly situated, competent medical professional would have provided under the same circumstances. Failure to do so means that there has been a breach of duty. If the breach of duty caused preventable harm, then medical malpractice may have occurred. It is critical to establish that a duty was owed, there was a breach of the duty owed, and harm resulted from the breach of duty.

Some of the more common errors that are seen in emergency rooms include:

• Anesthesia errors
• Surgical errors
• Medication errors
• Failure to order proper lab testing
• Errors in interpreting lab test results
• Improperly discharging a patient
• Failure to attend to a patient as fast as necessitated by their condition

These kinds of errors can occur for a number of reasons. For instance, in an emergency room setting, mistakes can be made due to the facility being overstaffed, operating above capacity, or simply due to carelessness on the part of the staff. Sometimes, there are unsanitary conditions in an ER that can harm patients seeking treatment. One of the most common errors to occur in the emergency room setting is misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. In a case of misdiagnosis, a patient is diagnosed with the wrong medical condition. In a case of missed diagnosis, a patient is not diagnosed with any medical condition when they are in actuality suffering from a medical condition. Errors in diagnosis can have devastating and lasting impacts on the health and well-being of a patient. Diagnostic errors can mean that a patient does not receive the treatment they need. It can also mean that a patient receives the wrong kind of treatment. Either way, the health of a patient can suffer as a result.

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If you have suffered harm due to emergency room negligence, trust that the medical malpractice attorneys at Cooper Schall & Levy will fight for you. We will tirelessly pursue your legal right to full and fair monetary recovery for your injuries. Contact us today.

Doctors and other medical professionals have a duty to patients to provide them with a certain standard of care in all aspects of treatment. This includes prescribing and dispensing both the proper dosage and type of medication. When healthcare professionals fail to provide patients with the requisite standard of care, there is an error in medications as a result of this negligence, and the patient is harmed because of the error, then the patient may seek compensation for the damages sustained through bringing a medical malpractice claim. A medical malpractice claim allows a person harmed by medical negligence to recover compensation for things like medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Errors in Medication

Medications are truly modern marvels. The proper medication can help someone suffering cope with the pain, it can treat symptoms, and it can treat illnesses. Medication can also, however, cause great harm to a person and put them at risk for certain harm. The risk of harming a patient can exponentially increase if the patient is prescribed or receives the wrong type of medication or the incorrect dosage. In fact, there are many types of medication errors that can end up harming a patient, including:

• The patient is administered the wrong medication
• The patient is administered the wrong dosage of medication
• The patient receives mislabeled medication
• There is a failure to warn the patient of a medication’s common side effects
• The patient is prescribed a medication that the patient is allergic to
• The patient is prescribed a medication that adversely interacts with other medications the patient is taking

These types of medication errors are often caused due to the negligence of the prescribing physician or the pharmacy responsible for dispensing the medication. Negligence can show up in the form of poor communication among medical staff. It can also involve system errors. Medical staff are often overloaded with work and are on the clock for a long period of time. The resulting exhaustion can all too easily lead to errors in medication.

An error in medication does not necessarily mean that the patient will be able to bring a successful medical malpractice claim. In order to substantiate a medical malpractice claim, the patient will first have to prove that there was a doctor-patient relationship. With this relationship comes a duty of care the doctor owes the patient. Doctors and healthcare providers are obligated to act in a way similarly situated medical professionals would act under the circumstances. For instance, with regard to medication, a medical professional would be required to be aware of things such as any other medical conditions of the patient, patient allergies, and any other medication the patient may be taking. The patient must be able to show that the medical provider failed to uphold this duty and that this breach of duty was the direct cause of the patient sustaining harm.

The harm resulting from the medication error can be devastating. The patient may be subjected to adverse reactions to the medication. An unintended drug overdose may also be the result of such a mistake. Furthermore, the patient may suffer due to a delay in receiving the proper care and the proper medication they should have received in the first place.

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If you have been harmed by a medication error, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm you have suffered. The dedicated medical malpractice attorneys at Cooper Schall & Levy will talk to you about your legal options and fight for you to receive the compensation you deserve. Contact us today.