We give our trust to doctors and hospitals to receive the best care. You or a loved one was injured or has a disease that requires the best treatment. You are nervous and upset and just want the ordeal to be over. But, what happens if you get a bad outcome? Is it medical malpractice? To know if you have a medical malpractice case, you need to have proof that the doctor was negligent. At Saffren & Weinberg, we can determine if you have a medical malpractice case.
Medical malpractice is when a physician is negligent in providing standard care and his or her patient is injured as a result. What exactly is standard care? Standard care is what the medical community agrees upon for what diagnostic tests and treatments that are appropriate to your condition. A doctor must make decisions that align with what the medical community finds acceptable.
When there is a bad result from a surgery or treatment, a patient cannot sue for what could happen, only for what did happen. The patient must prove that there was poor standard care.
In order to proceed with a medical malpractice case, a certificate of merit is required. It is a report that contains the opinion from a qualified physician that is used to testify that the defendant was negligent. At Saffren & Weinberg, we have obtained many certificates of merit to show that our clients were the victims of medical malpractice. We have successfully sued doctors, nurses, hospitals, chiropractors and more. If you believe you or a loved one has been injured from a medical error, please contact us today. You must file a claim within two years from which the injury occurred.
Also, a patient must be told of all the risks associated with the surgery or treatment. If the patient was not told this or did not sign a consent form, this can lead to a medical malpractice case. If there was anything done that was not authorized by the patient, such as injecting a drug or performing a surgery that was not consented to, is considered medical battery. We can help file a claim for battery as well.
In our experience, there are three common examples of medical negligence.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis (including delayed or wrong diagnoses) comprises up to one-quarter of all malpractice claims, with cancer being the most commonly misdiagnosed condition. In fact, cancer is such a common misdiagnosis that medical negligence insurance companies have developed screening algorithms for colorectal, breast and prostate cancer. In many of these misdiagnoses of cancer cases, a physician simply failed to follow up on subtle but revealing signs of cancer like anemia, bleeding, or low hemocrit levels and order a workup of blood tests.
Mismanagement of Surgery
Surgery mismanagement is the next most common form of a malpractice claim. Although some surgery malpractice lawsuits involve technical errors by a surgeon — such as a general surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, or neurosurgeon performing a technique improperly and thereby injuring the spine or adjacent organs — in our experience most claims are a result of the hospital and staff as a whole failing to follow appropriate protocols to prepare for surgery, to monitor patients for complications during surgery, and to ensure patients recover safely.
Birth Injury
Birth injury cases involve failures by obstetricians, midwives, nurses or hospitals to appropriately diagnose and to treat complications that arise during birth. Our firm has years of experience with birth injury claims.
We can get you compensation for:
Past medical costs can be reimbursed or if paid by a government agency (e.g. Pennsylvania Department of Welfare). However, if past medical bills were paid by your insurance company, those costs cannot be recovered.
Unfortunately, patients receive poor medical care and/or neglect every day by a physician, hospital or nursing facility. Here are some forms of medical malpractice:
Some of the injuries that can occur from medical errors are brain damage, cerebral palsy, punctured organs, paralysis and disfigurement and scarring.
Get all the facts you need to understand the inner workings of your case. Saffren & Weinberg is here to provide you a voice for justice. We want to help you get the compensation you deserve.
Learn about how to distinguish between the two and the different types of birth defects.
Learn about the different types of improper treatment and how to determine if you have a case.
Learn how to identify medical misdiagnosis and the different causes of it.
