MEDICAL MALPRACTICE The Intersection of Law and Medicine. Medical Malpractice is generally defined as improper care or treatment by a physician, hospital, or other provider of health care, which causes harm to the patient.  Medical Malpractice or Medical Mistakes may take the form of an act or an omission. This can include doing something that should not have been done (an act), or by failing to do something that should have been done (an omission).  Medical Malpractice is often referred to as medical negligence. Medical Malpractice Laws apply to doctors, nurses, hospitals, practices, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities and other health care professionals and institutions.  Medical Malpractice Laws are different, often significantly, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Free Confidential Case Review. In its most basic legal terms, "Medical Malpractice" describes conduct that deviates from the reasonable standard of care, and which causes harm to the patient.  Medical practitioners and medical institutions are not held to a standard of absolute infallibility.  Rather, a medical practitioner must use the same degree of care as a reasonable medical practitioner would under the circumstances. Medical practitioners and medical institutions are required to possess and employ the same knowledge and skill, and use the same level of care that is normally used in the medical profession in which that medical practitioner or institution is engaged.   Medical practitioners who hold themselves out as specialists in a particular field of medicine must have the same knowledge and skill and use the same care as other specialists in that same medical specialty.

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Medical practitioners must also keep informed of the contemporary developments in their medical profession  and must use current skills and knowledge in their care and treatment of their patients.

Medical practitioners or medical institutions whose conduct does not meet their professional standards of care, and thereby causes harm, can be found negligent.

Medical Malpractice Claims against physicians often include allegations of the failure to properly and timely reach a proper diagnosis; failing to appropriately treat or manage the medical condition, or inappropriately treating and managing it; failure to timely have surgery performed; failure to obtain such testing as was indicated; failure to properly interpret the results of such testing; failure to obtain proper historic information; failure to obtain consultations; failure to promptly and timely perform surgery; and failure to create a proper differential diagnosis and act in proper accord with it.

Medical Malpractice Claims against hospitals and institutions often include: failure to use reasonable care in the maintenance of safe and adequate facilities and equipment; failure to select and retain only competent physicians; failure to oversee all persons who practice medicine within its walls as to patient care; failure to formulate, adopt and enforce adequate rules and policies to ensure quality care for the patient.

Medical Malpractice is a reality. Recent studies show that thousands of people die each year as the result of medical error in the United States. According to a Harvard University study, more than 1 million people suffer injuries each year as a result of mistakes caused by doctors, anesthesiologists, residents, nurses, technicians and malfunctioning medical devices. Independent studies have put the number of deaths from preventable medical errors at a low of 98,000 annually (almost double the number of American deaths in Vietnam) and a high of 195,000 (the equivalent of two jumbo jets going down every day).  According to a recent U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Johns Hopkins University report, preventable medical errors add $4.6 billion to health care costs. These findings are similar to those of the Institute for Medicine. Wall Street Journal, 10/8/03; Health Grades, "Patient Safety in American Hospitals", 7/04.

Alarmingly, four out of five doctors say they have seen a colleague take a "shortcut" that could endanger a patient’s health according to a report co-authored by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and VitalSmarts, a leadership and organizational performance consulting firm; however only 10 percent of them had spoken up about the mistakes they have witnessed.

While these errors are occurring, and those in the know are keeping them quiet, patients are left in a difficult predicament.  Persons bringing these malpractice claims have the burden of proving that there was a deviation from the applicable standard of care.  Such proofs require the testimony of expert witnesses who are in the same or substantially similar field of practice in which the medical practitioner was engaged at the time of the incident.   However, these experts face retribution for speaking up about poor care. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has even formed a five-member committee to come up with a plan to stop the misuse of peer review committees to target doctors who speak out about poor quality care being delivered. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/1/04, 10/26 -- 11/2/03.

The bottom line is that Medical Malpractice cases are among the most difficult to handle of all personal injury claims, and they require significant investment of time and expense to pursue. We have the experience, skill, and resources to get your case to a successful conclusion.  Call Now.

Our Medical Malpractice Law Offices are conveniently located in suburban Northeast Philadelphia and in Southern New Jersey.  We are a Philadelphia Personal Injury Law Firm with suburban convenience.

Please remember that this webpage and all of the information on this website is intended to be a very general overview of the law. The law is much more comprehensive and specific, and there are many exceptions and distinctions which may make all the difference to you, your case, and your decision making process. If you have any questions whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact Attorney Fenerty. The only bad question is the question that you did not ask.

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"Sooner or later, health care providers will realize their economic adversaries are not lawyers, but benefit providers."  -Justice Del Sole, concurring statement in Pittsburgh Neurosurgery Assoc., Inc v. Dare A. Danner and Robert Pierce and Associates, PC. 733 A.2d 1279 (Pa. 1999).

The Medical Malpractice ‘Crisis’: Recent Trends And The Impact Of State Tort Reforms Do recent events constitute a crisis or merely the workings of the insurance cycle? K. Thorpe, Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of The Health Sphere.

Medical Malpractice Research Projects Funded By The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell's Plan For Medical Malpractice Liability Reform.