Is Medical Malpractice Common?

At O’Malley & Perry Law we have over 40 years of experience handling medical malpractice or medical negligence cases.

If you have been injured due to the substandard or unethical care of a doctor, health care professional or hospital, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. At O’Malley & Perry Law, we believe that healthcare providers who fail to live up to the ethical standards of their practice and cause harm to a patient must be held accountable under the law.

You may think that medical errors are uncommon but a study from Johns Hopkins in 2016 found that medical errors were the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. When a doctor fails to abide by established care in the diagnosis, treatment, testing, and follow-up of a patient, it can lead to injuries, complications, and even death.

Many different behaviors by healthcare providers can be considered negligence under the law, and consequently, malpractice:

• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to recognize symptoms
• Failure to treat complications
• Failure to make a specialist referral
• Misreading or ignoring lab reports
• Surgical errors
• Prescribing the wrong medications or dosages
• Premature discharge
• Failure to perform follow-up care
• Birth Injury

Proving Malpractice

A patient has the right to expect a level of care that is ethical, qualified, and to the standards of care of the provider’s particular field. When this doesn’t happen, a medical malpractice claim can be brought to prove that the health care provider did not perform to those standards and did not act in a way that was reasonable for a professional of their training and experience.

In order to prove medical malpractice under PA Law it is necessary to establish that the healthcare provider failed to exercise that degree of care, skill, and learning expected of a reasonable, prudent health care provider in the profession or class to which he belongs within the state acting in the same or similar circumstances.

There is also a requirement that the substandard care and/or treatment was a proximate cause of the injury, this is also known as “causation” in the legal world. The law places the burden of proof on the injured party to prove that negligence was a factor in their injuries. If you have been injured by the negligence of a doctor or other health care provider, it is critical to have the assistance of a skilled medical malpractice lawyer offering professional legal guidance.