Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Philadelphia, PA

When we’re sick or hurt, we trust that the doctor we visit will quickly be able to find what’s wrong and recommend the best way to make us better. Healthcare providers can make mistakes, however, and unfortunately, a physician’s mistake can have deadly consequences. An oversight can even allow the progression of serious disease to go unchecked. If you suffered because of a misdiagnosis of your symptoms, or if you are the victim of an improperly performed medical procedure, you have rights. A medical malpractice lawsuit can help you get the financial justice you deserve.

The effects of a misdiagnosis or medical malpractice are often life-changing for the victims. You could suffer through months of invasive treatments or miss the opportunity for earlier, more successful treatment intervention if your disease is not diagnosed at the proper time.

If you or someone you love has been harmed by the negligent actions of a physician or health care professional, contact The Joel Bieber Firm. A Medical Malpractice Lawyer Philadelphia can help pursue your case.

What is Medical Misdiagnosis?

Medical misdiagnosis is a legal term that encompasses a doctor’s failure to properly identify your disease, illness, or injury, or the doctor’s attribution of your symptoms to another illness that you don’t actually have.

Many people may miss out on the chance to fully recover if their illness isn’t caught in the early stages. Additionally, people who are diagnosed with a condition they don’t have may suffer through months of invasive medical procedures that, at best, don’t work and at worst, may actually harm the patient.

Medical Malpractice Includes Medical Misdiagnosis

Medical malpractice is a legal concept that encompasses medical misdiagnosis. Medical malpractice occurs if:

Incorrect tests to rule out medical conditions were ordered, or no tests were ordered
The doctor failed to promptly act on the test results
The doctor didn’t listen when you described your symptoms
Your physician did not consider how any comorbid conditions you have could cause your symptoms or affect a potential diagnosis
You weren’t provided with information about the side effects of your prescribed medication
You’re experiencing complications from an implanted medical device

Although these are the most common forms of malpractice and misdiagnosis, they are by no means the only ones. Surgical errors, for example, are a form of malpractice.

Medical malpractice can take a significant emotional and mental toll on patients and their families. In a malpractice case, both the treating physician and the medical center they’re practicing in may share responsibility for your claim.

This is why it’s important to consult with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer Philadelphia who can identify all the parties who may be responsible for your misdiagnosis and therefore guilty of malpractice.

Contact a medical malpractice lawyer Philadelphia to evaluate your case if you didn’t get the proper treatment from your healthcare provider. They consider your medical history and look at the effects that the malpractice has had on your life, your physical and mental health, and your ability to work or care for your family.

How Medical Malpractice is Determined

Failure of a health care provider to accurately determine what is wrong with you, based on your presenting symptoms and your own description of how you are feeling, can be considered malpractice, although there is a threshold that the doctor’s mistake must meet to legally be considered malpractice.

The legal standard to determine whether a medical mistake or missed diagnosis is whether a similarly qualified health care practitioner, faced with your circumstances and presenting symptoms, would have made a different determination than your doctor did or would have acted differently.

This can include ordering different tests or asking about any underlying medical conditions or your and your family’s medical history. And if a misdiagnosis actively harms the patient, malpractice has occurred.

If your doctor doesn’t fulfill their mandatory duty of care, then that is also malpractice. A medical malpractice lawyer Philadelphia can help you file a lawsuit to recover losses caused by the malpractice.

This can include covering the medical costs you incurred and paying for the treatment you now require as a consequence of the malpractice. You may also receive compensation for the pain and suffering and emotional trauma that the malpractice caused.

How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Philadelphia Can Prove that Medical Malpractice Occurred

Your Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer will need to sufficiently demonstrate to a judge that other licensed physicians, when faced with the same presenting symptoms that you had and under the same circumstances, would have acted differently.

To do so, your attorney will have your medical records reviewed by an expert and may have you visit another doctor for a second opinion. Your lawyer may also call expert witnesses to testify how they would have treated you differently or what tests they would have performed that your initial doctor did not.

In order to prove malpractice occurred, Pennsylvania requires all medical malpractice lawyer Philadelphia to establish that:

Your treating physician owed you a duty of care
The doctor treating you did not provide the standard duty of care required from medical professionals
Your lack of care or improper care directly harmed or injured you or caused your disease to progress further than it should have
The doctor’s malpractice caused you serious harm, both financially and to your person

Establishing all four elements is necessary to prove that you were a malpractice victim, and not just a victim of an unfortunate but plausible mistake.

A Medical Malpractice Lawyer Philadelphia Can Help You

Have you or a loved one experienced medical misdiagnosis or been a victim of malpractice? The experienced personal injury attorneys at The Joel Bieber Firm have a deep understanding of Pennsylvania malpractice laws and can help you seek the settlement you deserve.