• Standard of Care
• Breach of Standard of Care
• Negligence is Responsible
  for the Injury
• Liability and Damages
• Statute of
  Limitations

Basics of Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice occurs when hospitals or healthcare professionals cause the death or injury to patients by providing care that is not within the standard of care. Truth be told, medical malpractice cases are often difficult to win. Many people mistakenly believe that if something goes wrong during a stay in the hospital, the hospital or health care professional is automatically liable for the results. To establish whether a hospital or health care provider is liable for injury or death, it has to be determined that the health care provider was negligent with regard to the standard of care. If they are negligent, the negligence has to be the legal cause of the injuries. Medical malpractice cases are determined by three step-by-step factors: determining the standard of care, establishing that there was a breach of this standard of care, and deciding if this breach was responsible for resulting death or injury.

Standard of Care

A standard of care is the reasonable level of care that a patient can expect during their stay in a hospital. It is the duty of all hospitals and healthcare personnel to provide this standard of care to visiting patients. It is the duty of the hospital and all personnel to provide a reasonable level of care to patients.

Expert witnesses who specialize in the particular area of medicine involved must establish what the standard of care is for the average patient. They then must state that, in their opinion, this standard of care was not followed in this particular instance.  They must state this to, or within, a reasonable degree of medical certainty.

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Breach of Standard of Care

Once the standard of care has been established, the plaintiff must prove that a breach (violation) of this standard of care occurred. This is commonly referred to as “negligence”.

Negligence can occur at virtually any point during a hospital stay. A small list of possible mistakes includes misdiagnoses, administering the wrong medication or drug(s), or failure to inform patients of potential risks of a procedure, etc.

According to Pennsylvania law, medical malpractice lawsuits must involve an expert witness who claims that the hospital and/or healthcare personnel committed a breach of the standard of care.

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Negligence is Responsible for the Injury

Simply because you can prove that the hospital or healthcare professional was negligent in their duty of care, this is not enough. Plaintiffs must prove that negligence was directly responsible for the resulting medical problem, or contributed to the worsening of this condition. It is possible that the negligence played no part in the resulting situation, or that the negligence was not entirely responsible.

For instance, if a patient is misdiagnosed with mesothelioma (a malignant form of lung cancer) but dies the following week in a car crash, then the misdiagnosis is not the cause of death. As stated above, the negligence must result in the injury or death (or at the very least must worsen the condition).

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Liability and Damages

If the standard of care has been breached and if it has been shown to be responsible for the medical condition, then the patient or the party bringing suit is entitled to damages. Damages include compensation for medical bills, lost wages, as well as monetary compensation for pain and suffering. Damages cover not only losses suffered when the injury or death occurred, but also the expected losses in wages and livelihood in the future.

The fair and adequate settlement is sometimes tricky to determine. The main question is how the particular medical injury affects an individual’s ability to make a living and how it affects quality of life. The resulting damages can differ greatly between two people of the same age and gender. For instance, if a professional baseball pitcher loses his arm due to a medical error, he would be entitled to much greater damages than would a person who does not rely as much on his arm to make a living.

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Statute of Limitations

Medical malpractice cases must be filed within a specific amount of time. The state of Pennsylvania has a statute of limitation of two years. The two years begins to run when the alleged negligent act occurs. However, if the claimant has no way of knowing that the injury has occurred, then the two years does not begin until it is reasonable to assume that they would know about the injury. Some exceptions to the rules exist (see Summary of Pennsylvania Law under "Statutes of Limitations").

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