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What is Medical Malpractice?

When a doctor or another healthcare professional makes a mistake that causes significant damage or life-changing injuries to you or a loved one, that is medical malpractice. Medical errors contribute to around 200,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, while millions of more people suffer from life-long injuries or conditions.

Medical malpractice can fall under many different categories, including but not limited to the following.

Medical malpractice can fall under many different categories, including but not limited to the following:

Birth Injury

While the birth of a child is most often a celebratory occasion, there are times when a doctor fails to provide the proper environment for the safe delivery of a baby. When this happens, the results can be devastating, leading to injuries like cerebral palsy. No matter the reason for birth injuries, the commonality between them is that competent medical care could have prevented most of them.

Some common causes of birth injury include:
 

• Monitor failure. Whether from equipment failure or neglect of a medical professional, lack of attention to carefully monitoring either the mother or baby throughout the birthing process can fail to catch issues such as placenta previa or a ruptured uterus.
• Untimely C-section. Delaying a necessary C-section can cause many injuries to an unborn child. Unfortunately, it sometimes leads to the tragic death of the baby or its mother.
• Lack of oxygen. Brain damage or cognitive delays can stem from complications that deprive a newborn of oxygen. Issues like the umbilical cord wrapping around the baby’s neck can cause a lifetime of problems.
• Excessive force. One of the most common birth injuries, the excessive force a doctor may employ while using forceps or a vacuum to assist extraction, can lead to nerve damage, broken bones, and other issues concerning a baby’s neck or limbs.

Cancer Misdiagnosis

Cancer misdiagnosis happens when a doctor fails to interpret diagnostics and symptoms correctly. This misdiagnosis, or even a delayed diagnosis, can have catastrophic consequences in cancer cases. This issue is especially pertinent with varieties of cancer in which early diagnosis corresponds with higher treatment success rates.

Radiology Malpractice

Radiology malpractice may take the form of over-radiating a patient or failing to interpret radiological results correctly. These mistakes can lead to radiation poisoning, cancer, or improper diagnoses that lead to further medical complications down the road.

Surgical Malpractice

Surgical malpractice can come in several different forms, from operating on the wrong body part to leaving a foreign object inside a patient’s body after surgery. These types of mistakes often occur when surgeons are overworked and tired, or otherwise impaired.

Surgeons leave more than 3500 patients with a foreign object in their body after surgery each year. Officially termed “retained foreign bodies” (RFBs) or “retained surgical items” (RSIs), sponges, scalpels, retractors, and clamps are the most common objects that get left behind.

Examples of a surgeon operating on the wrong body part can come from miscommunications over whether the surgery is on the right or left side of the body or when a surgeon mistakes the vertebra level while operating on the spine.

Proving Medical Malpractice

In just about any medical malpractice lawsuit, the medical malpractice victim must prove four primary points to make a case for negligent medical errors.

• Doctor-Patient Relationship. In your medical malpractice case, proof is necessary that your doctor had authority as your doctor of record and was not just a consulting doctor.
• Medical Negligence. If a doctor or any other practitioner acted (or failed to act) in a way that diverged from the accepted medical standards, that is considered medical negligence. To prove negligence in court, your attorney will need to prove that your doctor did not exercise an “appropriate standard of medical care.”
• Injury due to negligence. You must prove without a doubt that the injury you sustained resulted directly from your doctor’s negligence.
• Specific damages. You need to be able to show that medical malpractice resulted in actual damage. These damages might include:
• Physical injuries
• Mental trauma
• Medical bills
• Lost work
  

Let Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Frischman & Rizza Help

At Frischman & Rizza, we have taken over 100 medical malpractice cases to a jury trial, with a 97% success rate. We investigate and handle medical malpractice cases across Pennsylvania with a proven four-step process:

1. Initial Interview. We take the time to listen to your complaints and address your concerns directly by having you speak with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.
2. Medical Records Review. We obtain and assess all relevant medical records to the case. Our years of experience help us cut through mountains of documents to identify only the most essential information about your medical malpractice case.
3. Expert Witnesses. We have access to world-class medical experts who have both the academic and clinical experience to evaluate your claims.
4. If we can conclude there was indeed injury caused by negligence, we will file a lawsuit and fight aggressively for your case. Even if you are not in Pittsburgh, we will travel anywhere in Pennsylvania to speak with you.
   

If you or someone you love has suffered because of medical malpractice, please give our team at Frishman & Rizza a call for a free evaluation of your case. We can provide the best representation since we have over 35 years of experience.

You can reach our law office at (412) 247-7300 or fill out our contact form online. From there, you can schedule a free consultation with one of our experienced Western Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers. Our partners handle every case personally and never pass your case on to junior lawyers or contract outside firms to do our work for us. Our super lawyers are here to help you get the justice you seek for your medical malpractice claims.