Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or medical professional fails to administer proper care, and a patient suffers serious harm as a result. If you or a loved one suffered injury, illness, or death as the result of a medical mistake at a hospital in the Wyoming Valley, you have the right to seek compensation for your medical costs, pain and suffering, and other losses. Contact a Wilkes-Barre PA medical malpractice lawyer at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys for a free consultation. We take on almost all medical malpractice cases.
Since 1959, the personal injury lawyers at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys have upheld justice for individuals and families in Luzerne County and all over Pennsylvania. Our medical malpractice attorneys have earned a national reputation for our work on behalf of injured patients. We have consistently been ranked among the Best Lawyers in America, and have earned the highest peer and client ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, the gold standard in the legal industry. Further, our attorneys have been named to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list for the work we do to recover compensation for malpractice victims. We won’t rest until we pursue every possible source of recovery for you.
Chat, email, or call us today for a free and confidential case review. We will answer any questions you may have, and help you determine the next steps to take in your medical malpractice cases.
How Can a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Wilkes-Barre Help?
Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the United States.
As a patient (or patient’s family member), you turn to doctors and caregivers for help during the most difficult times of your life. It is an incredibly vulnerable position. Many patients, understandably, don’t know what questions to ask or what information to look for when they communicate with their doctor. They assume that the doctors know what they’re doing, that the nurses have the correct information, and that specialists communicate effectively with one another. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
When things go wrong, it can be hard to know where to turn. An experienced Wilkes-Barre medical malpractice lawyer can help you sort through the confusion and get the justice you and your family deserve.
Five things a Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys Wilkes-Barre medical malpractice lawyer can do for you:
- Meet with you for a free medical malpractice consultation to answer your questions, discuss your concerns and work with our on-staff medical personnel to determine if you have a case.
- Conduct a thorough investigation to determine negligence in your case and identify all responsible parties.
- Negotiate with those responsible in order to obtain a fair and just settlement for your injuries and financial losses.
- If your case does not settle, our experienced Wilkes-Barre medical malpractice lawyers will take your case to trial and fight for you in court.
- We will keep you informed each step of the way, and do everything we can to help you and your family through this trying time.
What Are Common Examples of Medical Malpractice Cases?
Wilkes-Barre Hospital Infections
Infections are a risk that comes with most surgeries and hospital stays. Medical professionals always need to be watching for signs of an infection and begin proper treatment immediately. Bacterial infections, such as E.coli or strep, or viral infections, such as influenza can be very serious for a patient in recovery.
When an infection becomes advanced, a patient may become septic, requiring aggressive treatment and possibly lead to death when not treated fast enough.
Birth Injuries
The birth of a new baby should be a joyous time for the entire family. Birth injuries suffered at a Wilkes-Barre hospital can turn what should be a happy event into a scary and upsetting experience. The experienced Wilkes-Barre medical malpractice lawyers at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys handle cases involving all types of birth injuries, including cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, shoulder dystocia, hypoxia, pre-eclampsia, toxemia, uterine rupture and respiratory distress.
A birth injury in Wilkes-Barre could have occurred as a result of a failure on the part of the OB-GYN to recognize fetal distress, from the misuse of forceps, vacuums, and other medical devices during delivery, or from a delayed C-section or another mistake. If your baby suffered birth injuries due to a trauma caused by medical negligence, the resulting harm can lead to a lifetime of medical expenses. The obstetrician and other responsible parties must be held accountable.
Contact an experienced, compassionate Wilkes-Barre birth injury lawyer at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys for a free, confidential consultation.
Failure to Diagnose/Misdiagnosis
The sooner you find out you have a serious illness such as cancer, the better your treatment options and the chance of survival. Losing vital treatment time due to a doctor’s delayed or missed diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. Likewise, a wrong diagnosis can subject a patient to unnecessary, painful, and costly treatment.
A negligent doctor, lab technician, or health care facility must be held accountable for the misdiagnosis in a serious case of breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries or any other serious illness. If you or someone you love suffered from a missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnosis, contact the personal injury team at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys today for a free case evaluation.
Medication Errors
Prescribing the wrong medication, giving the wrong dosage or prescribing medications with adverse interactions or side effects can result in serious harm. A Wilkes-Barre pharmacist may make an error in filling a prescription or a doctor may make an error in prescribing a medication; even clerical errors can result in dosage mistakes.
If a medication error has compromised your health, you need to contact a medical malpractice attorney in Wilkes-Barre to make sure that Pennsylvania medical malpractice law is being upheld.
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia mistakes can have devastating consequences for patients. An anesthesiologist is responsible for evaluating your medical history to determine which anesthesia drugs can be used safely. Anesthesia errors can include the failure to take a proper medical history, improperly inserting a breathing tube, administering too high or too low a dosage of anesthesia, inadequate monitoring of vital signs, and failure to recognize and respond to complications.
Surgical Errors
When you find out you need surgery, you are leaving your health and your life in the hands of other medical professionals who may not be familiar to you. While these doctors and surgeons are required to provide you with informed consent prior to the operation, sometimes things go wrong.
Common surgical errors include nerve damage, incisions at the wrong location, operating on the wrong body part, or leaving surgical equipment inside the medical malpractice victims.
Emergency Room Errors
ER doctors and nurses must make critical decisions quickly and carefully when seriously injured patients come to the ER. They need to quickly identify and treat life-threatening conditions. A failure to recognize a heart attack, stroke, blood clot, brain injury, or another serious condition can lead to a failure to treat and to provide proper medical care.
Lab or Test Errors
When a lab technician or a radiologist misreads a test it can result in a misdiagnosis or failure to treat. A misread CT scan can delay the diagnosis of cancer or another potentially deadly condition. The hospital or medical professional responsible for this medical error should be held accountable. Our attorneys will provide you with legal advice if necessary.
Wilkes-Barre Nursing Home Negligence
When a loved one is in a nursing home, you expect that they will be well cared for. You expect that skilled staff will provide attentive care and treatment. Unfortunately, many of our most vulnerable citizens suffer inadequate care, neglect, and abuse in nursing homes or long-term care facilities.
Nursing home abuse or neglect claims can arise from untreated bedsores, serious falls, malnutrition, and dehydration, over medication, use of restraints that cause injury, unexplained injury, and verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse. If you suspect nursing home abuse or neglect be sure to report it immediately.
We represent victims of medical negligence in Wilkes-Barre, including negligence that occurred at the following healthcare facilities:
- Wilkes-Barre General Hospital/Commonwealth Health
- Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
- Allied Services Wilkes-Barre Rehab Hospital
- Commonwealth Health First Hospital
- Wilkes-Barre surgery centers
- Wilkes-Barre urgent care centers
- Wilkes-Barre nursing homes
Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Malpractice in Wilkes-Barre
Q: Who Can Be Held Responsible for Medical Malpractice?
A: Although a medical error may not have been intentional, it can still lead to serious injury or wrongful death that may have been prevented with a higher standard of care. Here are some of the medical providers who might be negligent in a medical malpractice case:
- Hospital
- Doctors
- Nurse
- Pharmacist
- OB/GYN
- Oncologist
- Cardiologist
- Surgeon
- Cosmetic Surgeon
- Anesthesiologist
- Surgery Center
- Wilkes-Barre Nursing Home
In some cases, a third party may be held liable for medical malpractice injuries. Third parties like the medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical businesses, and testing companies can produce a defective product that results in injury following a medical procedure and reduce the quality of care received.
Q: How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice Claims?
A: Proving that medical professionals have done something wrong which resulted in injury to you or a loved one is often the most complex part of medical malpractice cases.
To prove that negligence occurred, an experienced medical malpractice attorney will need to prove that the medical provider did not act in the patient’s best interest. This includes:
- There was a doctor-patient or medical professional-patient relationship and that provider had a duty to the victim to avoid harm.
- There was a breach in the duty of care owed to the victim.
- The breach caused injury to the victim.
- The injury resulted in damages.
At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, we represent medical malpractice victims by proving the elements of negligence that occurred via medical expert witnesses and reviewing medical records starting on day one of the attorney-client relationship.
Q: How Long do Victims Have to File Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?
A: To file a medical malpractice claim against a negligent provider or third party, victims have two years from the date of the negligence to bring a lawsuit forward in Pennsylvania. However, if the victim of medical malpractice dies due to their injuries, they have two years from the victim’s death to seek compensation.
This is why it’s important to act quickly once you realize neglect has occurred. These cases can result in hundreds of millions of dollars against the at-fault facility which they will want to move past quickly. A medical malpractice legal team can help victims in the Wilkes Barre area file a claim and begin the legal process to secure compensation.
Q: Does My Medical Neglect Claim Need to be Filed in the County it Occurred?
A: In order to file a claim against a medical professional for neglect and improper care, the county in which the neglect occurred in the county where the claim needs to be filed.
This change in legislation was created to combat the medical malpractice crisis across the Commonwealth. While members of the medical field wish to change this to allow claims to be filed in any county where the medical provider practices, at present, those who are injured due to a doctor’s negligence in the Wyoming Valley must file their claims in Luzerne County.
Q: How Can the Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys Help My Case?
A: Not every law firm is equipped to take on major medical facilities, medical device manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies. At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, that’s exactly what our law firm does.
Our legal team had a proven track record of securing compensation for victims of medical errors around the Wyoming Valley and throughout Pennsylvania. We have secured tens of millions for injury victims and our related practice areas, we can do the same for you.
With a free consultation as the starting point, you have nothing to lose.
Q: What Damages Can I Recover?
A: The severity of your injuries will ultimately determine the value of the damages you can recover. In general, following a successful medical malpractice lawsuit, you may be entitled to compensation for the following:
- Medical bills
- Lost income
- Pain and suffering
- Punitive damages
Q: My Surgeon Didn’t Tell Me All of the Risks of My Surgery. Can I Sue?
A: When a surgeon doesn’t provide you with all of the information you need to make an informed decision, you may be able to seek recovery if you can prove another provider would have disclosed the risks, and the risks would have deterred another person from getting the treatment.
Q: How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Wilkes-Barre Medical Malpractice Lawyer?
A: Medical procedures can be costly enough when everything goes well. When things go wrong, you may find yourself facing additional unexpected costs, along with physical and emotional suffering. At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, we believe in justice, and we believe that money should never stand in its way. That’s why we do not charge a fee for our services unless we succeed in getting you the justice you deserve. You pay nothing upfront, nothing out of pocket.
And, the initial consultation is free, confidential, and there’s no obligation to sign anything. Chat live, fill out our contact form, or call for a free consultation with a Wilkes-Barre medical malpractice lawyer.