When medical treatment results in an unexpected injury or a devastating outcome, one of the first questions patients and their families often ask is: Was this medical malpractice?

It is an understandable question, but the answer is not always straightforward. A poor medical outcome does not automatically mean that a doctor, hospital, or other healthcare provider was negligent. Medicine involves uncertainty, and complications can occur even when healthcare professionals provide appropriate care.

Medical malpractice becomes a potential issue when the care provided falls below the accepted professional standard, and that failure causes harm to the patient.

Understanding that distinction is an important first step for anyone considering a medical negligence claim in Pennsylvania.

What Is Medical Negligence?

At its core, medical negligence involves a healthcare provider failing to provide care consistent with the professional standard applicable under the circumstances.

Consider two patients who experience complications following surgery. One patient’s complication may be a recognized risk of the procedure that occurred despite appropriate surgical care. The other patient’s complication may have resulted from a preventable surgical error.

The outcomes may appear similar, but the legal circumstances can be very different.

That is why medical malpractice cases generally require careful review of medical records and, in many cases, analysis by qualified medical professionals.

What Must Be Proven in a Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Case?

Although every case is different, a successful medical negligence claim generally involves establishing several important elements.

First, there must have been a professional relationship giving the healthcare provider a duty to provide appropriate care.

Second, the provider must have deviated from the applicable standard of care. In other words, the issue is not simply whether something went wrong, but whether the care provided was medically unacceptable under the circumstances.

Third, there must be a connection between that deviation and the patient’s injury. This is known as causation.

Finally, the patient must have suffered damages as a result.

Causation can be one of the most challenging aspects of a medical malpractice case. A patient may already have been seriously ill or injured before the alleged negligence occurred. The question may therefore become whether the healthcare provider’s actions caused a new injury, worsened the existing condition, or reduced the patient’s chance of a better outcome.

What Are Common Examples of Medical Negligence?

Medical malpractice can arise in virtually any area of healthcare. Potential claims may involve:

• Failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis
• Surgical errors
• Medication errors
• Anesthesia errors
• Birth injuries
• Emergency room errors
• Failure to properly monitor a patient
• Failure to order appropriate diagnostic testing
• Misinterpretation of laboratory or imaging results
• Failure to recognize symptoms of a serious condition
• Improper treatment
• Failure to obtain legally required informed consent

However, the presence of one of these circumstances does not necessarily establish malpractice. Each case must be evaluated based upon its specific medical facts.

The Importance of the Standard of Care

One of the central questions in a Pennsylvania medical malpractice case is whether the healthcare provider met the appropriate professional standard of care.

That question generally requires medical review.

For example, imagine a patient visits an emergency department complaining of chest pain. Determining whether the medical team responded appropriately may require examining the patient’s symptoms, medical history, vital signs, testing, differential diagnosis, treatment, and numerous other factors.

It is generally not enough to look backward and say that because the patient ultimately suffered a heart attack, the emergency department must have been negligent.

The relevant question is whether the providers acted appropriately based upon the information reasonably available to them at the time.

The Role of Qualified Medical Professionals

Medical malpractice litigation depends heavily upon qualified medical professionals.

Pennsylvania sets standards governing who may offer an opinion about a physician’s care. In general, a doctor providing that opinion must hold an unrestricted license, be engaged in active practice or teaching, and work in the same or a substantially similar subspecialty as the provider whose care is at issue.

Meeting that requirement is our responsibility, not yours. In practice, it means the records are reviewed by a physician who actually does the work in question and can say whether the care fell outside accepted professional standards and contributed to the harm alleged.

That review is frequently where a potential claim is set aside. If a qualified physician concludes the treatment was appropriate under the circumstances, that generally ends the inquiry.

How Do You Determine Whether You May Have a Case?

You do not need to understand medical terminology or know exactly what went wrong before speaking with an attorney.

In many cases, patients simply know that something does not seem right.

Perhaps a diagnosis was missed despite repeated symptoms. Maybe a surgeon unexpectedly performed another procedure to correct a problem shortly after the first surgery. A different physician may have questioned previous treatment. Medical records may contain information that was never communicated to the patient.

Those circumstances can justify asking questions.

Our attorneys can review the history, obtain relevant records and determine whether further investigation is appropriate.

Medical Records Can Tell an Important Story

Medical negligence cases are often built around detailed medical records.

Those records may include physician notes, nursing notes, imaging studies, laboratory results, medication records, operative reports, pathology reports and electronic communications.

A careful review can help establish a timeline of what happened and when.

That timeline can be particularly important in cases involving delayed diagnosis. We examine when symptoms first appeared, what providers knew, which tests were ordered, how results were interpreted and whether earlier intervention could have changed the outcome.

Do Not Assume That a Bad Outcome Means Malpractice — or That It Doesn’t

Patients sometimes make one of two opposite assumptions.

Some believe that any serious complication must mean someone was negligent. Others assume they cannot have a claim because a physician told them the complication was simply an unavoidable risk.

Neither assumption necessarily answers the legal question.

Medical malpractice cases are highly fact-specific. Determining whether negligence occurred may require reviewing thousands of pages of medical records and consulting with medical professionals who understand the particular specialty involved.

The important point is that patients do not have to make that determination themselves.

Talk With a Pennsylvania Medical Negligence Attorney

If you or someone you love suffered a serious injury following medical treatment, you may have questions about what happened and whether it could have been prevented.

John A. Caputo and Elizabeth L. Jenkins of John A. Caputo & Associates, P.C. represent individuals and families in Pennsylvania medical negligence matters. We can review the circumstances surrounding your medical care, help you understand your legal options and determine whether further investigation of a potential claim is appropriate.

Call 412-391-4990 for a free consultation. When you call, you speak directly with an attorney. We handle these cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.