Medical Malpractice Attorneys in Harrisburg, PA
Help for Dauphin County residents injured by medical negligence
We place our trust and faith in medical professionals when we are sick or injured, knowing they have gone through years of training and education to become doctors, nurses, or surgeons. The majority of the time, these professionals provide expert medical care, living up to their oath to do no harm to their patients. However, sometimes doctors make mistakes. It is when an error rises to the level of negligence and injury when an attorney needs to step in.
When a doctor, nurse, medical clinic, pharmacist – or any type of medical professional – causes you or a loved one harm, the Harrisburg medical malpractice attorneys at KBG Injury Law can help. We understand the amount of resources it takes to try a malpractice case, and we are up for the task. With a long history of successful results and verdicts, we are ready to work for you and help secure the compensation to which you are entitled for your injuries and losses.
What is medical malpractice?
Medical News Today states that malpractice occurs when “a health care professional or provider neglects to provide appropriate treatment, omits to take an appropriate action, or gives substandard treatment that causes harm, injury, or death to a patient.” They also note that “there are between 15,000 and 19,000 medical malpractice suits against doctors every year.”
These medical errors can involve anything from a misdiagnosis to an error in treatment to mistakes in follow-up care. In general, any time a medical professional provides incompetent care to a patient that results in injury, medical negligence may be to blame. For a valid Harrisburg medical malpractice case, your claim should meet the following:
- There was a valid doctor-patient relationship. You and your doctor had a formal working relationship, meaning you hired him/her to treat you. For example, an individual cannot make a legal claim against a doctor who gave him/her advice at a social gathering or on a free internet discussion forum.
- The doctor violated their duty of care. Medical professionals owe their patients a specific duty of care, meaning acting in the way a competent physician in their field would have. You have a right to expect that duty of care in your own or your loved one’s medical treatment.
- The violation of care caused you harm. This is typically the most challenging part of a medical malpractice case. Even if the outcome of a medical procedure or treatment is not positive, or not what you expect, the courts do not consider it negligence unless you can show it resulted in injury. The attorneys at KBG Injury Law can help demonstrate the extent of your injuries.
- Your injuries led to damages and losses. The final part of a medical malpractice claim is your losses. The court wants to see how your injuries have affected, and will continue to affect, your life and well-being. This includes medical expenses, disability, pain and suffering, economic hardship, and more.
Medical malpractice claims are notoriously difficult to pursue, but our attorneys have the know-how and the resources to do it. We understand which parties may be responsible for your injuries – surgeons, medical staff, hospitals – and how to work with your insurance provider to get things done. Our legal team reaches out to every possible accountable party to ensure you are fully compensated for your injuries.
What are common types of medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice and negligence can occur in a wide variety of settings and in a wide variety of ways. However, some types occur more than others:
- Delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. These occur when a doctor fails to diagnose a disease or condition in a timely fashion or diagnoses a patient with the wrong one altogether. In either scenario, a patient can miss out on life-saving procedures or treatment – or undergo treatment for a condition he or she does not have, causing both emotional distress and negative physical side effects.
- Surgical mistakes. Errors in surgical procedures can cause severe complications and injuries. When surgeons make devastating mistakes like puncturing or lacerating an organ, operating on the wrong body part, leaving an instrument inside the body, or even performing surgery under the influence of drugs or alcohol, patients are left at great risk. Unhygienic or improper post-operative care can also cause patients to suffer life-threatening infections.
- Birth injuries. Different than birth defects, birth injuries occur from mistakes that happen during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Examples include when an obstetrician or other medical professional fails to monitor for fetal distress, does not order a timely C-section, uses excessive force with a vacuum extractor or forceps, or improper prenatal care.
- Medication mistakes. These often occur in hospital and pharmacy situations. Medication errors can range from prescribing the wrong drug to administering the incorrect dosage. Physicians or pharmacists can mix up drug names and dosages for a variety of reasons, but the majority are human error.
- Anesthesia errors. Among some of the most serious medical malpractice mistakes, anesthesia errors can cause permanent brain injury or death. These types of errors typically occur during surgical procedures and can happen when an anesthesiologist administers too much or too little anesthesia, fails to monitor a patient’s vital signs, or fails to properly intubate a patient.
Our Harrisburg lawyers can talk to you about the circumstances of your particular case and work to determine who – or what – was at fault.
What is the value of my Harrisburg medical malpractice claim?
Although everyone’s injuries and personal circumstances are different, a successful medical malpractice claim makes you eligible for certain compensatory damages. These include:
- Medical expenses, current and future, to cover medical bills related to your injuries. This can include prolonged hospitalizations, surgeries, physical therapy, and prescription medications.
- Lost wages, from time off work spent recovering from your injuries. Lost wages also include loss of earning potential if your injuries prevent you from returning to your current job.
- Pain and suffering, for the physical and mental pain your injuries caused. This also includes loss of enjoyment of life.
- Punitive damages, awarded by the court when they find a medical professional has acted in a particularly willful, malicious, or grossly negligent manner.
The attorneys at KBG Injury Law work to ensure you secure the proper and fair amount of financial compensation to which you are entitled for your injuries.
How long do I have to bring a medical malpractice claim in Harrisburg?
Here in Pennsylvania, you have two years from the date the malpractice occurred to bring your injury claim. This is a relatively short amount of time when you consider the amount of investigation and paperwork involved, which is why it is so important to contact an attorney as soon as possible after you discover malpractice has occurred. Filing a claim after the statute of limitations expires will almost certainly result in the court throwing out your case under most circumstances.
However, for minors (like with birth injuries), the statute of limitations does not begin until they turn eighteen. In these cases, minors have until the age of 20 to bring a medical malpractice claim when they were injured by medical negligence.
Is there a Harrisburg medical malpractice attorney near me?
KBG Injury Law’s Harrisburg offices are located at 717 Market Street, Lemoyne, PA, between N. 8th and N. 7th Streets. We are only a few minutes away from district and state courts. We also maintain four locations throughout the state.
Compassionate Harrisburg medical malpractice lawyers
If you or a member of your family were harmed by a negligent medical professional, the attorneys at KBG Injury Law want to help. With over 30 years of experience assisting clients, our legal team has the resources to take on tough medical malpractice cases on behalf of injured patients throughout South Central Pennsylvania. To schedule a consultation, call 717-848-3838 or fill out our contact form. We maintain offices in York, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Hanover, and Gettysburg.