Any health care provider in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may be held legally responsible for acts of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice, like most personal injury cases, is based on the legal theory of negligence. In Pennsylvania, an important element is the existence of damages that represent a plaintiff’s losses.

To have a viable medical malpractice case, the plaintiff must have suffered damages as a result of the act(s) of medical malpractice. Damages may be relatively moderate, such as a need for additional care to remedy a condition caused by medical malpractice, or it may be severe, such as a permanent disability or death.

Both economic damages and non-economic damages are available in medical malpractice cases. A plaintiff may be awarded damages for past and future medical bills and lost wages, as well as future earnings capacity. A jury may also award a plaintiff damages for past and future pain and suffering, disfigurement, embarrassment and humiliation, and the lost ability to enjoy certain pleasures of life.

Incidents of medical malpractice occur every day in Pennsylvania causing patients to incur economic and non-economic damages. No matter what causes the injuries associated with any medical procedure or treatment, if such injuries could have been avoided by the use of the accepted standard of care, a person may be entitled to compensation. Filing a claim for medical malpractice requires a complicated and lengthy analysis as it necessitates the use of expert witnesses to review medical records such as X-Rays, medical charts, doctors’ notes, and any other documentation substantiating a claim. Stay tuned for the last installment of our series about the elements of a medical malpractice case.