Pediatric Malpractice: Suing a Doctor for Poor Medical Care
Parents trust doctors to provide the highest level of care to keep their children safe and healthy. Unfortunately, some medical professionals behave in a negligent manner and commit harmful medical malpractice. As lawsuits involving minors have some key differences between cases involving adults, it is important that you are aware of your legal options.
Our law firm serves families all over Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, including Scranton and Stroudsburg, PA. Let’s review your legal options following medical negligence over pediatric care.
What Is Pediatric Medical Malpractice?
First and foremost, let’s do a quick breakdown of what exactly constitutes medical malpractice. Some people believe that they can sue if a medical procedure did not achieve its intended outcome. This is not the case.
How to Ensure Success in a Medical Malpractice Case
For a successful medical malpractice lawsuit, the following factors must be present.
To sue a physician, we must be able to demonstrate there was an established duty of care between them and your child, and that this duty was breached. In practice, this means that a medical professional was in charge of your child’s health and that they behaved in a negligent manner. An example of this would be a doctor missing obvious signs of fetal distress and failing to perform a c-section when they should.
For a successful pediatric lawsuit, we must also be able to establish that the doctor’s error directly caused tangible harm. Returning to the previous example, if the failure to recognize fetal distress led to brain damage, organ failure, or cerebral palsy, you likely have a potential lawsuit.
Statute of Limitations for Pediatric Medical Malpractice Cases
In a medical malpractice case with an adult plaintiff, Pennsylvania statute of limitations mandate that the lawsuit must be filed within two years of the incident, or two years from when the victim of medical malpractice discovered or should have reasonably discovered their harm. Failing to file by the requisite date results in losing the ability to ever receive compensation.
Our state’s law is much more permissive of late filings for pediatric medical malpractice lawsuits. The two-year clock does not start until a child’s 18th birthday. This means that any victim of pediatric medical malpractice in Pennsylvania can file their lawsuit before they turn 20, even if the medical malpractice occurred many years ago.
We Will Pursue Maximum Compensation
It is important to know that pursuing a pediatric medical malpractice lawsuit can in some cases result in high amounts of compensation. This is especially true in Pennsylvania, since our state does not place any maximum limit on the payouts a family can receive for their suffering.
Talk to Our Knowledgeable Attorneys
We are proud to say that four of the attorneys at our firm have been named Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, a designation that is restricted to the top 5% of attorneys in the state in any given year. We have the in-depth medical malpractice knowledge necessary to evaluate your case and seek the maximum compensation you and your child need. Reach out to our law office to see why so many individuals in Scranton, Stroudsburg, and Wilkes-Barre, PA, pick us.
