Medical Malpractice

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical Malpractice is, “bad, wrong, or injudicious treatment of a patient, professionally and in respect to the particular disease or injury, resulting. in injury, unnecessary suffering, or death to the patient, and proceeding from ignorance, carelessness, want of proper professional skill, disregard of established rules or principles, neglect, or a malicious or criminal intent .” (Black’s Law Dictionary 1111. 4th Ed. Rev. 1968). Like general malpractice, it refers to negligence in a professional setting. However, it is limited to healthcare providers, such as a doctor or hospital.

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider deviates from the applicable standard of care, intentionally or unintentionally, and harms a patient. Cases such as Napier v. Greenzweig show that medical malpractice can be as blatant as ignoring understood rules, or it can be a mistake like a severe surgical error or a misdiagnosis. Medical malpractice is considered to be a serious issue, and healthcare providers found liable for malpractice often pay extensive damages. Occasionally, a doctor may lose their license to practice medicine if malpractice is severe enough or repeated.

Fully understanding cases of medical malpractice often involves some level of medical knowledge. Because of this, it is difficult to prove medical malpractice in court, and expert witnesses are typically needed to testify about a healthcare provider’s negligence.

More information about Medical Malpractice

Kids and pets left in hot cars can have tragic ending

Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle on a hot summer day can lead to heatstroke and can kill in minutes. The Department of Earth & Climate Sciences at San Francisco State University reported that there have already been 21 child deaths this year due to heatstroke from being left in a hot vehicle.

Tragedy can strike when parents or caregivers forget or knowingly leave children or pets in hot vehicles. It can also occur when unattended children play in parked vehicles. A car can heat 20 degrees in just ten minutes. Even with temps in the 60s, the interior of a car can eventually heat up above 110 degrees. A child will die of heatstroke when their body temperature reaches 107 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The issue of child heatstroke deaths reached national attention in June when a father in Atlanta said he forgot his son in the car seat while he was at work all day. […]

Katie Nealon Passes Pennsylvania Bar Exam

SCRANTON, PA – May 9, 2014 –Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, a Pennsylvania personal injury firm, announced that Katie Nealon, an associate with the firm, passed the Pennsylvania Bar exam.

Nealon earned her Juris Doctor from Whittier Law School in California, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, ranking in the top 2% of her class and receiving the 2013 award for Outstanding Graduate in Business Law. She also graduated Wilkes University Magna cum laude earning a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science with minors in Business, Women’s Studies and International Studies.

Nealon is a member of the California Bar and the California Bar Association. Prior to joining Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, she served as a law clerk for a firm in California and also for the Orange County Superior Court. In addition, Nealon volunteered as an advocate for the Juvenile Hall Advocacy Clinic and the General Relief Advocacy Program. […]

Medical Malpractice Frequently Asked Questions

Medical Malpractice Questions and Answers

What is medical malpractice?

Legal definitions vary slightly from state to state, but as a general rule medical malpractice (also known as medical negligence) means that a health care provider caused injury or death to a patient by failing to act within the applicable standard of care. Essentially, a physician or other health care provider commits medical malpractice and is negligent when he or she fails to act in a reasonable way under the circumstances and the unreasonable conduct causes harm.

How can I find out if I have a case?

Because medical malpractice law is very complex, the best way to know is by talking to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. Be sure to tell the lawyer exactly what happened to you, from the first time you visited your doctor through your last contact. […]

Medical errors third-leading cause of death in America

A “Medical Errors” report just released by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer calls medical errors a “quiet and largely unseen tragedy.” New research estimates up to 440,000 Americans are dying each year as the result of medical errors and other preventable hospital errors. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and based on these figures, medical/hospital errors is the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease and cancer.

Senator Boxer stated, “these deaths are all the more heartbreaking for families because they are preventable.”

The Partnership for Patients, a new public-private partnership funded through the Affordable Care Act, released a list of the 9 most common medical errors:
1. Adverse drug events
2. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
3. Central line-associated blood stream infections
4. Injuries from falls and immobility
5. Obstetrical adverse effects
6. Bedsores
7. […]

Client Victories

Top Settlements & Verdicts

We have listed below a sampling of our top settlements and verdicts. We are not able to list all of our seven and eight figure victories here because of confidentiality restrictions. We chose the following list of publicly disclosed settlements and verdicts as they are representative of the types of injury and accident cases that we handle and illustrate how hard we fight for our clients. Keep in mind that we accept all kinds of cases, large and small. Our mission is to help injured victims — so call us today for a FREE case evaluation.

Take a deeper looker at our results.

$26 Million truck accident settlement.

$32.25 Million Settlement for a tragic airplane crash.

$20 Million Commercial vehicle settlement.

$17.5 Million Jury verdict in teens’ death caused by car accident.

$12 Million Verdict for forklift accident victim who lost her leg. […]