Personal Injury Lawyer in Washington PA

Sweat Law Offices will fight to ensure you get the maximum amount of money from your injuries
Our Law Firm prides itself on handling every part of your case from beginning to end. Our personal injury lawyers will:

• Collect the evidence and paperwork to build the most favorable facts for your case
• Hire experts to prove your case in court
• Deal with aggressive insurance companies on behalf of the client
• Keep you informed about the progress of your case
• Answer your questions quickly
• Treat you like a person, not a claim number

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Have you or a loved one been injured by a doctor, nurse, or healthcare professional? If you suspect that you may have been a victim, you could be eligible to recover compensation with the help of a medical malpractice attorney. Complete our free case review form today to have our office review your case and discuss whether you are eligible to file or not.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HIRING AN EXPERIENCED MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY

Medical Malpractice cases differ from Personal Injury cases because they involve both law and medicine. The Attorney you choose must:

• Have a firm understanding of medicine
• Be able to decipher medical documents
• Know which experts to consult
• Know which questions to ask
• Be able to anticipate the tactics of the defendant

What Constitutes Medical Malpractice?

When a patient is injured due to the negligence of a medical professional, they may be able to file a lawsuit. The plaintiff must prove the following elements to succeed in a medical malpractice lawsuit:

Patient/Doctor Relationship: Individuals filing medical malpractice lawsuits must be able to prove they had a physician-patient relationship with the doctor. The patient must hire the doctor and the doctor must have agreed to work for the patient. Medical practitioners can only be sued for acts of malpractice committed within the scope of employment.

Duty of Care: Physicians are required to perform their duties consistent with the medical community’s accepted standards. Doctors and other medical professionals have a legal obligation to their patients to act in the same manner that another practitioner in the same field and situation would.

Breach of Duty: For medical practitioners to be considered negligent, they must have violated the duty of care they owed to their patients. For the duty of care to have been broken, the doctor must have failed to act how another medical practitioner would have acted in a similar situation.

Causation: In addition to negligence, patients must also prove causation to have a valid claim. Injured patients must prove that the medical practitioner’s breach of duty was the proximate cause of their injury. Through documents, further medical treatments, and affidavits from other healthcare providers, patients must be able to show a causal relationship between the doctor’s negligence and their injury.

Damages: The injury caused by the healthcare provider’s negligence must have caused either economic or non-economic damages. This means that medical professionals cannot be held liable unless the injured patient incurred additional medical bills, lost wages or damage to their future earning capacity, or pain and suffering.

Medical Malpractice Damages

In medical malpractice cases, damages are awarded to compensate the injured patient for the harm caused by a medical professional’s negligence. Compensatory medical malpractice damages attempt to make the victim “whole” again and provide financial compensation for economic and non-economic losses. Also known as actual damages, economic losses that may be covered include:

Medical expenses: These damages cover the cost of hospital stays, doctor visits, physical therapy, prescription drugs, assistive devices and similar expenses. When an injury is severe or permanent, the medical malpractice victim may also be awarded compensation for future medical expenses.

Lost wages: Patients who must take time away from work to recover from their medical malpractice injuries may be able to collect compensation for lost wages.

Loss of earning capacity: When patients are unable to earn the same amount of money as they did prior to the accident, they may be awarded compensation for a loss of earning capacity.

Pain and suffering: Medical malpractice damages for pain and suffering typically compensate victims for physical pain caused by their injuries. These damages may also include compensation for emotional distress, which refers to the anxiety, depression, fear, frustration and other mental suffering that can develop as a result of a medical malpractice injury.

Loss of consortium: Spouses of medical malpractice victims may be able to recover compensation for the loss of marital benefits. Loss of companionship, sexual relations, affection, and comfort are among the compensable marital benefits. Loss of consortium medical malpractice damages are typically awarded in cases of life-changing or permanent injuries.

Other damages: There are other damages available in certain situations, including loss of life’s enjoyment, compensation for disability or disfigurement, loss of parental support, loss of companionship, etc.