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When someone causes you to sustain an accidental injury through their own misconduct, you can usually hold them civilly liable for damages your injury has caused you by proving them legally negligent. With some exceptions, this means proving they committed a specific reckless or careless act that is qualified as a breach of a duty of care they owed you.
Filing suit over an injury or illness you sustained due to professional misconduct by a healthcare provider typically also centers around the legal theory of negligence but with a notably different definition for what qualifies as legally actionable negligence. Understanding this definition is vital to understanding what constitutes medical malpractice in PA and, therefore, understanding when you might have legal standing to sue a Pennsylvania doctor over a personal injury.
A licensed physician who forms a doctor-patient relationship with someone they are treating has a duty to provide the best possible care to that patient, but it is not quite the same as a standard duty of care. Rather than what would be considered reasonable for any average person under the circumstances, doctors are expected to meet a specialized standard of care based on what an equally qualified and experienced physician would do under the circumstances.
This is an important distinction because it gives healthcare providers some legal leeway for minor mistakes and omissions that a non-professional who was irresponsible in a different scenario might not be given. For example, if a doctor working in a crowded emergency room misdiagnoses one of several successive patients they had to treat in a short window of time, that error might not be considered unreasonable for a qualified physician working under such stressful conditions to make, even if misdiagnosis directly led to the patient sustaining serious physical harm.
Because of how this standard of care is defined, a doctor simply making a mistake on the job does not automatically constitute medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, nor does testimony from another healthcare provider stating they would have handled a particular situation differently. To win this type of claim, an injured person must establish a specific standard of care for the specific circumstances under which they were injured, and then they must prove their injury stemmed directly from the defendant physician(s) acting contrary to that standard in a way no reasonable doctor would have.
Furthermore, they must have support from at least one “appropriate licensed professional” in the form of a written and signed “certificate of merit,” which is essentially a statement made under oath that the professional(s) in question believes the defendant provider’s actions likely fell outside the standards considered acceptable for a professional in their position. This is one of several unique procedural requirements that state law places on Pennsylvania malpractice claims, which a seasoned attorney could provide irreplaceable help with fulfilling.
While negligence is the broad term used to describe medical malpractice, Pennsylvania courts require plaintiffs to prove four specific legal elements to succeed in a lawsuit. Understanding these is the first step toward determining if you have a viable case.
The foundation of any claim is the establishment of a doctor-patient relationship. In Pennsylvania, this means the healthcare provider, whether a physician, nurse, or specialist, undertook the responsibility of treating you. This relationship creates a legal duty of care, requiring the provider to act as a reasonably competent professional in that same field would.
This is often the most contested part of a case. The standard of care is not perfection; rather, it is the level of skill and care that a similarly trained professional would provide under similar circumstances. A breach occurs when a provider deviates from this accepted standard. In Pennsylvania, this must typically be confirmed by a medical expert who can testify that the provider’s actions (or lack thereof) were unacceptable by medical standards.
It is not enough to show that a doctor made a mistake; you must prove that the mistake directly caused your injury. This is known as proximate cause. In some complex Pennsylvania cases, lawyers may use the increased risk of harm theory. This argues that even if a patient’s condition was already serious, the doctor’s negligence significantly increased the risk of a bad outcome.
Finally, there must be actual harm. This could include additional medical bills, lost wages, physical pain, or permanent disability. Without measurable damages, even a clear medical error may not qualify as a legal malpractice claim.
Medical errors can happen in any department, from the pharmacy to the operating room. Some of the most frequent claims handled by Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorneys include:
Misdiagnosis is a leading cause of malpractice litigation in PA, particularly in cases involving strokes, heart attacks, and cancer. A delayed diagnosis of cancer can allow the disease to progress to an untreatable stage, while a misdiagnosed heart attack in an emergency room can lead to avoidable fatalities.
Surgical mistakes range from anesthesia errors to never events, mistakes that should never happen under any circumstances. Examples include:
Birth injury claims are unique because the statute of limitations is often extended for minors. These cases involve negligence during pregnancy or delivery that results in conditions like Cerebral Palsy, Erb’s Palsy, or brain damage due to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia).
Whether it is a doctor prescribing the wrong dosage or a pharmacist dispensing the wrong medication, these errors can be toxic. In Pennsylvania, the “Standard of Care” extends to pharmacists and nurses responsible for administering drugs.
One of the most unique aspects of Pennsylvania medical malpractice law is the Certificate of Merit (COM). Under Rule 1042.3 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, a plaintiff must file a COM within 60 days of filing the initial complaint.
This document must state that a “qualified professional” (usually another doctor in the same specialty) has reviewed the case and found a “reasonable probability” that the care fell below professional standards. Without this certificate, your case will likely be dismissed by the court. This rule exists to filter out frivolous lawsuits, ensuring that only cases with legitimate medical backing proceed to discovery.
If you win a malpractice case in PA, the compensation you receive is categorized into different types of damages.
These are objective financial losses resulting from the injury. They include:
Pennsylvania does not currently cap non-economic damages, which means juries have the discretion to award what they feel is fair for:
In rare cases where a provider’s conduct was “willful, wanton, or reckless,” the court may award punitive damages. These are meant to punish the defendant rather than compensate the victim. In PA, punitive damages are generally capped at 200% of the compensatory damages, and a portion of the award goes to the MCARE (Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error) Fund.
In Pennsylvania, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. However, the “Discovery Rule” allows for exceptions if the injury was not immediately apparent. For instance, if a surgical sponge was left inside you in 2020 but wasn’t discovered until a 2023 X-ray, the two-year clock may start from the date of discovery.
However, there is also a “Statute of Repose,” which generally prevents claims from being filed more than seven years after the incident, regardless of when it was discovered (with exceptions for minors and foreign objects).
You cannot win a medical malpractice case in Pennsylvania on your own word. Because medical procedures are complex, the law requires “expert testimony” to explain the science to a jury of laypeople. An expert witness, someone with the same credentials as the defendant, must testify about what the doctor should have done and how their failure to do so caused your specific injuries.
When you have further questions about whether your doctor’s actions constitute medical malpractice under Pennsylvania state law, an experienced lawyer from Lowenthal & Abrams can provide the answers and information you need.
Contact our firm today to schedule a confidential consultation. We would be happy to set one up at your convenience.
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