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If you were recently injured or became seriously ill due to your doctor’s substandard medical care, you have every right to seek financial restitution from them by filing suit for medical malpractice. However, as many people unfortunately learn the hard way, malpractice lawsuits can be challenging even by the usual standards of personal injury litigation—especially if they end with a civil court awarding only a small amount of compensation or dismissing your claim altogether.
Fortunately, an unfavorable ending to your malpractice claim is not necessarily the end of the road for you, provided you can prove that a serious legal or procedural error occurred during that claim, which makes its outcome inherently unfair. If you want to explore your options for appealing a medical malpractice case in Philadelphia, a medical malpractice attorney from Lowenthal & Abrams can be the ally and advocate you need.
When Is It Possible to Appeal a Medical Malpractice Verdict?
To reiterate, you can only file an appeal against a medical malpractice verdict in Philadelphia if you can prove that the verdict was legally incorrect for very specific reasons, so simply being dissatisfied with the outcome on personal grounds will not be sufficient grounds for an appeal. Furthermore, you generally cannot appeal or renegotiate a settlement offer under any circumstances once you formally accept it, since that is a private contract you entered into of your own free will.
However, you may be able to appeal a civil court’s decision on your malpractice claim if you show that one or more of the following problems occurred during your trial:
- An express violation of court rules and/or legal procedure
- Incorrect interpretation of the law and/or application of a legal standard
- Bias and/or other improper conduct by jury members
- Incorrect allowance or dismissal of evidence that should have been dismissed or allowed
Under certain circumstances, you may also be able to appeal a civil court ruling if new evidence has come to light since the verdict, which would have significantly changed the case’s outcome had it been known at the time.
Basic Steps in the Medical Malpractice Appellate Process
Once you receive a final verdict on your medical malpractice case, which you wish to appeal, you have 30 days to complete and submit a Notice of Appeal to the appropriate appellate court, which, for Philadelphia, would fall under the jurisdiction of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. You will then need to gather all official records for your previous trial and submit an appellate brief that lays out your grounds for appeal.
Sometimes, the appellate court will schedule a hearing for an appellant to present oral arguments as a supplement to their written brief, but this does not happen every time. Either way, the appellate court will decide based on the information presented to them whether to send your case back to trial or deny the appeal, leaving the original verdict in place.
Contact a Philadelphia Attorney for Help Appealing a Medical Malpractice Case
Appealing a medical malpractice case in Philadelphia is far from a simple process, and you will almost certainly need support from qualified legal counsel if you want to get through that process efficiently. Fortunately, that support is available from the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Lowenthal & Abrams.
Your attorney can review possible options and discuss next steps in more detail during an initial consultation. Schedule yours by calling today.
