Medical Malpractice

Healthcare practitioners are human, so they’re capable of making mistakes. However, when an error or poor judgement results in a spinal cord injury, the implications are extreme. Victims endure severe pain and suffering, may be unable to work, and cannot go about their normal routine. Families of spinal cord injury victims are also impacted, financially and emotionally. Medical bills may be piling up, adding more stress to an already-difficult time.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania law allows you to file a lawsuit to recover financial compensation when medical malpractice causes a spinal cord injury. The lawyers at Cohen, Placitella, & Roth, P.C. in Philadelphia can help you prove the essential elements of negligence, which centers on the physician’s duty of care in a medical malpractice case.  

Establishing Negligence

The key to winning a spinal cord injury from medical malpractice case lies in proving negligence. Specifically, you must establish that your doctor had a duty to provide a certain level of care, he or she negligently failed to do so, and you suffered a spinal cord injury as a result. In a medical malpractice case, the standard of care required of a physician is what would reasonably be required of any other doctor under the circumstances. If another physician faced with the same situation would have acted differently, there may be questions involved with the duty of care.

Example of “Duty of Care” in a Medical Malpractice Case That Causes Spinal Cord Injury

When a patient undergoes a procedure to repair a dislocated disc in the spine, the surgeon has a duty to perform the surgery with the same due care that any other doctor would under the circumstances. However, this physician accidentally sliced into an undamaged section of the patient’s spinal cord. The victim suffered spinal cord injuries due to the surgeon’s mistake. If the accident would have been avoided by another doctor in exercising due care, the patient may recover damages.

Common Situations of Spinal Cord Injury Caused by Medical Malpractice

Negligence may be involved in a spinal cord injury where circumstances indicate:

• Failure to properly diagnose a medical condition;
• Failure to detect a spinal tumor that results in medical issues;
• An error made during surgery;
• Delaying a surgical procedure that should have been performed;
• Errors in administering proper anesthetic during surgery; and,
• Any other failures or mistakes that a physician should not make with exercise of due care.

Discuss Your Case with a Philadelphia Spinal Cord Injury Attorney

We trust our medical professionals to adhere to a standard of care when providing treatment, performing procedures, and identifying diagnoses. When a physician fails to meet this duty and spinal cord injuries result, the consequences are life-changing for victims and their families. It is possible to recover compensation for the physical and financial impact under Pennsylvania law, but these types of cases are extremely complicated. If you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury due to medical malpractice, please contact Cohen, Placitella, & Roth, P.C. Attorneys at Law. We’re happy to schedule a free consultation and discuss the details of your case.