Medical Malpractice

“First, do no harm” is a cardinal rule of medicine and yet each year an estimated 100,000 Americans die because of medical mistakes in hospitals. The most well-known publication in the healthcare industry—the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)—has stated that medical negligence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. ranking just behind heart disease and cancer.

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As one of the leading Philadelphia-based medical malpractice law firms, SMB has successfully handled hundreds of malpractice cases for our clients.

Medical malpractice happens when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider deviates from the recognized “standard of care” when treating a patient. The standard of care is what a reasonably prudent healthcare provider would do (or would not do) under the same or similar circumstances.

Many patients don’t even realize—or want to believe—that they have been victimized by completely avoidable medical errors.

SMB’s medical malpractice lawyers handle cases across a broad range of clinical and treatment mistakes, including:

  • Delayed diagnosis of cancer, serious heart conditions, and other significant illnesses
  • Birth trauma injuries—or death—to either mother or child
  • Hospital negligence
  • Drug prescribing and administration errors

Proven Results

In the past decade alone SMB medical malpractice lawyers have settled more than $200 million worth of medical mistake cases for our clients.

Because doctors and hospitals seek to avoid negative publicity, they usually agree only to confidential settlements in malpractice cases. The numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements we have secured include:

  • $15,000,000 – Failed abortion resulting in child’s deformities
  • $7,000,000 – Improper treatment of Group Home resident
  • $6,600,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer
  • $6,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis of throat abscess resulting in respiratory and cardiac arrests with brain damage
  • $5,500,000 – Improper vascular surgery resulting in an AKA
  • $5,200,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of neurological condition resulting in blindness
  • $5,000,000 – Improper obstetrical care resulting in mother’s death
  • $5,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer
  • $4,400,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of subdural hematoma resulting in stroke and permanent neurological deficits
  • $4,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of intracranial shunt blockage
  • $3,500,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of sinus infection
  • $3,500,000 – Delayed C-section resulting in newborn’s permanent brain damage
  • $3,500,000 – Improper performance of partial shoulder replacement surgery resulting in death
  • $3,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary emboli
  • $3,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of seizures in newborn, resulting in cerebral palsy
  • $2,300,000 – Negligent spinal surgery resulting in Brown Sequard Syndrome
  • $2,200,000 – Delayed treatment of cardiac arrest, resulting in death
  • $2,200,000 – Improper performance of gastric bypass surgery
  • $2,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of heart condition
  • $2,000,000 – Improper respiratory care
  • $2,000,000 – Delayed discovery of displaced tracheostomy tube
  • $1,900,000 – Medication error resulting in child’s death
  • $1,850,000 – Improper treatment of oral cancer treatment complication
  • $1,800,000 – Improper back surgery
  • $1,750,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of benign brain tumor resulting in permanent blindness
  • $1,650,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of child’s infection
  • $1,500,000 – Delayed C-section resulting in newborn’s permanent brain damage
  • $1,300,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer
  • $1,225,000 – Improper administration of Dilaudid resulting in death
  • $1,200,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of spinal infection
  • $1,130,000 – Improper epidural steroid pain injection
  • $1,100,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer
  • $1,100,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer
  • $1,100,000 – Improper OB care resulting in stillbirth
  • $1,000,000 – Improper OB care resulting in newborn’s death
  • $1,000,000 – Improper OB care resulting in newborn’s death
  • $1,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of infection
  • $1,000,000 – Improper surgery resulting in retained surgical instrument
  • $1,000,000 – Improper IVF resulting in provision of wrong donor semen
  • $1,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of bone cancer
  • $1,000,000 – Improper performance of C-section resulting in hysterectomy
  • $1,000,000 – Improper performance of D&C resulting in brain damage
  • $1,000,000 – Improper epidural steroid pain injection
  • $1,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis of displaced tracheostomy tube
  • $1,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of H1N1 influenza virus resulting in death
  • $1,000,000 – Improper podiatric foot surgery
  • $1,000,000 – Delayed diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer

Proven Experience

Always working in teams, SMB’s malpractice lawyers also rely on highly experienced consulting nurses and independent physician experts to determine precisely what went wrong in our clients’ medical care. These experts together with our lawyers:

  • Exhaustively review all medical records
  • Review hospital policies, procedures, and protocols
  • Investigate competencies of doctors and nurses

SMB has pioneered the innovative use of high-tech visual tools—including illustrations, audio and video, animation, and customized 3-D models—to reenact what happened. These powerful techniques are very effective in proving the case and convincing defendants to settle with our clients, and juries to award large verdicts if settlement negotiations fail.

Many of SMB’s cases have served as wake-up calls to medical providers and are directly responsible for numerous improvements in hospital policies and procedures designed to prevent future mistakes. Hospitals, physicians, nurses, EMTs, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers may all be liable in any given malpractice claim. SMB’s lawyers work tirelessly to help you get all the compensation to which you may be entitled—including payments for pain and suffering, emotional trauma, past and future medical and rehabilitation expenses, lost income, and future earnings.

If you or a family member has been injured from a medical or other healthcare error, or a family member has died as a result of medical malpractice, SMB is committed to obtaining all the results you need and deserve.

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Contact us TODAY. Timing is critical for your case.