Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Laws

Failure to Diagnose Cancer

One injury that we see repetitively in the medical malpractice area is a failure to promptly and properly diagnose cancer. Cancer, as I’m sure you know, is a condition where the cure rate is much higher the earlier you catch it. Regrettably, there are many circumstances where doctors and other health care providers act in a manner that causes there to be a long delay in the diagnosis of cancer. Whether that means misreading a mammogram, or misreading a pap smear, or not ordering a proper test, or misreading that test, many aspects can give rise to a failure to diagnose cancer.

Medical Malpractice Case Process

We have litigated dozens and dozens of those cases successfully. Those cases are complicated cases. They require a very, very delicate interplay between the area of medical specialization that’s under review, be it mammography or radiology or cytopathology, along with an oncologist who can testify that the delay in diagnosis has caused there to be an outcome that is much more grave than would have been the case had the diagnosis been made promptly. We have a track record of winning those cases in court. Hey, we’re not going to win every case. That’s not possible. Anybody who tells you that he’s going to be successful 100% of the time isn’t being straight with you. What we will do, what we do promise, is that we will do a terrific job on your behalf, and we’ll give you every chance to succeed with your case.

By: Shanin Specter

Malpractice Lawsuit Process

Kline & Specter has concentrated in medical malpractice work since the firm opened 20 years ago. First of all, we have more doctor-lawyers than any firm in the United States. That’s a unique quality of Kline & Specter. We have the people in-house to review and help put together a medical malpractice case. But it takes more than that. It takes a lawyer who can take a case into a courtroom and that is what distinguishes some lawyers from other lawyers. I have on occasion after occasion after occasion year after year after year gone into courtrooms and have actually challenged physicians and challenged hospitals when we know that the care was improper.

Malpractice Lawsuit Expertise

When you try a case involving alleged medical malpractice a jury wants to believe a doctor. They want to believe a hospital. So, these cases are uphill to start with and that’s why you have to have a seasoned, experienced team on your side. When you look at the combination of Kline & Specter’s doctor-lawyer team with Kline & Specter’s trial lawyers who have decades of victories in the courtrooms all across the eastern United States that’s the kind of team you need in order to win a malpractice case and that’s what we’ve done. Year in and year out Kline & Specter has more settlements in medical malpractice cases than any law firm in Pennsylvania. We have more seven figure recoveries than any firm in Pennsylvania. We have more eight figure recoveries than any firm in Pennsylvania. And why is that? That’s because we have an experienced team that we can bring to bear to investigate and litigate and try a medical malpractice case.

By: Shanin Specter

Suzanne Wester Matteo Malpractice Case

I represented the family of a deceased physician. She died during childbirth. A book was written about this story. What a dichotomy. A physician who is trying to have a child who herself dies as a result of medical negligence. In that case there was a jury verdict. It was a very large jury verdict; and it was a way that the community spoke that her care was substandard. The case was complex. The issues were not easy to digest and understand; and it is unusual for a physician or a physician’s family to seek justice against other medical care providers. But this like a number of other cases involving physicians who I’ve represented was an important milestone. A family in that case sat anxiously while a jury of lay people came back and made a decision that the care that was rendered to Suzanne Wester Matteo was improper. It was wrong. It was a gratifying day to see it.

By: Tom Kline

Shareif Hall vs. SEPTA

I represented a little boy whose name was Shareif Hall. Shareif is now a young man who still keeps in touch with me. Shareif became a well-known person in Philadelphia in 1999 when I tried his case against SEPTA, the Southeast Transportation Authority. SEPTA had a decrepit escalator system. That escalator system was in complete and utter disrepair. That wasn’t known to the public. Little Shareif was with his mom at the Cecil B. Moore station when his foot, literally, as a tiny youngster, was ripped apart. His mom stood there in horror and watched. I took that case – what seemed to be an ordinary, for us, case involving a terrible set of circumstances – and we were able to capture the attention of the public and have the entire region understand that this never should have happened to this little boy, that SEPTA was wrong.

As the general manager of SEPTA stood outside the courtroom with me the day that SEPTA had been fined by a judge $1 million dollars, which followed a $51 million dollar jury verdict, and he repeated the words that I said to him in the courtroom, “Something good can come out of something bad. Isn’t that correct, sir?” And when he told the press corps that something good could come out of something bad, I knew we had accomplished something. I knew we got the attention of SEPTA, the attention of the region, a promise to fix the escalator system, and a promise to adjust claims in a fair and just manner every time that someone had a problem, every time someone had an injury. One little boy, with one lawyer, who was born and raised in a little town called Hazelton, made that difference. That, I believe, is symbolic of the kind of work that I have done over the years for Shareif Hall and many others.

By: Tom Kline

Some people refer to isolated ice patches as black ice. All that really means is it’s a clear patch of ice, and if the concrete is black or the asphalt is black it appears to be black. So often times you can’t see those ice patches. But once they turned to slash and you’ve drive through them, often times they are visible. So, if you know somebody who has been in a car accident after encountering black ice or an ice patch you need to call us. Because we will get the right investigators, the right engineers, we’ll get our lawyers to the scene and we will walk the scene, drive the scene, videotape the scene and we can determine whether the condition is one that is the fault of someone or simply just snow falling.

By: Michael Rosenzweig