Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
At Ciccarelli Law Offices, our Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers fight relentlessly for our clients. We don’t think that you should ever have to pay for someone else’s negligence. Let us help you on the road to recovery by securing a settlement that will help you pay for medical bills, mental anguish, and lost wages from missed work.
Why Choose Ciccarelli Law Offices
Ciccarelli Law Offices was founded by Lee Ciccarelli so he could for a practice devoted to the clients it serves. They take on the toughest cases and fight for their clients when they need it the most.
- Ciccarelli Law Offices brings decades of legal experience to the table. When it comes to medical malpractice cases, experience makes the difference.
- Lee Ciccarelli’s experience in medical malpractice and other personal injury trials serves as the foundation of the firm.
- Ciccarelli Law Offices treats each case with the integrity, passion, and tenacity needed to win the toughest cases.
- You can call the Ciccarelli Law Offices for a free consultation on your medical malpractice matter.
History of successful cases
Ciccarelli Law Offices has a history of success for its clients. They will treat each case as if it were the most important one they’ve taken on.
Lee Ciccarelli once represented a Pennsylvania woman who suffered temporary pain and suffering following a surgical procedure after the surgical team committed one of the “never events” that we dread. A “never event” in surgery is just that – something that should never happen during the operation. During the course of this particular procedure, the hospital surgical staff failed to remove all surgical sponges from the affected area before closing the wound with sutures.
The medical mistake was realized shortly after the surgery, but not before an infection developed and caused a new round of treatment for an already suffering patient. The woman completely recovered, and the qualified and experienced team at Ciccarelli Law Offices was successful in obtaining a settlement amount of half a million dollars for the victim.
Medical mistakes should never happen. When they do, the Ciccarelli Law Offices is ready to hold those responsible for their actions accountable.
One client named Ray sums up the work of Ciccarelli Law Offices best when he says, “I’m 100% happy I chose this law firm. In a time where I was feeling helpless, they helped to ease my anxiety and earned every penny for their services. Thank you so much!”
Time after time, cases after case, the Ciccarelli Law Offices brings successful resolutions for their clients. Medical mistakes are remarkably common, and we are here to help if one happens to you.
How much does a Medical Malpractice attorney charge?
One of your first questions is likely to be, “How much will a medical malpractice attorney cost?”
You are going through enough and may not be able to afford to pay an attorney upfront or any out-of-pocket costs. The eventual cost of a medical malpractice case is going to center on what damages are eventually awarded. The good news is that may medical malpractice attorneys take clients on a contingency fee basis. This means that they will not charge you any out-of-pocket costs during the case, and you will only pay legal fees if they are successful with your case. The lawyer’s entire fee will be paid as a percentage of the settlement or award in the medical malpractice case.
One of the most common contingency fees is 33% of the eventual award or settlement, but some attorneys may use different fee amounts. In some cases, an attorney may use a lower percentage for cases that settle before trial and a higher percentage for cases that go to trial.
Be sure to ask who is responsible for covering the costs of litigation (hiring expert witnesses, court filing costs, obtaining records, etc.). These costs can be substantial, but they do not have to be a burden on you during the case. In many cases, the attorney will cover these costs upfront with the understanding they will come out of an eventual settlement.
You should speak with your medical malpractice attorney in-depth about their fees before signing a contract to work for them. Be sure you know what you are responsible for during your case. The Ciccarelli Law Offices is dedicated to providing a quality experience for our clients. We are not in this just for the money, but to hold those responsible for medical mistakes accountable for their actions.
What is Medical Malpractice?
If something unexpected happens during the course of your medical treatment, you may have a malpractice claim. Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, or other member of the medical community fails to provide you with adequate care. The success of your claim hinges on the medical professional’s attempt to provide “reasonable care.” In other words, another medical professional would have acted differently given the same circumstances. Medical malpractice comes in several forms:
- Failure to Diagnose: If you’re misdiagnosed or experience a delay in appropriate treatment as the result of a missed diagnosis, you may be eligible to file a misdiagnosis claim.
- Misaligned Treatment: A medical professional may choose the wrong form of treatment or administer it incorrectly. In this case, the doctor is committing negligence, and you may be able to collect compensation.
- Failure to warn patient of all risks: Each medical procedure comes with its own risks, and it’s the job of the medical staff to educate you about all of them. If you’re not properly forewarned of the risks vs. benefits of a certain procedure, and you’re injured as the result of a known risk, you’re eligible to file a suit for negligence.
How Do I Know if I’ve been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
The law establishes general criteria for determining medical malpractice. In order to successfully file a claim, your legal team must prove:
- That a doctor/patient relationship existed: The doctor you’re trying to sue must have a direct relationship with you: For example, you can’t try to file a claim over a casual conversation at a dinner party. If that conversation leads to an in-office relationship, however, you can.
- The doctor was negligent: There’s a difference between being dissatisfied with your care and being a victim of negligence. True negligence is the result of the doctor failing to provide adequate care, when a more competent medical professional would have treated you differently. In other words, another medical professional would have to go on record defining a standard of care and illustrating how your doctor failed to adhere to that standard.
- Negligence directly leads to the injury or illness: At times, it can be tricky to prove that a doctor’s actions directly led to injury, since the patients they see are often sick or injured already. For example, a loved one may have died from pneumonia, but it may or may not have been because of a doctor’s actions.
- The injury caused a measurable harm: Even if a doctor committed negligence, you can only pursue a claim if you suffered as a result. Types of harm include physical pain, emotional or mental distress, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and medical bills.
Compensation for Medical Malpractice cases in Philadelphia
The most important thing in a medical malpractice case, beyond ensuring that you are recovering from the mistakes that were made, is knowing how much compensation you will receive. The Ciccarelli Law Offices understands that victims of medical malpractice incur much more than just medical expenses when a mistake occurs. Thankfully, the law in Pennsylvania allows victims of medical malpractice to recover a range of damages.
When we talk about damages in a medical malpractice case, we will focus on three kinds: general, special, and punitive.
General damages include certain elements that are not always easy to calculate. Though these damages are certainly real, it will take a skilled attorney and experts to properly define damages for the following:
- Loss of future earning capacity if you cannot work or return to the same level of work as you were capable of before the medical mistake.
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Physical and mental pain and suffering
There are no set amounts on Pennsylvania law for general damages. Each case is unique. Arriving at a dollar amount will depend on the evidence your attorney gathers and uses in your case. Many factors go into these damage amounts: the type of work you do, how young you are, how long the disability is expected to last, and more.
Special Damages
Special damages refer to things that are a little easier to calculate. Here, we are referring to medical bills and lost income you have incurred if you missed work due to the medical mistake. For these damages, your attorney can refer to medical bills and your financial information. The cost of future medical bills may be a little more difficult to calculate. With the help of an expert medical witness, these estimates can be properly calculated.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are also often available to the victim of medical malpractice. As the name suggests, punitive damages are meant to punish the individual or agency responsible for the medical mistake. If a healthcare professional was grossly negligent or must have known they were behaving in a harmful manner, your attorney will move to secure punitive damages for your case.
If the medical mistake resulted in a death, the victim’s family and heirs would also be able to recover these damages and more through a wrongful death lawsuit.
There are no Medical Malpractice damages caps in Pennsylvania
Many state legislatures have set a “cap” on how much compensation a victim of medical malpractice can receive. These laws can significantly stifle the amount of money a suffering victim recovers and the caps are often well below what is needed in certain cases.
There are currently no caps on economic or non-economic medical malpractice damages in Pennsylvania.
There are no caps on special damages such as medical bills and lost income or general damages such as pain and suffering. This means that victims of medical mistakes are able to recover all losses they have sustained.
The only caps that Pennsylvania applies in medical malpractice cases are those on punitive damages. The cap for punitive damages is set at two times the amount of “actual damages” in the case.