Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries occur every day as a result of many activities and situations. While many are injured during motor vehicle or work accidents, medical malpractice also causes brain injuries. When a trusted healthcare professional fails to treat a patient with the appropriate standard of care, that patient can become a victim. Brain injuries are serious and can alter one’s way of life forever.

If you or a loved one have been harmed by medical negligence or malpractice that resulted in a brain injury, you need experienced and compassionate legal representation from the skilled Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys at Lopez McHugh LLP. We offer free consultations so we can listen to your story and explain your options.

Why Choose Lopez McHugh LLP for Your Brain Injury Claim

After a brain injury caused by the negligence of a healthcare provider, you will be facing a difficult recovery that could take months or years. In fact, you may never fully return to your previous cognitive or physical abilities. While you are managing these difficulties, you have little time or energy to spend fighting for justice.

That is where the legal team at Lopez McHugh LLP can step in and help. Our brain injury attorneys have years of experience successfully managing the details involved with handling medical malpractice claims and the underhanded techniques used by insurance companies to avoid paying you what you deserve. We analyze your case and perform essential services to secure the maximum compensation available to you.

The ways our lawyers work for you include:

• Explaining your options to seek financial relief
• Gathering and examining all relevant evidence
• Identifying all liable parties
• Demonstrating negligence on the part of the at-fault parties
• Negotiating with insurance companies and opposing counsel
• Taking your case to court
• Litigating aggressively on your behalf

After a brain injury, you need superior representation from a law firm that cares about your case and your future. The medical malpractice brain injury lawyers from Lopez McHugh will be by your side to ensure the best possible outcome for you.

What Is a Medical Malpractice Brain Injury?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the most recent year of reporting there were over 214,000 people hospitalized for traumatic brain injuries, and almost 70,000 of those injuries resulted in death. Traumatic brain injuries may be classified as ‘open’ or ‘closed,’ depending on the nature of the injury.

An open injury occurs when the skull has been fractured in a fall, collision, or other incident when it hits a hard object. A closed head injury may not involve an open wound or fracture but can be just as serious. Closed head injuries not only cause brain swelling but can also lead to blood clots in the skull. Regardless of the type of injury, brain trauma can result in life-changing conditions like paralysis, coma, or even wrongful death.

Most medical malpractice brain injuries occur because the brain is deprived of oxygen. Anoxia and hypoxia occur when the brain does not receive the proper amount of oxygen. While hypoxia is a partial lack of oxygen, anoxia is a total lack of oxygen to the brain. In general, the longer your brain is deprived of oxygen, the more severe the resulting damage. Diminished oxygen supply can cause serious impairments in cognitive (thought) skills, as well as in physical, mental, and other functions.

Common Causes of Brain Injuries

Healthcare professionals owe a duty of care to patients to act in good faith and not inflict or cause additional harm or illness to those they treat. Patients trust physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare providers. Negligence and medical error can lead to permanent brain damage as well as inflict debilitating injuries.

While every brain injury is unique, the most common causes of medical malpractice brain injuries include but are not limited to:

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia is extremely challenging, involving complex mathematical computations to ensure the patient’s weight, blood pressure, heart history, respiratory health, and other factors are considered. If the numbers or calculations are incorrect, disaster can follow in the form of anoxia or hypoxia.

An anesthesia error can lead to a loss of oxygen in the brain when an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist fails to provide the proper dosage of anesthesia, fails to provide the correct anesthesia, or fails to monitor a patient under anesthesia during and after a procedure. Anesthesia errors can lead to permanent brain damage in patients.

Failure to Diagnose and Misdiagnosis

A large part of a physician’s work is considering all of a patient’s symptoms and making a correct diagnosis of their condition. If there is a failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis (diagnosing the wrong problem or treatment), it can impact a patient’s health in many ways. If a patient is not properly examined and diagnosed, they may not receive the proper treatment for their illness or injury in a timely manner.

Patients then become susceptible to additional illnesses or injuries. When a serious medical condition – such as an aneurysm, brain bleed, stroke, or heart attack – goes untreated, patients’ issues can escalate to irreversible injury levels that could have been prevented.

Surgical Errors

Surgery requires complete mental and physical concentration for hours on end, which is exhausting to even the best doctors and nurses. Making a mistake during an operation can strongly contribute to brain injuries and death.

Surgical errors could include wrong site entry, the cutting of major arteries, causing a lack of oxygen and severe bleeding, or failing to suture or cauterize blood vessels closed completely. Other risks include improper closure of surgical areas leading to infection in the brain, and injury to the brain by other errors or negligence.

Incorrect Intubation or CPR

A necessary part of performing surgery includes intubation, which is placing a tube down the patient’s throat to keep the airway open. This ensures they receive the oxygen they need while under anesthesia. If the tube is placed incorrectly, the patient may suffer a loss of oxygen to the brain. This can lead to lasting injuries.

Additionally, in some instances, a patient requires Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). If this procedure is not administered correctly or in time, the patient can also experience a loss of oxygen.

Childbirth Medical Errors

The entire process of labor and delivery is risky and traumatic. There are many things that can go wrong, and medical staff must be ready for any unexpected changes in the health of the infant and the parent. Childbirth malpractice errors are extremely traumatic, and an unfortunate number of parents and newborns experience them annually.

A physician or nurse who is not properly monitoring the position and vital signs of a baby during delivery can leave newborns vulnerable to the loss of oxygen during labor. Physicians and medical professionals assisting in delivery can also cause immense harm if they mishandle a newborn during delivery or misuse items such as forceps.

Brain Injury Symptoms

When medical malpractice leads to cerebral anoxia or hypoxia, the patient and their family members may not be aware oxygen to the brain has been lost. It could take hours or days for the condition to be diagnosed, during which significant damage will occur.

Symptoms to look out for include behavioral changes, memory loss, and decreased motor coordination. A patient might also suffer from a number of long-term symptoms that vary depending on the location and extent of the injury.

Long-term brain injury symptoms can include:

• Change in temperament or personality
• Coordination problems or other physical impairments
• Difficulty sleeping
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Inattentiveness
• Light sensitivity
• Memory loss
• Nausea
• Poor judgment
• Seizures
• Vision problems

Ensuring the full extent of the injuries is diagnosed properly is crucial to supporting a medical malpractice claim. This includes obtaining a prognosis of expected treatment and recovery expectations so that the compensation will pay for all future expenses and care. Without this estimate, victims may suffer financial as well as health problems after a claim is settled.

How Much Does a Brain Injury Attorney Cost?

The medical bills and other expenses that arise after a brain injury can be overwhelming. You may need to plan for many costs but you are unable to work. If the injury is due to medical negligence, you should not have to pay these costs out of pocket. The liable parties must be held accountable.

Fortunately, our law firm recognizes the financial distress you could face. To help you get the legal representation you need without adding to your money woes, we offer free initial consultations to discuss your situation. When you hire us, we work on a contingency fee basis. This means our fees are paid as a part of your settlement or verdict, so if we do not secure compensation for you, you do not have to pay us anything.

We are committed to ensuring your full recovery, which includes compassionately delaying additional expenses until you have received the compensation you need. Our brain injury attorneys want you to focus on getting better while we manage the intricacies of your case.

Recoverable Damages in a Brain Injury Case

Due to the delicate and important nature of the brain, any injuries you suffer can have a devastating effect on your life. You could lose physical control of your body, cognitive function, intellectual capacity, and / or your ability to communicate. In addition to potentially preventing you from earning income, you could be left unable to enjoy your life or support your family.

Medical malpractice cases are notoriously challenging to litigate. Doctors, hospitals, and other medical facilities have lobbied state legislatures to make laws favoring their side of lawsuits, meaning the scales are tilted against you. However, with a skilled and knowledgeable law firm by your side, you can seek compensation and justice for every penny of pain and damage you have suffered.

Damages in personal injury lawsuits or insurance claims are commonly divided into two categories: economic and non-economic. Economic damages cover your bills that have a fixed price. Non-economic damages are more subjective and address the ways your life has been impacted by the brain injury.

Examples of the damages that our firm frequently seeks compensation for on behalf of medical malpractice victims include:

• All current and future medical bills, equipment, devices, and home accommodations
• Development of anxiety and depression
• Intense embarrassment from loss of physical or cognitive function
• Loss of the ability to continue equal relationships with friends and family members
• Loss of the ability to provide guidance, support, protection, advice, love, and companionship to your children and spouse
• Loss of your employer-provided benefits
• Loss of personal and professional reputations
• Loss of potential earning capacity
• Lost wages, bonuses, promotions, and other career benefits
• Reduced quality of life

Settlements and verdicts in brain injury cases can be very large due to the significant impact these injuries often have on the lives of the victims and their families. In the event the patient dies as a result of the injury, their family is entitled to file a wrongful death lawsuit that will seek all medical expenses prior to passing, the loss of future support for their family, and funeral expenses.

Pennsylvania’s Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims in Pennsylvania allows only two years from the date of the malpractice or the date when the malpractice should have been discovered. The statute for wrongful death is two years from the date of death.

It is important that you act quickly and contact a brain injury lawyer to begin investigating and building your case so they can file a lawsuit in time. If you do not meet the deadline to file suit against the medical provider in question, you could lose the right to seek compensation through the court system altogether.

Work with Our Philadelphia Brain Injury Lawyers Today

The last thing a patient should ever experience when seeking medical help is a traumatic and catastrophic injury due to the negligence of their trusted provider. Victims of medical malpractice brain injuries and their families must endure the consequences of medical errors and other negligent actions.

Brain injuries heavily impact not only the victim’s quality of life but that of their loved ones as well. If you or someone you know has been a victim of medical negligence that caused a brain injury in Philadelphia, contact the trial lawyers at Lopez McHugh, LLP to discuss your case at no cost.