When a hospital, doctor, or other healthcare provider's negligence causes a patient's death, surviving family members may be able to pursue a medical malpractice wrongful death claim.
These cases are among the most complex in personal injury law—requiring detailed medical evidence, testimony from qualified professionals, and a thorough understanding of Pennsylvania's procedural requirements.
But families who lost a loved one to preventable medical errors deserve answers and accountability. Medical malpractice wrongful death claims in Pennsylvania must clear hurdles that other wrongful death cases don't face.
Before you can even file a lawsuit, state law requires a certificate of merit signed by a licensed medical professional confirming that the healthcare provider deviated from accepted standards.
Building these cases takes significant resources, time, and a legal team willing to go toe-to-toe with hospitals and their insurers.
Reach out to Oakes Firm, your dedicated Philadelphia wrongful death lawyer, to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable for medical malpractice wrongful death.
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What the Law Says
- Medical malpractice wrongful death occurs when a healthcare provider's negligence causes a patient's fatal injury
- Pennsylvania requires a certificate of merit from a qualified medical professional before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit
- Common causes include surgical errors, medication mistakes, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and birth injuries
- Proving medical negligence requires testimony from physicians or other professionals in the same field as the defendant
- These cases face unique challenges, including shorter timeframes for obtaining records and well-funded hospital defense teams
What Is Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death?
Medical malpractice wrongful death occurs when a healthcare provider's negligence—a failure to meet the accepted standard of care—directly causes a patient's death. The standard of care refers to what a reasonably competent medical professional in the same field would have done under similar circumstances.
Not every bad medical outcome constitutes malpractice. Medicine involves inherent risks, and even proper treatment sometimes fails. A medical malpractice wrongful death claim requires proving that:
- The healthcare provider owed a duty of care to the patient
- The provider breached that duty by deviating from the accepted standard of care
- The breach directly caused the patient's death
- The death resulted in damages to surviving family members
Pennsylvania's Wrongful Death Act (42 Pa. C.S. § 8301) allows the personal representative of the deceased's estate to file a lawsuit on behalf of surviving beneficiaries—typically the spouse, children, or parents of the patient who died.
What Types of Medical Malpractice Lead to Wrongful Death?
Fatal medical errors take many forms. Some occur during high-risk procedures where a single mistake proves catastrophic. Others involve failures to diagnose conditions that would have been treatable if caught earlier.
Surgical Errors
Operating rooms present countless opportunities for preventable mistakes. Surgical errors that may result in wrongful death include:
- Operating on the wrong body part or wrong patient
- Leaving surgical instruments, sponges, or other foreign objects inside the body
- Damaging organs, blood vessels, or nerves during the procedure
- Administering improper anesthesia dosages
- Failing to monitor vital signs during or after surgery
- Performing unnecessary procedures
Post-surgical negligence also falls into this category. Failing to recognize signs of internal bleeding, infection, or other complications can turn a survivable situation into a fatal one.
Medication Errors
Medication mistakes occur at every stage—prescribing, dispensing, and administering drugs. A patient may receive the wrong medication entirely, the wrong dosage, or a drug that dangerously interacts with their other prescriptions. Pharmacists, nurses, and physicians can all share liability depending on where the error occurred.
Common medication errors include prescribing drugs a patient is allergic to (despite documented allergies in their chart), administering medications through the wrong route, confusing similarly named drugs, and failing to account for kidney or liver function when calculating dosages.
Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis
Misdiagnosis wrongful death claims in Pennsylvania often involve cancers, heart attacks, strokes, and infections—conditions where early intervention dramatically improves survival rates.
When a physician misreads imaging, dismisses concerning symptoms, or fails to order appropriate tests, the window for effective treatment closes. A delayed diagnosis can be just as deadly.
A patient whose cancer spreads from stage one to stage four while their doctor treats them for something else may lose their chance at survival entirely. Proving these cases requires demonstrating that a competent physician would have reached the correct diagnosis sooner and that earlier treatment would have likely changed the outcome.
Birth Injuries Leading to Infant or Maternal Death
Childbirth carries inherent risks, but many fatal outcomes are preventable with proper monitoring and timely intervention. Obstetricians, nurses, and hospital staff have a duty to recognize signs of fetal distress, maternal hemorrhage, and other emergencies.
Birth-related wrongful death may result from:
- Failing to perform a timely cesarean section when vaginal delivery becomes dangerous
- Mismanaging umbilical cord complications
- Failing to diagnose and treat preeclampsia or eclampsia
- Improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors
- Delayed response to maternal hemorrhage
- Missing signs of infection during or after delivery
These cases devastate families expecting to welcome a new life. Holding negligent providers accountable may provide some measure of justice and prevent similar tragedies for other families.
Emergency Room Negligence
Emergency departments operate under pressure, but that pressure doesn't excuse negligent care. ER physicians must triage patients appropriately, order necessary tests, and either treat conditions or refer patients to appropriate specialists.
Wrongful death in emergency settings often stems from premature discharge - sending patients home with undiagnosed heart attacks, strokes, appendicitis, or internal bleeding. By the time symptoms worsen and the patient returns, the treatment window has passed.
What Is Pennsylvania's Certificate of Merit Requirement?
Pennsylvania imposes a gatekeeping requirement on medical malpractice claims that other personal injury cases don't face. Under Pa.R.C.P. 1042.3, the plaintiff must file a certificate of merit within 60 days of the defendant's filing of a responsive pleading.
The certificate of merit is a written statement confirming that a licensed professional in the same field as the defendant has reviewed the case and concluded that:
- There exists a reasonable probability that the care provided fell outside acceptable professional standards
- This conduct was a cause of the harm alleged
This requirement filters out claims that lack medical merit before they consume court resources. But it also means families cannot file a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit without first retaining a qualified professional willing to review the records and sign off on the case.
Getting this certificate requires obtaining complete medical records, having them reviewed by an appropriate professional, and documenting the professional's conclusions—all before or shortly after filing suit. Missing the 60-day deadline can result in dismissal.
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How Does Testimony Prove Medical Negligence?
Medical malpractice cases almost always require testimony from qualified professionals to establish what the standard of care was, how the defendant deviated from it, and how that deviation caused the patient's death.
Juries are not expected to know proper medical protocols—they rely on credentialed professionals to educate them.
Establishing the Standard of Care
The plaintiff's medical witness explains what a competent healthcare provider in the defendant's position would have done. This testimony often walks the jury through the patient's symptoms, test results, and medical history to show what diagnosis or treatment should have followed.
The professional must typically practice in the same field as the defendant. A cardiologist provides testimony about cardiology standards; an oncologist addresses cancer treatment protocols. This matching requirement helps ensure the testimony reflects actual practices in that medical specialty.
Showing the Breach
Once the standard is established, testimony must demonstrate how the defendant fell short. This might involve pointing to missed diagnoses that any competent physician would have caught, surgical techniques that violated accepted protocols, or medication decisions that no reasonable provider would have made.
Medical records are critical here. The professional witness reviews documentation from before, during, and after the fatal treatment to pinpoint where things went wrong.
Proving Causation
Proving the breach caused the death is often the most contested element. Defendants regularly argue that the patient would have died anyway—that the cancer was too advanced, the heart too damaged, the infection too aggressive.
The plaintiff's professional must explain, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that proper care would have likely prevented the death or significantly extended the patient's life. This causation testimony often involves statistical survival rates, medical literature, and analysis of how the patient's condition progressed.
How Long Do You Have to File a Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claim?
Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is two years from the date of death. However, medical malpractice claims have their own two-year statute that runs from when the malpractice occurred—which may be earlier than the death itself.
The interplay between these deadlines can be complicated. In most medical malpractice wrongful death cases, the two-year clock starts at death. But certain circumstances may trigger different deadlines, particularly if the malpractice occurred long before it proved fatal.
Given the time required to obtain medical records, secure certificate of merit review, and build a case with qualified medical testimony, starting early is critical. Waiting too long can leave insufficient time to meet procedural requirements before the filing deadline.
FAQs
Can I sue a hospital for a doctor's malpractice?
It depends on the doctor's employment status. If the physician is a hospital employee, the hospital may be vicariously liable for their negligence. However, many hospital-based physicians are actually independent contractors, which can shield the hospital from direct liability.
Hospitals may still face claims for negligent credentialing (allowing an unqualified physician to practice there), inadequate staffing, or systemic failures that contributed to the death.
What if multiple healthcare providers contributed to the death?
Medical malpractice wrongful death cases frequently involve multiple defendants. A misdiagnosis might involve the primary care physician who missed warning signs, the radiologist who misread imaging, and the hospital whose inadequate protocols allowed errors to go unchecked.
We investigate every provider involved in the patient's care to identify all potentially liable parties.
How much does it cost to pursue a medical malpractice wrongful death case?
These cases require substantial upfront investment in medical record retrieval, professional review, and testimony fees. Oakes Firm handles medical malpractice wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis—meaning families pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation. We advance all case costs and only collect if your case succeeds.
What compensation can families recover in a medical malpractice wrongful death case?
Families may be able to recover funeral and burial expenses, loss of the deceased's expected future income, loss of companionship and consortium, loss of parental guidance for children, and medical bills incurred before death. A separate survival action may recover damages for the patient's pain and suffering between the malpractice and death. The total potential recovery depends on factors specific to each case.
What if the patient signed a consent form before the procedure?
Informed consent forms acknowledge that medical procedures carry inherent risks—they do not authorize negligent care. A signed consent form does not shield healthcare providers from liability when they deviate from the accepted standard of care. If the provider's negligence caused the death, a consent form is not a valid defense.
Contact a Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Attorney
Losing a family member to preventable medical negligence brings grief compounded by betrayal. The healthcare providers your loved one trusted failed them when it mattered most. Holding them accountable is difficult—but it's not impossible with the right legal team.
Oakes Firm handles medical malpractice wrongful death claims for families throughout Philadelphia. We investigate complex medical negligence cases, work with qualified medical professionals to build compelling evidence, and fight aggressively against hospitals and their insurers.
Attorney Thomas G. Oakes II has recovered countless millions for families harmed by negligence, and he brings that same relentless advocacy to every medical malpractice case.
Contact a Philadelphia personal injury attorney at Oakes Firm today for a free consultation. We review your case, explain whether you may have a viable claim, and answer your questions—with no obligation.