Medical Malpractice
Our firm actively represents many medical professionals, including physicians, hospitals and health care providers, in medical malpractice litigation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Professionals and insurance companies have turned to us throughout the years for high quality representation in the defense of complex negligence claims. In both state and federal courts, the firm has an outstanding trial record. Success in this area is the result of our extensive contacts in the community, our abundant expert resources and the firm’s strong commitment to continued medical and legal training of its associates. Additionally, we have remained on the cutting edge of technological advances in both the office and courtroom settings. With the capability to electronically submit billing information and a variety of billing formats to meet client needs and specifications, we are able to successfully defend medical professionals of any nature with efficiency, as well as the highest degree of professionalism.
We served as liaison counsel for Pennsylvania plastic surgeons in the silicone gel breast implant litigation. In this capacity, the firm represented many plastic surgeons individually and coordinated national discovery efforts for defense attorneys state wide. We successfully defended the first such case ever tried in Pennsylvania. We were also extensively involved in the orthopedic bone screw (pedicle screw) litigation, and also successfully defended the first such case ever tried in Pennsylvania.
Our firm has developed a comprehensive network of highly specialized medical experts from many of the leading health care and teaching institutions across the country. Our extensive litigation experience has enabled us to develop an exhaustive expert data bank which allows our attorneys to retain experts whose credentials match the specific facts of each malpractice case. Whether the case calls for a pediatric neuroradiologist or a medical ethicist, the department is able to provide quality experts in the growing and ever changing environment of medicine and its subspecialties.
- The attorneys of the firm often give presentations in the area of professional liability defense, and have served as lecturers to medical professionals and attorney groups, both locally and state wide. Articles and presentations by members of the firm have covered such topics as the Peer Review Protection Act, the Health Care Services Malpractice Act and the interplay between health care providers and the strict liability provisions of Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
- Attorneys from the firm also serve as faculty members at the ABA National Institute on Medical Malpractice.
- The department is involved in the defense of mass tort cases and, in that capacity, is experienced in compiling and collating massive document productions.
- The department is also experienced in handling and litigating diverse insurance coverage issues and has extensive litigation experience concerning insurance company insolvencies.
Contact:
Carolyn M. Bohmueller
(610) 834-6254
(610) 834-1749 Fax
Click to Email
O'Brien & Ryan News
Defense Verdict for Internist in Philadelphia County
Dan Ryan obtained a defense verdict for internist in Philadelphia County. Plaintiff's husband died at the age of forty two as a result of his coronary artery disease (CAD). In her Complaint, Plaintiff alleged Mr. Ryan's client (an Internist) failed to appreciate the...
Defense Verdict for OB/GYN in Philadelphia County
Dan Ryan obtained a defense verdict for an OB/GYN in Philadelphia County. The Plaintiff, who was pregnant with her first child, was diagnosed with fibroids. The fibroids did not complicate the pregnancy. After several hours of labor, the fetal heart rate decelerated...
Defense Verdict for Orthopedic Surgeon in Delaware County
Dan Ryan obtained a defense verdict for an orthopedic surgeon in Delaware County. The plaintiff underwent a total right knee replacement in 1997, by the orthopedic surgeon. The plaintiff did very well with her knee implant for a period of almost five years. In 2002,...
Defense Verdict for Otolaryngologist in Bucks County
Paul Peel obtained a defense verdict for an otolaryngologist in Bucks County. Plaintiff, a physician, alleged that he underwent unnecessary sinus surgery causing him to require a revision surgery. Plaintiff also alleged that he was not given proper informed consent....
Defense Verdict for Plastic Surgeon in Philadelphia
Dorothy Duffy obtained a defense verdict for a plastic surgeon. The Honorable Victor J. DiNubile, Jr. released all 300+ pending silicone breast implant cases in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. All but two of those cases have been discontinued. In one...
UPDATE: Court Stays Order Compelling Production of Quality Reviews, Allowing Appellate Review of Peer Review Protection Act
Last month, Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas Judge Terrence R. Nealon granted a plaintiff’s discovery appeal in her medical malpractice case and ruled that the Peer Review Protection Act (“PRPA”) did not shield quality-of-care reviews conducted by hospital plan...
PA Supreme Court to Test Ostensible Agency & MCARE Requirements for Non-Physician Experts
Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted allocatur to a case questioning whether a jury should be allowed to consider a vicarious liability claim based on a theory of ostensible agency where a physician provides emergency treatment at the behest of a...
Health Insurance Quality Reviews Not Privileged Under Peer Review Protection Act
In an issue of first impression, the Lackawanna County trial court recently declined to extend the Peer Review Protection Act to quality-of-care reviews conducted by health insurance companies, regardless of who the company hired to conduct the peer...
Carbon County Court Illustrates Proper Apportionment of Fault Amongst Settled & Non-Settled Defendants
The Carbon County Court of Common Pleas recently denied a motion for a new trial, finding that the trial court did not err in allowing the names of defendants who settled prior to trial to remain on the verdict sheet. In doing so, the court described the way in...
Superior Court finds Expert Witness Unnecessary in Res Ipsa Loquitur Cases
The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently held that leaving a sponge in a patient speaks for itself and does not require an expert witness to prove negligence or causation in a medical malpractice trial. In Fessenden v. Robert Packer Hospital, the patient...
Heather Hansen Speaks at Health & Safety Presentation
On September 10, 2015, Heather Hansen presented End Distracted Driving, part of the CertainTeed Environmental Health & Safety Day at Saint-Gobain in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Dorothy Duffy Writes for Drexel Law Review
In connection with the symposium Beyond Reproach: Becoming an Expert on Expert Witnesses at Drexel School of Law, Dorothy Duffy, along with Marrielle B. Van Rossum authored Of Surgical Sponges and Flour Barrels, and Why Medical Experts Are Needed Even with a Res Ipsa Loquitur Instruction for the Drexel Law Review.
Heather Hansen Speaks at PBI Program
On August 13, 2015, Heather Hansen spoke at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s CLE Down the Shore: Tort Law Update in Atlantic City.
Dorothy Duffy Presents at PBI Litigation Update
On July 27, 2015, Dorothy Duffy presented an encore presentation of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s 28th Annual Civil Litigation Update in Philadelphia, PA.
Six Partners selected to 2015 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers & Two Associates selected to Rising Stars
Each year, on a state-by-state basis, Super Lawyers selects attorneys using peer nominations and evaluations along with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, and those selected represent the top five percent of the total lawyers in each state.
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