Lehigh County, PA’s St. Luke’s Hospital & Doctors Held Liable in 2 Medical Malpractice Lawsuits in 2019

Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawsuits including cases against hospitals often end in jury trials. Medical professionals like doctors, specialists and hospitals tend to avoid settlement and instead take their chances at trial.

Medical malpractice jury trials are difficult and complex, and defense verdicts are pretty common across all of Pennsylvania including Delaware County, Montgomery County, Lehigh County and Lackawanna County. However, juries in Pennsylvania medical malpractice cases do find in favor of the plaintiff, especially when the plaintiff chooses the right medical expert and simplifies the issues. When juries find in favor of plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases, the verdicts can be quite large. In fact, there are two recent verdicts in Lehigh County (Allentown/Bethlehem, PA) from August and December 2019, both over $5 million.

Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawsuit Against Hospital & Doctor ($10 Million)

In August 2019, a jury awarded $10 million to a man whose bladder cancer went undetected for 2 years. The patient argued his bladder and prostate had to be removed as a result of misdiagnosis. The case centered on the patient’s treatment at St. Luke’s Hospital where he was seen by a resident emergency room doctor who diagnosed kidney stones after a scan, which also showed a potential tumor. The patient argued that at that time, no one explained the results of the scan showing the potential tumor or otherwise ordered an ultrasound of the bladder.

Related: Cancer Misdiagnosis: Biopsies & Abnormal Test Results

Heart Attack Misdiagnosis Lawsuit Against Cardiologist ($6 Million)

In December 2019, another jury in Lehigh County awarded over $6 million to the widow of a 48 year old patient who suffered a fatal heart attack after his cardiologist failed to diagnose heart disease. In that case, the patient had a family history of heart disease and sought initial treatment from a cardiologist for chest pain. The cardiologist performed a stress test which was negative.

Several months later, after consulting with his family doctor for increased symptoms of shortness of breath and chest pain that radiated down his arms, the patient saw the same cardiologist. At that time, the cardiologist performed an electrocardiogram and diagnosed a likely panic attack. The patient died a month and a half later after suffering a heart attack. The patient’s autopsy showed severe heart disease with significant obstructions of arteries in his heart.

These recent multi-million dollar medical malpractice verdicts aren’t the largest verdicts in Lehigh County. There’ve been 3 medical malpractice verdicts totaling roughly $100 million since 1998 including a $33 million breast cancer delayed diagnosis verdict, a $24 million premature infant brain injury verdict, and a record $55 million birth injury verdict.

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Our medical malpractice lawyers focus on hospital malpractice, cancer misdiagnosis and other complex medical negligence cases. Since 2016, our law firm has been rated a Best Law Firm by U.S. News & World Report in the area of medical malpractice law. We’ve gone up against some of the largest hospitals in Philadelphia, Delaware County and Montgomery County and won millions of dollars in settlements and trial verdicts for our clients.