Even skilled health care providers can make mistakes. Unfortunately, it is the nature of medical care that these mistakes may cause great damage to the patients whom the medical professionals are trained to help.

As a result of today's intricate medical protocols and technologies, medical malpractice lawsuits are some of the most complicated personal injury cases to pursue. In order for a case to succeed, the plaintiff's attorneys must have encyclopedic knowledge of the relevant areas of law and medicine.

At Golomb & Honik, we have handled a wide array of medical malpractice cases ranging from failure to diagnose cancer to nursing home negligence. We have also amassed an impressive track record of successes. Our ability to achieve these successes is in great part due to our attention to detail and our responsiveness to clients and referral attorneys. Read more about our work on medical malpractice suits:

• $1.2 Million Jury Verdict Against Orthopedic Surgeon A Philadelphia jury returned a $1.2 million verdict against a woman's orthopedic surgeon for failing to diagnose a post-operative knee infection in a timely manner. The 60-year-old woman had undergone a knee replacement procedure by the defendant surgeon and had developed signs and symptoms of an infection within the knee. Unfortunately the infection was not diagnosed for six weeks, by which time permanent damage had occurred; she required additional surgery and suffered permanent pain and damage to her knee.
• $1 Million Jury Verdict Against Gastroenterologists A Philadelphia jury returned a $1 million verdict against a pair of gastroenterologists for failing to diagnose a 60-year-old woman's cancer of the small bowel in a timely manner, resulting in a 22-month delay in diagnosis; by that time the cancer had spread to other parts of her body and was incurable. The woman, who was survived by her husband and four sons, died nine months later. The woman had presented with severe bleeding from her small bowel, but the doctors never performed a CT scan, which would have diagnosed the tumor at a time when it was much smaller and more curable.
• Seven-Figure Confidential Settlement for Nursing Home Abuse The wheelchair used at a group home for disabled adults had a history of chronic maintenance problems. Despite being fitted for a seatbelt, the patient was repeatedly found on the floor after having slipped from the chair. The home failed to fix the chair, which ultimately led to the disabled woman slipping from the belt in such a way that it strangled her to death while she was unattended. Golomb & Honik attorneys achieved a confidential seven-figure settlement for her estate and motivated the home to institute seminar training for its entire staff to prevent incidents of this kind in the future.
• Seven-Figure Confidential Settlement in Cerebral Palsy Case A confidential seven-figure settlement was obtained on behalf of a seven-year-old child who developed mild spastic diplegia following her delivery at a local hospital. The child's mother had been encouraged to try a vaginal delivery after having her first child by caesarian section. Discovery in the case revealed that the child's mother had had a very low chance of successful vaginal delivery, that she had been given too much pitocin, and that her fetal monitor strips showed evidence of hypertonus. As a result the mom's uterus ruptured, causing the child to be born severely hypoxic, which in turn led to the development of cerebral palsy.
• Seven-Figure Confidential Settlement for Brain Injury A confidential seven-figure settlement was obtained on behalf of a 65-year-old man who developed severe brain damage from an undiagnosed pericardial tamponade after having been admitted to a local hospital to undergo heart bypass surgery. The surgery was successful, but one week after surgery he developed signs of respiratory distress and chest pain. These signs went undiagnosed until the man went into cardiac arrest. Although he was revived, he was left in a severely neurologically impaired condition requiring constant care.
• Seven-Figure Confidential Settlement in Botched Spine Surgery A confidential seven-figure settlement was obtained on behalf of a 50-year-old woman who underwent cervical spine surgery to alleviate chronic pain. It was revealed that during surgery the neurosurgeon had drilled directly into the woman's spinal cord, causing severe and permanent injury, including chronic pain.
• Seven-Figure Confidential Settlement in Breast Cancer Case A confidential seven-figure settlement was reached during trial on behalf of a 50-year-old woman whose surgeon failed to biopsy a breast mass. As a result, the woman's breast cancer diagnosis was delayed for nine months, by which time the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and other parts of her body, substantially reducing her chance for cure.
• $850,000 Jury Verdict Against Radiologist A 70-year-old man was out for his nightly jog when he was mugged near his home in Northeast Philadelphia. He was brought to a local hospital complaining of severe pain in his hip; x-rays were taken and read as normal by the radiologist. A week later the films were read again and clearly showed a fracture. The man underwent surgery, but four months later he developed avascular necrosis, requiring a hip replacement. A Philadelphia jury determined that the one-week delay in diagnosing the fracture was a substantial contributor to the need for the hip replacement, which he otherwise would not have needed.
• $650,000 Jury Verdict Against Orthopedic Surgeon An Atlantic County, New Jersey, jury returned a $650,000 verdict against an orthopedic surgeon for improperly repairing a fractured femur. A 60-year-old man was attacked by another man and thrown down a flight of steps, sustaining a fracture of his femur near the knee; he underwent surgery by the defendant doctor. The surgery failed, requiring the man to undergo a total knee replacement and leaving him with permanent pain and discomfort in his knee. The jury found that the defendant doctor had improperly performed the fixation during the surgery, resulting in the post-operative pain and need for knee replacement surgery.
• Confidential Settlement for Improperly Filled Prescription An actively employed 70-year-old woman had for years taken medications to treat her low blood pressure and thyroid condition. In the summer of 2001, she picked up her prescriptions at a local nationally franchised pharmacy and began taking them, as had been her custom for more than 30 years. Within days she noticed tightness in her chest and shortness of breath, and she was hospitalized after testing revealed that she had had a heart attack. She had never had any cardiac symptoms or even been seen by a cardiologist, and it was discovered that the pharmacy had dispensed the wrong medicine. In fact, she had been given the medicine of another woman with a similar name. The combined effect of not having her correct medication and taking the wrong medicines caused a heart attack resulting in permanent heart damage. As a result she became disabled from employment and is now under regular cardiac care. In discovery, Golomb & Honik lawyers established the clear negligence of the pharmacy in discovery, liability was admitted, and the case was resolved confidentially through binding alternative dispute resolution.
• Confidential Settlement in Quadriplegia Case A young woman was afflicted from birth with a skeletal abnormality that confined her to a wheelchair by the time she entered high school. Her congenital condition placed her at risk for spinal compression and paralysis, but for a period of weeks she suffered from advancing spinal compression that was tragically ignored by her primary care physician and subsequently in an emergency room. As a result of the failure to diagnose and treat this condition, she suffered incomplete quadriplegia. Despite the presence of her significant pre-existing medical conditions and disability, Golomb & Honik was successful in obtaining a significant recovery for her and her estate (she died of unrelated causes after suit was commenced), thereby demonstrating the value and importance of life even when the individual harmed has already suffered a previous disability.
• Confidential Settlement for Hospital Neglect An otherwise healthy man in his mid-seventies was admitted into the hospital for brain surgery. After successful surgery, he was prepped for transfer from the intensive care unit to a regular medical-surgical room. During that process, he was left alone, fell from bed, and suffered a subdural hematoma that, after a lengthy hospital stay, ultimately caused his death. Suit was instituted and discovery ensued. Nobody from the hospital was present at the time of the fall, nor were the family members who had just been evicted to allow the transfer. The hospital challenged liability, insisting that the bedrails were left up and claiming they did nothing wrong. One of plaintiff's experts stated that it was a physical impossibility for the man to lift himself over the bed-rails, given the surgery he had undergone just 24 hours earlier. Another expert opined that, in any event, he should never have been left alone. Depositions revealed that he had been left alone while the nurse retrieved a chart after his transfer to a gurney. The case was resolved for a confidential settlement during trial.
• Confidential Settlement in Stomach Cancer Case A confidential settlement was reached on behalf of the family of a woman who died of stomach cancer. It was alleged in the lawsuit that the woman's family physician had failed to order appropriate tests to investigate intestinal complaints. Such tests would have revealed the presence of gastric cancer some six to nine months earlier than when the diagnosis was finally made. Although there was strong evidence that the victim's stomach cancer would have been fatal regardless of whether it had been diagnosed earlier, a very satisfactory monetary settlement was obtained.