You Googled “white pupil in baby photo” and now you’re terrified. You noticed it first in holiday pictures—one eye glows red like it should, but the other shines white or yellowish, like a cat’s eye. Your pediatrician said it was just the camera. But the white glow keeps appearing. Now you’ve learned the word you never wanted to hear: Retinoblastoma. And you’re wondering—could my doctor have caught this earlier?
In the high-pressure environment of an Emergency Room, the difference between life and death often comes down to a single decision: the decision to test or the decision to discharge. For a 36-year-old man from Indiana County, that decision was fatal. He presented to a local hospital with the classic warning signs of a vascular catastrophe, yet he was sent home with a misdiagnosis of a minor ailment. Hours later, he was gone, leaving behind a mother for whom he was the entire world.
Recovering from a hysterectomy is supposed to be the start of a healthier chapter in your life, free from the pain or bleeding that necessitated the surgery in the first place. You expect some soreness and fatigue, but you do not expect to be constantly wet, leaking fluid that you can’t control, or suffering from unexplained, severe back pain.
In this episode of Just Verdicts, Brendan Lupetin is joined by guest Sud Patel, who provides a comprehensive look at the strategy of binding arbitration in medical malpractice cases. While many practitioners rely solely on jury trials, Patel argues that binding arbitration is an increasingly valuable tool for resolving complex medical negligence claims.
In this episode of Just Verdicts, host Brendan Lupetin sits down with nationally recognized jury consultant Harry Plotkin. With over 20 years of experience and a background in psychology, Plotkin has consulted on some of the largest plaintiff verdicts in the country, including the recent landmark Sanchez case in New Mexico. The discussion delves into the common mistakes trial lawyers make, the psychology of “choice” in openings, and how to navigate jury selection in conservative or restrictive venues.
It is a terrifying scenario that plays out in living rooms across Pennsylvania far too often. Your loved one was treated in the Emergency Room or underwent surgery. The doctors said everything went well. They signed the discharge papers, handed you a packet of instructions, and sent you home. But within 24 to 48 hours, something changes. They become hot to the touch. They start shivering. But most alarmingly, they aren’t making sense. Maybe they don’t know where they are, they are slurring their speech, or they are excessively sleepy and hard to wake.
Many clients come to us not only looking for accountability, but also hoping that by pursuing a lawsuit, they can help prevent the same harm from happening to someone else. It’s one of the most important and compassionate reasons to take legal action. But after a lawsuit is filed, do doctors and hospitals really learn from their mistakes? The answer is: sometimes yes – but not always.
For many people considering legal action after a devastating medical error, one question looms large: “If I file a medical malpractice lawsuit, will the doctor lose their license?” It’s a fair and thoughtful question. Let’s unpack why that is – and what really happens when you file a malpractice case in Pennsylvania or anywhere else in the U.S.
In the complex world of modern healthcare, patient safety often relies on a delicate chain of communication. When that chain breaks—when a “systems failure” occurs—the results can be devastating. This is the story of a 63-year-old grandmother from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania whose delayed cancer diagnosis stole her chance to prepare and say goodbye to her loved ones.
For a young couple from Pittsburgh, the birth of their third child was supposed to be as joyous and uncomplicated as their first two. Sarah’s previous pregnancies had been healthy, aside from a manageable condition called hydronephrosis, which required routine stent placement. But during a scheduled stent exchange procedure for their unborn son, a treatable complication was ignored, leading to catastrophic consequences.
In the high-stakes world of vascular surgery, time is tissue. When blood flow is cut off to a limb, a clock starts ticking. If a surgeon acts within that window, a leg can be saved. If they choose to “wait and see,” the result is often catastrophic. This is the story of a proud Vietnam veteran from a suburb south of Pittsburgh, whose routine knee surgery turned into a nightmare due to a vascular surgeon’s refusal to come to the hospital during a critical emergency.
In the high-stakes case of Brown v. Medical Faculty Associates, attorneys Katie Bertram and Kieran Murphy of Bertram & Murphy secured an exceptional $25 million verdict for a client whose cancer diagnosis was delayed by three years. By the time the correct diagnosis was made, the cancer had metastasized, transforming a potentially curable condition into a terminal one.
