A Missed Wrist Fracture and a Malpractice Claim in Pennsylvania

Attorney Answer

A missed diagnosis can be malpractice. But a Pennsylvania malpractice claim needs more than a mistake: it needs harm that the mistake caused. Your fracture was found soon afterward, at the next place you went. So the question a lawyer will ask first is what the hospital's delay actually changed for you. You also have two years to decide.

What a claim has to show. In broad terms, a malpractice claim requires that the provider fell below the accepted standard of care, and that this caused an injury that would not otherwise have happened. In Pennsylvania, a claim like this also needs the support of a qualified medical expert before it can go forward. In practice, that means a lawyer will have a doctor review your records before taking the case.

The causation question here. You went elsewhere and the fracture was found. If it was then treated and healed as it would have anyway, the harm caused by the hospital's miss may be limited to the extra visit, the delay and the pain in between. If the delay changed the treatment, for example by letting the fracture shift, or led to a worse result, that is a different and stronger claim. Your orthopedic records will show which it was.

The deadline. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524:

The following actions and proceedings must be commenced within two years:

An action to recover damages for injuries to the person or for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect or unlawful violence or negligence of another.

When that two years starts can depend on when an injury was, or should have been, discovered. Your lawyer will measure it from your dates.

Separately, if you were billed by the hospital for a visit that you believe did not include proper care, you can question the bill with the hospital's billing office, whether or not there is any malpractice claim.

What you can do

1. Request your records from both the hospital and the orthopedic practice, including any notes from the first visit.

2. Keep the bills from both visits.

3. Follow your orthopedist's treatment plan, and keep those records too; they show what the delay changed, or did not.

4. Speak with a Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer about whether the delay caused harm. Most offer a free first consultation.

⏱ Time limits apply. Two years under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2). A lawyer will also need time to obtain an expert's review before filing, so the practical deadline comes well before the legal one.