Hospitals must notify you of any "serious event"

Pennsylvania law requires hospitals to notify you in writing of any "serious event" affecting you or your loved one.  A "serious event" is defined as "an event, occurrence or situation involving the clinical care of a patient in a medical facility that results in death or compromises patient safety and results in an unanticipated injury requiring the delivery of additional health care services to the patient."  What this means, in a nutshell, is that if you or your loved one suffered an unanticipated injury or complication while in a hospital, the hospital is supposed to write you a letter and tell you that you or your loved one has been the victim of a "serious event".  Although Pennyslvania law requires that hospitals notify their patients of "serious events", we know from our contact with countless victims of medical negligence that hospitals are not notifying their patients of "serious events" as they are supposed to.

If you feel that you or your loved one was the victim of a "serious event" at a hospital -- i.e., some unanticipated injury or complication -- but you have not received a letter from the hospital notyfing you of a "serious event", you should call us immediately.  We can help you determine whether medical negligence was responsible for your unanticipated injury or complication.  If you have received a letter of notification from a hospital informing you that you or a loved one experienced a "serious event", you should also call us immediately.  Let us help you enforce your rights and the rights of the people you love to be free from medical negligence, and to be compensated fairly should you or your loved suffer injury as a result of medical negligence.

If you have a question about your case, please call us directly at 412-471-4300 or 800-350-6161, or click here.  Berger & Lagnese, headquartered in Pittsburgh, specializes in helping people who were injured by doctors and hospitals.