2000 Pa. Super. 320 - Billman v. Saylor’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In order to establish a prima facie cause of action for medical malpractice, a plaintiff must demonstrate that “(1) the physician owed a duty to the patient; (2) the physician breached that duty; (3) the breach of duty was the proximate cause of, or a substantial factor in, bringing about the harm suffered by the patient, and (4) the damages suffered by the patient were the direct result of that harm.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2006 Pa. Super. 146 - Vogelsberger v. Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Health System · 2004 Pa. Super. 242 - Bell v. Mayview State Hospital

2. “The second step is to determine whether the acts complained of caused the actual harm suffered by the appellant. This is where we apply the relaxed standard. As the experts all testified, twenty percent of patients do poorly after this surgery. As such, it would have been impossible for any physician to state with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the negligence actually caused the condition from which Mrs. Mitzelfelt suffered. The most any physician could say was that he believed, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that it could have caused the harm. Once Dr. Shen-kin rendered this opinion, it then became a question for the jury whether they believed it caused the harm in this case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2014 Pa. Super. 3 - Klein v. Aronchick

3. “In Mitzelfelt, supra, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court explained that in some cases, the standard of proof regarding medical expert testimony is an impossible standard. These are the cases in which, irrespective of the quality of the medical treatment, a certain percentage of patients will suffer harm. In such cases, where the plaintiff is unable to show to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the physician’s actions/omissions caused the resulting harm, but is able to show to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the physician’s actions/ omissions increased the risk of harm, the question of whether the conduct caused the ultimate injury should be submitted to the jury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2014 Pa. Super. 3 - Klein v. Aronchick