Attorney James Devine has twenty-one years experience dedicated to providing his clients with quality representation. The great majority of his practice is in the area of personal injury law. Attorney James Devine represents injured clients in virtually all types of personal injury claims, including medical malpractice claims, automobile accident claims, catastrophic injury cases, brain injury cases, toxic tort cases, premises liability cases, such as slip and fall cases, as well as many other types of claims.
By way of personal background, Attorney James Devine graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1980 and then attended the Widener University School of Law where he graduated with magna cum laude honors in 1983. While in law school in 1982-1983, he was the Articles Editor of the Delaware Journal of Corporate review board. Following graduation from law school, Attorney James Devine served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph L. McGlynn, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for one year. Attorney James Devine is admitted to the bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as well as the United States Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania and United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.
Since 1984, Attorney James Devine has been committed to representing clients in litigation matters. During his career, he has represented both injured individuals as well as physicians who were sued for medical malpractice. Since 1996, his personal injury practice has been limited exclusively to representing injured individuals.
Over the years, Attorney James Devine has litigated and tried a significant number of cases to verdict. He practices in all counties throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as the federal courts, although the majority of his clients' cases are situated in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. Attorney James Devine is a sole practitioner. Your case receives his individual attention from beginning to end.
What is "informed consent?"
Although the specific definition of informed consent varies state to state, it generally means that a physician must inform a patient of all the potential benefits, risks, and alternatives involved in any surgical procedure, medical procedure, or other course of treatment, and must obtain the patient's written consent before proceeding.
If the consent form I signed prior to a procedure is valid, can I still recover malpractice damages?
Yes, you may still be eligible to recover malpractice damages; a consent form does not release from liability a physician who was negligent in performing a medical procedure. If you can establish that your physician deviated from the applicable standard of care in performing the procedure, and you were injured or suffered damages as a result, you may recover compensation. You may also have a claim that the procedure the physician performed went beyond your alloted consent, in which case the doctor may be held liable for medical battery.
Do I have a malpractice case against a doctor who prescribed a drug, without informing me it's experimental?
All physicians have a duty to inform their patients that any prescribed drugs are a part of an experimental program, and subsequently, all patients have the right to refuse to participate. Patients who have consumed experimental medication have grounds for a claim against the physician based upon their failure to obtain "informed consent" prior to treatment.
