Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Medical professionals must meet an exacting standard of care for their patients. If a health-care provider fails to adhere to this standard and causes injury or complications for the patient, there could be grounds for a malpractice claim.
A successful malpractice lawsuit could help pay for medical expenses, reimburse lost wages and acknowledge the pain and suffering. Medical malpractice lawsuits can be complicated.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis is one of the most common medical malpractice claims. This type of case is typically brought by a health care provider who incorrectly diagnoses a patient’s illness or injury. A doctor may diagnose a patient with pneumonia when in fact the patient has staph. A mistake can have serious consequences, such as death.
According to medical malpractice insurance companies, diagnosis-related claims comprise between 9 percent and 91 percent of claims (obstetrics and 61 percent in pediatrics) or their total claims. Medical malpractice claims are not as extensive and could be biased towards more severe errors. Furthermore, many claims fall through or are closed without payment and many meritorious errors are not a cause for malpractice lawsuit.
A plaintiff must prove the court, in order to win a claim for medical malpractice, that the doctor did not adhere to the standard of care when diagnosing the condition. A plaintiff’s lawyer must also show that the doctor’s mistake directly caused injury.
The process of litigation in medical malpractice cases is costly time-consuming, emotionally charged and lengthy. Although the majority malpractice cases are settled out of court, the attorneys representing both parties as well as expert witnesses have to spend time and money on negotiation, discovery, as well as trial preparation. In addition, doctors are often required to pay for their malpractice insurance premiums while the claims process is in progress. These expenses have led some to call for reforms to tort law that will lower the cost and facilitate faster settlements.
Errors of Treatment
You expect that when you visit a hospital or doctor for treatment, the medical treatment you receive will be in accordance to the standard of care in your locality. This includes proper diagnosis and a suitable treatment plan, and the proper follow-up to ensure your health improves. However, mistakes made by doctors, nurses or other medical personnel could be devastating and cause permanent injury or even death.
These mistakes can take a variety of forms. A hospital staff member could misread the chart of a patient and prescribe the wrong medication. This type of mistake typically occurs in emergency rooms where the time available is limited and staff members are under pressure to provide fast service. It can also happen if an ER doctor is treating a condition that isn’t within his or her area of expertise.
Other types of mistakes include prescribing the wrong medications or giving patients an incorrect dosage that results in injuries. These mistakes can be made by pharmacists, doctors, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, and optometrists. These errors could also result in the failure to suggest or prescribe the follow-up procedure to correct the error.
Mistakes in medication can cause various serious injuries. For instance, taking the wrong blood thinner specifically designed for heart patients could cause a bleeding disorder or cause a patient to suffer stroke. If you’ve suffered an injury or lost a loved one to a medical mistake it is essential to consult a knowledgeable New York medical malpractice lawyer to determine if you’re eligible to seek compensation.
Negligence
Negligence may be the result of medical professionals failing to follow accepted standards. This can happen in various settings, like hospitals, doctor’s office, therapy clinics and nursing homes. If a doctor violates these guidelines and the patient suffers permanent harm they could be required to compensate the victim for the harm.
To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit, the injured party must prove that the doctor’s breach of professional duties caused his or her injuries. Causation is a legal requirement that is essential. The breach has to be a direct cause of the injury and the damage that was caused must be quantifiable. For instance, medical expenses or lost wages.
In the case of medical malpractice the lawyer representing the plaintiff must also convince the jury that it is more likely than not that a physician’s actions or inactions caused the damages sought. This can be a difficult task because people aren’t always in a clear mind or are guided by their beliefs about the case that the opposing side will say.
It is also essential that the lawyer has a thorough understanding of the medical profession and how it operates. This knowledge can be used to prove that the breach in professional duty led to the patient’s injury. Medical malpractice cases are filed in state or federal courts, and typically involve expert witnesses who can explain how the standard of care was breached.
Punitive Damages
We are often conditioned to believe that we can trust medical malpractice law firm professionals to treat us with competence and care. A mistake can lead to serious injuries, or even death. If these errors lead to a wrongful demise, the victims and their families could be entitled compensation for the damages they’ve suffered.
In cases of wrongful death, there are claims against hospitals, doctors nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and diagnostic imaging technicians and even the manufacturers of medical malpractice law firms equipment. Because many parties could be accountable, it’s often advisable for victims to file claims against them all, working with their New York medical malpractice lawyers to determine which people or businesses need to be sued.
Punitive damages are intended to penalize the defendant and discourage them from engaging in similar behavior in the future. Punitive damages are not limited to specific harms. They can be applied to a large category of people and are only available for extreme violations.
The first category of damages in the case of medical malpractice is reimbursement for actual financial losses, such as expenses for medical care and lost wages. Your New York medical malpractice lawyer can help you establish the amount of your losses by presenting an expert’s opinion on what constitutes a breach of standard of care in your case’s locality and specialty. This is an important step because without this evidence, your claim may be dismissed at the preliminary hearing.