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Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys Address Important Issues
Medical malpractice is a bigger problem than most medical professionals want to admit. At the same time, surprisingly few claims are filed. If you think medical malpractice might have happened but are not sure what to do, here are some guidelines:
- Be aware of the statute of limitations to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. You may have a valid claim, but if you wait too long, it is lost, even if it is valid. As a general rule, delay helps the other side more than it helps you.
- Don’t try to evaluate the claim yourself or try to negotiate with the doctor, clinic, or hospital on your own. Often, you would find yourself dealing with the doctor’s insurance carrier (if your doctor is even insured — some are not) and the doctor’s attorney. Since these people are not paid to help you or to be candid with you, they will be working against you to defeat or minimize your claim. You need an experienced professional to help you evaluate your claim. Without an attorney, the doctor’s attorney and insurance company usually will not take you seriously.
- Contact Lipsig Law for our expertise in handling medical malpractice lawsuits. Medical malpractice cases are unique and very different from other kinds of personal injury cases, such as car accidents. We understand the intricacies of the rules and laws that apply and employ winning tactics and strategies in every medical malpractice case. We will explain all your options at no charge so you can make a fully informed decision about whether to proceed.
- We work on a contingency basis, which means that you don’t pay a cent until you receive compensation, at which point you are charged a percentage of the settlement.
- There is no fee for our services unless we recover compensation for you.
Rising to the Level of Medical Malpractice
Doctors, other medical professionals, and medical facilities owe their patients the same duty of care that their prudent peers would employ under like medical circumstances. When healthcare professionals fail to fulfill this duty and a patient is harmed, it may constitute medical malpractice. It is essential to understand that a mistake resulting in an adverse outcome establishes medical malpractice. The operative question is whether a reasonable medical professional with similar experience and training, in similar circumstances, would have taken the same course of action. If not, it is likely malpractice, and the victim will likely be able to recover.
Types of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can leave victims with severe physical and emotional damage. After all, you seek medical care to help improve your health, and if your health is further compromised in the process, it can be especially devastating. While medical malpractice can come in nearly any form, there are specific types that occur most frequently. These include:
- Medical Misdiagnosis – If you are diagnosed with an illness or injury that you don’t actually have and are treated for that illness, not only are you denied the treatment that you need for the disease that made you seek care in the first place, but you also must endure an unnecessary medical treatment that comes with its own side effects and negative consequences. If you receive surgery or another serious medical treatment that you don’t need, the results can be harrowing.
- Surgical Errors – Surgical errors can result in inferior outcomes. Yes, you sign a form before surgery that acknowledges the dangers inherent to surgery. Still, that form does not absolve the surgeon, other medical professionals, and the medical facility of all responsibility. While surgery has inherent risks, medical professionals are held to exacting safety standards. They must provide every patient with the quality of care that other reasonable healthcare professionals would provide under similar circumstances.
- Inadequate Treatment – Even if you’ve been correctly diagnosed, if you don’t receive adequate treatment for your illness, you can face serious health obstacles. As time passes, your illness or injury can progress into something far more serious and far more challenging to treat.
- Birth Injuries – Birth injuries are among the most painful and devastating examples of medical malpractice. Expectant parents go into the delivery room with joy in their hearts, but medical malpractice in the form of a birth injury can upend the entire family’s future. The financial, physical, and emotional damages associated with a lifetime of enduring an injury sustained at birth are typically astronomical.
- Conditions Acquired in the Hospital – When a medical facility isn’t adequately hygienic and/or doesn’t employ adequate safety and hygiene checks and balances, patients can be burdened with illnesses and conditions acquired during their stay. Further, when hospital staff fail to provide adequate care, patients can also leave the hospital with conditions they didn’t have when they entered.
Any of these forms of medical malpractice can have seriously deleterious effects on a person’s life.
What Are Never Events?
Never events are incidents of medical malpractice so egregious that everyone agrees there is no excuse for them. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ list of never events includes:
- Performing surgery on the wrong body part
- Operating on the wrong patient
- Administering an incorrect surgical procedure
- Leaving a medical instrument or foreign object inside the patient
- Conducting a mismatched blood transfusion
While never events may seem outrageous and unlikely, they do happen.
The Claims Process
If you have a medical malpractice claim, it’s important to understand that the path to obtaining compensation is likely to be arduous. These claims are complicated, and when you’re suffering the effects of medical malpractice, it isn’t a great time to take on a legal battle. An experienced New York personal injury attorney, however, will take on the legal end of your claim and will work closely with you to help protect your rights and to skillfully advocate for the compensation to which you are entitled. The claims process generally includes:
- Carefully reviewing all of your relevant medical records
- Investigating the circumstances of your claim
- Hiring appropriate medical experts in defense of your claim
- Negotiating with the insurance company on your behalf – throughout the process
- Filing a malpractice or negligence lawsuit
- Pursuing legal discovery from the medical institution and/or medical professional
- Initiating the mediation process (along with any further negotiation procedures)
- Taking your strongest case to trial (if an adequate settlement offer is not forthcoming)
Medical Malpractice Verdicts
$6,300,000 Settlement – Our client was walking to a movie when he stepped into an uncovered valve box in a parking lot, fell, and fractured his elbow. He was sent right to a hospital and promptly seen by the orthopedic surgeon, who decided to operate a few days later (to accommodate the doctor’s own schedule). Due to the well-known complication of this injury, compartment syndrome, our client felt intense pain and loss of feeling in his hand. Sadly, his repeated complaints of severe pain were ignored by the physicians and nurses for many hours. His condition was neglected for so long that the delay caused necrosis (death of tissue) that destroyed many muscles and nerves in his arm.
In addition, we believed that the valve box and cover were damaged by a plow clearing snow in the parking lot. We were able to demonstrate, using two experts and illustrated engineering drawings, that the snowplow caused damage to the water company’s equipment in the pavement. Our real property management expert helped us prove that the mall’s management failed to inspect its own parking lots properly.
We sued the mall owner, the snow removal contractor, the water company that owned the valve box, the admitting hospital, the orthopedic surgeon, and a second hospital that provided the orthopedic residents (who failed to properly monitor the client’s arm after the surgeon left the hospital).
Contact an Experienced NYC Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today
Medical malpractice claims are especially difficult claims, but if you have been injured by medical malpractice, your rights and your recovery are far too important to leave to chance. Lipsig Law has one of the longest histories of any personal injury firm in the City, and our experience makes a difference. We are committed to helping you obtain the compensation you need to achieve your fullest recovery. Call 212-285-3300 or contact us online today for a free consultation.