New York's Most Trusted Innovative Legal Counsel At Your Service
New York Medical Malpractice Attorneys At Your Side
Medical malpractice occurs when a patient is harmed by a doctor or other medical professional who fails to competently perform his or her medical duties. A New York medical malpractice attorney will help you if you are the victim of medical practice.
A dissatisfactory medical outcome is not necessarily equivalent to medical malpractice or negligence. For a Plaintiff to recover under a medical malpractice or negligence claim, a Plaintiff must prove that a doctor-patient relationship existed, the doctor was negligent with the Plaintiff’s diagnosis or treatment (must show that the treating medical professional failed to act with reasonable care, and deviated from good and accepted standards of medical practice), the medical’s professional’s negligence caused the injury, and that the injury resulted in specific damages. A New York medical malpractice attorney will aide you in proving your claim for medical malpractice.
For a doctor, nurse or other medical professional, the objective is to demonstrate that you were not negligent in the treatment of the Plaintiff. Typically, this comes in the form of arguing that the medical care given fell within known standards as well as claiming some degree of contributory negligence on the part of the Plaintiff. There are other defenses available for the medical professionals, but these defenses will depend on the facts of the specific case. This is where the services of a New York medical malpractice attorney is needed.
There are many different situations which can result in a medical malpractice claim. For example, a doctor may leave a sponge in a patient’s stomach during an operation or a treating physician fails to inform a patient that a prescribed drug may cause heart failure or lead to a different adverse medical condition. Most medical malpractice claims fall into one of the following categories:
-
Failure to warn a patient of known risks/Lack of informed consent
-
Birth injuries, including cerebral palsy, Erb's palsy and shoulder dystocia
-
Medical staff negligence
-
Patient abuse
While these are examples of types of medical malpractice can happen, just because one of these happened doesn’t automatically mean that you have suffered from medical misdiagnosis. A New York Medical Malpractice attorney will take into account the circumstances surrounding your experience and any lasting health effects.
Generally, the threshold to determine whether a doctor made a mistake or whether they committed malpractice is to determine whether other doctors in similar circumstances would have arrived at the same conclusion or provided the same treatment or level of care.
However, proving this can be tricky, so it’s crucial to hire a New York medical malpractice attorney who understands how to pursue these claims. Timing can be of the essence because depending on who committed the malpractice, there may be a short period of time to commence a proceeding against that entity.
What Constitutes Medical Malpractice?
When a patient is injured due to the negligence of a medical professional, they may be able to file a lawsuit. With the guidance of a New York medical malpractice attorney, the plaintiff must prove the following elements to succeed in a medical malpractice lawsuit:
Patient/Doctor Relationship: Individuals who commence medical malpractice lawsuits must be able to prove they had a physician-patient relationship with the doctor. The patient must hire the doctor and the doctor must have agreed to work for the patient. Medical practitioners can only be sued for acts of malpractice committed within the scope of employment.
Duty of Care: Physicians are required to perform their duties consistent with the medical community’s accepted standards. Doctors and other medical professionals have a legal obligation to their patients to act in the same manner that another practitioner in the same field and situation would.
Breach of Duty: For medical practitioners to be considered negligent, they must have violated a duty of care they owed to their patients. For the duty of care to have been broken, the doctor must have failed to act how another medical practitioner would have acted in a similar situation. A medical expert in the same field as the doctor is needed to demonstrate that doctor failed to competently perform his or her duties.
Causation: In addition to negligence, patients must also prove causation to have a valid claim. Injured patients must prove that the medical practitioner’s breach of duty was the proximate cause of their injury. The patient must show that it is "more likely than not" that the doctor's incompetence directly caused the injury. Through documents, further medical treatments, and affidavits from other healthcare providers, patients must be able to show a causal relationship between the doctor’s negligence and their injury. Usually, the patient must have a medical expert testify that the doctor's negligence caused the injury.
Damages: The injury caused by the healthcare provider’s negligence must have caused either economic or non-economic damages. This means that medical professionals cannot be held liable unless the injured patient incurred additional medical bills, lost wages or damage to their future earning capacity, or pain and suffering.
No matter where the healthcare malpractice treatment occurs, whether by the physician, nurses, assistants, anesthesiologist, pharmacist or even a personal information/data breach, the healthcare/medical industry that is charged with your care can be held responsible for their failure to comply to reasonable care that is owed to you. A New York medical malpractice attorney will be able to assist you with defining the reasonable care that you were owed by the medical professional.
Even though the liability of a doctor or other medical professional for your injuries after an incident of malpractice may appear obvious, proving these claims can be challenging. Medical malpractice claims require the help of an experienced New York medical malpractice attorney who not only has a record of success in seeking damages on behalf of injured victims but also understands the technical aspects of a medical malpractice claim. It is important to have the right New York medical malpractice attorney by your side who also understands the medicine and is capable of properly pursuing your claims. You will need a New York medical malpractice attorney who can understand and successfully make use of medical records and scientific/medical expert testimony when arguing your case> A good New York medical malpractice attorney will also be able to simplify, as best as possible, complicated medical terms which will make it easy for a judge and/or jury to understand.
If you have been injured due to a mistake by a doctor, nurse or other medical professional, you may be entitled to compensation to cover the costs. In order to determine if you have a valid claim for medical malpractice you should speak with a New York medical malpractice attorney at the Law Office of Dimitrios Kourouklis, Ph.D to schedule a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call us at 929-400-7608 or contact us via email to learn more about your rights so that we can obtain the best outcome for you.
DISCLAIMER: This site and any information contained herein are solely intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice nor does it form an attorney-client relationship. Seek competent legal counsel for advice on any legal matter.
 |  |  |  |
|---|