If You've Just Purchased Medical Malpractice Legal ... Now What?

Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Medical professionals must comply with the requirements of a certain standard of treatment for their patients. If a healthcare professional is not able to meet this standard, and the failure results in injuries or complications for the patient, it could be grounds for a lawsuit for malpractice.

A successful malpractice lawsuit may help to pay for medical expenses and also reimburse lost wages and acknowledge discomfort and pain. However, medical malpractice claims are often complex.

The wrong diagnosis

Medical malpractice lawsuits involving incorrect diagnosis are common. This type of claim usually involves a healthcare provider wrongly diagnosing a patient suffering from an illness or injury. For instance, a doctor might diagnose a patient as having pneumonia when the patient in fact has staph infection. A misdiagnosis can have grave consequences for the patient, including death.

According to medical malpractice insurance companies, diagnosis-related malpractice claims account for between 9 percent (obstetrics) and 61% (pediatrics) of their total claims. Medical malpractice claims are not as extensive and could be biased towards more serious errors. Furthermore, many claims fall through or are closed without being paid, and many meritorious errors are not a cause for malpractice lawsuit.

A plaintiff must demonstrate, in order to win a case for medical malpractice, that the doctor did not follow the standard of care when diagnosing the condition. A plaintiff's lawyer must also prove that the doctor's error directly led to an injury.

The process of litigation in medical malpractice cases is costly as well as time-consuming and emotionally charged. Although the majority malpractice cases are settled out of court, the attorneys representing both parties as well as expert witnesses must spend time and resources in discovery, negotiation, and trial preparation. Doctors are also often required to pay for their malpractice insurance as the claims process is developing. These expenses have led to calls for reforms to the tort system, which would reduce the cost of litigation as well as encourage faster and more fair settlements.

Treatment errors

You can expect that when go to a doctor or a hospital to receive treatment, the medical treatment you receive will be in accordance to the standard of care in your community. This includes a thorough diagnosis and a reasonable treatment plan and proper follow-up to ensure that your health improves. However, errors made by nurses, doctors and other medical professionals can be extremely serious and could cause permanent injuries or even death.

These mistakes can take a variety of forms. For instance an employee of a hospital might misread a patient's chart and give the wrong medication. This kind of error is common in emergency rooms where staff are under pressure and time is limited. It could also happen when a doctor treats an illness that is not within their area of specialization.

Other kinds of errors could include prescribing wrong medications or prescribing the wrong dosage to patients which could cause injury. These mistakes can be made by pharmacists, doctors nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and optometrists. These errors can also include the failure to suggest or prescribe the required follow-up procedure to correct the error.

Medication errors can lead to various serious injuries. For instance, consuming the wrong blood thinner specifically designed for patients with heart problems could result in a risky bleeding disorder or cause the patient to experience a stroke. If you or a loved one is injured as a result of an error in medical care and you are concerned about the consequences, consult an experienced New York medical negligence lawyer to determine whether you can claim compensation.

Negligence

When medical professionals or doctors fail to adhere to accepted standards of care, they may be guilty of negligence. This can happen in a variety of settings, like hospitals, doctors' office, therapy clinics, and nursing homes. If a physician violates these standards and the patient suffers permanent harm they may be required to compensate the victim for the harm.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit, the injured party must prove that the physician's breach in professional duties led to the injury. This is known as causation, and is an essential aspect of the legal norm. The breach must be a direct cause of the injury, and the damage must be quantifiable.

In the case of medical negligence, a plaintiff's lawyer must also convince the juror that it is more likely than not that a physician's actions or inactions caused the damages sought. This is a challenging job since people aren't always able to recall their actions or are in awe of what they believe that the opposing side will argue.

It is essential that the lawyer also is aware of how the medical profession operates. This understanding can help establish that the breach of professional duty was the primary cause of the patient's injuries. Medical malpractice cases can be brought in Federal or State courts, and often require expert witnesses to describe the standard of care that was breached.

Punitive Damages

We are often conditioned to believe that we can trust medical professionals to treat us with skill and care. But serious errors can occur that can cause life-long injuries or even death. If these errors cause an unintentional death, the victim and their family members may be entitled to compensation for the losses they've suffered.

These cases could involve claims against doctors, hospitals nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and diagnostic imaging technicians and even the manufacturers of medical malpractice lawyers equipment. It's important to sue everyone involved since there could be multiple parties responsible. Victims should consult their New York medical negligence lawyers to determine who or which companies are responsible.

Punitive damages are intended to penalize the defendant and deter them from repeating similar actions in the future. In contrast to compensatory damages, which are designed to address specific harms, punitive damages can be applied to a broad class of people, and they are usually reserved for extreme misconduct.

The first type of damages in medical malpractice lawsuits is a reimbursement for actual financial losses, including the cost of medical treatment and lost wages. Your New York medical malpractice lawyer can help you establish the amount of your losses by giving an expert's opinion on what constitutes a breach of the standard of care in the specific area of your case as well as in the specialty. This is a crucial step since without this evidence, your claim could be dismissed at the preliminary hearing level.