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Medical Malpractice Lawyer in New York

The medical profession is a vital element of modern society. It provides people with relief from pain and suffering, and effective recovery from injury and disease so they can continue to engage in their daily living activities, whether personal or professional, without interruption. It provides aspiring mothers with the assurance that their babies will be delivered with the utmost care and patience, and that they themselves are safe from harm and potential complications.

These are just a few examples on a very long list of the medical profession’s functions. In summary, it makes sure that we are healthy and continue to remain so, which is an obvious priority for any sensible human being.

However, patients can also be the victims of egregious and inexcusable medical errors by careless and incompetent “professionals” that can only be truly rectified with the help of experienced medical malpractice lawyers. Statistics from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences cite nearly 100,000 deaths per year in United States hospitals due to some form of medical malpractice, which is an understandably frightening number for any individual receiving hospital treatment.

In recent times the insurance industry has led a multi-million dollar advertising campaign focused on minimizing the legitimate grievances of medical malpractice victims. This campaign makes the utterly false claim that lawsuits against medical providers are frivolous and unjustified. The insurance industry’s goal in running these advertisements is to protect their clients from legal accountability and to gain further profits. After all, insurance companies are businesses.

Unfortunately, this advertising campaign has successfully manipulated the general population to believe that unfounded medical malpractice lawsuits have caused medical malpractice premiums in New York (and many other states) to increase dramatically, and in turn, mass quantities of New York physicians have been forced to leave the state in search of better job opportunities. The purpose of this lie has been to bully state legislatures across the country into passing laws that place “caps” or limits on recovery, denying full and fair compensation to genuine victims of medical malpractice. Thankfully, no such law exists in the State of New York at the present time.

If you or a loved one was the victim of medical malpractice and sustained injuries or someone close to you has died due to medical error, contact the Law Offices of Ira M. Perlman, P.C. & Robert D. Rosen, P.C., for a free initial consultation. Call 212-668-0100 or reach out online to get the representation you deserve.

When medical malpractice results in serious injury, you need to consult a competent attorney in order to ensure that any responsible medical provider is held accountable. Our office is dedicated to working with clients who have been injured and damaged due to malpractice so they receive the full and fair compensation they deserve for their pain and suffering.

What Is Physician Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is the negligence of a medical provider and physician negligence is a departure or deviation by a physician from the accepted standard of practice under the circumstances. When a physician renders a service to a patient, he or she is required to have an average degree of skill and knowledge for a reasonably prudent doctor in that specific field providing that service, as well as a degree of skill and knowledge that meets the minimum standard of care in both the state of New York and the United States.

Physicians are required to be cognizant of new developments and breakthroughs in their respective fields and are required to utilize any knowledge and skills they possess in providing medical services, even if those attributes exceed the average level of knowledge and skill for a physician in that field. If a physician makes a treatment decision for a patient that deviates from or falls short of these standards or does not reflect his or her best judgment, he or she may be held liable if that decision contributes to harm being brought upon the patient.

It is important to note that a physician’s decision to perform a medical service does not guarantee a good result for the patient, and a bad result does not automatically subject the physician to liability. Accordingly, in cases where multiple methods of treatments are available, a physician’s “error in judgment” in choosing an unsuccessful course of action for treating a patient does not subject him or her to liability as long as that course of action is one that is medically accepted and one that a reasonably prudent doctor would choose. If a physician fails to meet any of these requirements and that failure is a substantial factor in causing harm to a patient, that physician is responsible for the resulting injuries. If you or a loved one was the victim of physician malpractice and sustained injuries or someone close to you has died as a result, call the Law Offices of Ira M. Perlman, P.C. & Robert D. Rosen, P.C. at 212-668-0100 for a free initial consultation regarding your legal rights to obtain full and fair compensation and damages due to your harms and losses.

What Is Hospital Malpractice?

Restating from the above explanation of physician malpractice, medical malpractice is the negligence of a medical provider. Therefore, hospital malpractice is negligence by a hospital in failing to uphold the standard of care practiced by other general hospitals in the community as well as in failing to abide by state and national requirements. This standard of care includes a duty to exercise reasonable judgment in hiring and supervising its employees including both medical and non-physician personnel. In proving hospital malpractice, a judge or jury must find that a hospital conducted itself negligently, or in other words in a way contrary to the customary standard of care practiced by other general hospitals in the community under the same circumstances or contrary to the regulations set forth by the state or federal government, or even by the hospital itself.

The standards set forth by the State of New York in order to regulate hospitals address a wide range of issues concerning medical and nursing staff, patients’ rights, infection control, medical records, incident reporting, and services involving surgery, anesthesia, laboratory work, emergency treatment and outpatient treatment. For example, these standards include important restrictions on interns such as the amount of consecutive and total hours that interns are allowed to work in a given week as well as mandates requiring hospitals to have policies in writing regarding which procedures or treatments interns can perform under general supervision by a physician as opposed to direct visual supervision by a physician.

There are two primary ways by which a hospital may be held liable for injuries sustained by a patient under their care:

  1. Vicarious Liability: Under the legal theory of “respondeat superior”, an employer, in this case a hospital, can be held liable for the malpractice of its employees.
  2. Direct Liability: A hospital can be held liable for breaches of the duties it has to its patients.

Types Of Physician And Hospital Malpractice

Hospital malpractice can take many forms, all of which could potentially result in serious injury or the wrongful death of a loved one. Hospital malpractice can be based on:

  • A mistake in diagnosis
  • A failure to diagnose
  • A delay in diagnosis
  • A failure of the hospital staff to adequately treat or monitor a patient
  • A failure to take appropriate tests
  • A failure to monitor or stabilize a patient’s condition
  • A failure to refer patients to appropriate specialists
  • A failure to follow accepted standards of practice
  • A failure to sufficiently and/or frequently examine a patient
  • Ignoring a patient or his or her’s presenting signs, symptoms or complaints
  • A failure to keep records or accurate records
  • A failure to prevent or properly treat infection

What Are A Hospital’s Duties To Its Patients?

There is a long list of activities that fall under the duty of reasonable care owed to a hospital’s patients that, if handled negligently, may hold a hospital liable in the event of an injury sustained by one of its patients, including:

  • The need to correctly and properly communicate between departments, staff and physicians
  • The practice of reasonable care to protect patients from unnecessary harm
  • The selection, maintenance and use of proper equipment and facilities specifically tailored for patient use
  • The evaluation of the qualifications of physicians who have staff privileges
  • The administration of blood tests and other necessary diagnostic tests
  • Blood transfusions
  • The accurate following of orders left by patients’ physician
  • The need for competent staff and employees to follow all proper and necessary protocol and procedure especially when utilizing potentially dangerous instruments and equipment
  • The protection of patients’ welfare from harm inflicted by others
  • The adequate staffing of security for patient protection

There does exist what is called a “sliding scale of duty” for hospital liability, which means that the scope of a hospital’s duty corresponds and extends to risks of harm to patients who are reasonably foreseeable. It is also important to note that the scope of a hospital’s duty does not extend to private physicians who are not directly employed by it unless the actions of the private physician are so contradictory to good and accepted medical practices that a hospital employee of ordinary prudence would require an inquiry into the physician’s orders.

You only have a limited time to file your medical malpractice lawsuit. This time limit is known as a statute of limitations. Learn more about how long you may have to file your claim.

Hold Doctors And Medical Professionals Accountable

At the Law Offices of Ira M. Perlman, P.C. & Robert D. Rosen, P.C., all potential medical malpractice cases are fully evaluated. We consult only the most respected medical experts in their respective fields in order to gain the fullest understanding of whether a doctor, surgeon, hospital, etc. has truly acted in a negligent manner before a suit is filed. We take pride in ensuring that doctors who put their patients’ well-being and even their lives at risk are held accountable; that our clients receive full compensation for their harms and losses; and that they receive the justice and dignity that they deserve. Call 212-668-0100 today to schedule your free consultation and get started.

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