Medical Malpractice Injury
A medical malpractice suit is filed by a patient, their representative or in the case of death, their loved ones. It is a lawsuit against a healthcare professional who breached their duty to the plaintiff by failing to provide the standard of care that another provider with similar training would have provided under the same circumstances. The breach could be an act or an omission.
Often, Medical Malpractice Injury cases stem from a misdiagnosis. For example, a doctor may fail to diagnose cancer or other illness in time, leading to more significant damage and greater pain and suffering. In other cases, doctors may prescribe the wrong medication or the incorrect dosage. In either situation, this can lead to serious health problems and even death.
Medical errors during or after treatment can also be considered malpractice. For instance, if a surgeon operating on you leaves a clamp inside your body, this is considered medical malpractice. Doctors should also be careful not to perform the wrong procedure on a patient. This is considered malpractice if a doctor operates on the wrong part of the body or performs a procedure that will cause permanent harm.
Another type of medical malpractice is failure to obtain informed consent. For example, if a surgeon fails to tell you that the procedure carries a 30 percent risk of losing limb, you might not go through with it. However, if you are informed and decide to go ahead with the procedure anyway, it will be difficult to hold the doctor responsible for the loss of your limb, even if the operation was carried out perfectly.
To win a case for medical malpractice, the plaintiff will need to prove causation, negligence and actual damages. Causation is a term that means the physician’s error directly caused the poor result. In other words, the doctor’s mistake directly led to the patient’s injury. This can be established by introducing expert testimony that shows how a competent doctor under the same circumstances would have performed the procedure.
The victim will also need to show that the doctor’s breach of duty was a direct cause of their injuries and losses. For example, a doctor might have been negligent by failing to order a certain test, which was found to be crucial in diagnosing the patient’s condition.
In most states, victims of medical malpractice can recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include the cost of additional medical care and lost earnings. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, disfigurement and emotional distress. Some states even allow for punitive damages if the doctor’s breach was malicious or grossly negligent.
If you have suffered an injury as a result of a healthcare professional’s breach of duty, a knowledgeable New York medical malpractice lawyer can help you pursue compensation. Sobo & Sobo has skilled legal advocates available throughout the greater New York and Orange County areas, including Middletown, Monticello, NYC, Poughkeepsie and Spring Valley, and are ready to work with you to get the settlement you deserve.
Moseley Collins Law
701 5th Ave Suite 4200, Seattle, WA 98104
(800) 426-5553