Medical malpractice is defined as an undesired medical result that was caused by negligence, a lack of care or a medical mistake by a medical professional (doctor, nurse, medical technician, psychiatrist, hospital, dentist, or other health care provider). All medical professionals are expected to meet the standards of care for their field and are required to use their skills, knowledge and experience to avoid making life-altering mistakes.
Every medical professional, regardless of the specialty, has a standard of care they must adhere to and all patients deserve the best possible treatment a medical professional can provide. Unfortunately, there are some medical professionals that are negligent (and some even careless), and some make a mistake that causes serious health complications for their patient(s). In any event, “medical malpractice” does not exist every time medical treatment is not successful, or the outcome desired is not achieved.
The duty of a health care professional is not to cure, or even to guarantee a good outcome from treatment. Rather, the duty is to provide good medical care according to accepted standards. Medicine is not an perfect science and doctors are not expected to be right every time they make a diagnosis. A misdiagnosis can occur even in cases where proper procedure is followed. A misdiagnosis becomes medical malpractice if health care professionals fail to obtain proper medical histories, order appropriate tests and/or recognize observable symptoms of illness. The test we uses is not whether the doctor made made a mistake, but rather whether the doctor deviated from what most other competent doctors would have done under the circumstances and with the same set of data at hand.
Do I have a case?
Medical malpractice is a very elastic concept that encompasses virtually every kind of mistake that could be made by a medical professional. The most common malpractice cases brought against doctors and health care providers are:
- improper diagnosis
- failure to diagnose
- medication errors or improperly prescribing drugs
- surgical errors, i.e. accidentally severing a nerve during an operation
- medical instruments, sponges, needles or other foreign objects left inside a patient after surgery
- errors in prenatal diagnostic testing
- failure to advise of diagnosis
- lack of informed consent
- abandonment (failure to attend to a patient)
- failure to inform a patient of available treatments
- continuing ineffective treatments
- below standard treatment or incorrectly performed treatment
Medical malpractice may occur at any point during the evaluation or treatment.
A doctor has a duty to use care and diligence to diagnose your condition so that proper treatment can be administered. In order to properly diagnose a condition, a doctor should ask a patient’s medical history as well as their family’s medical history. The doctor should also ask for a detailed description of current symptoms and perform a thorough examination, including all necessary diagnostic tests.
Doctors also have a duty to disclose information pertaining to the treatment you will receive. If your condition is such that it is beyond the scope of practice of the examining doctor, or beyond the doctor’s expertise, he or she must refer you to a specialist. If your doctor fails to follow these basic principles, and injury is caused as a result, you may have a case for a malpractice claim.
What can I do?
In Medical Malpractice cases it is essential that measures be taken to promptly preserve evidence and thoroughly examine medical records to determine that the nature and extent of your injuries are the result of negligence on the part of your attending medical staff. Moving promptly enables other expert medical witnesses to support the cause of your injuries to establish responsibility.
If you or a loved one have been the
victim of Medical Malpractice
If so, please contact us at 201.227.0881. Our initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to accept your case, we will work on a hybrid contingent fee basis (described in “Our Services” page) which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary award or recovery of funds on your behalf. You may have a valid claim and be entitled to compensation for your injuries, but a lawsuit must be filed before the statute of limitations expires (In NY it is 2.5 years; in NJ it is 2 years).