Brooklyn Medical Malpractice Lawyer
For over 40 years, we’ve been fighting for injury victims just like you across Brooklyn, NY, and recovering millions of dollars in damages for them along the way. Reach out to our law office today for a free consultation about your medical malpractice case.
Have you been the victim of medical malpractice in Brooklyn, NY? If so, you may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and more. The reputable and experienced Brooklyn medical malpractice attorneys at Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC are ready to get to work on your behalf.
Among personal injury and wrongful death cases, medical malpractice cases can be some of the most difficult to prove. For you, that means it can be hard to get the compensation you deserve for medical care, lost income, and pain and suffering, if at all.
Our Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyers have extensive experience handling medical malpractice cases. Hiring the law firm of Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC, can mean the difference in recovering compensation or struggling to cover your expenses.
At Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC, our attorneys have over forty (40) years of experience with medical malpractice cases. We know the importance of recovery after a medical malpractice injury and we are ready to fight for you.
When you hire Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC, to handle your medical malpractice case, here’s what you can expect:
- Full-service legal representation. We manage your medical malpractice claim from end-to-end. You can focus on physical recovery while we deal with insurance companies, paperwork, and communication with the court and other attorneys.
- In-depth documentation. Medical malpractice cases, in particular, can require extensive medical documentation. We gather the medical records needed so you don’t have to.
- Expert evaluation. One essential element of medical malpractice cases is a showing that the medical professional breached the standard of care owed to the patient. To do this, the testimony of another medical professional is needed. We work with medical experts in New York and throughout the United States, when necessary, to prove this.
- Confident negotiation and litigation. We go into negotiations and litigation with confidence because we develop the strongest possible case.
While you focus on physical recovery, let our skilled medical malpractice attorneys in Brooklyn, NY, handle the recovery of the compensation you deserve. Contact our law office today for a free consultation to get your case started.
Table of Contents
How Common Is Medical Malpractice?
According to a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins, medical errors cause more than 250,000 people each year. The same study concluded that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
From 2012 to 2018, the average number of medical malpractice payouts in New York exceeded 1,600 per year. The true incidence of medical malpractice may greatly exceed this.
Overview of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can be more difficult to prove than personal injury cases like car accidents or slip-and-fall cases. Our medical malpractice attorneys understand what must be proven to successfully recover compensation for our clients.
Here’s what it takes:
- A doctor-patient relationship exists
- The medical professional breached the duty of care
- The patient suffers an actual injury
- There is a causal connection between the medical professional’s act and patient injury
Establishing all the facts needed to prove these elements can be challenging. When you have a challenging case, you want a personal injury attorney with the tenacity it takes to meet it.
What is the Doctor-Patient Relationship?
In many cases, this is the easiest element to prove.
It’s important to know that, in addition to doctors, the following types of medical professionals also owe a duty of care:
- Nurses
- Physician’s Assistants
- Pharmacists
- Anesthesiologists
For any medical malpractice claim, regardless of the medical field, the doctor-patient relationship must be established. Evidence must be presented to establish this fact.
How Do Medical Professionals Breach the Duty of Care?
The duty of care requires medical professionals to behave in a way that protects patients from unreasonable risk. The manner in which a medical professional must act depends on how medical professional in their position would act under the circumstances.
For example, a surgeon implanting a medical device has to act in the way a careful surgeon would act with regard to surgery. At the time of the procedure, no adverse information is known about the implant. Later, it is discovered to be a defective medical device. If any reasonable surgeon would have used the same implant under the circumstances, a patient may have a product liability claim, and not a malpractice claim.
What Does Medical Malpractice Look Like?
There are many different ways that a medical professional can deviate from the prudent standard of care. Here are a few of the most common:
Medication Error
To administer a single medication, medical professionals must take between 30 and 40 distinct steps. The risk for error increases with each step.
Some of the most common medical errors made in hospitals, medication errors include:
- Prescribing or administering a wrong dose
- Failure to identify adverse drug interactions
- Storing drugs improperly, causing defective drugs
- Failure to prescribe a medication known to improve a certain condition
A medication error can have a serious, and sometimes deadly, impact on a patient. To meet the duty of care, medical professionals should have an understanding of a patient’s medical history, allergies, and current medications.
Errors in Diagnoses
Another common medical treatment error: diagnostic error. It is the failure to timely and accurately determine the cause of a patient’s problem or the failure to communicate to the patient the cause. When a diagnosis is late, wrong, or missed entirely, a diagnostic error occurs.
Diagnostic errors are the most common reported by patients. Typically, diagnostic errors fall into the following categories:
- Delayed diagnosis
- Misdiagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
A delayed diagnosis is simply one that should have been made sooner, while missed diagnosis describes one that was never made.
Misdiagnosis is the failure to accurately determine the cause of a patient’s problem. When an accurate diagnosis is later reached, the missed diagnosis is exposed.
Lack of Informed Consent
Before administering medical treatment, medical professionals have a duty to get a patient’s informed consent to receive the treatment.
To get informed consent, a medical treatment provider must make sure the patient understands:
- The nature of the treatment and what it will entail
- Any potential outcomes of the treatment, whether positive or negative
- Any unintended impacts that could occur as a result of the treatment
Failure to meet any of the requirements can form the basis of a medical malpractice claim based on the lack of the patient’s informed consent.
In some cases, a medical treatment provider may try to defend their actions based on the patient’s implied consent. Implied consent is when the patient agrees to treatment by their acts rather than their words.
In cases involving implied consent, the issue is whether a reasonable medical professional would believe that the patient’s actions expressed their consent. For example, whether a patient who nods or gives a thumbs up in the middle of a procedure demonstrates their agreement for the treatment to continue along a certain course.
What is My Medical Malpractice Case Worth?
The value of a medical malpractice case depends on many factors.
Some factors that influence the value of a medical malpractice case include:
- The severity of the patient’s injuries
- The certainty of the medical professional’s liability
- Whether it reaches a settlement or goes to trial
- Publicity
- Litigation costs
Obviously, some of these factors depend more on the patient’s situation and others are the result of extrinsic influences. Here’s how each factor may impact the value of a case:
Severity of Injuries
Medical malpractice that results in more severe injuries will likely increase the value of the claim. It may be a comfort to severely injured people, who require corrective surgery or long-term treatment to regain their previous health, that they are likely to be entitled to the full compensation needed to restore their financial situation.
Certainty of the Medical Professional’s Liability
When a medical provider, their employer, or liability insurer understands that they are going to be on the hook for the cost of a claim, it is more likely to settle for a higher value. If the liability is questionable, the settlement may be lower or the parties may not be able to reach a settlement agreement at all.
Whether it Reaches Settlement or Goes to Trial
Research has shown that insurers tend to settle when their internal review determines the provider breached the standard of care. The value of settlements and jury verdicts are heavily influenced by the severity of the injuries. However, it is not uncommon for jury verdicts in medical malpractice cases to reach up to $1 million or more.
Publicity and Litigation Costs
Secondary to liability, insurers, and employers may be influenced to settle a case if it is high-publicity or if the cost of litigation will be high. An established personal injury firm, like Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC is in a position to hold the insurers accountable for you.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Case in New York?
Under New York’s statute of limitations, a person has three (3) years from the date of a personal injury, including medical malpractice, to file a lawsuit. For wrongful death claims, claimants have only two (2) years to file suit.
Two or three years may sound like a long time. But often the process begins with one or more insurance claims. A lawsuit may be filed before or after settlement negotiations begin.
Importantly, after the deadline passes, a person may forever lose their right to recover compensation. Insurance companies know this, and it can be impossible to negotiate for compensation after the deadline passes.
Contact Our Brooklyn Medical Malpractice Lawyers Today
If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, don’t delay in contacting an attorney. The personal injury attorneys at Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, PC, are standing by for your free consultation. Reach out to our law office today to learn more about your legal rights if you have been the victim of medical malpractice.
