Long Island Medical Malpractice Lawyer
When medical negligence leads to an injury or illness, the healthcare provider should be held accountable. Get the compensation you’re entitled to by working with a Long Island medical malpractice lawyer.
We assume that the doctors and medical professionals in whom we put our trust will facilitate our healing—not cause us further harm. Unfortunately, thousands of people are victims of medical malpractice each year.
When doctors and other medical practitioners deviate from standard modes of care and you end up more sick or seriously injured, the experience can be devastating. It’s important to get the help of a trained legal advocate who will represent your rights and fight for the compensation that you deserve.
A Long Island medical malpractice lawyer with Siler & Ingber, LLP can enable you to hold medical professionals accountable and get the compensation you deserve after suffering from medical negligence.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
It can be difficult to prove that a medical professional behaved negligently or recklessly in your treatment. Ultimately, your Long Island medical malpractice lawyer might need to seek expert testimony from another medical professional. This individual should be able to look at the treatment your physician prescribed and determine whether it was unacceptable and what should actually have happened.
Some of the common examples of medical malpractice that we can help you with are described below:
- Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose– If a doctor fails to diagnose a serious condition or misdiagnoses and prescribes treatment that worsens your illness, you could be eligible for a settlement.
- Did Not Obtain Informed Consent – If a physician administered a treatment without your informed consent, either by ignoring your wishes or not informing you of all the relevant information, you could have grounds for a case.
- Deviation from Standard Modes of Practice – This means that another professional would have looked at the treatment prescribed by your medical professional and deemed it reckless.
- Anesthesia Error – An error in the administration or dosage of anesthesia can lead to severe organ damage, illness, or even death.
- Surgical Error – If surgical tools are left in the body, surgery is performed on the wrong part of the body, or the wrong surgery is performed, you could be entitled to a settlement. Surgical errors are common, and over 4,000 occur in the United States each year.
- Birth Injury – Birth injuries can be especially traumatic. If you or your baby suffered due to a medical professional’s negligence during the prenatal or birthing process, it’s important that the responsible parties be held accountable.
The following elements must be proven in order for you to have grounds to file a lawsuit against your doctor or other healthcare worker:
- There Was a Doctor-Patient Relationship – This is probably the easiest element to prove. You must show that you hired the doctor and that the doctor agreed to treat you.
- Your Doctor Was Negligent – Your doctor making a mistake is not reason to sue him or her. You must be able to demonstrate that your doctor’s actions were not reasonable and careful and that another doctor would not have made the same mistake.
- The Negligence Harmed You – You must have actually been injured by the doctor’s negligence—not just almost injured. You must be able to show the link between your injury and the doctor’s negligence. This is the most difficult point to prove, as patients are often already sick or hurt when they see a doctor.
- Your Injury Led to Real Damages – You must have sustained losses that you are now seeking to recover compensation for, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, lost wages, and additional medical expenses.
Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice in New York
In New York, medical malpractice suits must be filed within two years and six months of the last treatment received from the medical professional in question.
The exception is the “discovery rule”: If the initial statute has passed and a patient discovers surgical material was left in his or her body, the patient has one year from the date of discovery to file a malpractice lawsuit. It’s important to get legal help as soon as possible so that the statute of limitations on your case does not run out.
Contact a Long Island Medical Negligence Lawyer
A Long Island medical malpractice lawyer with Siler & Ingber, LLP can be an invaluable partner in getting you the settlement you deserve when you’ve been the victim of medical misconduct. Call 1-877-718-6079 or use the online contact form on this page to get in touch with us today. The consultation is free, so there’s no pressure involved.