When you make an appointment with a medical professional, you expect you will leave knowing you are on your way to feeling better. Doctors are responsible for ensuring they give you their undivided attention for the duration of your visit. You are their patient, and they owe you a duty of care. Thankfully, this is usually the case. You will either leave with a prescription, advice, peace of mind, or all three. Unfortunately, sometimes doctors are negligent, and people are injured as a result. If this has happened to you, you are forced to face the bitter irony of leaving the doctor’s office in worse shape than when you entered. Anyone would be extremely angry, and understandably so, which is why there is a good chance you are looking into potential financial compensation to help pay for your medical bills, lost wages, in-home care, and more. Here are some of the questions you may have:
What exactly is medical malpractice?
Once you have hired an attorney, you will work to prove several things. First, you will have to prove that you were, in fact, a patient, and that your doctor, therefore, owed you a duty of care. From there, you will have to prove that your doctor did not conform to the commonly accepted standard of practice or line of treatment. Lastly, you must prove that you were injured because the standard of care was not met, and that the injuries you have sustained are severe enough to impact your daily life in a significant way. To win your claim, you will have to demonstrate a tangible loss of income, significant past and future medical bills, suffering, or unusual pain.
What are some common scenarios of medical malpractice?
There are several ways in which a physician could act negligently, all of which may be considered medical malpractice if you were injured as a result. They are as follows:
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
- Poor follow-up or aftercare
- Premature discharge
- Disregarding or not accepting appropriate patient history
- Failure to order proper testing
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical errors or wrong-site surgery
- Unnecessary surgery
- Improper medication or dosage
- Hospital infections
- Delayed diagnosis
- Misreading or ignoring laboratory results
- Failure to recognize symptoms
The thought of a medical professional carelessly treating a patient is disturbing, to say the least. This is why you must contact an experienced attorney who will fight tooth and nail for those victimized in a medical malpractice incident.
Contact our experienced Westchester Country firm
Hausman & Pendzick effectively represent victims of neglect in Westchester County and across the state of New York. If you need a knowledgeable and skilled personal injury attorney to help you recover compensation after an accident, contact Hausman & Pendzick today.