Long Island Medical Malpractice Lawyers

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice can occur when a physician, hospital, or other medical professional acts in a manner that can cause injuries. This can occur through negligence and may result in things such as delayed treatment or surgical errors, medication errors, failure to treat, or a lack of proper healthcare management. The consequences of these mistakes can leave a patient with severe health issues.

Many scenarios are considered medical malpractice. The most common forms of medical malpractice can include the improper use of forceps during a delivery, medication dosage mistakes, anesthesia issues, performing surgery on the wrong site, and other mistakes.

How Can a Long Island Medical Malpractice Attorney Help?

When you need medical treatment, you turn to your doctor for help. If they make a mistake, you’re forced to deal with the consequences. The hospital, nurse, or doctor who caused your injuries should be held accountable. However, even if you’re entitled to compensation it doesn’t mean you’ll recover the compensation you deserve. Doctors and medical facilities have insurance companies and a team of legal professionals who will fight you every step of the way. When you’ve suffered an injury as a result of medical malpractice, you shouldn’t handle your case alone.

A Long Island medical malpractice lawyer at Parker Waichman LLP can help. Hiring an attorney on our legal team can allow you to focus on your recovery while trusting an experienced, skilled, and dedicated legal professional to handle every aspect of your case.

When you hire a member of our legal team, they can help during this challenging time by:

• Investigating the circumstances surrounding your injury
• Gathering evidence
• Identifying all liable parties involved
• Consulting with medical experts to help build a strong case and accurately calculate damages
• Filing paperwork
• Handling all communication with the insurance company or defense attorney
• Filing a lawsuit on your behalf
• Representing you in court

Types Of Medical Malpractice

Common types of medical malpractice include:

Misdiagnosis

Misdiagnosis is very common and it can occur when a physician fails to recognize the issues or condition that their patient is dealing with. When a patient is misdiagnosed, it can result in many problems down the road, such as prescribing the wrong prescriptions or the patient’s condition progressing to an extent that it’s challenging to treat.

A misdiagnosis can be deadly since timing is crucial for effective medical treatment. If the treatment window is missed due to a misdiagnosis, the condition may no longer be treatable.

Delayed diagnosis

If a physician takes too long to determine the underlying cause, it may be too late to effectively treat the condition. If a doctor is unable to make the correct diagnosis within a certain period of time, a patient’s condition can worsen. To prove a case involving delayed diagnosis, the patient must be able to show that their physician’s assessment was less competent than it should have been.

Surgical errors

Surgical errors can involve performing the wrong procedure, performing an unnecessary procedure, causing damage to the tissues, nerves, or organs, leaving surgical instruments inside the patient, and improper aftercare.

Failure to treat

Unlike a misdiagnosis, the failure to treat can occur when a patient is diagnosed correctly but the doctor fails to follow through with treatment. This can include not providing correct follow-up care, discharging a patient too soon, or failing to provide the standard of care for a specific condition.

Birth injuries

Many medical malpractice claims are filed for birth injuries, such as spinal cord injuries, shoulder dystocia, cephalohematoma, or cerebral palsy. These birth injuries can be caused by a medical error, which makes them an avoidable injury.

Prescription medication errors

A prescription medication error can be made if a patient is misdiagnosed, or the wrong medication is ordered, a doctor prescribes a medication that interacts with another medication the patient is taking, or they may order the wrong dose.

Anesthesia errors

Anesthesia is administered to prevent a patient from feeling pain. A mistake can be made by the anesthesiologist that can result in lasting consequences, such as death, brain injuries, or intense pain.

Failure to treat or prevent an infection

If there are unsanitary conditions in a medical facility or a medical professional uses equipment that was not sterilized, a patient can develop an infection.

Do I Have to Hire a Long Island Medical Malpractice Lawyer?

While you are not required by state law to hire an attorney to represent you, doing so can increase your chances of a successful outcome to your case. An attorney on our legal team will have access to medical experts who can provide testimony that supports your claim of malpractice. They can also conduct an in-depth investigation, accurately calculate damages, and explore all avenues of compensation. An attorney on our legal team will go above and beyond to ensure you recover every penny of compensation you’re entitled to.

Contact Us Today

If you believe you or a loved one were a victim of medical malpractice on Long Island, you may be entitled to compensation. At Parker Waichman LLP, our experienced Long Island medical malpractice lawyers can help you fight for the justice and compensation you deserve. Contact us today to schedule a free legal consultation to learn more about how we can help.