New York Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If the negligent actions of a doctor or medical facility have injured you or a loved one, the experienced attorneys at Parker Waichman LLP can help you recover the compensation you deserve. We have some of the best medical malpractice lawyers in NYC, and our compassionate staff understands that you may feel betrayed by your medical provider and feel like you have nowhere to turn. Our medical negligence and malpractice lawyers will listen to your story and work to secure the just result you deserve.

The malpractice lawyers at Parker Waichman will build a case that proves that your health-care provider did not render acceptable care to you or your family member by analyzing all of the diagnoses, decisions, and treatment involved with your condition. We will tenaciously seek the outcome you deserve because we know your injuries have taken a tremendous toll on you and your family. Call 1-800-YOUR-LAWYER today and let our New York malpractice attorneys put their skills to work on your medical malpractice claim.

What Constitutes Medical Malpractice in NY?

Medical malpractice, also commonly known as medical negligence, involves a health-care provider, such as a doctor or hospital, failing to treat a patient in accordance with the accepted standard of care. When a medical provider is negligent or reckless, patients can experience serious injuries, including worsening of pre-existing conditions or illnesses or development of new conditions or illnesses.

Generally, medical malpractice claims require a plaintiff to establish the relevant standard of care and prove a breach of that standard of care. A New York medical malpractice lawyer from our firm will typically produce medical experts who can testify about the accepted standard of care and explain how the defendant did not meet that standard.

Types of Medical Malpractice Cases

In our decades of experience litigating medical malpractice cases in New York, most of our clients were victims of one or more of the following kinds of medical negligence:

• Failure to Diagnose: A case in which a doctor fails to make a diagnosis of a patient. This might be due to a lack of attention to the patient’s symptoms or a lack of knowledge of what the patient’s symptoms might mean. A delay in diagnosis can lead to a significant worsening of a patient’s condition, including the potential for death if the condition reaches a point at which medical intervention will not make a difference.
• Misdiagnosis: A case in which a doctor makes an incorrect diagnosis and fails to treat the correct condition. Unlike with a failure to diagnose, there is a diagnosis made in these cases, but it is not the right one. The doctor may be unaware of all of the symptoms, not have performed the appropriate workup or be unaware of other explanations for the patient’s symptoms. Failure to treat the correct condition may lead to a worsening of the condition, which can result in serious injury or death.
• Prescription Errors: A case in which a doctor gives a patient the wrong prescription, a contraindicated prescription (not appropriate to take with the patient’s other medications or given the patient’s other medical conditions) or an improper dose. These errors can also occur at the pharmacy. If a doctor or pharmacy provides a patient improper medication, the patient can have a severe reaction, leading to dermatological injury, respiratory distress, loss of consciousness, and even death.
• Failure to Monitor: A case in which a health-care provider fails to properly and adequately look after a patient’s condition following the rendering of care. This can be after an appointment or after an inpatient procedure. If a patient is not adequately monitored or provided adequate follow-up care, the patient’s condition can quickly worsen. In these cases, doctors and facilities do not pick up on important cues that would allow them to act to prevent injury to the patient.
• Surgical Errors: A case in which a surgeon makes a mistake during a procedure that causes injury to the patient. This can include things like improper stitching, perforation of an organ, and failure to operate on the appropriate area of the patient. Sometimes, these errors are minor, but they can also cause severe damage to a patient, requiring additional surgeries, long recovery times, and failure to improve.
• Lack of Informed Consent: Doctors have a duty to obtain informed consent from a patient prior to providing treatment. Informed consent means that a patient agrees to undergo treatment after being advised of the risks and benefits of treatment. Doctors must explain the risks of procedures and medical care so that patients can make intelligent decisions about their treatment. When doctors fail to do this and patients are injured because of unknown risks, patients have the right to sue.
• Improper Treatment: These cases usually involve not just one specific or isolated failure but multiple failures by a physician or facility that contributed to a patient’s injuries. We will look at all of the care rendered and how it caused our client to sustain injuries throughout the course of their medical treatment.

A New York medical malpractice lawyer has to have a keen understanding of medicine in order to be able to pinpoint the ways in which a health-care provider departed from the standard of care. Parker Waichman’s attorneys have the knowledge required to review clients’ medical records and form reliable theories about what occurred and what should have occurred. When you work with our attorneys, you’ll be teaming up with litigators who have a clear command of the law, important foundational knowledge of medical cases, and a firm grasp of the steps necessary to build a strong case for you and your family. Contact Parker Waichman today and we’ll put our wealth of experience with medical malpractice cases in New York to work for you.

Elements of Liability in New York Medical Malpractice Cases

A New York medical malpractice case is built on four main elements of general negligence law. In any type of negligence case, we must be able to prove:

1. The defendant owed our client a duty to use reasonable care.
2. The defendant breached that duty and failed to use reasonable care.
3. Our client suffered an injury.
4. Our client’s injury was caused by the defendant’s negligence.

In order to hold someone accountable for your injury, we have to prove that the provider owed you a duty to use reasonable care. It might sound like an odd concept at first, but before someone can be considered legally negligent, they must have had an obligation to behave in a certain way. If there was no obligation to act, we cannot blame that person for failing to act. In situations like medical malpractice, doctors unquestionably owe their patients a duty to use care, which takes effect as soon as doctors accept people as their patients. One of the ways malpractice cases differ from other negligence cases is that doctors will owe a specific level of care based on the treatment they were providing. A medical malpractice attorney in NYC will look at the circumstances of your case and hire experts to testify to the kind of duty the health care provider possessed. For instance, in the case of an error during a gastroenterological surgery, we will hire an expert to testify about what kind of care should have been provided by a surgeon performing that specific kind of surgery.

Proving Medical Negligence in New York

To prove whether the defendant breached their duty of care, we will examine what the defendant did versus what the standard of care called for the defendant to do. This will again involve hiring an expert to testify that the health-care provider failed to meet the appropriate standard of care. If we are able to establish that the defendant owed a duty and the defendant breached that duty, we have proved that the defendant was legally negligent. This means the health-care provider did commit medical malpractice.

Next, we have to prove that you have suffered some kind of harm. That might seem pretty clear and straightforward, but some injuries are not readily apparent. In brain injury cases, for example, the effects might not be immediately clear to a jury or to the defense. We will almost always hire an expert to testify about the complete picture of your injuries and how they affect your life. This will also include medical treatment you will likely require in the future. Our attorneys will prove your financial damages during this phase of the case. At this point, we may hire a life-care planner to evaluate the financial burden of your injuries over the course of your life.

Upon establishing all of this, we need to tie everything together by proving causation: We need to prove that your injuries were caused by the defendant’s negligence. This is sometimes one of the most difficult aspects of the case because we have to prove that different conduct by the health-care provider would have resulted in a different outcome. As you can probably guess, we again frequently rely on experts, this time to testify about your injuries and the potential for a better result if you had had appropriate care.

Building a strong case can be challenging, but our medical malpractice law firm in New York does not turn down cases for complexity. We will tackle challenging medical malpractice cases using our extensive experience and our network of medical experts. When you choose Parker Waichman, you’ll have the skills and resources you and your family need on your side.

What Is the Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations in NY?

New York medical malpractice laws dictate a statute of limitations of two and a half years for these types of cases. That means that claims must be filed within that amount of time from the date that the negligent action occurred. If you do not file your medical negligence claim within the time period set by New York law, you will never be able to file it.

Understanding the New York State Statute of Limitations on Medical Malpractice Claims

Prior to filing your medical negligence case in New York court, we need to make sure that the medical malpractice statute of limitations has not expired under New York law. Statutes of limitations vary from state to state and from claim to claim, so it’s extremely important to understand the correct date by which you need to take action.

New York is one of a few states to have a two-and-a-half-year statute of limitations on medical malpractice cases but a wrongful death statute of limitations of just two years. This means that in a medical malpractice case that involves a death, you have two years from the date of the careless act to file your claim in the correct court. Medical negligence and malpractice claims that do not involve a death can be filed within two and a half years.

Often, it’s difficult to understand when exactly the negligence occurred because patients receive ongoing care and there might be multiple failures in that care. This makes it tricky to figure out how long you actually have to file your claim. But an experienced lawyer should be able to calculate the correct statute of limitations for your malpractice case. When you consult with Parker Waichman, we’ll calculate the deadline for your claim to ensure that we have enough time to prepare a strong medical malpractice case on your behalf. It’s crucial that you talk to a medical malpractice attorney in New York as soon as possible to protect your legal rights: Once the statute of limitations governing medical negligence cases runs out, you’ll no longer be able to seek compensation.

What Types of Damages Can You Seek From Medical Malpractice Lawsuits in New York?

When you hire the skilled medical malpractice attorneys at Parker Waichman, we’ll seek compensation on your behalf for all of the ways that your injuries have affected you and your family. This can include:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost wages due to past and future time off from work required by your injuries
• Compensation for your physical and mental pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium damages for the ways in which your injuries have changed your relationship with your spouse
• Punitive damages if the facts of the case warrant this type of compensation

You have suffered real harm, and you deserve to be compensated. Our lawyers know what the defense and the jury need to hear in order to understand the full extent of your losses, and we will aggressively pursue the most appropriate compensation possible for you and your loved ones. Call our New York office to talk with one of our medical malpractice attorneys about your case today.

How We Build Strong Medical Negligence Claims

Because of our vast experience representing victims of medical malpractice, we have developed an efficient process for compiling clients’ cases. After signing your case with Parker Waichman, your attorney will:

• Create a detailed summary of the acts of negligence from your perspective and/or the perspective of any family members
• Contact any potential witnesses to the negligence or your injuries
• Order medical records that document the treatment you received or will require because of your injuries
• Consult with medical and industry experts to obtain favorable testimony for your case
• Calculate the statute of limitations for your case
• Determine the appropriate court for filing your case
• Contact any potential insurance carriers or lienholders
• Engage in written discovery and depositions to gather evidence for your case
• Participate in mediation and/or settlement negotiations with the defense
• Take your case to trial, if necessary

In addition to superior results, we pride ourselves on outstanding client communication. Our firm wants you to feel confident about your case progress, so we will always keep you informed and make sure you are involved in our litigation strategy. You can count on us to provide honest and professional guidance every step of the way.

Work With Some of the Best Medical Malpractice Attorneys in NYC

Parker Waichman is one of only a few law firms to have secured more than $2 billion in awards and settlements for our clients, and we have extensive experience handling medical negligence cases for people who have suffered great losses. We have become one of New York’s top personal injury and medical negligence law firms, receiving numerous honors and accolades from colleagues, judges, and clients, including:

• A 9.8 (out of a perfect 10) rating from AVVO, a service that rates every attorney in the United States
• Inclusion in Best Lawyers, an honor based on extensive peer review
• The highest peer-review rating, “AV Preeminent,” from Martindale-Hubbell, which has been rating attorneys all over the world for more than a century

When you choose the most prestigious law firm in New York, you can feel confident that you are represented by people who care and who have the skills to guide you to a successful case resolution.

Get Help From Experienced New York Malpractice Attorneys and Pay Nothing Out of Pocket

At Parker Waichman, our experienced negligence attorneys recognize that you likely have medical bills piling up, and the last thing you want to worry about is how you will afford a lawyer. That’s why we provide skilled advocacy at no cost to you. Our New York personal injury attorneys work on a contingency-fee basis: This means that our recovery is dependent on yours. If you do not receive a settlement or jury award from your New York medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit, we will not get paid a fee or receive reimbursement for our expenses.

We understand that litigation is undoubtedly costly, and it’s something everyday people cannot often afford to take on. When you choose our law firm, we will take on the financial risk ourselves so you can focus on what really matters: your health and your family.

Call Today for a
Free Consultation

When doctors and health-care providers act carelessly, they need to be held responsible. Through New York medical malpractice cases, we can not only achieve justice for you and your family but also help to create a safer medical environment for patients down the road.

If you have or a loved one has been injured due to the negligence of a medical provider, contact our firm today for a free consultation by filling out our online form or by calling 1-800-YOUR-LAWYER (1-800-968-7529). You’ll be able to talk to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who will listen to your story with compassion and help you understand your potential options for legal recourse. You’ll soon see why so many victims and their loved ones have trusted us with their New York malpractice cases. Don’t wait: Call today and let us help you to protect your legal rights.

Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Malpractice and Negligence in New York

Who Is the Best Medical Malpractice Lawyer in New York for My Case?

To choose the best medical malpractice lawyers in NYC for you, you’ll want to review their previous work and choose a firm with a reputation for success. You should also meet with them to see how you feel about working with them: Does what you hear inspire confidence? Only you can decide who you trust to handle your medical malpractice case.

Is Medical Malpractice Insurance Required in New York?

No. In the state of New York, it’s not legally required for hospitals or other health-care facilities to purchase malpractice insurance, either from a commercial medical malpractice insurance company or a self-insurance program.