Entrusting medical professionals with your healthcare often proves necessary when seeking treatment. However, a Brooklyn medical mistake can forever change your life, leave your original condition untreated, or result in death. If you or a loved one suffered harm due to a preventable error, a Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer can help you pursue compensation for your damages.
Common Medical Errors
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine discovered that medical mistakes rank as the third-leading cause of death in the United States.
A medical mistake includes one or more of the following:
- Misdiagnosis
- Unnecessary treatment
- Wrong-site surgery
- Medication mistakes
- Hospital-acquired infections
- Uncoordinated communication regarding care
These only constitute a few examples of common medical errors that can result in serious complications for patients; many others exist.
Additional research finds that the five most common misdiagnosed issues involve:
- Cancer
- Neurological related issues
- Cardiac related issues
- Timely response to complications during surgery and post-operation
- Urological related issues
Victims of medical mistakes must recover from the unnecessary harm and continue to seek treatment/care for the original health problem. Some medical errors snowball into additional errors that significantly impact a patient’s life. For example, a misdiagnosis sometimes leads to unnecessary treatment or surgery.
If you or a loved one experienced a medical mistake, you may want to contact a Brooklyn lawyer without delay. Taking quick action will help you hold at-fault parties accountable for their negligent actions.
Where Medical Errors Sometimes Occur
A medical error can take place in a variety of healthcare settings.
Some of the more common places for medical errors include:
- Intensive care units
- Operating rooms
- Emergency departments
Medical errors can occur in family practice settings to the most advanced trauma centers. No matter where you suffered a medical mistake, you should consider seeking the help of a Brooklyn medical malpractice attorney to determine whether you qualify to pursue compensation.
The larger the medical complex, the larger the team of insurance companies and lawyers. Navigating your medical malpractice case alone can pose problems due to your health, your need to focus on your recovery, and the stress involved in managing a medical error case.
The medical industry has powerful attorneys and holding medical professionals accountable for the harm they cause requires a licensed, professional attorney on your side. The doctors and others responsible for your harm want to protect their best interests. A Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer can ensure that you don’t lose out on your right to pursue justice.
How Medical Mistakes Occur
Medical professionals generally work long hours. The stress of their duties and treating multiple patients a day can result in a tragic medical mistake.
Poor communication among team members and others who treat the same patient constitutes just one factor in mistakes.
Other factors may include:
- Improper or no training of staff
- Diagnostic errors regarding equipment or interpretation of results
- Doctor burnout
Those entrusted with the medical treatment of others have a duty of care to act responsibly. When doctors or other medical professionals fail to use care with patient treatment, they risk facing a medical malpractice claim and lawsuit.
Medical Errors That Result in Death
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine estimate that 250,000 deaths occur within the United States per year due to medical mistakes. This number, while an estimate, should sound the alarm for patients and their families.
Some medical errors result in death. The medical mistake that your loved one suffered may result in death. If you lost a close loved one due to a medical mistake, give careful thought to contacting a lawyer.
A Brooklyn wrongful death lawyer can evaluate your relationship to the decent—necessary for proceeding—and review your case. If you want to move forward with a claim and civil lawsuit, you must act quickly.
The statute of limitations imposes strict deadlines for filing a civil lawsuit. If you do not file your case promptly, you do not get another chance. By hiring a lawyer to represent you, you can ensure that your case meets all court requirements.
Types of Compensation Possible
No one can predict with complete accuracy the results of your medical malpractice case. No one civil case is alike; however, you may qualify to recover substantial compensation in cases involving medical malpractice and wrongful death. Below, we discuss the types of compensation possible in these cases:
Medical Malpractice Resulting in Serious Harm
A Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer typically pursues compensation, such as:
- Medical expenses relating to the medical error
- Lost income due to your inability to work as you recover
- Loss of earning capacity if the error prevents you from returning to your job
- Pain and suffering relating to the mental anguish you experience
The types of compensation your lawyer pursues will depend upon the specifics of your case. Your lawyer can keep you informed as you move forward with your legal action.
Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death
A medical mistake that results in death may qualify you to pursue a wrongful death case.
The compensation in such a case often proves similar to those in other civil cases, except for such damages as:
- Funeral and burial costs
- Loss of companionship and intimacy
- Loss of inheritance for children
- Loss of income and future earnings had your loved one survived
Concerns about your loved one’s planned surgery can turn to horror when your loved one unexpectedly dies. A compassionate wrongful death attorney can provide you with legal services so that you do not have to handle your case alone.
Insurance Company Tactics
An insurance company may try to settle with you before you have a chance to hire a lawyer. Oftentimes, insurance adjusters view this as a goal, as they want to settle your case quickly and for as little money as possible.
The amount offered to you may impress you—at first. However, initial settlement offers rarely include sufficient compensation to protect victims in the event of future health complications. For example, a future infection or other complication relating to a medical mistake may arise.
Medical facilities, and those that work for them, seek to end claims for the least amount of compensation possible. Hiring a lawyer to protect your best interests will help you fight back against those who caused you unnecessary harm.
You should protect your future by taking action now. No matter how friendly insurance adjusters may seem, they want to protect those responsible for your harm, not you. Therefore, when insurance adjusters contact you, you should refer them to your attorney.
How a Brooklyn Lawyer Can Help You
A Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer can help you deal with aggressive insurance adjusters, but an attorney can also help with many other aspects of your case. Your attorney’s experience with insurance companies and other lawyers will prove invaluable when it comes to fighting for compensation.
Brooklyn Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Andrew Finkelstein
Your lawyer can easily identify tactics used by insurers to underpay or deny claims. Then, your attorney can use his or her experience to counter these tactics and stand firm for compensation to cover the full cost of your injuries.
Meeting insurance company aggression with matched aggression that defends your interests may prove vital for your case. Going up against the medical industry alone places you at risk for not receiving fair compensation, and possibly, no compensation at all.
A civil case involves detailed paperwork, multiple phone calls, and an investigation. These types of cases involve complex processes that also demand special attention to New York law.
Dealing with your injuries or loss provides enough to worry about. Allowing a lawyer to manage the details of your case removes a significant burden from your shoulders. In addition, consistent communication with your attorney can help further alleviate your concerns.
If you suffered a medical mistake or lost a loved one due to a medical error, consider taking swift action now.
How You Can Help Your Case
You can take some simple steps to contribute to building your compensation case.
These steps include:
- Providing your attorney with medical reports relating to the error
- Submitting your medical costs to your attorney
- Gathering the names and contact information for possible witnesses
- Collecting pictures of your injuries, hospital room, or other helpful images
Your lawyer can provide you with the information that he or she to press your case. If your condition prevents you from gathering such information, your lawyer can obtain it for you.
When you experience a health setback or a sudden loss, friends and family members may ask questions. However, you can help your case by sharing as little information as possible. You should also avoid posting anything on social media following your accident.
Keeping the legal details of your case confidential can prove essential for your case. Information that becomes shared and misinterpreted may add fuel to an insurance company’s effort to blame you for the mistake.
Medical malpractice cases rarely have easy, quick resolutions. You have the right to pursue civil action, but no one can predict how long the process will take. It is a time of many unknowns, yet trusting the process and working with a lawyer can help you through it.
There’s No Excuse for Brooklyn Medical Errors
All jobs come with some level of stress and responsibility. The medical professional, however, deals with life and death every day. When you literally place your life in someone else’s hands, you never expect to suffer a medical mistake.
If you do suffer injuries due to such a mistake, you shouldn’t settle for an apology and a low-dollar settlement offer. You should retain a Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer to represent you.
A medical malpractice lawyer fights for compensation on behalf of victims and does so in a caring and compassionate way. Most attorneys use a firm and aggressive approach when it comes to representing clients in negotiations or court.
Do not delay contacting an attorney due to a fear of cost. Most Brooklyn medical malpractice attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. Therefore, they only collect their legal fees if and when they win your case.
An instrument left in a body during surgery, a preventable infection, birth injury, and other dangerous outcomes can leave you suffering and dealing with financial stress. The resulting changes to your life may bring an end to your career and affect your close relationships.
In the event of death, you may never fully recover from your loss. Spouses, parents, and children face a lifetime of grief over the tragic and unnecessary loss of their loved ones. Pursuing a wrongful death case can serve as a form of justice on behalf of your loved one.
No one seeks medical care expecting to suffer worse conditions following treatment or surgery. Certainly, no patients expect a minor procedure to result in death. If this happened to you or a loved one, a Brooklyn medical malpractice attorney can help you fight for compensation.
Consider Taking Action Now With Your Medical Malpractice Case
Time waits for no one, particularly in civil matters. Therefore, you must act swiftly if you wish to seek compensation for your damages.
You should remember two key factors:
- Accepting an insurance settlement prevents you from pursuing future legal action, and
- Missing the deadline for the statute of limitations results in no second chance.
You can take the first step toward protecting your interest by scheduling a free case evaluation. As an important first step, the case evaluation provides you with insight into whether you have a case and, if so, how to proceed.
Medical malpractice continues to occur as more and more medical professionals take risks with patient health. If you suffered serious harm or lost a loved one due to a medical error, give careful thought to contacting a Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyer today.
To receive the treatment you need to feel better, you have to feel comfortable trusting your doctors. However, when this trust becomes broken due to a medical mistake, those responsible must face accountability for their actions. By pursuing legal action, you may just prevent a similar event from happening to another patient.