Though it’s widely known that health care professionals can make errors in providing treatment, you may not realize just how common medical negligence, malpractice, and injury cases are. According to a recent article in Becker’s Hospital Review, a resource for data and trends in the health care industry, New York topped the list of the highest medical malpractice payouts in 2018 at $685.3 million. These amounts certainly helped victims recoup some of their losses, but many still suffer the emotional and physical consequences of their injuries.
At Richmond Vona, LLC, our trusted personal injury attorneys understand the far-reaching implications for victims of medical negligence. We’re dedicated to helping you get the compensation you need and deserve through our extensive knowledge, experience, and skills in these types of claims. Please read on for some important information or contact our office to speak with a Buffalo medical malpractice lawyer today.
Types of Medical Malpractice Claims
In general, medical malpractice claims arise out of mistakes and careless acts, which can be classified into multiple categories. Some common categories of medical malpractice include:
Diagnosing Errors
Physicians can make mistakes when diagnosing a patient, usually in one of the following ways:
- Erroneous Diagnosis: When a doctor provides a diagnosis that’s inaccurate, the patient suffers because he or she receives unnecessary care for a condition that’s not present. Plus, the true ailment goes untreated entirely.
- Delayed Diagnosis: A physician may be careless in not recognizing the signs and symptoms of a medical condition, so the patient doesn’t receive proper care in a timely manner. Delays in providing a diagnosis can be especially harmful for cancer patients and those dealing with other issues that can become terminal.
Surgical Errors
These mistakes may include:
- Operating on the wrong patient
- Performing surgery on the wrong body part
- Leaving an object inside the patient
- Causing harm to the body around the location of the procedure, such as slicing a blood vessel or organ
Lack of Informed Consent
A physician is required to obtain the patient’s consent to a procedure after explaining the nature of the treatment and its risks. Failure to do so may be an example of medical malpractice.
These are not the only types of medical malpractice that can occur; medication mistakes, anesthesia errors, birth injuries, and a whole host of other negligent actions and injuries can all fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice. A knowledgeable Buffalo attorney could help an injured individual determine if they have a medical negligence case and under which category it would fall.
How Medical Malpractice Cases Work in New York
Regardless of the specific type of medical error, malpractice cases typically proceed under the legal concept of negligence. A medical malpractice attorney in Buffalo, NY can explain in more detail how this theory of liability applies to your situation, but there are four basic elements you must prove to recover compensation.
These four elements include:
- Your health care provider had a duty to treat you according to medically accepted standards of care, a duty which arises out of the patient-physician relationship.
- Your doctor breached this duty by deviating from the standard of care, essentially NOT treating you in accordance with how a prudent physician would have provided care under the same circumstances.
- The breach of duty was a direct cause of your injuries, instead of them arising from some other intervening factor. Disappointment in the result of a procedure or an unsuccessful outcome would not rise to the level of meeting this element.
- You suffered losses as a result of your injuries. These losses can be either economic or non-economic in nature and may include things like revision surgeries, additional medical treatment, lost income or wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
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