NY Medical Malpractice - Are Injured Victims Money Hungry?

By Gerry Oginski

If you believe all they hype by "tort-reform" zealots, every injured victim is a 'money-hungry, selfish and health-care destroying monster."

Contrary to all the hype, practically every single injured medical malpractice victim who walks in my door is just the opposite. Here's what I mean:

The people who come to me never started off their medical treatment by looking for a lawsuit. Instead, they went to a doctor or hospital to get better; to get treatment they needed; or to get checked to make sure they did not have any dangerous medical condition. They did not go to the doctor's office hoping the doctor would do something wrong, and cause them serious permanent harm. They didn't go to the doctor's office hoping the doctor would screw up and they would 'rake in the cash'! Nobody is that foolish. In fact, almost every person who comes to me for advice is almost apologetic that they're coming in searching for answers. Many potential clients tell me "We're not looking for money...we just want justice." "We want to make sure this never happens again..."

It is days, weeks and months later do these potential clients wonder how they will survive financially as a result of their diminished earning capacity and their lost time from work. Who will pay for their health insurance premiums if they cannot work? Who will buy the groceries, pay the mortgage, the medical bills? How will they pay for their children's school tuition and camp if they cannot return to work? Those thoughts usually come after the healing process, assuming there is one.

There are many "reformists" who argue that there should be an artificial and arbitrary limit to an injured victims' pain and suffering compensation. Does that mean that even when an injured victim has unrelenting pain that never goes away and limits their daily activities, that the most compensation they can receive is an arbitrary number created by someone who has never had that type of pain? Is that fair?

Does a patient seeking a doctor's help truly seek to destroy the health-care system and how insurance companies reimburse doctors? The patient just wants to get better. They want treatment that will let them continue on with their lives unobstructed and free from limitation. Does a patient want a doctor to commit malpractice so his or her life can be destroyed and ruin his job and his family life just to bring a lawsuit? Such thinking is incomprehensible.

On the other hand, I am sure there are many good physicians who wake up each morning and say to themselves "I'm going to do the best I can today." I don't expect there are any physicians who wake up and say "Let's see how many patients I can screw up today so they can sue me for medical malpractice."

However, malpractice occurs when a physician is careless and departs from good and accepted medical care in the State of New York; when there is a lack of communication; where someone drops the ball and misinterprets a radiology report or a pathology report leading to incorrect or improper treatment. A failure to diagnose is always significant, especially if the failure leads to the patient needing additional treatment that otherwise he would not have needed if the condition had been timely and properly diagnosed.

Surgery and anesthesia errors are always signficiant. Many of those mistakes lead to the patient needing additional corrective surgery, or possibly lead to an untimely and wrongful death. Having practiced personal injury law and medical malpractice law for almost twenty years now in the greater New York metropolitan area, I recognize that medical mistakes and errors happens with doctors that are board certified as well as doctors that are not board certified. There are excellent doctors who are well qualified, yet in some cases, those doctors may be careless and that carelessness may have caused significant harm to the patient.

Getting back to the original premise of this article: Are injured medical malpractice victims 'money-grubbing, selfish, health-care destroying' people? Or are they just stuck in the unfortunate position of having been the recipient of improper medical care that has now turned their life upside-down? You decide.

I hope that all of your medical care goes well and you do not need the services of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer practicing law here in the State of New York.

Gerry Oginski is an experienced medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing law in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, New York, Staten Island, Nassau & Suffolk. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice, wrongful death and injury cases since 1988. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office. Take a look at Gerry's website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there's something for you. For more information, call him personally at 516-487-8207.

Clinical Or Medical Negligence Claims in the UK

Medical negligence is where doctors or any other professional in the medical profession have been found in breach of a duty of care. For example if a doctor failed to diagnose a medical condition or diagnosed the wrong condition this would be classed as medical negligence.

Doctors, dentists, midwives, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists all have "duty of car" to ensure their patients receive the correct treatment in a proper ethical manner. If you or someone feels that they incurred an injury or suffered emotionally because one of these medical professionals not doing their job probably then you maybe able to make a medical negligence claim against them or the organisation they work for. Maybe the treatment you received went wrong in which case the treating doctor is required by his governing body the "General medical Council" to inform the patient that the treatment went wrong. At the very least you are entitled to an explanation.

Injuries such as these can arise out of for example, cancer treatment, accident and emergency treatments, anaesthetics, cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, gastroenterology, oncology, keyhole surgery, mental health, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, plastic surgery, psychiatry, sterilisation, urology, dentistry, vascular surgery and the list goes on. Also if you or a family member suffered brain damage or psychological injuries like nervous shock or the worst scenario death these are fine examples of medical/clinical negligence.

It is not just patients of the NHS, those who were treated in private hospitals as private patients will also be able to claim for breach of contract if your medical treatment was substandard.

Claiming financial compensation for clinical or medical negligence can be quite a lengthy and complex matter. Because of which it is paramount that you enlist the help of a professional personal injury specialist. If this puts you claiming it shouldn't. When someone claims for personal injuries (compensation) for a road traffic accident it is generally easy for your personal in jury lawyer to establish who was at fault and whether the injuries were due to that accident. If the accident wasn't your fault, and your injuries were obviously related to the accident (like whiplash), you will have a strong case. With claims against the medical profession the claimant will need to obtain medical records and get statements to prove that:

• That there were serious errors in your medical treatment which no competent doctor would have made
• The doctor or other healthcare professional owed a duty to take care of the claimant and not cause injury
• There was a breach of that duty to take care
• That breach of duty has caused harm to the claimant
• Damage or other losses have resulted from that harm

Claiming compensation for clinical/medical negligence is your civil and legal right. Without claiming you could be putting someone else at risk. Sadly it take unfortunate situations like a medical error of judgement to occur for people in the medical profession to wake up and make changes to their practice to ensure this type of malpractice doesn't happen again.

Medical Negligence - Dental Malpractice

Any kind of negligence or poor quality dental care can be defined as dental malpractice. Having a dental treatment can be an unnerving experience and damage or side effects can occur; however in some cases this is often unavoidable.

Dentists have as duty of care towards patients to ensure that they receive proper treatment and the majority of dentists are successful in helping their patients to achieve good oral health. Dentistry is a difficult and rewarding profession and the medical practitioners involved in this skilled profession work long hours and use the best equipment to get surgery completed with minimal discomfort.

The average person probably doesn't understand much about dental treatment and because of this we put our full trust and confidence into the dentist working on our teeth. In order to protect us when it comes to the dental work that we have carried out the General Dental Council (GDC) was set up. The GDC regulates the dental professionals within the UK and works to protect patients and promote confidence in the dental profession. This is because all dental patients are entitled to high standards of professional and personal behaviour from those providing their care.

As part of their duty to protect the public the GDC have always had the power to take action by either removing or restricting a dental professional's registration on the Dental Professionals' Register. This gives you peace of mind that if the worse does happen that action can be taken against the dental professional who caused that damage.

If the worst happens when you are undergoing your dental treatment and you end up suffering as a result you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation. If the standard of care shown by a dental practitioner slips below the acceptable level then you may have a case for compensation. Below are just a few example of what constitutes being medical negligence when it comes to dentistry:

• Failure to fully detect an oral disease or malformation

• Improper utilisation of dental or surgical utensils

• Installation of defective dental products

• Personal injury to oral cavity or surrounding bone and tissue

• Wrongful death due to dental procedures or anaesthetic

Dental malpractice can occur under a number of different circumstances such as a missed diagnosis; when a dentist fails to see an injury or dental problem and as a result of this the problem worsens. Another example is an incorrect diagnosis, which is when a dental practitioner fails to carry out work or they undertake work that results in you being in more pain.

Two other factors that could play a part in medical negligence are careless work and drug usage error. If a dentist carries out careless work it can cause personal injury and in a case of drug usage error a dentist may administer them incorrectly or fail to see if an allergic reaction occurred.

If you feel like you have been let down by the dental profession or you are suffering pain as a result of the treatment that you have received then you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.