Hospital Malpractice Lawyer in New York City

Hospital Malpractice Lawyer in New York City

Despite the years of training doctors and other medical providers complete, and the specialized knowledge they have, they still make mistakes when caring for their patients. An often-cited study from Johns Hopkins University suggests that medical errors are the third-leading cause of death across the United States, and many of these errors are considered hospital malpractice.

If you were injured while undergoing treatment at a hospital or other medical facility, an experienced New York City hospital malpractice lawyer at Finz & Finz, P.C. in New York can help. Our legal team includes a former New York State Supreme Court Justice who has been peer-reviewed as one of America’s preeminent trial lawyers and a lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In addition, we have strong relationships with world-renowned medical experts who can support your case and testify on your behalf. We are dedicated to maximizing the financial compensation for our clients, many of whom have suffered life-altering injuries as a result of hospital malpractice, and since our founding, our New York City personal injury law firm has recovered more than $1 billion on their behalf.

Receive your free hospital malpractice legal consultation by calling our office or visiting our contact page.

Do I Have a Case for Hospital Medical Malpractice?

hospital staff in New York with a patient, bedside Not every event that leads to an injury in a hospital or other medical facility is a case of medical malpractice. Instead, medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or other medical provider violates the standard of care – the level of care that a reasonably skilled healthcare worker who practices in the same field would provide under similar circumstances.

Medical malpractice claims tend to be significantly more complicated than other personal injury cases, and medical malpractice claims against hospitals can be particularly challenging. Therefore, it is important to consult with a New York City hospital malpractice attorney to determine if you have a viable claim.

The main issue when it comes to suing a hospital or other medical facility for malpractice is that hospitals are generally only liable for injuries committed by their employees. This includes people like nurses, lab technicians, and other hospital staff, but it generally does not include doctors. Most hospitals classify doctors as independent contractors, in part to shield themselves from possible negligence claims. While you may have a valid claim against the doctor, you might not have a claim against a non-employer hospital.

However, sometimes a doctor is a direct employee of a hospital, in which case the hospital can be held liable for the doctor’s actions. That said, even if a doctor is not officially an employee of a hospital, they can be considered an employee if the hospital sets the doctor’s hours, determines their compensation rates, or manages the doctor in other ways.

A hospital malpractice attorney from Finz & Finz, P.C. can tell you more about the legal relationship between a doctor and a hospital and whether you could have a case against the facility in which you were injured.

Examples of Hospital Negligence in New York City

Unfortunately, hospitals make mistakes far more often than most people realize. Some examples of hospital negligence include:

Failing to obtain or consider blood type when administering treatment
Failing to understand a patient’s medications
Failing to timely diagnose a medical condition
Failing to timely order and interpret the proper medical tests, such as an MRI, CT, and PET scans
Leaving a medical instrument or sponge in a patient after surgery
Making medication errors
Making surgical mistakes, including performing surgery on the wrong patient or body part
Negligently hiring medical personnel without proper training
Not employing adequate staff members to adequately treat patients
Not ordering a C-section quickly enough when a baby or mother is in distress
Not providing the proper amount of anesthesia during surgery

These mistakes can occur in various areas of the hospital, such as the emergency room, operating room, labor and delivery room, outpatient facilities, intensive care unit (ICU), pediatrics, and elsewhere. Birth injuries, infections, surgical errors, unsanitary facilities or medical equipment, and failure to follow-up are a few common signs that a hospital might have been negligent.

Can I Sue a Hospital for Emotional Distress?

Yes, hospital malpractice victims can sue facilities for emotional distress. The emotional and psychological fallout from a medical error can be just as harmful as the physical injury itself, sometimes even more so.

Common examples of emotional harm from medical malpractice injuries include:

Anxiety
Depression
Trouble sleeping
Weight loss or gain

While you may technically sue a hospital for emotional distress, it can sometimes be difficult to prove these injuries. Emotional and psychological injuries do not always manifest physically. However, a hospital malpractice attorney may make recommendations such as keeping a journal to show how your daily life has been impacted by your injuries or assemble other evidence to support your claim.

How Long Do I Have to Sue a Hospital for Negligence in New York?

The time period for filing a malpractice lawsuit against a hospital is set by New York’s statute of limitations. The law says that in most hospital malpractice cases, you have two and a half years from the date of your injuries to file a lawsuit.

However, there are a few critical exceptions to be aware of when it comes to time limits on malpractice suits. In cases where a doctor leaves an object inside a patient’s body, the injury may not be discovered until well after the initial incident took place. Therefore, the time limit in these cases is one year from discovering the foreign object or from learning something that would or should lead you to discover the foreign object.

Another major exception to the statute of limitations concerns cases where a provider fails to properly diagnose cancer in a patient. In these cases, patients have two and half years from the time they discovered or should have discovered the error to file a lawsuit.

In cases involving municipal or state hospitals, a Notice of Claim, which alerts the hospital that a lawsuit might be forthcoming, must be filed within 90 days of the malpractice. Therefore, it is critically important to speak with a medical malpractice law firm as soon as you suspect that a hospital has rendered negligent treatment.

Hospital Malpractice Lawyer in New York City