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As a patient, you trust your hospital to deliver accurate medical advice and information, and perform surgeries, tests, and other procedures with skill. However, if the hospital has failed to do so, you could be at risk of serious injury and a decreased quality of life. This could mean significant medical bills, lost time from work, and other losses.
If you were the victim of malpractice at the hands of a negligent hospital system, its doctors and nurses, or its staff, find out whether you have grounds to bring a lawsuit and what sort of evidence you will need. The Syracuse, NY law firm of Carden Dotzler Hammond, PLLC is ready to work for you.
The Grounds for Medical Malpractice in New York
Medical malpractice is more than making a mistake. Hospitals, doctors, and other medical establishments and professionals are not perfect and the law does not require them to be. Rather, and in a general sense, the mistake in question must be unreasonable in light of the circumstances to qualify for malpractice.
Also known as medical negligence, medical malpractice occurs when an individual or entity departs from the accepted standard of care and does something that a similarly situated party would not do if it were acting with reasonable diligence. To be successful in a Syracuse, NY medical malpractice lawsuit, the injured patient must demonstrate:
- Duty of care: This means that there was a doctor-patient relationship which required the hospital to provide the patient with medical care.
- Breach: A breach is some act or omission that amounts to negligence, such as failing to correctly diagnose an illness, operating on the wrong part of the body, or dispensing medication without regards to the patient’s allergies.
- Causation: Next, there must be a causal link between the breach and the patient’s injury such that no other party can reasonably be blamed for the malpractice.
- Damages: Finally, the patient needs to show what sort of damages they have suffered and the monetary value of those losses.
Evidence You Will Need to Prove Malpractice
The obligation rests with the patient to prove that the hospital committed malpractice. Working closely with a Syracuse medical malpractice attorney, you can gather such evidence as:
- Medical records: Your medical records can demonstrate, first, the mistakes that the hospital made in terms of diagnosing, treating, or monitoring your condition. They can also show the sorts of treatments you were required to get from another medical professional or hospital to attempt to reverse the effects of malpractice.
- Medical bills, receipts, and other evidence of payment: Medical bills demonstrate the financial impact of your loss. Other evidence can include receipts, insurance EOBs (explanation of benefits statements), and anything related to out-of-pocket costs you incurred.
- Prescription records: If you became ill due to a prescription medication error, any records regarding your medicine will prove valuable. This may show that the hospital was negligent in prescribing or administering the wrong medication in the wrong dosage.
- Written correspondence: An attorney should review any form of written correspondence between you and the hospital to determine if it provides evidence for your claim. The same is true concerning another doctor or facility who had to treat you because of the malpractice.
- Photo and video evidence: If your body shows physical evidence of the malpractice, record video and take pictures of it. You can also document the personal problems you are encountering (e.g. inability to walk) due to the hospital’s mistake.
- Witness and expert witness statements: Your lawyer should identify any witnesses in the hospital who saw what happened. Expert witnesses, on the other hand, can provide valuable testimony about complex medical topics related to your injuries.
- Personnel records: The hospital may have negligently employed the physician or other medical professional who harmed you. Your attorney can take the steps needed to subpoena or otherwise obtain this information.
- Employment records: Your injuries may cause you to miss work or not be able to work at the same productivity level as before. Employment records from your job can prove how much money you have lost and may lose in the future.
- Your personal notes and testimony: Keep a journal of your daily experiences including any pain, suffering, decreased quality of life, depression, and other problems you experience because of your injuries. Your testimony regarding these and other matters is another form of evidence.
Working for the Compensation You Deserve
The best way to collect the evidence that will prove your New York malpractice claim is to retain experienced legal counsel. The Syracuse firm of CDH Law is here to serve you and seek the compensation you need to recover. Get in touch with us to get started.