Nassau County Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are an invaluable part of our modern society, and we entrust them with our health and our lives. Most of the time, this works out reasonably well. However, when they make a medical mistake, it’s their patients who must suffer the consequences, not them. Negligence or recklessness on the part of medical professionals can cause unnecessary pain and suffering, hinder your ability to function in day-to-day life, and even cost you months or years of your life. If you’ve suffered as a result of medical malpractice, you may not be able to undo what has been done to you, but you can at least seek compensation for your pain and suffering.
“Medical malpractice” is a broad term that refers to any issue caused by the incompetence or negligence of a medical professional. Not every injury or illness that results in a poor outcome is a case of medical malpractice; instead, it’s about examining the actions of medical professionals considering what they knew, or reasonably should have known, and what was appropriate given their experience and training. Medical professionals have a duty to provide the best care they can to their patients, and when they don’t live up to that duty, it’s important to hold them accountable.
If you’ve suffered harm as a result of a medical error, the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Gewirtz Law Firm, LLP, are here to fight for you. We handle a variety of matters related to medical malpractice, including:
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose symptoms
- Unnecessary surgery
- Wrong site surgery
- Surgical errors
- Improperly prescribed medication
- Improper dosage of medication
- Premature discharge
- Ignoring patient history
- Failing to obtain patient history
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose
Under ideal circumstances, every illness would be immediately and correctly diagnosed by a doctor, and the appropriate treatment would be prescribed. However, even when doctors do everything right, they can still mistake one illness for another illness with similar symptoms. When they act negligently or recklessly, however, it becomes increasingly likely that they’ll misdiagnose an illness, or worse, fail to issue a diagnosis at all, dismissing a patient as either faking their ailment, or overblowing something minor. This can delay necessary treatment, resulting in increased complications and a higher risk of long-term health problems, or even an increased likelihood of death. Alternately, a doctor may misdiagnose a minor ailment as something major, resulting in unnecessary medical treatments or procedures that can, themselves, have horrible long-term effects.
Surgical Errors
If you ever need to go in for surgery, you would hope that your surgeon would act with the utmost care. Unfortunately, not every surgeon is as cautious or thorough as they should be, resulting in a variety of possible problems during the surgery. More than one person, for example, has found their surgeon operated on the wrong part of their body, meaning they not only need to go in for an additional surgery, but they’re dealing with the after-effects of surgery while still suffering from the same problem the surgery was meant to correct. Other times, a surgeon may leave surgical equipment inside their patient, resulting in all sorts of potential additional problems.
Premature Discharge
Due to the costs of housing patients, as well as space limitations, hospitals are incentivized to push patients out the door as soon as possible. While many patients are happy to get out of the hospital as soon as possible, this eagerness to free up hospital beds means that some people are sent home before it’s appropriate. The result: a higher risk of complications and a higher chance the patient will need to be re-admitted, increasing the overall time they spend in the hospital. Even if everything turns out fine, that means more expenses, more time missed at work, and more unnecessary stress and pain.
Ignoring or Failing to Obtain Patient History
Doctors and hospitals are required by law to keep detailed medical records about all their patients, so it would be logical to assume that medical professionals would make sure to obtain those records, and reference them constantly when prescribing treatment. Unfortunately, not every medical professional does, with the result being a higher risk of every other kind of medical error. When medical professionals fail to properly obtain a patient’s medical history, or simply choose to ignore it, they hurt people, and need to be held accountable.
Contact a Nassau County Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you have been harmed as a result of medical malpractice and are considering a legal claim against those who were at fault, you should discuss your potential case with an experienced attorney as soon as possible. Contact Evan Gewirtz at the Gewirtz Law Firm by calling or filling out our contact form.