February 29, 2016

If You Think You’ve Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice

Posted in Medical Malpractice

We expect our doctors and medical professionals to always work with the utmost care for their patients. However sometimes accidents happen, but in the medical world those accidents can have long lasting and potentially life threatening consequences. Medical malpractice is a large cause of patient death and serious harm every year in the United States. If you believe that you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, there are some steps you need to take:

Begin Documenting the Malpractice

If you suspect that you or a loved one has been the victim of malpractice the first thing that you need to begin documenting the the malpractice as soon as possible. This includes lab results, tests, appointments or conversations with the doctor, surgeries, prescribed medicines, dates of care received. The more details that you can remember, the easier it will be to prove that malpractice has taken place.

Ask Questions

Start by asking the hospital where you’ve been receiving care and your doctor questions about the treatments you’ve undergone or pain you’ve suffered. Ask for explanations about how your injuries occurred and how they will be resolved. Try to collect all the facts surrounding your injury. As the patient, you have a right to know exactly what happened to your body.

Hospital Investigation

If your injury is extremely serious, it may be in your best interest to ask the hospital to conduct its own investigation what occurred. Often these investigations don’t pan out the way the victim would like since the hospital might not release the results of their investigation. However, by opening this investigation you will bring awareness to your case.

Contact a Lawyer

If you believe that you or a loved on has a medical malpractice case, we recommend getting a lawyer as soon as possible because your state might have a statue of limitations on these kinds of lawsuits. Your lawyer will help you get to the bottom of the situation and make sure that you have the legal leverage you need to find out the answers that the hospital isn’t telling you.

At Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, P.C., we feel strongly about protecting patient rights and seeing that standards of care are upheld. Unlike other states, New York places no cap on the amount of damages recoverable in a medical malpractice case. If you or a loved on has been a victim of medical malpractice contact us today.