Medical Malpractice

WHAT IS MALPRACTICE: Malpractice takes many forms. Medical malpractice, which is the most commonly discussed, is "a doctor's failure to exercise the degree of care and skill that a physician or surgeon of the same medical speciality would use under similar circumstances." The term doctor is often associated with someone of great power. Of course, you are a very powerful person if you hold someone's life in your hands. Our mind set, however, is that in our society the average person is less important than the doctor sworn to treat him. This is a horrible way to label ourselves and doctors, for that matter.

We often leave the doctor's office or hospital feeling as though there was something out of the ordinary, but we just can not put our finger on it. In those situations, trust your instincts. You may have been the subject of medical malpractice and just do not know it. There is a fine line between "anything can happen" and medical malpractice. Doctors will always mention risks that may occur during any procedure but if we are uninformed or worst, misinformed, and then a tragedy occurs, we may have a right to seek monetary damages. We seem to only hear about the rich and famous and their trials and tribulations with medical malpractice but, unfortunately, medical malpractice happens to the average American as well.

KNOWN AND UNKNOWN MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS: Many of us remember watching Julie Andrews running up a mountain in The Sound of Music, or flying with her umbrella in Mary Poppins . But it was hearing her extraordinary voice that made her the star that she is. Little did she know that in 1997 that beautiful voice would be changed forever. Like many singers who develop nodules on their throats, she was told surgery and a period of rest would be the cure. After undergoing the "botched surgery" she can no longer sing the high notes she for years did so beautifully. Julie Andrews' lawsuit for medial malpractice was settled in a New York State Court. Approximately two months after Saturday Night Live star Dana Carvey' s bypass surgery, he started feeling like something was off, something just wasn't right. Unfortunately, he was right. It turned out that one of the wrong arteries was removed during his surgery. He settled his 7.5 million dollar lawsuit and divided the money among several different charities. Although the very generous actor and comedian deserved whatever he was given, to even imagine 7.5 million dollars rewarded to the average American is surreal.

In 1995, 52 year old Willie King checked into the University of Tampa Hospital to have his damaged leg amputated. During the surgery, the surgeon realized he was amputating the wrong leg! The damage was too severe to repair, so Mr. King ended up having the entire leg amputated. The surgeons punishment: a six month license suspension and $10,000.00 fine. King's reward: $900,000.00 and the surgeon paid, in addition, $250,000.00 from his insurance policy. That does not sound like justice. In 2008, Miss Esmin Green was unable to be seen by a doctor so she waited in the emergency room in Kings County in Brooklyn, New York for over 20 hours. It was reported that she was ignored by the emergency room employees and medical team even after she lay shaking on the ground. Unfortunately, she was not attended to until they were notified she had died at the scene. There are malpractice lawsuits where doctors have performed open heart surgery on the wrong patients, several have left medical equipment and sponges in patients while performing surgery, many have died from botched abortions. It has been widely reported that surgeons have unfortunately drilled holes in the wrong sides of peoples skulls while performing surgery of the brain and, unfortunately, the list goes on. Malpractice can also include the broken bone that was not properly treated or the fractured jaw improperly treated that lead to further complications or as was noted herein something is just not right. FIRST STEPS: Call us. When you believe you have been the subject of medical malpractice, the first thing you should do, even before calling our firm, is to see if the medical problem can be corrected and that requires expert medical care. Go to a doctor and listen carefully to what he says, be your own advocate at the beginning! Remember also that the doctors are medical experts and not legal ones so after correcting the first medical mistake, call our firm and schedule an appointment. There is no cost for consultation regarding a medical malpractice case and remember we have been handling these kinds of cases since 1976. Let our team of professionals review your case and help bring to you the justice you deserve.