LONG ISLAND MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY

We trust nurses, doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals to provide us with an acceptable level of care. In fact, medical providers are held to a “standard of care,” meaning they must provide the same level of care another qualified provider would in the same or similar circumstances. When they fail to do so, whether through negligence, error, or misconduct, innocent patients suffer the consequences.

If you or someone you love was harmed by a trusted medical provider’s negligence, contact the Law Office of Joseph J. Perrini, III. Our Long Island medical malpractice attorney can help you understand your legal rights, including your potential right to financial compensation. These cases are extremely complex; it is important that you have an experienced legal team by your side. With nearly 30 years in practice, Attorney Joseph J. Perrini, III has the experience, resources, and reputation to aggressively advocate for you.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is an often-misunderstood area of personal injury law. Although doctors and other medical providers are held to a certain standard of care, the law does not require them to be perfect. A poor outcome after a medical procedure or treatment does not necessarily indicate negligence. Rather, one must prove that the provider in question failed to uphold the standard of acceptable care.

To have a medical malpractice case, you must prove the following elements:

• Duty of Care: First you must establish the duty of care. This means that the medical provider had a legal obligation to provide you with treatment or some other form of care. Typically, establishing the existence of a doctor-patient relationship is sufficient.
• Breach: Next, you must prove that the provider breached the accepted standard of care. This entails proving that they did something that another qualified provider would not have done, or that they didn’t do something another provider would have done, in the same or similar circumstances.
• Injury: You must also prove that you were injured and/or suffered measurable damages. Even if you believe that you received substandard care from a medical provider, if you were not injured and did not suffer damages, you do not have a case.
• Causation: Lastly, you must show that the doctor or medical provider’s breach of the standard of care was the cause of your injuries and/or damages. In other words, you must prove that, had you received acceptable care from another qualified medical provider, you would not have been injured.

Proving medical malpractice is difficult and often requires the use of expert witnesses and testimony from licensed medical professionals. At the Law Office of Joseph J. Perrini, III, we work with a team of specialists who help us investigate and prepare these cases. Led by our Long Island medical malpractice attorney, we are here to assist you throughout each stage of the process, providing personal and direct attention, as well as answers to your questions.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

Some of the most common types of medical malpractice cases include:

• Birth injuries
• Misdiagnosis
• Delayed diagnosis
• Failure to diagnose
• Failure to treat
• Delayed treatment
• Surgical errors
• Anesthesia errors
• Medication mistakes
• Hospital errors
• Emergency room negligence
• Poor aftercare
• Early discharge
• Pharmaceutical errors
• Laboratory errors

Medical malpractice claims can be brought against individual practitioners, such as doctors or nurses, as well as medical establishments, including hospitals, dental offices, urgent care centers, and emergency departments. We strongly encourage you to reach out to a qualified legal professional, such as Attorney Perrini, if you suspect that you or a loved one suffered due to a medical provider’s careless, reckless, or wrongful conduct.

Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice

• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to treat
• Prescription drug errors
• Surgical errors
• Childbirth injuries

How Long Do You Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in New York?

In New York, the statute of limitations (or deadline for filing a lawsuit) in medical malpractice cases is two years and six months (or 30 months) from the date on which the injury-causing event occurred. If an individual is injured due to medical malpractice during the “ongoing course of treatment,” the 30-month deadline does not begin until the date on which treatment concludes.

Additionally, if the individual does not discover their injury right away, the deadline may be deferred to accommodate the date of discovery or the date on which the injury reasonably could have been discovered. In New York, this rule, known as the “discovery rule,” only applies in cases involving foreign objects left in the body following surgery and cases involving cancer misdiagnosis. In the former, the victim has up to one year after the date of discovering the foreign object was left in the body or the date of learning information that could reasonably lead to the discovery of the foreign object to file a lawsuit. In the latter, the victim has 30 months from either the date on which treatment concludes or the date on which the victim knew or reasonably could have known that a diagnostic error occurred to file a lawsuit.

In cases involving children, the statute of limitations does not begin until the child’s 18^th birthday, with some exceptions.

Contact Us Today for a Free Consultation

The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your rights are to contact an experienced attorney. At the Law Office of Joseph J. Perrini, III, we are here to provide the compassionate and personalized representation you deserve. Our aggressive approach has helped us secure tens of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients, and we are ready to fight for the maximum recovery you are owed.

There are absolutely zero legal fees unless we recover a settlement or verdict for you. Our team is available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Medical Malpractice FAQ

• If my doctor makes a mistake while treating me in a hospital, can I use the hospital? A hospital can be liable for medical malpractice but only in specific circumstances. Many doctors are not directly employed by a hospital or clinic. Instead, they are contracted or kept “on-call” for specific patients or treatment needs. This system is used to keep liability off a hospital if the doctor does something wrong. However, if a doctor who is employed by a hospital commits medical malpractice, then the hospital or medical institution might be liable, too. Furthermore, a hospital can be liable for the wrongdoing of any doctor that practices in its halls if it can be argued that the hospital never should have hired that doctor in the first place, such as if a doctor has a long history of malpractice or has had their license revoked.
• Who can be liable for medical malpractice? Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, surgeons, pediatricians, obstetricians, other hospital staff members, and so on can all be liable for medical malpractice. Entire medical institutions can be liable for medical malpractice, too. Each case is unique based on the details of the medical malpractice incident, so the liable party or parties will differ from case to case.
• What kinds of damages are available to the plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit? The damages available to you as a patient who was harmed by medical malpractice should help you recover without destroying your finances. To begin, you should be repaid any costs you have paid yourself for medical treatments. You should also be paid for any future medical treatments that will become necessary to ensure that your injury or illness does not worsen. The wages you cannot earn should be provided by the defendants, too. Another major portion of your recovery will account for non-economic damages, too, like the pain, suffering, and hardships you will endure because of new disabilities.