The Cortland Regional Medical Center provides medical care to people in Upstate New York from the city of Cortland. It provides skilled nursing, outpatient therapy, and emergency room services to patients throughout the Finger Lakes region. Most people trust that their doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff will do everything that they can to diagnose or treat serious medical problems, such as cancer, broken bones, pneumonia, or bedsores. However, health care providers make mistakes, and some of these mistakes constitute medical malpractice. If you suspect that you were harmed by medical malpractice at the Cortland Regional Medical Center, you should consult a Cortland medical malpractice attorney. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, we may be able to represent you in a lawsuit for damages.
Holding a Health Care Provider Accountable for NegligenceNot every mistake made by a health care provider constitutes medical malpractice. Instead, to recover damages for medical malpractice, you will need to show that there was a health care provider-patient relationship in place, the health care provider breached a professional duty of care toward you, and this caused your injuries.
What constitutes a breach in the professional standard of care will depend on the context in which the patient came to a health care provider seeking medical care and treatment. For example, the breach could involve a failure to list a possible diagnosis in a differential diagnosis, or it could involve a failure to adequately test a possible diagnosis. A doctor who fails to conduct a biopsy on a breast lump in order to test for cancer may have committed medical malpractice in the form of a failure to diagnose breast cancer. For another example, an OB-GYN who fails to monitor a mother for gestational diabetes and then fails to order a C section when a fetus is too large to be born naturally may have committed medical malpractice. In most cases, it is necessary to retain an experienced expert from the same specialty as the defendant to provide expert testimony about what the professional standard of care was, how the defendant breached that standard, and causation.
Sometimes the injuries caused by a health care provider that breaches the professional duty of care are fatal. If your loved one was killed by medical malpractice at the Cortland Regional Medical Center, you may face substantial financial hardships. You may be saddled with significant medical bills and funeral and burial costs, all without a loved one's income stream. Your children may grow up without parental services and guidance, and you may lose services provided by a spouse. To recover damages for wrongful death, you will need to establish that medical malpractice caused your loved one's death.
If your loved one died during a medical procedure, and you suspect that the death was preventable, you should immediately seek counsel from a lawyer. You only have two years to file a wrongful death claim after the death of a loved one. If you fail to file this claim within two years of the death, you may be barred from recovering compensation for your loved one's death.
Wrongful death actions are governed by the New York Estates, Powers and Trust Laws. Under section 5.04.3, the decedent's legal representative needs to prove pecuniary losses, including loss of support for the decedent's child or another dependent next of kin, in order to recover damages for wrongful death. For example, if your spouse left your dependent children and you without a second income stream, you may be able to recover for loss of earnings. You can also recover for loss of services as a spouse, or loss of parental guidance to your children. You cannot recover for pain and suffering that you may have experienced as a result of a loved one's death in a New York wrongful death lawsuit.
Retain an Experienced Medical Negligence Lawyer in the Cortland AreaIf you believe that you may have been a victim of medical malpractice while a patient at the Cortland Regional Medical Center, our attorneys may be able to help you recover damages from the parties responsible for your injuries. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents injured people and their families in asserting their rights against negligent health care providers. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.