New Hartford is a town in Oneida County. There are about 25,000 residents, and the median income for a family there is a little over $60,000. In case of injuries arising from an incident of medical malpractice, this income probably would not be sufficient to pay for hospital bills, medical bills, and lost wages. We trust doctors to properly diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries. When a doctor says that nothing is physically wrong with a patient, not many patients seek a second opinion. However, sometimes doctors do make mistakes, and the consequences for those mistakes may involve substantial additional medical expenses, lost wages, pain, and other losses. While not every mistake made by a doctor is medical malpractice, in the event that malpractice has occurred, you can sue to recover damages. Our New Hartford medical malpractice lawyers are here to advocate for you.
Pursuing a Medical Malpractice ClaimIf a health care provider's mistake injures you, you may be able to sue for medical malpractice. Generally, you will need to show that it is more likely than not that there existed a doctor-patient relationship between the defendant and you, the provider's mistake involved deviating from the standard of care accepted by similar professionals in the medical community, and there was causation.
In some instances, causation is straightforward because the doctor's act causes a visible injury. A doctor who lacerates a baby's face during the birthing process, for example, has plainly caused that baby's birth injuries. However, in many cases, such as those involving a failure to diagnose cancer or another illness, it can be harder to show that the doctor's actions, rather than the underlying illness, caused the patient's harm. When a doctor fails to diagnose cancer in a timely fashion, the result can be that the cancer advances to Stage IV or spreads to another part of the body, such that it cannot be treated.
A medical malpractice attorney in New Hartford will need to retain an expert before filing suit to review your case and determine whether you have a viable claim for medical malpractice. Often, the same expert will provide testimony on the professional standard of care in your case, whether there was a deviation, and whether the deviation caused your injuries. For example, if your OB-gyn failed to provide a C-section, and as a result, your baby was born with cerebral palsy, we will need to show that a prudent OB-gyn in the same or a similar medical community would have performed a C-section under the same set of circumstances.
There are some cases in which an expert's testimony is less crucial. For example, a layperson can understand without being provided technical information that a doctor should not leave a sponge in your body during surgery.
If your New Hartford medical malpractice attorney can successfully prove that a doctor's mistake should be considered malpractice, you can recover the total range of damages that would return you to the position in which you should have been, but for the doctor's mistake. Compensatory damages that you may be able to recover for medical malpractice include past and future hospital and provider bills, disability, disfigurement, lost wages, lost earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, and household services.
If a loved one dies due to medical malpractice, it may be possible to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the health care providers responsible. Family members may be able to recover funeral and burial expenses, as well as their other pecuniary losses, such as loss of support, loss of spousal services, loss of parental services, loss of household services provided by a child, and lost income. In some cases, a medical malpractice lawyer in the New Hartford area can retain an expert economist to show what a victim of medical malpractice would have earned and given to their family, based on their reasonable life expectancy.
Seek Guidance from a Medical Malpractice AttorneyIf you are a victim of medical malpractice in the New Hartford area, our law firm may be able to help. We can investigate the situation and determine whether you have a claim, and we can fight vigorously for your rights throughout the legal process. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.