Pre-suit Investigation of a Potential Medical Malpractice Claim

After being harmed by your doctor, you may not know where to turn for recompense. It can be expensive to suffer injuries at the hands of a doctor. Medical issues in these lawsuits are complex and there are also certain pre-suit requirements, which make it imperative to consult a lawyer who understands these types of cases and how to seek best results, including the importance of pre-suit investigation of a potential medical malpractice claim. If you believe you may have been harmed by medical malpractice in Upstate New York, you should discuss your situation with the experienced Syracuse medical malpractice lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys. We’ve sought best outcomes for more than 30 years.

It is important that our lawyers investigate your potential medical malpractice claim even before we file the complaint that kicks off the lawsuit. This is required by statute, but it is also a wise idea as it can be difficult for a layperson to assess whether a health care provider was professional negligent given the circumstances. To establish medical malpractice, our seasoned Syracuse medical malpractice counsel will need to prove it’s more likely than not: (1) you were owed a professional standard of care by defendants, (2) breach of the professional standard of care, (3) causation, and (4) damages.

In order to establish what the professional standard of care was and whether and how it was breached, we will need to consult an expert in the defendant’s specialty. The professional standard of care can differ from region to region, and from specialty to specialty. Experienced trial attorneys work with credible experts that are able to persuasively, and carefully, explain technical matters to a jury. This requires us to work-up your case thoughtfully.

Under New York Civil Practice Law & Rules section 3012-a, in medical malpractice lawsuits, we must file a certificate of merit declaring that we reviewed the facts of the case and consulted with at least one doctor who is licensed to practice and who we reasonably believe is knowledgeable in the relevant issues involved in the case, and on that basis conclude there is a reasonable basis for commencing the action. If we’re not able to get a required consultation with an expert before filing suit, it is possible to file a certificate within 90 days after serving the defendant health care provider with the complaint.

We will request your medical records for review by us and by the medical expert evaluating your case. If, for example, you believe your oncologist failed to diagnose you in a timely fashion based on test results, the expert we would consult would need to review medical records to figure out what the timeline was in your case, and whether your provider departed from the timeline that a reasonably competent oncologist in Syracuse would have followed.

In addition to retaining an expert to evaluate your claim before the suit, we will also consider whether it may be necessary to retain other experts for your claim. For example, if you are left completely disabled as the result of a spine surgery error, we may need to retain not only a spine surgery expert, but also an expert economist who can give an opinion about your life expectancy and working life, and what you could have reasonably expected to make in wages had your working life not been cut short by medical malpractice.

We will take care to get a sense of you and the grounds available to you for relief during the initial consultation and if you become our client, throughout your case. We will ask questions about the extent to which your life has been altered by the medical malpractice. In many cases, damages are affected by the severity and extent of your injuries, and sometimes your testimony will be crucial to the case.

It is crucial to consult a stellar Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer for the best outcome in your medical malpractice case. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys has represented injured patients and their families in Buffalo, Albany, Lowville, Rochester, Auburn, Watertown, Herkimer, Oswego, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oneida, Utica, Binghamton, Elmira, and all of Upstate New York for more than 30 years. For a free consultation, complete our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.