Rochester General Hospital

Rochester General Hospital has served Rochester residents and people in surrounding areas since 1847. It has 528 beds, and its staff includes more than 1,000 doctors. The medical services provided there include a breast cancer center, cardiology, emergency medicine, pediatrics, residency training programs, a stroke center, dentistry, childbirth, and cardiothoracic surgery. Many doctors and nurses face life-or-death decisions each day. When doctors fail to act as other reasonably competent doctors would act under the circumstances, serious injuries or even death may be the result. If you suspect that you were a victim of medical malpractice at Rochester General Hospital, you should consult a Rochester medical malpractice lawyer about the viability of suing for medical malpractice and recovering your economic and noneconomic losses. An experienced attorney will review your records and consult with an expert to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to sue a health care provider for medical malpractice. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our results-oriented attorneys have successfully helped many patients harmed by their health care providers recover damages through settlements and verdicts.

Medical malpractice cases can be challenging. Often, health care providers are extremely concerned about the impact of being sued for medical malpractice on their careers, and their attorneys may try to win a medical malpractice case by filing a summary judgment motion, rather than allowing the case to go before a jury at trial. When bringing a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must show that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

More specifically, in order to win a summary judgment motion, the health care provider must usually show that they did not depart from the accepted standards of practice or that even if they did, they did not legally cause your injuries. The defendant will need to provide an expert opinion that is factual, specific, and detailed to show the court that there was no departure from the standard of care. It is not permissible for the expert to form conclusions by assuming any material facts that do not have evidentiary support.

The defendant's expert will need to explain how the treatment was proper and conformed to the professional standard of care, applying the standard to what the defendant did and why it was done. For example, in a failure to diagnose cancer case, the defendant's expert may opine that the defendant created the same differential diagnosis list that another reasonably competent family care practitioner would, given the symptoms with which the patient presented. He might also opine that the defendant adequately tested the diagnoses on the list.

If the defendant makes this showing, the burden would shift to the plaintiff’s lawyer to present proof that establishes that the defendant is not entitled to summary judgment because there are material issues of fact that must be determined through trial. We will need to present an expert affidavit from a qualified expert that states that the defendant departed from the professional standard of care, and this departure legally caused the injuries. For example, using the failure to diagnose cancer example, we might show that the family care practitioner ignored a critical sign of cancer in making the differential diagnosis list, and they also should have conducted tests and provided a referral to a specialist. Summary judgment is not supposed to be granted when there are conflicting and competent medical expert opinions from two qualified experts.

Assuming that a defendant does not prevail on summary judgment, the case will either settle or go to trial. We will need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that: (1) you were owed a professional standard of care by the defendant, (2) the defendant departed from the professional standard of care, (3) actual and proximate causation, and (4) actual damages. Usually, an expert testifies as to what the professional standard of care was, whether there was a departure, and what caused the injuries. If liability is successfully established, you may be entitled to damages. Damages will include the economic and noneconomic losses that you suffered as a result of the malpractice, such as additional medical bills, wage loss, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.

Doctors and nurses can make mistakes that cost people their lives. If you have been harmed at Rochester General Hospital and suspect medical malpractice, DeFrancisco & Falgiatano may be able to help you recover damages from the parties who are responsible. We assist patients in Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Elmira, Norwich, Cortland, Delhi, Herkimer, Watertown, Lowville, Oneida, Wampsville, Utica, Canandaigua, Oswego, Cooperstown, Ithaca, and Lyons. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.