Medical Malpractice Lawyer
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On This Page
- What Is Medical Malpractice?
- Why Choose Us to Handle Your Medical Malpractice Case
- Types of Medical Malpractice Cases We Handle
- What Compensation Can You Recover in a Medical Malpractice Case?
- What Should You Do if You Believe You Have Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
- Who Can You Hold Liable in a Medical Malpractice Case?
- How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice?
- Medical Malpractice Laws in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts
- Get Help From an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
When you seek medical care, you expect competent treatment from your providers. When that trust is broken, the consequences can be life-altering. If you or a loved one has suffered preventable harm because a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
A poor outcome alone doesn’t establish malpractice, and determining whether medical negligence occurred requires a careful review of the circumstances surrounding your injury. Harding Mazzotti, LLP has handled many complex malpractice cases throughout New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, and our medical malpractice lawyers are ready to put that experience to work for you. Contact us today for a free, confidential case evaluation.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice is a legal term used to describe a situation where a healthcare provider fails to provide appropriate care and causes harm to a patient. This can involve misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, surgical errors, medication errors, or failure to provide appropriate treatment.
A poor outcome does not necessarily mean malpractice occurred. Some complications are known risks of medical treatment and can happen even when a provider takes every reasonable precaution.
Medical malpractice occurs only when a healthcare provider deviates from the standard of care that a reasonably competent healthcare provider would provide in similar circumstances. Those who suffer harm from medical malpractice may have the right to hold the medical care provider liable for their injury and recover compensation for their losses.
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You trust your doctor with your health. When that trust is broken, you don’t want to face injuries caused by medical malpractice alone. At Harding Mazzotti, our team of dedicated medical malpractice attorneys fights for you. We have the experience to navigate complex medical cases and hold negligent healthcare providers accountable. You deserve justice and compensation for your pain and suffering. Call Harding Mazzotti today for a free consultation.
Why Choose Us to Handle Your Medical Malpractice Case
Here’s why The Heavy Hitters® is the team you want on your side when you suspect you have a medical malpractice claim:
- Decades of proven experience: We’ve spent over 30 years representing injured people and their loved ones, including those harmed by medical negligence.
- A history of meaningful results: Our firm has recovered over $1 billion for clients throughout the Northeast and earned over 2,000 five-star reviews. We know how to negotiate with insurance companies, and we’re not afraid to push back against unfair settlement offers.
- Big help when you need it most: With over 40 attorneys and 120 support staff, we have the resources to investigate complex cases and stand up to powerful healthcare facilities and insurers. At the same time, we provide personal attention from a dedicated legal team that puts our clients’ interests first.
- Accessible representation: We’re available 24/7, offer a free consultation to understand your options, and charge no fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Proven Medical Malpractice Case Results
Testimonials From Our Clients
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases We Handle
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Medical negligence during pregnancy and delivery can have many adverse effects on both the mother and baby. Brain and nerve damage, cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries and shoulder dystocia are all birth injuries that can severely affect a child’s quality of life and lead to costly medical expenses. Mothers can be stricken with severe injuries like excessive and unexplained vaginal bleeding, hemorrhaging during pregnancy or labor, and surgical complications while undergoing a Caesarian section.
Medication Mistakes
Medication errors can occur when doctors prescribe the wrong medication or dosage or fail to note a serious drug allergy, or when a nurse administers a medication improperly. Even a pharmacist filling a prescription with the wrong medication can be considered medical malpractice.
Surgical Errors
Mistakes by surgeons during surgery are not unusual and lead to a significant number of medical malpractice lawsuits each year. Many cases involve issues like wrong-site surgeries, unsanitary tools and instruments, perforating bowels, failure to identify infections promptly, puncturing an organ, and leaving clamps, gauze or other instruments inside the patient.
Anesthesia Mistakes
These include errors involving drug administration, airway management, machine operation, ventilation, fluid and electrolyte management, apparatus use, and monitoring devices. But anesthesia-related negligence can also relate to patient care during the surgery. It is the anesthesiologist who is often responsible for having the patient periodically moved during surgery to avoid putting too much pressure on specific parts of the body. Failure to do so properly can lead to severe consequences, including blindness.
Emergency Room Errors
A misread CT scan, X-ray, or MRI that leads to the failure to properly diagnose a serious medical condition can be grounds for medical malpractice. While uncommon, radiation overdoses also sometimes happen from inadequate shielding or an improperly calibrated machine. Excess radiation can lead to organ and tissue damage, brain damage, and cancer.
Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis
When a provider makes the wrong diagnosis or fails to identify a condition promptly, the patient may lose valuable time to begin treatment. These errors may occur when providers dismiss symptoms, misinterpret test results, fail to order appropriate testing, or overlook the need for a specialist referral. By the time the patient receives the correct diagnosis, the condition may require more extensive treatment or involve avoidable complications.
Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
Healthcare providers have a responsibility to explain the risks, benefits, and alternatives before performing a procedure or providing treatment. A patient may have a malpractice claim if they suffered harm after their provider failed to disclose important information that might have affected their decision.
Do you have a case? Get your free consultation now.
You can call us at 1-800-LAW1010 or fill out a form. Even if you’re unsure if you have a case, our team is here to help you discuss your legal options at no charge.
Why Medical Malpractice Cases Require Experienced Representation
A medical malpractice case requires a close examination of the decisions made throughout a patient’s care. These are highly technical details, and thorough medical records and expert testimony are often necessary to determine whether a provider acted reasonably and whether a preventable error caused the patient harm.
Healthcare facilities and their insurers may use this complexity to aggressively dispute negligence and causation. Addressing their defenses can require an extensive investigation and possible court involvement, making medical malpractice cases more costly and time-consuming than other injury claims.
Our team has the experience and resources to handle these complex demands. We’re familiar with the tactics insurers use to try to minimize malpractice victims’ claims and know how to build strong cases from the start.
What Compensation Can You Recover in a Medical Malpractice Case?
If medical negligence caused you harm, you may be entitled to compensation for your resulting losses. Medical malpractice damages typically fall under two categories:
- Economic damages: These compensate you for your financial losses, such as past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
- Non-economic damages: These address the personal effects of your injury, such as physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Some medical errors are fatal. If your loved one passed away because of a medical professional’s preventable mistake, you may have the right to recover wrongful death damages. These often include funeral expenses, lost financial support, and lost parental guidance.
While Massachusetts does place a limit on certain malpractice-related damages, New York and Vermont do not cap compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases. In those states, the amount you can recover depends largely on the severity of the harm you’ve suffered.
What Should You Do if You Believe You Have Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
If you believe you have been a victim of medical malpractice, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention for any injuries or harm you have suffered. Once you have received appropriate medical care, you should consider consulting with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.
An experienced medical malpractice attorney can help you evaluate your case and determine whether you have a valid claim. They can also help you navigate the complex legal process of filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
It’s important to note that medical malpractice cases can be complex and time-consuming, and there are strict deadlines for filing a lawsuit. If you believe you have been a victim of medical malpractice, it’s important to act quickly to protect your rights.
Who Can You Hold Liable in a Medical Malpractice Case?
Several providers are often involved in a patient’s care, meaning more than one party may share responsibility when something goes wrong. Depending on their role in the negligent care, liable parties may include:
- Doctors: Physicians may be liable for malpractice when errors in diagnosis, treatment, or follow-up cause preventable harm.
- Surgeons: Surgeons may be responsible for operating on the wrong site, performing the wrong procedure, damaging nearby tissues, or leaving surgical materials inside the body.
- Anesthesiologists: Anesthesiologists may be liable for administering the wrong medication or dosage or failing to properly monitor a patient’s vital signs.
- Nurses: Nursing negligence may involve medication errors, failing to follow a doctor’s treatment orders, inadequate patient monitoring, or failure to act on changes in a patient’s condition.
- Hospitals: Hospitals may be liable for malpractice when inadequate staffing, defective equipment, or negligent hiring practices cause harm to patients. They may also be responsible for the negligence of doctors, nurses, and other employees providing patient care.
How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice?
To recover compensation for medical malpractice, you must establish that the provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care. This means they did something a reasonably competent medical professional would not have done under similar circumstances. This is often the most challenging aspect of a medical negligence claim, as it involves determining what the appropriate action would have been based on the patient’s condition at the time.
A strong medical malpractice case also requires evidence that the provider’s deviation from the standard of care caused harm. This may involve a new injury, worsening of an existing condition, or another outcome that the provider could have prevented with appropriate care.
Your medical records can serve as important evidence by documenting the care you received and the outcomes you suffered as a result. Third-party medical experts can then interpret that evidence and explain whether the provider’s actions fell below the standard of care and caused your injuries.
Medical Malpractice Laws in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts
Medical malpractice laws vary significantly from state to state. Our team represents patients and families throughout New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, giving us a deep understanding of the laws that can influence your claim.
New York Medical Malpractice Rules
New York follows a pure comparative negligence rule in medical malpractice cases, meaning you may still recover compensation if your own actions partially contributed to your injuries. However, your award may be reduced according to your percentage of fault.
In most cases, you have two years and six months to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in New York. The clock generally starts ticking on the date of the negligent act, but certain exceptions may extend this deadline:
- Continuous treatment: If you continue receiving treatment from the same provider for the condition related to the malpractice, the 2.5-year countdown may not begin until that course of treatment ends.
- Foreign objects: If a provider left a foreign object in your body, you generally have one year from the date you discovered or reasonably should have discovered it.
- Failure to diagnose cancer: You may have additional time to file a medical malpractice lawsuit if a provider negligently failed to diagnose cancer.
Our New York Law Offices & Appointment Centers
Our medical negligence lawyers serve clients across New York State from multiple offices and appointment centers:
- Albany
- Buffalo
- Saratoga Springs
- Schenectady
- Syracuse
- Troy
- Utica
- Rochester
- Binghamton
- Corning
- New York City
- White Plains
Vermont Medical Malpractice Rules
Vermont’s modified comparative negligence rule allows you to recover compensation as long as your share of fault is not greater than the defendant’s. Your award may be reduced in proportion to your percentage of responsibility. If you’re more than 50% at fault, you may be unable to recover any compensation for your malpractice-related injuries.
You typically have three years from the date of the provider’s negligence to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Vermont. If you didn’t know about the error right away, you may have two years from the date you discovered or reasonably discovered it.
Regardless of the date of discovery, you usually cannot file a lawsuit more than seven years after the malpractice occurred. However, there are exceptions for cases involving foreign objects left in the body.
Our Vermont Law Offices
We represent people who’ve suffered harm due to medical malpractice from these Vermont offices:
Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Rules
Under Massachusetts’ modified comparative negligence rule, you can recover compensation if you’re less than 51% at fault for your injuries. If you are partially responsible, your settlement or verdict will be reduced proportionally to your percentage of fault.
Massachusetts has a three-year statute of limitations for malpractice cases. That means you have three years from the date you knew or reasonably should have known that you suffered harm because of a healthcare provider’s conduct. Unless your case involves a foreign object left inside your body, you cannot file a lawsuit more than seven years after the negligent act occurred, even if you discovered the injury later.
The commonwealth also limits non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, to $500,000 in some cases. However, the cap may not apply in special circumstances, such as if you suffered significant impairment or disfigurement.
Our Massachusetts Law Office
If you suspect you have a medical malpractice claim, we’re here to help from our Massachusetts office location:
- Tewksbury
Get Help From an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
The team of medical malpractice lawyers at Harding Mazzotti, LLP has been working on behalf of victims and their loved ones in the upstate New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts region for over 30 years. If you or a family member has been seriously harmed by the negligence of a medical practitioner or facility, you may be entitled to compensation. If you suspect you have a case, schedule a free, confidential consultation and we’ll help explore your legal options.
Contact us online or by phone at 1800LAW1010 (1.800.529.1010) to get the justice you deserve.
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