Andrew J. Barovick, P.C.

When someone suffers an injury due to the negligence of a person or other entity (i.e., a corporation), that injured person may well be entitled to monetary compensation. In essence, negligence is a failure to use appropriate care under all the circumstances.

In order to make out a negligence case, the victim must also be able to prove that the negligent person had notice of the negligent condition, and failed to correct it.

For example, a tenant in an apartment building tells the superintendent and/or the owner of the building that the elevator door has been opening when the elevator cab itself is not there, so that someone could fall into the elevator shaft. Nothing is done about it, and the next week, a tenant on the third floor opens the elevator door, walks forward thinking that the cab of the elevator is where it is supposed to be, and falls three stories into the basement, badly fracturing both of his legs.

That tenant is entitled to sue the building’s owner based on a negligence theory, since the building failed to fix the problem with the elevator, despite having been told about it.

When a lawyer’s services fail to meet even the minimal standards of legal practice in your community, and this causes his client significant harm, that lawyer has likely committed legal malpractice.

Using the example above, the woman with breast cancer that was diagnosed late may feel that she has a medical malpractice case. She goes to see a lawyer who specializes in the field, and he or she confirms that there is a meritorious case.

Among the many things a good medical malpractice lawyer must keep in mind is what is known as the Statute of Limitations—a law that governs how much time a medical malpractice victim has to commence a lawsuit.

In New York, that time limit is two and a half years from the time of the malpractice. In this example, the lawyer retained by the woman who was not timely diagnosed with breast cancer commences the lawsuit, but fails to do it until after the time limit has run out. As a result, the woman can never bring the medical malpractice lawsuit that she had hoped to bring, and will therefore never see the financial award that would likely have accrued to her at the end of such a case.

The lawyer who let that deadline pass has committed legal malpractice, and under the law, he would be responsible for the financial award that his client lost through his neglect.

When a doctor fails to provide proper care to a patient, and that failure results in serious illness, serious injury or death, that doctor has likely committed medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is negligent medical care, and it can occur at any stage of treatment.

Consider the example of a woman with breast cancer. Her gynecologist may have failed to notice telltale lumps in her breast during a physical examination. Her radiologist may have failed to notice signs of cancer that should have been evident on her mammography films. Because of this, her cancer is not diagnosed as early as it could have been, when treatment would have been most effective. The medical malpractice at this point is the failure to timely diagnose and treat the breast cancer. Such a breast cancer patient may require surgery, such as a mastectomy or lumpectomy. The surgeon is obligated to pinpoint exactly where the cancerous tissue is located in the breast, so that he removes only what must be removed: nothing more, and nothing less. If he is careless in his preparation for and execution of the surgery, so that cancerous tissue is left behind, or unnecessarily large amounts of tissue are excised and cause deformities, that amounts to surgical medical malpractice.

These are only examples, involving a particular disease. But medical malpractice can occur any time you are treated by a doctor. If you feel that a doctor’s mistake has caused injury or death, you should consult with a qualified medical malpractice attorney as soon as circumstances allow.