Medical malpractice, also known as medical negligence, applies to doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals. As with general negligence, medical malpractice describes conduct (treatment) that deviates from a reasonable standard of care. It is usually necessary to prove the deviation by the testimony of one or more medical expert witnesses with knowledge of the standards of practice in which the health care worker was engaged at the time of the treatment. Medical malpractice is lay terminology used by a New York medical malpractice lawyer to describe the negligence that occurs with respect to treatment of a patient. 

In common with other forms of claims for negligence, in order to succeed in a claim (lawsuit) the claimant (plaintiff) must successfully demonstrate three things:

1. That the doctor or other medical care provider failed in his/her duty of care towards the patient: he/she failed to do something that a reasonably prudent doctor in the same field would have done under the same or similar circumstances, or that the doctor or other medical care provider did something that no reasonably prudent doctor or other medical care provider in the same field would have done under the same or similar circumstances.

 

2. That some harm was caused by this failure to comply with the duty of care, and that the harm caused by such misconduct was reasonably foreseeable at the time.

 

3. The amount of damages that would reasonably compensate the plaintiff for the harm caused by the malpractice.

 

 

If you were injured because of a medical professional's mistake or negligence, contact a New York malpractice lawyer at our firm today. We offer a free consultation with attorney Walter G. Alton, Jr. to review your legal rights under medical malpractice law.