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New York Medical Malpractice Attorney
Gerald M. Oginski:

Common Defenses in Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical Malpractice: 5 Reasons Why Your Case Won't Be Accepted By a Malpractice Lawyer

Protecting and Promoting the Rights of those Injured by Medical Malpractice

A lot has happened in the United States in the last five years, and much of it has happened in New York. As the economic capital of the nation, New York has been the scene of much of the economic upheaval that has so far defined the new millennium. After the longest sustained period of economic expansion in U.S. history, the overnight collapse of the technology boom in April 2000 was the first sign that the charmed success of the 1990s was slipping. This was followed quickly by the collapse of corporate accountability in hundreds of fly-by-night Internet startups, and also in prominent companies, banks and accounting firms across America.

As revelations of cooked books, wholesale embezzlement and consumer fraud surfaced as standard fare in corporate America, the steadiness of the U.S. economy quickly faltered, ushering in the first recession in nine years. Many of the heroes of 1990s Wall Street were hiring defense attorneys as the summer of 2000 began, preparing for pending appearances in the courts of New York to account for their active roles in picking retirement funds clean, perpetrating consumer fraud, and abetting embezzlement and the rip-offs of millions of consumers and investors.

Then came September 11 th, 2001. Determining the true cost of that day is an impossible task, especially when we reflect on the victims of the attacks. The human loss becomes incalculable when we recognize that many of the day’s leading economic minds and architects of commerce, those who labored directly to strengthen and guide the U.S. economy, perished in the Twin Towers.

On a monetary level, the direct costs of 9/11 were some $40 billion, according to insurance industry estimates. As the reluctant underwriters of these difficult times, insurance companies and their investment portfolios have borne the brunt of the losses resulting from recession, economic volatility and the terrible toll of death and destruction that followed 9/11. But as trying as these times have been for many insurance companies, don’t plan on any funerals for the insurance industry just yet. In fact, big insurance has found an easy way to survive and even thrive in post-9/11 America. All they have to do is strip Americans of their basic legal rights, and as they’ve recently discovered, that’s not so hard to do.

Insurance Companies and how they protect their profits

As the wealthiest industry in the United States, the insurance industry is also the most pervasive. Insurance companies are the nation’s principal investors in the stock market, corporations, banks and financial institutions. Their executives sit on the boards of America’s leading companies, and their profits fuel Wall Street investments. And most importantly, they contribute heavily to the coffers of political campaigns sympathetic to their views and goals.

In boom times, insurance companies always stand to gain the most. During a soft economy, full of scandal, low job-growth, falling stocks, lower interest rates and fears of more catastrophes like 9/11, their profits suffer. When the economy works against them, insurance companies look for any available means to save money. The easiest cost-saver is the American consumer, and by raising premiums of policyholders while working to deter their rights to pursue just compensation through the legal system, the insurance industry is able to maintain its extravagant profit margin.

Exercising their Power: Legal victories of the Insurance Industry

Is human life worth less under a Republican administration? Recent political and legal victories of the insurance industry give every indication that this is so.

The tradition of insurance companies applying political clout and pressure to ensure that state and federal laws work for them in personal injury cases is nothing new. What is new is the unprecedented string of high-level successes they’ve achieved in recent years in curbing the rights of injured victims of personal injury and medical malpractice. With the open support of a pro-big business President in the White House, a Republican Congress, and a conservative Supreme Court, the insurance industries have been in an excellent position to press ahead with their self-serving agenda, and they’ve taken advantage of the times.

One of the biggest political and legal victories in the history of the insurance industry occurred very recently. On June 22nd, 2004 (see Supreme Court Limits HMO Malpractice Suits, by Julie Davidow) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that patients have very limited rights in suing employer-sponsored health plans when their HMOs refuse to pay for recommended medical treatment. The ruling also limits the liability of negligent doctors and healthcare professionals in medical malpractice cases.

As much of an impact as that ruling has on the legal rights of medical malpractice victims, its arrival wasn’t much of a surprise. President Bush has been a vocal advocate of medical malpractice reform throughout his first term, repeatedly calling on Congress to make the pursuit ofpunitive damages in medical malpractice cases a “non-option.” Congress has put together several bills to establish federal laws severely limiting non-medical damages that medical malpractice victims can pursue. These bills have been narrowly defeated, but intense lobbying by the insurance companies ensures that new attempts are on the horizon.

On the state level, the insurance companies have induced many state legislatures to put caps on punitive damages that medical malpractice victims can obtain. For instance, in many states, someone who loses the ability to work for life due to a doctor’s error can receive a maximum of 250,000 or less for pain and suffering. More subtle efforts by the insurance companies to limit th e rights of medical malpractice victims have included heightening the burden of proof of medical malpractice, tightening the statutes of limitations on cases, and maintaining tighter regulation of attorney fee s (again, to dissuade quality attorneys from taking on medical malpractice cases).

“For Our Own Good”

According to the insurance industry, all of these new limitations on a medical malpractice victim’s legal options are “for the good of the American consumer.” By limiting the incentive and ability of “predatory” attorneys to pursue medical malpractice lawsuits, the insurance companies can charge doctors, surgeons and hospitals less to insure them. The medical establishment can then pass those savings on to the sick and injured, keeping the cost of quality medical treatment affordable. By taking trial attorneys out of the equation, quality healthcare costs would stabilize for everyone.

What’s missing from this nice little equation is the fate of the hundreds of thousands of patients injured by medical negligence and malpractice every year. While the insurance company would like the public to believe that doctors are infallible and all malpractice cases involve fraud or natural weakness on the part of the victim, the facts show that an average of 80,000 deaths result each year from preventable medical errors. Hundreds of thousands more suffer debilitating injuries that will forever alter their quality and enjoyment of life. Under the insurance industry’s ideal plan, is it simply the luck of the draw for these folks? Should Americans surrender their rights at the hospital doors, and simply pray their doctor had a good night’s sleep?

This appears to be the ultimate goal of the insurance industry. By refusing to hold incompetent doctors and hospitals accountable for higher standards of care, they ignore the root of the problem. Instead, they choose the path of less resistance, steamrolling the rights of medical malpractice victims to obtain quality legal counsel and pursue justice. By working within the system to make the process of justice too arduous and complex to pursue, they believe they can drive true justice into extinction.

Gerald M. Oginski: Because the Truth Must Be Heard

Gerald Oginski is an attorney who has spent over 20 years watching the insurance industry make policy decisions based on their quarterly financial statements, not the needs of those injured and killed through the negligence of doctors and the medical system they insure. He’s seen the insurance industry assert its power to exploit the legal system for its own ends. He knows that big insurance won’t stop until the rights of personal injury and medical malpractice victims are a distant memory and every obstacle in their drive for maximum profits is removed. The only way to stem this surging tide is to ensure that medical malpractice victims can exercise every legal option available to them, case by case. By demonstrating the truth of your injury and obtaining just compensation, you are helping to expose the true motives and ruthless profit protection of the insurance companies.

If medical malpractice strikes you or someone you love, it’s important to have an attorney with the experience and determination to see your case through to its most favorable conclusion. For the people of Brooklyn , the Bronx , Queens , Manhattan , Staten Island , Nassau and Suffolk Counties , the right attorney for your medical malpractice crisis is Gerald M. Oginski.

We’ve designed our site to provide medical malpractice victims with basic information and a starting point in their cases. Read through the site to learn more about the facts of medical malpractice and Gerald Oginski’s devotion to clients whose lives have been changed through the error or negligence of medical professionals. If you believe you have a case, you owe it to yourself to investigate your rights and determine steps you can take to obtain compensation from those responsible for your injury. Gerald Oginski can help you understand your rights and exercise them today.

To learn more about Gerry Oginski and medical malpractice in New York, visit Gerry’s blog. To view his innovative and educational video tutorial site about medical malpractice & personal injury in the state of New York, click here. To listen and learn about New York medical malpractice here in New York, click here to see Gerry's New York Medical Malpractice Video Blog.

Remember, if you have questions at any time about an accident, or injury arising out of care you received from a doctor or hospital, please send me your questions using the "Quick Contact" form at the top right of this page, or call me personally at 516-487-8207. I promise to give you a straightforward and honest answer. That's my guarantee. 

Medical Malpractice

New York medical malpractice lawyer Gerald M. Oginski represents residents of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk Counties in cases of doctor and hospital negligence involving misdiagnosis, anesthesia error, surgical error, infection and prescription errors.

Obstetrical Malpractice

Having a baby can be the most beautiful thing in the world. However, a failure to timely recognize a baby in distress can be life-altering. Lack of oxygen at the time of delivery can lead to permanent and irreversible brain damage. Seizures, multi-system organ failure and cerebral palsy, are all injuries that can result from improper medical care before and during delivery.

Erbs Palsy and Klumpke's Palsy

During a delivery, a baby's shoulder can become stuck under the mother's pubic bone. When this happens, it is known as a shoulder dystocia. If the shoulder remains stuck, the baby could suffer significant problems including lack of oxygen during the birth process. If an obstetrician pulls on the baby's head in an attempt to try and get the shoulder unstuck, it could result in permanent nerve injury to the baby resulting in a lifelong injury to all arm and hand. This is known as erbs palsy.

Failure to Diagnose Cancer

There are often telltale signs of cancer; a breast lump a woman feels during self-exam, a nodule that is seen on an x-ray but misread, elevated tumor markers in various blood tests. The failure to recognize these signs lead an unsuspecting patient on a downward path toward a terrible and often deadly disease. Early intervention and treatment is the key in extending your life expectancy.

Surgical mistakes

Misadventure in the operating room that is not recognized at the time it occurs and scratch that can have drastic consequences. surgical errors, mistakes, and improperly performed surgery can have devastating results for the patient and their family.

Emergency Room Errors

When a doctor or nurse in an emergency room fails to properly diagnose a condition and sends a patient home without treatment, that could prove deadly.

Learn from an experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer how many errors that occur in an emergency room in NY are preventable. Find out whether the injuries that you suffered were from improper medical care or whether they were a consequence of whatever brought you to the emergency room in the first place.

Eye Doctor Errors

Cataract surgery, LASIK surgery and retina surgery are all common procedures done by eye doctors here in New York. Improperly performed eye surgery can have lasting consequences that may severely limit your ability to see in one or both eyes. As with any medical procedure, there are risks. It is the ophthalmologist's obligation to fully inform you about the risks, benefits, and alternatives before proceeding forward with any eye surgery.

Gynecology Errors and Mistakes

Improperly performed gynecologic surgery; misread lab tests and incorrectly performed office procedures can have devastating consequences. An unrecognized injury during surgery can be deadly. While recognizing that most doctors are conscientious and want to help you as a patient, there are some physicians who are careless at a particular point in time. That negligence can cause you permanent and irreversible injury.

Gallbladder Surgery

Most gallbladder surgery is done laparoscopically. This means that a doctor uses fiberoptic tools to remove the gallbladder through a mini-incision. There are many benefits to undergo laparoscopy instead of laparotomy. However, the failure to recognize injury to the common bile duct often occurs when the physician improperly clips or cuts the common bile during a laparoscopic gallbladder removal.

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia errors can be deadly. A failure to properly intubate a patient, the failure to recognize that a patient is deteriorating during surgery, improperly administered and over medicating a patient, can all have deadly consequences.

An anesthesiologist is a doctor who gives you medication to prevent you from feeling pain during a surgical procedure.

Failure to Diagnose Heart Attacks

Failure to recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack can prove deadly. Doctors use a medical term known as a myocardial infarction when part of the heart dies from lack of blood flow.

A heart attack can kill off part of the heart, causing the other parts of the heart to work overtime and stress itself. In some cases, if heart disease is recognized early enough, medication and treatment can greatly reduce the chance of suffering a permanent, life-long cardiac injury or even death.

Emergency Room Screw-ups

You go to an emergency room believing that you'll get the best care for your medical emergency. The doctors are well-trained, the staff knows what they're doing, the doctors are going to get you better. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Although most doctors and nurses do their very best to get you healthy, there are numerous cases of inattention and carelessness that result in permanent injury in emergency rooms here in the State of New York.

Dental Errors and Mistakes

Dental malpractice can affect your smile, your diet and your daily life. A dentist is obligated to treat patients in accordance with good and accepted dental practice in the state of New York. Root canals, apicoectomies and dental implants are common procedures that have varying risks, benefits, and possible alternatives. A dentist is required to fully inform you about your choices and options prior to starting any dental treatment.

Wrongful Death Cases

New York personal injury lawyer Gerald M. Oginski represents residents of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk Counties who have suffered injuries or death as a result of car accidents and medical malpractice. Retaining Gerry to review your car injury case gives you the advantage of a solo practitioner determined to get you best results for your injury. If you live in New York and you've been injured, call Gerry today.

Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents and injuries. You need a lawyer to represent you when you've been hurt in a bike accident. Speak to an attorney who rides often and regularly. You want an attorney who not only knows the law, but also knows how to bike. This attorney knows first hand what the effects a bike accident has on you.

Lawsuits Involving Children's Injuries

New York personal injury lawyer Gerald M. Oginski represents children and residents of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk Counties who have suffered injuries or death as a result of car accidents and medical malpractice involving injuries to children. Retaining Gerry to review your injury case gives you the advantage of a solo practitioner determined to get you best results for your injury. If you live in New York and you've been injured, call Gerry today.

Negligence Cases

Negligence cases involve all types of accidents. Slip & fall, trip & fall, store accidents, accidents at home or a friend's home, or visiting someone. Using a defective product or piece of machinery falls under the 'negligence' heading. Car accidents, dog bites, lead poisoning, landlord not having proper smoke alarms causing damage; also fall within the 'negligence' heading.

Gerry Oginski has been a trial attorney for over 19 years. He has helped injured victims in the New York Metropolitan area get the compensation they deserve. Learn more about your case. Learn how Gerry can help you, and most importantly, learn your legal rights. Read through this website, look at our 'Questions' section, and call Gerry with any questions you have.

Car Accidents

New York personal injury lawyer Gerald M. Oginski represents residents of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk Counties who have suffered injuries or death as a result of car accidents or other vehicle accidents. Retaining Gerry to review your car accident injury case gives you the advantage of a solo practitioner determined to get you best results for your injury. If you live in New York and you've been injured, call Gerry today at 516-487-8207.

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