Phone: (516) 487-8207
New York, NY
A man buying lumber was injured when something hit him in his eye. He was taken to a local emergency room and was seen by a white coat 'Doctor' who told him that he merely had a scratch on his cornea. He was told to follow up with an eye doctor in a few days if things got worse. What he didn't know at that time was that this person was not a doctor, but instead a physician's assistant. Nor did he know that the tears coming out of his eye were not tears at all.
Instead that it fluid coming from within his eye. Over the next 1 1/2 days his condition got worse. The pain in his eye increased. The fluid coming out of his eye intensified. He saw an eye doctor two days after his original injury. The exact words out of the doctor's mouth were “You have a hole in your eye and you need surgery immediately." The patient couldn't believe it. He said “What do you mean I have a hole in my eye? I was told only two days ago that I just have a scratch on my cornea!"
“You do not have a scratch on your cornea. You have a hole in your eye and you need immediate surgery to fix it.” The patient replied “But I just ate breakfast, how can I have surgery?” The doctor answered “It doesn't matter, get yourself to the emergency room immediately.”
Since the patient had eaten that morning, it was impossible for him to receive general anesthesia and be put to sleep. The reason is that when you are put to sleep, there is the possibility that any food you ate will come up through your esophagus and be inhaled into your lungs causing a potentially lethal condition known as aspiration pneumonia.
The patient had to have the hole in his eye sewn up while under local anesthesia. He was able to listen to the eye surgeons while they worked, feeling the instruments, and felt the tugging and pulling of the sutures during the procedure.
Our argument was that the hospital staff failed to timely recognize and treat a hole in his eye. Had they timely done so, we argued that his injury and his inability to see would have been minimized significantly.
Just weeks before jury selection, I was able to successfully resolve this case for a total of $500,000.
_____________________
The common theme among the cases above are that they are real and took place here in the state of New York. This is just a sampling of cases I have personally handled over more than 21 years of practice here in New York. The reality is that no one likes to believe that their doctor can make mistakes. We expect and hope that our doctors are super-human beings that can do no wrong. We put our lives in their hands and in the majority of times, trust them implicitly with doing the right thing for each of us.
There is a significant battle going on today between lawyers, patients, doctors and the doctors' insurance companies. Throw into that mix the patient's own health insurance companies and their attempt to contain costs by limiting the treatment that your own treating physician can offer to you and you present a dilemma of huge proportions.
To give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, the doctors' insurance companies charge doctors exorbitant amounts of money for the benefit of insuring them against claims of medical malpractice. The insurance companies continue to complain that the reason they must increase their premiums is because of all the lawsuits that personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers bring against the doctors. They continue to claim that lawyers often bring "frivolous lawsuits," against physicians and that has a ripple effect causing the insurance company to pass on those costs to their clients.
Trial lawyers, like myself, firmly believe that there is no incentive or reason for any experienced trial lawyer to bring a frivolous lawsuit since the attorney must lay out all money and expenses out of his own pocket in order to prosecute such a case. I have written extensively on the issue of frivolous lawsuits and those articles can be found here on my website, my blog and elsewhere online. Basically, any time a lawsuit is brought against a doctor, the defense always claims that it is frivolous. They will always do everything in their power to claim that they have done no wrong and they are not at fault for any injuries the patient claims to have suffered.
In the event that a lawsuit proceeds to trial and the patient wins money, then the defense's claims of a frivolous lawsuit go quietly away. 95% of all medical malpractice cases in New York are settled prior to trial, and the remaining 5% are vigorously contested, with the majority of those cases being won by the doctors and hospitals at trial. The defense proclaims righteous indignation and claims they were right all along and that this was "frivolous," and never should have been brought in the first place. The problem with that rationale is that it takes many years to come to a final conclusion after a trial and appeal concludes the matter. Remember, a patient can never proceed forward with a lawsuit in New York unless a medical expert has confirmed that there is (1) wrongdoing; (2) the wrongdoing has caused injury and (3) the injury is significant and permanent or disabling.
What the insurance companies don't want you to know is that they try to settle cases that have clear liability and clear damages. In those instances, you don't hear the battle cry that the patient and their family were bringing a frivolous lawsuit. Make no mistake; attorneys who represent doctors and hospitals fight vigorously for every single penny for their clients. The large medical malpractice insurance companies in the state of New York have made it their policy to assure their clients that they will do everything within their power to fight tooth and nail to defend them in lawsuits brought by patients.
From massive fraud scandals to the downfall of the mortgage industry leading to recession and high unemployment to the massive oil leak in the gulf. Throughout these changing times, one thing has remained constant. The statistical number of lawsuits brought in the state of New York against doctors and hospitals and people who cause accidents. There was a study done by Harvard University that described 98,000 people who were simply unaware that any wrongdoing was caused to them by their doctor or hospital. Those injured victims did not bring lawsuits because they simply didn't know that someone did something wrong to cause their injuries. Is that justice? More importantly, is that right?
Physicians and hospitals in some parts of the country have created an "apology program" to own up and apologize when an error is made causing injury to a patient. The Veterans Administration system uses this format and has seen great success in limiting and reducing the number of lawsuits and claims filed by patients. After talking to many defense attorneys in New York, I have come to the conclusion that it would be physically impossible to compel NY doctors and their insurance companies to accept that they would actually admit to patients when they had committed wrongdoing and departed from the standard of acceptable medical care.
You are on my website because you want to learn more about how the lawsuit process works in the State of New York. You most likely have questions about what the time limit is to file a lawsuit in your particular matter. You may even want to know if you have a valid case. You might just want to learn more about different types of accident cases or medical malpractice cases, and you've come to the right place.
Here on my website I have thousands and thousands of pages of useful information that will educate you and help explain the process of how lawsuits work. This isn't your typical website where all I do is talk about myself. In fact, the only time I talk about myself is in the results section where you can see a sampling of the results I've achieved for different clients over the years. The most important thing you should concern yourself with is whether I can help solve your particular legal problem. Here on my website, you will find tons of free reports, free books, free video tips and other information that help explain how these cases work. car accident cases to bicycle accidents improperly performed surgery and brain-damaged baby cases, you can find information about your type of case.
Gerald Oginski is an attorney who has spent over 21 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, we strongly encourage you to view his innovative and educational video tutorial site about medical malpractice & personal injury in the state of 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.
One recurring theme is where the patient continues to complain to the doctor about ongoing chest pain. The doctor may do certain diagnostic tests and misinterpret them or not realize the significance of the test results. The patient may be lulled into a false sense of security believing the ongoing pain is unrelated to any heart problem.
