You were injured badly.
By your doctor.
The same person whom you trusted.
The same doctor whom you put your life into his hands.
You had a procedure done.
You had really bad complications.
Now, you have lifelong injuries.
All because you believe your doctor was careless.
You believe your doctor violated the basic standard of medical care.
The more you think what your doctor did, the angrier you get.
You can't do your daily activities.
You have pain getting out of bed.
You can barely get into and out of your car.
You have trouble walking.
You have trouble going up and down stairs.
You looked forward to starting your day with some exercise.
Now, you wonder how much pain you'll be in every time you awaken.
You have difficulty sleeping.
You've started taking sleeping pills.
You're having difficulty going to the bathroom.
You're taking pills for that too.
Your blood pressure is way up because of all this aggravation.
Another doctor put you on blood pressure pills.
Yet another doctor has prescribed you narcotic pain pills.
You don't want to become an addict.
You've heard horror stories about celebrities getting addicted to pain pills like oxycodone.
You just want to go back to living your regular life.
That was a blessing compared to now.
The pain you experience every day is excruciating.
The psychiatrist you're now seeing to deal with your disabilities and pain told you something recently that you just can't get out of your head.
She said "Pain is life's window into hell."
You think she's right.
You stare looking through that window and believe that there is a hell.
The pain is your hell.
There's no let-up.
There's no relief.
It's agonizing.
It's unrelenting.
It's bad.
You beg the doctor to put you out of your misery.
You don't want something stronger but you're going crazy trying to deal with the daily pain.
He sends you to a pain managment doctor.
"I don't want someone to manage my pain, I want someone to take it away!" you yell quietly but with urgency.
You can't go back to work.
Not in this condition.
You can't interact well with your family.
You've developed an unhealthy edge to you.
Nobody wants to be around you.
Not your spouse.
Not your kids.
Not your friends.
Nobody.
That alienates you even more.
You feel isolated.
You feel as if nobody understands what you're going through.
You haven't found anyone who can stop your pain.
You haven't found anyone who can empathize with your condition.
You haven't found anyone who can help you deal with it and overcome your fears.
Fear of never-ending pain.
Fear of living like a hermit.
Fear of having no friends.
Fear of being a cripple.
Fear of never getting better.
You finally get so fed up you start looking for a lawyer.
You want to see if you might have a valid medical malpractice case.
You want to see if you can get money as a form of compensation.
You believe, in your heart of hearts that your doctor didn't intentionally cause you harm.
You believe he was simply careless.
You believe that if he was not careless that day, you would never have suffered these horrible complications that caused these awful injuries.
Every doctor you saw at the hospital said they were sorry.
They said they were sorry to see you in such bad condition.
They said they were sorry you were in pain.
They said it's terrible what you are going through.
They claim they understood.
They all felt bad for you.
Even the nurses.
Even the paraprofessionals.
Even the janitor who came in to clean your room.
They all felt bad for what you're going through.
All of these comments by these well-meaning people made you feel as if your doctor was careless.
All of these comments bolstered your belief that your doctor committed medical negligence.
You finally arrange an appointment with a highly experienced medical malpractice trial lawyer here in New York.
You believe you have an excellent case.
You've been playing and replaying the series of events over in your mind and you believe there can be no other conclusion that can be reached.
It is your understanding that simply because you suffered severe injuries following this procedure, there can be no other explanation other than that your doctor violated the basic standards of medical care.
You want your doctor to pay for all of the harms, losses and injuries you experienced.
The attorney you meet with will want answers to these two questions... “Where did this happen and when did this happen?”
The attorney wants to know in what venue is this likely to take place and importantly whether you or matter is still timely.
Most experienced medical malpractice attorneys will ask you why you believe something was done wrong.
We know you are not a physician.
We know you are not familiar with the standard of care that's required here.
However, an injured patient and their family often have a good sense of what they think was done wrong.
That's helpful.
It helps us when we evaluate your case.
However, you will find that the best trial attorneys ask a follow-up question...
“Has any doctor confirmed your belief that something was done wrong?”
That question often stops injured patients in their tracks.
It causes them to pause and truly think about the question and search their minds for an answer.
Many injured patients will respond to that question by claiming that lots of doctors and hospital staff criticizes the care you received.
When I ask for specifics about what exactly was said, the comments are revealing.
As I mentioned earlier in this article, the comments tend to focus on doctors and nurses expressing sorrow or sympathy for your current medical condition.
“I'm so sorry you're in this condition.”
“It's terrible that you're in pain. I feel so bad for you.”
“This is the worst complication I've ever seen for this procedure.”
The patient thinks these comments automatically qualify as medical malpractice.
The reality is that it does not.
These expressions of sympathy and compassion simply focus on observations about your current injury.
They don't actually criticize the care that you received by your original physician.
A common critique we see often by Doctor #2 is...
“I can't believe your doctor did this. It's totally inappropriate and should never be done. Had he done this other technique, you never would have experienced a problem.”
You should know that these kind of comments are insufficient to justify going forward with a valid medical malpractice case.
Even though they may not allow us to proceed forward yet, it gives us an inkling about whether there may be a valid basis for a case.
You see, in New York we are required to have your matter reviewed by qualified medical expert.
Our medical expert looks to see whether your doctor violated the basic standards of medical care.
He looks to see whether that wrongdoing was a cause of your injury.
He also looks to see whether your injuries are significant and/or permanent.
Only then, assuming that all three factors are present and that our expert confirms each one of those, are we permitted to file a lawsuit on your behalf.
To learn what happens during settlement negotiations when the defense says "This is a no-pay case," I invite you to watch the quick video below...
