Some would say yes. Others would say no.

I'm going to tell you exactly how your life would be different if you brought a lawsuit against your doctor and hospital staff for the injuries you suffered because of their carelessness.

Let's face it, if you suffer harm as a result of a careless doctor, it's highly unlikely he's going to whip out his checkbook and write you a check for millions of dollars. Certainly not voluntarily.

You can beg him. You can plead with him. He's not going to write you a check or give you cash just because you tell him you now have injuries as a result of his treatment.

He'll tell you there were risks of the procedure. He'll tell you that he told you about those risks and you accepted the possibility you could suffer some type of injury. He will tell you that he used his best medical judgment to decide on the right course of treatment for you.

So, you have a choice. You can live with your injuries and regret getting treated by him. You can live with your permanent disability and wonder why you can't do your daily activities like you used to do. You can suffer silently and watch as your kids and family wonder why you've changed. Why you're always cranky. Why you never have fun anymore.

You can believe this is God's divine intervention. Whatever HE had in store for you, this is HIS way of showing it.

Or, you can realize this is man-made. You can realize that maybe, just maybe, your doctor was careless. Maybe his carelessness was a cause of your injuries. If so, then your doctor and the careless hospital staff are required to compensate you for all the harms, losses and damages you incurred because they were careless.

The only way that would happen is if you file a lawsuit against them.

Let me make one thing clear. If you are successful in your lawsuit, the money you receive will NOT make you physically whole. The money you receive will NOT put you back together they way you were before. That is the altruistic goal of why money is given to you when you bring a lawsuit though. It's designed to make you 'whole' again.

The fact remains that the money will not do that.

Instead, the money will make your life a bit easier.
The money will enable your kids to go to college.
The money will allow you to get the best medical care you can find.
The money will allow you to modify your home to account for your physicial limitations and disabilities.
The money will allow you to get a modified car or van to allow you to become mobile and hopefully able to travel.

The money will help to pay for your mortgage. It'll help to pay your rent and your utilities. It'll help you with your health insurance. The money will pay you back for the years you were not able to work and for the years in the future you'll be unable to work.

The money will help pay you for the lost income and benefits you received while working as well as those benefits you'd likely have received had you continued to work for the rest of your career.

The money you receive will allow you to travel with your family, assuming your medical condition allows you to do that.

Here's what the money will NOT do...

It will not put you in the physical condition you were in before your doctor was careless.
It will not give you back the time you spent recuperating.
It will not eliminate the pain and the suffering you endured for weeks and months.

The money will not prevent you from needed additional medical treatment or surgery.
Nor will it eliminate the number of pills you must take each day to control your pain and your blood pressure.
The money will not eliminate your higher risk of getting infections.

The money will NOT change your status in life.
Being able to buy a Ferrari and have it sit in your driveway is pointless if you can't get in the car and drive it.
Being able to buy an expensive watch or piece of jewelry is pointless if your arms were amputated because your doctor was careless.

The money is designed to make your life a bit easier. That's all.

But keep this in mind...

Obtaining money as a form of compensation is the ONLY method we have to try and make an injured person whole again. There is no vigilante justice where you take the law into your own hands to decide the fate of those who did you wrong. There is no eye for an eye in the civil justice system in New York or anywhere in the United States. We do not live in biblical times.

By the way, even in biblical times, if someone caused another harm, he was required to compensate him for the injuries he caused.

The moment you decide to file a lawsuit against your doctor, he's going to claim he did nothing wrong. Then he's going to claim that whatever injuries you suffered were caused by YOU and YOU alone. Then, he'll argue that whatever he did or didn't do, did NOT cause your injuries. Then, to twist the knife in even further, he's going to claim that your injuries are not really as bad as you claim.

Let me bring you back to reality.

If you suffered injury because your doctor was careless, you've got a long road ahead of you to recuperate and get better. Your life will already have changed. Your injuries will affect you, your spouse, your kids and your friends. It's not only isolated to you.

Your personality will change. Your moods will change frequently. You'll be on an emotional roller coaster.
You'll be bitter. You'll be grateful you're alive. You'll be angry. You'll be upset and frustrated. These feelings and emotions will occur before you ever consider bringing a lawsuit.

If you bring a lawsuit you'll believe in your heart that this will change you. Even if you're not the type to sue and have never sued anyone before, bringing a lawsuit is another emotional rollercoaster.

If you don't believe me, I encourage you to read this article about How You'll Feel if a Jury Gave You $5 Million Dollars in Your Medical Malpractice Case.

Will bringing a lawsuit change your life?

It could. If the defense settles during your lawsuit you could then take that money and try to improve your life and your family's life. If your case goes to trial and a jury decides that your doctor violated the basic standards of medical care and those violations caused you harm, then the money they give you just might change your life for the better.

Will it be an easy road? No.
Will it take years to resolve? Yes.
Will it make a difference in whether you and your family are financially secure? It certainly could.

To learn more about jury verdicts in these types of malpractice cases, I invite you to watch the quick video below...

Gerry Oginski
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NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer