It starts with a complication. A problem. An unexpected result from medical treatment or surgical treatment.

You've gone to the doctor to fix a problem. The doctor tells you that you need this particular medical or surgical treatment. Based on the doctor's reassurances, you choose to accept his recommendations. He glosses over any risks or serious complications.

You feel good about your choice. You feel confident about your doctor and his experience with this problem. You trust your doctor.

He's your doctor and he's been to medical school. You rationalize that he's completed an approved residency. You know that he's licensed to practice medicine in the State of NY. You also know that he's board certified in his specific specialty.

He's been in practice for many years. You trust him. 

On the day of the procedure, your doctor talks to you and you feel good. You trust him.

After the procedure, you don't feel so good. You're not sure why, but something just doesn't feel right.

The doctor recognizes there's a problem. A problem that's getting worse. The doctor cannot explain. He can't explain why you don't feel well after your procedure.

You return back to his office a day later. 

You don't look so good. The doctor chooses to admit you to the hospital. "For tests," he says.

Day after day, test after test, you're feeling worse and worse.

You really look and feel like crap.

Finally, the doctor comes to you and tells you he thinks he knows why you're doing lousy. He thinks there was a complication during your surgery that wasn't seen during the surgery. Now you've got a puss-filled infection known as an abscess in your abdomen.

He's starting you on antibiotics and testing you again to see which antibiotic is sensitive to your infection.

Your fevers are miserable. Your belly pain is severe at different times of the day. You are vomiting intermittently. Your surgeon comes into your room with a new surgeon who examines you. They're discussing whether they're going to have to take you back into the operating room and explore and drain what's going on in your belly.

You don't have a clue what's going on. You just want to get better. 

You're not asking questions. Or, if you are, you're not asking the right questions. 

Your questions focus on your treatment and corrective treatment.

Still, you're not asking the right questions.

The right questions should focus instead on why your condition was not diagnosed earlier. The right questions will focus on whether your treatment or outcome would have been different if your problems were recognized and treated earlier.

The right questions will focus on whether the problems you are experiencing are a known, recognized risk of your surgery. Also, you need to ask whether these problems that you experienced post-operatively were ever discussed with you before you agree to have the surgery.

You don't begin to ask these questions until you are discharged from the hospital and are now at home trying to recuperate and return back to normal.

These questions don't arise until you realize you are unable to do those activities you were able to do before going in for surgery.

These questions don't arise until your family members ask why you cannot participate in activities with them that you were able to do just fine before your surgery.

These questions raise doubts in your mind about the trust you placed in your doctor.

These questions raise doubts about your doctor's surgical ability. If the problems you experienced were recognized risks of your surgery, was there any way your doctor could have minimized those risks to lessen the chances that you would get these complications?

A second opinion...

As you are recuperating, you decide to seek out another surgical opinion to see if there's any way to correct the problems you have. During one of these office visits with your new doctor, he lets slip the fact that in his opinion you never should have experienced these complications.

Your new surgeon says that if your surgery had been done correctly, you should not have suffered these complications.

You begin to think that maybe your trust in your first doctor was misplaced.

These seeds of doubt raise even more questions about whether you will experience lifelong permanent injury and whether this will affect your income and your ability to do your life's daily activities.

That prompts you to decide to look for an attorney to help answer your legal questions.

Your search for an attorney begins...

The problem is that you don't know an attorney. Nor do you know someone who could recommend a trusted attorney.

You don't want to hire an attorney from a TV ad. You are not interested in grabbing the Yellow Pages to see some outdated lawyer advertisement. Nor do you think the radio ads by attorneys are going to help you choose the right lawyer for you and your problem.

Instead, you decide to go online and do a search. You are looking for the best lawyers in New York who handle medical malpractice cases.

You're having trouble figuring out which attorney is the right one for you based upon the different lawyer websites that you find.

  • Some websites are helpful, most are not.
  • Some have great educational videos, most do not.
  • Some have hundreds and thousands of articles, most do not.
  • Some offer free consumer action books for immediate download, most do not.
  • Some have hundreds of frequently asked questions, most do not.

You also come across a video that I created that talks about 10 of the best medical malpractice trial lawyers in New York.

This is exactly the type of information you're looking for.

In fact, you won't find any other attorney that I know of in New York, who created an educational video to teach injured victims who are, in my own opinion the best medical malpractice trial lawyers today.

Why would I create such a video?

The reason I created this video is to help consumers understand, from an insider's viewpoint, as someone who is good in practice more than 26 years handling medical malpractice cases in New York, who I would recommend if someone were to ask me who I would choose as an attorney, besides myself.

That's like going into a hospital and asking the nurses on labor and delivery who the best obstetrician is. They see these doctors every day and they know who's good and who's not so good. To be able to get a recommendation from someone who sees it from the inside is remarkable.

In my video I share with you 10 lawyers who I believe are the best of the best medical malpractice trial lawyers here in New York, (in addition to myself of course).

Here they are in no specific order:

  1. Ben Rubinowitz at Gair Gair & Conason
  2. Evan Torgan at Torgan Cooper & Aaron
  3. Bob Sullivan at Sullivan Papain
  4. Tom Moore at Kramer Dillof Livingston & Moore
  5. Eleni Cofinas at Sullivan Papain
  6. David Dean at Sullivan Papain
  7. Jeff Korek at Gersowitz Libo & Korek
  8. Andy Siegel at Siegel Coonerty
  9. Joe Awad at Silberstein Awad & Miklos
  10. Barry Washor at Queller Fisher

In my opinion, these are the finest medical malpractice trial lawyers in New York who help injured victims obtain compensation for the harms and losses they suffered as a result of improper medical care.

I know that some attorneys will question why I've listed these attorneys in this article. They will think I'm giving away some secret information.

Alternatively, they will question why I would voluntarily tell a viewer or reader about my competitors.

That's a fair question and one that easily answered.

My goal as an attorney who represents injured victims in NY is to help you.

My goal is to help you, the consumer, learn as much as possible about how these medical malpractice cases work. My goal is to teach you and educate you about the process before you ever pick up the phone to call...before your walk in to an attorney's office.

Here's just a brief example of how I teach and educate my ideal consumer...

That's why I've created over 1500 great educational videos to teach you educate you about how these cases work in New York. That's why I have over 500 frequently asked questions and answers here on my educational website. That's why I have thousands of articles and blog posts on my website. That's also why I wrote four consumer oriented books about medical malpractice and accidents cases to teach you, the consumer in need of information, about how these cases work.

The book titles are:

  1. Secrets of a New York Medical Malpractice Attorney
  2. Doctors Gone Wild
  3. Beyond the ER Doors
  4. In Case of Death

Since I am confident of my own abilities, I have no problem whatsoever recommending my colleagues who are also excellent attorneys. 

  • When researching attorneys, you will learn that some attorneys have more experience than others.
  • Some have better results than others.
  • Some are more aggressive than others.
  • Some are riskier than others.

The point is, no matter which attorney you talk to, you must feel comfortable with that lawyer and his law firm.

Lawyers who are worried about losing a new client to one of their competitors are often hesitant to recommend a colleague.

As you search for the right attorney to help solve your legal problem, make sure to ask whichever attorney you are considering if they would recommend three or four other lawyers that you can talk to that are equally good and have equally good results from similar cases. Then, sit back and watch the attorney's reaction.

An attorney's hesitancy in making a colleague's recommendation will tell you a great deal. On the other hand, an attorney who can easily rattle off a handful of names that you can talk to shows you that he is confident and self-assured of his own abilities and is not concerned if you talk to any of his colleagues or competitors.

To learn about a case I handled where a doctor changed his medical records, I invite you watch the video below...

Gerry Oginski
Connect with me
NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer