Medical and Other Professional Malpractice

The failure to be as careful as a reasonably prudent person is called ordinary negligence. But some people possess extraordinary skill or expertise in an area or field. When they are acting within that field of extraordinary skill or expertise, the failure to use that degree of care as another person possessed of such extraordinary skill or expertise would under the same circumstances that results in injury to person or property is called “malpractice”. In other words, persons with professional expertise are required to use that degree of extraordinary care that another professional would under the same circumstances.

Just because someone may possess a high degree of skill is not enough to hold them to an extraordinary standard of care. Generally, the person must be engaged in a “profession”. The kinds of professions where the law requires the exercise of extraordinary skill are generally ones that need a post graduate degree, the passage of one or more professional exams, and a license from New York State. Examples of such professions are medicine, dentistry, podiatry, psychiatry, psychology, law, architecture, and engineering.

Prosecuting medical and other professional malpractice cases generally requires a greater expenditure of time and effort on the part of the lawyer and is almost always much more expensive than a comparable ordinary negligence case. In order to establish that a malpractice case may exist, the applicable records and files must be obtained and then submitted, together with a thorough review of the facts, to an expert in the same profession to determine whether or not there was a departure from the applicable professional standard of care. This initial investigation must be thoroughly completed before the commencement of a lawsuit and can be expensive. Typically, medical and other professional malpractice cases are also vigorously defended.

For these reasons, medical and other professional malpractice cases are usually only cost effective when the injuries or damages are significant. In a medical malpractice case, for example, that basically means that the injury must permanently impair the quality of life of the injured party in a meaningful way. Mr. Altman has both prosecuted and defended various kinds of medical and professional malpractice lawsuits, including neurosurgical and legal malpractice. He is thoroughly versed in the principles of malpractice, can give your claim an initial review usually at no cost to you, and there is no attorney fee for medical and certain other professional malpractice claims unless and until a recovery is made.

If you think that you have been the victim of medical or any other kind of professional malpractice, please call right away or contact us online for a free consultation! Do not delay because there are various time limits that, if missed, can defeat your claim.

Please call for your free consultation now!