Justice Douglas McKeon of the Bronx began to focus on medical malpractice cases about 15 years ago. Because of this focus, those cases were settled more efficiently and at less cost for everyone. In part because of his effort, New York State will now expand this specialized medical malpractice focus in Queens, Manhattan, and Erie County, as well as Brooklyn. Judges will now specifically be trained in medical malpractice, so that they can focus exclusively on these cases. There are about 4000 cases of medical malpractice filed in New York every year, and personal injury attorneys in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan will certainly want to serve your needs if you’ve been a victim of malpractice.

Reduction of court expenses, and a benefit to victims of malpractice

If you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, contact a New York personal injury attorney. He or she will review your case to make sure it will stand up in court. However, if it does, you, too, can be served by this new, more efficient court process. Your attorney will represent you in court against the defendant, the doctor who hurt you, so as to get you fair compensation for your injuries as a result of this negligence or carelessness.

Your personal injury attorney will work with you to thoroughly investigate your case, and represent you in court. Your attorney must be an advocate for you; although settlement is certainly an option, it will not happen until and unless truly fair compensation has been agreed upon by the other party. If a fair settlement is not offered, your personal injury attorney will reject the offer for you if you so choose, and go to trial. A settlement should only happen if it is an adequate match to the pain and suffering you’ve experienced as a result of your physician’s negligence, incompetence or carelessness, and is also adequate to the task of taking care of medical expenses you must now cover as a result of those actions.

What happens if you choose to file your medical malpractice claim in court?

Under New York State law, your personal injury lawyer can only file a medical malpractice claim for you if a doctor has certified to the plaintiff’s lawyer that the case meets medical malpractice standards. Your personal injury attorney in Queens is experienced in this process, and will thoroughly review your case with the appropriate experts, as well as case law and legal issues that pertain to the case. If your lawyer chooses to take your case on, he or she will then file a medical malpractice claim in court.

Once the case has been filed, one judge particular to that court will oversee the case from start to finish. This means that your case is handled in in a continuous fashion. The first thing the judge will likely do is to bring both sides together to try for settlement. Usually, the defense will ask for additional information, and the judge will determine that this request is valid. When everyone has the necessary information, the judge will try to work toward an agreed-upon settlement. However, again, if a fair settlement is not reached, your personal injury attorney will have no qualms about going to court to make sure your rights are protected. If you win your case, your lawyer will take a portion of your settlement as compensation for his or her efforts (usually about one third), but if you lose your case, your attorney receives no compensation at all.

For questions about this or any other aspect of the law, feel free to contact me directly at 516.358.6900 or RJaffe@lcjLawFirm.com