Doctors, nurses, and surgeons are among the most highly esteemed and celebrated professionals in society. Their education and dedication to serving others can literally save lives. On the other hand, though, when doctors make a mistake, their carelessness can quickly prove fatal. Innocent patients often suffer for long periods of time as a result of an avoidable error. A single slip-up can have devastating, long-term consequences. That’s why society assigns doctors such a serious responsibility – the duty to exercise thorough caution and expertise in the care that they provide.
Unfortunately, doctors, nurses, and medical professionals make mistakes all the time. Even now, the ink is still fresh on headlines and signed settlements stemming from medical negligence. Malpractice is more common than most patients realize, and the consequences can be overwhelming.
As experienced Danbury medical malpractice lawyers, our Connecticut team has helped countless families in the pursuit of justice after a medical procedure gone wrong. Whether it’s a botched surgery, a missed diagnosis, a medication error, or something else, a simple slip-up can impact a patient for the rest of his or her life.
Awarding compensation to an unfairly injured patient should be a no-brainer. But Connecticut medical malpractice law is complicated, and these cases usually involve big-budget hospital administrators and/or massive insurance corporations. Those parties protect their bottom lines first, and that usually means paying as little money as possible to patients, even if they deserve it.
If you’ve been injured, though, you don’t have to depend on the generosity of a hospital or insurer to get the compensation that you deserve. A Danbury medical malpractice lawyer at Berkowitz Hanna can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case. When you hire our firm, you can count on the aggressive and strategic legal representation that puts your interests and needs first. We understand med-mal litigation, and we are absolutely committed to doing everything that it takes to maximize the value of our clients’ claims.
“Medical malpractice” simply means the practice of medicine in a way that falls short of a widely accepted standard.
Over the course of many years, the medical profession in America established a series of rules, procedures, and expectations to govern doctors and other medical professionals. In turn, the state of Connecticut encoded many of those standards and rules into law. Additionally, there is a general legal requirement that doctors treat their patients with reasonable care.
When doctors – or, in many cases, the people who assist or employ them – fail to meet those standards, they can be held financially accountable to the patients who suffer as a result.
Common examples of medical malpractice include:
An experienced Danbury medical malpractice attorney can help you determine whether the facts of your situation are sufficient to support legal action on the basis of medical negligence. Please call our office to talk about the specifics of your experience and get a better understanding of your rights under the law.
Defendants in a Connecticut medical malpractice lawsuit might include:
As a matter of fact, most medical professionals are subject to some degree of liability for providing unreasonable or substandard care. An experienced Danbury medical malpractice attorney can help you identify each source of liability for your damages.
Our legal team offers years of experience in virtually every aspect of medical malpractice litigation. We routinely represent clients with respect to “common” types of medical malpractice claims; yet, we also handle many unique and rare cases. Here are some things to consider regarding some of the more prevalent instances of medical malpractice:
When patients undergo surgery, they are placed in an enormously vulnerable position. They literally place their lives in the hands of someone else. They trust that the team of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff will perform the surgery as planned and take the utmost care in doing so. You assume and expect that the team will meet the appropriate standard of medical care when performing your surgery. Unfortunately, sometimes things can go wrong and patients may become the victims of surgical negligence.
As with all medical malpractice cases, an injured plaintiff must demonstrate that the surgeons, hospital, or other responsible parties did not act in accordance with the accepted standard of medical care. This, of course, will require expert medical evidence and testimony and is often an uphill legal battle. However, with the assistance of an experienced medical malpractice attorney, you may be able to bring a successful medical malpractice case if the medical team was negligent in some way during your surgery.
No doctor is perfect, and some diseases and conditions are extremely difficult to diagnose. However, perfection is not the standard of care when it comes to diagnosing patients. What is expected is that a treating physician adheres to the accepted standard of medical care that has been predetermined by the local, relevant medical community.
In misdiagnosis cases, plaintiffs must demonstrate sufficiently that doctors with the same type of training in the same general geographical location would have diagnosed a condition different than the defendant physician. Essentially, the victim must show that the physician was negligent when misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose a patient’s condition.
It is also important to note that the missed or failed diagnosis itself may not rise to the level of medical malpractice. It is only medical malpractice if the improper diagnosis results in delayed treatment, improper treatment, or a lack of treatment, which then directly results in further harm to the patient (e.g., worsening of the condition, development of a new condition, etc.)
In addition to misdiagnosing a patient’s condition, failing to timely diagnose a patient’s condition can have severe consequences as well. Similar to misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose is not necessarily indicative of medical malpractice. However, in many cases, an investigation will reveal that the patient’s physician overlooked symptoms or misread test results which could – and should – have been used to provide a timely diagnosis.
Depending on the nature of a patient’s illness or injury, the consequences of a failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis can range from unnecessary complications and failure to properly heal (e.g., in the case of a broken bone) to the progression of the potentially fatal disease such as cancer and death. If you believe that your medical condition or a loved one’s medical condition should have been diagnosed sooner, we encourage you to speak with one of our Danbury medical malpractice lawyers right away.
In the inpatient setting, health care providers must adequately monitor patients to ensure that they are providing adequate care. Failure to monitor patients who are under the effects of anesthesia, failure to monitor patients who are on feeding tubes and ventilators, and failure to monitor patients under various other circumstances can all potentially rise to the level of medical malpractice.
A physician may be liable for medical malpractice if he or she commits a medication or prescription error that directly results in harm to the patient. These types of medical errors include the administration or prescription of drugs to patients that may cause allergic reactions, reactions due to the incompatibility of medications, and the like. As in all medical malpractice cases, a medication prescriber’s decisions are measured against healthcare providers in a similarly situated scenario. Additionally, in order for the lawsuit to be successful, the patient must have developed injury due to the medication or prescription error.
Pharmacies are not immune to medical malpractice lawsuits if it can be shown that the pharmacist or a pharmacy employee negligently made a prescription error (e.g., filling the incorrect medication, filling the incorrect dosage, etc.)
Medical malpractice resulting from anesthesia errors most often occurs in the context of surgery – whether it is a major surgery (c-section, liver transplant, etc.), a minor surgery (e.g., a procedure done with a scope), or even a tooth extraction. Anesthesia may be administered intravenously, locally, or by respiration. It also includes spinal epidurals and numbing sprays. Whatever type of anesthesia is administered, there are always inherent risks with its use. And, while not all anesthesia incidents rise to the level of medical malpractice, many of them do.
Overworked doctors, stressful scenarios, loud and crazy operating rooms, and certain medical complications can often result in mistakes. And, when preventable anesthesia mistakes occur, patients suffer.
Many medical malpractice claims arise from injuries that occur during pregnancies and births. These birth-related errors happen when treating physicians or other medical staff (or the hospital itself): 1) fail to use reasonable and medically appropriate care; and 2) the mother or child is injured during pregnancy or delivery; a “wrongful birth” occurs (when the mother would have terminated had she known of birth defects), or a “wrongful pregnancy” occurs (failed attempts to prevent or end a pregnancy).
The pregnancy and delivery process are physically traumatic to both mother and baby in many ways. If the hospital, doctors, and staff do not adhere to a reasonably acceptable standard of medical care, preventable injuries may occur.
Our elders and seniors are oftentimes incredibly vulnerable. Those in assisted living facilities, dementia units, and nursing homes often are unable to speak for themselves or properly convey their concerns, questions, and wishes. They, therefore, must rely on and place enormous trust in their caregivers to properly treat them medically, physically, and mentally. When the negligent actions or inactions of nursing home professionals results in harm to an individual, it may be possible to bring about a medical malpractice claim – either individually or on behalf of a family member. This is also true for abuse cases.
Wrongful death actions are the ultimate negligence lawsuits, because patients are not simply injured, but have died due to the errors of someone else. Families must bring actions on behalf of deceased loved ones; the legal process is emotionally draining, complicated, lengthy, and difficult. Like all other types of medical malpractice cases, wrongful death lawsuits based on medical malpractice are not easy to “win.” That is why it is more important than ever to hire an experienced Danbury malpractice lawyer in a potential wrongful death case.
When choosing a Danbury medical malpractice wrongful death attorney, there is no substitute for experience. The medical malpractice attorneys and legal team at Berkowitz Hanna have the experience and resources necessary to go toe to toe the insurance companies of the defendant(s). We have an incredible track record in successfully initiating and resolving these extremely challenging and painful matters for our clients.
As a victim of medical malpractice, you have clear legal rights under Connecticut law. These rights include:
When you fall victim to medical malpractice, you have the right to quality medical care. Your healthcare provider cannot restrict where you go for treatment or prevent you from seeking treatment at another facility. You can – and should – see another provider to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment as soon as possible.
Your healthcare provider also cannot prevent you from accessing your medical records. You are entitled to copies of your records; and, if your healthcare provider refuses to provide them, our Danbury medical malpractice attorneys can obtain copies on your behalf.
In Connecticut, all victims of medical malpractice have the right to just compensation. This includes the right to just compensation for your medical bills, your future medical needs, and all other financial costs associated with your healthcare provider’s mistake. It also includes the right to just compensation for your non-financial losses. These losses can include emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
You have the right to hire an attorney to help you. Even though your legal rights may be clear, recovering just compensation for your healthcare provider’s mistake will not be easy. An experienced Danbury medical malpractice attorney can help, and you can hire an attorney on a contingency fee basis.
At Berkowitz Hanna, our contingency fee representation means our clients only pay if we win. We do not charge any up-front or monthly costs. In fact, we do not charge anything unless we succeed in negotiating a settlement or securing a verdict in your case.
Are you suffering because a doctor, hospital, or healthcare provider failed to treat you with the care that you deserve? You might be entitled to significant reimbursement for your losses pursuant to Connecticut law.
Insurance companies look out for their own interests first, so they’ll search out every opportunity to deny you justice. The good news, though, is that you don’t have to proceed on the insurer’s terms. The law determines your rights, and we are here to passionately protect them.
Don’t let a negligent doctor, administrator, or insurance adjuster tell you what you deserve. Let the law protect you as it should. Call a Danbury medical malpractice lawyer here at Berkowitz Hanna right away. Our law firm has a long history of experience in medical negligence litigation, and we are ready to fight for you.
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