Kingston, New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Speaks Out To Doctors About Liability

There are many different issues in New York medical malpractice to be cognizant of. I try to have a wide-range of posts here to depict many of the different kinds of issues that may arise related to medical malpractice.

Many physicians and health care providers are troubled by the thought of medical malpractice and that it is, essentially, an extension of negligence. This is because negligence, even though there are four basic elements—duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages—the duty and standard of care is almost never the same due to the individual’s specialty, locality, and circumstances of the patient.

For example, a patient in an emergency in a trauma center and a patient undergoing non-necessary elective surgery will result in different standards of care for the medical team because the circumstances surrounding the situation can be controlled. Therefore, it is very difficult to define negligence and this scares physicians because the definition is not set.

I have mentioned how important the standard of care is before, and it cannot be truer in discussing liability. It really is the king of the case. Establishing the standard of care can prevent liability of a doctor or completely create liability that may not have actually been there before.

The bottom line to physicians who are afraid of being liable in a New York medical malpractice lawsuit is to practice carefully, be vigilant and responsible, and practice medicine in a manner consistent with the professional ethics of your hospital and health care community.

But what do you think? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com . You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.