A Weitz and Luxenberg medical malpractice lawyer can help you get the justice and compensation you deserve if you have been injured by substandard medical care. Please fill out the form on this page for a free legal consultation.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical Malpractice is defined as negligence or carelessness on the part of any medical professional, such as a doctor, nurse or other health care provider. Such negligence leads to serious injuries or even death. A medical professional is held to a high standard of performance and if they, for whatever reason, fail to adequately meet or exceed that standard, the consequences can be calamitous for their patients.
The following are just a handful of examples of medical malpractice:
To Err May Be Human, But Medical Malpractice Is Inexcusable
Weitz and Luxenberg: A Leading Medical Malpractice Law Firm
Weitz and Luxenberg is dedicated to holding doctors and other medical professionals accountable for the senseless trauma they inflict on patients due to poor performance. Our firm has successfully fought for people affected by the mistakes of a negligent medical professional. It is unfortunate when anyone, irrespective of age, receives substandard medical care, but it is especially heartbreaking when the victim is a defenseless child who has yet to realize his or her potential in life.
Below are two examples of the verdicts Weitz and Luxenberg secured on behalf of two young children, whose lives were forever changed due to medical malpractice.
Weitz and Luxenberg Wins $8 Million in Obstetrical Malpractice Case
King’s County, New York
Weitz and Luxenberg secured $8 million on behalf of a young child who suffered brain damage due to a traumatic and delayed delivery. Today, he lives with intractable seizure disorder, an illness which causes uncontrollable seizures that cannot be treated with medication.
One of the medical professionals who was on hand during the baby’s delivery, noticed that the child’s face was stuck in the birth canal. When she conveyed this information to the doctor, he summarily dismissed her concerns and insisted that a cesarean section was not necessary.
The baby boy was subsequently forced face first through the birth canal, resulting in facial abrasions. In addition to the scars, the boy suffered extreme neurological trauma as a result of oxygen deprivation. This lack of oxygen led to the illness from which he now suffers.
The $8 million awarded to the boy’s family will help his young parents finance his expensive medical treatments.
Weitz and Luxenberg Wins $6 Million in Pediatric Malpractice Case
Rockland County, New York
At two and a half, one little girl has already endured more trauma than any one person should have to in their lifetime.
Instead of having the chance to grow and develop like other babies, she spent much of her first year in and out of the hospital, receiving treatment and therapies for serious ailments. Her suffering could have been entirely prevented were it not for negligent medical professionals.
Following her birth, the girl developed meningitis after being exposed to the Group B Streptococcus (GBS) virus. Six weeks later, burning with fever, the she was taken by her mother to the pediatrician, who failed to read the pre-natal records, which indicated that the girl had been exposed to GBS while her mother was pregnant.
Antibiotics could have easily eliminated the GBS infection, but shockingly, they were not administered. This led to disastrous consequences for the girl, who must live with mental retardation and intractable seizure disorder for the rest of her life.
The $6 million awarded to the child’s family will help mitigate the overwhelming cost of caring for her, but it cannot remedy the errors already made.
“It is shocking to think that a pediatrician would withhold antibiotics to such a sick baby,” said Allan Zelikovic, the head of the Medical Malpractice Unit at Weitz and Luxenberg. “There can be no good explanation, especially since the results are so very tragic.”
Types of Medical Malpractice
Anesthesia Complications: Errors in anesthesia can be torturous. People have reported instances of being awake, but paralyzed during a lengthy, painful surgery because of an error made by the anesthesiologist. These experiences have left people traumatized, and often they have required extensive psychiatric treatment in order to cope.
Birth Injury: No parent should ever have to face the ordeal of handling the injury of their newborn child. Unfortunately, birth injuries are not uncommon and can result in an assortment of life-long complications including brachial plexus palsy and erb’s palsy.
Brachial Plexus Palsy: The brachial plexus is a cluster of particularly sensitive nerves that reaches from the spine to the arms and hands. Brachial plexus palsy is the loss of feeling or mobility in any of those areas (arms, hands, neck, etc.). This can result from unwarranted stretching or compression of an infant’s head or shoulders.
Cancer Misdiagnosis: When it comes to cancer, it is so important to be correct in your diagnosis. Doctors that fail to detect cancer can be just as damaging to your health as doctors that diagnose you with cancer you do not have. Patients have either been passed the point of saving because doctors have failed to diagnose them with cancer in a timely manner, or they received painful, damaging, and unnecessary treatments for a cancer they never had.
Cerebral Palsy: This is another life-long disorder that is often caused by a birth injury. Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term that defines a paralysis of certain areas of the body related to the cerebrum area of the brain.
Wrongful Death: A particularly egregious medical error is one that results in the untimely death of the patient. No matter the circumstance, health care providers are supposed to prolong life, not take it away.
Erb’s Palsy: This is another palsy often caused by an injury sustained during birth. Erb’s palsy refers to the paralysis of the arm. An error that results in life-long paralysis like this warrants a lawsuit. The compensation you can receive can go towards providing a better future for your child.
Failure to Diagnose: An unmade diagnosis can result in drastic injuries including paralysis, amputation, and even death. If you sought advice from a health care provider who did not diagnose your illness or injury in a timely manner, and this resulted in serious injury, contact Weitz & Luxenberg for help.
Foreign Object: A foreign object forgotten inside the body after surgery is not as uncommon as a person might think. In this section, we illuminate this serious medical error and give information on how we can help you pursue compensation.
Hospital Error: Hospitals are supposed to be a place of peaceful convalescence, but there are countless instances of injuries sustained inside hospitals because of neglect, unsanitary conditions, or errors performed by health care providers. Mixed up blood tests, confusion, misread handwriting, and forgetfulness are just some of the ways hospitals can make devastating errors.
Hydrocephalus: This is a serious condition involving an excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. Hydrocephalus happens after an injury or surgical trauma causes your natural cerebrospinal fluid to collect in the area of the brain. Misdiagnosing this condition can devastating. Whereas, a person properly diagnosed can be cured shortly, a person misdiagnosed can retain hydrocephalus symptoms like impaired memory and speech for years.
Informed Consent: In 1998, a law passed in the United States that required all health care providers to disclose the full extent of medical options and risks involved with treatments to patients. All patients must consent to treatment willingly and with informed knowledge of risks and alternatives. This protects our rights as patients and gives us the freedom to do what we please in terms of our health. Any health care provider that violates this must be held accountable.
Medication Error: There are so many things that can go wrong when prescribing medication. Failure to take into consideration allergies, other medications a patient is taking, general confusion, and misreading handwriting are all examples of possible complications that can result in: overdose, allergic reactions, or other serious injuries.
Pain and Suffering: This is a term that is often used by lawyers when trying to seek compensation for expenses other than bills. It is necessary to take pain and suffering into account because simply reimbursing a victim of medical malpractice for their past and future expenses does not provide justice for the ordeal the individual had to go through. Pain and suffering refers to the undeserved agony put on to someone by another’s mistake. Weitz & Luxenberg takes pain and suffering into careful consideration when handling a lawsuit. We want to help you get just compensation for your injuries.
Paraplegia: This is an awful condition that can result from medical malpractice. Paraplegia refers to the loss of the ability to use one’s lower extremities. Individuals stricken with paraplegia must drastically change the course of their life. Often a person is confined to a wheelchair and this can negatively affect his or her: career, mobility, ability to drive, quality of life, mental state, and many more areas of life. Weitz & Luxenberg want to help those who have been needlessly stricken with paraplegia.
Podiatric Malpractice: Having healthy feet means performing our job well, exercising, dancing, and so much more. Podiatric malpractice can be crippling. Those that have had poor quality or negligent podiatric procedures that have resulted in serious injuries have the right to pursue compensation.
Quadriplegia: This is a condition where an afflicted individual losses the ability to move all of his or her extremities. People who suffer quadriplegia have very limited mobility left, and often need help in their daily life. Weitz & Luxenberg can help you seek compensation, which can go towards hired help, therapy, and pain and suffering.
Surgical Error: Mistakes made during surgery can be broken down into three categories: Commission, where the surgeon operates on the wrong area of the body; Omission, where the surgeon fails to provide proper treatment; and Execution, where the surgeon performs the operation poorly. Any one of these can result in serious injury, and even cause untimely death.
Affected By Medical Malpractice? Contact Weitz and Luxenberg Today
If you have suffered at the hands of a negligent medical professional or professionals, you have the right to seek justice and compensation. Our successful track record proves that we are the firm that can most effectively help you build your medical malpractice case. Please fill out the form on this page and a Weitz and Luxenberg will be in touch with you to discuss your legal options. The legal consultation is free and there is no fee unless you win. All of your information will be regarded as confidential.
For more medical malpractice verdicts and settlements, please see our Verdicts and Settlements Page
Please visit the main pages of our other practice areas:
Mesothelioma
Defective Medicines and Devices
Acknowledgements:
The Cancer Cure Foundation: http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm
The Journal of the American Medical Foundation: http://jama.ama-assn.org/
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