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Professional negligence (or "malpractice") refers to any situation in which a professional provider of services, such as a doctor, dentist or attorney, has
furnished those services in a way that falls below the standard of care set for that particular person acting in that set of circumstances.
Many people believe they are the victims of malpractice when, upon closer inspection, they are not.
Professionals are not required to be perfect in rendering their services.
They simply are not allowed to perform those services below the standard of care for a reasonable professional acting under the same set of facts.
For example, if a doctor in an emergency room cuts off the wrong leg, he would clearly be liable for medical malpractice.
If that same doctor, however, diagnosed a patient with a certain type of illness, but the person actually had a different illness
which had the same symptoms, the doctor might not be liable for malpractice if a reasonable doctor, operating under the same set of facts,
would have made the same mistake.
The most important thing to do if you feel you are the victim of malpractice is not to tell the person that you think you have a case against them.
Believe it or not, many professionals, if they are tipped off that a person wants to make a claim, will alter records or otherwise attempt to
cover their tracks, so any attempt to make a claim against them will be minimized.
For example. If a doctor or hospital is alerted to a potential claim, they will often delete the damaging information from their files
in order to make proving the claim much more difficult. Of course, this is not legal or ethical. But it is done all the time.
If you feel you may have a claim, the first and most important thing to do is to contact the Law Offices of Allan S. Field so that we can review
the facts of your claim.
Our offices have procedures for securing the proper records and getting the required expert opinions to determine if you really do have a claim.