New York City Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider fails to meet accepted medical standards, resulting in injury or death. These cases often involve serious, life-altering harm and require detailed investigation, expert review, and experienced legal advocacy.

Silver & Kelmachter, LLP, represents patients and their families throughout New York who have been injured by medical negligence. We handle complex malpractice cases involving catastrophic injury, permanent disability, and wrongful death, and we pursue accountability through settlement negotiations and trial when necessary. With decades experience, our skilled trial lawyers know how to build strong cases and ensure careless providers take responsibility.

What Qualifies As Medical Malpractice In New York?

Medical malpractice happens when a doctor, nurse or other health professional fails to follow the usual standard of care, causing serious injury or death. These cases cover many mistakes and require detailed investigation and expert opinions.

Diagnostic Errors

One common type of malpractice is when doctors make mistakes in figuring out what’s wrong with a patient. This can delay or stop the proper treatment. We handle cases like:

• Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis (like missing cancer or a stroke)
• Misreading lab results, such as X-rays or blood tests
• Not checking a patient’s medical history

Medication And Prescription Mistakes

Mistakes with medicines can lead to allergic reactions, organ damage or even death. Our team helps people hurt by:

• Getting the wrong medication
• Being given the wrong dose

Birth Injuries And Obstetric Malpractice

When doctors or nurses don’t act quickly or carefully during childbirth, it can cause lifelong problems for the mother or baby. Some common cases involving injuries to the baby include:

• Failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome
• Improper fetal monitoring during labor
• Birth injuries, including brain and nerve injuries, hypoxia, bleeding in the brain, cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy (brachial plexus palsy), facial paralysis, Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), shoulder dystocia, spinal cord injuries or broken bones
• Birth trauma from excessive force
• Incorrect use of tools like forceps or vacuums
• Improper genetic testing

Some common cases involving injuries to the mother include:

• Tears and pelvic floor damage
• Uterine rupture or prolapse
• Hemorrhage and organ damage
• Nerve damage
• Infections
• Preeclampsia/eclampsia

Surgical And Post-Surgical Errors

Mistakes during surgery can cause serious harm or long-term disabilities. We represent people hurt by:

• Wrong-site surgery/operating on the wrong body part
• Unnecessary surgeries
• Retained surgical instruments (leaving surgical tools inside the body)
• Contraindicated surgeries
• Perforations and other errors during procedures like endoscopy and colonoscopy
• Failure to obtain informed consent, including advising patient of risks, benefits and alternatives of procedures

Emergency Room And Equipment Failures

In busy places like emergency rooms, mistakes happen too often. We handle cases involving:

• Failing to diagnose and treat emergent or urgent conditions
• Poor management or neglect in the emergency room
• Failing to admit a patient to the hospital
• Improperly discharging from the hospital

New York Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations

Cases are carefully reviewed with independent medical experts. If we find malpractice, we build and file a claim that shows how the mistake caused your injuries.

Importantly, in New York, medical malpractice claims are governed by strict and complex deadlines which are called Statutes of Limitation. Missing a deadline can permanently bar an otherwise valid case, which is why it is critical to speak with an attorney as soon as malpractice is suspected. Most medical malpractice lawsuits in New York must be filed within 2½ years (30 months) from the date of the negligent act or omission.

Key Exceptions and Special Rules:

• Claims against public hospitals and municipal entities: Cases involving public hospitals, municipal hospitals, or other government-run healthcare providers are subject to much shorter and more rigid deadlines:
  • A Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days of the malpractice
  • The lawsuit must be commenced within 1 year and 90 days
• Claims against federally funded health care providers: Medical malpractice cases involving federally funded clinics or healthcare providers follow federal law, not New York state law. In these cases, claims are governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and have different deadlines and procedures.
  • A claim must first be filed with the appropriate federal agency within 2 years
  • A lawsuit may be filed in federal court only after the government reviews the claim
• Lavern’s Law (cancer misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose)
  For cancer cases, a lawsuit may be filed within 2½ years from the date the patient discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the malpractice, but no later than 7 years from the original negligent act
• Foreign object left in the body
  If a surgical instrument or other foreign object is left inside a patient, the lawsuit must be filed within 1 year from the date the object was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.
• Continuous treatment doctrine
  When a patient is receiving ongoing treatment for the same condition that gave rise to the malpractice, the statute of limitations may be paused until that course of treatment ends.
• Minors
  For children, the statute of limitations generally begins to run on their 18th birthday, but claims are subject to an absolute 10-year cap from the date of the malpractice.

Get The Personalized Legal Help You Deserve

Every medical malpractice case is unique, with its own facts and challenges. We give each client focused, individualized attention throughout the case. We handle matters on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we recover compensation on your behalf. Call 212-661-8400 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.