Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

Published on: March 5, 2021

Denial of Summary Judgment on Continuing Treatment Exception Affirmed on Appeal by New York Court

In some Syracuse medical malpractice cases, there is but a single defendant. This could be a family doctor who ignored a patient’s symptoms of a life-threatening emergency medical condition, resulting in the patient’s death, or it could be a surgeon who negligently left medical instruments inside a patient’s body, resulting in serious bodily injury.

In most cases, however, there are multiple defendants. Sometimes these defendants are connected, such as an emergency room doctor and the hospital at which he or she provided care.

There are also cases in which the various defendants’ were not connected, except in the sense that they each provided care to the same patient. These factors can complicate matters such as the statute of limitations and whether the continuous treatment doctrine has been established if the complaint was filed beyond the ordinary deadline and an exception is sought.

Published on: February 21, 2021

High School Baseball Player Assumed Risk of Multiple Balls in Play at Practice, Says New York Court

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Many Syracuse personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits are brought by individuals asserting that other people have been negligent. “Negligence” simply means that someone has breached a duty of care owed to another person, thereby causing damages.

Negligence cases can also be filed against businesses and governmental entities – even school districts (both public and private). The inquiry is the same: was a duty breached, causing harm to the plaintiff? If so, the plaintiff can seek compensation for things like medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.

Of course, there are some potential defenses to a negligence claim. Once such defense is that the plaintiff knew and understood the risks of a certain activity and chose to engage in it anyway. A defendant who can prove “assumption of the risk” may have a good legal argument against being held responsible for harm to a plaintiff who might otherwise be entitled to substantial financial compensation.

Published on: February 16, 2021

Continuous Treatment Doctrine Did Not Save Patient’s Medical Negligence Claim Against a New York Hospital

by Jeff DeFrancisco

The Legislature of the State of New York has codified the limitations period for a Syracuse medical malpractice lawsuit. This means that, generally speaking, someone who is hurt by the mistake of a doctor or other healthcare professional must file a claim within that time period, or else his or her right to seek money damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other losses caused by the doctor’s mistake is forfeited.

However, it is important to note that there are exceptions to the general limitations period. Some exceptions, such as the continuous treatment doctrine, can potentially extend the period for filing suit. Likewise, there may be certain circumstances that result in a shorter effective limitations period. If you believe that you have a claim for medical negligence, it is important to talk to an attorney as soon as possible so that appropriate measures can be taken to preserve your claim.

(Notably, the statute of limitations may be different if you were treated in another state. In some states, the period for filing a claim can be substantially shorter (or potentially longer), so it is important to get legal advice that is state-specific.)

Published on: February 14, 2021

New York Woman’s Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death Suit Dismissed on Statute of Limitations Grounds

by Jeff DeFrancisco

If you have suffered injuries or lost a loved one due to the negligence of a healthcare provider, you should know that you have a limited amount of time to file a claim seeking money damages from the responsible individual, group, or hospital. This time period is referred to as the “statute of limitations” or “limitations period.”

Calculating the exact deadline for filing a Syracuse medical malpractice claim (or, for that matter, a wrongful death or personal injury claim) can be tricky, so it is important to talk to a lawyer about your case as soon as possible. An attorney knowledgeable in negligence law can help make sure your claim is timely filed after talking with you about the details of your case.

Each case is unique when it comes to the statute of limitations because, while there are general guidelines about timeliness, there are also situations in which a filing period can be shortened or extended. It is, thus, imperative that you can legal advice about your case as soon as you can. Cases not filed in a timely manner are likely to be dismissed, with the plaintiff receiving nothing for his or her injuries or loved one’s wrongful death.

Published on: February 7, 2021

New York Court Denies Summary Judgment to Medical Providers Accused of Delayed Diagnosis in Cancer Case

by Jeff DeFrancisco

A delayed cancer diagnosis can be very costly to a patient. Lost time can greatly impact a patient’s treatment options and ultimate chance of recovery.

When this happens, the patient or his or her family may have the option of filing a Syracuse medical malpractice lawsuit against the physician whose negligence caused the delay. In some instances, multiple medical providers may be held accountable for the patient’s damages.

In oncology malpractice cases, as in other types of medical malpractice lawsuits, it is the plaintiff who has the burden of proof at trial. This requires expert testimony in most cases, usually from a doctor in the same specialty (or, sometimes, in a similar field) as the allegedly negligent medical provider.

Published on: January 28, 2021

In Medical Malpractice Case Asserting Failure to Diagnose Liver Cancer, Summary Judgment Denied by New York Court

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Syracuse Medical malpractice cases can involve many different claims, including a failure to diagnose allegation. When a plaintiff asserts a failure to diagnose claim, he or she is not saying that it is necessarily the doctor’s fault that that patient contracted the illness but that, because of a delay in a proper diagnosis and treatment, the patient suffered irreparable harm.

On the one hand, it might seem unfair to blame a physician for a disease that he or she did not cause or create. However, it must be remembered that the doctor’s job was to properly evaluate and treat the patient and that the patient was depending on (and paying for) a correct diagnosis to help him or her make proper decisions regarding medical care.

When a doctor misses a diagnosis, especially a diagnosis of a fast-moving and potentially deadly disease such as cancer, the mistake can be extremely costly to the patient. It may cost him or her a large amount of (otherwise unnecessary) medical costs, or it may ultimately cost the patient his or her life. For this harm, the medical provider must be held accountable.

Published on: January 23, 2021

New York Woman’s Surgical Malpractice Case Should Not Have Been Dismissed on Summary Judgment

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Motions for summary judgment are common in Syracuse medical malpractice cases. Summary judgment is a pre-trial procedure in which one party or the other (but usually the defendant) asks the court to award judgment to that party on the basis that there are no genuine issues of material fact on one or more claims.

If a court grants summary judgment, it is in effect saying that, even if any questionable evidence is construed in the light favoring the party opposing the motion, there really isn’t anything to fight about. In other words, a jury trial is not necessary because there are not any material facts that must be resolved.

When summary judgment is granted, the losing party has the right to seek appellate review of the lower’s court’s decision. When summary judgment is denied, sometimes there is an immediate appeal but, in some situations, the issue is addressed during the post-trial phase of the case.

Published on: January 18, 2021

New York Woman’s Medical Malpractice Case Against Hospital and Others Dismissed on Appeal

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Each Syracuse medical malpractice case rests on its own unique set of facts. In some cases, it is alleged that a doctor failed to make a proper medical diagnosis and that a patient was harmed or died as a result.

Other cases pertain to procedures that were allegedly carried out in a careless or negligent fashion. Sometimes, the mistake may be glaringly obvious, such as a situation in which the wrong body part was removed or medical tools were left inside a patient’s body cavity. In other cases, an expert witness must painstakingly explain the alleged error to the jury so that they can understand the applicable standard of care and the manner in which it was supposedly breached.

Another possible claim in a medical negligence case involves a lack of informed consent. Under New York law, a physician or other medical professional has certain duties to explain both the risks and benefits of a particular medical procedure to a patient prior to him or her agreeing to such treatment.

Published on: January 15, 2021

New York Court Considers Appropriateness of Verdict in Favor of Woman Who Was Injured in Incident at Mall

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Tragedy can strike in just a moment. One minute, someone is driving down the road, going in for a routine medical procedure, or even standing in the parking lot of a mall, and the next minute their life is changed forever.

When someone is hurt because of another’s failure to take reasonable care as required by law, the injured individual has a right to seek compensation via a personal injury or negligence lawsuit. While the burden of proof at trial in a Syracuse personal injury case is on the plaintiff, it is quite possible that he or she can be awarded a considerable amount of money in compensation for the injuries suffered due to the defendant’s negligence or carelessness.

Of course, as with any other remedy awarded by a trial court, it is possible that the plaintiff will have to continue the fight in the appellate courts. Defendants may have one or several alleged errors that they believe entitle them to a reversal of the trial court’s entry of judgment on the verdict, a downward adjustment of the verdict, or other relief.

Published on: January 8, 2021

New York Appellate Tribunal Rejects Snow and Ice Cleaning Contractor’s Request for Summary Judgment in Slip and Fall Lawsuit

by Jeff DeFrancisco

Property owners are not liable for every injury that happens on their premises. For instance, it would be unlikely that liability would lie with a property owner in a Syracuse premises liability lawsuit in which a passerby was struck by a limb blown down by tornadic or hurricane-force winds.

However, if a particular accident was reasonably foreseeable to the property owner, liability may indeed be imposed. In the example of the downed limb, the landowner might become liable if the injured person could prove that the limb in question was from a dead tree that, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have been cut down months or even years before the plaintiff’s injury and could have been blown down by much less severe winds. In other words, maybe that tree branch was “an accident just waiting to happen.”

Snow and ice are also natural events about which a property owner’s liability depends very much on the circumstances of a particular accident. In some situations, others besides the landowner may also be held liable.