Glens Falls Hospital

Glens Falls Hospital is a rural community hospital that is bigger than 90% of hospitals around the country in terms of its services. Services it offers include a cancer center, maternity care, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, an emergency department, interventional radiology, laboratory services, medical imaging, occupational therapy, neurodiagnostics, an infusion center, a sleep disorders lab, speech language therapy, ENT, a nutrition center, behavioral health, and a diabetes center. Doctors and staff at any hospital may at times make errors. If you believe you or a loved one were injured by an error made at a facility such as Glens Falls Hospital, the experienced Glens Falls medical malpractice attorneys of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano can help you determine your next steps.

Doctors, nurses and hospital staff can make errors when diagnosing, treating or following up, and the results can include catastrophic injuries or even death. Sometimes these errors can impact the rest of a patient’s life, leaving him or her disabled or worse. You may not be certain that the harm you experienced is malpractice. It is important to consult with a knowledgeable medical malpractice lawyer serving Glens Falls regarding what happened to you and whether you have a viable claim to recover damages from the responsible party. You have just 2 ½ years from the date of the conduct that resulted in your disease or injuries to sue for medical malpractice.

There are many different forms of medical malpractice that occur in hospitals that provide the wide array of services provided by Glens Falls Hospital. These include failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, failure to treat appropriately, surgical mistakes, and birth injuries. For example, if you go in to see a doctor about a lump in your breast, and he fails to order the appropriate imaging, and therefore misses a cancer diagnosis, you may progress to a more advanced stage of cancer and have a malpractice claim. In other situations, an inappropriate differential diagnosis occurs or improper tests are conducted. Sometimes imaging or test results are misinterpreted.

Surgical errors may be obvious. For example, if a doctor amputates the wrong leg or leaves a sponge inside your body, these are negligent acts that should never happen. However, there are also other surgical errors that are more nuanced, involving, for example, a failure to properly respond to a patient in crisis on the operating table.

Medical malpractice requires proof of highly specific elements. To prevail on your claim, you will need to show: (1) a professional standard of care was owed to you, (2) the doctor breached the professional standard of care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. The professional standard of care is tied to the accepted standards and practices of the medical community. The breach could be a misdiagnosis, a surgical error, or errors in post-operative monitoring. If these breaches cause injuries, a health care provider may be held responsible in a medical malpractice lawsuit. A seasoned Glens Falls medical malpractice attorney can assess whether the facts of your case may meet these elements.

Medical malpractice lawsuits often turn into battles of experts. Experts will be retained by both sides on the question of what the professional standard of care was under the circumstances, breach of the professional standard of care, and causation. Rule 3012-a requires you to file a certificate of merit with the complaint you file. The certificate of merit needs to say you reviewed the lawsuit and consulted with at least one medical expert who is licensed to practice, and that you reasonably believe the expert knows about the pertinent medical matters, and that based on consulting with the medical expert, you have concluded you have a reasonable basis to sue.

If a patient can show a hospital has liability, he or she can recover for compensatory damages. Compensatory damages may include both economic and noneconomic losses.

Hospitals like Glens Falls Hospital can be busy places, and mistakes do happen. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano can help you evaluate your possible claims. Please call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.