Doctors and other medical professionals devote substantial time and money to their education and training. Most of them are caring people who truly want to help. But they’re human, and they make mistakes. Sometimes, they’re reluctant to own their errors and make things right for the patient.
When a doctor’s failure to provide appropriate care causes harm to you or your family member, the seasoned personal injury attorneys at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC can help. A Connecticut medical malpractice lawyer at our firm can review your situation and tell you whether you have the grounds for a lawsuit. If so, we will put our deep legal knowledge and sharp litigation skills to work for you.
Every human body is different, and there isn’t a way to precisely predict how a particular body will respond to a specific medical intervention. Doctors and other healthcare providers can make an educated guess based on research and experience, but they can never be 100 percent sure a treatment will work or a patient won’t have an unexpected response.
A disappointing outcome doesn’t necessarily mean a healthcare professional committed malpractice. And even when a provider makes a mistake, it isn’t malpractice unless it was an unreasonable mistake that caused specific harm.
The attorneys at our Connecticut firm know how to distinguish bad outcomes from errors and reasonable mistakes or harmless errors from malpractice. Medical malpractice means the healthcare professional didn’t provide the standard of care that someone else with similar credentials would have provided, and you suffered a loss because they didn’t meet the appropriate standard of care. When a doctor commits malpractice, you deserve compensation.
There are many ways a healthcare provider can commit medical malpractice. Some of them come down to communication. When the provider doesn’t take a thorough medical history, doesn’t consider your history when making treatment decisions, or doesn’t explain the risks and benefits of treatments they’re considering, they may have committed malpractice.
Another form of malpractice is when a healthcare provider fails to use reasonable skill and judgment. Examples of this kind of malpractice include:
This is only a partial list—almost any instance of carelessness or lack of skill could be medical malpractice if it causes you harm.
When you bring a medical negligence case, you must show that the healthcare provider’s poor care caused you to suffer actual losses. So, for example, if a doctor removes a cast early but the bone still heals well, you haven’t suffered any actual losses. However, if the bone fractures again or you suffer continuing pain because the doctor stopped treatment too early, you have experienced actual losses and can sue. Our skilled Connecticut medical malpractice attorneys will prove how your healthcare provider’s mistake impacted you and caused you harm.
Statutes of limitation are laws that describe when you may bring a lawsuit. Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584 generally allows you two years from the date when your injury is discovered to file suit; but not more than three years from the date of the careless act. So, for example, if a doctor committed a surgical error that damaged your health, you have two years from the date when you discover your injury to file your lawsuit against the surgeon but not more than three years from the date of the surgery.
When you are receiving ongoing treatment for an illness or condition, the last date of treatment is the day the two-year clock starts running. If you didn’t realize at first that you suffered harm because of your provider’s treatment, you have two years from the date you found out. However, you can’t bring a malpractice lawsuit more than three years after the last treatment date.
Malpractice filings are complicated and take time to prepare. A Connecticut lawyer must get an objective opinion from a medical professional that there is evidence of malpractice before filing a lawsuit. You can preserve your right to sue by contacting a legal professional as soon as you suspect your healthcare provider committed malpractice.
Patients like you who have suffered harm at the hands of their healthcare providers have been turning to D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC for decades. We provide the experience and personalized support you deserve.
Contact us to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation consultation with a Connecticut medical malpractice lawyer. We will review what happened and give you our honest opinion about whether you have a strong case. Call today.
