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You suffered injury because of a doctor's wrongdoing. You're angry. You're upset. You're
frustrated. And you want to bring a lawsuit and what you want to do is get punitive damages
to punish the doctor for what he did to you. Can you get punitive damages here in the state
of New York in a medical malpractice case? Come join me as I share with you that answer.
Hi. I'm Gerry Oginski. I'm a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney
practicing law here in the state of New York. Can you get punitive damages in a medical
malpractice case? The answer is in almost every instance no. And here's why. Punitive
damages are designed to punish the person who caused you harm. In almost every instance
involving medical malpractice, the doctor is basically trying to help you. The doctor
is trying to do the right thing. And for whatever reason, the doctor may have been negligent
or careless and committed some type of wrongdoing that caused you injury. And I recognize that
you're frustrated and you're angry and that you're upset. But the proper thing is to bring
a claim for medical malpractice and negligence. But in all likelihood, if you try to bring
a claim for punitive damages chances are very good that that claim is going to get thrown
out. There are very, very instances where the courts in New York have allowed an injured
victim to bring a claim for punitive damages. Why is that? Because in order to show that
there was such horrible intentional act, you have to be able to show that the doctor did
something intentional and intended to cause you harm. Even if you are successful in showing
that the doctor intended to cause you harm and now somehow the jury awards you punitive
damages to punish financially the doctor for what he did, here's what's going to happen.
The insurance company that insures the doctor for medical malpractice (for ordinary negligence
that a doctor does) they will pay up to a maximum amount of the insurance policy. But
if there's an award for punitive damages, they're going to turn around and say Hey,
hold on a second. We are in no way responsible for paying award for paying punitive damages.
You want to do that you have to go after the doctor personally. Well good luck doing that
because in all likelihood you're not going to find that the doctor has sufficient funds
sufficient financial resources to pay that particular award and then you're going to
be stuck. So here you will have gone ahead through the process trying to bring a punitive
damages claim, you may actually have been awarded a punitive damages award that's been
upheld by an appellate court (which is very, very rare in New York) but then you're going
to have to try and extract that money from the doctor personally and that's a whole other
issue in itself. So why do I share this great information with you? I share it with you
just to give you an insight and an understanding into what goes on in the litigation process.
I recognize how you feel and I know exactly what you're going through. I handle cases
like these every single day and I truly recognize your pain. And if you have legal questions,
what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal
questions. I answer questions like yours every single day and I welcome your call. You can
reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I'm Gerry Oginski, here in New York. Have
a great day!