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Welcome and thank you for joining me. I'm Gerry Oginski, a New York medical malpractice
and personal injury trial lawyer practicing law here in the state of New York. Today's
topic is, how do lawsuits work? This is the first in a series of video tips to help you
understand the different parts of a lawsuit and how this information can help you in your
potential lawsuit. First, how does an attorney know whether or not you have a valid case?
So the first part is an evaluation of whether or not you have a valid case. The steps to
an evaluation involve two crucial questions that an attorney is going to ask you. And
especially in a medical malpractice case, those two questions are, what do you believe
was done wrong and what permanent harm did you suffer as a result of that wrongdoing?
And contained within those two important questions are three legal elements necessary for your
attorney to understand whether or not you have a possible valid medical malpractice
case. What do you think was done wrong establishes in the attorney's mind what was the departure
from good and accepted medical care. In other words what was done wrong by the doctor to
you? Did they miss something, did they diagnose something incorrectly, did they do something
to you that caused you harm? Those are the things that an attorney will need to know
in order to evaluate your case. The second part of the question is what injury did you
suffer as a result of whatever was done wrong to you? If nothing was done wrong to you than
obviously then there is no basis to proceed forward. If something was done wrong to you
then we have to show, and the legal term is causation, we have to show that that wrongdoing
was a substantial factor in causing or bringing about your injuries. So what that really means
is whether it’s more likely true than not true that the injury that you suffered is
a result of the wrongdoing that was caused to you by a doctor or a hospital. The third
element of the question that we asked a moment ago is what permanent harm did you suffer
as a result? If you suffer temporary harm it’s unlikely that an experienced medical
malpractice attorney in New York is going to take on your case. It doesn't mean you
don't have a case, it just means it’s going to be very difficult to find someone who is
willing to prosecute your action. If you suffered a long term permanent injury or disability
as a result of any wrongdoing than you have a much better chance of having an experienced
medical malpractice attorney take on your case and prosecute your matter. Once you've
met with an attorney and you've gone through the details of what you believe occurred and
what you remember happening, you're attorney is then going to obtain all of your medical
records and have them evaluated by an expert in a similar field of medicine to the doctor
or hospital that treated you. Once your attorney has had a chance to obtain information from
you about all the details that you remember happening he or she is then going to obtain
all of your medical records and then they will review all of your records and then send
the records out to a medical expert so that the expert can confirm, not just evidence
of wrongdoing, but that the wrongdoing caused injury and that the injury is significant
and permanent. In New York it is an absolute requirement that a physician has reviewed
your records and has been able to confirm that there is a basis for a case. If an expert
is unable to confirm that you have a valid basis for a case it is impossible to go forward
with a potential medical malpractice matter. To give you an idea of the length of time
it takes to get your records, it can take anywhere from a week to two months to get
all of your medical records. And it simply involves us sending off permission slips,
known as authorizations, to the hospital or to the doctor's office asking them for copies
of your medical records. Sometimes it takes a lengthy period of time other times we get
it relatively quickly. If you wish to get your records you can do so and it tends to
be quicker than if the attorney gets it. For some reason the doctors and the hospitals
tend to give the patients their records a lot quicker than they do for the attorneys.
In any event, once the records are obtained and they have been reviewed by a medical expert,
the attorney will then speak to your medical expert that he has retained in order to review
your records. That medical expert evaluation will determine whether or not the lawyer has
a valid basis to start a lawsuit on your behalf. If it turns out that there is no valid basis
to bring a lawsuit the attorney is then obligated to tell you, not just verbally, but in writing,
that he cannot accept your case and then give you your options as to what you can and cannot
do. Typically the attorney will tell you what the time limit is to bring the lawsuit and
strongly recommend that you seek advice of another attorney immediately to get another
opinion. If, after discussion with the medical expert, the attorney determines that you have
a valid basis for a case then he will advise you of the fact there has been confirmation
of wrongdoing, the wrongdoing has caused injury and the injury has resulted in a permanent
and significant disability that will now allow the attorney to bring the lawsuit on your
behalf. Join me for the next video tip, which is the continuation of the series of topics
concerning how lawsuits work. Thank you for joining me. I'm Gerry Oginski, have a great
day.