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A patient calls my office and says that the doctor failed to diagnose his fracture and
they want to know do they have a basis for a case? Would you like to learn more about
this and why I'm asking this question? Come join me as I share with you this great information.
Hi. I'm Gerry Oginski. I'm a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer
practicing law here in the state of New York. Today it's a beautiful, wintery day here in
Great Neck. It's freezing outside. I decided I wanted to share some great information with
you. It's nice and warm here, I've got the fireplace going. I'm nice and comfortable.
The answer is going to depend on a couple of things. So now that you believe that the
doctor delayed your diagnosis, let's say you were seen in the emergency room and they said
not a problem you were just bruised, you don't have any fracture. You continue to have pain
and a week later you go to an orthopedist. Your orthopedist evaluates you, takes an x-ray
and says of course you have a fracture. The key question is if the condition had been
diagnosed earlier, would your outcome or the treatment be any different? That's the key.
That's what's going to determine whether or not you may have a valid basis for a case.
Because if the treatment is the same, a week later, then in all likelihood there's nothing
that we can do to help. If the outcome is also going to be the same -- despite of the
one week delay -- again it's going to be very challenging to show to a jury that (1) the
doctor departed from good and accepted care and as a result of that you suffered significant
injury or harm. Because remember, even though there may have been a delay in diagnosis and
treatment. The key question is how would your outcome, how would the treatment, been any
different? There have been instances where a doctor has failed to diagnose a condition
such as a fracture and now much time has gone on and now when it's finally diagnosed the
patient would then need surgery to correct the problem and now they're going to have
to go to rehabilitation, have surgery to fix the problem and now that will extend the time
in which to heal the bone and there may be other problems as well. So the question always
in these types of delay in diagnosis or treatment cases is would the treatment or outcome have
been any different if the condition were timely and properly diagnosed when you presented
with the problem. You know, I realize you're watching this video because you have questions
or concerns about your own particular matter. Well if your matter happened here in New York
and you do have legal questions, what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me.
I can answer your legal questions. This is something that I do every single day and I'd
love to talk to you. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email at Gerry@Oginski-law.com. That's
it for today's quick video. I'm Gerry Oginski, have a wonderful day!