Medical Malpractice

The attorneys at Law Office of Joseph C. Borsellino, LLC of Dedham, MA represent persons who are injured or whose loved ones are killed due to medical malpractice. Individuals and families whose lives are torn by medical malpractice need an attorney to help them understand the merits of their claims and to advocate for them against the well-funded medical and insurance industry.

A skilled lawyer must determine whether errors in medicine lead to injury or death due to a failure to diagnose and treat a life-threatening condition, the administration of improper medication or overdose, the misread of diagnostic testing, the failure to prevent infection, surgical error, inadequate treatment by an unqualified person, careless delivery of a child, failure to supervise a vulnerable patient or other form of medical malpractice.

Medical injuries may be caused by the error of one practitioner or a combination of medical providers. Hospitals and medical facilities are liable for the negligence of their employees. Many doctors, however, are declared to be independent contractors and therefore not the employees of medical corporations. Massachusetts health care providers tend to be insured by a common core of malpractice insurance companies.

Proving medical malpractice requires intensive, fact specific analysis by experts in the same field of medicine of the care givers who are believed to have acted below the standard of care doctors are held to in their medical communities. Medical malpractice cases may require the input of several doctors to prove negligence, the causal relationship of injury and the extent of damages of the patient.

Medical malpractice cases are governed by statutes unique to medical torts. Massachusetts requires that medical malpractice cases, unlike general negligence, be screened by a malpractice tribunal before being allowed to proceed to a jury trial. A skilled attorney and medical substantiation of a patient’s claim or that of their surviving estate is essential to persuading a tribunal. Malpractices cases are subject to a general three years statute of limitations however special cases may allow additional time for children and victims who could not reasonably have discovered the negligence until sometime after it happened. Attorney fees and certain damages are regulated by statute. Many hospitals, which are considered charities by law, and state institutions, are protected by damage caps. Fortunately, doctors and other medical professionals usually have significant medical malpractice insurance.

Attorney Borsellino has successfully handled a variety of medical negligence cases ranging from a doctor’s failure to warn a patient of the risks of administered medication, inappropriate emergency care, injury to a patient by medical instrumentation, improper handling of an elderly patient at fall risk to the administration of improper doses of contraindicated medication. Attorney Borsellino was a contributing author to an amicus brief on behalf of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Lawyers to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 2005 which helped expand Massachusetts medical malpractice law to hold doctors liable for injuries caused when their patients foreseeably injure third parties due to the doctors failure to warn his/her patient against the adverse effects of that medication.

If you believe that you or your loved one has been injured by medical malpractice, all Law Office of Joseph C. Borsellino, LLC at 781-329-9500 or complete our contact form.