Syracuse Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

According to a study conducted by Dr. Ramon Jimenez entitled "Do Poor People Sue Doctors More Frequently?", poor patients are less likely to sue their doctors for medical malpractice. The study has been published in the February 25, 2012 edition of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

The results of this study run counter to the notion, or misconception, that poor patients are more likely to pursue medical negligence lawsuits to obtain the proverbial "payday." It appears, instead, that poor patients file claims less because they have less access to legal counsel and often lack the finances necessary to prosecute a case.

The study also touched on an "unconscious bias" held by some physicians who refuse to treat low income patients -- that bias being that the doctor will not be paid for rendering services. The decision not to treat patients who may be hard to collect payment from may be eased, or justified, by accepting the assumption that poor patients are more likely to sue.

Bottar Leone, PLLC is a Syracuse personal injury law firm that has, for nearly three decades, represented patients from all walks of life. "We have clients who are homeless, as well as clients who are very successful. We even have physician clients." Contact us to discuss your case or concerns with one of our New York medical malpractice lawyers.

Do you know you statistical risk for a heart attack?

The American Heart Association wants you to know so that you can control your risk factors and avoid or delay the onset of heart disease and complications like a myocardial infarction (MI). The AHA heart attack risk calculator can be found here.

Computer-based risk calculators take a number of variables into consideration, such as a person's age, gender, cholesterol levels, lifestyle, activity level, body habitus, blood pressure, and history of heart disease and diabetes. With this information, a heart attack risk calculator can estimate your chances of a problem over the next 5-10 years. "If calculators like these are available to doctors throughout the State of New York, we may see a decrease in the number of missed opportunities to intervene and save a life," said Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer Michael A. Bottar, of Bottar Leone, PLLC.

When patients report to their physician or an emergency room with complaints of chest pain, shortness of breath, jaw pain, sweating, and/or left arm pain, the heath care provider should analyze these variables and arrive at a differential diagnosis that includes the possibility of a heart attack. When doctors fail to consider and/or rule out a heart attack as a potential cause of a patient's complaints and, instead, make a diagnosis of, e.g., shoulder strain or heart burn, and the failure to diagnose a heart attack causes damage to the heart muscle (i.e., diminished ejection fraction), the patient may have a cause of action against the doctor for medical malpractice. If the patient dies following premature discharge from a hospital, the patient's family may have a cause of action for wrongful death.

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