You went to a doctor or a hospital because you needed help. Instead, something went wrong, and now you are the one living with the damage: another surgery, a diagnosis that came too late, a child who will need care for life. You are not looking for a legal lecture. You want to know whether what happened was preventable and who will answer for it.
Our NYC medical malpractice lawyers at Washor Kool Sosa Maiorana & Schwartz, LLP represent patients and families across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island after preventable medical negligence.
We investigate whether a doctor, nurse, or hospital fell below the accepted standard of care, and we pursue full compensation when they did. Our attorneys have recovered over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements, and every consultation is free.
Call (212) 406-1700 for a free case review, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Is Medical Negligence the Same as Medical Malpractice in New York?
Yes. In New York, "medical negligence" and "medical malpractice" describe the same legal claim: a healthcare provider failed to act the way a reasonably careful provider in the same field would have, and a patient was injured as a result. A New York court treats them as one claim with one set of rules.
Where the distinction actually matters:
- Medical negligence is the mistake itself: the missed test result, the wrong dose, the surgery that started too late.
- Medical malpractice is the legal claim that grows out of that mistake once it causes real, lasting harm.
- A mistake that causes no injury is negligence without malpractice. Courts will not award compensation for a near miss.
- An ordinary negligence claim against a hospital (a fall in a hallway, for example) follows a different filing deadline than a malpractice claim. Which label applies changes how much time you have.
The hospital's insurer knows those deadlines on day one. You should too; they are spelled out below.
Do I Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer to Sue a Hospital or Doctor in NYC?
In nearly every case, yes. New York does not let a medical malpractice lawsuit move forward on a patient's word alone. Before the case is filed, the attorney must certify that a qualified physician has reviewed the records and found a reasonable basis for the claim. That rule, found in CPLR 3012-a, means a malpractice case starts with medical proof, not accusations.
What You Must Prove in a New York Medical Malpractice Case
Every claim comes down to four questions, and the defense will fight you on each one:
- Duty: Did a doctor-patient or hospital-patient relationship exist?
- Departure: Did the provider depart from the accepted standard of care?
- Causation: Did that departure, and not your underlying condition, cause the injury?
- Damages: What did the injury cost you, physically and financially?
We wrote a full explainer on what you must prove in a malpractice case if you want the detail. The short version: causation is where most cases are won or lost, and proving it takes physicians willing to testify against other physicians.
How Our Malpractice Attorneys Build the Medical Proof
- Obtain the complete chart, including nursing notes, imaging, lab results, and the electronic audit trail that shows who viewed what and when
- Retain physicians in the same field as the provider who treated you to review the care
- Reconstruct a timeline of what was known, when it was known, and when action should have been taken
- Identify every responsible party, including the hospital, attending physicians, residents, and outside contractors
- Calculate lifetime costs with economists and life-care planners before any settlement conversation begins
Hospitals in New York City are defended by law firms that do nothing but this work. You deserve the same level of preparation on your side.
What Types of Medical Negligence Cases Do Our NYC Malpractice Lawyers Handle?
We represent patients injured in every kind of medical setting across the five boroughs, from major academic medical centers in Manhattan to community hospitals in Brooklyn and the Bronx to urgent care clinics and private practices. If a provider's error changed the course of your health, we want to hear about it.
- Hospital negligence claims involving emergency room errors, understaffing, infection control failures, and unsafe discharges
- Surgical errors, including wrong-site surgery, anesthesia injuries, and instruments or sponges left inside the body
- Failure to diagnose cancer and other delayed diagnoses that cost patients treatment options
- Birth injuries and OB/GYN malpractice affecting mothers and newborns
- Medication errors in hospitals, pharmacies, and nursing facilities
- Missed strokes, heart attacks, sepsis, and pulmonary embolisms
- Wrongful death caused by medical malpractice
Your medical records already exist. The question is whether anyone is reading them for you. Call (212) 406-1700 or request a free case review online.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Claim in New York?
Most New York medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within two years and six months of the negligent act, or of the last date of continuous treatment for the same condition by the same provider. That deadline comes from CPLR 214-a. It is shorter than the three-year limit for ordinary injury cases, and courts rarely excuse a late filing.
Exceptions that change the clock:
- Foreign objects: If a sponge, clamp, or instrument was left inside you during a procedure, you have one year from the date you discovered it, or reasonably should have.
- Missed cancer diagnosis: Under Lavern's Law, you have two years and six months from the date you discovered, or should have discovered, that cancer or a malignant tumor was missed, with an outer limit of seven years from the negligent act.
- Wrongful death: Two years from the date of death.
The court system publishes a statute of limitations chart, but the exceptions above are where cases are saved or lost. Let us calculate your deadline.
What If the Malpractice Happened at a NYC Public Hospital?
Claims against NYC Health + Hospitals facilities, including Bellevue, Elmhurst, Jacobi, Kings County, Lincoln, and Woodhull, run on a much faster track. A formal notice of claim must be served within 90 days of the malpractice, and the lawsuit itself generally must be filed within one year and 90 days. Missing the 90-day notice can end an otherwise strong case before it starts.
- Notice of claim: 90 days from the malpractice
- Lawsuit deadline: one year and 90 days
- The hospital may require a sworn pre-suit hearing before the case proceeds
Medical Malpractice Deadlines for Injured Children
When the patient is a child, the deadline is paused until age 18, but New York caps that pause at ten years from the date of the malpractice. The 90-day notice rule for public hospitals is not paused at all. Parents of children injured at birth should not wait to get answers.
What Does a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in NYC Cost?
Nothing up front, and no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. Medical malpractice cases in New York are handled on a contingency basis, and the percentage an attorney may charge is set by state law on a sliding scale that decreases as the recovery grows. The larger your recovery, the smaller the share that goes to legal fees.
What that means for you:
- The consultation is free, with no obligation to hire us
- We advance the case costs, including physician reviews and record retrieval. Our fee is a percentage of the net recovery, calculated after case expenses are deducted
- You will see every number in writing before you sign anything
What Should I Expect From a Medical Malpractice Case in Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx?
Expect a thorough investigation before anything is filed, a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the county where the malpractice occurred, and a process measured in years rather than months. Hospitals and their insurers rarely settle early. The cases that resolve well are the ones prepared for trial from the first day.
How the process typically unfolds:
- Free consultation and record request. We gather every page of your chart, not just the discharge summary.
- Physician review. A doctor in the same field evaluates whether the care departed from accepted standards.
- Filing. The complaint is filed in Supreme Court in Kings County (Brooklyn), Queens County, Bronx County, New York County (Manhattan), or Richmond County (Staten Island), along with the required certificate of merit.
- Discovery. Both sides exchange records and take depositions, and the defense examines you through its own physicians.
- Negotiation or trial. Many cases settle after discovery. Ours are prepared as if they will not.
Our attorneys handle cases in every borough and know how each county's courts move medical cases. If you were treated on Long Island, we represent patients in Nassau and Suffolk County courts as well.
What Compensation Is Available in a New York Medical Malpractice Case?
New York places no cap on the damages an injured patient may recover in a medical malpractice case. Compensation is meant to cover everything the negligence took from you, both the bills you can count and the losses you cannot.
Recoverable damages generally include:
- Past and future medical care, including corrective surgery, rehabilitation, home nursing, and equipment
- Lost income and reduced ability to earn
- Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life
- For families, wrongful death damages such as funeral costs and lost financial support
Even if a provider argues that you contributed to your own injury, for example by delaying follow-up care, New York's comparative fault rule reduces your award rather than eliminating it.
Why Choose Washor Kool Sosa Maiorana & Schwartz, LLP for Your NYC Medical Malpractice Claim?
- Results that belong to the attorneys handling your case. Our attorneys have recovered over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements for injured clients.
- A selective caseload. We take on fewer cases so each one gets attorney-level attention and full trial preparation.
- New York City focus. From the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan, our attorneys appear in courts across the five boroughs and Long Island.
- Free consultations, 24/7. Call any time. You will reach someone who can evaluate your case, not a call center script.
NYC Medical Malpractice Lawyer FAQs
Can I sue a hospital for a doctor's mistake in New York?
Often, yes. Hospitals are generally responsible for the negligence of their employees, including nurses, residents, and staff physicians. Whether the hospital is also liable for an independent attending doctor depends on how that doctor was presented to you and who controlled your care. We name every responsible party so no one escapes accountability.
How do I get my medical records from a NYC hospital?
New York law gives you the right to access your own medical records. Submit a written request to the hospital's medical records department, and the provider must respond within the time the law allows. Once you retain us, we obtain the complete chart, including audit trails and internal notes patients rarely see.
How long does a medical malpractice case take in New York City?
Most take two to four years from filing to resolution, and some longer. Physician review alone takes weeks, discovery takes months, and court calendars in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx are crowded. You will hear from us at every stage.
Is a bad outcome the same as medical malpractice?
No. Medicine carries risk, and a poor result by itself does not prove negligence. The question is whether the provider did what a reasonably careful provider in the same field would have done under the same circumstances. A physician review of your records is the only reliable way to answer that, and it is part of how we evaluate every potential case.
What if I signed a consent form before the procedure?
A consent form does not excuse negligence. You agreed to the known risks of a properly performed procedure, not to a mistake. If the form failed to describe the risk that injured you, you may also have a separate claim for lack of informed consent.
The Hospital Has Already Started Its Review. Start Yours.
Every day after a medical injury, risk managers, insurers, and defense lawyers are reviewing what happened to you. Their goal is to limit what the hospital pays. Ours is the opposite.
Call Washor Kool Sosa Maiorana & Schwartz, LLP at (212) 406-1700 for a free case review, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or request a free case review online and a member of our team will reach out to you.
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