Not every bad medical result is malpractice. The law draws a specific line — and it turns on the 'standard of care.'
When a medical treatment goes wrong, it is natural to wonder whether someone is to blame. But New York law does not treat every bad outcome as malpractice. Medicine carries real risk even when everything is done correctly. The legal question is narrower and more specific.
The 'standard of care'
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care — what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done under the same circumstances — and that failure causes harm. A poor result that occurs despite proper care is not malpractice. A poor result caused by a preventable departure from the standard of care may be.
First, that the provider departed from the standard of care. Second, that the departure actually caused the injury. Both require qualified medical experts.
Why experts are required
New York requires that a malpractice complaint be accompanied by a 'certificate of merit' — an attorney's affirmation that a qualified medical expert has reviewed the case and believes it has merit. Experts are what establish both the standard of care and how the provider fell short of it. This is why a thorough, expert-supported investigation happens before a case is ever filed.
Common examples
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer, heart attack, or stroke
- Surgical errors, including wrong-site surgery and retained instruments
- Medication and dosage errors
- Preventable birth injuries
- Failure to monitor or respond to a known risk
The takeaway
If you suspect a preventable error caused you or a family member harm, the honest first step is a review of the records by qualified experts. That review — not a gut feeling about a bad result — is what separates a difficult outcome from an actionable case.