Most patients walk into a hospital or doctor’s office expecting to leave feeling better than when they arrived. Unfortunately, that trust is not always rewarded. Medical errors remain one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States, and the scale of the problem is staggering. Research published through the National Institutes of Health estimates that approximately 400,000 hospitalized patients experience some form of preventable harm each year, and more than 200,000 patient deaths annually are attributed to preventable medical errors.
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — whether a physician, surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, or hospital — deviates from the accepted standard of care, and that deviation causes injury or death to a patient. It is not limited to dramatic surgical mistakes. Malpractice can happen quietly, through a missed test result, a drug prescribed at the wrong dosage, or an infection that spreads because a staff member did not follow basic hygiene protocols.
Understanding the reasons medical malpractice occurs is essential for anyone who suspects that they or a loved one has been harmed by a healthcare provider’s negligence. This article examines the most common causes backed by current data, explains how New York law addresses these failures, and outlines what patients across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau County, and Suffolk County need to know about protecting their rights. For patients who believe their civil rights have been violated through institutional negligence, the stakes are particularly high.
Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis
Diagnostic errors represent the single largest category of medical malpractice claims in the United States. A study published in the journal Patient Safety analyzed 20 years of closed malpractice claims and found that diagnostic errors accounted for roughly 26.6% of all cases — and 39% of those claims involved the patient’s death.
The scope of the problem extends far beyond malpractice litigation. An AHRQ-funded study published in BMJ Quality & Safety estimated that 795,000 Americans become permanently disabled or die each year due to diagnostic errors alone. In emergency departments, where time pressure and high patient volumes compound the difficulty of making accurate diagnoses, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) estimates that 1 in 18 patients receives an incorrect diagnosis — translating to approximately 7.4 million misdiagnosed patients per year nationwide.
Certain conditions are particularly vulnerable to misdiagnosis. AHRQ’s systematic review identified the five conditions most frequently missed or delayed in emergency departments: stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysm or dissection, spinal cord compression or injury, and venous thromboembolism. Research suggests that stroke is missed in a significant share of ED visits, with some studies finding rates in the mid-teens. Other research has found that patients who present with dizziness or vertigo face a substantially higher risk of stroke misdiagnosis compared with those who present with classic weakness or speech symptoms.
The root causes of diagnostic error are overwhelmingly cognitive. Nearly 90% of diagnostic error malpractice claims involved failures of clinical decision-making or judgment, according to the same AHRQ review. These failures include not ordering the appropriate diagnostic tests, not following up on abnormal results, anchoring on an initial diagnosis despite contradictory evidence, and being misled by atypical symptom presentations. A 2024 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that 23% of patients who were transferred to an intensive care unit or who died in the hospital had experienced a missed or delayed diagnosis, with faults in testing and clinical assessment identified as the biggest contributing factors.
For patients, the consequences of a missed or delayed diagnosis can be devastating. A cancer that could have been treated at Stage I may not be caught until it has metastasized. A stroke that could have been addressed with clot-busting medication within hours may instead cause permanent brain damage when the patient is sent home with a diagnosis of a benign headache.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors encompass some of the most alarming forms of medical malpractice, including mistakes that the healthcare industry classifies as “never events” — errors so serious that they should never occur under any circumstances. The Joint Commission, the organization that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations in the United States, tracks these sentinel events, which include wrong-site surgery (operating on the wrong body part), wrong-patient surgery, and wrong-procedure surgery.
Retained surgical instruments are another well-documented cause of surgical malpractice. Sponges, clamps, needles, and even drill bits have been left inside patients’ bodies after procedures, sometimes going undetected for months or years. Under New York law, the discovery of a foreign object left in the body triggers a specific exception to the standard statute of limitations. CPLR § 214-a provides that a patient has one year from the date they discovered — or reasonably should have discovered — the retained object to file a malpractice claim, even if the standard filing deadline has already passed.
Beyond these dramatic examples, surgical malpractice also includes nerve damage or organ perforation caused by careless technique, complications arising from inadequate pre-operative planning, and failure to recognize and respond to intraoperative emergencies. In each case, the core legal question is whether the surgeon departed from the standard of care that a reasonably competent surgeon would have followed under the same circumstances.
Medication Errors
Medication errors are among the most common types of medical errors and can occur at every stage of the prescribing, dispensing, and administration process. These errors include prescribing the wrong drug, prescribing the correct drug at the wrong dosage, administering medication through the wrong route, and failing to account for dangerous drug interactions or known patient allergies.
Several systemic factors contribute to medication errors. Sound-alike and look-alike drug names have been a persistent source of confusion — for example, the diabetes drug chlorpropamide and the anti-anxiety medication chlorpromazine. In hospital settings, the transition from handwritten prescriptions to electronic health records (EHRs) was expected to reduce errors, but EHR systems have introduced new risks of their own, including auto-fill functions that populate the wrong medication and copy-paste errors that carry outdated dosage instructions from one patient encounter to the next. Research published through the National Institutes of Health notes that medical errors carry an estimated cost of $20 billion annually to the U.S. healthcare system, with adverse drug events comprising a significant share of that burden.
Pharmacy dispensing errors add another layer of risk. A pharmacist who misreads a prescription, fills the wrong quantity, or fails to flag a contraindicated combination can set off a chain of harm that begins well after the patient has left the prescribing physician’s office.
Birth Injuries and Obstetric Malpractice
Obstetrics and gynecology is one of the medical specialties most frequently involved in malpractice claims, according to data compiled by the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), a repository maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The stakes in obstetric care are uniquely high: errors during labor and delivery can result in life-altering injuries to both the mother and the child.
Common forms of obstetric malpractice include failure to monitor signs of fetal distress during labor, improper or excessive use of forceps or vacuum extraction devices, and delayed decision-making about when to perform a cesarean section. When these errors occur, the consequences for the infant can include cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy and other brachial plexus injuries, and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy — a form of brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation.
Maternal injuries from obstetric negligence are equally serious. Uncontrolled hemorrhaging, undiagnosed preeclampsia, and surgical complications during cesarean delivery can result in permanent organ damage, emergency hysterectomy, or death. For families across New York City and Long Island, the emotional and financial toll of a preventable birth injury extends for decades.
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors, while less common than diagnostic or medication errors, can have catastrophic consequences. The margin between a therapeutic dose and a dangerous one is often narrow, and the anesthesiologist must account for the patient’s weight, age, medical history, current medications, and known allergies before, during, and after a procedure.
Common anesthesia errors include administering too much anesthesia (which can suppress breathing and cardiac function), administering too little (which can result in a patient regaining awareness during surgery), failing to review the patient’s medical history for contraindications, and inadequate monitoring of vital signs while the patient is under sedation. Intubation injuries — damage to the teeth, throat, or airway during the placement of a breathing tube — are another recognized complication. When anesthesia errors result in brain damage, nerve damage, or death, they may form the basis of a medical malpractice claim if the provider departed from the accepted standard of care.
Hospital-Acquired Infections
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) — infections that patients develop during the course of receiving treatment for another condition — remain a persistent and costly source of preventable harm. The most common HAIs include surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Research published through the National Institutes of Health estimates that healthcare-associated infections alone cost the U.S. healthcare system between $35.7 billion and $45 billion each year. Many of these infections are preventable through adherence to basic protocols: proper hand hygiene, sterilization of surgical instruments, timely removal of catheters and central lines, and appropriate use of antibiotics.
When a hospital or medical facility fails to follow established infection-control guidelines and a patient contracts a preventable infection as a result, the institution may be liable for medical malpractice. In some cases, particularly where systemic failures in staffing, training, or record-keeping contributed to the infection, there may be overlap with other legal issues such as healthcare fraud — for example, billing for infection-prevention protocols that were never actually implemented — or interference with health care services.
Communication Failures and Systemic Factors
Not every medical error can be traced to a single provider’s mistake. Many of the most harmful errors arise from systemic failures within healthcare institutions — breakdowns in communication, inadequate staffing, and organizational cultures that tolerate shortcuts.
Communication failures during shift changes and patient handoffs are one of the most well-documented systemic causes of medical errors. When a departing physician fails to convey critical information about a patient’s condition, allergies, or pending test results to the incoming provider, the risk of error increases substantially. Similar breakdowns occur between departments: a radiologist who identifies an abnormality on a scan but does not ensure that the ordering physician receives and acts on the report, or a lab that processes a critical blood test result but fails to flag it for urgent follow-up.
Electronic health records, while designed to improve coordination, have introduced new categories of error. Copy-and-paste documentation — where a provider carries forward notes from a prior visit without updating them — can obscure changes in a patient’s condition. Auto-populated fields can default to incorrect values. And the sheer volume of alerts and notifications generated by EHR systems can lead to “alert fatigue,” where clinicians begin dismissing warnings without reading them.
Physician fatigue and burnout represent another significant contributor to medical errors. Research published through the NIH notes that healthcare professionals who experience burnout are more likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and symptoms of depression — all of which can impair clinical judgment. Long shifts, inadequate rest periods, and high patient loads create conditions where even skilled, well-intentioned providers are more likely to make mistakes.
Understaffing compounds all of these problems. When nurses are responsible for too many patients simultaneously, monitoring suffers, medication administration errors increase, and early warning signs of deterioration are more likely to be missed.
Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
New York law requires healthcare providers to obtain a patient’s informed consent before performing a medical procedure. Under New York Public Health Law § 2805-d, a provider must disclose the reasonably foreseeable risks and benefits of a proposed treatment, as well as any alternatives, in terms the patient can understand. The patient must then voluntarily agree to proceed.
When a provider fails to obtain informed consent and the patient suffers a complication that they were never warned about, the patient may have grounds for a malpractice claim — even if the procedure itself was performed competently. The legal question in informed consent cases is not whether the provider made a technical error, but whether the patient would have chosen a different course of treatment had they been given adequate information about the risks.
Informed consent disputes frequently arise in elective procedures, where the urgency of the situation does not justify bypassing the consent process, and in cases involving off-label drug use, where the patient may not be aware that a medication is being prescribed for a purpose not approved by the FDA.
Medical Malpractice by the Numbers
The data on medical malpractice in the United States paints a picture of a problem that is both widespread and financially significant. The following figures are drawn from peer-reviewed research published through the National Institutes of Health and from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), a federal repository maintained by HRSA that tracks malpractice payments and adverse actions against healthcare providers.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated preventable patient harms per year (U.S.) | ~400,000 | StatPearls / NIH (2024) |
| Estimated preventable deaths per year (U.S.) | >200,000 | StatPearls / NIH (2024) |
| Annual cost of medical errors (U.S.) | ~$20 billion | StatPearls / NIH (2024) |
| Annual cost of hospital-acquired infections (U.S.) | $35.7–$45 billion | StatPearls / NIH (2024) |
| Malpractice claims reported to NPDB (2023) | ~11,440 | NPDB / HRSA |
| Total malpractice payouts (2023) | ~$4.8 billion | NPDB / HRSA |
| Average per-claim payout (2023) | ~$420,000 | NPDB / HRSA |
| New York total malpractice payouts (2014–2023) | ~$6.3 billion (#1 in U.S.)* | NPDB / HRSA |
| Diagnostic errors as a percentage of malpractice claims | 26.6% | Patient Safety journal / AHRQ PSNet (2024) |
| ED patients misdiagnosed annually (U.S.) | ~7.4 million | AHRQ Systematic Review |
*Figure based on public analyses of NPDB data. New York has consistently ranked first among all states in total malpractice payouts over the past decade — a reflection of the state’s large population, high volume of complex medical procedures, and the absence of a statutory cap on compensatory damages. For patients in New York City and on Long Island, these numbers underscore both the prevalence of medical errors and the importance of understanding your legal options.
How New York Law Addresses Medical Malpractice
New York provides a well-defined legal framework for patients who have been harmed by medical negligence. Understanding the elements of a malpractice claim, the applicable deadlines, and the procedural requirements is critical for anyone considering legal action.
Elements of a Medical Malpractice Claim
To prevail in a medical malpractice lawsuit in New York, a plaintiff must establish four elements. First, a duty of care must have existed, meaning a provider-patient relationship was in place. Second, the provider must have breached the accepted standard of care — that is, they deviated from what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done under similar circumstances. Third, the breach must have directly caused the patient’s injury (causation). Fourth, the patient must have suffered quantifiable damages, which may include medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
New York also requires that a qualified medical expert testify on behalf of the plaintiff to establish both the applicable standard of care and how the defendant deviated from it. This expert testimony requirement distinguishes malpractice cases from ordinary negligence claims and underscores the technical complexity of these lawsuits.
Statute of Limitations
Under CPLR § 214-a, an action for medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice must generally be commenced within two years and six months of the act, omission, or failure complained of. If the patient was receiving continuous treatment for the same condition from the same provider, the clock begins running from the date of the last treatment — not from the date the malpractice originally occurred. The New York State Unified Court System publishes a statute of limitations chart that confirms these timeframes.
Several important exceptions modify this general rule:
The foreign object exception applies when a surgical instrument, sponge, or other object is left inside a patient’s body. In these cases, the patient has one year from the date of discovery — or from the date they reasonably should have discovered the object — to file suit.
Lavern’s Law, enacted in 2018, addresses cases involving a negligent failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor. Under this provision, patients have two years and six months from the date they discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the malpractice to bring a claim, subject to an overall cap of seven years from the date of the misdiagnosis.
For minors, the statute of limitations is tolled until the child’s 18th birthday. However, the claim cannot be extended more than ten years past the date the malpractice occurred.
Claims against municipal hospitals and public entities — including New York City’s Health + Hospitals system — carry additional procedural requirements. For many such entities, a Notice of Claim generally must be filed within 90 days of the incident, and a shorter one-year-and-90-day lawsuit deadline may apply, subject to specific statutory exceptions. Because the applicable deadline can vary depending on the entity and the governing statute, patients should speak with counsel promptly to determine which timeline governs their case.
Certificate of Merit
New York CPLR § 3012-a requires the plaintiff’s attorney to file a certificate of merit at the time the complaint is served. This certificate confirms that the attorney has consulted with at least one licensed physician and that the physician has reviewed the relevant facts and concluded that there is a reasonable basis for the claim. This requirement is designed to filter out frivolous lawsuits while ensuring that meritorious claims proceed.
No Cap on Damages
Unlike many other states, New York does not impose a statutory cap on compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases. This means there is no artificial ceiling on the amount a jury can award for economic damages (such as medical bills and lost income) or non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering). This makes New York one of the more plaintiff-favorable states for medical malpractice litigation — and it is one reason the state consistently leads the nation in total malpractice payouts.
Patients across New York City — from Manhattan to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island — as well as those in Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island, should be aware that the strict deadlines under CPLR § 214-a make it essential to consult with an attorney as early as possible. In cases involving public hospitals, the 90-day Notice of Claim window is particularly unforgiving. Individuals who believe they may also have grounds for a related civil rights claim — for example, if negligent treatment was accompanied by false arrest or institutional misconduct — should discuss all potential claims during an initial consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Medical Malpractice
What is the most common reason for medical malpractice lawsuits?
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are the most common causes, accounting for approximately 26.6% of all closed malpractice claims nationally over a 20-year study period. Failure to diagnose and delay in diagnosis were the most frequent specific allegation types within that category.
How many people die from medical errors each year in the United States?
Estimates vary depending on the methodology used, but research published through the National Institutes of Health reports that more than 200,000 patient deaths annually are attributed to preventable medical errors. A widely cited 2016 study by Johns Hopkins researchers estimated the figure at more than 250,000 per year, which would rank medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the country.
What is the statute of limitations for medical malpractice in New York?
Under CPLR § 214-a, patients generally have two years and six months to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, measured from the date of the negligent act or from the end of continuous treatment for the same condition. Exceptions exist for foreign objects discovered in the body (one year from discovery), cancer misdiagnosis under Lavern’s Law (2.5 years from discovery, capped at 7 years), and claims on behalf of minors (tolled until age 18, capped at 10 years from accrual).
Can you sue a hospital for a misdiagnosis in New York?
Yes. If a hospital’s physician or other healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care in diagnosing your condition, and that failure directly caused your injury, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit. The claim would need to be supported by expert medical testimony establishing both the applicable standard and how it was breached.
What is the average medical malpractice settlement?
Data from the National Practitioner Data Bank shows that for 2023, analyses of NPDB data indicate roughly 11,440 paid malpractice claims totaling about $4.8 billion — an average of approximately $420,000 per claim. However, settlement amounts vary widely based on the severity of the injury, the strength of the evidence, and the jurisdiction. To learn more about outcomes in cases similar to yours, visit our case results page.
Does New York have a cap on medical malpractice damages?
No. New York is one of a number of states that does not impose a statutory cap on compensatory damages — whether economic or non-economic — in medical malpractice cases. A jury is free to award damages that reflect the full extent of the patient’s losses, including past and future medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.
What is Lavern’s Law in New York?
Lavern’s Law, enacted in 2018, addresses a specific gap in New York’s medical malpractice statute of limitations. It applies to cases involving a negligent failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor. Under Lavern’s Law, the statute of limitations runs from the date the patient discovered — or reasonably should have discovered — the malpractice, rather than from the date the malpractice occurred. The claim must still be filed within 2.5 years of discovery, and there is an overall cap of seven years from the date of the misdiagnosis.
Protecting Your Rights After a Medical Error
Medical malpractice can take many forms — from a surgeon who operates on the wrong site to a primary care physician who dismisses symptoms that a competent provider would have investigated further. What these situations share is that a preventable failure in the healthcare system resulted in real harm to a real person.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a medical error in New York, the most important step you can take is to act quickly. The deadlines under CPLR § 214-a are strict, and in cases involving municipal hospitals, the 90-day Notice of Claim requirement leaves almost no room for delay. Gathering medical records, identifying the providers involved, and consulting with a qualified attorney as early as possible will give you the strongest foundation for pursuing the compensation you deserve.
At Lebedin Kofman LLP, our legal team represents clients across New York City and Long Island who have been affected by healthcare negligence, civil rights violations, and related claims. We offer free consultations and are available 24/7 to discuss your situation.
Call 646-663-4430 or visit our contact page to schedule a free, confidential consultation. You can also read what our past clients have to say on our reviews page.