ALEX RODRIGUEZ SUES YANKEES TEAM DOCTOR FOR MALPRACTICE

Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez filed a lawsuit this October alleging malpractice on the part of the team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and an NYC hospital. The lawsuit says Rodriguez was not informed of a hip injury revealed by an October 2012 MRI, leading him to further injure himself and also suffer “sustained great pain, agony, injury, suffering, disability, hospitalization, as well as mental anguish and emotional distress.” The lawsuits follow a 211-game suspension for alleged violations by Rodriguez of the MLB drug agreement and labor contract.

Experts say the doctor and hospital may claim that the proper avenue for the complaint is not a civil suit but is instead filing a grievance through the Major League Baseball player’s association or the workers’ compensation system.

If A-Rod’s claim does fall under workers’ comp, then his case would need to fit four criteria to qualify as medical malpractice:

• The doctor or hospital was assigned to provide the medical care requested.
• Those professionals failed to provide care at the same level that another comparable medical professional or facility would have provided.
• Failure to provide that care resulted in injury.
• Failure to provide that care at the appropriate level resulted in damages.

An experienced Connecticut medical malpractice attorney will tell you that the failure to fully recover from an injury is not always medical malpractice. There has to be injury from professional negligence for a case to qualify as malpractice. Even in cases where a patient develops another problem after a procedure, or the procedure itself is not successful, does not always mean malpractice has taken place. There are a variety of other factors to consider, such as the patient’s age, health and whether their body was able to withstand the additional stress of a surgical procedure.

If you believe you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the attorneys at The Pickel Law Firm.