What is medical malpractice? Most people know I went to a doctor, I went to a hospital and look what happened, look how bad the result is. Medical malpractice as the law defines it is a departure from good and accepted medical practice. So if the doctor or nurse or medical provider whether in a doctor's office or a hospital either did something they shouldn't have done or failed to do something that they should have done, that is medical malpractice. A departure from good and accepted medical practice that causes an injury. In New York a lawyer, a law firm may not start a case against a doctor or hospital or a nurse without first obtaining the medical records and having them reviewed by the appropriate medical expert and it's only after that expert says yes in my opinion there was a departure from good and accepted medical practice which caused this injury can a lawsuit be started. So my best advice to a person who thinks they or a loved one has a valid medical malpractice case is obtain your medical records. This is easily done by going to the medical record department, in the hospital, signing a form and by law you are entitled to your records. You should be aware that you can ask for these records to be given to you on a medical records. You can then bring that disc to a lawyer, a lawyer who's experienced in the field of medical malpractice, will know how to read those records and will then know what expert medical expert they need to consult to obtain the expert opinion to see whether they could bring a case on your behalf. So the first thing you should do before visiting a lawyer is obtain all of your relevant medical records for the lawyer and his experts to review.