Fishkill, NY Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers

It might be possible to sue the dentist for professional malpractice; I could not say, with certainty, whether you have a case until I reviewed your dental records. In deciding if you want to take this dentist to court, consider what is your objective - compensation or vindication of the wrongdoing that was done to you. The reason for this question is that you might not get both. Your actual losses (costs of prescriptions and medical and dental care) are in the low hundreds of dollars range. Compensation for pain and suffering is very much dependent on the judge and jury, as there are no legal standards for it, but you should not expect to retire on the awarded money. It is true that, from time to time, juries award millions for pain and suffering; but those awards come in the cases where injuries are very severe, and the pain is expected to last for many years. In your case, you might - probably - hope for an award from several hundreds to a couple of thousands. Meanwhile, the costs of litigation are quite certain: only the court filing fees are $325; your attorney will have to pay a stenographer for recording a deposition of the defendant, and an expert - to come and testify for you at the trial. Then, you will have to pay your attorney. Chances are that, at best, the award might cover your costs; there is also a real possibility that you might end up paying out of pocket for prosecuting your lawsuit. It does sound unfair, I agree. But this is the reality. And this is one of the reasons why bad doctors and dentists don't get sued and stay in business for years. So, if it is vindication you are after, you might opt for filing a complaint with the State of New York (call 800-442-8106 to start the process). Your dentist will have a few sleepless nights and will likely have to retain an attorney to answer your complaint; if the board decides that his handling of your case was below professional standards, he might get reprimanded and be required to take a course in continuing education; his malpractice insurance premiums might go up; but don't expect him to lose his license. If you want to get some money back, retain an attorney. Faced with a real prospect of spending countless hours in depositions and in court (instead of working and making money), and of paying his attorney, your dentist might offer you a settlement. Don't expect much, but it should cover your economic losses, and give you some symbolic compensation for your pain. But, if the dentist decides to see whether you are serious about suing, you are back to the long paragraph at the beginning of my answer.

To start with, the legal concept of "discrimination" refers to classes of persons, not types of behaviors. If you paid any attention at all to this issue over the last four years you would know that the ACA was vigorously debated for months in Congress and that Consitutional challenges were made and decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. Moreover, the questions you propose are unworkable: there are studies that say that a glass of wine once in a while has beneficial effects, but your proposal covers any consumption of alcohol. The phrase "abuse drugs" is impossibly vague and no one who actually does so would answer it honestly. Finally, if questions were to get into behavior that could have adverse health effects, there would be no end to it.