After receiving a complaint in October 2013 against the Edna Tina Wilson Living Center, a 120-bed facility located in Rochester, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) fined the facility $4,450 for a medication error that caused a resident to develop a blood clot in her leg. The affected resident was admitted into the […]
Medical Malpractice
Former NFL Players File Class Action Lawsuit Claiming that the League Illegally Provided Them with Pain Medications
In May 2014, eight former NFL players filed a class-action lawsuit in a San Francisco federal court. The suit, which has since been joined by 500 other former players, alleges that NFL doctors and trainers illegally provided them with powerful pain medications in order to ensure that the players could return to the field. The suit claims […]
Registered Nurse Charged with Stealing Morphine Intended for Patients
Katherine Falzetta, 23, a Registered Nurse at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Clinton, New York, was arrested in May 2013 for stealing morphine from patients not under her care. Falzetta appeared in Plattsburgh City Court before Judge Mark Rogers and was released on her own recognizance. She was charged with first-degree falsifying business records, […]
First Department Reverses Summary Judgment in Medical Malpractice Action
In April, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department reversed the lower court’s ruling of summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a medical malpractice action. Originally, the Bronx Supreme Court granted summary judgment for doctor and hospital, finding that the defendants’ failure to diagnose cancer was not a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s […]
Brooklyn Senior Citizen Dies after Receiving Incorrect Blood Type
An investigation into the death of a Brooklyn woman at Coney Island Hospital in early June has revealed that hospital error led to the fatal consequences. Hospital staff reportedly misidentified the elderly patient’s blood type, leading to a fatal transfusion of the incorrect type of blood. For the immediate future, the Department of Health has […]
Manhattan (NYC) Cosmetic Surgeon Surrenders to Face Manslaughter Charges
A Manhattan cosmetic surgeon whose patient died after a risky liposuction procedure turned himself in to police last week on charges of manslaughter, reports the New York Post. Dr. Oleg Davie performed the procedure on a patient who had received a heart transplant in 2004, making the liposuction an extremely dangerous operation. In addition, authorities […]
One Doctor’s Plan to Increase Patient Safety
Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran an article written by a surgeon in which he outlines five steps that he feels hospitals could take to increase accountability and minimize potential malpractice. The author, Marty Makary, has worked at a surgeon in such renowned facilities as Johns Hopkins Hospital and DC General. Makary’s suggestions are […]
Mother Sues after 7 Year Old Almost Dies from Medication Mix-Up
A mother in the Bronx is suing her local pharmacy after it mistakenly provided her seven year old son with Methadone instead of his prescribed Ritalin. The Post reports that the two drugs have been confused before by pharmacies, because they look alike and have somewhat similar names (Ritalin is also known as methylphenidate). Medication […]
New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Report: State Health Department Revokes License of Staten Island Plastic Surgeon
The NYS Health Department has revoked the license of Staten Island plastic surgeon Robert Cattani, according to the New York Daily News. According to the report, Cattani has had at least forty separate medical malpractice suits filed against him during his career. The Health Department cited the doctor for gross negligence. A gross negligence standard […]
Limits on Prescription Painkillers?
The New York Times is reporting that a group of approximately thirty-five doctors have signed a petition to the Food and Drug Administration, asking that more stringent regulations be placed on the prescription of pain-killers. The doctors’ impetus for the petition is to curb abuse of the drugs. In the petition, the physicians ask that […]
Brooklyn Hospital Faces Staggering Number of Medical Malpractice Suits
Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center currently faces more than one hundred open lawsuits based upon medical malpractice, the Daily News reports. Ranging from infections to medication errors to infant brain damage, the hospital has been targeted by patients and their families for allegedly negligent care. The financially troubled facility operated at a $42 Million […]
Appellate Division, Second Department Upholds Jury Verdict in Medical Malpractice Action
Last week, the Second Department upheld a jury verdict in a Suffolk County medical malpractice action. The plaintiff sought and received from the Defendant doctor, among other things, counseling for mental health issues. During the course of the plaintiff seeing the defendant professionally, a personal sexual relationship developed. The consensual relationship lasted approximately nine months, […]
Defendant Precluded After Improperly Obtaining Information From Treating Physician Without Authorization
Defense counsel in Muzio v. Napolitano, a recent medical malpractice case, conducted an interview of the plaintiff’s treating physician, a nonparty, without obtaining a Arons authorization. The Arons case requires that plaintiffs provide defendants with written authorizations allowing counsel for the defense to interview plaintiff’s treating physicians. However, this interview cannot take place without such […]
New York Nurse Sentenced To Six Months Incarceration After Cover-up Of Medication Error
At Terence Cardinal Cooke, a nursing home in New York, NY, Coral Quintyne, a Licensed Practical Nurse, was recently arrested and prosecuted for giving methadone to the wrong resident. As a result of the medication error, the elderly resident required hospitalization. What is more disturbing and likely the reason for the arrest is that the […]
Disturbing Results from Medical Board Investigation
William Heisel, of the website Reporting on Health, has recently finished an investigation into the the records of medical boards across the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Heisel initially set out to chronicle questionable practices of doctors for the site. What he found throughout his research is much darker. With the survey now […]
Bronx Jury In Medical Malpractice Case Returns $20 Million Verdict Against Gastroenterologist
A Bronx, NY jury recently awarded $20 million in a medical malpractice case to a 43 year-old unemployed man whose colon was damaged during a colonoscopy. However, due to a high/low agreement entered into by the parties, plaintiff will receive $850,000. Plaintiff Edgar Gonzalez developed peritonitis that necessitated removal of some of his colon and […]
New York Hospital Ordered To Pay $1.5 Million For Anesthesiologist’s Error In Medical Malpractice Matter
A New York County jury recently awarded $1.5 million to a woman who claimed that she suffers permanent dysfunction of her jaw as a result of an anesthesiologist’s error during surgery. The matter stems from an April 2004 procedure in which plaintiff Caridad Cuevas underwent removal of a stone from a salivary gland. Cuevas claimed […]
New York Birth Injury Attorney Report: $485,000 Verdict In Erb’s Palsy Case
A New York jury awarded $485,000 in a medical malpractice lawsuit to a 4-year-old child who suffers from a mild palsy as a result of an injury that occurred at birth. Jayden Bennet sustained an Erb’s palsy of his right arm during the first two years of his life. The condition limited the arm’s strength […]
Upstate New York Jury Awards $1.7 Million Due To Improper Injection
A New York jury recently awarded a female home-care nurse from Syracuse $1.7 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against Community General Hospital. Plaintiff, Tina Holstein, claimed that she was improperly administered an injection after giving birth to her third child. Due to complications during the delivery, a nurse reportedly gave Holstein an injection “too […]
New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Report: Brooklyn (NYC) Jury Awards $1,937,000 To Family
A Brooklyn, New York jury recently found physician, Dennis Fabian, liable for medical malpractice and resultant injuries suffered by a 71 year-old man. The jury returned a verdict of $1,937,000 in favor of Richard D’Allessandro and his family. Plaintiff claimed that Dr. Fabian failed to diagnose an infection that led to pulmonary and renal failure, […]
New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Report: $5.2 Million Settlement Approved In Case Involving Death Of Mother During Childbirth
A $5.2 million settlement in a medical malpractice lawsuit involving the wrongful death of a woman during childbirth was recently approved by the New York State Supreme Court. The woman died from internal bleeding after a poorly performed Caesarean procedure. The decedent, Diane McCable, was admitted Albany Medical Center Hospital in labor on September 3, […]
63 Year-Old NYC Retiree Recovers $2 Million In Failure To Diagnose Cancer Lawsuit
The family of Anthony Leone, a 63 year-old retiree collecting disability benefits, recovered $2 million in a settlement of a Brooklyn (NYC) medical malpractice lawsuit against his doctor and a hospital. Anthony Leone died in June 2006, about 2.5 years after a New York Methodist Hospital radiologist detected a suspicious mass in an X-ray. Leone […]
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Westchester Medical Center Involving Death Of 6 Year-Old Croton Boy Settles For $2.9 Million
The family of a 6-year boy who was struck in the head by an oxygen tank causing his death at Westchester Medical Center has reached a settlement of $2.9 million in a medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit. The horrifying incident happened when a hospital staffer brought an oxygen canister into the MRI’s magnetic field […]
NY Medical Malpractice Attorney Report: Infant Awarded $77 Million In Birth Injury Lawsuit In New York County
Diego Baizan, an infant, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in New York County through his parents for the alleged failure of an OBGYN and staff at St. John’s Riverside Hospital to properly monitor the fetal heart rate and perform a timely Caesarean section. Diego is now 3 years old and suffers from Cerebral Palsy. Dr. […]
New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Report: Second Department Reduces Verdict In Birth Injury Case
In Abdelkader v Shahine, a Kings (Brooklyn) County jury found the defendant obstetrician liable for injuries, namely an Erb’s Palsy suffered by the infant-plaintiff, Laila Abdelkader. Erb’s palsy is a paralysis of the arm caused by injury to the the arm’s main nerves at spinal roots C5-C7. The injury allegedly resulted from the medical malpractice […]