In an April, 2011 deficiency report, the Department of Health cited Hopkins Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, a Brooklyn nursing home, for the failure to maintain an environment as free of accident hazards as possible. Specifically, Hopkins failed to ensure that residents at risk for elopement were properly monitored. This failure led to the wandering […]
Miscellaneous
New York Personal Injury Attorney Alert: Second Department Reverses Summary Judgment Order in Queens Injury Case
Last week, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a finding of summary judgment for the defendant in a Queens County driving while intoxicated action. At the time of the accident, the defendant’s car was being driven by a third party, a non-party to the action. Junaid Tarar, the defendant in the original action, […]
Second Department Affirms Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment in Nassau County Car Accident Action
On November 14, 2012, the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed the Supreme Court’s finding of summary judgment for the plaintiff in an automobile collision action from Nassau County. The facts surrounding the case are simple. The plaintiff’s vehicle was stopped when it was struck from behind by the defendant’s vehicle. Quoting Volpe v. […]
New York Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Report: Recent MCFU Enforcement Actions Involving Nursing Home Abuse
Below please find a brief summary of various enforcement actions taken against New York nursing home personnel from 12/15/11 to 3/15/12 by the NYS Office of the Medicaid Inspector General. Last December two Registered Nurses at Glen Island Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Rochelle, NY were indicted by the Medicaid Fraud Unit. Marlon […]
Westchester County Personal Injury Attorney Case Report: Summary Judgment Reversed in Queens (NYC) Motor Vehicle Accident Case
On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, the Second Department reversed summary judgment that had been granted to the plaintiff in an accident in which a tractor-trailer collided with a stopped car on a Queens street. Although the Supreme Court initially granted summary judgment for the plaintiff, the Second Department found that triable issues of fact did […]
Second Department Grants Summary Judgment to City of Yonkers in Slip and Fall Case
On July 25th, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed an order by the Westchester Supreme Court and granted summary judgment for the defendant City of Yonkers in a slip and fall case. The plaintiff had been injured after slipping on an icy patch on a city roadway. According to precedent and the Charter of the […]
Second Department Affirms Setting Aside Jury Verdict in Long Island Motor Vehicle Suit
A Second Department ruling last month affirmed a Suffolk County court’s decision to set aside a jury verdict finding that a defendant bus driver was not negligent in the operation of his vehicle. The jury initially found that the driver, who had been traveling along the shoulder of Montauk Highway and passing cars traveling on […]
Nassau County Nursing Home Cited By DOH For Failing To Develop Care Plan For Suicide
Grace Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a Great Neck, Long Island Nursing Home, was the subject of a recent Department of Health deficiency survey. The survey cited more than twenty violations, ranging from care plan development to structural issues within the building. As we have noted previously on this blog, the purpose of a care […]
Stony Brook Nursing Home Cited By NYS DOH For Multiple Deficiencies
Long Island State Veterans Home, a Suffolk County nursing home located in Stony Brook, NY, was cited in an August, 2011 deficiency report by the Department of Health for multiple deficiencies. Included among these citations were a failure to provide ADL care to dependent residents and a failure to establish an infection control program. According […]
Summary Judgment For New York City Reversed In Slip and Fall Accident Case
The Second Department recently reversed an initial summary judgment ruling in favor of the City of New York. According to the suit, the plaintiff slipped and fell on greasy steps inside a city sanitation garage. The Trial Court agreed with the City, in that it did not have notice of the grease on the steps, […]
Falls At Two Nursing Homes In New York Result In Fractured Hips For Residents
At Clinton County Nursing Home in Plattsburgh, NY, Dawn Andrews, a Certified Nurse’s Aide, was found to have violated an elderly resident’s care plan. Ms. Andrews reportedly left a 98-year-old patient unattended during toileting. The resident fell, sustained a fractured hip, and died from these injuries four days later. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated […]
Summary Judgment In Favor Of Property Owner And CVS Reversed In Minor’s Slip And Fall Case
On November 22, 2011, the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department reversed an order for summary judgment granted to joint defendants. The Trial Court had ruled in favor of the defendants finding that no issues of fact existed requiring a trial of the matter. The case involves injuries suffered by a minor child as […]
Favorable Rulings For Plaintiffs In Two New York Labor Law Cases
Favorable rulings were afforded to plaintiffs recently in two separate Labor Law disputes decided by the Appellate Division, First Department. Sections 240 and 241 of the Labor Law were addressed in the decisions. In the first instance, partial summary judgment was granted to the plaintiff after he fell a floor while repairing an elevator. The […]
NY Attorney Report: Nursing Home Resident Elopes From Facility And Dies From Hypothermia
The death of an elderly St. Louis nursing home resident has prompted a lawsuit against the facility. Aubrey Giles, who suffered from dementia, went missing from the Midwest Rehab and Respiratory Center in January, and his body was found in the woods two days later in a wooded, frozen ravine nearby. He reportedly died of […]
Port Jefferson Station Nursing Home Cited in Deficiency Report
Woodhaven Nursing Home, a Suffolk County-based nursing home facility, was cited for multiple deficiencies in a Department of Health Survey dated April 27, 2011. Among the violations were failure to have secure handrails in place, and failure to care for the resident in a matter maintaining dignity. According to CFR 483.70(h)(3), a facility must ensure […]
Bronx Nursing Home Fined More Than $55,000
The Department of Health has fined Mosholu Parkway Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx, NY over $55,000 for numerous violations, the most disturbing of which relates to an issue that has been discussed previously on this blog, the failure to keep the facility free of accident hazards. In this particular instance, a resident who […]
Government Report Documents Under-Reporting of Hospital Errors
A study recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services reports that as few as one out of seven Medicare patients harmed by medical errors and accidents during hospitalizations are reported. The study, performed by HHS inspector general Daniel R. Levinson, claims that the primary cause of the under-reporting is that many hospital […]
Mamaroneck Nurse Admits to Giving Double the Dose of a Prescribed Controlled Substance to Elderly Patient
Marlene Watson, a licensed practical nurse at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, New York admitted in July of 2001 to giving a 90-year-old patient double the amount of Xanax, a controlled substance, prescribed to him by his doctor. The incident occurred in May 2000. Then 29 years old, Watson, who worked at the […]
Nesconset, Long Island Nursing Home Surveyors Find Deficiencies For Failing to Prevent Accidents
The New York State Department of Health recently published the results of a July 19, 2011 certification survey for Nesconset Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation located in Suffolk County, New York. The Department’s findings were not positive for the home, noting that the facility was deficient in no fewer than nine areas. Among the areas […]
Suffolk County Nursing Home Cited for Multiple Deficiencies
In a certification survey from January of this year, the Department of Health cited Suffolk Center for Nursing and Rehab, a Patchogue, New York nursing home, for multiple deficiencies. Included in the DOH report were lack of proficiency of nurse’s aides, and failure to ensure that residents are free from medication errors. The survey found […]
Panel Declares Nursing Home Worker’s Apology Should Have Been Suppressed
In a decision released yesterday, a New York appellate panel ruled that the lower court should have suppressed a nursing home worker’s apology to police after sexually assaulting a Queens nursing home resident. According to the panel, the apology occurred in the midst of an interrogation, and thus the officer conducting the interview should have […]
Jury Awards Woman $20M+ in Damages after Queens Bus Accident
In August, a Queens jury awarded damages in excess of 20 million dollars to a woman struck by an MTA bus in Long Island City. The plaintiff, a housekeeper, was awarded summary judgment after a surveillance video established that the pedestrian had the right of way. The bus did not yield and struck the plaintiff. […]
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, […]
Westchester County Surrogate’s Court Rejects Will And Grants Summary Judgment in Will Contest
In an August 30, 2011 decision, the Hon. Anthony Scarpino of the Westchester County Surrogate’s Court granted summary judgment in a will contest proceeding. The court denied the will probate, and dismissed the proceeding. The decedent passed away in late May of 2009, survived by his wife and six children (five from a previous marriage). […]
White Plains, NY Elder Lawyer FAQ: What Is Power of Attorney and When Is It Necessary?
Power of attorney, in its simplest form, transfers to the grantee the ability to make authorized legal decisions on behalf of the grantor. Under this general, or ordinary, power of attorney, the agent is authorized to make decisions for the grantor only in specific circumstances. The relationship can be revoked by the grantor, and it […]