Between 2014 and 2018 Beach Gardens Rehab and Nursing Center in Queens, New York received 92 complaints by its residents and 19 citations by the New York Department of Health. The Department of Health inspects all nursing homes throughout the state every 9 to 15 months to ensure their compliance with all laws regulating nursing […]
Wrongful Death
PA Judge Allows Punitive Damages in Nursing Home Bedsore Case
A Pennsylvania judge allowed a lawsuit against a nursing home seeking punitive damages over a patient’s pressure ulcer to proceed to trial, according to Law360.com. The lawsuit, filed in 2016, alleges that a nursing home’s reckless behavior allowed for a resident to develop multiple pressure sores. Sadly, these pressure ulcers, now referred to as pressure […]
With Five Killed in Helicopter Crash, Safety Harnesses Became “Death Trap”
After a helicopter crashed into the East River last month and killed five passengers, the victims’ families and politicians are looking for answers to how the tragic accident occurred. The deadly helicopter crash was part of a photo tour of New York City’s skyline, an increasingly popular tourist activity. Like most other scenic tours of Manhattan, […]
Widow of Glenn Frey, Former Eagles Bandmember, Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Cindy Frey, the widow of late Eagle’s co-founder Glenn Frey, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Mt. Sinai hospital and physician Steven Itzkowitz. The lawsuit alleges the hospital and doctor were negligent in failing to properly diagnose and treat the health conditions that led to his untimely death in January 2016. Frey died at the age of 67 from complications […]
New York City Paid Lowest Amount in Five Years to Settle Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
New York City paid over $123 million last year to settle medical malpractice lawsuits against the 11 city-run hospitals. In total, that amount settled only 198 of the cases pending against the hospitals in 2017. Since 2011, the city has paid an eye-watering $928 million to settle medical malpractice lawsuits. City representatives state that the […]
Lavern’s Law: Cancer Patients Will Now Have More Time to Sue in New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature have finally reached a deal on medical malpractice lawsuits relating to cancer diagnosis. Under the new law, cancer patients will be able to sue doctors and other medical professionals for a wrongful diagnosis or missed diagnosis of cancer for up to two-and-a-half years from the date the patient discovered, or should have discovered, the misdiagnosis. […]
Family of Son Killed in Drunken Cop’s Car Crash Sues Former Cop and Local Bars
The family of Isaac Ward, the 27-year-old man killed in a drunken car crash by a New Rochelle police officer, filed a lawsuit against the cop and the three bars that over-serving the police officer in January 2017. Penelope Ward, Isaac Ward’s mother, said the police officer, Harry Kyreakede, and three local bars – Brazen Fox, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ […]
Westchester Sues Opioid Manufacturers and Distributors
Westchester County joins a growing list of states and municipalities suing the manufacturers and distributors of highly-addictive opioid medications, according to LoHud.com. The medication, once falsely marketed as a long-term solution for chronic pain, has ensnared communities across the nation as users became addicted and graduated to cheaper drugs, such as heroin, or more powerful – but […]
New York Post: New York Hospitals Sued for Releasing Dangerous Patients
Two New York City hospitals are being sued for the damages caused by the release of allegedly dangerous patients from their psychiatric wards. In the past month, two lawsuits have been filed against New York City hospitals alleging that the hospitals behaved in a negligent or careless manner when they released dangerous patients into the tri-state area. These patients […]
Hospital Errors the Third Leading Cause of Death, Elderly are Especially Vulnerable
The third leading cause of death in America is death by hospital error, according to Johns Hopkins’ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Following heart disease and cancer, hospital errors account for around 440,000 deaths each year. That means that there are more than 1,000 preventable deaths in hospitals across America every day. Given these findings, its perhaps unsurprising that […]
After Deadly Bronx Fire Families Sue City
A month after one of New York’s deadliest fires in a quarter-century killed 13 people, the survivors and their families have sued the city. Eleven of the victims are seeking a combined $110 million from the Administration for Child Services Department (ACS) alleging that the mother of the child was known to the city’s welfare agency for her neglectful parenting, […]
Death Toll from Construction Accidents Still High as New Safety Bill Comes into Effect
A construction worker’s death in Chelsea last month marked the ninth construction death in New York City for 2017. The 34-year-old man, Przemyskaw Krawczyk, was standing on the sidewalk next to the building when an anchoring bracket fell on him. According to the New York Daily News, the piece of metal fell over ten stories before striking the man. Krawczyk […]
Five Years After Metro-North Derailment, An Overdue Reckoning with Rail’s Safety
Recent train and subway accidents have led to renewed attention to the 2013 Metro-North derailment that killed four and injured dozens. After an investigation by LoHud.com showed that the Metro-North Railroad still had not installed the required safety equipment to prevent another crash, Connecticut Senator Blumenthal and New York Senator Chuck Schumer called for the railroad to speed up its efforts. On December 1, […]
Two Construction Workers Fall and Die Hours in Separate Accidents, Only Hours Apart
Two construction workers in Manhattan died within hours of each other in two separate accidents in September of this year. In the first accident, two veteran construction workers fell while working on a 62-story mixed use building at 9th Avenue and 33rd Street. The men, both 45-years old, fell out of a bucket lift approximately 35 feet to the ground below. […]
Dodging Responsibility, MTA Tries to Make Homeless Man With No Assets Pay for Verdict
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, responsible for running New York City’s subways and buses, is attempting to dodge responsibility and pin a $30-million award on a homeless man. In 2012, Naeem Davis, described as “homeless” and “a drifter” by the New York Post, pushed Ki Suck Han in front of a subway train. Arguing that he was […]
On Hospital Safety: New York Ranks a Lowly 47th in the US, Mixed Results for Hudson Valley
According to a watchdog organization, New York has the 47th worst record in the United States when it comes to hospital safety. New York’s ranking has been in a slow decline – dropping a full seven spots in the last five years. The watchdog group, Leapfrog, was founded by healthcare employers and unions wanting to provide more […]
Medical Errors are More Common and More Lethal
Medical errors are gaining more attention as a whopping one-fifth of Americans admit to having personally experienced one. At the same time, Johns Hopkins University has released a new study that reports medical errors may be the third highest cause of death in America. With America’s healthcare industry continuing to reshape itself, healthcare advocates worry that unintentional […]
Brooklyn Jury Finds in Favor of Infant; Understaffing at Hospital was Alleged Cause of Infant’s Injuries
A jury returned a verdict in favor of a Brooklyn mother in the amount of 26 million dollars after an understaffed hospital recklessly sent the pregnant woman home without proper monitoring. Speaking to the New York Post, the mother, Danielle Madden Buck, described Maimonides Medical Center as a “baby mill” that brushed away her complaints ultimately leading […]
HHS Inspector General: One in Four Cases of Elder Abuse Not Reported in Nursing Homes
The Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report stating that at least one in four instances of elder abuse or neglect are not reported. While horrific in scope, the results are not entirely surprising – other, smaller samples have found that 15 to 20 percent of elder abuse […]
Trump Administration Moves to Limit Nursing Home Resident’s Access to Court System
As part of President Trump’s promise to roll-back federal regulations, the Trump administration has announced its intention to scrap a federal rule prohibiting nursing homes from requiring their residents to pursue legal claims through arbitration. In the simplest terms, arbitration is a catch-all term for a dispute-resolution that, while legally binding, does not utilize the […]
Scrutiny Grows As More Surgeons “Double-Book” Surgeries
The practice of concurrent surgery, or “double-booking,” where a surgeon performs or presides over two patients during the same period of time, has become more popular in recent years. As the practice has become more common, scrutiny by regulators and patient advocates, as well as lawsuits by injured patients, have also increased. These opponents of the procedure […]
Despite Four Dead Patients and Ten Malpractice Suits, Hospital Stands by Money-Making Surgeon
Despite a litany of problems surrounding Dr. Ira Kirschenbaum’s tenure as Head of Orthopedic Surgery at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, the Hospital has refused to sanction the surgeon. In fact, Kirschenbaum had already settled three malpractice suits before he was even recruited by the Bronx-Lebanon to lead their Orthopedic Surgery department – two more were still pending at the time […]
Lacking Effective Oversight, Nursing Homes Fail Many Patients
With toothless regulations and ineffective oversight, many nursing homes are still failing the neediest patients. With its budget for overseeing nursing homes slashed in half, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has failed to identify failing nursing homes and keep them accountable. As a consequence, some nursing homes are choosing to accept the […]
Court Allows Family to Seek Punitive Damages from Rehabilitation Center Where Resident Went Missing
On the morning of September 12, 2009, a man (identified only as “Plaintiff”) went missing from Arms Acres, a rehabilitation center for alcoholics. The Plaintiff, in addition to being an alcoholic, also suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to the Court’s decision. Shortly before going missing the Plaintiff became “extremely disoriented, began having hallucinations” […]
After Death from Pressure Ulcers, Bronx Family Sues Nursing Home
On June 17, 2013, a patient at Barnabas Nursing Home passed away from complications arising from her pressure ulcers. Her family has sued the nursing home and hospital and believes that their family member received negligent treatment and that the hospital and nursing home should be held responsible for her death.