Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

Published on:

By

Top 10 Health Technology HazardsMedical technology advancements globally increase quality and length of life however they don’t come without risks and hazards. New health technologies if not proprely used can also hurt patients and lead to medical malpractice. Every year the ECRI Institute publishes a list of the top 10 Health Technology Hazards. The 2018 report just came out.  Here are the 10 most important safety issues in Health Technology for 2018:

  1. Cyber security attacks

    The health care sector is the second most attacked sector by ransomewares after the financial sector. Health information not only contain patient health information but also crucial financial information such as social security numbers. Unfortunately many healthcare organizations are extremely vulnerable.  Their computers operating systems are often outdated and they are not prepared to face criminals holding patient’s information hostage and expecting payout in exchange. Last month a sophisticated group of hackers operating under the name “Dark Overlord”stole pictures from a high profile London plastic surgeon that included pictures of in-progress genitalia and breast enhancement of patients. Patients include celebrities and members of the royal family. The hackers also attacked numerous medical centers in the US last year.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Best Personal Injury Law Firm 2018The New York Personal Injury Lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, are proud to announce that for the eighth consecutive year the firm has been listed in the newly released 2018 ranking of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and Best Lawyers®.

For New York City the firm obtained the following rankings:

  • Tier 1 in Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Jeffrey-Bloom2-150x150Our Partner Jeffrey Bloom on October 11th spoke at “Mount Sinai Update: Breast Imaging Conference” sponsored by The International Institute for Continuing Medical Education, Inc.

This CME program is designed to cover clinical aspects of breast imaging including digital mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and interventional procedures, as well as medicolegal issues. Jeff spoke to physicians regarding the plaintiff’s attorney’s perspective on breast imaging malpractice. Jeff has also spoken to emergency room physicians and neonatologists on medical legal issues.

He believes that it is part of our professional responsibility to educate physicians about medical malpractice, patient safety and how to avoid becoming a defendant in a medical malpractice case. Since joining the firm following his graduation from law school he has carved out a reputation as one of the top medical malpractice attorneys in New York.

Published on:

By

DR samadi is suspected of medical malpracticeDavid Samadi, a star surgeon in New York is suspected of medical misconduct after investigators found that he had been booking 2 to 3 surgeries at the same time and let unsupervised and inexperienced residents handle them. An investigation by the New York State Office of Professional Misconduct is continuing. Residents also complained that they weren’t properly trained. The celebrity urologist is the Chairman of Urology and the Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He earned $6.7 million in 2015 as a specialist in robotic prostate surgery. The Boston Globe Spotlight Team has published a detailed account of his practices. Link below. They found that he keeps track of his robotic surgeries on a board in one of his operating rooms. They obtained a photograph of the board that listed 1,380 robotic surgeries between July 2013 and January 2017. According to The Globe investigation The American Urological Association investigated Samadi’s advertising practices based on complaints from other urologists causing him to scale back claims that he had cured 97 percent of his prostate cancer patients. Lenox Hill Hospital is making millions of dollars a year a from his surgeries.

The practice of double booking is not considered medical malpractice as long as the teaching physician is present during “the critical part” of the surgery. However in the case of David Samadi, it appears that the doctor would never show up during most non robotic surgeries and let residents handle them. According to data provided by the  hospital, David Samadi performed 2,200 operations in 3 years. That’s 733 operations per year and 2 to 3 operations every working day of a year. The Globe investigation found that operations were overlapping in 70% of the cases and hundreds of times one operation would completely overlap with another.  Most of the time overlapping procedures would occur when Dr. Samadi would be performing a robot-assisted operation. On his website the doctor tells patients “He remains the surgeon for the entire procedure and is in control of the robot at all times”.  If Dr Samadi is assisting during the entire procedure how can he at the same time be in another room supervising residents during “critical parts”? This is an example of placing money ahead of good patient care.

Read more in the Boston Globe 

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

blood drawA New York doctor may have committed serious medical malpractice had his license suspended yesterday.

Dr Timothey Morley had his license suspended yesterday after 4 of his patients were infected with the same strain of Hepatitis C. The New York State Department of Health and Westchester County Health Department are asking all patients who received an infusion or had blood drawn at Dr Morley’s practices to get tested for hepatitis B or C or HIV. Dr Morley was practicing at  Tomorrow Medicine in Mount Kisco and White Plains. In the past he was also a practitioner at Advance Medicine of Mount Kisco. If you are a patient of Dr Morley you can get tested for free by calling 914-995-7499 for an appointment.

Officials told the press that they suspended Dr Morley’s license after they  they found “a series of inappropriate infection control practices” and “concerns regarding the preservation, preparation, handling and administration of medicine” at the doctor’s practices. Timothey Morley is also accused of failing to produce records and documents requested by investigators.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

medical procedureIn a recent study,  a majority of doctors said they overtreat patients because they fear medical malpractice lawsuits. Not only is this fear exaggerated but also doctors seem to use it as a good excuse to perform unnecessary procedures that are very profitable to them.  For example angioplasty procedures to implant heart stents in patients are among the most overused interventions. Many procedures not only put patients at risk unnecessarily but inflate the nation’s medical bill.

In the study “Overtreatment in the United States” published in PLOS One yesterday, Heather Lyu from the Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Tim Xu, Daniel Brotman, Brandan Mayer-Blackwell, Michol Cooper, Michael Daniel and Elizabeth C. Wick from the Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America,  Vikas Saini and Shannon Brownlee from The Lown Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America and Martin A. Makary from the Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America surveyed 2,106 physicians about over treatment. The survey found that according to physicians themselves,  20% of  all medical care provided to patients are unnecessary.  Physicians indicated that they felt 25% of tests, 22% of prescription medications and 11% of procedures were not needed. 85% of doctors  said they were over treating for fear of medical malpractice and 59% because they were pressured by their patients. However 70.8% of them recognize that when they over treat patients, physicians tend to perform unnecessary procedures that are the most profitable to them. Over treatment can cause additional and unnecessary harm to patients  and obviously unnecessary financial burden to patients and to insurance companies. Spine surgery, operations done to narrow blood vessels in the leg or stent procedures are all profitable procedures that are the most often found unnecessary for the patient.

Picture: courtesy of Wikipedia

Published on:

By

Bronx Lebanon covering fro medical malpracticesNew York orthopedic surgeon Ira Kirshenbaum was sued 10 times for medical malpractice and 4 of his patients died after undergoing surgery with him. This hasn’t stop Bronx-Lebanon Hospital to keep him as the head of orthopedic surgery since 2008 and to pay him $1 million-a-year and additional bonuses since that time.

Bronx-Lebabanon treats mostly poor patients on Medicaid and executives seem more concerned by the hefty bonuses they receive every year than by patient care. Hospital executives don’t seem to be too concerned if patients die after surgery or if they come out of  the hospital with one leg shorter than the other.

When they hired Kirshenbaum, Bronx-Lebanon executives main concern was how much additional money they could put in their pocket.  By hiring Kirschenbaum the hospital would increase the number of hip and knee replacements which are very lucrative procedures.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

pregnancyEvery year 700 to 900 mothers are dying from health complications during their pregnancy, during the child-birth or post partum.  According to a recent article written by Nina Martin and Alessandra Freitas for Pro Publica little is known about the circumstances of these deaths except that 60% of them could have been prevented. Often hospitals concentrate on the baby but forget about the mother’s health.  Mothers too can suffer and die from birth injuries.

When such a tragedy hits a family, the grief and sometimes the guilt is so intense that members of the family are reluctant to share their story. The death circumstances are often kept private and not mentioned in the obituary. Medical institutions  have never been a trusted source of information when it comes to deaths related to health complications of their own patients especially if medical malpractice is suspected. Additionally, official statistics on maternal fatalities are so poorly reported by states that the United States hasn’t reported an official maternal mortality rate since 2007 according to a recent study published in The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In an effort to try to put a face and a name on these 700 to 900 mothers who died in 2016, Nina Martin and Alessandra Freitas decided to launch a major investigation. They hoped that they would gather enough information about the circumstances of these mothers’ death to be able to get picture of  who these women were and why they died. They spent months searching social media and various other sources to identify these mothers. So far they have found 120 of them.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

“ Lissy McMahon’s sister, the executrix of her Estate made this video to express her appreciation for the NY Legislature passing Laverne’s Law. Our partner, New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Jeffrey Bloom has been relentlessly pushing for Lavern’s Law to pass. He is the co-chair of the Medical Malpractice Committee of the New York State Trial lawyers Association and co-chair of LawPAC of New York-the political action committee of the Trial Lawyers.  Recently, the New York State Legislature passed Lavern’s Law.  Jeff represented Lissy McMahon, a single mother who discovered that doctors misdiagnosed her cancer after the statute of limitations had passed.  Jeff and Lissy fought together to help pass Lavern’s Law. Unfortunately, Lissy passed away before the law was passed leaving behind her 4 year old son Jack.  Jeff now represents her estate.

Published on:

By

Our partner New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer  Jeffrey Bloom was recently invited to appear on Today’s Verdict show hosted by David Lesch to discuss legal malpractice and medical malpractice (see the video of the show below)

Our firm receives many phone calls from people who are upset with their lawyer or unhappy with the result of their lawsuit. Attorneys do make mistakes however not every mistake is grounds for a lawsuit. It is not just because you are upset with your lawyer that you can sue him. Someone has a legal malpractice case if it can be proven that not only the lawyer was negligent not but also that the client would have won the underlying case. This is also the reason why our firm  only handles legal malpractice cases related to personal injury including Medical Malpractice. Often cases we handle are related to issues involving missed statute of limitations and court deadlines.

In the video below Jeff  discusses a legal malpractice case in which the underlying case is a medical malpractice case that he is working on now. The case involves a patient who died in the emergency room of an Upstate New York hospital. The patient showed up at the emergency room complaining about chest pain. The nurse saw him and noted that the patient needed a cardiac consult. The patient  then waited for 4 to 5 hours to be seen. While waiting he died from cardiac arrest at the hospital.  The family of the victim retained a lawyer to sue the hospital. The lawyer who handled the case didn’t file the lawsuit and missed the statute of limitations date which is 2 years for wrongful death and 2 and a half years for medical malpractice. The lawyer then tried to forge documents to make his clients believe that the case was re-opened.

Continue reading →
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 14
  6. 15
  7. 16
  8. 17
  9. 18
  10. 19
  11. 20
  12. ...
  13. 46
Badges
Super Lawyers Best Lawyers Martindale-Hubbell
SEE NEW JERSEY DISCLAIMER PAGE- AWARD METHODOLOGY