Our Partner, Jeffrey Bloom, recently settled a medical malpractice case in New York Supreme Court, Nassau County for $3,375,000 for the wrongful death of a 46 year old husband and father of two young children in which the patient died on the operating table during the performance of back surgery.
This complex case involved surgical error by the vascular and orthopedic surgeons and anesthesia malpractice. It was alleged that major blood vessels were lacerated during the surgery resulting in acute blood loss, a fact confirmed by the Medical Examiner, that no timely repair was performed by the surgeons and that the anesthesiologist failed to recognize the emergency, perform resuscitation and treat the patient’s acute hemorrhage by administering adequate blood and blood replacement products.
The defendants asserted that the patient, who was unemployed and on disability, had serious cardiac conditions which significantly decreased his life expectancy.
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A Connecticut family received a record medical malpractice award in a lawsuit, after a jury determined that Daniel D’Attilo’s medical problems were preventable. Daniel needs constant care and cannot speak, eat or walk due to these injuries. Last week, he and his family were awarded $58 million in a medical malpractice case against the obstetrician who delivered him.
According to lawyers, Daniel’s mother’s amniotic fluid dropped by half before going into labour, but her physician, Dr. Richard Viscarello, waited days to perform a Caesarian section. After a month-long trial the Jury decided that the D’Attilos should be paid $58 million compensation for ‘pain and suffering’ and for the Daniel’s past and continuing medical care.
The attorneys at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf have more than 90 years of experience representing patients who have been injured or have died as the result of medical malpractice involving birth injuries.
Our Partner Stephen Mackauf will Chair the Seminar Hospital Liability presented by The New York State Trial Lawyers Association on June 21 &22, 2011 to be held at 132 Nassau Street, New York, N.Y.
“This program will cover virtually every aspect of medical malpractice cases against hospitals. We begin with a a judge’s overview of recent developments in hospital liability law in New York with a special emphasis on vicarious liability. We will discuss how a plaintiff’s lawyer can use the concept of the “differential diagnosis.” We then cover hospital records and how to obtain the “records behind the records,” together with a discussion of the metadata hidden in computerized hospital records that tell you who really wrote what note, when, and what changes were made to it.” For more information and to register click here.
For the sixth straight year the number of Medical Malpractice cases brought in Pennsylvania dropped. In 2010 163 Medical Malpractice cases were decided by a jury. 133 resulted in defense verdicts. This is a direct result of changes in the law, the goal of which, are to deprive victims of medical negligence from obtaining legal representation. In 2002 the State implemented changes in the law which required that attorneys representing patients be required to retain an expert in the same specialty as each defendant physician in order to bring a lawsuit. The sole purpose of this law was to drive up the costs involved in bringing a case on behalf of a patient. A further change in the law required medical malpractice cases to be brought only in the county in which the malpractice occurred even if the doctors and patient live in different counties.
On April 4, 2011, a jury, after a two-week trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court awarded $10 Million to a 60-year-old man in a medical malpractice case in which it was claimed that the plaintiff was mis-diagnosed as suffering from ALS a fatal neuromuscular disease.
The Plaintiff’s attorney, Matthew Casey, claimed the mis-diagnosis resulted in the plaintiff having to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
At trial, it was argued that the defendant did not perform tests and consult with radiologists before diagnosing the plaintiff with ALS.
In recognition of his success in the Courtroom, Ben Rubinowitz has been asked to lecture to students attending St. John’s Law School on February 28, 2011. Not only will Ben lecture to the students but he will demonstrate successful cross examination techniques in cases in which Ben has obtained multi-million dollar awards for his client’s. The topics include:
1. cases involving Medical Malpractice— the failure of doctors to timely and appropriately diagnose cancer as well as negligence in conducting surgery and surgical errors;
2. Construction Site Accidents — The failure of General Contractors and Owners to provide a safe place to work resulting in injury and death to construction workers;
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Dr. Stephen Serlin, an obstetrician-gynecologist, has been ordered to pay $3 million for medical malpractice for brain injuries sustained by a girl during childbirth over 17 years ago. Those injuries have been blamed for serious development problems, including cerebral palsy, during the child’s life.
For Serlin, the most damaging event in the trial was testimony that showed he had arrived two hours late for the preparation of a Cesarean section. The plaintiff claimed this delayed the operation and resulted in the serious brain damage. The plaintiffs presented testimony from an expert that showed the girl suffered “fetal asphyxia” in the womb during the delay.
The verdict can be appealed.
Glens Falls doctor ordered to pay $3 million in malpractice decision, Popstar, February 2, 2011
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog