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

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The family was awarded a record $58 million for medical malpractice
Daniel D'Attilo

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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Glens Falls Hospital
Glens Falls Hospital

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

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Mt. Sinai Medical Center
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On January 12, 2011 Ben Rubinowitz will deliver a Grand Rounds lecture for the Department of Radiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Mr. Rubinowitz, an expert in his field in representing severely injured patients, has been asked to lecture to Attending Physicians and Residents on the subject of Medical Malpractice. Interestingly, Mr. Rubinowitz does not represent doctors. He represents the victims of Medical Negligence and has achieved very substantial verdicts on their behalf. Known for sharing his knowledge in the field, Ben feels it is important to partake in such lectures. “In every Medical Malpractice case that we have handled, we are always talking about events that have occurred after the fact. It is too late to undo the harm that has taken place — the patient has been seriously injured. If lectures like this provide guidance that prevent medical negligence from occurring at the outset, we’re all better off.” Later this month Ben will be delivering a similar lecture at the National Urologic Forum.

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Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom & Rubinowitz is pleased to announce that our Partner Ben Rubinowitz has been asked to deliver a lecture on Medical Malpractice at the 35th Annual Winter Urologic Forum in Colorado this January. Known for its expertise in the field, GGCSMB&R has successfully resolved thousands of medical malpractice cases for those who have been injured as a result of medical negligence. Ben Rubinowitz explained that ” it is truly an honor to have the privilege of speaking to such a distinguished group of doctors.”

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In Wilson-Toby v. Bushkin, a New York Medical Malpractice case, our partner Rhonda Kay, obtained an affirmance of the lower Court’s denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action to recover damages based upon lack of informed consent. The plaintiff underwent elective cosmetic breast surgery performed by the defendant doctors. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants performed the surgery improperly, causing disfigurement and significant scarring. The complaint alleged causes of action seeking to recover damages for medical malpractice and lack of informed consent. The defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and the Supreme Court denied their motion in its entirety. On appeal, the defendants challenged only the denial of that branch of their motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the cause of action sounding in lack of informed consent. The Court held;

“Contrary to the defendants’ contention, the consent forms signed by the plaintiff “do not establish, as a matter of law, that the scarring that the plaintiff actually experienced as a result of the procedure was, in its nature and in its extent, consistent with the type of scarring that, prior to the procedure, the plaintiff had been told to consider as being among the reasonably forseeable risks of the proposed procedure, or that a reasonable, fully informed person in the plaintiff’s position would have undergone the procedure despite the existence of such risk” (Colon v Klindt, 302 AD2d 551, 553 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Rezvani v Somnay, 65 AD3d 537, 538-539). Nor did the defendants establish the content of additional disclosures made beyond those contained in the consent forms. The deposition testimony raises a factual dispute between the plaintiff and the defendants as to the content of additional warnings and information they may have given the plaintiff prior to surgery. The existence of triable issues of fact in the defendants’ moving papers precludes a finding that they established their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law sufficient to eliminate any material issues of fact (see Brown v Outback Steakhouse, 39 AD3d 450, 451; Gray v South Nassau Communities Hosp., 245 AD2d 337; Muscatello v City of New York, 215 AD2d 463, 464).”

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Our Partner Stephen Mackauf will speak at The New York State Bar Association Seminar: Medical Malpractice to be held on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at New York Hotel Pennsylvania, 401 Seventh Avenue (at 33rd St.) New York, NY. Stephen will speak on Discovery (Plaintiff’s Perspective). For more information click here. Stephen is considered by not only malpractice lawyers in New York but by malpractice lawyers across the Country as one of the leading Medical Malpractice Attorneys in The United States. He has lectured for years to both Doctors and Medical Malpractice Lawyers in States across The Country.