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 Negligence

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A new study conducted by Dr. Srini Tridandapani, of Emory University and presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society annual meeting found that adding a picture of the patient to every imaging study would decrease wrong patient error by five fold.

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Approximately half of the patients returning to the ER after being discharged will be rehospitalized. Congestive heart failure, is the primary diagnosis for return emergency department visits with subsequent discharge and subsequent readmission in 30 days. Frequent diagnosis for return to the ER and re-admission include problems with a device, sickle cell anemia and abdominal pain.

“Hospital readmissions within 30 days of inpatient discharge are frequent and costly,” according to Kristin Rising, MD, a fellow in the Center for Emergency Care Policy & Research in the department of Emergency Medicine in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine who is the lead author, of “Emergency Department Visits After Hospital Discharge: A Missing Part of the Equation” a new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

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Since 2008 construction workers at Bekset Mansonry (NJ) have been exposed to scaffolding hazards that could have lead to serious injuries and fatal accidents.

Cross%20braces%20prohibited.pngThe construction company was cited for 3 repeat violations (lack of fall protection, use of scaffold cross braces to access the scaffold’s walking and working area and missing toe boards) and 5 serious violations including hazardous scaffolding and lack of proper training on scaffold and portable extension ladder set up.

65 percent of the construction industry, work on scaffolds frequently. Protecting these workers from scaffold-related accidents would prevent 4,500 construction accident injuries and 50 deaths every year, at a saving for American employers of $90 million dollars in workdays not lost, according to OSHA.

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In 2009, 21% of elderly enrollees in Medicare Advanatge received at least one high risk medication and 4.8% received at least two according to a redent study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine by Danya Qato, a pharmacist and doctoral candidate in health services research at Brown and Dr. Amal Trivedi, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown and a hospitalist at the Providence VA Medical Center

The study shows that the risk is much higher among residents of the South, women and people living in poor areas. The map below shows the percentage of seniors who received one or more high-risk medications in 2009 by region
high%20risk%20prescription%20pill%20use%20by%20region%20large.png
Credit: Danya Qato/Brown University

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In this New York motorcycle accident case, our partner, Christopher L. Sallay, won summary judgment on behalf of the plaintiff. Justice Arlene P. Bluth held that plaintiff demonstrated their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by establishing that the defendant violated New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1141 when she made a left turn directly into the plaintiff’s path.

To read the full decision click here.

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Use of cell phones or other electronic devices while driving is dangerous and can cause fatal car accidents. Most drivers know this but they still use their cell phones or other mobile devices to text, look at travel directions, check their emails, consult their calendar appointments, surf the web or play video games.

According to the latest National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) “Driver Electronic Device Use in 2011“, texting or manipulating an hand held device while driving significantly increased from 2010 to 2011.

The trend is particularly alarming among young drivers and women.

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Failure to Diagnose Compartment Syndrome may be medical malpractice.Compartment Syndrome occurs when the pressure within a closed anatomic space (a compartment) becomes so elevated that capillary perfusion is compromised. Any closed anatomic space including the abdominal cavity is at risk of developing a compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is a surgical emergency. Surgical decompression by fasciotomy must be performed within eight hours of onset or permanent neuromuscluar damage may result. Failure to properly treat will cause necrosis of the nerves and the muscles in the affected compartment since the increased intracompartmental pressure leads to ischemia and thus loss of blood supply to the nerves and muscles within the compartment. Further complications include Rhabdomyolysis which may lead to renal failure,loss of limb and sometimes death.

The following video from Dr Nabil Ebraheim, Professor and Chair of Orthopedic Surgery at The University of Toledo, explains with great detail:

– What is Compartment Syndrome?

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Jeff-Bloom-thumbTomorrow, March 27th, our partner Jeff Bloom will speak at the Emergency Risk Conference at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The conference will take place at the Mount Sinai Hatch Auditorium, 1450 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. Mr. Bloom will present “Analysis of a court case”.

Below is the program for the Conference:

8:30 – 9:00 Breakfast

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A recent study on safety in hospitals conducted by Consumer Reports shows that hospitals are not a safe place to be.

For this study Consumer Reports magazine ranked more than 2000 hospitals based on the following criteria:

-Infections aquired in hospitals
-likelyhood to be re-admitted in 30 days
-communication issues around drugs and discharge
-likelyhood to get too many CT scans
-likelyhood of complications

Dr John Santa, director of Consumer Reports’ Health Ratings Center, was recently on “CBS This Morning” (see video below) to express his concerns.

In the New York area, out of 70 hospitals studied, 58 hospitals rank below the national average when it comes to safety.

Among these hospitals 27 out of the 28 teaching hospitals are scoring below average with some of them among the worst of the nation. The only teaching hospital in the New York region that scores above average is the the Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, NY with a safety score of 58 out of 100.

Teaching hospitals are supposed to lead by example as they are training the future doctors of our nation. It is an alarming fact that most teaching hospitals in the New York area are actually the most unsafe in the country.

In the New York area, the worst teaching hospitals when it comes to safety are the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. with 22 points, the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Health Care System in the Bronx, N.Y. with 25 points, the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. with 28 points, Harlem Hospital Center in New York City with 28 points and the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. with 29 points.
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Watts/Daily News

Four employees of New York’s Rikers Island prison are suing the city for cancer-related illnesses they claim were caused by exposure to toxic substances on the job. Most of prison is built over a landfill.

The employees, along with the widow of another employee, say the city knew of the danger but neglected to warn its workers. A claim the city denies.

Correction Officer Vanessa Parks told The New York Daily News, “That island is toxic and it’s killing people.” She was diagnosed with uterine cancer two years ago.

More than 8,000 correction personnel work on Rikers Island.

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