New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog34 year old Kelly Mayhew died from medical malpractice last May in New York. She had traveled from Maryland with her mom to get cosmetic silicone injections of her buttock in Queens New York, City. Unfortunately, the doctor who injected her was an unlicensed phony plastic surgeon who fled the scene soon after Mayhew started to gurgle and struggle to breathe leaving her victim to die. The fake doctor never surrendered and the NYPD believe she know lives in England. The case is currently being presented to a grand jury in front of which the city Medical Examiner said that the cause of the death was “systemic silicone emboli due to cosmetic silicone injections of buttocks” and “the manner of death was homicide”. Read more in the NY Daily News
What is a mediation and how can it help your lawsuit?
In a recent article published in Policy & Practice, Daniel Pollack, a Professor at the School of Social Work, Yeshiva University in New York explains why lawsuits against human services agencies are very often settled through mediation. The article is related to lawsuits against human services agencies but most points can apply to personal injury lawsuits as well. The article provides a detailed definition of what a mediation is and how it differs from a hearing or an arbitration. Professor Pollack also looks at the benefits of a mediation compared to a trial and refers to specific cases where it is the best alternative for both sides. The article emphasizes the instrumental role of the mediator and what defines a good mediator.
Download the complete article here
New legislation proposes to protect New York renters from being injured or pressured to move out during construction work
After hearing about multiple complaints of tenants being endangered by construction work in their building often because unscrupulous landlords are trying to push them out and rent at a higher price (see previous blog), the New York City Council today introduced a new package of bills intended to stop these dangerous practices. A total of a dozen bills are pushing for more and quicker enforcement by the NYC Buildings Department. One of the bills proposes the creation of a special unit that would send inspectors to the site within two hours after a complaint of non permitted work is received. Other bills address falsified claims in which the owner pretends the building is vacant when it is not. Tenants advocates are claiming that harassment has reached unbearable levels in gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side and that the Department of Buildings is too lenient.
Read more in the New York Times
A new cluster of Legionnaires’ disease is being investigated by the New York City Health Department: so far 7 cooling towers have tested positive and 10 people have been hospitalized
The NYC Department of Health is urging New Yorkers with respiratory symptoms such as cough, chills, fever and difficulty breathing to seek immediate medical attention after 7 people from Morris Park in the Bronx were hospitalized for Legionnaire’s disease. This outbreak is different from the one that occurred this summer in the South Bronx (see previous blog) and that was attributed to Legionella found in the cooling tower of the Opera House Hotel.
The Department of Health is actively investigating this new outbreak. Health alerts have been disseminated and hospital ER’s in Morris park are checking for higher than usual cases of pneumonia. Nursing homes and senior centers are being visited to educate staff and patients about the disease.
Scientists are taking samples of all cooling towers and lab tests are being conducted. So far 7 cooling towers in the area of Morris Park have tested positive and 10 people have been hospitalized. 9 of them are still in the hospital and one has been treated and released. Read more here
Between July 2012 and December 2014, 1,243 people suffered personal injury and 8 others died in motor vehicle accidents on Woodhaven Boulevard, Queens, NYC making it the third most dangerous road in New York City after Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn and the Grand Concourse, Bronx
Based on New York crash statistics analyzed from July 2012 to December 2014, the most dangerous intersections on Woodhaven Boulevard were:
- 101st Ave & Woodhaven Blvd with 42 crashes, 62 injuries and 1 fatality
- Jamaica Ave & Woodhaven Blvd with 38 crashes, 52 injuries and 2 fatalities
How can hospitals and other health care facilities mitigate the risk of falls and fall related injuries
Falls in hospitals can cause serious personal injury and sometimes death. Every year hundreds of thousands of people are falling in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing facilities or other healthcare facilities. 30 to 50% of them will sustain injury. Elderly people are not the only ones at risk. Medical conditions, medication, surgery, medical procedures or diagnostic testings for example can result in weakening and confusion for any patient independently of his or her age and increase the risk of a fall.
According to a recent alert from the Joint Commission, falls in hospitals are a prevalent patient safety problem. Even though it can be difficult and complex to prevent, hospital can take action to prevent them. Here are recommendations suggested by the Joint Commission:
- Raise awareness about the risk of falls by communicating it to clinical and non clinical staff at every level as well as to patients and their family
The 140 speed cameras authorized by the State are now fully installed and working to protect New York City children from potential accidents related to speeding
To prevent car accidents in school areas in New York City, the Department of Transportation completed the installation of 140 speed cameras at the beginning of this month, just on time for the beginning of the school year. The installation of the speed cameras which is part of the Vision Zero initiative to reduce personal injury and death related to traffic accidents in New York City, started 20 months ago. Since then, 945,000 speed camera violations have already been issued. At the beginning of the implementation of the project, there was an average of 192 violations issued per camera per day. Last August this number was down to 69 which demonstrates the efficacy of the cameras in deterring speeding.
100 cameras have been installed at a fixed location and 40 of them are mobile. Cameras were installed at schools that had a history of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorist crashes during school hours. School areas located near spots with speeding issues or close to dangerous intersections or corridors could also qualify to be equipped with speed cameras.
In addition to the cameras, the DOT installed 4,000 speed limit signs including “Photo Enforced” language.
A pedestrian suffered serious personal injury in a hit and run accident in Queens, NYC
A young man was seriously injured after being struck by a car in New York City a little bit before 10:00 pm yesterday night. The pedestrian was crossing Union Turnpike near Woodhaven Blvd, in Forest Hills, Queens, when he was hit by the negligent driver. According to a witness, the car didn’t break and struck the pedestrian at full speed. The impact was so hard that the pedestrian went flying against a metallic dumpster at the corner of the street. The didn’t stop and fled the scene. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News
A year ago, a participant at a Vision Zero Queens South workshop pinpointed the dangerous intersection of Union Turnpike and Woodhaven Blvd (see picture below). Forrest Hill residents consider Union Turnpike very unsafe for both pedestrians and bicyclists. Last year the speed limit was lowered to 25 mph and this summer the police cracked down on speeding drivers to try to prevent accidents such as the one that happened yesterday night.
Two cases handled by New York Personal Injury Law Firm Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz made it to the 2015 New York’s Verdicts & Settlements Hall of Fame
We are proud to announce that a bicycle accident verdict and an auto accident settlement obtained by our New York personal injury attorneys have been listed in the 2015 New York Law Journal’s New York’s Verdict & Settlement Hall of Fame. Induction into the New York’s Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame is based on five years of verdicts and settlements submitted to the Verdict Search database. Those cases that could not be submitted due to confidentiality restraints were not considered. The practice area focus for this year’s Hall of Fame honors is Motor Vehicle.
The two cases handled by our firm that made it to the Hall of Fame are “Ortiz v. New York Transit Authority” and “Estate of Farinacci v. Powell”. In the first case, our personal injury attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir obtained a $8.57 million verdict for a bicyclist who suffered degloving injuries to her leg after being struck by a MTA bus in Manhattan. In the second case, attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Diana Carnemolla obtained a $8 million settlement for the husband and the 4 year old child of a 22 year old mother who was killed by a drunk driver. This settlement was the largest award in the State of New York for the wrongful death of a mother leaving one child surviving her.
11 people suffered personal injury in a New York bus accident
A motorcyclist was critically injured and 10 other people suffered minor injury after a bus collided with a car in New York City last Wednesday. The accident happened at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and 81st Road in Woodhaven, Queens. The bus that was transporting special needs adults collided with a Nissan Sedan. The impact was so hard that the bus rocked and almost tipped while the front of the Nissan sustained severe damage trapping the driver. Good Samaritans ran to him and tried to get him out of the car by breaking the windows. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News
