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.
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Last year, our partner Jeffrey Bloom, settled a similar personal injury case for $3,450,000 after a 16 year old boy suffered second and third degree burns when an explosion occurred during a science experiment at his high school. Read more about it here

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Failure to diagnose a brain tumor can have horrible consequences on the life of an individual. In a recent article in the Washington Post, Sandra G. Boodman writes about the dramatic story of Bebe Bahnsen, an outgoing and successful Washington newspaper reporter whose life was destroyed because doctors failed to diagnose a growing brain tumor that was pressing on her left frontal lobe, the portion of the brain responsible for speech, movement, emotional regulation and reasoning. Symptoms started with mild depression and as the tumor grew Bebe sustained a prolonged suicidal depression. Her social life and career were totally destroyed. For years she was hospitalized periodically, submitted to electroshock treatments, and prescribed numerous psychiatric drugs until finally a neurologist did the right thing. Dr Gawronski, now practicing in Baton Rouge, ordered an MRI and realized that a small benign brain tumor that had been previously diagnosed years before had reached the size of a lime and was the reason for her worsening mental illness.

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Statistics related to motor vehicle accidents in New York City in 2012 have been recently released by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. The total number of accidents in 2012 was 68,804 compared to 73,060 in 2011 and 78,343 in 2010. 253 people died and 47,467 suffered personal injury after being involved in a motor vehicle accident in NYC in 2012.

New%20York%20Car%20Accidents%20Total%202010%20to%202012.pngEvery year for the last 3 years there were over 10,000 car accidents involving pedestrians. Bicycle accidents have been stable, over 3000 every year for the last 3 years and motorcycle accidents slightly increased last year in New York compared to the two previous years.

Pedestrian%20bicyle%20and%20motorcycle%20accidents%20in%20NYC.pngToo many pedestrians died in traffic accident in New York City. This year the number of victims was 135, slightly lower than the two previous years but still too high globally. 2012 also saw a significant increase in the death of car drivers involved in accidents. The number of deaths related to bicycle accidents was at its lowest for the last 3 years in New York in 2012.

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Medical Malpractice has a higher risk of occurring when a patient transfers between various treatment sites and caregivers even within the same institution. A well coordinated transition between various healthcare settings can reduce the risk of medical errors, decrease hospital re-admission rates, avoid the duplication of services and reduce the waste of resources.

Medical professionals as well patients and their families can find valuable information on the newly updated and expanded Joint Commission’s “Transition of care Portal“. New and noteworthy articles include:

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To prevent car accidents in New York the New York State police as well as local law enforcement agencies are on the lookout for distracted and/or drunk drivers during this holiday season. Governor Cuomo announced on December 24th that sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols have been deployed all around New York State to make sure people dont drink and drive, buckle up, put down the phone and drive safely.
Read the complete Press Release

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A 26 year old man suffered serious personal injury after he was hit by a drunk driver Monday night in the Bronx, New York. The car accident happened when the man was crossing the intersection of Grand Concourse and E. 198th Street around midnight. In New York in 2012 there were 1,250 car accidents caused by drunk driving. These accidents resulted in 21 deaths and 941 personal injuries. Check out Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to see how you can help.

Read more in the New York Daily News

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br.jpgIn their Trial Advocacy column in the New York Law Journal, Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, and Evan Torgan of Torgan & Cooper, write about the importance of cross-examining experts on collateral matters.

When dealing with the expert witness, exposing bias is not only an essential part of cross, but one that becomes imperative if counsel is to turn the jury against the so-called “expert.” This article offers an informative approach and “how to guide” to cross examine the expert by using the “collateral attack.” The examples used in this article are taken from a recent case that Rubinowitz tried in which he secured a $7.25 million verdict for his client who suffered knee injuries.

For more than 10 years Ben Rubinowitz and Evan Torgan have been recognized by the New York Law Journal as experts in their field. To date, they have written more than 60 articles on various aspects of trial advocacy.

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Speed related car accidents cause the death of 10,000 people every year. They represent one third of all traffic accident related fatalities. In its recent report “National Survey of Speeding Attitudes and Behavior“, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) looks at the attitude of drivers toward speed. Most drivers recognize that speed is a danger and that speed limits should be respected however many also admit to driving over the speed limit and enjoying the feeling of driving fast. Men admit to speed more frequently than women. Young drivers aged 16 to 20 admit to speeding more frequently than any other age group.

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Failure to diagnose cancer in teenagers may be medical malpractice. Because cancer in young adults and teenagers count for only 1% of all diagnosed cancers, they have a higher risk of being misdiagnosed. A recent report “Improving Diagnosis: Teenage Cancer Trust Report on Improving the Diagnostic Experience of Young People with Cancer” was recently published by the Teenage Cancer Trust in London. This report discusses challenges to early diagnosis of cancer for teenagers and offers guidance for clinicians and families to improve care for these patients.

 

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To reduce medical malpractice, the Institute of Medicine called for the measurement and reporting of physicians quality in its reports To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001). More than 10 years later, it remains very difficult for patients in most states to find quality information on physicians.

A recent Sate Report Card on Transparency of Physicians Quality Information, authored by Francois de Brantes, MS, MBA, Elizabeth Bailey, MPH, Jessica DiLorenzo, MA and Michael Moses, MS from the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute in Newtown, Conn shows that only Minnesota and Washington State have a high level of transparency on physicians. California is somewhat transparent but for all other states patients have little access to information on the quality of their physicians.

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