New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

A man shared information about a civil trial of a woman who says that she was wrongfully committed to a psychiatric institution after she vented angrily about how she felt about her church’s pastor.

The woman hired a medical malpractice lawsuit and sued the psychiatric hospital along with other staff members. The woman has claimed that the psychiatrists did not follow the acceptable standards of psychiatric care as she was committed to their institution without her consent and was held there for ten days.

However, the hospital’s attorney is defending the medical malpractice because their defense is that they had every reason to believe that the woman was a danger to society at the time. A source reported, the woman had been volunteering at the church as a treasurer and after a while, she turned against the pastor of the church. The woman asked if she could speak to a psychiatrist because she felt that the pastor was not making it easy for her to do her work. According to the report, the woman talked about killing the pastor and that is what got her taken away to the psychiatric ward.

Although, she used those words, the woman claimed that she would not have carried out the threat. The woman testified in court that she was not a threat to society, but the defendant’s lawyer said that the woman would come to the church even after her working hours to harass the pastor. Hospitals in Manhattan and Long Island face these situations all the time.

A souce indicated that the pastor felt as if his life was in danger and may have had reason to feel threatened.

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If medical malpractice immunity is instituted in return for treating Medicaid patients, the system would become a shambles, indicated a New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer.
Perhaps this is an idea that may find favor with the general public; a way to treat those who don’t have much in the way of proper medical care. On the surface, this sounds very humanitarian. Deep in the heart of this idea though lies a very real threat. This is also true of things like misdiagnosis which can be a suable offense.
By providing doctors with immunity to lawsuits for treating Medicaid patients, what is to say that they will get the same standard of care someone with health insurance will get? What is to say that the care given to Medicaid patients may not on occasion be substandard and a mere nod to the rules of providing care for immunity from being sued, asked the New York City Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Sovereign immunity is a slap in the face to medical malpractice patients, whether they have health insurance or not or whether they are on Medicare or Medicaid. Should a State give immunity to doctors, the State then becomes the doctor who was negligent.
This means if a patient sues, taxpayers would then be footing the bill for med mal claims, while the doctor gets off scott free. Where is the justice in that? Where is the compassion for victims of a medical professional’s negligence? The very idea is an affront to victims, indicated the Lawyer.
Medical professionals in Long island and Manhattan need to be held accountable for their errors and if they are not held up to scrutiny, then the old saying of “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” would certainly hold true.

Continue reading "Is Medical Malpractice Immunity in Exchange for Treating Medicaid Patients on the Horizon? " »

This case should never have happened and the awful thing is that the woman the suffered the medical malpractice is unable to sue in the state she lives in. This would never happen in New York, indicated a NYC Medical Malpractice Lawyer
The woman knew that there was a major problem, as she had pains in her legs. She had a history of blood clots and had a filter installed in one of the main veins of her heart. She went to the hospital ER outlined her problem. She was discharged with a diagnosis of bilateral leg pain.
Three days later, her legs were bright red and she called an ambulance and was taken to a different hospital. Evidently, her filter was blocked with blood clots and because she had waited, there was dead tissue in her legs and she was starting to go into kidney failure. Several weeks later when she came out of a coma she discovered both her legs had been amputated to save her.
The woman sought help from an attorney, but in the state where she lives, even though she has a good case, it can’t be pursued due to caps on medical malpractice lawsuits. Her home state passed laws in 2003 that made it even more difficult to sue in “any” health care situation, but more particularly in an ER setting. The med mal cap was set at $250,000 for non-economic damages per health care provider, with a maximum award of $750,000.
In this woman’s case, the $750,000 would barely make a dent in her medical bills and other expenses she is facing for the rest of her life, said the New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer. While her case against the ER doctor is solid, the language in the new law protects ER doctors from misdiagnosis, unless they acted with wanton and willful negligence; a hard thing to prove. The doctor would have to “know” they were putting a patient at risk and still proceed with their diagnosis. There is no room here for simple negligence and the new threshold is virtually impossible to meet. In New York City and Long Island this defense would probably not hold up.

If you have been in a situation like this and have been misdiagnosed by an ER doctor, make your first call to a New York Medical Malpractice Attorney. Do not wait until you feel better, as the Statute of Limitations must be met in cases such as this. Only a New York Medical Malpractice Attorney will be able to obtain equitable compensation for you.

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