Articles Posted in Queens

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On April 6, 2007, the New York State Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to a call just before ten at night to an apartment on Colonial Road in Brooklyn. The call was related to a twenty-five year old woman bleeding vaginally. Upon their arrival, the EMS team noticed that there was blood in the shower area and that the young woman who was seated on the commode was bleeding from her vagina. She was cold and clammy and was transported immediately. The EMS team asked her if she was pregnant or if she could be pregnant. She stated that she was not. However, upon admittance into the hospital at Lutheran Medical Center, the doctors discovered that it was clear that she had recently given birth to a child. The woman refused to admit that she had delivered a baby.

The hospital personnel contacted the police department to locate the baby. The police officers returned to the apartment and questioned the sister of the woman who was in the hospital. They told her that the hospital had said that there was a baby and that they needed to check on the welfare of the child. They repeatedly asked the sister where the baby was. She denied that there was a baby, but finally told them that there were several garbage bags outside in the cold night air behind the apartment. When the officers examined the contents of the garbage bags, they discovered the body of a newborn infant girl in the trash. She was still alive, but showing no signs of life other than being pink in color. She was intubated and transferred to the hospital for emergency medical care. The infant died shortly after arrival. Her cause of death was from exposure to the cold and hypoxia brought on by being tied up in a garbage bag.

The young woman was charged with homicide in causing the death of her newborn infant. The defense attorney filed a motion to suppress the evidence that was collected by the police officers because they contend that it should be excluded from the case under the exclusionary rule. Their contention was based on the idea that the police officers had responded to the location without a warrant and had located the infant based on confidential medical information that was illegally obtained.

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Two teenagers underwent heart treatment when they were young children. As a direct result of this treatment they suffered from brain damage. Both of these teenagers were treated at hospitals in Bristol.

These teenagers have been awarded half a million pounds each to compensate for medical negligence. The money was awarded as a settlement from the Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust in the United Kingdom. The report noted that the money is awarded to help deal with ongoing medical expenses, and prior suffering and treatment expenses.

The standard of surgery conducted by a pediatric cardiac unit in Bristol was called into question almost ten years ago. A public enquiry was conducted to look specifically at the risks. The report found some startling results. The Lawyer has obtained a copy of the public enquiry report which shows just how serious the scandal really was.

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A study explains that many medical malpractice suits are giving many doctors reasons to be cautious. Not all too long ago, if a patient was experiencing chest pains, the doctor would do some routine checks to rule out a heart attack and if they were ok they would be sent back home. This was normally seen as good practice; however everything is different these days.

Many states have implemented strict medical malpractice laws. These give people the right to sue if medical care is thought to be inadequate or not provided in time. The study indicated that this has actually backfired. Many doctors are now overly cautious about their liabilities and so will practice defensive medicine. Rather than just doing the tests that are actually required, they may be going over the top just to make sure that all the bases are covered.

Doctors in Queens and Staten Island are desperate to show that they have done everything they possibly can to prevent an expensive suit. The problem is that this doesn’t actually work. If any mistakes are made reading the large number of tests then this could still lead to a medical malpractice suit against the doctor.

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A medical malpractice case involving a 5 year old boy has been settled with $8.5 million in damages. The trial was settled after just three days. A report read by the Queens judge explains that the settlement has been awarded to help provide ongoing medical care for the young boy for the rest of his life.

Injuries were caused to the little boy as a result of negligence of medical staff during the birth of the boy. The five year old still suffers from seizures as a result of the problems during his birth. He is also unable to see, hold his head up, or walk unassisted. He will need round the clock medical care for the rest of his life. All of his medical problems are caused due to mistakes which were made during his delivery which resulted in serious brain damage.

The start of the delivery seemed to be OK at first. However, at 9 AM, doctors were concerned for the welfare of the baby because the heart rate dropped suddenly explained the nurse. His heart rate was at a healthy 140 beats per minute, but then it dropped suddenly to 60 beats per minute.

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A recent jury decision was overturned by an Appellate court after the court determined that the jury may not have been unaffected by media coverage. The case involved a notable psychiatric hospital which caters to wealthy and famous clientele. The lawsuit against the hospital claimed that a patient was subjected to medical malpractice at the treatment center, stated a source.

The case revolved around a patient who committed suicide while staying at the hospital. The woman hung herself in her room after being mistreated by an attending physician, the lawsuit alleges. According to records, the woman was locked in her room and only allowed limited time unsupervised and it was during one of these brief periods when she was alone that the incident took place.

The rep explains that the ruling in the case was called into question when it was noted that during the time the trial was occurring, there was an article written in the New York Times about the event. The jury in Queens had never been instructed to avoid media during the trial and after the article was published, they were never questioned as to whether they had seen the article or been influenced by its content.

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The Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Abu Dhabi has upheld the conviction of the three doctors involved in the 2008 death of a seven-year-old girl, sources confirmed to an observer. In June 2008, the seven-year-old girl underwent a routine procedure to remove her left tonsil. This is a reminder that there is nothing routine about surgery or any kind.

There were three doctors in attendance to the seven-year-olds surgery. The problem seemed to begin when one of the doctors used a tool that was designed to be used on adults. It is unclear at this point just how the bleeding began, but it is a result of the improper tool being used by one of the doctors. As the doctors attempted to stop the bleeding, one of the doctors managed to puncture the seven-year-old girl’s right lung in the process. Also unknown to a nurse at this point, is why the child was left under anesthesia for 20 hours. It is at this time that the girl died.

The original court ruling in this case acquitted all three doctors. An appeals court later convicted and fined each of the three doctors for their roles in the child’s death. The most recent ruling upheld the convictions and returned the case to the appeals court to carry out the judgments. One of the doctors appealed to the Supreme Court again after the initial Supreme Court ruling in hopes for a lighter judgment due to his attempts to stop the bleeding. The Supreme Court denied his appeal and upheld its prior ruling.

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A 54-year old man had to endure increased pain and suffering due to a medical misdiagnosis, sources have told a reporter. The man had gone in for a relatively routine procedure, an Epidural Spinal Injection (ESI). These procedures have become somewhat commonplace in recent years. The procedure involves the delivery of steroids directly into the epidural space in the spine by means of an injection. The patient usually receives a local anesthetic before the injection, and the area surrounding the injection location is thoroughly disinfected.

The problem with this man’s case is that several days after he received the injection, he was in the emergency room (ER) with a temperature in excess of 101 degrees, and complaining of severe headache and the loss of bladder and bowel control. He was given one dose of antibiotics by the ER physician, and an attending neurosurgeon later discontinued the antibiotics and replaced this with a treatment of steroids. The patient remained in the hospital for four days. During this time, he was not given any more antibiotics, and was sent home after being diagnosed with arachnoiditis.

As more time would pass, the man’s pain did not diminish; rather it continued to get worse. His experience with the loss of bladder and bowel control had also progressed. A source was also told that the man returned to the ER where he was readmitted. This time, however, the man was correctly diagnosed as having contracted bacterial meningitis. When diagnosed in its early stages, bacterial meningitis is treatable.

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In an effort to bring 2011-2012 Medicaid costs down without hurting New York’s healthcare, Governor Andrew Cuomo created a Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) and assigned 23 representatives from the healthcare sector to brainstorm their ideas.

“No patients’ rights representatives were invited to participate in the process, which could be a red flag,” indicated a Lawyer.

He explained that 274 proposals were reviewed by the MRT, which included placing a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits (#131), as well creating a neurologically impaired infant fund (NII). Proposal #131 was favored by the Governor’s Office despite the fact that it will likely deny injured patients and their family’s access to real justice.

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Doctors believe our American healthy care system needs change but the recent bill passed in the Senate last week, they conquer, is not the answer.

Although costs of medical malpractice claims are difficult problems to solve, passing Senate Bill 33 might create a bigger problem for the country.

Senate Bill 33, he explained, will cap noneconomic damage rewards at $500,000, which too many seems like enough money but lawyers argue it isn’t.

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This lawsuit was brought by a couple whose baby had been born with spina bidifa. There suit alleged that the doctors involved the pre-natal care did not tell the mother what the reason was for a blood test offered to her during her pregnancy. She had no idea the test was to determine the risk of her unborn baby having spina bifida.

When this case went to court, the judge indicated that there was plenty of evident the father suffered from emotional distress and that both the parents were entitled to damages for this as well, said the doctor. Further, the court said that if the mother had known about the results of the test prior to birth, her decision would not have been speculation.

A video of the baby at birth shown during the trial was quite telling and spoke for itself about the consequences of the mother not knowing about her child’s disease. In other words, there was no prejudice and the video dealt in facts alone. Based on what the jury saw, the court did not feel that the $5 million award was out of line for economic damages and that the $7 million for non-economic damages was fair.

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