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 Medical Malpractice

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Blog_Medical_Malpractice139% of incidents of medical malpractices are committed by 2% of doctors in the US according to a recent study entitled “Changes in Practice among Physicians with Malpractice Claims” and recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine . Many of these doctors are multi recidivists and have accumulated 5 or more paid lawsuits. While some of them quit, a majority of them just keep on going.  The study found that 90% of them are indeed still in practice.

Any doctor can open a solo practice including those who have had several paid claims against them

Contrary to what many believe, most doctors who have been sued multiple times for medical malpractice do not relocate to another state.  They often open their own practice because it gets more difficult for them to be hired by hospitals or healthcare groups. Any doctor can open their own practice, irrespective of the number of times he or she might have been sued for medical malpractice.  Additionally patients are less likely to look for information about prior lawsuits than employers. Opening a solo practice also means less oversight but also an increased risk for more harm to patients. Should doctors with several malpractice claim be authorized to do so? Also should patients be able to easily access information on physicians past lawsuits?

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Top 10 patient safety concern in 2019As medicine evolves so do the risks for medical malpractice. Here are the top main risks according to  the 2019 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns recently published by the ECRI Institute:

  1. Improper use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) can be medical malpractice that can cause severe harm and sometimes death.  Diagnoses that are not proprely communicated or followed up are the number one concern when it comes to patient safety in 2019.  Too often, the 3 main components of the EHR, The diagnosis, the treatment plan and the follow up plan are inaccurate or missing. As a result, the risk of diagnostic error increases.
  2. The second biggest cause of concern for patient safety is the over prescription of antibiotics to patients that increases their antibiotic resistance and as a result limits their future treatment options. The over prescription of antibiotics affect particularly seniors who believe antibiotics can help them to feel better in almost any type of situation and doctors who are handing them out like candies.
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Blog_Medical_Malpractice-thumbArmy medical staff and doctors should be accountable for medical malpractice says a bipartisan group of House lawmakers that just announced a legislation that would allow malpractice lawsuits against the military by creating an exemption to the Feres Doctrine, a 69-year-old legal precedent barring that legal action. This new legislation is coming after congressional hearings of victims of military medical mistakes last April.

One of the key victims testifying was Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal.  The 37-year-old green beret who miraculously survived a pierced lung after being shot by a sniper when he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 is now fighting for his life again because of  of gross medical malpractice by army doctors. In 2017, after struggling with severe breathing issues Stayskal went to visit a civilian doctor who diagnosed him with stage 4 lung cancer. Previously Stayskal consulted with Army doctors who diagnosed him with bad pneumonia. The Army doctors misdiagnosed the tumor in his lung, allowing it to double in size and spread to vital organs. A father of two young daughters, Stayskal has a one year life expectancy.

Also appearing in front of Congress last month was the widow of 25 year old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Witt. The young man was admitted  at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California for a routine appendectomy. He was left in a vegetative state after a nurse anesthetist inserted a breathing tube into his esophagus instead of his trachea or airway, depriving his brain of oxygen. His family decided to remove him from life support one month after the operation.

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New York State hospitals and especially New York City hospitals and nursing homes are the institutions the most affected in the country by Candida Auris, a dangerous fungal infection resistant to most medications. The disease already killed a patient at Mount Sinai hospital last year and 309 cases have been confirmed in New York and 109 in New Jersey out of a total of 587 for the entire country.

Hospitals that have been contaminated by Candida Auris germs report that it is very difficult to eradicate it in the facility. It takes special cleaning equipment. Sometime tiles have to be ripped of the walls to get rid of the bug.

Candida Auris a hospital superbug invades New York

If  a loved one is in a nursing home or at the hospital ask if they had any cases of Candida Auris

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New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Ben RubinowitzOur managing partner, NYC Medical Malpractice Lawyer Ben Rubinowitz is honored to be invited to the American Urologic Association’s Annual Meeting 2019 held in Chicago, May 3-6 2019. There he will have the opportunity to speak with Practicing Physicians and Hospital Department Chairs about Medical Malpractice in general and about the pitfalls of Electronic Medical Records, In addition, his lecture will focus on doctors’ failure to properly inform their patients of the risks, benefits and alternatives of the proposed treatment, communication errors and recurrent departures from accepted standards of medical care. The goal of the talk is to allow for better patient care.

Click here for more info or to register

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Kigs County Hospital has the highest number of wrongful death claims468 people died of medical malpractice in NYC’s public hospitals in the past 5 years according to a recent article in the New York Post.  Among all 11 HHC hospitals, Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn had the worst record. 91 claims of wrongful death related to medical malpractice were filed against the Brooklyn hospital between the beginning of 2014 and the end of 2018. Bellevue, a much larger city hospital located in Manhattan came second with 54 wrongful death claims filed against it during the same period.

The Post analysed City Comptroller data obtained through a Freedom of Information request and found that the city paid $34 million to 56 families in 2014. Among the cases closed, the Post found out that  some patients died in horrific conditions from gross medical malpractice committed by these hospitals. Among the most shocking were:

  • The wrongful death of a woman who died from organ failure after doctors at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn ignored her tuberculosis diagnosis and botched her treatment. Her family was awarded  $3.2 million, one of the largest amounts paid by HHC to the 56 families.
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New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Ben RubinowitzOur managing partner, NYC Personal Injury Attorney Ben Rubinowitz will be speaking at the Long Island Medical Malpractice Litigation 2019 Seminar organized by the New York State Bar Association. The seminar will take place on Wednesday February 27th at the Melville Marriott located at 1350 Walt Whitman Road in Melville. Ben will be speaking on openings and summations.

The seminar will start with a presentation of the Developments in the Substantive Law that will cover the recent legal issues and legislative development, e-Discovery, Ex parte interviews with treating physicians, recent developments in Lien Law and the fund for neurologically impaired infants.  It will be followed by a presentation on discovery including social media and internet information, surveillance, Arons authorizations and more. After a coffee break, participants will learn tips and techniques to question the defendant during depositions and trial. In the afternoon the program will first focus on the preparation of the defendant for deposition. It will be followed by a presentation on how to cross examine an expert. Participants will then learn how to prepare perfect openings and summations. The program will end with a view from the Bench.

A must for both new and experienced attorneys, this seminar will be filled with useful information and valuable tips. The program will provide an overview of the key issues in medical malpractice litigation through a combination of lectures and practical demonstrations. Learn how to determine the relevant standard of care, how to prepare your case, how to avoid common pitfalls and how to examine expert witnesses. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn trial strategies and techniques in medical malpractice actions from top-notch litigators and distinguished State and Federal Judges.

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FrostbiteAs New York hospitals are gearing up for an increased number of patients visiting the emergency room for cold related injuries it is important that physicians and nurses be up to date with proper management of cold injuries as medical malpractice such as failure to diagnose and timely treat systemic hypothermia can be fatal.

In a recent article published in Medscape, Blair Peters, MD (Resident Physician, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine, Canada) and  Edward W Buchel, MD (Associate Professor of Surgery, Section of Plastic Surgery, University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine; Head, Consulting Staff, Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, Canada) provide an in depth analysis of the various types of cold injuries and the most appropriate manner to treat them.

Systemic hypothermia needs immediate treatment

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New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Ben RubinowitzOur managing partner, NYC Medical Malpractice Attorney Ben Rubinowitz will be lecturing at the 43rd Winter Urologic Forum at the Winter Meeting of Urologists in Steamboat Springs, CO. Organized by WJ Weiser and Associates, Inc, the Forum will take place at Steamboat Grand from January 19th to January 22nd.

This meeting will summarize for practicing urologists and other interested professionals, new concepts in diagnosis and treatment for conditions including local and advanced prostate, renal and bladder cancer, lower urinary tract symptoms, incontinence, urinary tract infection, reconstructive urology, andrology, stone disease and medical malpractice. At the completion of the meeting, urologists will have been exposed to methods to optimize patient care and maintain patient centricity of care delivery.

Ben will moderate the session “Cases of Urologic Complications and Implications”. This session will focus on Medical Malpractice with trial demonstrations including witness examination, opening statements and summation of cases related to prostate cancer, urothelial cancer, female urology, stones, renal cancer and male AUS.

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Jeffrey-Bloom2Our partner, NYC Medical Malpractice Attorney Jeffrey Bloom will be Co-Chairing “Lets Talk… All Things Med. Mal.”. Organized by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, this seminar will take place at NYSTLA office in Manhattan on January 23rd from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Presented as a round table type discussion, the seminar will address all the aspects of a Medical Malpractice Trial – jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination as well as summation  – from the different perspectives of the plaintiff, the defendant and the Court.

Participants will learn:

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