Regular mammograms allow early diagnosis of breast cancer and can save lives. For it’s annual May breast cancer awareness campaign, HCC invites New York City’s public Hospital Staff to “dedicate” their Mammogram to someone they love to promote mammograms awareness.
The Collateral Attack: Challenging Qualifications of an Expert Witness
In their most recent article in the New York Law Journal our Partner Ben Rubinowitz and his friend and colleague Evan Torgan write about the Collateral Attack of an Expert Witness. The authors point out that it is not enough to prepare for the adversarial collateral attack during cross examination but that it is equally important to scrutinize your own expert’s qualifications, independent of the information contained in his or her resume, to protect against a collateral attack. Specific examples are used to teach trial lawyers techniques to discredit the expert.
To read the article click here
Ben Rubinowitz to head the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s National Session
Our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz and the Hon. Nancy Vaidik (Indianapolis, IN) will be the directors of the NITA’s National Session at the NITA Education Center in Boulder, CO from July 24th to August 1st, 2013.
The National Institute for Trial Advocacy is a world leader in advocacy skills training and publication. The National Session is its most prestigious and longest running program. NITA’s National Session is a life-changing experience for the attorneys who have attended for the last 41 years and this year’s program is no exception. Ben Rubinowitz and the Hon. Nancy Vaidik (Indianapolis, IN) have developed this year’s program schedule to include dedicated drill rooms, motion training, focus groups, and jury selection.
To learn more or register click here.
National Institute for Trial Advocacy: Teacher training with Ben Rubinowitz
Our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz will be one of the faculty member leading the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) Teacher Training Seminar in New York from June 6th to June 8th at the New York Law School.
In this program, participants are expected to improve their litigation teaching skills by using the NITA learning-by-doing method. You should attend this program if you are interested in becoming a faculty member at NITA or if you simply want to broaden and hone your teaching skills in your firm or in your classroom.
Click here for more information or to register.
Medical Malpractice – Failure to diagnose necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in early preterm infants: researchers find new biomarker
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating disease that occurs in 1 out of 10 early preterm infants and the rate of death is close to 30%. Survivors are at risk for short-bowel syndrome (caused by surgical removal of the small intestine) and neurodevelopmental disability.
Researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have found a new biomarker with predictive value for NEC above 80%.
“Early microbial and metabolomic signatures predict later onset of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants”, Ardythe L Morrow, Anne J Lagomarcino, Kurt R Schibler, Diana H Taft, Zhuoteng Yu, Bo Wang, Mekibib Altaye, Michael Wagner, Dirk Gevers, Doyle V Ward, Michael A Kennedy, Curtis Huttenhower and David S Newburg is published in Microbiome Journal.
Ben Rubinowitz: Verdict of $7,125,000 in New York Car Accident Trial
Our partner Ben Rubinowitz, assisted by Peter Saghir, obtained a verdict of $7,125,000 against the City of New York and its construction company, Burtis Construction Co., Inc. following a 17 day trial.
The plaintiff, a 41-year-old man and father of three young children, was returning home from work in the early morning hours of May 20, 2006. Six weeks earlier his wife had given birth to a baby girl via C section. His other two children included a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy. He worked as a film editor and was self employed. On the night of the accident the plaintiff left his midtown Manhattan workplace at around 3 o’clock in the morning. Unbeknownst to the plaintiff, the City of New York and its construction company (Burtis Construction Co., Inc.) were performing road repair work on the West Side Highway. They were involved in a short term construction project to repair expansion joints along the West Side Highway in the vicinity of 72nd to 79th Streets. As part of its contract with the City, the construction company was required to properly notify drivers that the roadway was being shut down from three lanes to one lane of travel. This closure of the roadway was supposed to be performed in conformance with the dictates of the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices and with the Maintenance and Protection of Traffic Plan spelled out by the City of New York in the contract. Specifically, appropriate signs should have been placed along the highway south of the roadwork along with tapers and transitions of barrels fitted with lights to notify and warn drivers that the left two lanes were being shut down. When the plaintiff left his office to drive home he drove northbound on the Westside Highway. As he reached the area of 79th St. he was involved in a fender bender with another car. He got out to check to make sure that everyone was alright. He then returned to his car to put on his hazard lights on and to obtain his insurance information to exchange with the other driver. Shortly after getting his insurance information and while he was out of his car he was struck from behind by another driver, Abelardo Da-Silva.
Continue reading →
Automobile Accidents – Passenger van rollover crash risks are rising as summer is coming
15-passengers vans have a high risk of rollover accidents and this risk increases as the number of occupants increases. Overloaded vans, inexperienced drivers, improperly inflated tires are the main cause of van accidents. Passenger van crashes have a very high rate of fatal injuries as 88% of passengers don’t buckle up.
As the summer is coming and friends, groups and families are planning their road trips, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just published a list of tips for safe travel in 15-passenger vans.
New York Construction Accident Prevention: 2013 Build Safe Live Safe Conference
Construction safety week starts on April 29th and the New York Department of Buildings will host the 2013 Build Safe | Live Safe Conference at the New York Marriott Downtown in Lower Manhattan.
During this conference participants will get an overview of recent trends and future development in The New York City construction industry. They will also have the opportunity to attend construction safety courses for professional credit on the following subjects: BIM Site Safety Plans, Steel C-Joist Construction, Electric Cranes, Mast Climber, High Rises in Flood Zones and Elevator Maintenance and Repair.
New York Construction Accidents have been increasing by more than 30% between 2011 and 2012.
Wrong patient error; adding patient photo to their X-ray results significantly reduces rate of error
A new study conducted by Dr. Srini Tridandapani, of Emory University and presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society annual meeting found that adding a picture of the patient to every imaging study would decrease wrong patient error by five fold.
Medical Malpractice – One out of four patients discharged from a hospital will return to the emergency room in the next 30 days
Approximately half of the patients returning to the ER after being discharged will be rehospitalized. Congestive heart failure, is the primary diagnosis for return emergency department visits with subsequent discharge and subsequent readmission in 30 days. Frequent diagnosis for return to the ER and re-admission include problems with a device, sickle cell anemia and abdominal pain.
“Hospital readmissions within 30 days of inpatient discharge are frequent and costly,” according to Kristin Rising, MD, a fellow in the Center for Emergency Care Policy & Research in the department of Emergency Medicine in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine who is the lead author, of “Emergency Department Visits After Hospital Discharge: A Missing Part of the Equation” a new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.