Articles Posted in Brooklyn

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The Facts:

Petitioner was diagnosed with stomach cancer by hospital-one after undergoing an endoscopy and after staff at hospital-two and hospital-three who saw petitioner on many occasions through 2009 failed to make that diagnosis or perform any diagnostic testing. Petitioner claims that the delay in diagnosing her cancer allowed the cancer to progress and adversely affect her prognosis. Thus, an action for medical malpractice ensued.

Petitioner moves for leave to serve a late Notice of Claim, pursuant to the General Municipal Law. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYCHHC) opposes the petition, contending that there has been at least a six month delay in filing the Notice of Claim against NYCHHC, and, more than one year ninety day delay in filing the Notice of Claim against the individual respondent, who NYCHHC claims, and petitioner does not dispute, last saw petitioner on 9 May 2008.

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Medical malpractice lawsuits can be sought for many different reasons. Some of them involve birth injury, and some, like the present case involve the care of the elderly. Elderly care homes in New York are governed by many laws, the application of these laws can differ depending on the court system. When a party to a case feels that the rights of one of the parties has been violated, or the laws in the case have been misapplied, it becomes the job of the Supreme Court to evaluate the outcome and decide if the case needs to be reviewed.

In February of 2009, an elderly woman was living as a long term patient of a nursing home in Rochester, New York. One of the issues that placed her in the care of the home involved a bladder problem. This woman was unable to void her bladder without the assistance of a catheter. Therefore, every day, she had to wait on one of the staff of the home to come and help her to urinate. One night, the staff member failed to come to the aid of the woman. She was desperate for relief and decided that she would exit her bed by herself and attempt to go to the bathroom. When she stood up from her bed, her bladder released causing a puddle on the floor of her room near her bed. She slipped in the puddle and suffered from severe injuries including broken bones. She was not treated for her injuries until her son in law arrived several days later. Her son in law is a doctor. When she told him about the injury and that she was in horrible pain from it, he had her transported by ambulance to the hospital. It was only at that time, that the extent of her injuries were revealed. Her family was distraught that their mother had not received the minimum standard of care that was expected. They filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in her behalf. They used as a standard for their contentions that the public health laws had been violated a case that involved another patient of a long term care nursing facility.

This woman was a young woman who was in a persistent vegetative state. The case is referred to as Doe. The reason that her mother filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the public health laws was that her daughter had been injured in an automobile accident. She was in a persistent vegetative state when it became apparent that she was pregnant. Since she had been a resident of a long term home for more than a year at that point, it was obvious that she had been raped while in their care. She delivered a baby boy by caesarian section. DNA evidence was used to determine which employee of the facility had raped her. Her mother’s contention was that her daughter did not receive the minimum standard of care for a patient in her condition as evidenced by the fact that one of the staff had raped and impregnated her. She proved her point and won her lawsuit. The case is now used as a precedent for nursing home violations. The public health law was instituted to prevent the types of abuses that were evidenced in the current case and the case of Doe. In order to insure that our loved ones who by necessity are bedridden and in a long term home facility, laws that govern insufficient care are important. Nursing homes must be accountable for any abuse or neglect that may occur on their property. However, because the laws are so complicated as they relate to nursing home abuse, it is important for anyone who believes that their loved one has been treated inappropriately to contact an attorney in Brooklyn or Long Island.

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Plaintiffs, the infant’s natural parents, instituted the action which alleged a cause of action for the infant’s wrongful death on the ground that her premature delivery and death were due to the medical malpractice of the defendant. Plaintiffs alleged that the infant expired at “the age of one hour.” Plaintiffs asserted a claim for emotional distress and a claim for loss of services.

It is well-settled rule that a wrongful death action may be brought on behalf of an infant who is born alive but dies shortly after birth. The law in New York states that an expecting mother could not recover for emotional injuries when medical malpractice caused a stillbirth or miscarriage unless she suffered an independent physical injury that was both distinct from that suffered by the fetus and not a normal incident of childbirth. Although plaintiff did not suffer such injury, she alleged a claim for emotional injuries nonetheless.

Subsequently, the Brooklyn court decided another case ruling that medical malpractice resulting in a miscarriage or stillbirth of a fetus is violative of the duty of care owed to an expectant mother and entitles the expectant mother to recover damages for the emotional distress caused by the birth injury, even in absence of an independent physical injury to the mother.

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The Facts:

On 30 May 2000, the infant plaintiff was born approximately twelve weeks prematurely in a medical facility operated by defendants. The infant plaintiff suffered from neonatal respiratory Brooklyn distress syndrome, and he was placed in neonatal intensive care, where his blood oxygen and blood acidity was monitored by defendants’ staff. The blood oxygen was continuously measured by a pulse oximeter: a device, attached to the patient’s finger that uses light to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood. A respirator and breathing tube was used when it was noted that the infant plaintiff cannot breathe. At 11:00 AM on the following day,

Defendants’ staff performed arterial blood gas analysis, which is a laboratory analysis of a drawn blood sample that specifies both the acidity and the amount of saturated gas in the sample. The test demonstrated that the pH of the infant plaintiff’s blood was 7.254. At around 2:30 PM, a doctor, also of defendants’ staff, ordered a second arterial blood gas analysis. At 3:00 PM that afternoon, the blood oxygen saturation was over 90%, according to the pulse oximeter. At 4:15 PM, the blood oxygen saturation dropped to around 50%-60% from a previous level of over 90%. Shortly thereafter, defendants’ staff noted that the infant was suffering from a hemorrhage in the lungs. Consequently, the staff cleared the blood from the lungs and then adjusted the respirator settings and breathing tube. The staff then administered a paralytic to immobilize the infant plaintiff and prevent him from removing the breathing apparatus. At 8:00 PM, another arterial blood gas analysis was done, the result of which was a pH of 6.7, which is dangerously low. The staff then adjusted the respirator to administer more oxygen through forced breathing. The following day, medical imaging showed that the infant plaintiff had suffered a brain hemorrhage and hydrocephalus, which is increased intracranial pressure on the brain caused by the accumulation of fluid. The hemorrahge caused periventricular leukomalacia, the destruction of white matter of the brain. This, in turn, caused the infant plaintiff to develop cerebral palsy; a brain injury.

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An action for alleged medical malpractice, lack of informed consent, and negligent hiring on behalf of the complainant child was commenced by his mother and natural guardian. The complaint arising out of the alleged negligence of the accused parties during the care and treatment rendered to the child’s mother during her pregnancy, labor and delivery, resulting in the premature birth of the child, and the alleged negligence of the accused parties in their care and treatment of the child causing the child to sustain severe and serious birth injury, including brain damage.

To support the motion brought by the physicians and the University Associates in Obstetrics & Gynecology, they have submitted an attorney’s affirmation; copies of the pleadings, answers, verified bill of particulars; a copy of the complainants’ medical records; and the affidavit of a medical expert.

The expert for the accused and University Associates in Obstetrics & Gynecology has submitted an affidavit wherein she sets forth that she reviewed various materials including the child’s verified bill of particulars and pertinent medical records and the testimonies of the parties to the action. However, a copy of the accused parties’ testimonies referred to have not been provided with the moving papers or an affidavit by any of the accused parties in support of the motion as required by the law. Additionally, the notarized affidavit of the expert does not comport with the requirements of the law. Therefore, the moving papers are insufficient as a matter of law.

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On October 11, 1981, a woman of foreign birth delivered a set of twins prematurely at a New York Hospital in Kings county. Two weeks after his birth, while he was still in the hospital, the mother noticed a swelling on this thigh. An x-ray performed at the hospital revealed that the baby had a broken leg. There was no legitimate cause for the injury provided to the parents of the child. Nine years later, the mother attempted to file a medical malpractice lawsuit based on the child’s birth injury. She stated that she should be allowed to file a late claim because she was born in a different country and was not aware that she was entitled to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. She stated that she was uneducated and that she requested permission to file a late cause of injury. The court allowed her to file a delayed motion. At which point she was granted a trial. However, the Supreme Court later dismissed the motion and stated that she was not allowed to file. The Brooklyn court maintains that ignorance of the law is not an acceptable excuse for a failure to file.

The child, however, may be able to file at a different date. The child has suffered enduring physical trauma from this injury. His broken leg did not mature at the same rate as his uninjured leg. The injury has left him with one leg that is shorter than the other causing a visible limp when he walks. There is indisputable proof that the child’s injury occurred at the hospital and while he was in the care of the medical staff at that hospital. The enduring pain and suffering that the child has experienced throughout his life is also undisputed. It is clear therefore, that the hospital was aware of the injury and should have been familiar with the facts constituting the claim within a reasonable timeframe. The hospital is within its rights to claim that a nine year or more delay would prejudice them. They contend that the medical staff that treated the child may not still be employed by the hospital and that they may not be able to locate them. If they do locate them, it is likely that they will not remember one birth out of all of the births that they attended while at the hospital nine years later. The mother contends that the hospital had her son’s medical records and that should account for notice of the injury in a timely fashion.

The court does not agree with that contention. The court maintains that a victim of medical malpractice has 90 days to file a claim from the date of the injury. Failure to file within that 90 day framework poses a problem for all parties concerned. In cases such as this one where the injury was evident, but the enduring injury was unforeseeable, causes problems and in some cases may become an exception to the rules of delay. However, the court in this case ruled that the hospital did not have actual notice of the facts underlying the claim in a reasonable time period.

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On 3 April 2008, a detective filed a misdemeanor complaint against defendant and charged her with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

The detective or the deponent, in pertinent part, the factual portion of the complaint, alleged: deponent is informed by a doctor (the informant) of a hospital that, on or about 30 March 2008, at approximately 6:00 p.m., the defendant brought her 17-month old son at the hospital to be treated for a burn injury where defendant also stated that her 3-year old son was also burned with an iron at their residence; deponent is further informed by informant that he examined and observed a second degree burn, that was at least 2-3 days old, 6 inch long and 1 inch wide on the child’s left thigh, and that, defendant’s story of how the burn occurred is not consistent with the child’s injury; deponent is further informed by the informant that the above described actions caused the child to suffer substantial pain, to fear physical injury and to become alarmed and annoyed; deponent is further informed by defendant that the child’s date of birth is 19 October 2006.

The People did not answer ready for trial.

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A woman was pregnant for the third time. For her first two pregnancies, she was given prenatal care by the doctors of a medical clinic. She delivered her first two babies through vaginal delivery and at both times, an episiotomy was performed. An episiotomy is a cut made between the vagina and the anus to allow the baby’s head and shoulders to pass easily out of the birth canal. The surgical cut is made to prevent vaginal tearing which is more difficult to repair.

The woman’s third pregnancy progressed uneventfully. As she was in active labor, the doctor who attended her left the delivery room because his shift for the day was over. Another doctor from the same medical clinic attended her delivery. As the woman was being delivered of her child on July 22, 1997 her vagina suffered a laceration. The doctor who attended her surgically repaired the laceration.

After the delivery of her third child, the woman began experiencing a sharp throbbing pain in her pelvic area. She was able to perform her usual daily tasks and activities but she began using pain relievers. She also began experiencing painful sexual intercourse with her husband but the pain eventually became less severe.

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The couple alleges that while the wife was a patient at the hospital and under the care of various accused attending physicians during her pregnancy and delivery, the medical team was guilty of medical malpractice in failing to properly anticipate a footling breech delivery and provide competent physicians to deal with an emergency created at the time of birth. It is further alleged in the couple’s bill of particulars that the accused parties should have delivered the child by Caesarean section. Instead, it is contended that the accused parties chose a vaginal delivery which delayed the delivery and was extremely painful by reason of bilateral nuchal arms. As noted in the hospital records annexed to the motion papers, the delivery also involved the unsuccessful use of forceps, cervix stretching device and super pubic pressure.

Accordingly, the couple alleges carelessness, negligence and medical malpractice to each of the medical care team member as well as the hospital in the first cause of action. The complaint also claims that the mother and her infant were caused to suffer and sustain severe and serious physical, emotional and mental injuries. In the couple’s second cause of action, it is further alleged that the accused parties failed to obtain the informed consent of the mother regarding the consequences of the doctors’ actions during the delivery. The third cause of action by the complainant is for the alleged loss of services of his wife.

The accused parties submit that under the New York law, practiced in The Bronx as well as Brooklyn, there is no cause of action for emotional harm resulting indirectly through the reaction of a complainant to injury caused to another. Therefore, the complainant’s case, as stated on the woman’s emotional injuries resulting from the stillborn birth must be dismissed.

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A woman had been having premature contractions so she was given pitocin, a hormone that would stop the contractions. She nevertheless still gave birth prematurely on April 4, 2008, on the thirtieth week of her pregnancy. The child developed bleeding and inflammation in the brain as soon as it was born. The bleeding and inflammation in the infant’s brain caused him to develop cerebral palsy.

The mother then filed a suit in damages in behalf of her infant son, claiming that the child suffered brain injury due to the of the obstetrician-gynecologist who assisted at his birth. She claims that the obstetrician gave her too much pitocin which made her placenta break. This break in the placenta caused air to leak into the child’s lungs while it was still inside her uterus and caused the bleeding in the infant’s brain. The mother stressed that instead of giving her pitocin to stop her contractions the obstetrician should have just gone ahead and delivered her baby through cesarean section. The mother claimed that because the obstetrician did not timely remove her child from her womb, the rupture of the placenta caused air to leak into the child’s lungs which caused his bleeding in the brain and which caused him to develop cerebral palsy.

The doctor presented her own testimony that there were no indications that the mother’s placenta was already ruptured or was about to rupture at the time that she was admitted. She claimed, as did the experts she presented that the cesarean section performed was performed at just the right time. And she further testified that there is no medical evidence that the bleeding in the child’s brain was caused by anything other than its prematurity. There is also no evidence that an earlier delivery by cesarean section could have prevented the bleeding in the brain. The bleeding in the brain of the child are expected complications of premature birth and are not due to the mismanagement of the mother’s labor and delivery.

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