My client presented to her Primary Care Physician repeatedly with the same complaint of a lump in her breast; there was no referral to a specialist and no follow-up examination. She was told it was nothing to worry about and was prescribed Ibuprofen. After consulting with a Columbia University expert, it appeared the resulting delay in detecting the tumor resulted in a progression from stage 2 to stage 3C.
Outcome: Seven-figure settlement
Classic signs and symptoms were missed, and the patient's colon cancer had advanced to stage IV by the time it was eventually detected. My expert oncologist on the case was sure it could have been caught much earlier when it was treatable, and the patient's death prevented.
Outcome: Substantial pre-trial settlement
The patient suffered a "failed graft" following triple by-pass surgery performed in a teaching hospital, and died during a second surgery to repair the graft. According to an expert cardiac surgeon who reviewed the case, if the sutures attaching the graft had been properly done, they would not have come loose and caused the graft to fail. Unfortunately the patient died during the second, repair procedure.
Outcome: Substantial pre-trial settlement
In this case, a young father of 4 kids had a severe allergic reaction at home that prompted a call to '911'. Upon arrival, the Municipal paramedics failed to give him Epinephrine - the 1st medication called for in the prehospital protocols - and delayed getting him to the hospital while they tried giving him nebulized albuterol instead. He passed out and went into cardiac arrest, and instead of immediately intubating and defibrillating him with the equipment on hand, they elected to simply transport or "bus" him to the hospital while he was in respiratory arrest, and after a 5 minute journey, he was brought into the ER with severe brain damage, caused by oxygen deprivation. This gentleman lost his best chance at surviving a common allergic reaction, because of negligent paramedic treatment.
Outcome: Significant seven-figure settlement for the benefit of his next-of-kin.
A Court of Claims case against a New York state facility for developmentally disabled adults. While staff were supposed to be monitoring her, but were not, the deceased, who was a Down's Syndrome patient, choked on a breakfast item, asphyxiated, and died after months of intensive care in the hospital.
Whereas the attorneys for the State maintained it was the family's responsibility to inform the facility of her particular risk of choking, staff at the facility failed to follow the patient's dietary plan, as ordered by the facility's own physician, who also failed to do a simple 'swallow test' on the patient when she joined the facility. The facility's own in-house physician admitted this at his deposition.
Outcome: Substantial pre-trial settlement
Severe drop in blood pressure immediately following Gallbladder removal surgery went unmonitored in the hospital, and was not noticed by staff until the patient was in hypovolemic shock. There was no medical intervention to treat this critical development for seven (7) hours after the surgery - but by then the patient had suffered a cardiac arrest and could not be saved.
Outcome: High six-figure settlement pre-trial
Bed-ridden patient who was neglected by staff in a rehab facility after he underwent hip-replacement surgery. Despite repeated, written skin integrity evaluations in his chart alerting staff to a developing ulcer on his right heel, it was neglected, permitted, and allowed to progress to a ‘deep tissue injury’ beyond stage III (thus classified as unstageable), with deep tunneling, tissue necrosis, and cellulitis, requiring debridement procedures.
Outcome: Significant six-figure settlement after summary judgment
Also achieved success in the following cases:
- Army veteran injured after his foot fell between the platform and the train in a Manhattan subway station;
- Yoga teacher who suffered a fractured wrist in a trip and fall accident;
- Business manager who tripped over a sidewalk sign on his way to work and needed arthroscopic shoulder surgery;
- Executive who suffered a fractured wrist when subway doors closed on her arm;
- Tenant who required surgery after she injured her shoulder opening a defective door in a Public Housing project;
- Pedestrian who was hit by a chunk of ice that fell from a high-rise building;
- Driver who sustained a shoulder injury requiring surgery, from a hit in the rear motor vehicle accident;
- Pedestrian injured by a hit-and-run driver while walking in the roadway during a snowstorm,
- and many others....
* To preserve client privacy, settlement amounts are confidential.
