As all of the world knows by now, Esmin Green was in the waiting room of Kings County Hospital and collapsed on the floor.  She was left for more than an hour to die a miserable death by the hospital staffers who callously saw her and did nothing.  To make matters worse, the hospital employees allegedly falsified the medical records indicating she was walking around and conscious while she was in fact on the floor as the video shows. 

Please be warned that what you about to see is disturbing but if you wish to see this video connect to the following link

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/03/hospital.woman.death/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Fellow members of Esmin Green’s church called her “sister” Green.  She was a beloved woman who loved children.  She had been struggling emotionally since losing her job and went to Kings County Hospital for help.

Esmin is survived by six children who live in Jamaica.  She was sending money back to them before she lost her job.  Her eldest daughter, 31 year old Tecia Harrison, told authorities that she “cannot bear to think of her mother’s last moments.”  She continued to say about the video that “I haven’t seen it and I don’t think I have the heart or mind to watch it because that’s my mother there.”  Tecia is truly a brave person to proceed forward and speak about this and I hope she chooses the right attorney to prosecute the civil claim for her mom.  Tecia’s further comments on the video were “that’s the woman who gave birth to me 31 years ago, I cannot watch that.”  It is reported that Tecia will sue Kings County Hospital for 25 million dollars.

One of the issues  Tecia and her family will want to consider is the emotional impact this type of case will have on her and the family.  She needs a lawyer that will be sensitive to that but at the same time be aggressive and make certain that the city pays by way of compensation to the family and by way of prevention so that this does not happen to anyone ever again.

Wrongful death actions against the city are full of procedures that are not normally part of a “non-city” case.  Additionally, you are dealing with issues of the estate and medical malpractice claims.  One of the preliminary elements that have to be satisfied is your Notice of Claim to the city.

The Notice of Claim is a document that gets served on the city via the applicable agency, in this case the New York Health and Hospital Corp.  An injured party or estate has 90 days to file the Notice of Claim.  This simply puts the city on notice that there is a claim.  From the date of the incident you have one year and ninety days to file the summons and complaint.  The summons and complaint is the official document filed with the Court setting forth the injured party or, in this instance, the estate’s allegations of fault against the defendants.

Shortly after you file the Notice of Claim the city will contact the plaintiff’s attorney and a 50h hearing will be scheduled.  This hearing is the city’s opportunity to obtain information via the injured party’s testimony.  In this instance the city may forego a 50h, although unlikely, and not waste time speaking to the executrix of the estate who is likely to be the eldest daughter, Tecia Harrison.

Other considerations in the wrongful death action from a medical malpractice standpoint is having an expert review the medical records to sign off that a case is allowed to proceed from a malpractice standpoint.  If the video scene all over the news is what it seems to be that will be an easy part of the litigation process.  This case seems to be one of the most egregious cases ever to hit the public forum and one that finally gives a perfect example and brings to light the ease in which hospital personnel can, and in this case allegedly do, falsify medical records to prevent cases from compensating victims. 

I firmly believe that the employees of Kings County Hospital who were complicit in turning a blind eye and allegedly falsifying Esmin Green’s medical records will be judged very harshly in God’s eyes.  Thankfully the video came to light and was released because the city and those employees can also be judged harshly in this life as well.  My prayers and love goes out to Esmin Green and her family, Tecia Harrison and her five other children.  Esmin Green’s death will not go in vein.  Instead it will be a wake up call to all those in power to change the healthcare crisis present at Kings County Hospital and perhaps make the whole healthcare system retool its procedures to allow beautiful people like Esmin receive the care that they deserve, that every human being deserves.  I believe that the right lawyer has the power to make that change.

If you or anyone you know was injured or has a family member who was the victim of a wrongful death claim or medical malpractice claim similar to the Esmin Green claim please feel free to call the aggressive, caring lawyers at 1(800)WE-FIGHT and ask for the author of this article Pasquale Calcagno, Esq. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  We will send a lawyer to you, in the comfort of your own home, to speak about your case for free, no obligation.  Choosing the right attorney makes all the difference in the world, make sure you meet with more than one before making your decision.  Good luck to you and God bless you.

Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, layed bleeding on a waiting room floor in Martin Luther King, Jr. Harbor Hospital for more than 45 minutes and was left to die because the hospital simply ignored her and her boyfriend’s cries for help and failed to treat her. 

To see the shocking video footage of Edith Rodriguez’ wrongful death please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssz4gB7oemw

Ms. Rodriguez’ boyfriend, Jose Prado, even contacted 911 in the emergency waiting room of the hospital but they refused to call paramedics or transfer her to another health care facility.

Ms. Rodriguez died of a perforated bowel and experts say that she would have survived if she had been treated early enough.  It is reported that she died while the police were taking her out of the hospital not to transfer her to give her care but because they were arresting her for an allege parole violation.

This egregious patient care mishap and wrongful death is a very serious crisis.  The city hospital’s failure to treat urgent medical emergencies is an ongoing calamity that seems to have no end in sight.  Edith Rodriguez’ family and friends are seeking $45 million dollars, (one million dollars for every minute she was left on the floor), for this egregious failure of the hospital to treat her citing negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death.

The health care crisis is one that needs a group of dedicated legal soldiers, if you will, that are going to be the champions of patients rights.  A take no prisoners stategy is the only way to enforce justice not only for Edith Rodriguez but all of the future patients that will fall due to neglectful, reckless incompetence of city run hospitals such as this.

The level of treament in Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, New York has reached new lows.  Esmin Green, 49, was waiting in the emergency room of psychiatric ward of Kings County Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York when she collapsed and was left there for over one hour to die.  The video tape of the emergency room depicts multiple employees of the hospital doing absolutely nothing, despite witnessing her collapse to the floor.  Clearly, legal action needs to be taken to bring the city to justice and prevent this failure to treat and complete disregard for human life from happening again.

As all concerned about the dismal conditions and care of this hospital now know Esmin Green died because of Kings County Hospitals failure to treat her.  Amazingly, it is reported that Esmin Green’s medical records point to the possibility that some employees may have tried to cover up the incident.  Apparently the dismal employees involved in that alleged cover up forgot that the waiting room was video taped.  To see the shocking video tape please visit http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?id=6237821§ion=news/localhttp://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?id=6237821§ion=news/local. 

You can also see the shocking video on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOCpOZ4txvs

Kings County Hospital is a city run hospital run by the New York Health and Hospital Corporation.  A lawsuit was filed a year ago by a state agency, the New York State Mental Hygiene Agency and the New York Civil Liberties Union calling the psychiatric ward of Kings County Hospital “a chamber of filth, decay, indifference and danger.”  This is a shocking display of the failure to treat a patient and the complete disregard for this fragile human condition that Esmin Green was unfortunate enough to be afflicted with.

I for one am glad that this video has aired.  Finally, the public will see the true, sub-human conditions that sick patients have to endure by this city run hospital and it’s blatant disregard for human decency and life.  Choosing the right attorney for this case is of paramount importance to teach the city and Kings County Hospital that this will not be tolerated and will stop now in the name of all that is righteous and just.  If anyone has any legal questions regarding this shameful incident please do not hesitate to contact 1(800)WE-FIGHT and speak to a lawyer for free.

There is nothing more natural and amazing as a woman giving birth.  However, every year doctors cause countless mistakes during pregnancy, the birthing process and labor resulting in egregious and catastrophic injuries to new borns and their mothers.  Birth injury cases, especially ”baby brain damage” cases as they are callously referred to are very complex.  As such, if anyone believes their child has been victimized by a doctor they should immediately consult with competent legal counsel experienced in these types of complex cases.

The following article describes the complexities lawyers experienced in these cases are required to navigate through to fight and win on behalf of their clients.

01/31 - National Legal News

A mother and father from Honolulu filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Tripler Army Medical Center earlier this month for actions that they claim resulted in their daughter’s bilateral cerebral palsy.

Bilateral cerebral palsy is a heartbreaking and very debilitation result to a doctors mistake.  It typically involves countless years of struggle for both the family and the child victimized both physically, emotionally and economically.

David and Celia McCraw allege that while Celia was in labor with their daughter, Kayla, a fetal heart monitor revealed that the child began to experience severe heart rate decelerations. The parents claim in their lawsuit that these symptoms indicated that Kayla was suffering from a severe lack of oxygen, and that a Caesarian section birth should have been performed.

It always blows my mind how a doctor, in this day and age, would not simply perform a Caesarian section birth at the first sign of heart rate abnormalities.

Celia McCraw stayed in labor a total of 10 hours before giving birth, at which point it was discovered that Kayla’s umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck, the McCraws allege. In an effort to resuscitate Kayla, a breathing tube was placed down her throat; however, the lawsuit alleges that the tube was placed into Kayla’s esophagus instead of her trachea. It was roughly 30 minutes before the mistake was discovered.

Complacency is the plague of our society.  There should never be a time when a doctor should put his or her guard down during a delivery or during a woman’s pregnancy for that matter.

The McCraws are suing for unspecified damages. Kayla suffers from bilateral cerebral palsy and requires physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

My heart goes out to the McCraws.  There is nothing that we can do to reverse the heartache they have undergone.  But what lawyers can do is make our clients lives easier by vigorously litigating birthing injury cases like this.  The monetary compensation they receive will pay for the exorbitant life time expenses they will incur in medical costs and care for their child who has been victimized by this horrific medical malpractice.

Tripler Army Medical Center has not commented on the lawsuit.

If you or anyone you know has a child suffering from cerebral palsy, bilateral cerebral palsy, erbs palsy or any type of palsy please contact the aggressive, caring lawyers at 1(800)WE-FIGHT for a free consultation or email us for a free confidential consultation right away.  Do not delay, the law limits the amount of time you have to file a claim.  Please feel free to visit the resources of our website if you have questions on what cerebral palsy, erbs palsy or any type of palsy is or what causes cerebral or erbs palsy.

This country has a nursing home care crisis currently brewing.  We are one of the few countries that seems to discard the elderly.  The psychology behind this can be talked about and debated until the cows come home.  One thing is for certain, the elderly need a champion, a group of individuals that will fight and protect them.  Those individuals are nursing home neglect/abuse lawyers.  The need to champion the rights of the elderly abused and neglect has never rang so clear as in the case below.

A jury in New Mexico recently awarded $54 million to the family of a nursing home resident who died of untreated internal bleeding. 

This huge verdict is a message and testament to the grossly negligent care that one typically gets in American nursing home facilities.

The award is the state’s largest ever in a case involving nursing home neglect, say attorneys in Albuquerque.

According to the lawsuit, in 2004 78-year-old Barbara Barber died of internal bleeding at a nursing home owned by ManorCare Inc. Attorneys for Barber’s family argued that employees at the Albuquerque nursing home failed to seek treatment for Barber, who bled to death over several days.

The lawsuit also accused ManorCare employees of attempting to cover up the manner of Barber’s death. The family’s attorneys said employees at the facility disposed of blood-stained pillows and sheets in Barber’s room without notifying the health department.

Following the trial, ManorCare issued a statement expressing sympathy for Barber’s family. The company, however, denied any wrongdoing and said it stands behind the care Barber was provided.

Barber’s daughter, Lori Keith, said the verdict will allow her to begin the process of grieving the loss of her mother.

What we should all be thinking about in this case is this: you work hard your whole life, raise a family and try and do the right thing only to have your remaining days composed of pain and anguish, and, in this case, neglect tantamount to torture simply because a nursing home looks to cut corners and not hire the proper skilled staff.  Capitalism does not work here and needs to be put in check. 

Thank god for nursing home neglect/abuse lawyers.  If you have any questions please call a nursing home neglect lawyer today for free at 1(800)WE-FIGHT or email us for a free online consultation.

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Is this immunity legislation for doctors a real threat?

The headline in the Sun reads: N.Y. Doctors Could See $50,000 Fee: ‘Surcharge’ Would Rescue Malpractice Insurers.

The scary headline comes from an interview with Superintendent Eric Dinallo, who is running a task force to address the insurance “crisis” that hit when New York jumped its medical malpractice premiums 14% this year. The reasons for the jump are an issue I addressed earlier, and are a function of state mis-management during the George Pataki years (see: Why New York Medical Malpractice Insurance Jumped 14%.) Among the many reasons were artificially low rates (set by the state) and Governor Pataki taking (with legislative approval) about $700 million from a malpractice rainy day fund to help balance the state budget.

The screaming headline in the paper (front page, above the fold) it should be noted, had nothing whatsoever to do with rising malpractice claims or payouts. Those have remained stable for many years. No, the reason for the headline is the state-created shortfall, and the ways they are trying to fix the system they broke.

One method of trying to “fix” the system, of course, is to break it further by trying to blame lawsuits for the problem. We see these types of complaints all the time. If only the health care workers would be given some form of immunity for negligence, it is argued, all would be well with our health care system. Because, as everyone knows, nothing forces a person to act responsibly better than grants of various forms of immunity or protection.

Public Citizen recently put out a report on the faux crisis. It is a devastating indictment of the state’s mismanagement and puts to bed the phony claims that problems are related to lawyers and lawsuits. It also points the finger where it belongs and makes its own suggestions on how to remedy the problems.

Some more facts from the Public Citizen report:

• There have been fewer medical malpractice payments in the past five years than in any five-year period on record;
• Amounts paid out, when adjusted for inflation and population, have either risen slightly in the past five years or declined slightly, depending on the measure used;
• Only about 1 percent of New York’s doctors are enrolled in the state’s program for physicians deemed too risky by commercial insurance providers. Yet these doctors’ payments have been so massive that they and other losses have drowned the program in more than $500 million in red ink this decade;
• A sliver of doctors are responsible for nearly half of the dollars paid out for medical
  malpractice in New York. Physicians who made three or more malpractice payments
  between 1990 and 2006 — accounting for no more than 4 percent of New York’s
  doctors — were responsible for nearly half (49.6 percent) of medical malpractice
  dollars paid out on behalf of doctors in the time period.
• Costs for cases involving brain damage, blamed by some for rising insurance rates,
  are in fact modest in comparison with other types of cases. The category for injuries
  including brain damage ranks 5th of 10 in total amounts paid out. This fact exposes
  the lunacy of the radical proposal to deprive newborn babies of their legal rights and
  cede their care to a state-run fund.
• Researchers have found that premiums consistently make up only a small percentage
  of doctors’ total expenses and that rising premiums have not, historically, depressed
  physicians’ incomes.

The state’s Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct has been notoriously lax when it comes to doctor discipline. Just last month it was revealed that it waited three years to alert the public that a doctor was using dirty siringes of multi dose vials thereby contaminating the vials and exposing hundreds of people to infections. According to the Public Citizen study, New York’s comptroller found that the Office of Professional Medical Conduct failed to investigate about 175 doctors for whom investigations should have been triggered based on the agency’s existing criteria.

Frankly, if we have an insurance crisis because the state took $700 million to balance the budget in tough years, and we have a small percentage of doctors responsible for so much of the damage, then it is a no-brainer on how to equitably fix the problem. It isn’t by a $50K surcharge on doctors, a scare tactic if ever I saw one. And it isn’t be restricting access to the courts for those that have been injured by negligence.

It’s by doing two basic things: Taking the money back from the general fund where it had disappeared to and investigating the few bad doctors that do so much of the damage and putting them out of business. It means a responsible government engaging in good health policy by policing the medical force and using sound budgetary policy instead of shell games.

Fault here lies not with the vast majority of doctors, nor with the patients that were injured or their representatives. It lies with former governor and the legislature. The problems have been identified and the proper solutions offered. The state should do the right thing and fix the problem appropriately, without injuring those that are most involved.

If you have been injured by medical malpractice contact the aggressive, caring lawyers at 1(800)WE-FIGHT today.

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