Five New York City hospitals were receivers of federal grant money allotted to reduce medical malpractice in state health departments, universities, and medical centers.  $3 million of the $25 million distributed across the country were given to NYC medical centers to test out a NYC judge’s approach to medical malpractice cases called judge-directed negotiations.

New York Presbyterian Hospital is focusing its efforts on reducing surgical errors.  The four other hospitals, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, and Montefiore Medical Center, will use the funds to reduce medical malpractice in obstetrics.

The programs will use judicial mediators to help express concerns between hospital administrators, doctors, and patients.

If you or someone you love has been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyers of Parker Waichman LLP at 1-888-244-2273 to learn more about your rights.

In October 2007, then 31-year old Tina Holstein of Syracuse, New York gave birth to her third child in Community General Hospital.  After the delivery, Holstein began vomiting so a nurse at the hospital administered an intramuscular injection to help her.  Holstein later claimed that the injection had caused permanent damage to her sciatic nerve from being improperly administered.

Holstein sued both the nurse and Community General Hospital for medical malpractice.  Although the case against the nurse was dismissed, the court found the hospital liable for Holstein’s injuries.  Total damages came out to $1.69 million.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyers of Parker Waichman LLP at 1-888-244-2273 to learn more about your rights.

A study that surveyed physicians found that 9 out every 10 doctors over test and over treat patients in order to prevent medical malpractice suits from being filed against them.

The findings were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and showed that out of 2416 doctors in all practices, 91 percent answered yes to these to statements:

Doctors order more tests than needed when treating a patient in order to protect themselves from malpractice suits and that this will continue to happen unless more protections are given to doctors against the suits. This trend was also more commonly seen in male doctors, but no other significant differences were seen.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of a medical malpractice suit, contact the Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyers of Parker Waichman LLP by calling 1-888-244-2273.

Recently, the White House approved $25 million worth of funds to be distributed to state health departments, universities, and medical centers in an attempt to reduce injury in patients and lower the number of medical malpractice lawsuits and costs across the country.

$3 million worth of the funds will go to the New York state court system to test out a New York City judge’s approach to medical malpractice cases.  Judge Doug McKeon has spent his career specializing in medical malpractice cases and presides over all cases involving New York City hospitals in the Bronx and Manhattan.  In his many years presiding over medical malpractice cases, McKeon developed a technique he calls “judge-directed negotiations”, or “humanness”.  He says he simply tries to look at cases with common-sense and describes his point of view as “the willingness to bring humanness to the process”.

While many believe that limiting patients’ rewards is the best way to reduce medical malpractice costs, the funds are intended to improve patient safety and as a result lower the number of medical malpractice cases and costs.  Carolyn Clancy, director of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, stated, “This will give us better evidence of what works both to reduce costs, and to improve basic patient safety”.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the Brooklyn medical malpractice attorneys of Parker Waichman, LLP at 1-888-244-2273 to learn more about your rights.

The New York University Langone Medical Center has won a lawsuit against a woman whose husband died as a result of a kidney transplant he received at that hospital. The kidney that the man received was infected with uterine cancer from it’s previous owner and the man contracted the disease from his new organ. The medical malpractice case regarding Vincent Liew’s death was dismissed by a Queens jury when it was found that hospital personnel were unaware that the kidney was not healthy.

The man decided 8 years ago to keep the kidney that contaminated his body because he believed that the uterine cancer would not affect him. The hospital claims that doctors informed Liew about the severity of the situation and urged him to have the kidney removed.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Brooklyn medical malpractice lawyers of Parker Waichman, L.L.P by calling 888-244-2273.