Bronx

Published on: May 20, 2012

Defendant Contends Abdominal Surgery Resulted in Medical Malpractice Action

by Stephen Bilkis

Medical malpracticecan alter a person’s life. In some cases, the damage that is done is so severe that it renders the person’s quality of life unbearable. In one such case, a woman sought medical care because she was experiencing severe abdominal pain. The pain was so severe that it drove her to seek immediate correction of the problem. That put her at North Shore University Hospital at forest Hills in August of 1999. She was diagnosed with an 8 cm sized cyst on one ovary. Her initial hospitalization for removal of the cyst was on the 19th. She remained in the hospital following the removal of the cyst until the 23rd. On the 25th, she was seen by her doctor in his office. At that time, the doctor readmitted her into the hospital. She was suffering from constipation and abdominal pain. She underwent a CAT scan which revealed that she had a pocket of fluid built up in her pelvic cavity. It was drained, and discovered to be urine. At that point, the doctor called in a Urologist to see her. The Urologist put in a catheter from her left kidney to the outside of her body because there was an obstruction located in the left ureter. The woman was discharged again from the hospital on September 4, 1999.

A New York Injury Lawyer said the woman continued to suffer from abdominal pain and decided to go to a different urologist. This time, she went to Queens-Long Island Medical Group, where she was seen by a different doctor on November 17, 1999. The doctor cleaned out the catheter and her pain subsided. He told her that she needed to have exploratory surgery done in order to determine what was causing the blockage of the left ureter and to repair it. He told her that she could wait to have the procedure done until after the holidays if she desired.

In early January, the woman had to go to the emergency room where she was readmitted again. This time she had an infection at the site of the catheterization. She was given antibiotics and on January 10, of 2000, she had the exploratory surgery that the urologist had recommended. During this procedure, the surgeon discovered that there was fibrotic tissue surrounding her left ureter. He performed a procedure to reroute the urine around the obstruction and into the bladder. The woman was in the intensive care unit until January 14, 2000. The woman was not released from the hospital following this procedure until January 22, 2000.

Published on: May 16, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides a Dog Bite Case, Finds for Defendant

by Stephen Bilkis

A boy was invited by his friend to a sleep over at his house. He had been to his friend’s house several times before. A New York Injury Lawyer is friend had a family pet, a beagle-collie-Rottweiler mixed breed dog. The dog was excitable. He ran around a lot and barked. But he was not aggressive.

On that night that seven boys were at the house for the sleep over on December 31, 1998, one of the boys went down to the kitchen to use the bathroom. The family pet barked at him. The boy was not afraid. He went to the bathroom and he was already on his way back up to his friend’s room when he saw his friend’s mother with the dog.

Whenever there were visitors to their home, the family kept the dog fenced-in in the kitchen as he barked when he saw the guests. As the boy was going back up the stairs, his friend’s mother called him over and told him to put his hand out so the dog can smell him. The mother told him that the dog will remember that he had been to their house before. The boy was not afraid as his friend’s mother had the dog on a leash. When the boy reached out to the dog, the dog lunged at the boy and bit him. The boy sustained a head injurybecause of the dog attack.

Published on: May 15, 2012

Employee Injured at Work-Site, NY Appellate Court Dismisses Complaint

by Stephen Bilkis

A married woman owned a property with a two-car garage. She decided to renovate the two-car garage by making it over into a guesthouse with a fireplace. She hired a general contractor to secure the necessary permits and licenses needed for the project; to hire and to supervise sub-contractors for each and every phase of the work; and to purchase insurance to shield the owner from suits in damages for any accidents that may occur during the renovation at the worksite.

The general contractor hired a company that constructs and installs drywall. It also hired a rock supplier to provide and install sheet rock as flooring. A man was hired by the rock supplier to deliver 16-foot sheet rock. A New York Injury Lawyer said he drove the truck on which the sheet rock was delivered. He also operated the boom that lifted the sheet rock from the truck bed to the forklift. A foreman from the general contractor told him to just bring the sheet rock into the garage and rest them on the long wall. The man and his helper took one sheet rock and carried it between the two of them. They entered the garage. When they got to the room where they were supposed to pile the sheet rock, the man’s right foot slipped into a hole on the cement floor of the worksite that measured about sixteen inches in diameter. There was a pipe that protruded from the hole and the man tripped on this and fell. The man could not see where he was going as he and his helper carried the sheet rock in between them. His slip and fall made him land on the sheet rock which fell and broke.

The man sustained serious personal injury and sued the owner of the premises (premises liability), her husband, the general contractor, the drywall installer, and the rock supplier for common law negligence and for negligence under the labor code to compensate him for the damages he sustained as a result of his personal injury.

Published on: May 14, 2012

Plaintiff Sues for Erroneous Medical Advice, Court Finds for Defendant on Appeal in NY Appellate Court

by Stephen Bilkis

In June 1969, a woman gave birth to a baby but the baby survived only for five hours. The baby had polycystic kidney disease. This is a genetic and hereditary disease but the couple did not know this at the time of the birth of their first baby. After their first baby was born and soon after the baby died, the woman and her husband spoke to the obstetricians who took care of her during her first pregnancy.

A New York Injury Lawyer said the couple asked the obstetricians plainly if the woman gets pregnant again, would their baby also have the same disease that their first baby died of. The doctors plainly told the couple that the chance that their next baby would have the same polycystic kidney disease was practically zero. The couple relied on this advice by the obstetricians and so the woman conceived soon after.

When the woman gave birth in July 1970, their baby girl was delivered by the same obstetricians. The baby girl also had polycystic kidney disease. The second baby, however, survived for two years suffering much pain before finally succumbing to death from the same polycystic disease.

Published on: May 11, 2012

Plaintiff Contends Aggravated Harrassment, NY Appellate Court Disagrees Finding for Defendant

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiffs in the case are the People of the State of New York. The defendant in the case is Nicolas Pierre Louis.

Plaintiff Argument

The plaintiffs in the case, the People of the State of New York offer a deposition in the case for aggravated harassment by the defendant. A New York Injury Lawyer said the plaintiff states that in between the dates of February 22, 2010 through April of 2010, while employed by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, as the Assistant Defensive Attorney, I received a number of voice mails from the defendant, Nicolas Pierre – Louis. The voice mails consisted of screaming, yelling, and the use of profanity. Each of the voice mails are both alarming and annoying, filled with profanity and threats as well as offensive comments. These recordings caused me to fear for both my safety and the safety of one of my co-workers as well.

Published on: May 7, 2012

Plaintiff Contends Faulty Lighting in Stairwell Caused Slip and Fall

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman seeks damages for personal injuries sustained when she slipped and fell (slip and fall) inside parking lot staircase inside of a Center Mall. The premises are jointly owned, managed and operated by the companies who owned the parking garages/lots of the Center Mall. A third party provides certain maintenance and housekeeping services for the Queens Center Mall.

The woman alleges that on the date of the accident, it was an overcast morning with sunrise at 6:22 a.m., and that therefore there was limited natural lighting at the time of the occurrence. The weather records relied upon by moving accused parties indicate that it had rained on the two days prior to the date of the accident with wind gusts up to 53 miles per hour, however that the weather, on the date of the accident, was clear. It is further alleged that the woman was descending the steps of the stairwell when she was caused to slip and fall due to the negligently designed, negligently constructed and/or negligently maintained stairs and treads; recurring wet, slippery, slick and/or damp condition of their stairwell; and unlit or improperly lit condition of their stairwell. A New York Injury Lawyer said the record reveals that the steps are made of cement that is white in color and that there are strip/tread at the edge/nose of each step prior to descending to the next level, that are dark brown or charcoal-colored, and is contrasting in color from the concrete steps. There are also handrails on both sides of the stairs in the subject stairwell.

Furthermore, there was artificial lighting from fluorescent light fixtures that are attached to the walls and there was natural light from the windows facing the north side of the East parking structure, which are sealed shut.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Mother Sues for Medical Malpractice in Death of Infant, Court Denies Motion for Summary Judgement

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman first came to see the obstetrician on October 14, 2004. She was told that she was estimated to deliver around May 29, 2005. On her first visit, her blood pressure was 100/60. Her first sonogram showed that the size of the fetus was consistent with the due date. But later sonograms showed that the fetus was larger than its gestational age.

A New York Injury Lawyer said by the middle of the month of May, the woman had edema of the hands and feet, her urine had traces of protein and she reported spotting in her vision. On June 6, she reported shivering and on June 7, she reported that she did not feel any heartbeat.

The woman still had not given birth by June 8, 2005 but when she felt tightness in her abdomen and saw blood on her underpants, she went to the hospital. She was noted to have contractions and was placed on a fetal monitor. She was found to only be one to two centimeters dilated.

Published on: May 1, 2012

Plaintiff Seeks to Declare Neighbors Dog Dangerous, NY Appellate Court Finds for Plaintiff

by Stephen Bilkis

A man owned a Chesapeake Bay retriever. It attacked the daughter of his neighbor and caused serious injury to her. The father brought suit against the dog owner and asked the court to declare the Chesapeake Bay retriever a dangerous dog.

A New York Injury Lawyer said a dangerous dog is defined as one who has attacked a person or another animal without justification and has caused serious injury. Under the law, the owner who allows his dog to bite another person knowing that his dog has a propensity to bite shall pay restitution not exceeding $1,500 plus penalties and pay unreimbursed medical expenses, lost earnings and other damages resulting from the injury. The dog will also be put down. Further, the law mandated that the owner of the dog shall be strictly liable for medical costs resulting from injury caused by his dog.

The judge made an oral decision declaring the Chesapeake Bay retriever was a dangerous dog. He imposed the $1,500 civil penalty. The judge declared also that the owner was strictly liable for the unreimbursed medical expenses. The judge deferred ordering the euthanasia of the dog as it had already been sold.

Published on: April 28, 2012

Birth Injury Results in Paraplegia, New York Appellate Court Ruled for Plaintiff

by Stephen Bilkis

Plaintiff was admitted to one of the defendants’ hospitals for a cesarean section (birth injury or birth injury accident), the second of such procedures performed upon her, and emerged therefrom a paraplegic (paraplegia). The instant action was then commenced against defendants.

Were the defendants negligent that would warrant a finding of medical malpractice?

Plaintiffs introduced medical experts whose view were to the effect that the injuries to the plaintiff resulted from a compression of the arteries supplying blood to the spinal cord, and this view found some further support in the hospital’s own records, in a note containing the impression that the plaintiff was suffering from paralysis as a result of the compressing of her spinal cord.

Published on: April 22, 2012

New York Appellate Court Decides Car Accident Liability Issue

by Stephen Bilkis

Kings County Personal Injury 125

The plaintiff in the case is Don J. Peters and the defendant in this case is the City of New York, et al. The other plaintiff in the case is Charlene Cowan and the defendant in this case is the City of New York, et al.

About the Case