Suffolk County

Published on: June 25, 2012

NY Appellate Court Confirms Improper Care of Infant, Judgement for the Plaintiff

by Stephen Bilkis

Queens Birth Injury 15

This case is being heard in the Special Term of the Queens County Supreme Court. The original plaintiffs of the case are John Joseph Shea III, who is an infant under 14 years old, represented by his guardian John Joseph Shea II and John Joseph Shea II individually. The defendants are Otto Gitlin, d/b/a Queens Memorial Hospital, Jane Stidolph (first name is fictitious), and Dr. John Uvetich. Stidolph and Dr. Uvetich are third party plaintiffs versus the third party defendants Dr. Samuel Weiner and Dr. S.J. Rosoff.

Third Party Case

Published on: June 24, 2012

Request for Summary Judgment Denied in Medical Malpractice Case – Peterson v. Andrew Garber, M.D., 2007 NY Slip Op 32866(U) (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 9/6/2007)

by Stephen Bilkis

In this medical malpractice case, the court must decide whether the plaintiff’s expert testimony was sufficient to rebut the defendant’s expert’s testimony which established a prima facie showing supporting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissal.

Plaintiff Peterson filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against defendant Dr. Garber. In her claim, the plaintiff asserted that the defendant improperly performed amniocentesis, and as a result her infant son’s right eye was penetrated with a needle. Plaintiff alleges that this caused her baby to suffer a condition called microphthalmia (small eye). In addition, her baby is blind in that eye and must wear an ocular prosthesis. Defendant Garber filed a motion for summary judgment dismissal of the case, asserting that the baby’s condition was not caused by improper amniocentesis, but was actually a developmental anomaly.

When a defendant files a motion for summary judgment dismissal, the defendant has the burden of presenting a prima facie case that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that based on the undisputed facts, the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. If the defendant offers a prima facie showing, then the burden shifts to the plaintiff.

Published on: June 16, 2012

Infants Personal Injury Award Paid to Welfare Department

by Stephen Bilkis

The female complainant was a public charge from the time of her birth and maintained by the County Welfare Department infants’ homes and foster homes. She was married and was removed from the Welfare rolls.

A New York Injury Lawyer said in 1955 the complainant was involved in an automobile accident. By the order of the County Supreme Court, the infant’s settlement was allowed and bills were ordered paid to the County Welfare Department as reimbursement as a fifty percent compromise for sums paid by said Department to the hospital and the balance was ordered paid over to the Commissioner of Social Welfare as general guardian of the infant, jointly with the Guardianship Department of the Surrogate’s Court. The Welfare Department’s allegation that the money was expended on behalf of complainant from the date of her birth to shortly before her marriage appears to be unchallenged. By an order of a Judge, the sum of $4,012.95 then in the infant’s guardianship account was ordered to be paid to the Commissioner of Social Welfare as part reimbursement for the support, care and maintenance furnished by the County Department of Social Welfare. The pending proceeding is for an order setting aside the aforesaid order of the Surrogate’s Court and directing an accounting by the Commissioner of Social Services and payment of the funds to the complainants.

There appears to be no question but that the sums of money involved were in the guardianship account as a result of the infant’s settlement for personal injuries. The complainant’s theory is that funds of an infant from a personal injury settlement may not be applied for care and maintenance. Many cases in the State promulgate the theory.

Published on: June 14, 2012

Plantiff Slips and Falls Disembarking From a Bus

by Stephen Bilkis

At the time of the accident, it was snowing and plaintiff was a passenger on defendants’ bus which got stuck in snow and slush at a bus stop in the Bronx. Plaintiff and the other passengers disembarked at the bus stop onto the sidewalk to wait for another bus. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, another bus arrived and stopped alongside the stranded bus. A New York Injury Lawyer said when plaintiff walked into the street and in front of the stranded bus to get on the second bus, she slipped and fell on the snow in the road and fractured her right elbow.

Plaintiff initiated a personal injury action alleging negligence on the part of defendants for their failure to equip the stranded bus with snow tires or snow chains, and for failing to provide plaintiff with a safe place to board the second bus.

The jury found defendants liable for failing to equip the bus with proper snow tires or chains but did not find defendants negligent, for failing to provide a safe place to board the replacement bus. The jury awarded plaintiff $450,000 in damages.

Published on: June 13, 2012

Court Decides if Insurance Co. Liable in Hospital Mishap

by Stephen Bilkis

The wife of the complainant went to a Hospital where she had a normal delivery of a child and she remained for five days at which time she and the infant were discharged.

The facts further indicate that the child was born with a right congenital hernia. In the best interest of the infant’s health, the operation was postponed for three months. A New York Injury Lawyer said that at that time, herniotomy was performed at another Hospital and the child was discharged after three days.

The services of the hospital and doctors during the confinement of the woman and her child amounted to $474.90 and the expenses incurred for correcting the hernia amounted to $288.00.

Published on: June 7, 2012

Plaintiff Sues For Slip and Fall in Parking Lot, Defendant’s Summary Judgement Motion Denied by NY Appellate Court

by Stephen Bilkis

One rainy day in December 2007 at around 6am, a woman drove into the parking lot to go and buy breakfast at a deli. It had rained overnight and it was still dark, the parking lot was not brightly lit. The woman got off of her car and started walking toward the brightly lit deli. About four paces away from her car as she was going toward the deli, the woman had a slip and fall on the parking lot. She tried to get up but she was unable to get up because the parking lot was so slippery. Her clothes got thoroughly soaked as she struggled to get up. Luckily someone from inside the deli saw her and ran out to help her.

The premises were owned by a corporation which let it out to the deli and a women’s fitness gym. The woman sued the owner of the premises, the deli and the fitness center.

A New York Injury Lawyer said the women’s fitness center and the deli owner both filed motions for summary judgment asking that the complaint against them be dismissed as they were mere tenants renting the premises. They are not responsible for maintaining the parking lot as this was not in their contract. It was the building owner who was contractually bound to maintain the parking lot.

Published on: June 6, 2012

Plaintiff Brings Action for Birth Injury, Doctor’s Motion for Summary Judgement Denied

by Stephen Bilkis

A mother and her child filed a medical malpracticelegal action against a hospital and three doctors. The mother allege that the hospital and the doctors basically failed to timely schedule a cesarean section as well as her delivery to her infant which was in double footling breech presentation.

A double footling presentation is a condition whereby the fetus’ both feet are the presenting part. As a result, it caused the infant to suffer a spinal injury during delivery, produce bleeding and swelling, and ultimately segmental spinal cord atrophy resulting paralysis and severe low muscle tone to the lower extremities, hydronephrosis, neurogenic bladder transverse myelopathy, and a marked spinal kyphosis. A neurogenic bladder transverse myelopathy is a condition indicating that there is something wrong with the spine. A New York Injury Lawyer said the mother claims that her infant, now four years old, was unable to walk, suffers from frequent urinary tract infections, requires continuous antibiotic therapy and urinary catherization. The mother further states that all of her infant’s injuries are permanent.

The mother alleges that the hospital and the three doctors failed to perform a cesarean section when an external version was unsuccessful. Bases on records, an external version is known as a procedure used to manually turn a fetus from a breech position into a vertex position which is a normal presentation wherein the fetal head is the presenting part before labor begins. It is usually done to make vaginal delivery possible. The mother claims that the hospital and the doctors were negligent in performing the external version. She further claims that they failed to perform pelvimetry studies. A pelvimetry refers to the measurement of the diameters of the pelvis and it also recognizes a footling breech caused by a frank breech to become a footling breech. A Nassau County Personal Injury Lawyer said a frank breech has been described as the position of the fetus whereby the fetus’ buttocks are present at the maternal pelvic inlet, legs are straight up in front of the body, and feet are at the shoulders. Additional, she claims that they failed to perform vaginal exams at 36 weeks.

Published on: May 30, 2012

Plaintiff Unable to Prove Negligence in Slip and Fall Case

by Stephen Bilkis

When a person is injured in a place of business it is important that they notify that place of business immediately and in a timely manner. Failure to notify the management can cause the management to doubt the situation existed. It is also a matter for dispute in court. In one case that occurred at a movie theatre on Harkness Avenue in Brooklyn, New York is an example of this type of failure. A couple went to the movies at that theatre. At some point during the film, the woman left the man watching the movie and went out to the lobby to get some popcorn.

As she traversed the lobby, she slipped on a sticky liquid on the floor that was presumably some type of soda. She slip and fallfractured her wrist. She did not notify the movie theatre employees until the following day. She got up and returned to her seat. As she and her date were leaving that night, she pointed out the area to him and stated that she had fallen there. He told her that he had nearly fallen there himself at one point.

The following day, her wrist was hurting her and she went to a doctor for treatment. She was told that she had fractured her wrist. A New York Injury Lawyer said he and her date returned to the movie theatre that day and notified the assistant manager that the accident had happened. He purportedly told them that he had noticed the spill the night before and instructed the employees to clean it up, but that no one had listened to him. The spill had gone uncorrected. The woman filed a lawsuit against the theatre for personal injury that resulted from her fall on their property. However, in her own statement to the court, the woman stated that she had not seen the liquid on the floor prior to her fall and that to her knowledge it had not been reported to management prior to her accident. She stated that she had collected herself after the incident and returned to the movie. She had finished watching the movie and returned to her home. She stated that she waited until the following day to file the accident report with the theatre.

Published on: May 27, 2012

NY Court Decides of Statute of Limitations Has Run on Medical Malpractice Claim

by Stephen Bilkis

In September of 1993, a woman entered the delivery room of Nassau County Medical Center to deliver a baby boy. The doctors determined that the woman should have no problem with a vaginal delivery and administered Pitocin to speed up her labor. However, after several hours, it was clear that the birth was not going to be the easy one that the doctors had anticipated.

A New York Injury Lawyer said the child began to show signs of fetal distress and doctors decided to use a vacuum extractor. They made two attempts to deliver the child with the help of the vacuum extractor to no avail. By that time, it was critical that the child be delivered as soon as possible. The doctors used forceps to grasp the child’s head and forcibly pull him into the world. After this traumatic delivery, the baby was shaking and injured. He had a broken clavicle and bruising all over his head and upper body. He weighed eight pounds, three and one half ounces at birth. His Apgar scores were normal with an eight at one minute after birth and a nine at five minutes.

The child himself filed a medical malpractice claim as soon as he reached an age to file. In New York, one of the reasons that a medical malpractice claim is allowed to be filed late is called infancy. That means that the child was not of an age to understand or to file on his own behalf until he was older. This child appeared normal at birth with the exception of the obvious trauma. He maintains that by the time that he was two years old, he had begun to experience epileptic seizures and delayed development as a result of the head trauma that he suffered during the traumatic birth. He states that in 1995, he had an electroencephalogram test to check his brain waves and it came back normal. In 1998 and 1999, his doctor repeated the test and the results showed abnormality. When the child was ten years of age, his counsel sent the hospital notice that they were filing a lawsuit alleging that the child had suffered brain damage because of the hospital’s malpractice at the time of his birth that had resulted in the physical trauma that caused him to suffer from epilepsy. He contends that the size of his mother’s pelvis and the size of his head, should have precluded the use of Pitocin to increase labor. The chances of his mother being able to deliver him without serious intervention was slim if not impossible.

Published on: May 26, 2012

Plaintiff Brings Action for Medical Malpractice in Erb’s Palsy Case

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman’s husband worked for a company whose union established a clinic for its members and their dependents. When the woman got pregnant with her first baby, she went to the union’s clinic. The clinic assigned her to an obstetrician who saw her and took care of her during her pregnancy. She gave birth vaginally to a baby boy and her pregnancy and childbirth was uneventful.

A New York Injury Lawyer said for this reason, when she got pregnant with her second baby, she again went to the union’s clinic and was assigned to the same doctor who assisted her first pregnancy. She saw the obstetrician on January 20, 1999 when she was just eight weeks pregnant. The woman was then 35 years old and she did not know that she had high blood pressure. She had six sonograms in total and all were normal.

When the woman was 25 weeks pregnant, the doctor measured the height of the baby and came to the conclusion that the child was too big for its gestational age. A blood test confirmed that the woman had gestational diabetes. Her pregnancy was considered as high rish and she was referred to a specialist who recommended that she be delivered at 39 weeks.