Jury Awards $10.7 Million in Hospital Negligence Suit

A Queens woman who waited hours for a brain scan was won a $10.7 million award from a jury. Candida Diego, 71, had fallen down stairs at the pharmacy where she worked as a cashier and cracked her skull. She was taken to NY Hospital Medical Center of Queens, where she waited two hours for a brain scan "less than an hour before she lapsed into a coma in the emergency room," the Daily News reports. Diego has no movement on her left side and uses a wheelchair and her husband had retired but returned to work as a butcher to support her; he added, "She can't do anything for herself. She's very depressed." Their lawyer pointed out the hospital is a "level one trauma center" but didn't respond like one; the hospital will appeal the finding.

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By Jen Chung in News on October 13, 2008 10:16 AM

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medical414

Brachial plexus injury compensation claims have to demonstrate that the
injury occurred through clinical negligence and that it was avoidable.

jstseo

medical accidents
If you have suffered an injury as a direct result of negligent medical treatment or care that you have received, this may be referred to as ‘medical malpractice’. What clients must realise is that an injury caused by medical treatment does not necessarily mean that the treatment was ‘negligent’. Whilst better quality of care or safety measures could have prevented your injury, it may be that the incident itself was in fact completely unavoidable. Medical malpractice cases are perhaps more complex than any other genre of personal injury law, a fact that is recognised by the Irish legal system. Unlike almost every other kind of personal injury compensation case, the Injuries Board Ireland will refuse jurisdiction in respect of medical malpractice.

JST Books

Medical malpractice compensation
There are two categories of medical accidents - those which occur through professional malpractice and those which are personal injuries, but are described as medical accidents as they happen in a health centre or hospital. If you are the victim of a medical accident, you may be entitled to sue for compensation.

NannyState

@ #3, That 71 yr old woman can never enjoy the simple pleasures of life, much less the money awarded her for this malpractice. If you had to pay for her upkeep as a partially paralized invalid, you would go broke in a week.

The nasty part here is the fact that so many workplace injuries are minimized by the shitty Republican healthcare system so that Workman's Comp claims can be trimmed by HMO jerks. The suit was justified, and the award was also fully justified.It sent a message.

angry_pickle

You'll bet they'll appeal and just keep appealing

They'll appeal until she dies from old age.

From a operations point of view, I have heard that communication is the biggest problem in hospitals.

JacqueMehoff

you may be right, the ambulance who brought her in accessed her and relayed their info to the hospital.

they can tell the ER that this is an urgent case and get to the front. drunks can wait.

ides_of_march

Just tack that 10 mil onto everyone's health insurance premiums.

The unspoken issue in the health care debate is the need for tort reform. The trial lawyer lobby has Washington in its back pocket so don't hold your breath.

That said, this woman possibly deserves some compensation but does it have to be a lotto jackpot, much of which goes to the vampire lawyers anyway?

halik007

Scary precedent - what if you have a hospital that's packed with injured people, rendering the ER understaffed or if you die in the ambulance. Is the ambulance liable that they couldn't get you in before something happens?

Is the hospital liable every time someone dies?