Personal Injury Lawyers in New York

New York State Medical malpractice and the Medical Wall of Silence


Public Citizen, a national public interest research and watchdog not-for-profit organization, has studied the medical malpractice incidence data that has been accumulated under federal law and reported in the National Practitioners Data Bank. Public Citizen studied all the medical malpractice information regarding medical malpractice in New York State accumulated from 1990 through 2004. Medical mistakes occur in New York State with alarming frequency. Worse, medical mistakes are committed time and again by the same doctors. Worse than that, their medical colleagues do not report the repeat offenders and admittedly keep silent about the medical negligence did witness and choose deliberately not to report the negligence to the authorities such as the NYS Department of Health or the Chairman of the Department at a hospital, or to the patients who have been significantly harmed.

Public Citizen reported that 82% of New York State doctors have never made a malpractice payout. However, 7.1% of New York State doctors, each of whom has paid out at least two malpractice claims are responsible for 67.7%, more than two thirds of all payouts in medical malpractice litigation. Additionally, 3.4% of physicians in New York State have paid out on at least three medical malpractice claims, are responsible for 45.4% of all medical malpractice payouts since the time that the national practitioners databank was started.

A startling number for medical malpractice is that 1% of the doctors in New York State have paid out on at least five malpractice claims are responsible for 22% of all medical malpractice payments since the beginning of the national databank.. All of these 1% doctors who have five or more malpractice payouts accounting for 22% of all monies paid, but almost 80% of these physicians who have five or more payouts have never been disciplined in any manner whatsoever by the Office of Professional Misconduct.

A recent medical article about medical malpractice was published in a medical journal entitled Annals of Internal Medicine. The editors of this medical journal interviewed 3500 physicians and found that 45% of these physicians knowingly and deliberately chose not to report income but it or impaired physicians to the heads of their department or state regulators. The editors of this medical journal also reported that 48% of these physicians had witnessed serious medical errors that should not have occurred if reasonable care was provided and having witnessed serious medical errors that caused harm to patients deliberately chose to remain silent and not discuss the errors all the harms with their patients, their colleagues or state regulators.

If you or a loved one has had surgery with an unexpected bad result and have questions about the quality of the medical care you received please call Silberstein, Awad & Miklos’ attorneys for answers. Serving clients in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County.

Together we will continue our fight against FRIVOLOUS DEFENSES and DECEPTIVE DEFENSES.

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