Personal Injury Lawyers in New York

An osteopathic physician who lied on his application for a position at Putnam General Hospital (Putnam County, WV) five years ago, has over 120 medical malpractice lawsuits pending against him at the current time.

Dr. John A. King, originally from Alabama, had gaps in his application, has been arrested, has left other positions abruptly, and has over 120 malpractice lawsuits pending in the United States. Somehow, all these red flags went unnoticed to the Putnam General Hospital and he was hired as an orthopedic surgeon in October 2002.

An attorney for the hospital insists that the hospital properly followed a seven-step screening process before granting King temporary credentials. Hospital officials say they found that King was licensed and in good standing in nine other states, that he was insured and that former colleagues and instructors gave him great reviews. Hospital officials state that several other hospitals where King performed surgeries did not report malpractice claims to the national database that hospitals rely on when interviewing candidates.

King surrendered his West Virginia medical license and left the state after the hospital surrendered his privileges in May 2003. He has reportedly returned to Alabama and changed his name to Christopher Wallace Martin.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to medical malpractice in New York City including the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens or Long Island including Nassau and Suffolk Counties, please contact the Medical Malpractice Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

The family of an infant boy whose penis was severed during a circumcision filed a lawsuit in July 2007 claiming a doctor and the hospital were negligent. The Chicago lawsuit alleges that due to negligence, Dr. Sherif Malek severed the entire glans, commonly called the "head" of the penis during a routine circumcision the day after his birth on February 14, 2007.

At the completion of the procedure, hospital records indicated that significant bleeding occurred, and upon inspection, nearly all of the glans had been amputated at the time of the circumcision. Three months later, the little boy required penile skin transfer surgery and will need future procedures, some of which are only appropriate at the time of puberty.

According to an expert witness from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the clamp used in the procedure cannot amputate a male infant's glans when it is used properly and the injury to the infant was completely preventable.

Medical malpractice caps in Illinois will prevent the boy from recovering more than $500,000 against the physician, and the hospital's liability is capped at $1 million.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to medical malpractice or negligence in New York City, Long Island—including Nassau and Suffolk Counties, please contact the Medical Malpractice Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently ruled that a hospital may be sued for obstruction of justice if it fails to produce x-rays requested by a patient. This ruling was prompted by a recent case involving High Point Regional Hospital in North Carolina and a man, Tommy Grant, who died of cancer; the man's attorney tried several times to get the x-rays of the man's knee but to no avail.

In September 2000, Mr. Grant went to the ER of High Point Regional Hospital with terrible knee pain. X-rays were taken, but no diagnosis of cancer was made and Mr. Grant was not referred to a specialist. He died three years later of knee cancer, but by the time the cancer was diagnosed, it was incurable and terminal.

Six months after his death, the man's family inquired about a medical malpractice suit, and Mr. Grant's attorney wrote a letter to the hospital requesting his knee x-rays from 2000; he received no response. He made numerous calls and written requests but could not get a straight answer regarding the x-rays. Eight days after the initial request, a hospital employee told the attorney the x-rays "could not be found." When the hospital was subpoenaed to produce the x-rays, it responded by saying the x-rays were "not in the descendant's folder" and "had not been checked out."

This case is especially significant in North Carolina because the state requires that, before a malpractice case is filed, the attorney for the plaintiff must certify to the court that the case has been examined by an expert with similar qualifications as the defendant. The expert must render an opinion that the defendant was, indeed, negligent. The certification must further state that the examining doctor is also willing to testify against the defendant. Without the x-rays in this case, no expert could examine them and testify that the defendant was negligent.

Mr. Grant's family then sued for obstruction of justice alleging the hospital was guilty of obstructing justice because it either destroyed or failed to maintain proper medical records (x-rays) and as a result of that failure, the family could not pursue their medical malpractice case against the hospital. The case was dismissed by a trial court, but the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the acts alleged by the hospital, if true, would be acts of obstruction of justice. The decision was unanimous in the Court of Appeals in favor of Mr. Grant's family.

This case was a landmark decision and hugely significant for medical malpractice claimants. This decision may help eliminate the common problem of "lost" medical records needed to help prove medical negligence and/or malpractice.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in New York City, Long Island – including Nassau County and Suffolk County, please contact the Medical Malpractice Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

New York lacks a state law requiring landlords to monitor lead levels in their housing units. According to New York state law, a dwelling's lead levels must be checked only after a doctor diagnoses a child with lead poisoning. So, it seems, only after children get sick with lead poisoning, are lead levels actually checked for toxicity. A representative of the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning stated, "You are using children as biological Geiger counters to look for lead. The effects are permanent brain damage. It's absurd to do things this way." In Oneida County, New York, a staggering 7.6% of children tested showed elevated levels of lead in their blood.

Studies have shown that childhood lead poisoning can cause permanent cognitive deficits as well as many other health problems. Lead poisoning can affect almost every organ system of the body including:

Brain and central nervous system:
Lower IQ
Headaches
Memory problems
Reduced coordination
Learning disabilities
Hyperactivity
Seizures
Hearing loss
Vomiting
Fatigue

Gastrointestinal system:
Abdominal pain
Diarrhea
Constipation
Vomiting
Loss of appetite
Weight loss

Circulatory system:
Anemia
Low blood cell counts

Reproductive system:

Premature birth
Low birth weight
Miscarriages

The most frequent cause of lead poisoning is lead paint in homes built before lead paint was banned in 1978. Until 1978, lead paint was commonly used on the interiors and exteriors of homes. It is estimated that 38 million U.S. homes still contain lead paint.

New York City and Monroe County, New York (where Rochester is located) are the only places in the entire state where parents can get a free lead test of their homes. In the rest of the state, if a family moves into an aging rental apartment where there is paint peeling from the wall and paint dust on the windows, they have no legal means to get their landlord to check for lead. The local government will not check for lead either. The checks will only take place after a doctor diagnoses a child with lead poisoning.

A representative of the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning pointed out that research has shown that lead poisoned children cost governments billions of dollars in medical and educational help, incarceration and lost earning potential.

If you or a loved one has suffered from lead poisoning in New York City or Long Island—including Nassau and Suffolk counties, please contact the Lead Poisoning Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

Lori Keith of New Mexico has been awarded $54 million in the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of her deceased mother. Keith was awarded compensatory and punitive damages in Albuquerque as a state District Court jury ruled ManorCare Inc., a nursing home corporation out of Toledo, Ohio, so neglected her mother in 2004 that the 78-year-old woman died.

At the time of her death, Barbara Barber was scheduled to leave the nursing home within a week to stay with family. Then a phone call came reporting Mrs. Barber's death; her daughter knew something was not right. According to the lawsuit, the nursing home tried to cover up the death by removing the patient's sheet and other items from the room.

Keith said all she wanted was an admission of guilt in her mother's death. Keith did not get that admission of guilt. Instead, the nursing home issued the following statement: "We extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Mrs. Barber. The company is very sympathetic with the struggles Mrs. Barber had with her health prior to her death. However, we deny any negligence in this case and feel our care for her was appropriate. Unfortunately, illness and deterioration of health in an elderly patient can occur despite appropriate care."

Keith said the money is secondary to the relief that comes with closure; she and her lawyers expect the nursing home corporation to appeal the jury's verdict.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to nursing home negligence or abuse in New York City, Long Island—including Nassau and Suffolk Counties, please contact the Nursing Home Negligence Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

In the United States each year, emergency rooms treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and under for playground-related injuries. About 45% of those injuries are considered severe including internal injuries, fractures, concussions, dislocations and amputations. Approximately 75% of nonfatal injuries related to playground equipment take place on public playgrounds, and most of those are at schools and daycare centers. In a ten-year period (1990-2000), a startling 147 children in that same age group died from playground-related injuries. Of those deaths, 82% were from strangulation and 31% were from falls.

According to a new study by Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, injuries due to falls from playground equipment result in a higher number of severe injuries than either bicycle or motor vehicle crashes. Injuries can result from poorly designed or defective playground equipment , falls from heights onto hard surfaces, falling onto glass or other dangerous debris, or the playground owner's failure to supervise or protect children from foreseeable accidents resulting from the misuse of playground equipment.

While all children who use public playgrounds are at risk for injury, girls sustain injuries slightly more often than boys, and children ages 5-9 have higher rates of emergency room visits for injuries than any other age group. A study in New York City found that playgrounds in low-income areas had more maintenance-related hazards than playgrounds in high-income areas. The low income playgrounds had more trash, rusty play equipment and damaged fall surfaces.

Some states still protect cities and other local government units by having laws restricting suits against the city for personal injuries suffered while using the city's recreational facilities, but those laws have fallen into disfavor and it's not likely that they still exist.

If your child has been injured at a playground and you believe the injury is due to someone else's negligence in New York City, Long Island—including Nassau County and Suffolk County, please contact the Playground Injuries Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

A woman and her husband were recently awarded $1.2 million for injuries she suffered when she was struck by a vehicle in a Pennsylvania parking garage. The couple, Debra and Mark Macko, filed suit back in 1998 against Sam J. Tramontana, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, its corporate owner Wyoming Valley Health Care System, and Sordoni Construction Services.

In April 1996, Mrs. Macko was walking in the hospital's parking garage toward a hospital entrance when she was struck by an out-of-control vehicle driven by Tamontana. She was with her 18-month-old daughter at the time. The woman was pinned against another vehicle and suffered a leg injury that resulted in permanent damage. Since the accident, she has undergone four surgeries including plastic surgery and skin grafts. The Mackos argued that the plan for pedestrian traffic in the hospital's parking garage was negligently designed; another part of the garage was under construction at the time of the accident.

Though Mr. Tamontana died in 1998 at the age of 76, the suit continued, and his estate admitted negligence. On Friday, June 29, 2007, a jury ruled the hospital was also negligent in the case and ruled that Sordoni Construction Services was not negligent. The jury found the driver of the car to be 85% negligent and the hospital to be 15% negligent.

Mrs. Macko was awarded damages for medical bills (past and future), pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an unsafe building in New York City, Long Island—including Nassau and Suffolk counties, please contact the Unsafe Building Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

Every year in the state of New York, thousands of workers are seriously injured (some are even killed) by unsafe equipment at the workplace. Even though there are many state and federal regulations that require companies to implement a wide variety of safety measures, workplace accidents happen and happen a lot. Although Workers' Compensation benefits do help employees who have been injured on the job, the benefits are not usually enough to compensate the injured worker for all the damages sustained as a result of the worksite accident.

According to New York State law, employees cannot sue employers for damages sustained as a result of an accident at the worksite or an accident that is work-related. Instead, workers must commence lawsuits against other parties, such as property owners, architects, contractors and equipment manufacturers who may be held responsible when an accident happens in order to receive reasonable compensation for their injuries. Damages in these lawsuits can include pain and suffering, additional medical benefits, additional wage loss benefits, and loss of services for the spouse of the injured.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died in a workplace accident in New York City, Long Island – including Nassau County and Suffolk County, please contact the Construction Site Accident Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.

The construction industry is one of the largest industries in the United States and also one of the most dangerous industries. The construction industry ranks third in the number of work-related injuries and deaths, following only mining and agriculture. For every 100,000 construction workers in the United States, 15 die due to injuries sustained while working. Many construction site accidents involve falls from ladders, scaffolding and roofs; others involve heavy objects falling on workers.

One of the most common types of construction site accidents is scaffolding accidents, primarily falling from scaffolds. Regardless of strict safety standards in the state of New York, all construction workers risk their lives every day while on the job, especially if their work entails climbing on equipment such as scaffolds. Injuries related to scaffolding are often severe and can result in permanent disability that prevents the injured worker from ever returning to work.

Because New York state law prohibits employees from suing their employers for on-the-job accidents, architects, contractors, property owners and equipment manufacturers may be held liable for injuries or wrongful deaths that take place on a construction site. Many construction workers may not even be aware that New York State Labor Law Sections 200, 240 and 241 are designed to protect workers when the fall from any height or when they are injured by an object falling from a height.

These labor laws also protect workers when the equipment they are using is not safe or properly maintained and inspected; the laws also allow injured workers to receive an insurance settlement for damages such as pain and suffering and permanent injury.

If you or a loved one has been injured or died due to a work-related fall or accident in New York City, Long Island – including Nassau County and Suffolk County, please contact the Construction Site Accident Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos.