September 23, 2010 (Press-News.org) St. Vincent's Closure Leaves Medical Malpractice Victims in a Bad Spot
In April 2010, board members for St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital voted to shut the facility down, leaving many residents on the Lower West Side without a local emergency room. For those with indelible memories of September 11th, St. Vincent's absence is a scary proposition. Known as the flagship hospital of the Catholic Medical Center System, St. Vincent's was the primary medical facility in lower Manhattan for nearly 160 years. However, saddled with nearly $1 billion in debt, and with its parent company filing for bankruptcy for the second time in five years, maintaining the hospital was no longer viable.
The hospital's closure also leaves a number of victims of medical malpractice in difficult positions. The bankruptcy filing has stalled hundreds of lawsuits. Moreover, the possibility of lost or destroyed medical records is high, and could prove to be a critical blow to proving medical negligence cases against the hospital and staff. Like other personal injury cases, medical records are an integral part of a negligence claim, and can help to show whether the hospital and staff breached the duty of care to the patient. Without such evidence, plaintiffs may be left with fuzzy recollections of treatments, prescriptions and care cycles that neither the patient nor the physician may remember.
Aside from lawsuits, it is critical for patients to have access to their medical records after a hospital closes. It is important to a patient's future care to know how treatments have worked in the past. It is equally important to know about a patient's allergies to certain medicines, their blood types as well as their family medical history. This information commonly helps physicians order treatment consistent with acceptable medical practices.
The closure of St. Vincent's could effectively deny an injured person's chance to bring a meritorious claim. Plaintiffs must pursue justice through medical malpractice lawsuits and monetary compensation is the most effective way to compensate them for a hospital's negligence. Bringing a lawsuit is also a factor in deterring hospitals from making mistakes in patient care.
If you have been injured or sickened while being treated in a hospital, you may be a victim of medical malpractice. An experienced personal injury attorney can assess your case and advise you of your rights and options.
Article provided by Perecman & Fanning PLLC
Visit us at www.perecman.com
St. Vincent's Closure Leaves Medical Malpractice Victims in a Bad Spot
In April 2010, board members for St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital voted to shut the facility down, leaving many residents on the Lower West Side without a local emergency room.
2010-09-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Do I Really Need a Lawyer to File Bankruptcy? The Fees Sound So High!
2010-09-23
You don't have to have an attorney to file anything. You always have the option of representing yourself in any matter. If you are fairly familiar with the bankruptcy process and have a pretty simple, straightforward case, you might consider this avenue, but for most people it is not the best idea. Bankruptcy lawyers usually charge a flat fee starting in the neighborhood of $1,800 and up. When you are considering bankruptcy, this sounds like a huge fee and makes the "do-it-yourself" route look more attractive, but when you consider that your entire financial future is at ...
Options for Recovery When Injuries Happen While Working at Sea
2010-09-23
Working as a seaman, deckhand, fisherman, tugboat sailor, processor, or ferry worker is hazardous. Private and commercial vessels are rife with possible hazards, and injuries can happen at any time. In fact, per capita, jobs on the water are the most dangerous ones in the world, resulting in more fatalities than other industries. Though many lose their lives in maritime-related accidents each year, countless others are injured, some of them enduring permanent pain, disfigurement or being unable to return to the job they love.
If you have been injured while working on ...
Traffic Violations Can Cause Car Accidents, Regardless of Who Is Driving
2010-09-23
For all their fame and wealth, celebrities often face the same problems as the rest of us. However, some of these problems - even something as small as a traffic ticket - can seem larger than life for those whose lives are viewed through the lens of media scrutiny. And while negative publicity can certainly damage someone's reputation, the fact is that many famous people receive special treatment from law enforcement.
Lohan In Trouble Again
For example, authorities recently stopped actress Lindsay Lohan when she failed to stop at a stop sign while driving. Rather ...
New Jersey Bankruptcy Filings Increase Over Last Year
2010-09-23
Amid some promising signs of economic recovery, Bankruptcy filings are heading in a less promising direction. Record numbers of businesses and individuals are filing for Bankruptcy in New Jersey and around the country. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court reports that, in the 12 months ending August 2010, New Jersey bankruptcies increased compared to the year before:
- Consumer bankruptcies increased by 6,881 (more than 20 percent)
- Business bankruptcies increased by 23 (just under 2 percent)
- Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filings increased by 6,229 (more than 25 percent)
- Chapter 13 ...
New York Lawmakers Increase Drunk Driving Penalties With Leandra's Law
2010-09-23
Tragic cases often inspire new legislation. When 11-year-old Leandra Rosado was killed late last year when she was riding in a car with a drunk driver, New York lawmakers wasted no time in passing a law in her name, in the hopes of preventing similar future incidents.
Leandra's Law makes it a felony for anyone with a blood alcohol content level of .08 or higher to drive with a child 15 or younger in the car, punishable by up to four years in prison. Under the law, if a child passenger is seriously injured by an intoxicated driver, the driver faces up to a 15 year sentence. ...
CSA 2010: Increasing Safety Through Improved Trucking Regulations
2010-09-23
Because commercial vehicle crashes are still far too common, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been actively seeking ways to be more proactive about safety monitoring. The result of the agency's efforts is an initiative called Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010.
Prior to CSA 2010, the odds of a company being subjected to any meaningful onsite compliance review were slim. Due to a lack of staffing and the high levels of paperwork required, each year FMCSA officials have been able to conduct compliance reviews on less than 2 percent of the motor carriers ...
The Dangers of Peer-to-Peer Sharing
2010-09-23
Matthew White admits he was surfing the Internet for pornography two years ago -- not a crime for a then-20-year-old American male. However, CBS reports that White downloaded child pornography onto his computer; he says he did so accidentally while looking for college aged women on LimeWire. LimeWire is a peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing network that allows users to share files, including music, movies, games and pictures, with one another.
White claims that when he discovered the files he had accidentally downloaded, he quickly erased them, saying that the child pornography ...
Accidental Child Pornography Download Can Lead to Jail Time
2010-09-23
Using peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing like Limewire can be an extremely risky endeavor. There are the obvious risks of engaging in copyright infringement or becoming a victim of identity theft, but more and more people have complained that they have accidentally downloaded dangerous material - like child pornography - which was disguised as something more innocuous. This has caused a legal problem for 22-year-old Matthew White of California, who now faces a possible 20 years in prison for having images of child porn buried in his hard drive.
White claims that he tried ...
Senator Thompson's Personal Injury Legislation: The Real Story
2010-09-23
New York State Senator Antoine Thompson recently introduced legislation designed to widen the scope of what is considered a "serious injury" for purposes of bringing a personal injury claim. The law would be somewhat retroactive in nature, covering not just future claims, but any suits pending at the time of its passage. The timing of his proposal has been criticized by some, however, since it comes on the heels of his own personal injury lawsuit.
Timing is a Coincidence
In March of 2007, Senator Thompson was involved in an auto accident in which he suffered deep ...
Positive News for New York Drivers Regarding Insurance Surcharge
2010-09-23
Automobile accidents in New York may not be as costly for insurance policy holders, thanks to recent legislation signed by Governor David Patterson. The new law amends Section 2335 of the Insurance Law, which limits insurance companies from levying surcharges on a policyholder after an auto accident involving property damage.
Section 2335 now prohibits insurers from raising auto premiums after an accident, unless the amount of property damage exceeds $2,000. The prior threshold was $1,000 and was in effect since 1991. Inflation and increasing repair costs made exceeding ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
The internet names a new deep-sea species, Senckenberg researchers select a scientific name from over 8,000 suggestions.
UT San Antonio-led research team discovers compound in 500-million-year-old fossils, shedding new light on Earth’s carbon cycle
Maternal perinatal depression may increase the risk of autistic-related traits in girls
Study: Blocking a key protein may create novel form of stress in cancer cells and re-sensitize chemo-resistant tumors
HRT via skin is best treatment for low bone density in women whose periods have stopped due to anorexia or exercise, says study
Insilico Medicine showcases at WHX 2026: Connecting the Middle East with global partners to accelerate translational research
From rice fields to fresh air: Transforming agricultural waste into a shield against indoor pollution
University of Houston study offers potential new targets to identify, remediate dyslexia
Scientists uncover hidden role of microalgae in spreading antibiotic resistance in waterways
Turning orange waste into powerful water-cleaning material
Papadelis to lead new pediatric brain research center
Power of tiny molecular 'flycatcher' surprises through disorder
Before crisis strikes — smartwatch tracks triggers for opioid misuse
Statins do not cause the majority of side effects listed in package leaflets
UC Riverside doctoral student awarded prestigious DOE fellowship
UMD team finds E. coli, other pathogens in Potomac River after sewage spill
New vaccine platform promotes rare protective B cells
Apes share human ability to imagine
Major step toward a quantum-secure internet demonstrated over city-scale distance
Increasing toxicity trends impede progress in global pesticide reduction commitments
Methane jump wasn’t just emissions — the atmosphere (temporarily) stopped breaking it down
Flexible governance for biological data is needed to reduce AI’s biosecurity risks
Increasing pesticide toxicity threatens UN goal of global biodiversity protection by 2030
How “invisible” vaccine scaffolding boosts HIV immune response
Study reveals the extent of rare earthquakes in deep layer below Earth’s crust
Boston College scientists help explain why methane spiked in the early 2020s
Penn Nursing study identifies key predictors for chronic opioid use following surgery
KTU researcher’s study: Why Nobel Prize-level materials have yet to reach industry
Research spotlight: Interplay of hormonal contraceptive use, stress and cardiovascular risk in women
Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Catherine Prater awarded postdoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association
[Press-News.org] St. Vincent's Closure Leaves Medical Malpractice Victims in a Bad SpotIn April 2010, board members for St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital voted to shut the facility down, leaving many residents on the Lower West Side without a local emergency room.