broken jaw 14Kbill Medical negligence

Lorraine Evans, now 85, woke up in the hospital after a routine biopsy procedure to find that her jaw had been broken during the procedure, and she had been handed a $14,000 medical bill. Unaware of the extent of the damage initially, she went to see another doctor for the pain and discovered how badly she had been dealt with at her previous hospital. She filed a medical malpractice lawsuit at Bronx Supreme Court in 2015 against the hospital responsible for the incident.

Gross Medical Negligence

At the end of 2014, Lorraine Evans from Bronx, NYC, experienced hoarseness in her voice. She was neither a smoker nor had she recently been sick. But when the condition worsened in the following months, she decided to visit New York-Presbyterian Hospital on the Upper East Side for a check-up. After the examination, the doctor specializing in voice disorders told her that she had a growth in her throat tissue called a right vocal fold mass. The doctor wanted to further analyze her throat and scheduled her for a biopsy on Jan. 9, 2015.

Evans arrived for the procedure at 7.30 am and was given anesthesia by 10.30 am. When she woke up, she found herself in the hospital hallway with blood gushing from her mouth. According to doctors, the biopsy had been canceled because her teeth fell out, and a hospital dentist had been called in to take a look and fix the problem. But Evans' top lip was extremely swollen, and she remained in agonizing pain for four days before she decided to visit her former employer and friend - a Manhattan dentist named Robert Reiss.

It was after her check-up with Reiss that she was told some shocking news - five of her teeth had been knocked out, not fallen out as New York-Presbyterian Hospital had said. Reiss also revealed that her teeth' roots had also been fractured, and her damage had been clumsily repaired with glue and wire in an almost "primitive" manner by the hospital's dental surgeon. Reiss had to untangle it all in two separate sittings with Evans.

She was then referred to Dr. Burton Langer for an X-ray, and it was there that she found her jaw had also been broken. And despite all the damage caused, the hospital still billed Medicare with a $14,000 bill for a voicebox exam and biopsy even though the procedure had not been carried out. Medicare paid the hospital $13,693, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit. It turned out that in certain cases, bills were paid even if procedures could not be carried out.

New York-Presbyterian successfully managed to get the suit dismissed after four years and declined to comment over patient privacy laws. They also offered Evans $10,600, provided that she waived certain legal rights. But Evans refused and said she would not give up. According to her and Dr. Reiss, black patients are often treated with bias and receive lower healthcare quality.

Reiss and Langer, who did an approximate $50,000 of free dental work for her, said they could not understand how she got injured. But Evans' court papers and medical records both suggested that she was injured because of a sudden shift in the position of an instrument called a laryngoscope. 

The Legal Aspect

If you have been wronged by a medical institution in NYC and want to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, you need to see an experienced medical malpractice attorney for your case. A medical negligence lawyer will guide you on how to handle the case and how to get compensated for the damages and suffering you have faced. Contact a competent medical malpractice lawyer now to discuss your case. 

For a free review of your case, call Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff, LLP today at 212-344-1000 or contact us online.

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