A Bronx woman was awarded $110 million in 2019 against her medical malpractice lawsuit against the St. Barnabas Hospital. Keimoneia Redish sued the hospital and several of its doctors for mishandling her asthma attack in Dec. 2010, according to the NY Daily News.
The 48-year-old grandmother was left hospitalized and confined to a nursing home for almost a year after the Hospital's doctors mishandled her asthma attack, triggering a severe brain injury. She ended up with speech and motor defects, leaving her crippled and suffering for life.
Read more: Bronx Woman Won $110 Million Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
A Bronx man was left paralyzed following spinal surgery at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia University Irving Medical Center) in 2002. Fourteen-year-old Edward Beloyianis visited the hospital for an operation to treat his scoliosis, a medical condition whereby the spine takes the shape of an S-like curve. The surgery left Beloyianis paralyzed for life. He died eight years after the surgery, according to the NY Times. His parents filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and the jury awarded $10,900,000 as compensation for their son’s death.
According to the medical malpractice attorney representing the Beloyianis’ family, the spinal surgery at the Manhattan hospital had left the victim paralyzed from the waist down. Investigations found that the surgical screws were misplaced and were pressing against the spinal cord- the primary reason for the paralysis.
Read more: Wrongful Death of Edward Beloyianis and the $10,900,000 Settlement
A Brooklyn woman died while giving birth at the Woodhull Medical Center on July 3, 2020. Shaasia Washington, 26, visited the medical center for a routine stress test. At the same time, she was pregnant and past her due date by a few days.
According to the Insider report, the Latino woman had abnormally high blood pressure while at the hospital. The staff decided to keep her under observation and induce childbirth with the help of Pitocin, a drug used to stimulate uterine contractions. The medical staff reportedly asked Shaasia if she wanted an epidural, to which she hesitatingly agreed.
A mother of two children died at the Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, NYC, after a minor procedure, following which the deceased’s family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. Rosemary Abreu went to the hospital on Sep. 20, 2019, to remove a cyst from her thigh. While the procedure of cyst removal is simple, Abreu didn’t come out alive.
According to the NY Daily News, the 27-year-old mother suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of the surgery, fell into a coma, and died shortly after. Her family has filed a $50 million medical malpractice lawsuit.
Abreu was a paraprofessional at the Department of Education and a mother of two girls: nine-year-old Katelyn and two-year-old Luna.
Read more: Bronx: Family Files Lawsuit for Wrongful Death of Mom
During the past five years, medical malpractice and negligence at NYC’s 11 public hospitals have caused 468 deaths. The NY Post’s analysis of the city comptroller data obtained through a Freedom of Information request found that the city has paid 56 families around $34 million since 2014. The city-wide compensations were given on account of settlements against wrongful death claims made by the victims' families.
About 72 percent of the 106 wrongful-death lawsuits filed against HHC hospitals in 2014 are still awaiting verdicts. Out of all the hospitals operating under the NYC Health and Hospital Corporation, the King’s County Hospital had the highest number of wrongful-death claims, facing 91 lawsuits between 2014 and 2018.
Read more: Tragic Tales of Medical Blunders at NYC Hospitals
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