Blog: Thoughts on Law and Life

$750,000 Dialysis Injury

Our client was a lovely 15 year-old girl who suffered from kidney failure and required dialysis several times a week. During a dialysis treatment, the catheter was misplaced into our client’s retroperitoneal cavity, resulting in a major bleed which required surgical intervention. Although the plaintiff eventually recovered, she sustained abdominal scarring as a result of the surgery. (Later, she received a kidney transplant and no longer required dialysis.) A lawsuit was brought against the hospital and physician who administered the dialysis and it was settled before trial for $750,000.

$760,000 Failure to Diagnose Lymphoma

Our client’s husband was a 46 year-old garage attendant earning $50,000 per annum who complained to his cardiologist about burning chest pain even after a stent was put in to address a blockage of the coronary arteries. The doctor prescribed Prilosec for the chest pain, suspecting that the problem was of a gastric nature. Eventually, the decedent’s family sent him to a gastroenterologist who performed an endoscopic procedure which resulted in a diagnosis of plasmablastic lymphoma, a rare, aggressive and nearly always deadly form of cancer of the lymphatic system. At trial, the defense expert was set to testify that given the nature of the disease, the decedent could not have been saved. Our expert oncologist testified that plasmablastic lymphoma can, on occasion, be treated successfully and that the defendant’s failure to timely refer the decedent for gastroenterological work-up deprived the decedent of an opportunity for a cure. The defense offered $760,000 in settlement and our client accepted the offer.

$790,000 Perforated Uterus During Surgery

During a procedure to terminate a pregnancy, our client suffered a perforation of her uterus and injury to the small intestine, which required emergency repair via laparotomy including excision of a section of the small intestine. We claimed that the original procedure was performed negligently and the case settled for $790,000

$925,000 Late Cancer Diagnosis

Our client was a 45 year-old sanitation worker who succumbed to cancer of the bladder. He had originally complained of left side pain and blood in the urine (hematuria) but his medical work-up at his health-care clinic, including an endoscopic procedure, showed the possible passage of stones but no abnormality within the bladder. When the hematuria continued, a second scan was performed but was misinterpreted as “normal”. Months later, our client was hospitalized and advanced stage cancer of the bladder was diagnosed, eventually leading to his death. The defense argued that even a timely diagnosis would not have changed the unfortunate outcome. Through our experts, we argued that the late diagnosis deprived this gentleman of a reasonable opportunity to fight back against the disease and the case settled for $925,000.

$950,000 Failure to Diagnose Colon Cancer

Our client’s husband and father was a 68 year-old retiree, who had been complaining about a burning pain in his abdominal region for about 4 years before he finally underwent a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He passed away 7 months later. The defense claimed that the patient had refused medical advice to undergo a colonoscopy but there were no medical records supporting that contention. The defense also claimed that the family suffered virtually no significant financial losses as a result of the death. Since New York State does not permit the families of wrongful death victims to sue for loss of their loved ones’ comfort, society and affection, we were pleased to exact a settlement offer of $950,000, based primarily on the deceased’s pain and suffering during the last 7 months of his life.