Med Mal News

California Hospitals Fined for Lapses

After concluding that several health care facilities violated licensing rules, and that those blunders caused or could have caused serious injury or death to patients, California's Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently issued administrative fines against 10 hospital facilities. The agency announced the sanctions on Dec. 20, 2012. One faciility, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center of Mission Viejo, received the highest total fines: $100,000 for each of two surgical mistakes, both of which required the patients involved to undergo a second surgery. At the other nine hospitals, medication errors, surgical errors and failures to follow established policies were cited as reasons for the remaining 10 fines, which ranged from $100 to $100,000 per incident. All the penalized hospitals will now be required to provide CDPH with a plan for avoiding similar lapses in future.

New York Alters Law to Standardize Filing of Notices of Claim

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill that will standardize the procedure for filing notices of claims against New York State government entities. The bill's passage was welcomed by many, including the New York State Bar Association and New York State Trial Lawyers Association, whose members had struggled for years with the differing rules applicable to such filings in the State's various counties. “The new law gives individuals a better chance of having their day in court,” said New York State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr., of the New York City Legal Aid Society. “The current system, which imposes a patchwork of differing rules and time limits, is so confusing that individuals can be barred from ever filing a lawsuit based on procedural grounds.” The new law imposes a 90-day limit for filing a notice of claim against any public authority or corporation, and it simplifies the process by requiring that all those filings be made through the Secretary of State's office. That office will then forward the notices to the proper entity within 10 days of the filing.

Not everyone was pleased with the law's passage, however: The state Conference of Mayors and State Association of Counties had earlier voiced their opposition, asking Gov. Cuomo to veto the bill over concerns that the Secretary of State's office might not forward the claims as quickly as promised, leaving them with a diminished opportunity to gather evidence and defend themselves.

After Kennedy Acquittal, Lawsuits All Around

A week after Douglas Kennedy, a member of the famous Kennedy clan, was acquitted last year of child endangerment and physical harassment of two nurses, he became the target of a lawsuit by those nurses. They are seeking $200,000 in damages. In January, Kennedy followed suit, suing the two nurses for defamation and malicious prosecution, with his wife asking for compensation for emotional distress. The scuffle in question took place in Northern Westchester Hospital, in Mount Kisco, NY, when Kennedy attempted to take his newborn child out of the hospital for a breath of fresh air. As this was against hospital protocols, the two nurses attempted to stop him and claimed he injured them when he resisted. The parties' interactions were recorded by a hospital security camera.

California Hospitals Fined for Lapses

After concluding that several health care facilities violated licensing rules, and that those blunders caused or could have caused serious injury or death to patients, California's Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently issued administrative fines against 10 hospital facilities. The agency announced the sanctions on Dec. 20, 2012. One faciility, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center of Mission Viejo, received the highest total fines: $100,000 for each of two surgical mistakes, both of which required the patients involved to undergo a second surgery. At the other nine hospitals, medication errors, surgical errors and failures to follow established policies were cited as reasons for the remaining 10 fines, which ranged from $100 to $100,000 per incident. All the penalized hospitals will now be required to provide CDPH with a plan for avoiding similar lapses in future.

New York Alters Law to Standardize Filing of Notices of Claim

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill that will standardize the procedure for filing notices of claims against New York State government entities. The bill's passage was welcomed by many, including the New York State Bar Association and New York State Trial Lawyers Association, whose members had struggled for years with the differing rules applicable to such filings in the State's various counties. “The new law gives individuals a better chance of having their day in court,” said New York State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr., of the New York City Legal Aid Society. “The current system, which imposes a patchwork of differing rules and time limits, is so confusing that individuals can be barred from ever filing a lawsuit based on procedural grounds.” The new law imposes a 90-day limit for filing a notice of claim against any public authority or corporation, and it simplifies the process by requiring that all those filings be made through the Secretary of State's office. That office will then forward the notices to the proper entity within 10 days of the filing.

Not everyone was pleased with the law's passage, however: The state Conference of Mayors and State Association of Counties had earlier voiced their opposition, asking Gov. Cuomo to veto the bill over concerns that the Secretary of State's office might not forward the claims as quickly as promised, leaving them with a diminished opportunity to gather evidence and defend themselves.

After Kennedy Acquittal, Lawsuits All Around

A week after Douglas Kennedy, a member of the famous Kennedy clan, was acquitted last year of child endangerment and physical harassment of two nurses, he became the target of a lawsuit by those nurses. They are seeking $200,000 in damages. In January, Kennedy followed suit, suing the two nurses for defamation and malicious prosecution, with his wife asking for compensation for emotional distress. The scuffle in question took place in Northern Westchester Hospital, in Mount Kisco, NY, when Kennedy attempted to take his newborn child out of the hospital for a breath of fresh air. As this was against hospital protocols, the two nurses attempted to stop him and claimed he injured them when he resisted. The parties' interactions were recorded by a hospital security camera.