$7.6M New York Medical Malpractice Verdict For Death Of Judge

On June 1, 2022, a New York medical malpractice jury found in favor of the plaintiffs in a New York medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit against a hospital for the death of a Supreme Court judge who died from a heart attack in his hospital room after he was left alone and unmonitored for 23 minutes. The jury awarded the judge’s widow $5.1 million in damages and their two children $2.5 million for their loss of intellectual, moral, physical training and assistance that their father would have provided to them over a period of twenty years had he survived.

The 55-year-old man, who had been a Supreme Court judge since 2008, thought he was having a heart attack on October 17, 2019 when he called his cardiologist eight minutes before he arrived at the hospital. The cardiologist told him to immediately go to the emergency room. The judge was pronounced dead after a hospital technician discovered the judge with no pulse sitting in a chair in his hospital room.

The plaintiffs argued to the jury that the defendant hospital was negligent by failing to respond timely and appropriately to the medical emergency. The plaintiffs argued that the hospital failed to administer nitroglycerin, aspirin or other blood thinners upon the judge’s arrival at the hospital, and it failed to provide heart medications.

The plaintiffs’ New York medical malpractice attorney told the jury, “This didn’t need to happen. This was an unnecessary death and I think everyone in this courtroom knows it. He would have been better off in the street having a heart attack.”

The defense attorney told the jury that when the judge arrived at the hospital, his heart rate was normal and an echocardiogram (EKG) was read as normal. “Remember this happened very quickly. Although it was a tragic event, it was not malpractice [and the hospital medical staff] did everything they could, but they weren’t able to resuscitate him.” The defense lawyer was critical of the suggestion by the plaintiffs that an aspirin or actively monitoring the judge would have avoided his death.

The judge’s widow stated after the verdict, “I’m pleased that Albany Med has been held accountable for the lack of care they provided to my husband. If this could happen to us, it could happen to anyone going to the emergency room believing that they are going to be cared for and treated and healed. I felt like justice was served with those jurors.”

Source

If you or a loved one suffered harm due to hospital negligence in New York or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a New York medical malpractice attorney or a medical malpractice attorney in your state who may investigate your hospital medical negligence claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospital medical malpractice case, if appropriate.

Click on the “Contact Us Now” tab to the right, visit our website, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice lawyers in your state who may assist you.

Turn to us when you don’t know where to turn.