New York Law Blog

A New York City man may finally see his day in court after waiting 11 years to have his medical malpractice case tried. Jeffrey Lichtman talks about Luis Berrios’ horrific ordeal with Our Lady Of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx:

This is another tragic medical malpractice case that has been prolonged by our court system.  An already paralyzed man was put through tremendous torture because doctors took the law in their hands.  This paraplegic was pulled from his wheelchair, handcuffed to a hospital bed, and then forced to consume dangerous levels of laxatives for 27 hours.  He was then probed by doctors while police watched.  The hospital, Our Lady Of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx, thought the man was a drug mule when he came in with stomach pain based on X-rays showing several spherical shapes they mistakenly identified as condoms stuffed with drugs.  They were gall bladder stones identified by a second radiologist later on.  After years of physical therapy the paralyzed man has still not gained full control over his own bodily functions.  After more than a decade this man will finally see his day in court.

Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman: Don’t settle for less!

An article run today on Nurse.com speaks of the new New York state law prohibiting hospitals from enforcing mandatory overtime of nurses. Starting July 1, 2009, nurses now have the right to say no to forced overtime and be protected from doing so by law. However there are a few exceptions to the law:

A nurse may be required to work overtime in the case of a healthcare disaster (such as a natural catastrophe), government-declared state of emergency, or if he or she is in the middle of an ongoing medical or surgical procedure. "[These are] all prudent measures because they are in the interest of patient safety," says [co-chairwoman of the Public Policy Committee Pat] Hogan. The final exception is an "emergency" situation — as determined by the employer. What may be considered an "emergency" is well-defined. It must be unanticipated and cannot occur on a regular basis. The statute specifically requires a good-faith effort first to have the shift covered by a per diem, agency nurse, or assigned float, or by requesting that an off-duty employee work an additional day, before requiring the nurse on duty to remain.

The new law aims to restore balance to a field that is shrinking in numbers while the need expands. Forcing nurses to work overtime leads to mistakes, medical malpractice, etc. Now nurses have a safeguard against being forced to put in too many hours, and allowing them to lead a better quality of life.

[T]he new law has been applauded as a positive step for patients and nurses. In addition to promoting patient safety, it protects nurses. Because it is part of NYS’s labor laws, the new law will come under Section 213, which provides prosecution for those who violate it. "Nobody should have to fear saying no to last-minute mandatory overtime and choose between the job and getting his or her child off the bus," says Hogan. "If this is going to fix those issues, then it’s a good thing and the time and effort to accomplish it well spent."

-Two men who were helping dismantle a tower crane have been charged with four violations of city construction codes stemming from the death of a worker after her fell over 40 stories to his death. The men have been accused of illegally cutting the safety guardrail on a platform that the worker fell from.

“Despite months and months of public pleas for construction safety, our investigators found glaring violations at a high-rise work site where a construction worker fell to his death,” Rose Gill Hearn, the Department of Investigation commissioner, said.

Robert LiMandri, the buildings commissioner-designate, said that the removal of the safety railing played a critical role in causing the accident, noting, “It was a shortcut gone terribly wrong that compromised rigging operations and put the lives of fellow workers in jeopardy.”

-A proposed federal bill aims to tighten security on electronic health records as well as giving financial incentives for doctors who use the system.

The bill would require notification when personal health information is breached and extend federal privacy laws to organizations that conduct business with providers. It would also require providers to receive patient consent to use or disclose protected information, according to a committee news release.

An amendment to the bill would require health information exchanges and other entities to comply with security rules included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, in addition to the privacy rules included in the legislation, according to a summary of revisions to the bill.

-New findings show that over 90 percent of Long Island Rail Road workers have been allowed to collect disability as well as their pension plans after retirement. Federal officers have seized documents from the Long Island office of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board and are now investigating the situation and law loopholes.