Verdicts and Case Results – Goldberg & Chase, LLP.

Medical Malpractice $3,700,000

In Queens County, a woman arrived at the hospital in premature labor. She was stabilized, sent home and then returned to the hospital several weeks later (the baby was still premature). In this case, there was a dispute between the assigned consulting obstetrician, the attending obstetrician and the hospital resident obstetricians regarding who was managing the care of our client’s labor. We successfully showed that there was a period of unrecognized fetal distress and that as a result of negligence in managing this labor, the infant was deprived of oxygen, causing brain damage and cerebral palsy. This case is also notable for showing how disputes over management responsibility during the stressful time of labor and delivery can lead to tragic and very unfortunate outcomes for the patient.

Medical Malpractice $3,400,000

The plaintiff was admitted to a Bronx hospital at 5:54 a.m. There were complaints of an irregular fetal heart beat and a “failure of the labor to progress.” This medical malpractice case was premised on allegations that the defendant obstetricians did not respond to signs of fetal distress. In addition to some irregular fetal heart rate tracings as recorded by the fetal heart rate monitor, there was also the presence of thick meconium at the time the mother’s “water” was broken. According to the testimony from the defendant obstetrician (the primary physician in the case), based on the standards of practice as they existed at the time, there was a clear need for a cesarean section as of 1:15 p.m. There is a rule of obstetrical practice called the “Decision to Incision” rule. This rule essentially requires that a cesarean section be performed within 30 minutes of the decision to do so when there is an emergency situation. In actuality, C-sections can be performed in as little as 5-7 minutes, but the rule is meant to address a variety of situations and has some built-in margin. In this case, it was clear that the delivery should have been completed by 1:45 p.m. However, it was not done till 2:18 p.m., more than half an hour longer than it should have taken. Our argument was that half an hour over the limit of the rule is too long when every second counts. We claimed that this delay in doing the C-section is what caused the infant-plaintiff’s damage.

The plaintiff also claimed that there was additional delay because of the method of anesthesia selected. We argued that epidural anesthesia takes longer to induce (be effective) than general anesthesia. Here, the residents utilized the slower epidural anesthesia. Our pediatric neurologist was prepared to testify that the delay in performing a timely C-section caused the kind of brain damage demonstrated in this case. In fact, the medical records of the defendant hospital were replete with notations of fetal hypoxia before the delivery and fetal asphyxia in the infant’s chart after delivery.

Personal Injury Cases $3,000,000

In Manhattan, we represented a woman, who upon returning home from a New Year’s Eve Party and entering the elevator in her residential apartment building, unfortunately discovered that the elevator was not at the floor when she entered what she thought was the elevator. Instead, after the doors opened she actually stepped into the empty space of the elevator shaft and fell three stories to the bottom of the shaft. Tragically, she was paralyzed from the waist down. Our main claim was that the elevator shaft door should not open unless the elevator is actually there. The safety mechanism that should prevent an elevator shaft door from opening unless the elevator is there failed. A major challenge to a successful recovery in this case was the extent to which the plaintiff had been drinking that night and, therefore, the claim that she was responsible for her own accident and injuries. The legal phrase that describes this issue is “culpable conduct of the plaintiff.” It also falls under a category of cases where at the time of trial, the jury determines the “comparative negligence” of both the plaintiff and the defendant.

Medical Malpractice $2,950,000

This was a case against City Hospital in Brooklyn where we contended that the staff of the hospital deviated from accepted medical practice when they failed to perform a C-section significantly sooner than the circumstances required, and by failing to do so, caused a brain hemorrhage and other problems in the neonatal period. One challenge in cases such as this is there can be other causes for bleeding in the brain in addition to lack of oxygen or fetal distress. In this case, the defendants had a legitimate argument that the infant plaintiff’s bleeding and injuries came from something other than their alleged delay. Defendant’s will always look to see if another party or condition can take all or some of the blame for what takes place. This case is notable because it demonstrates that even when there is another potential cause, a defendant may be forced to pay his or her fair share.

Medical Malpractice $2,457,500

Our client developed a bony growth in his spinal canal (called an osteophyte) that pressed on his spinal cord, making walking difficult. The defendant negligently performed surgery to reduce the size of the bony growth and thereby relieve the pressure on the spinal cord by performing an unnecessarily “blind” procedure. Because of the method of surgery chosen, the defendant could not see what he was doing and thus, it was apparent that he had cut or injured the spinal cord. The cord was damaged in the surgery and the plaintiff was left paralyzed from the waist down. The case was located in New York County. One of the challenges in this case was the fact that our expert neurosurgeon advised us that when an osteophyte presses on the spinal cord for an extended period of time, the pressure is such that the nerve does not always “come back to life” when successful surgery relieves the pressure. Therefore, it was important for us to overcome the defense that the permanent damage did not come from the actions of the neurosurgeon but were a result of the long pressure of the osteophyte on the patient’s spinal cord. This case demonstrates that even when a plaintiff is right on the issue of the physician being at fault for how he or she did something, the truth of what happened may be more complicated that just what the defendant did or did not do. It is important for injured plaintiffs to be represented by counsel who can advise them properly of the risks inherent in their case. This case resolved well.

Personal Injury Cases $2,000,000

We represented a truck driver, who was employed to transport and unload items from a manufacturer to a warehouse. He made a delivery to a warehouse and as he was unloading his truck, the heavy, steel “roll down gate” in the bay area that was part of the entryway to the warehouse, broke loose, rolled down at great speed, and hit the plaintiff on his shoulder, inflicting substantial personal injury to the plaintiff that required major surgery. Our claim was that the roll-down gate was not properly secured against breaking loose and falling. As a result of his injuries, the plaintiff could no longer work as a truck driver nor unload heavy boxes. In addition to his personal injury recovery against the warehouse (who was not his employer), he also received workers compensation.

Personal Injury Cases $2,000,000

We represented a skilled mechanic who worked at JFK airport. As part of his job he needed to use large rolling ladders to lift him high enough to fix airplanes. On the day of his accident, he was forced to use a rolling ladder with a broken wheel. The ladder toppled. The mechanic fell, hit his head and died very soon after. This case is notable because of the two main challenges to obtaining a recovery:

The extent to which the plaintiff was responsible for his own personal injuries and death by using an obviously broken ladder that could foreseeably tip, and cause him or anyone to fall;

In a personal injury case, a plaintiff almost always claims “conscious pain and suffering.” In this case, proving the patient was conscious and that he suffered was difficult because although the plaintiff was alive in the seconds after his fall, he was also unconscious. The defendant argued that with the lack of consciousness there was no pain and suffering. Despite their arguments, we obtained a good recovery.

Medical Malpractice $1,850,000

This Kings County (Brooklyn) case involved the failure by an ophthalmology group to diagnose a tumor called an optic nerve sheath meningioma. Instead of conducting a simple test called a visual field test that would have indicated the presence of the tumor our client had, the defendants persisted in calling her condition an optic neuritis. Had they been correct, the defendant’s asserted that in this condition they were powerless to save her vision. However, this was not her condition. She had an undiagnosed tumor. A visual field test would have resulted in an MRI and subsequent surgery to remove the tumors. As a result of their negligence, the client lost vision in one eye and then the other. A difficult problem in the case was the extreme rarity of the kind of tumor the plaintiff had with the corresponding defense that no ordinary reasonable ophthalmologist would have diagnosed this rare tumor. Another defense was the difficulty of removing the tumors without causing damage to the optic nerve and blindness, i.e., that blindness was an almost inevitable result.

Medical Malpractice $1,500,000

A woman from Nassau County with a cardiac arrhythmia was given a drug to treat that arrhythmia. Either as a result of the drug, or the sedative she received, she developed urinary retention. This condition is where the bladder becomes full but the person cannot urinate. It is usually only temporary. In this case, the urine in her bladder was increasing in volume and despite her constant complaints, the simple procedure of using a catheter to drain the urine was not done. As a result, the urine volume built up to such an extent that it stretched the bladder to the point where she became permanently unable to urinate on her own. Thankfully, our client was implanted with what was an experimental device that is now widely available called an Inter-Stim. This device allows her to control her bladder. While nowhere near “normal,” she is not incontinent, nor does she need to continually self-catheterize herself as she initially had to do before the Inter-Stim was implanted.

Medical Malpractice $1,500,000

Our client in this case was a man who developed pneumonia to such an extent that it interfered with his breathing and required him to be admitted to the ICU of a Nassau County hospital. The extensive congestion in his lungs caused him severe breathing difficulties. As a result of his breathing problems, he became disoriented and delusional and pulled out his IV lines and got out of bed. The physician determined that he needed to be restrained and a nurse applied the restraints. Despite the restraint which tied him to his bed, and even in his weakened condition, he was able to get out of bed, exit the window in his room and walk out onto the ledge outside his window. This was two floors up and he fell to the ground breaking his arms and legs. The argument was that he was inadequately restrained. At trial, the defendant argued that restraints have to be carefully deployed as they can make patient more upset and aggravate medical problems. The defense also argued that there was no way to predict that the patient, who was not psychotic or suicidal, would be in danger of going out his window and falling to the ground.

Medical Malpractice $1,150,000

In this negligence case, we represented the plaintiff against a physician and a Brooklyn Hospital. The plaintiff was 43 years old at the time of the alleged negligence. The plaintiff went to her neighborhood physician and complained of a sore under her tongue. She returned again with the lesion still present. There was a question of fact between the doctor and the plaintiff as to whether the doctor referred her to an ear, nose and throat specialist for a biopsy. The plaintiff then went to a Brooklyn Hospital where no biopsy was done for four months. At this point, the lesion was diagnosed as cancer, albeit Stage 1, and a surgical procedure was performed on, in which a portion of her jaw was removed and an attempt at reconstruction was made. While the patient remained cancer-free since that time, she also has had many attempts at jaw reconstruction with little success. Another challenge for the case was whether a delay of four months made a difference with the defendant arguing it did not and the plaintiff arguing it did. The case settled during trial

Medical Malpractice $1,000,000

This trial in New York County was based on the idea that the baby being born was not protected from contractions that were too severe. We alleged that these extra strong contractions caused many mini-concussions and led to bleeding in the brain, resulting in permanent brain damage. This case was extensively litigated and settled near the end of trial. This was a very hard case where the defendants had a “no-pay” position all the way up to and through the trial. The case was able to settle when both sides came to understand that the liability aspect of the case might be resolved in favor of the plaintiff, while it was also clearly understood that the issue of causation was likely to be very problematic for the plaintiff because the medical evidence tended to support the defendant that they did not cause the kind of damage the infant plaintiff. Therefore, it was thought to be prudent by both sides to settle the case rather than let the jury decide the case. This case was also notable for the use of a “special needs trust” to ensure that Medicaid benefits would continue.

Medical Malpractice $650,000

In this case, a man received regular visits from a home health aide because of his disability. The problem was that when the Home health aide came to his home and he did not answer the door, she left without calling his home, calling her agency or alerting anyone. He had never canceled or been out before when she was scheduled to arrive. His failure to answer the door was very unusual. Despite this, the aide left the premises without contacting anyone. Meanwhile, the plaintiff had fallen out of this chair and was on the floor. He was left in that condition for two days during which he became sick, debilitated and dehydrated. He was alive when found, transported to the hospital where he died. The defendants attempted to use his admittedly poor condition prior to the incident to limit the amount they would pay.

Verdicts & Case Results

About Us