New York Malpractice & Injury Lawyer Blog

A medical malpractice case involving the premature delivery of a baby girl has been settled after 11 years in a jury trial in a Bucks County Court.

According to court documents, Denise and Louis Mamie named Dr. Aaron Hasiuk, who is an employee of Temple Physicians, Inc., as responsible for events that led to the premature birth of their daughter Jessica on July 23, 2002 and the related complications.

The Mamies assert that Dr. Hasiuk performed an internal exam without permission on Denise Mamie by inserting a speculum into her vagina, which ultimately led to the need for a cesarean section delivery.

A patient suffering from diabetes that needed to have his leg amputated has filed a malpractice lawsuit against a doctor alleging that the physician could have saved his leg.

Michael David Howard has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Kathleen Williams, Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority and Jeffcare-Weft Jefferson in the 24th Judicial District Court.

Howard went to the Jeffcare-Weft Jefferson on January 2014complaining of pain and discomfort in his foot. Howard claims that he notified the defendants he was a diabetic, but that Williams told him the foot pain was insignificant and only required a follow up appointment with a wound care physician.

Forty-two-year-old Lavern Wilkinson died in 2013 of a curable form of lung cancer. Her death was completely preventable in that doctors at Kings County Hospital misread her EKG and chest x-rays, saying that were normal. They advised Wilkinson to take Motrin for pain.

What the chest X-ray did show, however, was a suspicious nodule in Wilkinson’s right lung that was suspicious. The radiologist who saw Wilkinson recommended that she be given a follow-up X-ray in three months, and if “clinical concern warrants, a CT scan is suggested.”

Lavern Wilkinson, however, was never provided with this information that could have saved her life. Instead, Wilkinson suffered with a chronic cough and breathing difficulties that were attributed to asthma. No doctor referred to the X-ray that showed the suspicious mass.

A Nassau County, NY chiropractor has pleaded guilty to the charges of healthcare fraud and obstruction of a federal audit.

Dr. Melvin Cwibeker, owner of Mel Cwibeker DC, will pay both restitution and a $500,000 forfeiture. Cwibeker also faces a potential maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He is due to be sentenced in early November.

According to court documents, Cwibeker and co-conspirators fraudulently billed Medicare in excess of $7 million for allegedly providing treatments for residents of assisted living facilities in 2006 -2012. Three chiropractors who are employed by Cwibeker have also pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud charges and were trained not to provide Medicare required patient care. Pretend patient records were created and sent to Medicare for payment.

A Superior Court Jury has ordered two cardiologists to pay the widow of a man more than $2.4 million. The jury in the case deliberated for three days before determining that Dr. Kevin Lenhart and his partner, Dr. Charles Landau of Connecticut Heart & Vascular Center had been negligent in the treatment of Wesley Wirth, 61. The mis-diagnosis resulted in Wirth’s death.

Court documents of testimony during the trial indicate that on May 12, 2008, Wirth was transported to St. Vincent’s Medical Center after complaining of chest pain and dizziness. The emergency room physician consulted with Lenhart, Wirth’s physician and determined that Wirth’s EKG was normal.

Wirth discharged himself from the hospital only to return a few hours later, again complaining of chest pain. Again, it was determined by Lenhart that the results of a stress test performed on Wirth were “unremarkable.”

The estate of a Turrington man has been awarded $3 million by a jury in a malpractice suit against a cardiologist who could have prevented the man’s death if he had paid closer attention to test results.

The jury handed down its verdict against Dr. Dariush Owlia and in favor of plaintiff Cynthia Olsen, the wife of Andrew J. Olsen and executor of his estate. The jury’s decision was made on Wednesday after hearing six days of testimony at a Superior Court in Hartford and deliberating for five hours.

The lawsuit named Olsen’s general practitioner, Dr. Stephen Bryant in its case. However, Bryant was not a defendant in the trial although the jury did determine that he was liable for 60 percent of the $3 million award in the case Owlia was liable for the other 40 percent.