Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center of Brooklyn, New York, finds itself defending hundreds of lawsuits for medical malpractice. New York State politicians have even made statements publically about the many medical malpractice cases, some which include wrongful death, neurological injuries and extended hospital stays. Reports in local newspapers implicate a major management failure as a potential cause. Some are pointing to the massive financial debt the hospital is experiencing. Mishandling of blood and specimens has lead to federal investigations, some including fraud.
Serious problems arise in hospitals when specimens are mismanaged or mislabeled. Also, sanitary conditions, including proper ventilation, is important for disease prevention. Our medical malpractice team has decades of experience in reviewing medical records to determine what may or may not have happened. Sometimes the most important evidence is not included in the medical records. Experience has taught us that the most important documents may be “missing” or perhaps written on the back of page but not duplicated in a legal production. Missing records can lead to legal sanctions against hospitals, and a court can instruct a jury to allow for a negative inference for missing documents. Our clients often have a “gut feeling” that something was wrong about their care, or they were told by a lower level employee that a mistake was made.
