Sharon Holmes was shocked to discover a lump in one of breasts just three months after being cleared by her mammogram results. In a follow-up test doctors found that Sharon had aggressive stage 2 breast cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes.What could have caused such a massive oversight by the doctors at Perry Hospital in Georgia, where Sharon had her first mammogram administered?Forgery, it turns out. Following an investigation into similarly inaccurate mammogram results at Perry Hospital, lead radiological technician Rachael Rapraeger confessed to falsifying results and pleaded guilty to ten misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and one felony charge of computer forgery.For a year and a half Rachael had been falsifying mammogram test information to give all of her patients negative results. In ten cases, Sharon’s included, these results were wrong. Two of the ten women have since passed away from cancer. One, eighty-year-old Sara Bailey had to have one of her breasts removed because of the cancer’s rapid growth. All of these women suffered because they were not told the truth.Rachael told police that she had falsified the mammogram test results in order to save time. She had fallen behind in her work and she saw this as a shortcut to catch up. She never took into account the impact her decision would have on the lives of her patients.Rachael will now serve six months in a detention center, followed by a ten-year probation period during which she will not be allowed to work in health care.Sharon, thankfully, has now gone three years without her cancer reappearing. But she has lost some faith in her health care providers. “I’m thinking I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, getting my tests done, and then I find out someone else isn’t doing their job,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press.All of these women believed they were protecting themselves by getting tested. This unfortunate incident serves as a strong reminder that we have to always remain vigilant about our health, and when we suspect that something is being overlooked, to not be afraid to get a second opinion.Sources: CNN, “Former hospital technician behind bogus mammogram results gets jail time,” John Newsome and Eliott C. McLaughlin, April 16, 2014.The Big Story, “Former GA. Technician Falsified Mammogram Reports,” Kate Brumback, April 27, 2014.
Jackie’s Case: The Story Behind A Million Dollar Recovery
It was a parent’s worst nightmare. A young child caught in a freak auto collision during one of the few times of the day that he was left unsupervised.Jackie K. was just ten years old, walking with his backpack on his way to school when a car jumped the curb and ran him over. Thankfully Jackie’s injuries did not prove fatal, but they did leave him without a left foot. The incident robbed Jackie of the ability to play sports or even to walk normally for the rest of his life.Was there any way this collision could have been avoided? Only if Jian Huang, the driver of the vehicle that struck Jackie, hadn’t decided to go out drinking the night before and drive home that morning still intoxicated. Jian had treated himself to quite a night, drinking at a well-known Brooklyn karaoke bar with an escort until midnight, and then moving to an illegal after hours club during the morning hours.Jian was convicted and sentenced to a prison term as a result of his actions, but what about Jackie and his family? Jian’s punishment wouldn’t help pay Jackie’s hospital bills, and it certainly wouldn’t compensate him for the pain he endured or the mobility that he would never regain.When Jackie’s family came to my office seeking justice for the boy’s injuries, I had the difficult task of identifying which of the responsible parties, if any, had the means to compensate Jackie appropriately.While Jian was the obvious choice to seek damages from, his insurance policy was extremely limited, and would do little to help Jackie’s family pay his bills. Likewise the illegal after hours club that Jian visited that night had no insurance policy, and it disbanded immediately following Jackie’s tragedy.The karaoke bar that served Jian until midnight had a million dollar insurance policy, which would go a long way towards helping Jackie’s family. However there was no way I could prove that the drinks they served Jian early in the night could have affected his driving nearly eight hours later. It seemed as though Jackie and his family were going to have to settle for the small amount of money Jian’s insurance policy could offer.Jackie’s odds were looking bleak until my private investigator managed to track down Jian’s escort for the night. Though the escort was nervous about getting involved in a legal case, her heart went out for Jackie and the devastation this incident had caused him and his family. She bravely agreed to provide us with a written statement confirming that Jian had not left the karaoke bar at midnight as the bar originally claimed, but rather that he had stayed there to drink until early in the morning.Her testimony was essential in proving that Jian’s intoxication that morning was a direct result of the many drinks he was served at the karaoke bar the night before. With this new information we were able to secure a million dollar recovery for Jackie and his family.Jackie is now going into his sophomore year at a local NYC College. He wears a prosthetic so sophisticated that you can barely notice his limp. What began as a tragedy has become only a temporary hurdle testing the resolve of a strong young man and his ever-supportive parents. Though Jackie will never get his foot back, his million dollar recovery will ensure that his medical needs are taken care for the rest of his life, and that he will have additional money to invest in his future.
Brooklyn Attorney General Announces Formation of New Immigrant Fraud Bureau
In the two decades that I’ve worked as a lawyer in the New York Chinese community, I’ve encountered an astonishingly high number of cases of immigrants being taken advantage of by fraudulent immigration services, scam artists, and even other attorneys. Scams directed at recent immigrants are common because of many immigrants’ unfamiliarity with the language, laws, and rights provided to them in their new home.The good news for immigrants living in Brooklyn is that District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has just announced the formation of an Immigrant Fraud Bureau to protect their rights. The unit will prosecute unlicensed attorneys attempting to take on clients from the immigrant community, as well as the perpetrators of housing and investment scams.”Immigrants, especially those without documentation, are especially vulnerable to fraud, particularly in the areas of employment, housing and the procurement of proper immigration documents. Our Immigrant Fraud Unit will serve to open a channel of communication to victims of crime who might not otherwise feel that they have a voice,” said District Attorney Thompson. He’s enlisted Assistant District Attorney Maritza Mejia-Ming, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic herself, to serve as chief of the new unit.The Brooklyn Immigrant Fraud Bureau joins the ranks of other programs designed to protect immigrants in New York, like Manhattan’s Immigrant Affairs Program, which was formed in 2007 to provide aid to the victims of fraudulent attorneys, ICE agents, and immigration services. Hopefully with more programs like this we can see a decrease in cases of immigrant victimization in New York, and help ensure a more hospitable home and workplace for our city’s newest residents.New York Law Journal, “Immigration Fraud Bureau Created in Brooklyn,” 10 April 2014.The New York County District Attorney’s Office, “Immigrant Affairs Program.”
Can Education Put an End to Underground IV Treatments?
A Chinese woman in Flushing Queens has brought a lawsuit against a local storefront medical clinic for administering an intravenous solution that might have caused a severe infection. 61-year-old Myung Hwa Jang visited the clinic seeking a remedy for her cold-like symptoms when she was given the solution, known to her only as “ringer.”Almost immediately after her treatment Ms. Jang was taken by ambulance to New York Hospital Queens suffering from symptoms of septic shock. As a result of her infection Ms. Jang was forced to have multiple amputations, leaving her without her lower legs or right hand, and her left thumb as her only remaining digit.Though Ms. Jang’s infection has not yet been directly linked to the IV treatment, the facts of her case make it appear likely. The incident has sparked mixed reactions from the Chinese and Korean communities in New York where IV solutions are a cultural norm, even for healthy patients.Bags of solution are sold illegally at some pharmacies, and IV drips are offered at clinics like the one Ms. Jang visited usually for just under $100. Many users lack health insurance, and so this remedy serves as a cheaper alternative to professionally prescribed medicine.IV drips are a common remedy in the Chinese American community, carrying over from China, where the average person receives over 4 injections per year, compared to the world average of about 2.9. According to the World Health Organization, over 500,000 cases of hepatitis B and over 6,000 cases of H.I.V. were contracted in China in 2010 because of improperly administered injections. One famous 2012 photo from Xiaogan in the Hubei province China shows a classroom of students receiving IV solutions before college entrance examinations, so as to stay healthy without losing time studying.In spite of her incident, Ms. Jang’s husband and daughter back in China continue to receive regular injections.While personal injury lawyers can continue to hold doctors and clinics legally responsible for medical malpractice when they over-prescribe solutions like “ringer,” this will only lead regular users to seek shadier and less professional clinics for their injections. The solution in this case lies in education. The more people that know about the potential dangers of less-than-professional IV administration, the less tragedies like Ms. Jang’s we will see appearing in the headlines.Sources: Daily Mail, “Revision Chinese-style: Pupils hooked up to drips to give their brainpower a boost,” May 7, 2012.New York Times, “Infection Resulting in Amputation Raises Questions About Asian Immigrants’ IV Use,” December 26, 2013.
A Personal Injury Remedy for Child Pornography’s Victims
Personal injury cases are often brought to help remedy injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents, construction accidents, and medical malpractice. But, as I have written of previously, personal injury lawsuits can, in certain cases, arrive at a resolution where no other legal remedy is available. With the rise of child pornography on the Internet in the last two decades, personal injury law is proving a new and novel tool both for deterring the future exchange of illegal pornographic materials and for helping its child victims recover.One of the most widely viewed victims of Internet child pornography was sexually abused by her uncle between the ages of 4 and 9. Amy, as she is known to the media, has had her pictures and videos factored into around 3,200 criminal cases in the last fifteen years. The news of her images’ popularity online was a shock to Amy, occurring years after her uncle’s abuse ended. The trauma of knowing that, in Amy’s words, “at any moment, anywhere, someone is looking at pictures of me as a little girl being abused by my uncle,” has been a significant impediment in her road to recovery.After evaluating Amy, forensic psychologist Joyanna Silberg expects that she will need to continue therapy throughout the rest of her life, and that she is likely to suffer periodic setbacks that will disrupt her career prospects. Amy’s attorney James Marsh has estimated the cost of Amy’s lifetime treatment at just under $3.4 million.While her uncle has been punished with a prison sentence for his crimes, this still does not cover Amy’s damages. Amy’s atttorney James Marsh solution so far has been to file a new lawsuit against each defendant found in possession of pornographic pictures of Amy. The reasoning behind this is that with each distribution and viewing of these images, Amy’s privacy is violated by yet another individual. There have been 180 cases to date, and from these Amy has recovered over 40% of her damages. Next month, the US Supreme Court will decide if the burden of tracking down each of these offenders should rest with Amy and Marsh, or with the men already charged with viewing the images.While I hope for Amy’s sake that this case works out in her favor, either way it demonstrates how effective personal injury law can be in cases where no other remedy is available. James Marsh has made significant headway in covering Amy’s treatment costs by digging into the pockets of the men who have benefitted from her continued trauma.Sources: New York Times, “How Much Can Restitution Help Victims of Child Pornography,” January 24, 2013.New York Times, “Allocating Liability for Child Pornography, in Full or Fractional Shares,” December 2, 2013.
Student Death at Pi Delta Psi: Hazing at its Worst
Pi Delta Psi, one of the country’s most popular Asian American fraternities, was formed nearly two decades ago around the ideals of the organization’s four pillars of character: academic achievement, cultural awareness, righteousness, and friendship/loyalty. None of those traits seemed to be on display earlier in December when the fraternity’s Baruch College chapter allegedly engaged 19-year-old freshman Chun Hsien Deng in a dangerous initiation “game” that rendered him unconscious, and then failed to bring him to the nearest hospital before an hour had passed, and Deng had lost all hope of survival.The game, called “Glass Ceiling,” involved having pledges like Deng carry backpacks filled with sand across a snowy yard, blindfolded, while fraternity brothers repeatedly tackled them. It is contended Deng was knocked unconscious by one of these impacts, and he remained unresponsive until he was declared dead at following day.The most disappointing fact about this story is how the fraternity brothers failed to seek medical attention for Deng immediately after his loss of consciousness. Instead they brought Deng inside, changed his clothes and ran Google searches for his symptoms. Even after decided that Deng needed more significant medical help than they could offer, the boys never called an ambulance for him. Rather they drove him toGeisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in a car, depriving him of yet more time in the care of trained professionals. When first confronted with the police, the brothers who accompanied Deng lied about his injuries, claiming that he had hit his head in a wrestling match.The only reasonable explanation for why these brothers would waste precious time seeking medical attention for a boy clearly suffering from major brain trauma is that they feared if the truth of their game was found out, they would be held liable for hazing.Hazing is an insidious crime particularly because it so often finds victims among impressionable freshman in college social groups such as fraternities. The law takes into account the peer pressure Deng must have felt when he agreed to partake in a game as dangerous as Glass Ceiling, by holding that the victim’s “consent to engage in a hazing activity is not a defense” against hazing.Fraternities and similar social organizations can be a greatly beneficial component of a college life. But they are still organizations run by students, and when they operate without constraint, and their own guidelines are forgotten, these groups can easily run amok. The tragedy of Chun Hsien Deng’s death is twofold: first, that before Deng’s head injury not one of the Pi Delta Psi brothers that were present stepped forward to put an end to this clearly dangerous game, and second, that after Deng was knocked unconscious, none of them feared for Deng’s survival more than they feared the consequences of being found responsible.
What Really Happens When You Are Injured by a Municipal Entity
Large corporations and municipalities are notoriously difficult for wronged individuals to take on outside of a court of law. Of the many recent instances of municipal entities wielding their substantial power to get their way, one of the most infuriating is the bullying of Roselle, NJ resident Ashley Henderson by the New Jersey Transit Corporation.On the evening of June 25th, Ashley was driving with two friends into the city. She paid the toll at the Lincoln Tunnel, and as she was merging into one of the tunnel’s two lanes an NJ Transit bus attempted to pass her in bumper-to-bumper traffic, sideswiping her car and causing around five-thousand dollars worth of damage.In an effort to protect herself, Ashley made sure her friends took plenty of photographs: of her car, the damage, the bus and its license plate. All of the photographs are time-stamped in the women’s phones as having been taken within minutes of the accident. The following day, Ashley reported the incident to the Port Authority, and then contacted NJ Transit to file a claim for damages.The response she received was briefer and more vague than she could have ever imagined.
13 Spinal Surgery Patients Exposed to Fatal Brain Disease
13 spinal surgery patients in the Northeast may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, after being operated on with equipment that was used previously on a patient that showed symptoms of the disease before her death.CJD is a rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease that typically affects 200 Americans every year. It affects the victim’s memory, coordination, and vision, and is often fatal within the first year of the onset of its symptoms. CJD presently has no known cause or cure, and can only be diagnosed by autopsy.According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and officials at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH, 5 hospital patients in Massachusetts and up to 8 patients in New Hampshire came into contact with the surgical equipment in question this summer. An autopsy of the unnamed woman believed to have been infected with CJD is underway to determine if she did in fact have the disease.In the event that the woman tests positive for CJD, Catholic Medical Center CEO Dr. Joseph Pepe claims that the risk of the disease spreading through the equipment is still very low. While the standard practice of using heat to sterilize surgical equipment is effective against most diseases, it does not eliminate the proteins that cause CJD.Our thoughts are with the 13 exposed patients and their families. Hopefully, even if the unnamed woman does not test positive for CJD, this event will urge hospitals to be more thorough in their decontamination of surgical equipment.Sources: Boston Business Journal, “Exposure to fatal brain disease rises to 13 patients, five in Massachusetts,” September 6 2013.CNN Health, “Fatal brain disease potentially affects five people in Massachusetts,” September 6 2013.National Institute of Nuerological Disorders and Stroke, “Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Fact Sheet,” June 6 2013.UPI, “Five Massachusetts patients may have been exposed to brain disease,” September 6 2013.
Stryker Implant Labeled Deadly by FDA
I’ve written before about the dangers of faulty implants and the companies that continue producing them in spite of the warnings of surgeons. The latest of these treacherous products is Stryker’s OASYS Midline Occiput Plate, a spinal implant component that has been shown in many cases to fracture once it is installed in the patient, causing “serious adverse health consequences” according to the FDA.The Stryker OASIS Midline Plate is one piece of the OASYS Occipito-Cervico-Thoracic System, an implant used to aid in the fusion of the cervical spine and the occipito-cervico-thoracic junction. Reports have shown that a pin that locks into the plate body has a tendency to fracture, which can lead to nerve injury and blood loss. Once the pin is fractured a replacement surgery is often necessary.The FDA has labeled the Stryker recall Class I, its most serious recall designation and used only when “there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” Since June 20th Stryker has notified spinal transplant surgeons of the recall and advised them to conduct post-operative evaluations of patients that have received the OASIS Midline Plate.Faulty products are nothing new for Stryker, who just last year recalled both their Rejuvenate and ABG II modular-neck hip implants due to their potential for corroding inside of patients.It is an unfortunate reality that implant recipients can’t trust every approved product available to them. Personal injury lawsuits hold companies like Stryker responsible when their faulty implants cause serious damage, and act as a strong motivator to produce higher quality implants.For patients that require implants, it is important to research the product that you plan to purchase, speak with your doctor about your best options, and stay up to date with doctor visits and post-operative evaluations.Sources: Fierce Medical Devices, “Stryker recalls spinal implant, gets ‘deadly’ FDA label,” August 29 2013.Stryker, “Rejuvenate Modular / ABG II Modular-Neck Stem Voluntary Recall.”US Food and Drug Administration, “Stryker Spine – OASYS Midline Occiput Plate.”
Making Church Leaders Pay for their Negligence
Criminal trials aren’t always the most effective way to hold negligent parties accountable for their wrongdoing. In the case of Andrew Ward, a young man who was sexually abused as a child by Peoria, Ill. priest Thomas Maloney, the civil lawsuit that his family launched against the Diocese of Peoria is making the church pay in the way that hurts the most-with information.Andrew alleges that he was molested by Rev. Maloney in 1995 and 1996, though he did not come forward as a victim until 2007, following years of struggle with drugs and alcohol stemming from his trauma. His family brought suit against Maloney and the Peoria Diocese in order to bring to light the widespread abuse that was perpetrated by Maloney and was enabled by the negligence of Peoria Bishop John J. Myers.The Ward family agreed to a settlement of $1.35 million, with the condition that a 2010 deposition of Archbishop Myers and a trove of incriminating church documents be released to the public.Among these documents are letters from Peoria parishioners accusing Rev. Maloney of sexual abuse, dating back a year before his molestation of Andrew. Had Archbishop Myers taken any action against Rev. Maloney in response to these complaints, Andrew, as well as many other victims may have been saved from the childhood trauma that has and continues to wreak havoc on their lives.But Archbishop Myers claims ignorance to the letters of complaint sent to his office. In his deposition he even asserted that he did not recall personally responding to one such letter, defending Rev. Maloney to a woman who accused the priest of molesting young girls.Nor did Archbishop Myers find it relevant to the case that he received various gifts of jewelry and gold coins from Rev. Maloney, or that the two vacationed together.In response to the release of this information, Archbishop Myers has sent out a letter asserting his innocence to the priests of his current Archdiocese in Newark, NJ. In the letter he paints the Ward family as lashing out against the priesthood as a way to cope with their son’s substance abuse. He calls his accusers “evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement.”Unfortunately the abuse that occurred on Archbishop Myers’ watch does not stop at Rev. Maloney. Newark priest Michael Fugee kicked up a scandal earlier this year when, after being convicted of the sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy in 2003, he violated a court agreement by attending a number of youth retreats at a Trenton parish. Monseigneur John Doran, the Newark’s Archdiocese’s second-in-command resigned in light of the allegations. Archbishop Myers claimed he was unaware of Father Fugee’s actions until after it was reported by local news sources.Cases of sexual abuse against minors are nothing new in the Catholic Church, and the pattern of negligence and abuse will continue so long as the likes of Archbishop Myers are allowed to turn a blind eye on guilty priests. The civil lawsuit brought by the Ward family, and their insistence on the release of church documents related to their handling of Rev. Maloney is an essential step forward in holding church leaders accountable for their negligence.Sources:National Catholic Register, “Archbishop Myers: The Facts of the Father Fugee Case Aren’t Fully Known,” June 25 2013.NJ.com, “In deposition, Newark archbishop says warning signs of sexual abuse by priest ‘got by me’,” August 14 2013.NorthJersey.com, “Archbishop Myers fires back in letter to the faithful,” August 19 2013.
