There are, of course, many different forms of medical malpractice, and the attorneys at Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC, specialize in and help people recover for a wide range of injuries sustained as a result of malpractice, including:

Brain Injuries:

A brain injury, also known as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can be the result of a physical trauma or lack of oxygen from medical malpractice, a birth injury or negligent prenatal, delivery or post delivery care, a motor vehicle accident or a fall (premises liability). Brain injuries can be devastating and almost always require costly and extensive medical care, treatment and rehabilitation. When injuries are severe, it can result in a permanent vegetative state, paralysis, severe brain dysfunction and other devastating injuries.

Brain injuries hat take place during labor and delivery generally result from oxygen deprivation or an interruption of blood flow to the baby’s brain. Brain damage can cause intellectual deficits, perceptual and expressive deficits, mental retardation and other life-changing injuries.

Birth Injuries:

One of the most tragic and heartbreaking of all injuries is a trauma suffered by an infant during the prenatal, labor and delivery process. Because these injuries occur when the newborn is fragile and susceptible to damage in many ways, the injuries can be devastating, permanent and life-altering for both the infant and his or her family. These injuries, sadly, are often the result of the negligence or carelessness of a doctor or other health care professional and often involve the failure to read information from a fetal monitor and take the appropriate action to deliver your baby prior to the child suffering oxygen deprivation or other severe trauma. Oxygen deprivation causes the death of brain cells. When fetal distress is not detected and immediate action is not taken to ensure that the fetus receives sufficient oxygen, a brain injury or damage can result.

Some of these injuries may not manifest themselves until the child gets older, especially when the brain damage only effects the non-motor area of the brain. Maybe you have noticed that your child cannot compete intellectually or physically in school with children of his or her own age?

If you suspect that your child has suffered a brain injury or was deprived of oxygen during a prolonged or difficult labor or delivery, to protect your child’s rights, contact Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC, experienced birth injury attorneys, to arrange for an immediate free consultation and evaluation of your claim by a lawyer who is a proven specialist in the field. Although the time to bring a lawsuit in New York on behalf of an infant is significantly longer than that for an adult (10 years or maybe more in some cases), any claim you may have as the parent for medical expenses and other damages, is only 2 ½ years. Therefore, you must consult with a lawyer in our firm immediately to determine if the statute of limitations has run. Let us help you protect your rights.

It is important to understand that the types of birth injuries we are describing here cannot be all inclusive, as there are many different causes and degrees of injuries.

Cerebral Palsy:

Cerebral Palsy is a term used for describing a brain injury to a  child which affects the infant’s ability to control body and muscle movement. The severity depends on the extent of the brain injury that effects the motor area of the brain.

The onset of cerebral palsy has been attributed to several causes that can occur during the prenatal period, labor and delivery of the baby, including severe head trauma, lack of oxygen to the brain, insufficient blood flow or bleeding to the brain during or after brain development, bacterial meningitis and severe jaundice. The causes we are mentioning here are not meant to be all inclusive. That is why you must arrange for a free consultation with Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC. Let our experienced birth injury lawyers help determine if your child’s cerebral palsy was the result of negligent medical care and let us protect your child’s rights and fight to obtain financial security for you and your child for the rest of your lives.

Symptoms of cerebral palsy in a child may take time to manifest during the first years of a child's life, and may include: involuntary muscle movements; unusual posture and poor coordination; sucking and swallowing problems; slow development in terms of rolling over, crawling, smiling and talking; difficulty walking or maintaining balance; abnormal or decreased muscle tone; and vision, speech or hearing problems.

Many infants born with cerebral palsy experience mental retardation or learning disabilities, in varying degrees. In severe cases, the infant may require 24-hour care and supervision for the rest of their lives.
Birth injuries causing cerebral palsy, mental retardation or developmental delays will have life long consequences to your baby and your entire family and warrants immediate and thorough investigation of the entire labor and delivery process to determine whether or not the oxygen deprivation or trauma suffered by your child pre-natally, during labor or delivery or after birth during the neonatal period, could have been prevented. The attorneys at Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC, who have specialized in these areas for over four decades, will obtain the labor and delivery records, consult with medical experts and determine if the harm to your child could have been prevented with responsible medical care.

Erb's Palsy:

Also referred to as a brachial plexus injury, occurs, the majority of time, when excessive or improper lateral traction is applied to the fetal neck region during delivery, causing tearing, stretching or damage to the nerves in that area. In other words, the doctor did not deliver your child properly. The result can be temporary or cause permanent loss of the child's ability to move his or her hands, fingers and/or arms. Tearing of these nerves can cause permanent paralysis of the arm, along with other serious complications. 

Symptoms of Erb's Palsy can include:

Paralysis of the entire arm with the hand and fingers hanging limp; No or limited muscle control and no feeling in the arm or hand; inability to use the shoulder or elbow; Inability to crawl or sit up without assistance.

Erb's Palsy generally appears after a difficult delivery, when, for example, there is a shoulder dystocia – a condition that occurs when the baby’s shoulder becomes “stuck” behind the mother’s pubic bone in the birth canal, the baby is large or sometimes when there is a prolonged labor. In these cases, the doctor, while attempting to remove the baby from the birth canal, sometimes with the use of forceps or a vacuum, may use excessive force or an inappropriate maneuver causing the infant’s brachial plexus muscles to be stretched or torn, resulting in Erb's Palsy.

In many cases, Erb's palsy is preventable. If your child has been diagnosed with Erb's Palsy, you should contact Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC immediately to seek expert legal help as soon as possible before your child’s rights expire.

Misdiagnosis / Delay in Diagnosis:

One of the most frequently seen types of medical malpractice involves cases of misdiagnosis, or the failure to timely diagnose and treat serious medical conditions such as different types of cancer, including breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer, impending myocardial Infarctions (heart attacks) and infection.

Many forms of cancer, when diagnosed at an early stage, have a relatively high recovery rate. The longer the delay in diagnosis, the more invasive and painful the treatments become, and the lower the chances of full recovery.

When a cancer diagnosis is delayed, treatment is delayed, and the effects could be devastating and may include permanent disability, extreme pain and suffering, extensive medical bills, inability to work, and ultimately an untimely death, resulting in emotional and financial losses to the next of kin as a result of the premature death of their loved one.

If you or someone you love has suffered a more serious stage of cancer as a result of a medical professional's failure to detect cancer at an early stage, or a heart attack or significant damage to your heart or other serious illness or injury caused by a doctor’s failure to timely diagnose and treat your medical condition, please contact Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC so we can evaluate your claim and help you understand your rights before your claim expires.

Anesthesia and surgical mistakes:

Anesthesia and surgical mistakes can occur in an operating room, in an outpatient facility during surgery, during a C-section performed to deliver a baby or even during dental procedures. Damages from an anesthesia mistake can range from damage to vocal cords to severe brain damage or even death when the patient is deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time.  Surgical mistakes can range, in the extreme, from the removal of the wrong body part to the negligent performance of an operation or the performance of a contra-indicated procedure and can also result in severe injury, disability, illness of the patient and other severe complications, including death.

Nursing Home Neglegence:

American Nursing Homes and Rehabilitation Centers are generally civilized, clean and courteous.  People of advanced age, similarly people suffering from severe illness, in nursing homes and hospitals receive care and medical treatment that sometimes immeasurably ease the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Unfortunately, not an uncommon situation is a careless attitude towards patients and neglect causing medical and nursing mistakes.  And these have serious consequences toward their health, serious chronic illnesses, extreme pain, disability or untimely death.

For relatives and loved ones in these situations, it is imperative to know that there is an effective law mechanism to combat medical mistakes and win monetary compensation.  I emphasize right away, so as not to have to come back to this, that we are talking about serious medical consequences resulting in permanent pain, disability or death.

The Law Firm of Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC has long since established itself as a reputable and trustworthy law office specializing in situations involving medical malpractice and personal injury claims, including automobile accidents resulting in serious injuries.  In their four decades of successful practice in New York, the firm of Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC has succeeded in obtaining many verdicts and settlements for victims of medical carelessness and their loved ones.  Readers of Novoe Rysskoe Slovo, the Courier and Russkaya Reklama are already familiar with several articles about the firm where the subject was primarily doctor’s mistakes due to incorrect diagnoses, incorrect courses of treatment, and mistakes during surgery or birth traumas.  Today, I wish to elaborate about possible monetary compensation due to lack of adequate care in nursing homes or during prolonged stays in hospitals.

How does one determine improper care to a patient who, due to the inability to move and due to illness must spend most of his time in bed?  The most obvious signal of distress is a bed sore or as it is sometimes called, a decubitus ulcer.  In other words, the dying of skin in a certain area which is subjected to prolonged pressure due to lack of movement.  These are commonly called bedsores, pressure sores, pressure ulcers, and decubitus ulcers.  As a rule, bed sores appear on the heels and back of those patients who cannot, without assistance, get out of bed and ambulate.  The stages of a bedsore are Stage I through IV.  The fourth, the most extreme stage is gangrene, may include damage to the muscle or bone tissue and infection that may spread to other organs.  In cases of severe neglect, a bed sore may result in amputation of an extremity or severe infection.

It is important to know that in most cases of care to immobile people, a bed sore, if properly cared for cannot reach Stage III or IV.  When a nurse or another medical associate notices the first signs of a bed sore, in the way of redness or blisters, it is at this time when measures should be taken.  The most simple and effective method, is to regularly, in certain intervals, rotate and move the body of a person so as that the pressure evenly distributes throughout the body.

Besides bedsores, sure signs of inadequate care are fractures which occur when patients fall.  That means that someone did not watch, react timely or use proper precautions to prevent this.  Unfortunately, laziness, and a cavalier attitude often overrides a professional attitude and a moral obligation.  Negative factors such as overcrowded nursing homes and hospitals and lack of necessary qualifications by staff also contribute.  It also happens that a doctor may prescribe the wrong medication to a patient, without looking into a patient’s chart. 

In every example there are specifics.  I want to illustrate the subject of this article with two situations involving clients from the files of Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC, that give a clear picture about the character of cases that the firm handles.  In the interests of confidentiality, names are withheld:

An 81 year old woman, lets call her N was admitted to a nursing home because of an Alzheimer’s condition. At the time of her admission, she was 100% mobile and didn’t require any walking aids. After a few days, she was sent to a hospital because she became confused and frightened and experienced suicidal thoughts. At the hospital, she was allegedly hit by another patient, was thrown down and fractured her pubic bone.

As a result of the fracture, N became bedridden and wheelchair bound. She was also too weak to change positions in bed by herself. She was at the mercy of the nursing home and hospital staff. In addition, her Alzheimer’s condition made it harder for her to express her complaints. In other words, she was easy to ignore.

While in the hospital, N had developed the beginnings of skin ulcers on her heels.

If properly and timely treated, these blisters could have been easily healed and further skin damage prevented. If not properly and timely treated, and if the patient is not properly attended to and basically ignored, as here, these blisters will develop into decubitus ulcers/pressure sores which will cause horrible pain and suffering, as here, and could ultimately cause death.

When N was readmitted to the nursing home with the blisters, after her stay in the hospital, she was basically ignored for a period of approximately 3 months, and the blisters on her feet were left to fester. The ulcers/pressure sores on her feet kept getting bigger and infected and she was never referred to a hospital for proper treatment. During this period, she was weak and disoriented and unable to communicate her pain. When the family comes to visit N, N’s feet were always covered with blankets.

By the time she was finally readmitted to the hospital, N’s right foot and heel had developed multiple Stage IV extensive gas gangrenous decubitus ulcerations, her tendons were exposed, there was necrosis or dead, black tissue on the foot, she had developed acute osteomyelitis or infection to the bone; with gray devitalized tissue and gas bubbles and gelatinous discharge escaping through the bone; her right leg was in a twisted position and was shorter then the left leg. The hospital tried to debride or cut off some of the dead tissue but it was too late. The leg could not be saved and she had to have an above the knee amputation.

Unfortunately, this woman’s condition was so severe by the time she was finally treated, she had become septic from her wound infection, suffered a severe deterioration of her health and a month later, was caused to die.

Another case involves a 71 year old woman who we will call T, who several years after losing her husband, developed emotional issues and was ultimately diagnosed by a doctor with “Schizophrenia,” although her 6 children and 8 grandchildren never saw any evidence of unusual behavior and found her warm and loving, just very strong willed.

During this period, she was also diagnosed with a mild seizure disorder and was given Phenobarbital seizure medication.  Her family never saw her have a seizure.  She lived alone and was able to bathe, dress and cook for herself. She did not require any ambulation aids. She had a home attendant who came in several hours a day to help with shopping and cleaning.

One day, the woman became dizzy in her house and fell down. The home attendant called 911 and T was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, T was placed on a stretcher in the ER and the nurses noted that she was confused and disoriented. T was originally restrained for her safety. However, the restraints were later taken off by the hospital staff and she was left unsupervised, despite her continued disorientation. T then fell, while in a disoriented state, unsupervised, trying to find a bath room and fractured her hip in several places, requiring surgery with the placement of metal rods.

As a result of the hip fracture, instead of simply being treated in the Emergency room for what caused the dizziness and released home, T had to spend 10 days in the hospital and was then sent to an inpatient rehabilitation facility for her hip.

During the first month of rehab, she was doing well, walking with a walker and was being prepared to be discharged. Her family said that she would be very talkative when they visited and that she was very happy to be going home. In preparation for discharge, however, one of her doctors, decided to change her seizure medication before she was discharged.

The medication was switched to Dilantin, which has known potential severe side effects of Stevens Johnson Syndrome, which is a hypersensitivity allergic reaction, which can cause serious health problems and in some cases death. 

When the medication was first changed, the patient was very upset about the change and immediately complained that it didn’t make her feel right. Within two days, she developed headaches, which is a known side effect of the drug. A few days later, she developed a severe upper respiratory infection, which is also another known adverse effect of the drug. She then started to develop a rash on the skin, which spread over her body, which was another known side effect and symptom of Stevens Johnson Syndrome.  During this period, she slept more and became lethargic. The family spoke to a nursing home staff member and were told that she was probably allergic to something on the sheets and not to worry.

The doctors failed to appreciate that the rash could be caused by an allergic reaction to Dilantin, which was a newly prescribed drug, and failed to discontinue the drug immediately and send her to a hospital for proper care. Instead they simply ordered cream for the rash and ordered an increased dose of the medication.  The nursing home staff further failed to document and recognize the progression of the rash.  The Dilantin caused Stevens Johnson Syndrome which can be deadly if not timely diagnosed and treated. The instant that any rash appears, the medication has to be stopped and proper treatment administered in a burn unit or ICU. This was not done here.

Even after the rash spread to the patient’s face with swelling, they still didn’t discontinue the medication for another 24 hours, they never had her seen by a dermatologist and they left her in the nursing home for another 3 days, in an unsterile environment without specialized care. They then simply sent T to an emergency room and hospital where they admitted her to a regular floor because there was no ICU bed available, and let her remain there for another  4 days without appropriate Burn unit care.

By the time T was admitted to the Burn unit, her condition was critical and she could no longer be saved. There were open wounds and lesions covering 80% of her body, which had become infected due to improper care, her skin was pealing off and she had become septic (infected) causing all of her organs to shut down. The pain was so severe that they ultimately had to sedate her. T died approximately one month after she was admitted to the hospital. 

When tragic facts are discovered about a loved one’s suffering the emotional upheaval for the family can be explained with one word – Shock.  After that, obviously, there is an urge to figure out what happened and who is to blame.
The Law Firm of Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC can help you.  After contacting them you will be able to obtain maximum appropriate monetary compensation for the moral and physical suffering of your loved one.  Clients do not take on any financial burden when retaining the law firm.  Kadanoff & Kadanoff, PLLC successfully defend the rights of their clients in Court and have won totals of millions of dollars in monetary awards.  It is vital not to lose time so call for a free consultation.