Category: Car Accidents

Doctors are only human, and they make mistakes—but sometimes their mistakes have very real repercussions for victims.

A Brooklyn woman recently sued the hospital and the doctors who treated her, as well as the city, after a misdiagnosed infection that left her with amputated hands and feet, as well asone legally blind eye. Although the parties involved denied any wrongdoing, they settled out of court for just under $18 million.

While that case wasn’t related to car accidents, New York’s laws are the same. If someone is at fault for causing or worsening your injuries, you may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, lost wages and other expenses.

Suing the Hospital Where You Received Care

Hospitals are generally responsible for the people they hire to work in their facilities. In some cases, they hire people who aren’t as qualified or as talented as they should be. That’s especially true when hospitals are short-staffed and desperate for help, but it can be very dangerous if you’re a patient.

In some cases, healthcare facilities don’t take proper care of their medical professionals, forcing them to work long hours that impair their ability to make the right diagnoses and choose the ideal treatment options.

Suing Doctors for Malpractice and Other Wrongdoing

After a crash, emergency medical care depends on doctors, nurses and other medical professionals making the right decisions in an instant.

When they make the wrong decisions and another medical professional in the same position would’ve made the right one, you might be able to get justice through a lawsuit.

Taking the City to Court

When we mentioned the case above, the victim involved called 9-1-1 twice to ask for help. They didn’t take her to the hospital either time, and their inaction may have significantly worsened the situation.

Would they have been able to save her hands and feet if she’d been treated sooner? Would she still have gone blind in one eye?

While we can’t answer those questions without all of the facts, she was able to sue the city over the New York Fire Department’s inaction and walk away with a settlement.

The best way to determine whether you have a case is to consult with an experienced, talented personal injury lawyer who understands New York’s laws regarding hospitals, doctors and city officials. Someone else may have caused the pain and suffering you’re experiencing now, and the right attorney will fight hard on your behalf to get you justice.

Call us at 1-877-3D-JUSTICE for a free phone interview and case evaluation. We’ll let you know whether you may be able to make a claim against another party for compensation after your car accident.

If you’re like most people, you’ve heard about million-dollar (and more) lawsuits that attempt to compensate the victim for temporary or permanent injuries. Let’s face it: a car accident can put you out of commission for a significant amount of time.

You may not be able to work, and your medical bills will certainly continue to grow until you’ve finished treatment—and if you’re like many New Yorkers, you may never finish treatment. Together, those two things can put you into serious, insurmountable debt.

Million-Dollar Lawsuits and Car Accident Injuries

Before you think in terms of how much money you could be entitled to receive after a car accident, it helps to understand how these things work in Brooklyn and in the rest of New York State. You also need to know that if you’re involved in a crash with someone from another state, you might need to file a lawsuit in federal court (particularly if you’re seeking millions in compensation).

People who are awarded compensation, which we often refer to as damages, get it because a jury sees that they will need the money to pay their bills and cover their expenses. In many cases, juries often award that money to attempt to make up for their physical and emotional pain, as well as disfigurement, a loss of future employment opportunities and other factors.

There are two types of damages: compensatory and punitive.

Compensatory and Punitive Damages

Compensatory damages are designed to help with expenses. They may cover the medical treatment that you received immediately after your accident, and they may extend to cover future medical treatments, prosthetic limbs and other medical expenses. You could also be compensated for your already-lost wages and a reduction in your ability to earn in the future.

Punitive damages are different. Punitive damages are still a sum of money paid to a victim, but they’re designed to punish the person who acted irresponsibly and caused your car accident. In some cases, juries want to make an example out of negligent people or companies so that others don’t make the same mistakes.

Settling Lawsuits Out of Court

You don’t have to go to court in order to win money (even a million dollars) from the person or company that caused your car accident.

When an insurance company feels that they’ll be ordered to pay more in court, they may make an offer to settle. They’ll present your Brooklyn Personal Injury Attorney with a dollar amount, and he or she can accept or refuse it.

In some cases, insurance companies want to keep you out of court because they’re afraid the jury will have enough empathy for you to cost them huge amounts of money; ultimately, it’s up to you and your attorney to determine what a fair settlement may be.

The bottom line of a lawsuit is that someone else is at fault for what you’ve experienced. They could have prevented this, through actions or inaction, but they failed to do what a reasonable person would have done to protect you.

If you think you may have a case, call us at 1-877-3D-JUSTICE.

We’ll be happy to give you a free case evaluation during a phone interview.

You could be eligible for a million dollars or more based on the specifics of your case and the circumstances you’re in right now.

*Past performance (settlement amounts) do not guarantee future results.  In other words, everyone’s case is different and unique.  To better know if you have a case, you will need to speak with one of our attorneys first.  Call today – 1-877-3D-JUSTICE.

Your spine is divided into three distinct areas—all of which can be injured in a car accident—and each has its own functions. If you’ve suffered a spinal injury after a Staten Island car accident, you know how painful and debilitating it can be.

While missing work, skipping out on time with your family, and limited mobility are extremely stressful (especially if you’re watching medical bills pile up or you don’t know how you’re going to make it another month with no money coming in), your recovery is the most important thing.

You may want to talk to an attorney about your injury, particularly if it occurred during a car accident on Staten Island roads, because you might be entitled to compensation from the at-fault party.

Parts of the Spine and their Most Common Injuries

When doctors diagnose a spinal injury after a car accident, they refer to the spine in sections.

• The cervical spine is what holds your head above your shoulders. When a person suffers from whiplash after an accident, the injuries are in the cervical spine. It doesn’t take a lot of force to injure the cervical spine because the bones are fragile and delicate.
• The thoracic spine, which runs through your upper back, connects to your ribs. Injuries here are generally the most serious of all; they can result in permanent nerve damage. Generally, these types of injuries are caused by high-velocity impacts—just like you’d experience in a car crash.
• The lumbar spine refers to the five largest vertebrae in your back, as well as the strong muscles that provide stability to your entire spine. Injuries to the lumbar spine can be incredibly painful, and they can inhibit your mobility. Many people with lumbar spine injuries are unable to walk until they begin to heal.

What to Do after a Spinal Injury

Please seek continuing medical care if you’ve suffered a spinal injury. Because these types of injuries can cause a lifetime of pain, it’s important that you work with experts who can help you get better.

In most cases, it’s best to call a lawyer as you recover. An attorney will be able to determine who’s really to blame for the car accident, and he or she can fight to get you justice.

If you’re entitled to financial compensation, your lawyer will make sure to negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company; if the insurance company doesn’t want to be fair, your attorney can fight in court on your behalf.

Call Kuharski, Levitz & Giovinazzo when you’re ready at 718-448-1600.

Whiplash is a broad term for an injury caused when the head moves rapidly back and forth from sudden deceleration, which is incredibly common during an automobile accident.

The medical definition of whiplash is the sudden extension and flexion of the neck.

Whiplash After a Car Accident

Whiplash usually refers to an injury to the soft tissues of the neck; the muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

However, it can also include damage to the discs between vertebrae or the nerves that branch out of the spinal cord in the neck or upper back.

After a car accident, especially one that involved a sudden stop, you may have whiplash.

It’s actually very common and can occur in rear-impact, head-on or “t-bone” collisions.  But, you need to know the symptoms so you can seek medical treatment.

Post-Accident: The Symptoms of Whiplash

It may take a few days for symptoms of whiplash to show up, but it’s still important that you seek medical treatment immediately.

Whiplash manifests in several ways, including:

• Pain or stiffness in the neck or upper back
• Shoulder pain or stiffness
• Headache
• Tingling or numbness of one or both arms or hands
• Itching or burning sensation in the neck, shoulder, or arm

Sometimes, more severe whiplash symptoms will also present:

• Memory loss
• Fatigue
• Sleep disturbances
• Difficulty concentrating
• Visual disturbances
• Depression

Most whiplash victims will feel the injury right away, but many don’t.

Because of the stress and trauma associated with a car accident on Staten Island roads, which are generally packed with traffic and other distractions, it can take time for the pain and stiffness to set in.

Please seek medical treatment as soon as possible, even if the pain shows up a day or two after the crash.

If the pain is severe, go to an urgent care center or the closest emergency room right away.

How Long Does Whiplash Take to Heal?

Mild whiplash, usually limited to the soft tissues, can heal as quickly as a bruise.  Other whiplash injuries can take weeks to heal, or even months.

Recent studies have shown that whiplash victims are more likely to make a full recovery with quick treatment that involves rehabilitation of the tissues involved.

It’s important to know that whiplash is a serious injury, and you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages or other expenses.

You can talk to a personal injury lawyer about the specifics of your case; an attorney will help determine whether you should file a lawsuit.