Brooklyn hospital target of 100 med-mal lawsuits

“Alarming” is how one state lawmaker sized up the situation at a struggling hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Medical errors at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center have soared, with the New York Daily News tallying the number of lawsuits pending against the facility at more than 100, including at least a dozen in which patients died. Said state Assemblyman Nick Perry: “The number of suits against Brookdale is alarming … (it is) a very strong indication that something is definitely wrong with how the hospital is run.” The hospital is one of five financially troubled Brooklyn hospitals recommended for mergers by a state panel. Among the accusations of poor care is a case in which a diabetic’s puncture wound was allowed to become so infected that his toes had to be amputated and another in which a patient was given penicillin while wearing a bracelet showing she was allergic. Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy at New York Law School, called the problem “an epidemic of medical malpractice” and noted that for each lawsuit that’s filed, typically there are 100 other patients who feel they got shoddy care but didn’t sue. Learn more about medical malpractice lawsuits.