Medical malpractice is a type of personal injury, wherein doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals commit professional negligence. (Further discussion here: overview of medical malpractice.)
Turkewitz started his career in 1985 at Fuchsberg & Fuchsberg exclusively litigating medical malpractice cases, and has handled it consistently since that time (in addition to litigating car accidents, premises accidents and other types of personal injury matters).
Below is a summary of some of the medical malpractice results over the last 30 years. Please note, however, that these are mere examples. Many factors go into determining jury verdicts or settlements:
$7M– Bronx Medical Malpractice Brain Damage During Childbirth and Subsequent Wrongful Death
Settlement for mother brain damaged during childbirth, who subsequently died (2015).
$3.45M – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice – Brain Damage After Surgery
A 76-year-old Brooklyn man (2012) went to a Manhattan hospital for hip replacement surgery. In the recovery room he had unexplained pain and then lapsed into a coma.
$1.87M – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice – Brachial Plexus Injury During Liposuction Stroke and Hemorrhage
For a Brooklyn woman (2001) who suffered nerve injury to right arm during liposuction and then a stroke after she hemorrhaged and one week coma. Settled during jury deliberations.
$1.49M – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Aorto-Femoral Bypass Surgery — Subsequent Above-The-Knee Amputation of Leg
A 65-year-old New York man underwent by-pass surgery for his left leg due to vascular insufficiency, and had his right leg amputated. Settled during trial.
$3.07M – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice — Birth Injury Baby’s Erb’s Palsy Blamed on Excessively Forceful Delivery
Birth injury settlement (2006) for Erb’s Palsy to a Brooklyn child. Permanent injury to the brachial plexus nerves. This is a multi-year payout with a present value of $1.0M. Settled after jury selection, in 2006.
$2.2M – Queens Medical Malpractice — Childbirth — Infant’s Cornea Damaged By Forceps — Partial Loss Of Vision In One Eye
For negligent injury to a child’s eye during childbirth (1996), resulting in reduced vision in the eye and forceps marks next to the eye. The $2.2M birth injury recovery in Queens was a structured payout over many years, which had a present value of $750K.
$1.2M – Queens Medical Malpractice – Mesh used in hernia surgery inadvertently tacked to bowel
A Queens man had surgery to repair a hernia. The surgeon attempted to use surgical mesh to patch the defect in the abdominal wall. The mesh, however, was inadvertently tacked to his small intestine also.
$1.295M – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Hospital Negligence — Failure To Admit Man With Impending Stroke
Recovery for negligence in failing to diagnose and treat an impending stroke in a Bronx man, resulting in left-sided weakness and right-sided numbness.
$1.015M – Manhattan Medical Malpractice- surgical drain left behind – infection – knee fusion
Surgical drain negligently left in the knee of a 79-year old New York woman after a total knee replacement, resulting in infection, multiple surgeries and fusion of the knee.
$825K – New York City Medical Malpractice – Eye Infection – Corneal Scarring
Settlement for a 27-year-old New York City woman with an eye injury that was not properly treated by a hospital.
$575K – Elmhurst Hospital Found Negligent For Malpractice – Artist’s estate awarded $500K
Jury verdict for 58-year-old Queens man hospitalized for cardiac failure who underwent multiple intubations with an endotracheal tube, resulting in damage to his voice box. The medical malpractice victim was noted courtroom sketch artist John Hart, whose works appeared in museums, and on the pages of numerous national publications and television broadcasts. (Four of his Watergate trial sketches hang in Mr. Turkewitz’s office, and are featured on this site.)
$520K – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice – Breast Reduction Surgery – Significant Scarring
Settlement (2011) for Brooklyn woman disfigured during breast reduction surgery
$610K – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice — Sciatic Nerve Damage From Injection— Surveillance Film — Remittitur
Jury verdict for injury to the sciatic nerve from a negligently placed injection in the buttocks of this Brooklyn woman. (The court later reduced this medical malpractice verdict to 450K, because the verdict was too high.)
$675K – Queens – Failure To Diagnose Cancer— Medical Malpractice — Patient Alleged That Doctor Didn’t Spot Cancer Signs
Medical malpractice in failing to diagnose colon cancer in a 59 year old Queens man, allowing cancer to progress from Stage 2 to Stage 3.
$510K – Brooklyn Wrongful Death and Medical Malpractice.
Pre-trial settlement, May 2024. Failure to diagnose and treat obstructed bile duct from infected gallstones, leading to sepsis and death.
$400K – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice Negligent Treatment Doctor Removed Too Much Tissue In Hemorrhoid Surgery
Settlement during jury deliberations for a 25-year-old Brooklyn man who suffered an anal stricture due to negligence in hemorrhoidectomy.
$400K – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Failure To Diagnose Appendicitis Peritonitis and Colostomy
Jury verdict in a Bronx case for negligence in failing to diagnose and treat appendicitis, resulting in a ruptured appendix, hospitalization and scarring.
$625K – Dutchess Medical Malpractice — Failure To Diagnose Brain Tumor — Brain Damage
Failure to diagnose and treat a slow growing meningioma in the head, in Poughkeepsie.
450K – Surgical pad negligently left in New York woman
80-year old woman had bowel surgery, with “retained” pad, resulting in infection, ICU care, temporary tracheotomy and severe weakening of an already fragile condition.
$400K – Bronx Medical Malpractice Chemical Burns from Calcium at IV Site On Infant
Chemical burns in the ankle of a Bronx newborn baby from an intravenous extravasation
$450K – New York Medical Malpractice — Failure To Promptly Treat Eye Infection After Cataract Surgery — Blindness In One Eye
For a 77-year-old New York woman due to a negligent failure to diagnose and treat an infection in the left eye, leading to blindness in the eye.
$300K – Westcheter Medical Malpractice — Bowel Necrosis After Back Surgery — Short Bowel Syndrome
For a 13-year-old Westchester child (1995) with an injury to the bowel from back surgery, resulting in short bowel syndrome due to medical malpractice.
$400K – Queens Medical Malpractice — Hernia Repair, Lacerated Liver, and Ruptured Spleen — Failure To Properly Type Blood — Wrongful Death
Settlement, mid-trial (1997), for the family of a 56-year-old Queens seamstress who bled to death during surgery when her liver was negligently lacerated (in New York, one can not be compensated for grief, only for monetary loss and pain and suffering).
$300K – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Damage To Facial Nerve During Middle Ear Surgery —Facial Palsy And Deformity
Settlement during jury deliberations (1993) for negligent injury to the facial nerve during middle ear surgery, for this 15-year-old medical malpractice Bronx resident.
$350K – Bronx Medical Malpractice – Bladder Injury During Hysterectomy – Surgical Repairs
For a Bronx woman who had a bladder injury after a hysterectomy.
$325K – New York Medical Malpractice – Hepatitis — 76-year-old woman contracted hepatitis at a New York medical facility
$125K – Laser Hair Removal – Hundreds of Burns on Legs
Recovery for New York City singer that suffered hundreds of burns from laser hair removal (2010).
$200K – New York Medical Malpractice — Misdiagnosis Of Central Nervous System Lymphoma — Radiation Performed
This New York woman was misdiagnosed with lymphoma and underwent radiation
$160K – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Diagnosis Of Lacerated Tendon In Finger of 15-Month-Old Child — Partial Loss of Use of Finger
For a Bronx child due to negligence when a laceration of a tendon in the ring finger of the non-dominant hand was not diagnosed at Jacobi Hospital
$150K – Rockland Medical Malpractice — Delay In Diagnosing Breast Cancer — Mastectomy
Delay in diagnosing and treating breast cancer that deprived this Rockland woman of an opportunity for a lumpectomy.
175K – Surgical sponge left at NYU University Medical Center
72-year old New York woman ha bypass surgery, with sponge left behind, necessitating additional surgery to remove it
100K – Broken scissor blade left in a Bronx patient
Discovered many years after a hysterectomy at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, when precautionary x-rays taken after being sideswiped by a car.
$200K – Westchester Medical Malpractice — Vesico-Vaginal Fistula After Hysterectomy — Urinary Incontinence
Recovery for a woman with a vesico-vaginal fistula after a hysterectomy
$240K – Bronx Medical Malpractice — Nurse And Hospital Negligence — Sciatic Nerve Injury After Injection In The Buttock
Settlement mid-trial (1994) of this medical malpractice case involving a sciatic nerve injury after a negligent injection in the buttocks of this Bronx woman
$215K – Rockland Medical Malpractice — Anesthesia Injection Before Cataract Surgery — Choroidal Hemorrhage And Detached Retina
Recovery for this Rockland patient who suffered a detached retina, after an anesthesia injection ruptured the globe of her eye prior to cataract surgery
$125K – Bronx Woman discovers laparotomy left behind after Cesarean section
38-year-old Bronx woman discovers pad left in her abdomen while atJacobi Hospital, discovered two years later.
$150K medical malpractice recovery for retained bone fragments left in this Queen man after a C5-C6 discectomy at Elmhurst Hospital, necessitating additional surgery
$185K – Brooklyn Medical Malpractice — Failure To Diagnose Fracture — Unnecessary Procedure — Misread MRI Led To Unneeded Surgery
Failure to diagnose an impression fracture in the shoulder in this Brooklyn man, who subsequently undergoing the wrong surgery on his shoulder
$285K – Westchester Hospital Malpractice – Doctor Error – Wrongful Death
Hospital malpractice and doctor error when catheter placed in carotid artery instead of jugular vein, causing wrongful death of 87 year old Westchester man
