Lubin & Meyer Attorneys Listed Among Boston's Top-Rated Lawyers 2012

Three attorneys from Lubin & Meyer have been listed in the 2012 Edition of Boston's Top Rated Lawyers, which appeared as a supplement to the The Boston Globe in May. Published by LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® the list identifies those attorneys who have received a Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ of AV® Preeminent™  — the highest peer review rating available. Andrew C. Meyer, Jr., Krysia J. Syska, and Robert Higgins are have each earned this distinction in the area of medical malpractice.

In addition, the publication carried the following article: Changing Civil Litigation's Landscape, which highlights how Lubin & Meyer consistently dominates in the area of medical malpractice and personal injury verdicts and settlements in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The article highlights the firm's 2011 precedent-setting verdicts and settlements including the largest jury verdict in Massachusetts for a medical malpractice case and the largest jury verdict in New Hampshire for a personal injury case. An excerpt from that article:

“Good cases are made, not born,” says Andrew Meyer in the article citing the reasons for the firms success. He credits the lawyers and nursing staff at his firm, as well as the “thorough, thoughtful, creative and understanding discovery, and endless preparation.” Plus, Meyer says, it helps “when insurance companies know you are willing to go to trial and have a track record of success there. Consistent achievement of verdicts assists you in achieving good settlements.”

You can read the full article, which is available for download here. 

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

$8.5 Million Jury Award in New Hampshire Makes Headlines

The following is a compilation of some of the reporting on the lawsuit filed by Lubin & Meyer on behalf of the Meredith, NH family of a bicyclist who was killed by a tractor trailer. The jury awarded the family $8.5 million in compensation. It is believed to be the largest verdict in NH in 2011. (This post is a follow up to the previous news item.)

• The Concord Monitor - Meredith: Trucking firm liable in death
• The Citizen of Laconia - Jury awards $8.5 million in negligent death case
• The Boston Herald - New Hampshire woman, children win $8.5M in lawsuit
• The Portland Press Herald - NH woman, children win $8.5M in lawsuit over Maine death
• The Trucker.com - New Hampshire woman wins $8.5M in trucking co. lawsuit

The full court order/opinion is available on Justia.com:
LaCaillade et al v. Loignon Champ-Carr, Inc.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Lubin & Meyer Wins Award of $8.5 Million for Family of New Hampshire Cyclist

CONCORD, NH (December 14, 2011) — William J. Thompson and Nicholas D. Cappiello of Lubin & Meyer obtained an $8.5 million jury verdict this afternoon in New Hampshire federal court. The case involved wrongful death claims brought by the family of a 38-year-old father of two, who was killed while cycling in August, 2008, when he was run over by a tractor trailer. The accident occurred on Route 25 in Porter, Maine, about a mile and a half from the NH border. The bicyclist was an experienced rider on a high-performance bike. The tractor trailer attempted to pass the bicyclist on a left curve in the roadway, but had limited visibility. When a vehicle appeared traveling in the other direction, the tractor trailer had to move to the right leaving limited clearance for the bicyclist and forcing him off the road where he lost control and fell back under the tractor trailer's rear tires and was killed instantly. The trial lasted seven days and the jury deliberated for four hours before reaching its verdict. It is believed to be the largest jury verdict in New Hampshire this year.

See related post with more on this trial: $8.5 Million Verdict in NH Makes Headlines

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Alarm Fatigue Lawsuit Settles in Massachusetts, Hospitals Nationwide Respond

Hospitals nationwide have been addressing "alarm fatigue" — a condition where hospital staff become "immune" to the sounds of multiple alarms going off due to the high number of alarms, most of them 'false alarms.' In some cases, hospital staff have disabled the alarms.

The case at the forefront of the alarm fatigue issue, involved the death of an 89-year-old cardiac patient, whose family was represented by Attorney Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. of Lubin & Meyer. The settlement, which was obtained in May of this year, was made public this week by the family of the man who died at Massachusetts General Hospital when nurses did not respond to alarms on his cardiac monitor.

According to a Boston Globe article, "Investigators concluded that alarm fatigue experienced by nurses working among constantly beeping monitors contributed to their inattention. Additionally, the volume for a separate audible crisis alarm on his bedside monitor had been turned off."

The death of this patient, and a series of investigative articles by The Boston Globe have raised awareness of alarm fatigue and prompted hospitals nationwide to examine the problem of alarm fatigue more closely. As reported by the Globe, both the Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals, and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates monitor manufacturers, participated in an alarm summit last month and plan to further address the issue.

The first article appeared February 15, 2011 titled, Patient Alarms Often Unheard, Unheeded.

For the full article related to the settlement, click on: Alarm fatigue settlement.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Lubin & Meyer Representing Plaintiff in Lakes Region General Hospital Lawsuit

Lubin & Meyer’s Benjamin Novotny is representing the plaintiff in a medical malpractice action against physicians at Lakes Region General Hospital, Laconia, NH. The lawsuit contends that a patient at the hospital died of bowel necrosis due to a delay in diagnosis and substandard care. The Citizen of Laconia featured the story as the two sides agreed to try mediation to resolve the lawsuit. If the case is not resolved at mediation, the trial is schedule to start April 1, 2013.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Recent Verdicts and Settlements

Lubin & Meyer obtained 20 of the largest settlements of $1 million or more in Massachusetts in 2010 compiled by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. These results included a $6 million settlement, which was the year's largest medical malpractice settlement, for a lawsuit involving a newborn's brain damage caused by an overdose of Dilantin. (Click to see a listing of these 20 largest settlements.)

We are now in the process of adding and linking to the lawyer's full trial reports for most of these cases, which contain additional details of the types of medical malpractice cases we work with. Below are two medical malpractice trial reports from 2011 and four from 2010 that we just added to our main site at www.lubinandmeyer.com.

• $3.5 Million Settlement for Newborn's Brain Damage
  2011 Medical Malpractice Trial Report
  
• $2 Million Settlement in Anesthesia Death
  2011 Medical Malpractice Trial Report
  
• $2.45 Million for Failure to Monitor During Surgery
  2010 Medical Malpractice Trial Report
  
• Jury Awards $2.06 Million for Bowel Obstruction Lawsuit
  2010 Medical Malpractice Trial Report
  
• $1 Million Settlement for Delay in Diagnosis of Melanoma
  2010 Medical Malpractice Trial Report
  
• $2 Million Settlement in Baby's Cardiac Arrest/ Brain Damage Lawsuit
  2010 Medical Malpractice Trial Report

To see Lubin & Meyer's archive of verdicts and settlement by malpractice type, click on: Verdicts & Settlements.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

More Than 50% of Doctors Disciplined by Hospitals Escape Licensing Action by States

According to an analysis by Public Citizen of data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, state medical boards have failed to discipline 55 percent of the nation’s doctors who either lost their clinical privileges or had them restricted by the hospitals where they worked.

Of 10,672 physicians listed in the data bank for having clinical privileges revoked or restricted by hospitals, 45 percent of them also had one or more licensing actions taken against them by state medical boards. That means 55 percent – or 5,887 doctors – escaped any licensing action by the state. The study examined the National Practitioner Data Bank's Public Use File from 1990 to 2009.

What does this mean for New Hampshire? In the Granite State, physicians with one or more clinical privilege actions against them during the 19-year period, numbered 51. Twenty-eight of those physicians received no licensure actions — a 54.9% rate.

According to Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group and overseer of the study:

“One of two things is happening, and either is alarming. Either state medical boards are receiving this disturbing information from hospitals but not acting upon it, or much less likely, they are not receiving the information at all. Something is broken and needs to be fixed.”

For more information, view the full report at: State Medical Boards Fail to Discipline Doctors with Hospital Actions Against Them.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Channel 5 Coverage of Medication Error Lawsuit

Here's the video of the Channel 5 news story related to the previous post:
Medication Error Lawsuit Against Mass General Garners Press Attention (Lubin & Meyer attorneys for the plaintiff.)

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Medication Error Lawsuit Against Mass General Garners Press Attention

Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. medical malpractice plaintiffs attorney has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Massachusetts General Hospital and several of its doctors and nurses on behalf of the family of a 76-year-old woman who died following a medication error while she was an inpatient being treated for a minor infection after breaking her shoulder.

A Boston Globe article that carried the story on March 10, 2011 (MGH faces suit over drug error that killed woman), notes that "prescription dose errors have long been the single leading cause of fatal medication mistakes." The article states:

According to a report the hospital provided to the family, “the day nurse understood the intended dosing but made an error when entering the dose into the IV pump.’’

The report added, “This excessive medication dose was preventable and a result of a failure of systems within the hospital’s control.’’

WCVBTV Channel 5, quoted Attorney Meyer saying,

"This was a systemic failure within the hospital, within the nursing practices of the hospital and with the doctor's oversight responsibility — clear negligence on behalf of the hospital and the doctors and nurses involved."

The hospital has admitted it made mistakes and has apologized and plans to institute changes. In the Globe article, Meyer indicated he was hopeful the hospital would make changes but had no knowledge if that had happened. Said Meyer,

“As the claim proceeds, one of our goals will be to ensure that [the hospital's proposed system] changes for the protection of patients are enacted and adhered to.’’

To read more about this case, please see the Boston Globe article and the coverage of the lawsuit on TheBostonChannel.com.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Andrew C. Meyer Named the Best Lawyers' 2011 Boston Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year

Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. as the “Best Lawyers' 2011 Boston Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year.”

After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Meyer is the founding partner at Lubin & Meyer PC, a law firm focused on medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injury law with attorneys practicing in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Click to read the full new release here: Lawyer of the Year.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Two Med Mal Attorneys at Lubin & Meyer Named Top 100 New England Super Lawyers

Boston-based medical malpractice plaintiff's lawyers Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. and Robert M. Higgins have again been named among the Top 100 Super Lawyers for 2010 as listed by Super Lawyers. Meyer is recognized throughout New England as a top medical malpractice lawyer who consistently achieves record-setting verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients. He has been selected a Top 100 New England Super Lawyer each year since 2004; partner Robert Higgins has joined him on this select list since 2008.

The Super Lawyers distinction is based on a peer balloting process involving attorneys from across New England and conducted by a research and review panel. Andrew C. Meyer Jr. and Robert M. Higgins are admitted in Massachusetts. The firm's lawyers are licensed to practice also in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

$1.25 Million Settlement in Kidney Transplant Lawsuit

The Boston Herald carried this article where Lubin & Meyer attorney, Benjamin Novotny was able to obtain a $1.25 million settlement for a Nashua, NH, couple after the husband's donor kidney failed a week after the transplant. The suit named three doctors and a nurse at a Boston hospital and arguments would have claimed "understaffing, rookie doctors-in-training and chain-of-command breakdowns," led to the donor kidney failing a week after the transplant.

Click through to our main web site to read the full article: kidney transplant settlement.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Lubin & Meyer Wins on Appeal to NH Supreme Court re: Medical Malpractice Trial

The New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned the trial court's decision in a medical malpractice lawsuit, Beckles v. Madden, agreeing with Lubin & Meyer (attorneys for the plaintiff) in finding that the burden of proof for negligence in a med mal trial should be left for the jury to decide. Attorney Benjamin Novotny, argued the case before the court.

Click here for more information and for a link to read the full opinion, issued April 9, 2010.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

New Hampshire Couple Files Lawsuit Against McLean Hospital

A New Hampshire couple is suing McLean Hospital claiming it was at fault for discharging a patient who then killed herself and the couple's two children — after having been stopped and detained for erratic driving and behavior earlier that same day — in a much publicized incident on a highway in Lowell, and according to a report in the Boston Globe, "allegedly failing to properly treat the woman’s mental illness." An excerpt from the Globe article:

The [plaintiffs] told the Globe after the deaths that McLean psychiatrists had diagnosed [the patient] with bipolar disorder ... and discharged her six days later after prescribing psychotropic drugs and recommending outpatient therapy. But, the couple said, doctors never told family members about the risk [the patient] might pose to others or herself.

The article also quotes the family's attorney, Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. of Lubin & Meyer: “Had they been warned of this potential, they never would have allowed the children to be in her care that night.’’

Read the full article here: Lawsuit faults McLean in death of 2 innocents.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

Warner NH Man Awarded $1.75 Million After ER Visit Leaves Him Blind

The Union Leader reported on March 8, 2008, on a medical malpractice lawsuit resulting in the jury awarding $1.75 million to a Warner, NH, man. The lawsuit named three emergency room doctors and Concord Hospital and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic. Lubin & Meyer attorneys represented the plaintiff in this lawsuit. To read more details of the lawsuit, please click here to read the full story: NH Medical Malpractice Verdict.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law

NH Family Awarded $5 Million After Son Born Impaired

The Boston Herald carried this article on September 18, 2006, about a Bedford, NH family who filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and nurse after their son suffered injuries at birth resulting in brain damage. The family, represented by attorneys from Lubin & Meyer, was awarded $5 million to pay for his long term care. According to the article, the boy has "severe cerebral palsy his parents contend was caused by his stressful, oxygen-deprived delivery."

The award is believed to be among the largest pretrial medical malpractice settlements in the state of New Hampshire. Click here to read more about this NH medical malpractice settlement.

Lubin & Meyer PC - New Hampshire's Leader in Medical Malpractice Law