Hospital Negligence Killed Famous Sportswriter and Broadcaster Dick Schaap After Routine Hip Surgery

All seemed well, until the day after Dick’s second hip-replacement surgery. His temperature spiked dangerously, and a “never event” began to occur. Doctors believed that he had a simple urinary tract infection; however, the severity of his illness became apparent two days later when he was moved to the intensive care unit.

Initially, doctors assured Trish that the move to intensive care was simply a precaution and that there was nothing to worry about – a statement that proved to be completely false. When Trish arrived to visit her husband, she found him struggling with an oxygen mask and his lungs were filled with fluid. He also had sepsis and was, for all intents and purposes, critically ill.

Sadly, Dick Schaap succumbed to his illness three months later, and died in December 2001. Trish immediately filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors that operated on him, as well as the hospital where this operation was performed.

Investigation revealed that Dick’s death was caused by a hospital-acquired infection, and the Manhattan jury that presided over the case awarded Trish and her family $1.95 million in damages after finding that three doctors had been negligent when treating him.

Legal Matters

Though hospital negligence is not as common as other types of medical malpractice, hospitals have a responsibility to provide the best quality and standards of care to staff and patients, as well as a safe and hygienic environment.

This means that hospitals are required to have several policies and protocols in place, one of which being the hospital’s infection control measures. The hospital must not only establish these protocols, but also monitor them consistently to ensure that they are being adhered to. Not doing so can lead to patient injury or even death, as seen in the case of Dick Schaap.

Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital is a difficult task, so you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer if it is something you would like to pursue. It will be necessary for you to consult with an  NYC medical malpractice attorney if you live in NYC. This professional will then explain that for your case to be viable, you need to prove that improper conduct on the part of hospital employees and/or hospital administration occurred.

Contact

If you think that you have been a victim of hospital negligence, or that it has affected your friends or family, then you can speak to one of our medical malpractice attorneys for a free and confidential consultation.

Please call 212-344-1000 today and contact the medical malpractice lawyers of Rosenburg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP in NYC.