AboutGlenn A. Dorfman Expertise Thirty-two years experience in personal injury, medical malpractice, medical product liability law and class actions. Qualified to answer all questions regarding injuries and the law, except for worker`s compensation.
Question QUESTION: my mom fell in 10/2000 in the hospital atttempting to go to the bathroom,after no one would answer the aid button. she fell and hurt herself. after someone came to help her up they sat her in a chair with a table top for hours ignoring her cry of pain. not till the next day did they x ray her and find her hip was broken. surgery was the day after. she was already ill but her failure at that point to be unable to move definelty affected her decline. she passed in feb 01. she sued at the time of the injury, and then i became executor. in the 7 years i have tried to contact the attorneys and never received replies as to the status of case. parlegals at the agency advised me of things such as the orignal para was fired and so forth. now, i'm getting a call saing it was settled 3 years ago for 15, 000 and myself and 3 brothers will share 11, 500. (2650 each) i dont want toappear greedy, but her suffering i feel should be worth more i want to know how this was settled without asking me if i felt we should settle or the lawyer should suggest we should or what. how is this that the case is settled and now im to sign the papers. as of today all i am told is thats all the case was worth because her injury only lasted 4 month. can you advise me who i speak to and is this the legal way. i am going to attempt to check with the bar assocaiation otherwise. i am in ny please help
ANSWER: It is quite possible that the malpractice case was worth only 15K, or even worth nothing. You did not tell me why she was in the hospital and what she died from. If she was critically ill, had cancer or the like, and died from the underlying illness, even if the hip made her last days more difficult, it would not be a good case and probably worth no more than the nuisance value 15K. If the fx hip had nothing to do with the cause of her death, there would be no case at all. In some states, maybe yours, "pain and suffering" damages do not survive the decedant. That is, you can't get pain and suffering damages that your mother suffered. I don't have a clue how the case settled 3 years ago and that you did not know about it or why they come to you only now. My suspicion is that the case IS NOT SETTLED but they want to settle it now. What papers are you being asked to sign. A "general release"? That leads me to believe it is not settled but they are up against the clock and the lawyers want to settle it now. You are entitled to know what is going on. I would not sign anything until an attorney explains the status of the case. Again, I suspect they filed the case and did nothing with it. The court is probably telling them to settle or go to trial or dismiss the case. Then, demand an explanation of why they did not pursue the case and keep you advised. If the case was actually "settled" without your consent, I would contact the Bar Association but I see no way they could have done that without your consent. My suspicions are probably correct, now that I think more about it. Tell me why she was in the hospital, her age, and cause of death. That would help me give you a better answer.
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QUESTION: your answer certainly led insight. i just received a packet and from what i can tell----it is stating that the hospital offered 17, 500 and they agreed. the petition further states that i agree and that the balance of 11,000 be split beteewn myself and 3 siblings.it states it was commenced in supreme court county of kings but no date only a docket number is issued. 43627/00 the person that has called states it needs to be done as soon as possible. therefore it sounds just like you said. my mom was 71 years old and in the hospital for ( and died from emphysema. (copd) her circulation was affected, she had toes on 1 foot amputated prior to her death. do i have time to wait for replies from this lawyer or could the case just be thrown out. do u feel this is a realistic settlement. you are a tremendous help
Answer you certainly have time and the right to call the attorney representing the estate of your mother and have him explain to you why you should accept the settlement. You don't want to walk away from this matter and continue to have questions. Call the lawyer and say you will not sign anything until the lawyer explains everything. The 17.5K settlement is probably adequate because as I suspected, her fall had nothing to do with her death although the toe amputations made me pause for a minute. The bottom line is, if the lawyer is urging settlement, he does not see any more value in the case and just wants to get rid of it and so, he wouldn't be willing to spend more money on the case and certainly not take it to trial. If you refused to settle, he could just quit the case. So you really must accept the settlement but I still think you should demand a full explanation first.
