Hospital Worker Receives $1 Million

Christina Cole

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

A Montefiore Medical Center worker has received a $1 million settlement from her employer after her ankle was improperly set while in the hospitals emergency room. On September 30, 2000, Josephine Cruz, went to the hospital with a fractured left ankle. According to court papers, Cruz was in extreme pain when she arrived at the ER.

Cruz, an accounting representative a the hospital was x-rayed but the attending doctor misread the x-ray according to court papers. And therefore improperly treated the fracture and placed her ankle in a cast. Her ankle failed to heal and she suffered in chronic pain, weakness, discomfort and stiffness when sitting for a long stretch of time.

She also suffered from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, which includes severe burning pain, pathological changes in bone and skin, excessive sweating, tissue swelling and extreme sensitivity to touch. She continued treatment at Montefiore through July 1, 2002, but the injury did not heal properly.

Cruz was out of work and disabled for more than a year. She filed the medical malpractice lawsuit against Montefiore, Dr. Cyril Kaplan and Dr. Nehad Grlic. The suit charged that the doctors who treated Cruz were negligent. The settlement was reached last Friday after a trial had begun in the case at Bronx Supreme Court.