A New York jury returned a plaintiff's verdict against NYC Health + Hospitals in a wrongful death case involving a 23-year-old woman who died after physicians at Woodhull Hospital failed to treat her diabetic ketoacidosis for roughly 12 hours, the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm announced. The verdict carries weight beyond a single courtroom because it tests whether a public hospital in a low-income community is held to the same treatment standard as any other facility in New York City, an issue the firm argues affects patients across the municipal health system.
According to the firm, the woman arrived at the Woodhull emergency room in February 2020 with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. Lab results available within hours showed signs consistent with pancreatitis, but hospital physicians treated only the pancreatitis and did not address the underlying diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition in which a lack of insulin allows the blood to turn acidic. The lawsuit centered on the 12-hour gap between her admission and the start of insulin treatment. Attorneys Kevin Lee and Rikki Dascal litigated the hospital negligence case on the family's behalf, and the jury reached its verdict after about one hour and 44 minutes of deliberation.
During cross-examination, the attorneys obtained a concession from the treating physician that the delay in starting insulin fell below an acceptable standard of care. The firm also said that when physicians finally administered insulin, they gave the wrong type for her condition. Her condition worsened due to blood loss and her body went into shock; she died two and a half weeks after first arriving at the hospital. Physician experts from Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Medical School testified that the 12-hour treatment delay significantly reduced her chance of survival.
"She did not receive the medication she needed. She did not receive the fluid that she needed. And we will contend the evidence will show that she lost a substantial chance at surviving," Lee told the jury in his opening statement. In closing arguments, Dascal urged jurors to hold the hospital to the same standard as any other New York City facility. "This trial is your opportunity to hold a hospital in your community to the same standard of care as any other hospital in New York City," Dascal said. "Regardless of which hospital our client walked into, she should have received the same level of care."
NYC Health + Hospitals argued at trial that a busy emergency room contributed to the delay, an argument the jury rejected. The firm points to research showing that low-income and minority patients face longer emergency room wait times and lower quality care more often than other patients, and says the outcome underscores the need for consistent treatment standards regardless of a hospital's location or patient population. For readers, the case highlights how triage pressures and diagnostic oversights in crowded emergency departments can carry fatal consequences, and how litigation pursued by wrongful death lawyers can force public providers to answer for care delays. The firm said the case adds to its record in wrongful death litigation against public and private medical providers.
