New York, NY, April 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Medical errors span a broad spectrum of healthcare settings and treatment types. Understanding common categories of malpractice in New York City healthcare facilities helps patients recognize potential claims and seek appropriate legal representation.
Surgical Errors and Operating Room Negligence
Surgical mistakes rank among the most devastating forms of medical malpractice, often causing permanent disability or death. Operating room errors documented by Jonathan C. Reiter Law Firm, PLLC include organ damage, nerve injury, foreign objects left in patients’ bodies, anesthesia errors, and surgery performed on wrong body parts or wrong patients entirely.
A substantial settlement obtained by the firm involved a surgeon who unintentionally stapled a patient’s ureter during colon surgery, severely damaging the organ and necessitating additional reconstructive procedures. Another case resulted in a $750,000 verdict when laparoscopic bowel surgery caused injury to a patient’s ureter, leading to urine leakage into the pelvis and multiple infections.
Surgical errors causing the most severe consequences include a case where a surgeon performing neck cancer surgery negligently placed an oversized metal hook in the patient’s spinal canal, damaging the spinal cord and causing quadriplegia. This case settled for a substantial amount to provide lifetime care for the paralyzed patient. Another surgical malpractice case involved a neurosurgeon treating a skull fracture who negligently sutured a tear in the dura covering the brain, leading to severe infection causing brain damage to a 3-year-old child. That case settled for a substantial amount.
Diagnostic Failures and Delayed Treatment
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis represent leading categories of medical malpractice claims in New York. When physicians fail to correctly identify cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, or other serious conditions, treatment delays can allow diseases to progress to advanced stages where cure becomes impossible.
Cancer misdiagnosis cases consistently demonstrate the catastrophic consequences of diagnostic failures. A substantial settlement compensated a woman whose yearly mammograms were incorrectly read as normal when tumors were already present. The delayed diagnosis meant she required mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation when she would have been eligible for a simple lumpectomy with earlier detection. Another breast cancer case resulted in a $1.5 million verdict when physicians failed to order a biopsy after the patient reported feeling a lump, allowing cancer to spread to lymph nodes and bones, ultimately causing death.
Prostate cancer misdiagnosis cases have resulted in substantial compensation for victims. In one case, a substantial settlement was obtained when laboratory results showing probable prostate cancer were not placed in the patient’s chart, causing significant diagnostic delay. Another case settled for a substantial amount when a physician failed to order a PSA test for a man over 50 complaining of urinary tract symptoms, resulting in very advanced disease that had metastasized to bones and other organs by the time diagnosis occurred.
Eye infection misdiagnosis led to a $7 million unanimous jury verdict when an ophthalmologist failed to diagnose an infection or refer the patient to a retina specialist, ultimately necessitating surgical removal of the eye to prevent spread of infection. Similarly, a $5 million unanimous verdict was obtained for a patient whose two successive MRI brain scans were misread by radiologists who failed to report Chiari malformation abnormalities, causing delayed diagnosis and treatment that left the patient permanently disabled. Learn more by visiting New York City medical malpractice law firm
Jonathan C. Reiter Law Firm, PLLC
New York City medical malpractice law firm
Manhattan Office: Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 6400, New York, NY 10118
Bronx Office: 901 Sheridan Avenue, New York, NY 10451
Phone: (212) 736-0979
Bronx Phone: (718) 590-4009
Prior results cannot and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future case. Recoveries always depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case, the injuries suffered, damages incurred, and the responsibility of those involved.
- Learn the Categories of Medical Malpractice Across New York City Healthcare Facilities
