Woman's Family Can Sue Dr. Even Though She Wasn't a Patient- NY Malpract...

Gerry's Medical Malpractice Website
516-487-8207

A New York judge has just decided that a doctor who prescribed pain medications to a pain-pill addict who then killed four people in a Medford pharmacy shooting might be legally responsible for causing or contributing to the death of one of the women.

David Laffer was addicted to pain medication. He had been receiving pain-pill prescriptions on a regular basis from pain management doctor Stan Li here in New York.

David Laffer went to a Medford pharmacy in an attempt to steal thousands of pain pills to feed his addition. During the course of his botched robbery attempt he killed four people.

Laffer pleaded guilty and is now serving a life sentence. The family of one of the women, Jamie Taccetta, who died during this horrific shooting, decided to bring a wrongful death lawsuit directly against the pain-medicine anesthesiologist, Dr. Li.

They alleged in a lawsuit that he was directly responsible for causing or contributing to Jamie's death. They argued that the doctor should have known that Laffer was addicted to pain pills and that it was foreseeable that this pain pill addict would then commit some type of horrendous crime causing injury or death to some unsuspecting victim.

Dr. Stan Li's lawyer tried to get the case dismissed claiming, among other things, that there was no doctor-patient relationship. The argument is that if there is no doctor-patient relationship, how then can the physician be held responsible for one of his patients then going out and causing harm to someone else?

In New York, in order for a patient to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice or wrongful death, we must be able to show that there is a doctor-patient relationship and that the doctor failed to treat the patient in accordance with good and accepted medical practice.

What happens if there is no direct doctor-patient relationship?

Well, that's exactly what the court needed to address.

I should point out that there was one other case similar to that where a New York court permitted a lawsuit to proceed forward even though there was no direct doctor-patient relationship.

Watch the video to learn more...

Here's a cardiac malpractice case where I was able to achieve a $6 million dollar settlement for my client.

Here's a foot surgery case where a Westchester, NY jury awarded my client $1.55 million dollars for her pain and suffering.

To learn more about how medical malpractice cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website.

If you have legal questions, I invite you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by email at lawmed10@yahoo.com. This is what I do every day and I'd be happy to chat with you.

Law Office of Gerald Oginski
25 Great Neck Road, Ste. 4
Great Neck, NY 11021
516-487-8207

Email: lawmed10@yahoo.com
Twitter: @GerryOginski