Connecticut Malpractice at Norwalk Hospital Lawyer

Our attorneys represent individuals and families affected by hospital malpractice throughout the state of Connecticut. If you believe that hospital malpractice caused serious or fatal injuries to your loved one, contact us today. We represent individuals in claims against Norwalk Hospital and the other facilities located throughout the state.

Background

Serving a population of 250,000 in lower Fairfield County, Norwalk Hospital is a 328-bed, not-for-profit acute care community teaching hospital. The hospital employs 2,000 health care professionals and support staff plus more than 500 physicians on its active medical staff. The Hospital Quality Alliance rates Norwalk Hospital as one of the nation’s leading hospitals in providing surgical and heart attack care.

The critical care nurses at Norwalk have received the national Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence three times.

Six of its most noteworthy services are cared for:

  • Cancer
  • Cardiovascular diseases
  • Digestive diseases
  • Emergency medicine
  • Orthopedics/Neurospine injury
  • Women and children

Other areas of excellence, the hospital notes on its website, include:

The hospital is a teaching institution for students and medical residents at Yale School of Medicine. Advanced fellowship programs are available for physicians practicing gastroenterology and pulmonary medicine. Numerous doctors at the hospital conduct research aimed at making new treatments available to patients.

The spark for the establishment of a medical facility to treat patients in Norwalk — a city without a hospital — was ignited by Margaret Cavanaugh, a hat trimmer. After witnessing and helping a dying man hit by a train and lying in the street, she and others carried the man to a first-aid room in the South Norwalk depot. No medical facility was available to treat the accident victim.

Cavanaugh was behind a meeting of hat workers in the city who suggested the establishment of a local hospital. In December 1892, the state granted the incorporation of The Norwalk Hospital Association. The association leased the second and part of the third floors of a frame house to establish its first hospital. In an era before antibiotics and public health practices, typhoid, pneumonia and other medical problems drew people from the expanding Norwalk community as well as from the towns of Westport, Weston, Wilton and Darien.

A larger hospital was necessary. A new 26-bed hospital opened in 1899 on Connecticut Avenue near Stuart. The hospital expanded to 40 beds and again expanded in a new location on Stevens street to 75 beds. Over time, the hospital grew to its present 328–bed facility.

Norwalk Hospital and Medical Malpractice Claims

When we seek medical treatment, we trust that the doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers will do everything in their power to help us and to keep us safe from harm. Unfortunately, sometimes mistakes are made, symptoms are overlooked, and patients receive improper or inadequate care. The sad part is, when these mistakes are made in a hospital, the results can be fatal.

When a healthcare provider at a hospital acts negligently and provides substandard care, resulting in injury or harm to a patient, it is called medical malpractice or hospital malpractice. The healthcare provider and sometimes the hospital itself can be held liable for the injuries and damages.

A recent example of this involves a Norfolk husband who lost his wife. According to The Hour, Herman Cole earned the Medal of Justice Award from the Center for Justice and Democracy at the New York Law School for his efforts in promoting patients’ rights in July. Cole successfully sued Norwalk Hospital and Dr. Jay Angeluzzi, an anesthesiologist at the hospital for $12 million.

For 13 years, Cole’s wife Sadie was in a coma before she died last August following surgery for a simple procedure, according to The Hour. Sadie Cole suffered a catastrophic brain injury after elective tubal ligation surgery. She had an acute loss of oxygen to her brain during the surgery, resulting in a coma.

The Cole family won a $12 million award against Norwalk Hospital and the anesthesiologist. Herman Cole addressed Congress, standing up for victims and their families for enduring the results of medical malpractice. He spoke about the unfairness of a federal effort to put a financial cap on medical malpractice award lawsuits and to limit lawyers’ contingency fees.

Cole meant to persuade the licensing medical association to revoke Angeluzzi’s license. But the action was unnecessary. Another of Angeluzzi’s patients who also suffered traumatic brain injury was in a coma for nine years. Soon after the patient’s death Angeluzzi’s surrendered his license to practice medicine, reported The Hour.

Source: The Hour

Contact a Connecticut Malpractice at Norwalk Hospital Attorney

If you believe that your loved one suffered serious or fatal injuries as a result of hospital negligence, you can seek help from the qualified attorneys at Berkowitz and Hanna LLC. Our lawyers represent individuals and families affected by acts of negligence and can help you hold the responsible parties accountable for their actions.

To schedule a review of your case, please contact our firm today.