Lisa Zenzen Baker, 1961-2003

E-mail: answersforlisa@hotmail.com

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Case disposed


Negligent-credentialing 
lawsuit apparently over

By David Baker
Posted July 31, 2012 at 5 25 a.m. EDT

UPDATE: As of Wednesday morning the court system lists the status of this case as "Disposed - settled before trial.

It appears from 3,000 miles away here in England that the lawsuit against former gynaecologist Akiva Abraham and Samaritan Hospital has ended on the first day of trial.

A notation on the court system’s web page says the status of the case is ‘disposed, motion pending’.

The lawsuit, filed in 2006, alleged that Abraham left Susan Stalker of Waterford disfigured when he performed an unauthorized and unnecessary lumpectomy on her in March 2004, and that Samaritan Hospital was negligent in granting privileges to Abraham when it knew or should have known that he was medically and morally unfit to practice.

Abraham later lost his medical license on 34 counts of misconduct, none of which related to the Stalker case.  He is now bankrupt and in prison on his conviction of insurance fraud stemming from an arson.

Northeast Health Inc. operates Samaritan Hospital and Albany Memorial Hospital, and, after a merger this year, also St. Mary Hospital in Troy and St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany.  Between them, these hospitals have provided a steady stream of advertising revenue to the newspapers.  Even today, the new combined healthcare organization is paying the Times Union as a “sponsor” of photographs from the Olympic Games here in the U.K.

The Stalker case was first reported on this blog’s sister web page, capitaldistricthealthclaims.com, back in February and the stories on that page and this blog are still the only accounts of this case.  The unusual claim of negligent credentialing, along with virtually every other malpractice lawsuit filed against area hospitals since 1999, has never been mentioned by any of the area’s newspapers, even as they repeatedly reported Abraham’s many other problems.  And the apparent end of this case means that the newspapers will almost certainly continue to suppress an issue of obvious public interest.

Further details on what appears to be yesterday’s settlement will appear here as soon as they become available.
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The detailed first story of the case is HERE

Friday, July 27, 2012

Case on hold?


Trial start in question as
appeal decisions awaited

By David Baker
Posted Friday July 27, 2012

The beginning of the trial in which former gynecologist Akia Abraham is alleged to have performed an unauthorized and unnecessary surgery, and Samaritan Hospital in Troy allegedly was negligent when it allowed him to practice may be delayed by pending decisions.

Both the plaintiff, Susan Stalker and Samaritan Hospital have appealed decisions made by state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Ferradino.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court issues its decisions on Thursdays, but this week  --  the last Thursday before the scheduled start of the trial --  no decisions on the appeals were  posted on its web page.

Samaritan is appealing Ferradino’s ruling that there are questions of fact to be decided by a jury on whether the hospital was negligent when it granted privileges to Abraham.  In a motion before Ferradino, the hospital is asking that the jury be asked for a verdict on that question - and then only if it finds that Abraham was negligent -- to hear testimony on the allegations against the hospital.  If that motion is granted, it would mean that without a decision from the appeals court, the trial might have to be put on hold if it starts next week.

It’s not clear what would happen if there was a hung jury.

Also pending is Stalker’s appeal of Ferradino’s ruling that the hospital and its nursing staff are not liable for Abraham’s actions.  Stalker’s lawyers have previously argued that the operating room staff should have spoken up when a procedure scheduled as a biopsy turned into a lumpectomy -- during which a large amount of what turned out to be healthy tissue was removed --  after Stalker was under sedation and without her knowledge or permission.

The appellate court justices are also being asked whether Ferradino erred when he disallowed a document filed by Stalker’s lawyers and refused to hear further argument on the matter.

The trial is scheduled to start at 9:30 on Monday in Ballston Spa.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Decisions pending


Hospital defends disgraced
former doctor to save itself

By David Baker
Posted Wednesday July 25, 2012

The lawsuit in which it is alleged that former gynecologist Akiva Abraham perform an unnecessary and unauthorized surgery on Susan Stalker in 2004, and Samaritan Hospital in Troy is alleged to have been negligent when it granted privileges to Abraham is scheduled to go to trial next week, but how it will proceed will depend on pending decisions by both the judge and an appeals court.

The first matter to be decided is an appeal by Samaritan of a ruling by state Supreme Court Judge Stephen Ferradino that there are questions of fact to be determined by a jury on whether the hospital was negligent.  If the Appellate Division reverses Ferradino's decision, the trial, if not delayed by a further appeal to the Court of Appeals, would be only on the allegations against Abraham.

A second matter pending before the appellate justices is Stalker's appeal of Ferradino's ruling that the hospital and its nursing staff cannot be held liable for the actions of an independent physician.

Also pending are decisions by Ferradino on motions filed by both Stalker and the hospital.  Stalker's attorneys want to obtain certified copies of three previous medical malpractice lawsuits that named both Abraham and Samaritan Hospital as defendants, and copies of state Health Department records.   They also want to subpoena two doctors, Melody Bruce and Edward Jacobs, to testify. The hospital is opposing the motions.

Samaritan Hospital is asking Ferradino to exclude any questions or testimony about the three prior medical malpractice lawsuits against Abraham and the hospital, and about the 2005 revocation of his medical license.  It is also asking the judge to run the trial in two parts, first on the allegations against Abraham and then -- if the former doctor is found to have been negligent -- on the negligent-credentialing allegations against the hospital.

In an earlier motion, Stalker's lawyers had asked Ferradino to allow two separate  trials, one for the claims against the hospital and later, another for the case against Abraham. This was after Abraham filed for backrupcy protection, a move that placed an automatic hold on the malpractice case.

But Ferradino denied the request, saying that the two cases are "intertwined" because, he said, if the jury finds that Abraham was not negligent, Stalker has no claim against the hospital.

Now it's the hospital that wants a "bifurcated' trial, with the case against Abraham being heard first, and then -- and only if he is found liable -- the trial continuing on the allegations against Samaritan.

Meanwhile, Abraham -- who is serving a 4 1/2- to 12-year prison sentence for an unrelated conviction of insurance fraud -- is scheduled to be brought under court order to testify at his trial.  He had no malpractice insurance at the time of Stalker's surgery; he apparently has no legal representation and has made no applications to the court.  This has forced Samaritan to, indirectly, defend the disgraced former doctor as its only way to avoid a trial on the allegations that it granted him privileges when it knew or should have known that he was medically and morally unfit to practice.

This case is now six years old and has generated a large public file.  And for most of that time Samaritan Hospital has been able to fight the lawsuit out of public view, knowing that despite all the stories about Abraham's other problems, the newspapers would not report the allegations against it.

But now, with this web page following the case and a trial looming, the hospital has two only ways  of avoiding days of public testimony about the way it checks the backgrounds of doctors applying for privileges. One is to to try and weaken the case against the former doctor, which it is doing now.

The other, if Abraham loses, is a settlement, six years and huge legal bills on both sides after the case was filed.

But even then the big file in the clerk's office will still be there, a permanent and reportable record of a case the hospital thought would never see the light of day.

Read the exclusive story on the Stalker lawsuit HERE
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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Prior lawsuits sought


Pre-trial legal papers fly in
negligent-credentialing case

By David Baker
Posted Saturday July 21 from near Norwich, England

Lawyers for the plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges that Samaritan Hospital in Troy was negligent when it granted staff privileges to former gynecologist Akiva Abraham have asked the judge to issue a subpoena demanding certified copies of complaints in three earlier medical malpractice lawsuits that named Abraham and Samaritan Hospital as defendants.

The hospital apparently is trying to block the request.

In a motion put online by the Sararoga County clerk's office on Friday, lawyer Thomas Conway said the documents  "...are essential with respect to the trial of this action to establish plaintiff's claim of negligent credentialing in the above captioned action."

The three lawsuits were filed in Rensselaer County by Erin Plumley in 1999; Shahid Bhatti in 2001; and Dineen Nazarian in 2005,

The Bhatti case ended with a settlement of $1.4 million.

On the court system ECourt web page there is a listing of a motion to "quash subpoenas." However, spaces for more details have been left blank and the document is not yet available on the county clerk's page.

Conway's motion - of which only the first page is on the web site - also requests a subpoena for a complaint filed against Abraham in Nassau County.  Other documents in the case indicate that it relates to a claim for money.

Abraham - who is under court order to be brought from prison for the trial - is alleged to have performed an unauthorized and unnecessary surgery in 2004 that left Susan Stalker of Waterford with a disfigured breast.

The trial is scheduled to begin on July 30 before Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Ferradino at the courthouse in Ballston Spa.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Suppression sought

      
       Hospital in negligent-credentialing case
      wants to limit testimony of former doctor

By David Baker
Posted Thursday July 19, 2012 from near Norwich, England

Samaritan Hospital is asking the judge in a lawsuit that alleges the hospital was negligent when it granted and renewed privilieges to former gyneocoigist Akiva Abarham to preclude any questions at trial about the revocation of Abraham's medical license and his criminal conviction on a charge of insurance fraud.

Abraham, who is serving a 4 /12-to 12-year prison sentence, is scheduled to be brought under court order to the courthouse in Ballston Spa on Aug.1.  He is also a defendant in the lawsuit, which alleges that he performed an unauthothized and unnecessary procedure in 2004 that left plaintiff Susan Stalker of Waterford disfigured.

The notice of motion was placed online Thursday.  However, only the first page was scanned and there is at least a second page.  Also, it is one of two items that are listed as a receipt for a fee.  Both are the first page of the motion; the reciept itself is not on the page.  A motion would usually be accompanied by a memoramdum of law but if it was, it is not on the web page.

The state revoked Abraham's license in 2005.  In 2010 he was convicted of insurance fraud related to a fire that destroyed a nightclub building in Colonie.  Both these events that the hospital wants to suppress have been widely reported; it is the 6-year-old lawsuit itself, along with dozens of other medical malpractice suits, that has never been mentioned by the media.
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Commentary


                 Former doctor to be brought
                 from state prison for his trial


Legal papers paint a picture of what is now the area's 
largest heathcare provider that's very different
 from the one it has paid a compliant media to present

By David Baker
Posted Thursday July 19, 2012

With no money, no malpractice insurance and apparently no legal representation, former gynecologist Akiva Abraham is to be transported from prison next month to testify in a civil trial in which he is accused of performing an unauthorized and unnecessary surgery that left a woman disfigured, and Samaritan Hospital in Troy is defending allegations that it repeatedly granted Abraham privileges when it knew or should have known that he was unfit to practice.

Last month, state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Ferradino issued a judicial subpoena that requires Aida Perez, the warden at the Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, to produce prisoner Abraham at the courthouse in Ballston Spa at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 1 to testify in Susan Stalker vs. Akiva Abraham & Samaritan Hospital.

Abraham is serving a 4 1/2-to 12-year prison sentence following his conviction of insurance fraud for telling an insurance company that he didn't know the cause of a fire that destroyed a nightclub building he owned. An earlier trial, in which he was accused of actually starting the fire, ended with a hung jury and and a mistrial, even after investigators found empty accelertent containers at his home.

Two other people were convicted of arson and are also serving prison sentences.

In 2005 the state revoked Abraham's medical license, citing 34 counts of misconduct and gross misconduct.  In November 2011, Abraham filed for bankruptcy protection,

So it's not clear what kind of defence Abraham will be able to present at the trial, or if, with nothing to lose, he will even try to defend his actions. That - short of reaching a last-minute settlement with Stalker - is the only way Samaritan Hospital management's can avoid an exhaustive public examination of how it checked Abraham's background when it first granted him privileges and repeatedly reappointed him before he performed the disputed surgery on Susan Stalker in 2004.

This is because Ferradino has ruled that if negligence is not proved against Abraham, there is no case for the hospital to answer.

But even if the jury finds that Abraham wasn't negligent when what was supposed to be a simple biopsy turned into a procedure Stalker had not agreed to and which Abraham did not have the hospital's authorization to perform, the legal records on file - which are now accessible on the county's web page from anywhere  - paint a revealing picture of how Samaritan Hospital may have been approving requests for admitting privileges.

In his ruling allowing the claim of negligent credentialing to be presented to a jury Ferradino cited the 'red flags' that Stalker's lawyers have said should have alerted the hospital that Abraham might not be fit to practice. These included three malpractice lawsuits that named both Abraham and Samaritan Hospital, and a subpoena served on the hospital by the state that demanded records of two patients, both of whom had been treated by Abraham.

Then there was the fact that Abraham had been fired from two other jobs - in one case for making false entries in medical records.  Abraham may or may not have disclosed the circumstances under which he left these jobs - Samaritan has cited state laws that shield information and documents about the credentialing process from disclosure - but the hospital is supposed to verify statements made by doctors applying for privileges.  While withholding information that would confirm it, Samaritan has asserted that it carried out all the required checks each time Abraham was granted privileges.

The trial is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. on July 30 at the Municipal Center on McMaster Street in Ballston Spa. Lawyers in the case have said they expect it to last five to seven days.
                             ****

Monday, July 16, 2012

Court date

                              Day of reckoning is near in
                              negligent-credentialing case

By David Baker
Posted Tuesday July 17, 2012 from Norwich, England

Six years after it was started, a lawsuit alleging that Samaritan Hospital in Troy was negligent when it granted privileges to a gynecologist who later lost his license is set to for trial at the end of this month.

The plaintiff, Susan Stalker of Waterford alleges that in 2004 Aliva Abraham performed an unnecessary procedure on her breast, removing a large amount of healthy tissue without her permission and without authorization from the hospital.  The suit also alleges that Samaritan Hospital repeatedly renewed his privileges when it knew or should have known that he was unfit to practice medicine.

In 2006, the state revoked Abraham's medical licence, citing 34 counts of misconduct.  In 2011 he filed for bankruptcy protection and is now in prison following his conviction of insurance fraud related to a fire that destroyed a nightclub building he owned in Colonie.  He apparently had no malpractice insurance at the time he performed the surgery on Stalker - even though maintaining malpractice coverage was a requirement of his hospital privileges.

The hospital has maintained that it carried out all the checks on Abraham required by law and its own rules and found no reason to deny him privileges.  Stalker's lawyers point out that by the time Abraham was last reappointed, Samaritan Hospital and Abraham were named as co-defendants in three separate medical malpractice lawsuits, and that the hospital had been served by the state with a subpoena demanding records of two patients, both of  whom had been treated by Abraham.

Both sides have appeals pending in the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court.  Stalker is appealing a ruling by Judge Stephen A. Ferradino that the hospital and its nursing staff are not responsible for the actions of an independent physician;  Samaritan is appealing Ferradino's ruling that there are questions as to whether the hospital was negligent in allowing Abraham to practice.

Despite its unusual allegations the Stalker case has never been mentioned by the Capital Region's newpapers, even as they repeatedly reported on Abraham's other problems. Rex Smith, the editor of the Albany Times Union has not responded to letters suggesting that the paper's silence on this and dozens of other lawsuits alleging malpractice is because the area's hospitals provide a significant stream of revenue to the papers for an almost continuous advertising campaign.

A detailed story about the case was posted earlier this year on the web page Capital District Health Claims. A lawsuit filed by Samaritan Hospital seeks an injunction and money for what it claims is damage to its reputation.
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Read the exclusive story on the Stalker lawsuit HERE

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