Patient Mortality Linked to Judicial Errors
Patient Mortality Linked to Judicial Errors
New York, April 15, 2008. Charges of judicial misconduct were filed with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct protesting the rulings of three New York State judges denying a defendant physician all witnesses for his defense. At issue are allegations that these and other judicial errors resulted in significant adverse events for the physician's patients.
In succession, three judges refused to grant a defendant physician his right to any and all witnesses. "Evidently, these undemocratic practices are alive and well today," adding, "what is more, an odd twist in this case was the revelation that for many years one of the judges lived at the same residence as the plaintiff!" The named judges include the Honorable Judges Nancy Lederman, Shirley Werner Kornreich, and New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye.
"Witnesses have the capacity to provide invaluable testimonies for vindication, instantly dissolving fabrications and exposing perjuries," the physician pointed out. Challenged on professional issues, however, he was summarily denied that right. "Many professionals," the physician added, "from law, to clergy, to medicine, tend to cover the tracks of colleagues who stray. In this case, two judges attempted to whitewash a junior judge's mistakes."
These due process violations are said to have hurt the physician's patients. Recently filed with the New York State Division on Human Rights, are reports of patients whose health was compromised via such legal irregularities. Alleged are transgressions by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) abruptly depriving patients of continuity of medical treatment via severing them from the care of their long-term physicians. These patients were then left to fend for themselves.
A report sent to former New York State governor George E. Pataki described the plight of certain fragile patients who, once dispossessed of their physician's care by the actions of the state, became acutely demoralized: "Vulnerable, sick, alone and frightened, these patients rapidly fell into despondency. They either refused referrals to other physicians or failed to bond with them. Giving up their will to live, they neglected their medical needs and eventually died. Reported are the untimely deaths of 7 patients, including one from suicide. Also cited are the accelerated clinical deterioration of 8 Alzheimer's patients and the multiple relapses of 12 delicately stabilized patients afflicted with chronic mental illness, leading to their serial rehospitalizations.
Similar reports have recently been filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Contacted about this matter, a HHS representative stated that the agency was aware of analogous disclosures from other physicians and is planning to track these adverse events.
"The Judicial Commission complaint aims to support all New York State doctors long subjected to similar calamities of justice, and there are large numbers of them," the physician noted, "in fact, so many, that several bills to address the matter have attempted to make their way through the New York State legislature. Lamentably, Governor Pataki vetoed all."
Article 25 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights teaches that, "Everyone has the right to security in the event of sickness and disability." Patients in precarious health situations, according to international guidelines on universal human rights, cannot merely be abandoned by a state's medical system.
The doctor concluded, "The N.Y. State judiciary obviously has some work to do in the area of human rights for patients - and civil rights for physicians. Indeed, most will presumably agree that New York State would rather be recognized as a compassionate beacon of democracy, rather than as a bastion of prosecutorial zealotry."
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Gerard Sunnen, M.D.
President, Ozonics International, LLC
200 East 33 Street, Suite 26J
New York, NY 10016-4831
Tel. 1-212-6790679 / Fax 1-212-6798008
http://www.ozonicsint.com
http://www.gsunnen.com
New York, April 15, 2008. Charges of judicial misconduct were filed with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct protesting the rulings of three New York State judges denying a defendant physician all witnesses for his defense. At issue are allegations that these and other judicial errors resulted in significant adverse events for the physician's patients.
In succession, three judges refused to grant a defendant physician his right to any and all witnesses. "Evidently, these undemocratic practices are alive and well today," adding, "what is more, an odd twist in this case was the revelation that for many years one of the judges lived at the same residence as the plaintiff!" The named judges include the Honorable Judges Nancy Lederman, Shirley Werner Kornreich, and New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye.
"Witnesses have the capacity to provide invaluable testimonies for vindication, instantly dissolving fabrications and exposing perjuries," the physician pointed out. Challenged on professional issues, however, he was summarily denied that right. "Many professionals," the physician added, "from law, to clergy, to medicine, tend to cover the tracks of colleagues who stray. In this case, two judges attempted to whitewash a junior judge's mistakes."
These due process violations are said to have hurt the physician's patients. Recently filed with the New York State Division on Human Rights, are reports of patients whose health was compromised via such legal irregularities. Alleged are transgressions by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) abruptly depriving patients of continuity of medical treatment via severing them from the care of their long-term physicians. These patients were then left to fend for themselves.
A report sent to former New York State governor George E. Pataki described the plight of certain fragile patients who, once dispossessed of their physician's care by the actions of the state, became acutely demoralized: "Vulnerable, sick, alone and frightened, these patients rapidly fell into despondency. They either refused referrals to other physicians or failed to bond with them. Giving up their will to live, they neglected their medical needs and eventually died. Reported are the untimely deaths of 7 patients, including one from suicide. Also cited are the accelerated clinical deterioration of 8 Alzheimer's patients and the multiple relapses of 12 delicately stabilized patients afflicted with chronic mental illness, leading to their serial rehospitalizations.
Similar reports have recently been filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Contacted about this matter, a HHS representative stated that the agency was aware of analogous disclosures from other physicians and is planning to track these adverse events.
"The Judicial Commission complaint aims to support all New York State doctors long subjected to similar calamities of justice, and there are large numbers of them," the physician noted, "in fact, so many, that several bills to address the matter have attempted to make their way through the New York State legislature. Lamentably, Governor Pataki vetoed all."
Article 25 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights teaches that, "Everyone has the right to security in the event of sickness and disability." Patients in precarious health situations, according to international guidelines on universal human rights, cannot merely be abandoned by a state's medical system.
The doctor concluded, "The N.Y. State judiciary obviously has some work to do in the area of human rights for patients - and civil rights for physicians. Indeed, most will presumably agree that New York State would rather be recognized as a compassionate beacon of democracy, rather than as a bastion of prosecutorial zealotry."
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Gerard Sunnen, M.D.
President, Ozonics International, LLC
200 East 33 Street, Suite 26J
New York, NY 10016-4831
Tel. 1-212-6790679 / Fax 1-212-6798008
http://www.ozonicsint.com
http://www.gsunnen.com
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