Medical Malpractice
BROOKLYN MED MAL GUARDIAN ARRESTED
Posted by: Admin Admin
January 29, 2009
Steven Rondos a New Jersey Lawyer is accused of stealing 4 million dollars from clients that ranged from handicapped children to the elderly, including one dead client whose bank accounts he supervised. The NY Times reports Mr. Rondos and his wife Camille Raia have a Law Firm in Brooklyn. So far no charges have been brought against Ms. Raia.
Mr. Rondos was appointed as a Guardian by the courts to manage money for children who were afflicted with cerebral palsy from medical malpractice as well as elderly people. Rondos used the money to make mortgage payments and renovate his New Jersey house, and to pay for landscaping and install a home theater, prosecutors said. Prosecutors have filed suit against both Ms. Raia and Mr. Rondos for more than $4.7 million, which includes the total amount that prosecutors say was stolen and the value of their law firm, Raia & Rondos. The money will be used to repay the victims or the estates that were assigned to Mr. Rondos.
Mr. Rondos was arrested Wednesday morning at his home in New Jersey and charged with money laundering, grand larceny and scheme to defraud. He was being held in New Jersey on Wednesday night and was expected to appear before a judge there on Thursday morning. If he waives extradition, he will be taken to Manhattan for arraignment. If convicted, he could spend up to 25 years in prison.
LAX STATE AND FEDERAL OVERSIGHT LET BAD HOSPITALS STAY OPEN
Posted by: William Gentile
December 09, 2008
The New York Times has an article on why bad hospitals stay in business (hat-tip TortsProf). The article suggests one reason is a lacking in Federal oversight:
Unlike some other nations, including France, the United States has no federal agency charged with hospital oversight. Instead, it relies on a patchwork of state health departments and a nonprofit group called the Joint Commission that sets basic quality standards for the nation. Hospitals are rarely closed or hit with significant financial penalties for hurting patients.
The article notes an important and tragic truth, almost ten years after a landmark Institute of Medicine report calling medical errors in our hospitals a pandemic, there have been little advances in erradicating medical errors. The medical profession is obsessed with limiting their liability without paying attention to a sad truth that medical errors kill more people than car accidents.
"We haven't been forthright about the dirty little secret, the huge variation of quality and safety in the system," said Arthur Aaron Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers, a nonprofit patient advocacy group. "It's nine years later, and we can't even tell you if it's better," Mr. Levin said. "How is that permissible?"
Our firm is inundated with calls from potential clients asking if they are a victim of medical malpractice. This is a problem that has been known for years and there has not been one concerted effort to solve it.
