New York Attorney Leads New Patient Safety Initiative
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Pegalis and Erickson, LLC is pleased to announce founding partner Steven E. Pegalis, of the Lake Success, New York law firm of Pegalis and Erickson, LLC and an Adjunct Professor of Law was named by the New York Law School (NYLS), along with Irwin R. Merkatz, M.D. as co-directors of the NYLS Patient Safety Project (PSP). This project is unique and groundbreaking in that it has included the collection and distribution of closed anonymous medical liability cases for the purpose of adding to existing safety intiatives. By disseminating, on an anonymous basis, actual legal cases detailing errors that caused avoidable patient injury, healthcare providers and their risk managers will engage in discussions that logically will lead to reduced incidences of similar injuries.
Dr. Irwin Merkatz, Emeritus Professor and former chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has an extraordinary medical career that includes innovative advances in the regionalization of healthcare and in patient safety. Co-directors Professor Pegalis and Dr. Merkatz have assembled an esteemed group of advisors for the Project that includes individuals from national health organizations, hospitals, and medical liability insurance companies each of whom has a special interest and expertise with regard to patient safety.
"Safety to reduce the incidence of adverse patient outcomes, justice for those who sustained avoidable injuries, and spending healthcare funds wisely and fairly cover the scope of our NYLS mission," said Professor Pegalis.
The NYLS'S PSP has compiled and begun distribution of Volume I of its anonymous closed medical liability cases consisting of 26 cases. The anticipation is that with "feedback" from providers, risk managers and others vested in safer healthcare, the Project will become a dynamic "conversation". It has been said by medical safety experts that "medical errors will not be found without diligent conversations with those who provide care."
By including a distinguished physician, such as Dr. Merkatz, and by working with an esteemed group of advisors, the NYLS Project has taken a unique and unprecedented step beyond legal theory and scholarship. That step is to be part of processes striving for safer medical care.
Mr. Pegalis, who represents injured plaintiffs in medical liability cases notes that healthcare providers as a group want to be as safe as they can be for their patients. Therefore, it is anticipated that a common ground approach including patients who have been injured from unsafe care will be an engine driving the Project. Mr. Pegalis notes that as healthcare has become increasingly more complex, the chance for injury caused by error increases, making it even more imperative to strive for the safest care possible.
About Pegalis & Erickson, LLC
US News and World Report has named Pegalis and Erickson, LLC to the 2015 Best Law Firms list, for medical malpractice in the New York area. Pegalis & Erickson is a personal injury law firm with a focus on representing seriously injured people that suffered medical negligence. We have won some of the largest verdicts in New York State history for birth trauma, misdiagnosed cancers, and surgical errors, and have obtained justice for serious construction and accident victims. In our forty years of practice, we have helped more than 2,000 people obtain funds for services they need to survive live day-to-day. We are advocates for patient safety and medical accountability to ensure safer medical practices for better patient care. Visit us at www.pegalisanderickson.com. For health news you can use follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Press Contact:
Ellen Christie (516) 684-2900
[email protected]
SOURCE Pegalis and Erickson, LLC
Share this article