The verdict holds NYC Health + Hospitals accountable for a 12-hour delay in insulin treatment and reflects the firm's five decades of representing New York patients and families harmed by hospital negligence.

NEW YORK, NY, October 20, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm, a team of New York medical malpractice attorneys and wrongful death lawyers, announced a plaintiff's verdict against NYC Health + Hospitals following the death of a 23-year-old woman who presented to the Woodhull Hospital emergency room with severe abdominal pain and vomiting in February 2020. Attorneys Kevin Lee and Rikki Dascal litigated the hospital negligence case on the family's behalf. The jury returned its verdict after roughly one hour and 44 minutes of deliberation.

The lawsuit centered on a 12-hour gap between the woman's hospital admission and the start of insulin treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when a lack of insulin allows the blood to turn acidic. Lab results available within hours of the woman's arrival showed signs consistent with pancreatitis, but hospital physicians treated only the pancreatitis and did not address the underlying diabetic ketoacidosis. During cross-examination, Attorneys Lee and Dascal were able to get the treating physician to concede that the delay in starting insulin fell below an acceptable standard of care.

To add insult to injury, by the time physicians realized their mistake and administered insulin, they gave the wrong type for her condition. Her condition continued to worsen due to blood loss, and her body went into shock. She died two and a half weeks after she first arrived at the hospital. Physician experts from Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Medical School testified that the 12-hour treatment delay significantly reduced her chance of survival.

"She did not receive the medication she needed. She did not receive the fluid that she needed. And we will contend the evidence will show that she lost a substantial chance at surviving," Kevin Lee told the jury in his opening statement.

In closing arguments, Rikki Dascal urged jurors to hold the hospital to the same standard as any other New York City facility. "This trial is your opportunity to hold a hospital in your community to the same standard of care as any other hospital in New York City," Dascal said. "Regardless of which hospital our client walked into, she should have received the same level of care."

NYC Health + Hospitals argued at trial that a busy emergency room contributed to the delay, an argument the jury rejected in reaching its verdict. Firm attorneys point to research showing that low-income and minority patients face longer emergency room wait times and lower quality care more often than other patients, and say the outcome of this case underscores the need for consistent treatment standards regardless of a hospital's location or patient population.

For over five decades, the firm's medical malpractice and hospital negligence practice has represented patients and families harmed by delayed diagnoses and treatment failures at hospitals throughout New York City, and the case adds to the firm's record in wrongful death litigation against public and private medical providers.

Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm has represented injured New Yorkers for more than five decades, with practice areas spanning medical malpractice, birth injury, civil rights and prisoner rights violations, wrongful death, and workplace accidents. The firm's attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for clients, including a $3 million settlement against the Federal Bureau of Prisons in an inmate abuse case.

Read the original story here: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/539700/jacob-d-fuchsberg-law-firm-obtains-jury-verdict-in-nyc-health-hospitals-wrongful-death-case

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