Silberstein, Award & Miklos Wins a Landmark New York Medical Malpractice Decision on the Subject of Medical Record Discovery in Medical Malpractice Cases

Earlier this week, a New York appeals court ruled in favor of Jose Vargas, who requested the release of an audit trail from Wyckoff Heights Medical Center. In 2012, Jose Vargas received a foot surgery in the hospital. Unfortunately, during post-op Vargas contracted gangrene from the botched surgery and had to amputate his leg from his knee down.

Vargas then decide to pursue a medical malpractice case against Wyckoff Heights with the help from one of our attorneys, Joseph Miklos. To build his defense, Vargas requested access to a two-week piece of the audit trail, stating that it would uncover relevant evidence.

However, in June of 2015 the trial judge denied this request due to a lack of “good cause”. Vargas and his legal team chose to take this ruling to the Appellate Division, where the four-judge panel ruled unanimously in favor of Vargas’ request to the discovery of the audit trail.

The panel rejected the hospital’s argument that retrieving this information would be too time consuming and the only relevant information had already been provided to the plaintiff. The appeal court’s decision may help Vargas make great strides in this case and could help him get the compensation his legal team is fighting for.

The Importance of This Ruling

This ruling is an important one because it is a step in the right direction towards establishing a patients’ rights to their records. Audit trails hold a lot of pertinent and sensitive information that can be useful in cases such as Vargas’ medical malpractice lawsuit. Audit trails include information that document all changes to a patient’s records, as well as show which healthcare providers have access and input to the records.

Results like this demonstrate the passion and determination that our lawyers put into every single case we take on. With our team of skilled attorneys, we hope to get you the justice you are looking to achieve. Please reach out for a consultation if you wish to pursue a medical malpractice case.