$8 Million Settlement in Malpractice

We entrust our loved ones to doctors, expecting they will make the right decisions promptly. When children see their parents in the hospital, they are often expected to be returned alive and well. But what happens when the trust we hold is broken? A negligent error made by the attending physician results in preventable death, leaving a family broken in grief.

The Tragic Case of Joya Pipkin

Joya Pipkin, died at only 41 years-old at Mount Sinai Hospital due to a failed code blue system after she was given sedation on January 16, 2009. In Ms. Pipkin’s case, over seven minutes passed before an anesthesiologist was present and proper resuscitation was initiated. Those seven minutes contributed to irreversible brain damage, from which Ms. Pipkin passed.

We represented her 14-year-old son, Ronald Willis Jr., and were able to obtain justice for his mother’s untimely and preventable death. The jury found that Mount Sinai Hospital was negligent in failing to have a proper code blue protocol for resuscitating patients who suffer adverse consequences from sedation.

Quote on an image background stating, “It is unacceptable for a hospital not to have an organized code blue system to provide for 
the timely resuscitation of its patients. The jury listened closely and worked hard."
Care providers are responsible for always attending to those in charge in a timely manner. Seven minutes may seem to be a significant amount of time, but for Joya, those seven minutes were critical and proved fatal. With a timely response, Joya would have had a much better chance for survival.
Image of a young African American woman, known as Joya Pipkin.

Our wish is that nobody would suffer as Joya and her family have. Cases like this should cause care providers to pause, reexamine their systems and practices, and find better solutions in faltering areas. Nobody should be made to suffer for a physician’s or caregiver’s errancy.

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