6 AWP Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 February 15–21, 2019
Grass-roots plot
Green thumbs mobilizing youngsters to
win budgeting vote for community tools
Photo by Kathy Park Price
ON THE RADIO
When the L train truly stinks
Medical malpractice cases all have at least one
thing in common: allegations that a healthcare
provider violated the governing standard of care,
resulting in injury, or possibly even death. Here,
that standard involves the laws of the State of New
York. There are a variety of cases that fall under
medical malpractice, all that result from either an
action taken by a healthcare provider, or an omission
from action by a healthcare provider. Nonetheless,
it has led to irreparable harm to a patient
due to some form of negligence, and therefore legal
redress will be owed to the patient.
Examples of medical malpractice cases include:
failure to diagnose a medical condition or
disease on time or at all, misdiagnosis of a medical
condition or disease, lack of or inappropriate
medical treatment, and surgical errors and complications.
Damages for medical malpractice include economic
recovery for the victim to make them whole
again for lost wages, the cost of medical care, other
out-of-pocket medical expenses, and even for pain
and suffering resulting from the injury. Not only
can the victim recover, but so can their spouse,
and, in death cases, the next of kin can recover for
their loss. Additionally, in New York, there is no
cap for damages that can be awarded for a medical
malpractice case.
It is also important to note that there is a Statue
of Limitations on medical malpractice claims,
which means that the claim must be brought within
a certain amount of time within the injury having
occurred, or else the claim could be barred. In
New York, the Statute of Limitations for a medical
malpractice claim is 30 months, or 2 years and 6
months, from the date of injury. This statute is different
for minor children, however, which does not
start running until the child turns 18. There is an
exception to this, though: regardless of the age of
the child when the injury occurred, the statute of
limitations cannot extend longer than 10 years.
Medicine can, at the same time, be both a
great, wonderful thing and a scary, unknown set
of twists and turns. If you or your family finds
themselves victim to the perils of medical malpractice,
you may want to speak to your attorney
as soon as possible to discuss your options.
In past years our law office has obtained numerous
settlements in Medical Malpractice cases
including settlements for $17.9 Million and $18.1
Million, as well as a verdict for $62 Million in a
medical malpractice case. If you have suffered
from the medical malpractice of a doctor or hospital,
our office is available to discuss what happened
for a free consultation to determine if you
may be entitled to money damages.
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Paper
Talk about getting out the
youth vote!
Park Slopers are mobilizing
some of their youngest constituents
to win an upcoming
participatory-budgeting
vote to create a tool-lending
library for school gardens in
the area.
“Eleven-year-olds can vote
for participatory budgeting and
not enough is being done to
speak to those crucial and influential
voters,” said Kathy
Park Price, a local mom and
advocate for the more than
20 school gardens within her
school district. “Expanding the
electorate to the 11-years-andup
population will be critical
to our success.”
The tool-lending library
scheme will again be among
the options that residents can
elect to fund via Councilman
Brad Lander’s (D–Park Slope)
participatory-budgeting process
this year, after it lost by a
narrow margin in last year’s
vote. A rep for Lander confirmed
that locals as young as
A youngster shows off some produce from a Red
Hook school garden within District 15.
11 can cast ballots in the poll,
which opens on March 30.
The library, which comes
at a cost of $7,000 and would
be kept at Park Slope’s Old
Stone House museum, would
offer equipment including leafblowers,
chainsaws, and other
tools to adult supervisors of
pint-sized gardeners within
School District 15, which encompasses
Park Slope as well
as Fort Greene, Boerum Hill,
Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill,
Gowanus, Red Hook, Kensington,
and Sunset Park.
Price said the demand for
school gardens in the area only
grew after she formed the advocacy
group Garden Train
in 2017, which raises awareness
of District 15’s existing
educational farms through
events such as open houses,
and partnerships with other
community growing patches
in Park Slope and its surrounding
neighborhoods.
And tiny constituents could
be the block that sways the upcoming
budgeting vote in the
community tool shed’s favor,
which is why the mom and her
fellow green thumbs will spend
the upcoming weeks educating
youngsters in the way of
the vote — a grass-roots campaign
she hopes will get their
parents to the polls, too.
“It’s been proven that 100
percent of adults get all the
feels when they see kids in the
garden learning, believing in
science, and caring for the environment,”
she said. “We believe
the children will come
out in force for school gardens
this year.”
Students and teachers at
schools where gardens already
exist would be able to
expand their growing patches
with such a facility, according
to Price, who said the community
tools would go a long way
toward creating more gardens
at learning houses that currently
lack them.
By Moses Jefferson
Brooklyn Paper
Hold your noses!
Brooklyn Paper Radio
is back with an all-new episode,
on which co-hosts Anthony
Rotunno and Johnny
Kunen dove right into the latest
stinky situation to engulf
the beleaguered L train.
The duo invited reporter
Julianne Cuba on to discuss
the city and state’s ongoing
response to reports of noxious
fumes emanating from
the subway’s tunnels and stations,
which reportedly caused
one straphanger to faint and
sent a group of union transit
workers to the hospital, despite
officials’ claims that the
odor is harmless.
“People started noticing it
last week,” Cuba said. “The
MTA brought on an external
environmental consultant
who determined that the air
was safe but that didn’t stop
union employees from falling
ill and having to be taken to
the hospital.”
Ever the sleuth, Kunen attempted
to put two and two
together upon learning the
workers were hospitalized
even as officials claimed the
fumes were safe.
“I smell a scandal!” he
speculated.
The trio noted that concerns
over the stench recalled
similar worries that Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
board members expressed
about the state agency’s new
plan to repair the line — which
will allow continued, reduced
service throughout the job, but
could expose riders to a harmful
chemical as contractors
repair the concrete walls inside
the L’s East River–spanning
Canarsie Tube.
Cuba stuck around to fill
the co-hosts in on another
issue locals recently made
a stink over — the lack of
a formal presentation at a
long-awaited city meeting
about officials’ proposal to
rezone a massive chunk of
Gowanus surrounding the
neighborhood’s eponymous,
fetid canal.
But the episode wasn’t just
relegated to sniffing out controversy.
National treasure and
Brooklyn Paper Arts Editor
Bill Roundy came by to conclude
the show with a list of
activities happening across
Kings County this week.
Tune in now to hear it all
go down!
Brooklyn Paper Radio
streams new episodes
each Tuesday, which can
be found on BrooklynPaper.
com, on iTunes , and of
course, on Stitcher .
/www.BrooklynPaper.com
/www.BrooklynPaper.com