New York City Medical Malpractice

First "discovered" in 1524, the area now known as New York City, located at the mouth of the Hudson River, had actually been home to the Lenape Native American population for over 11,000 years before Europeans took note of it. That first European was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer on an expedition for France. However, no Europeans settled there for another century or so until Henry Hudson re-discovered the coastal region in 1609. Hudson claimed the area in the name of the Dutch East India Company, and while the goal of his journey had been to find a Northwest Passage, the Dutch were nevertheless pleased with the new land and quickly established themselves in the region.

Generations ago, medical knowledge was largely mixed with home remedies, superstitions, and assumptions that would eventually be disproven by modern science. Certainly, and understandably, this limitation handicapped the effectiveness of medical treatment. Often, treatment methods had ineffective, deleterious or even deadly results.

The first structured settlement was a trading post that grew from the fur trade established between the Dutch and the Lenape. It is from the Lenape that colonist Peter Minuit, the directory of the Dutch West India Company, is said to have purchased the island of Manhattan in 1626. Common myth holds that the goods he traded for the land were worth $24, but historians now place that figure around $600. Either way, the deal proved ultimately favorable for the Europeans and unfavorable for the Lenape. By the 18th century, the Lenape population totaled 200 people, and presently, the city that took its place now boasts a total metropolitan population of almost 19 million.

Still, the city had a long way to go from its humble beginnings to the cultural hub it is today. The fur-trading post was named New Amsterdam by the Dutch, but renamed New York after the English conquered it in 1664. The settlement grew increasingly important as the colonies developed, both under British rule and as favor turned away from the ruling nation. On July 9, 1776, New York joined in the cry for independence, declaring itself free from the British as one of the first 13 states in the Federal Union.

Because there was no standard or consensus regarding the body's function or response to treatment, medical malpractice was never an issue. People were just left hoping that their village doctor's best attempts would turn out well and they would live to see another year.

Many of the battles during the Revolutionary War took place on New York's soil. In fact, the capital of the newly formed United States of America was located first in New York City, albeit briefly, before moving to Washington D.C. But in addition to leading to a new national government, the revolution gave birth to New York State as a new entity as well. New York's first governor, George Clinton, was inaugurated in 1777, and Albany became the state's first capital in 1797.

The next several decades held significant progress for the city. One of the greatest factors initiating change was immigration, which brought large numbers of citizens, workers, and various cultural influences into the city's hustle. The Erie Canal opened in 1819, significantly boosting economics and jobs by connecting the country's agricultural interior to faster outside trade. In the 1830's, New York's population was the greatest of any city in the U.S., Irish immigrants had a strong hand in politics, and both Brooklyn and Manhattan became hotbeds for interracial activists in support of abolition.

But by halfway through the 19th century, science as a whole, and medicine in particular, had narrowed considerably from superstitions in earlier eras. The American Medical Association was established in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, showing that the medical community of the United States was ready to hold itself to higher standards.

But tensions among races and cultures were raised during the Civil War. Despite New York's support of the Union, the lower classes were hit hard by wartime economics and a draft that was introduced partway through the war. The spark that lit the fuse was the allowance for a "commutation fee," which permitted those who could afford it to pay $300 and be exempt from service.

The result was the Draft Riots of 1863, a violent uprising of crowds who were frustrated with not only the draft, but particularly with the $300 provision and universally with the war as a whole. Furious crowds set fire to several public and government buildings, and with the state's militia off helping in battle, police were unable to control the crowds. Seeking further outlet for their anger, the crowds, composed largely of Irish immigrants, turned on the city's African American citizens, blaming blacks for both the war and the job shortage. Within days the draft was suspended and state and federal militia were called in to quell the violence, but by then over 100 people had been killed, a black orphanage seiged, almost a dozen African American men lynched, and roughly 50 buildings burned to the ground.

Even so, what we now recognize as medical malpractice happened on a continual basis. But with modern medicine setting a basis and standard of care, these omissions and negligent behaviors by doctors and other providers became less and less acceptable, and today there is no admissible reason for negligent behavior on the part of a health care provider.

After the war, tensions eased somewhat as economic and population boom increased at a faster pace than ever. The population more than doubled between 1850 and 1880 as New York drew new residents from more rural areas of America and from other countries as well. Immigrants continued to pour into Ellis Island past the Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1886. With such an influx of people, space became tight and tenements and skyscrapers started springing up. Finally, in 1898, residents officially voted to join together and become a single city. Brooklyn, then a separate entity, joined Manhattan and the independent districts of Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx to function as 'buroughs', creating the New York City we know today.

As the medical system progressed, so did the legal system, and by the latter half of the twentieth century, mistreated patients had the opportunity to confront those whose behavior constituted medical malpractice. Patients could finally hold those responsible for their health to the higher standards to which they claimed to be striving.

Each of the boroughs is also part of a separate county. The northernmost of these is The Bronx, which is distinct because it is the only borough located primarily on the mainland as opposed to an island. Adjacent to The Bronx is Manhattan, which comprises New York County, now the most densely populated area in the nation. Manhattan is made up of several islands and is a contemporary center of tourism and commerce for the city. Queens covers a decidedly larger geographic area than either Manhattan or The Bronx and houses what are currently the city's two major airports, La Guardia and John F. Kennedy. In modern times, Queens is also known as having a population of impressive ethnic diversity. Brooklyn, which was an independent city before becoming a part of the larger city, has the greatest population of the five, and its residents still pride themselves on its distinct character among the boroughs. It is slightly smaller than Queens, but still larger than the northern two boroughs. Finally, Staten Island is the southernmost borough of New York City, and the only to exclusively occupy a single island. With this somewhat isolated location and the smallest population of the five boroughs, Staten Island functions almost as a suburb of the other four. Even so, the Staten Island Ferry is a well-known tourist attraction, which gives each borough a its own distinct appeal to those visiting the city in the twenty-first century.

The history of medical malpractice law leads up to modern times. In the twenty-first century, legislation is constantly evolving to ensure that patients are represented in the fairest way possible. Oftentimes, though, doctors and insurance agencies fight for legislation to protect their own assets, regardless of the damage a patient has sustained.

Yet this metropolis was brand new just 100 years ago, and tied together in 1904 by an expansive new subway system, New York became more attractive than ever. Immigrants and other laborers once again poured in, and the population doubled again in the first three decades of the twentieth century. But even New York City, the Big Apple itself, experienced some growing pains. Major fires destroyed the General Slocum, a steamship, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, killing over a thousand passengers and nearly 150 workers, respectively. These tragedies brought  the safety and standards of industrial development under harsh scrutiny in the public eye, prompting the growth of labor unions and push for other reforms.

The 1920's were also a time of cultural flourish as a new generation of African Americans poured in from the American South. During the era of prohibition, culture boomed as much as economics, and while the Harlem Renaissance lit up Manhattan, the skyline of New York City burgeoned with competing skyscrapers.

But in the past several decades especially, medical malpractice law and the attorneys who defend it have been striving to successfully represent patients against these larger institutions. Drawing on a history of constantly refined medical practice, health care providers are obligated to provide the most responsible treatment they can to the patients for whom they care.

Having weathered the Great Depression and World War II, New York City saw yet another boom in the late 1940's as war veterans and more European immigrants moved en masse into eastern Queens. In 1948, New York City was officially marked as the world's most populous city. In the 1950's, the United Nations built its headquarters in Manhattan; Lower Manhattan's Wall Street became infamous as a global center of economic power; and abstract expressionism, influenced by surrealism and avant-garde movements (and also known as "New York School") gave the city an enormously competitive edge in the art world. Thus with culture, politics, and economics all thriving in one place, the City of New York became a global metropolis that would be hard to beat.

However, even the most vibrant cities fall on hard times. The next two decades proved tough for New York City. A manufacturing decline and economic slump in the 1960's fueled a dramatic increase in crime and racial tensions. The highways that had been built in the 1950's allowed countless suburbs to spring up, and affluent residents fled the inner city for more peaceful digs on the city's periphery. As New York's infrastructure weakened, this "white flight" only exacerbated the problem. Times Square, now an excessively popular downtown destination for tourists, was at that time a hotbed of drugs, crime and prostitution, and the city soon developed a a reputation as a tough locale whose better days had come and gone.

In today's society, when health providers do shirk their responsibility, either by acting inappropriately or failing to act appropriately, the patient does have some recourse. Medical malpractice law is in place to ensure that all patients are treated well and that modern medicine actually provides the level of care it promises.

But financial improvements in the 1980's eased tensions somewhat, and by the 1990's, racial confrontations and crime rates began to abate at a fairly rapid pace. Asian and Latin American immigrants fueled the city with new cultural twists and even more residents, and in 2000, New York City's population reached a new record high. Manhattan in particular emerged back into the ground-breaking edge of world commerce with Silicon Alley. The name refers to an area, originally between the SoHo and the Flatiron District, that is highly-concentrated with internet and media companies that set the pace for global technology and communication.

In 2001, New York City was the subject of international news attention after two commercial passenger planes were hi-jacked and flown into the "Twin Towers" of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The World Trade Center was originally composed of seven different buildings, and the five not hit directly by the aircraft were subsequently destroyed as a result of the two higher towers' collapse. Initiatives to rebuild on the site have been the source of considerable debate in both public and official realms. Suggested plans have included a memorial, museum, new towers and green space, although no single plan has yet to be taken without harsh criticism from some realm or another.