Whipped Cream Difficulties

New York, New York!

Several of the city’s most troubled hospitals are partially or completely uninsured for malpractice, state records show, forgoing what is considered a standard safeguard across the country.

This list includes Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, about which we have written previously.

In 2009, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, in Bushwick, had $50,000 in its malpractice fund; in 2010, the amount put aside to cover claims had dwindled to “0,” according to its financial statements. Yet the hospital listed professional liabilities of $37 million. Ramon Rodriguez, the chief executive, declined to comment.

On the other hand, are these hospitals better off without insurance?

“Malpractice insurance is a lawsuit magnet,” said a former hospital administrator who did not want to be named to avoid upsetting potential employers. Malpractice lawyers said that underinsured hospitals put them in a tricky position.
“There is some arm-twisting,” said Alan Fuchsberg, a personal injury lawyer in Manhattan, as plaintiffs are told that they will end up with nothing and push the hospitals into bankruptcy if they do not “just take the little bit” that is offered to them.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the murder of Herman Rosenthal. Mr. Rosenthal was a small time crook who ran several gambling dens, and was allegedly paying off politicians and cops. One of the cops he was alleged to be bribing was Lieutenant Charles Becker of the vice squad; Lt. Becker raided Rosenthal’s establishment anyway, leading to a heated dispute between the two gentlemen.

This dispute ended with Mr. Rosenthal being shot outside a Manhattan hotel. Lt. Becker was tried, convicted, had his conviction overturned on appeal (due to alleged bias by the judge in the case), retried, convicted again, and finally executed. Lt. Becker is one of a very few police officers to face the death penalty for crimes committed while a police officer. (Incidentally, I still have not found an execution date for Antoinette Frank.)

The NYT has a retrospective article summarizing the case, and suggesting that Lt. Becker may have been innocent of ordering the Rosenthal murder. (There does not seem to be any question that Lt. Becker was a crooked cop; the main question is, did he order the murder, or were the killers acting independently?)

Historical note: one of the men who pinned the murder on Lt. Becker was Jack Rose. Yeah, that Jack Rose.

(Subject line hattip. Can I just mention that it is awesome that WikiQuote has an entire section of “Sam and Max: Freelance Police” quotes?)

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2012 at 9:04 am and is filed under Clippings, Law, Mixology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.