$1.075 Million Settlement against Healthcare Providers for Failing to Take Medically Impaired Driver Off the Road Prior to Fatal Crash

In a case believed to set new legal precedent in New Jersey, attorneys Roberta D. Pichini and Andrew K. Mitnick achieved a $1.075 million settlement against a hospital/physicians who failed to instruct a patient with long-term impaired visual, cognitive and motor functioning not to drive and failed to report him to the Motor Vehicle Commission as required by law. The patient caused a fatal motor vehicle accident.

The case, brought on behalf of the deceased’s family, is the only case known to Feldman Shepherd in New Jersey in which healthcare providers were held liable under theories of medical negligence to parties with whom they did not have a doctor/patient relationship.

“Physicians have a legal and ethical duty to report patients who suffer from permanent impairments that can affect their ability to drive safely. Now, physicians who fail that duty will bear responsibility for the devastating consequences when an impaired patient injures innocent third-parties in an accident,” Mitnick said.