Across the State from Buffalo, a heart wrenching case has ended with the Westchester County Health Care Corporation paying the estate of Michael Colombini $2.9 million as a result of this six year old’s death while being treated at Westchester Medical Center.
In July of 2001, Michael Colombini was undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test at Westchester Medical Center to check for a brain tumor. While he lay in the machine, a nurse brought an oxygen tank made of ferrous metal into the room. Because of their magnetic properties, objects made of ferrous metal are banned from areas where MRI are performed. The ferrous metal oxygen tank was magnetically propelled into the MRI machine, striking the child in the head. He died two days later.
Shortly after the incident, the hospital offered $1 million to settle the case, which was rejected by the estate. The estate then filed a claim against the hospital based on wrongful death, pre-death conscious pain and suffering and punitive damages.
Over the next nine years, the parties engaged in pre-trial discovery and the hospital attempted to have the case dismissed on multiple occasions. The case was finally preparing to go to trial when the hospital nearly tripled its original offer and the case was settled.
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