Meet Malpractice Attorney Eleni Coffinas of Sullivan, Papain, Block, McManus, Coffinas & Cannovo P.C.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is the ideal time to shine a light on the excellent work done by Attorney Eleni Coffinas of Sullivan, Papain, Block, McManus, Coffinas and Cannovo P.C.  Coffinas is head of the medical malpractice department at the law firm. But, whether it is October or any other month of the year, Coffinas wants women to pay attention to their health.

“My specialty is breast cancer,” explains Coffinas, who has been practicing law for nearly 40 years. “I come into the picture when something has gone wrong.  Maybe something was missed on a mammogram, or maybe a young woman with a complaint of a lump was dismissed as too young, or maybe a patient got lost to follow up.”  Coffinas emphasizes that “women need to be educated to further advocate for themselves by getting the results of any testing  —  not assuming that no news is good news and getting second opinions when they intuitively think something is wrong.”

Coffinas, who splits her time between New York City and Quogue, has a fierce attitude about the work she does. A graduate of Brooklyn Law school, she has been with Sullivan, Papain since 1985.

Breast cancer is a topic near to the hearts and minds of Suffolk County women,” Coffinas says. “Understandably, women are afraid and aware of a high incidence of breast cancer in their county. There is also a high incidence of breast cancer among women of color either due to genetics, lack of proper care or a combination.”

She is one of the leading authorities on medical malpractice in New York and is sought after as a lecturer on medical malpractice issues by many bar associations. The judiciary in New York has recognized her expertise, inviting her to lecture before them on issues related to cancer litigation.

While she is an excellent litigator, she is also sought after to discuss the steps women should take to advocate for themselves regarding examinations, mammograms, sonograms and other testing modalities.  She educates women on steps they can and should take to make sure they get the earliest detection if this horrible disease decides to show up in their lives.  She is able to explain in plain language the importance of getting checked, getting tested and getting follow up treatment. “I very much want women to do all the things they can to get an early diagnosis, like self breast examination, routine mammograms and potentially breast sonograms and MRIs, depending upon specific risk factors, such as family history, dense breasts and genetic pre-disposition. I want to empower women to demand the services they need.”

“Any delay in diagnosing breast cancer can lead to more devastating treatment, (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy), an advanced stage of the disease and less of a chance for long-term survival,” Coffinas explains. “As a litigator, I come in late in the game.  The misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis has already happened.  All of my clients, who were deprived of the benefits of the earlier detection of breast cancer are strong and ready to fight.  And even if they have very advanced cancer, when asked who will win the war between them and cancer, they always say that they will win.  And they fight with everything they have while I fight for them to get justice.  We are a team.”

While she is an advocate for early diagnosis, her record of helping those who are victims of malpractice is impressive.  She won a $31 million verdict, the largest of its kind in New York, in a matter involving a failure to diagnose breast cancer.  She also won verdicts in the amounts of $4 million, $9 million and $15 million (among others) for women of various ages and ethnic backgrounds whose breast cancer diagnosis was delayed due to medical malpractice.

Coffinas litigates medical malpractice cases beyond those involving breast cancer, including other cancers, babies born with brain damage due to a delay in delivery notwithstanding warning signs (including a $61 million verdict), surgery errors, including a young mother who fell into a vegetative state after complications following gastric bypass surgery ($8 million settlement), emergency room errors including a young mother who died, leaving a husband and very young child because her complaint of a relentless and debilitating headache were not acted upon quickly ($6.3 million settlement), and many, many more.

Sullivan, Papain has recovered more than $2 billion for clients in the past 10 years. It was one of only six firms in the country to represent the State of New York in its litigation against the major tobacco companies. Their efforts helped the state to obtain an historic $25 billion recovery and unprecedented public health initiatives, which  are expected to save thousands of lives. They also have acted as a lead plaintiffs counsel in cases involving 9/11 rescue and recovery workers litigation, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, HIV-infected hemophiliacs and the Washington Square Park crash.

“As part of the legal process, we help those who have been harmed in the medical process to be compensated when they’ve — for whatever reason — have been deprived of their best chance of recovery and a cure.”

Coffinas explains that medical misdiagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider incorrectly identifies a patient’s condition or illness. A delayed diagnosis happens when the condition is identified later than it should have been, leading to delays in treatment. Both scenarios can have devastating consequences for patients, including progression of the disease, unnecessary treatments, or failure to receive timely care. Misdiagnosis is one of the leading causes of medical malpractice claims.

According to the National Academy of Medicine, diagnostic errors affect approximately 12 million adults in the United States each year and are a significant factor in patient harm. Among the conditions prone to misdiagnosis are cancer, heart attacks and strokes, infections and autoimmune diseases.

Coffinas explained that some causes of misdiagnoses include failure to order necessary diagnostic tests, incorrect interpretation of test results, inadequate patient history-taking or physical exam, communication breakdowns among healthcare providers and cognitive biases or errors in clinical judgment.

“As a medical malpractice lawyer, it is my job to determine if there was a delay in diagnosis, and if yes, if that was a departure from what is considered to be good and accepted medical practice and then if the delay caused a significant damage,” Coffinas explains.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.