On July 17, 2019, a Brooklyn jury awarded $5,000,000 to the Estate of a 39 year old woman who died 17 months after a cadaver kidney transplant surgery. The patient's death followed serious complications due to a urinary leak caused by an improperly secured ureter (urinary tube from kidney to bladder). The urinary leak resulted in the loss of the transplanted kidney, a resumption of dialysis and a painful fungal infection over the ensuing one year and five months before the patient's death.

The jury found that the hospital and physician departed from accepted medical standards of care for a three week delay in discovering the urinary leak. However, the jury rejected plaintiff's theory that the malpractice caused the patient's death. Instead, the jury found that the malpractice caused unnecessary pain and suffering for the 17 months prior to the patient's death. Avetisian v NY Presbyterian Hospital, William Stubenbord, M.D., Supreme Court, Kings County