Kings County Hospital

At a trial being closely watched by the nation's medical community and gay activists, the attorney for a doctor suffering from AIDS claimed in opening arguments Monday that the "young and brilliant physician" is suffering a "slow and tortuous death" because of the negligence of hospital officials and supervisors. Diane Wilner, an attorney representing Dr.

It made news around the world, hard evidence of an American public hospital's indifference to a dying patient. Edith Isabel Rodriguez writhed for 45 minutes on the floor of the emergency room lobby at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital as staffers walked past and a janitor mopped around her. Her boyfriend called 911 from a pay phone outside the hospital, pleading futilely for help.

It made news around the world, hard evidence of an American public hospital's indifference to a dying patient. Edith Isabel Rodriguez writhed for 45 minutes on the floor of the emergency room lobby at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital as staffers walked past and a janitor mopped around her. Her boyfriend called 911 from a pay phone outside the hospital, pleading futilely for help.

At a trial being closely watched by the nation's medical community and gay activists, the attorney for a doctor suffering from AIDS claimed in opening arguments Monday that the "young and brilliant physician" is suffering a "slow and tortuous death" because of the negligence of hospital officials and supervisors. Diane Wilner, an attorney representing Dr.

Soul singer Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed from the neck down and remains in serious condition after being hit by a lighting scaffold blown down by a gust of wind during an outdoor concert Monday night in Brooklyn, N.Y. Mayfield, composer of such classic R&B tunes as "People Get Ready" and "Superfly," was about to begin performing at Windgate Field when a gust of wind dislodged an unstable scaffold of overhead stage lights and sent the tower crashing down on him.

Lawyers for an AIDS-afflicted doctor suing New York City for negligence asserted that they had proved a city hospital was careless in disposing of infectious wastes. Dr. Veronica Prego claims that she contracted the disease from a needle left carelessly at Kings County Hospital. A professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business testified that Prego could have made up to $30 million in her normal estimated working lifetime of 32.8 years had she not become infected.

A jury has awarded $1.5 million to a woman who was disfigured and nearly killed when a mental patient pushed her in front of a subway train six years ago. The money will be paid by the city's Health & Hospitals Corp. because the jury found Kings County Hospital, run by the agency, responsible for the wrongful release of the mental patient. Mary Ventura, 25, was sentenced in September, 1986, to up to 20 years in prison.

An 18-year-old mother abandoned her 2-year-old daughter in a hospital bathroom, leaving a note saying she feared she might abuse the child and wanted her placed in a home where she would be loved, police said Saturday. Security staff found the healthy girl Friday night at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. Police were seeking the mother, who said she was a working student who could not handle the pressure. The note was signed "Sincerely, Desperate."

Singer Curtis Mayfield, paralyzed by an accident at a Brooklyn concert 11 days ago, was transferred today to a spinal care treatment center near his Atlanta home. Mayfield, accompanied by his wife and son, left Kings County Hospital today for the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, a spokesman at the Brooklyn hospital said. The singer-songwriter was about to take the stage at an outdoor concert on Aug. 13 when a sudden gust of wind toppled a light tower, critically injuring Mayfield.

The city will pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a Hasidic student who died after being stabbed during the Crown Heights race riot 14 years ago. The family of Yankel Rosenbaum, a Hasidic scholar and doctoral student from Australia, claimed Kings County Hospital Center was negligent in failing to detect a 4-inch stab wound for more than an hour, an oversight that led to his death a day after he was attacked. The Aug.