Birmingham Injury Blog

The Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about a medical negligence lawsuit regarding a cancer patient's death. Patricia Quirk was receiving radiation treatments for endometrial cancer in Chicago hospital and died of a perforated bowel.

Ms. Quirk's untimely death was caused by receiving 50% more radiation during the last two-thirds of her treatments, being basically "over-radiated." Appropriate amounts of radiation treatments can have unpleasant side effects such as fatigue, hair loss and nausea.

Yet when given in overwhelmingly large amounts, radiation can have disastrous effects on one's body, as the decedent's case unfortunately illustrates. The large doses of radiation eventually caused decedent's bowel to perforate, or tear, which resulted in a blood infection and her eventual death.

The decedent's family mourned the senseless loss of Patricia Quirk and argued that if common sense had been applied then the Chicago hospital's medical negligence could have been avoided. The decedent's radiation prescription was for 180 centigrays of radiation, yet she was given 270 centigrays. Plaintiff's attorneys argued that if the medical staff had simply reviewed the chart that the error would have been caught and the Chicago woman's wrongful death would have been avoided.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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The Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about a rather strange, recently settled wrongful death case.

An 85 year old Illinois man confused the gas and brake pedals of his car, accidentally accelerating and crashing his vehicle into the side of a Subway restaurant. A restaurant patron was pinned between the car and the counter, which killed him.

A suit was filed on behalf of the decedent that involved several parties. However, the restaurant owner was found to be the most liable for the accident because he should have taken precautions to...

protect patrons from out-of-control vehicles crashing through their walls. Targeting the owner of the premises, in this case Subway, set the current case apart from many other theories of liability. The estate alleged that Subway's negligence in preventing the Illinois car accident was foreseeable because of the poorly designed parking lot and the lack of protective barriers between the lot and the front of the restaurant.

Subway paid a settlement of $1 million to the decedent's estate. The 85 year old man, Chrysler, the restaurant's owner, and the franchise also paid settlements.

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Posted In: Wrongful Death

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Pet owners are usually very loving of their pets - the pets become a member of the family. Let's say someone recklessly runs a stop sign or is speeding and kills your dog that has been with you for years and grown up with your children. Or an elderly person has a dog for a companion for ten years and someone shoots the dog. What can be done?

The traditional response is that at best you can only recover for the value of the dog and any medical or funeral expenses you have to pay. No emotional distress damages.

Mark McAndrew has an interesting post about a Vermont Supreme Court decision where this issue will be tested and explored - can you recover emotional distress damages for pets. In the Vermont case the plaintiff alleges the defendant shot (and killed) the dog with malice.

When there is an update we'll let you know.

My suspicion is that the court will be moved by the plaintiffs but ultimately will not allow for emotional distress damages for the "wrongful death of a dog" due to fears of this opening up too much litigation where large awards could be handed down.

In Alabama where we only allow punitive damages for wrongful death actions (you knew we had to be unique, right?) I don't see our conservative supreme court saying you can get punitive damages against someone who kills your dog. But you never know - could be conversion of personal property which can support punitive damages.....

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Posted In: Interesting News , Wrongful Death

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The Georgia Injury Law Blog has posted an article on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new proposition for stronger side airbags in vehicles. Last year the NHTSA announced that auto makers would be required to comply with "stronger roof strength standards" to prevent injuries and fatalities in rollover crashes.

The agency is now saying that stronger side airbags can prevent passengers from being ejected from a vehicle window during a rollover accident, even if they're not wearing a seatbelt. In 2002, 10,600 people died in rollover crashes and the number has declined every year especially since " more cars now come equipped with Electronic Stability Control systems that prevent rollovers."

According to its data, every year 6,400 people die when they are ejected from the side window during a rollover. It’s these lives the agency wants to save with its new standards. Currently, many vehicles come with side airbags, but these don’t comply with the NHTSA’s proposed stronger new standards.

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Posted In: Car Wreck

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The Maryland Injury Attorney Blog has posted an article about another case of nursing home abuse. Generally, one expects the culprits of nursing home abuse to be the employees; however, sometimes fellow residents are the guilty party.

A 98 year old Boston nursing home resident has been indicted for strangling and smothering her 100 year old roommate to death with a plastic shopping bag because she felt her roommate was "trying to take over the room."

...the victim's son had asked the facility to separate the two women due to tensions between them, but he was reassured that they were getting along -- and that his mother did not want to leave the room, where she had lived with her husband until his death in 2007.

The women's room was mere feet from the nurses' station, yet no one noticed a disturbance. Apparently, the 98 year old suffered from dementia and was prone to bouts of "erratic behavior."

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Posted In: Nursing Home

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Yahoo News has posted an article that discusses the ongoing problem of teenagers continuing to text while driving. The majority of teens choose to ignore bans on texting while driving. Bans are hard for police to enforce:

Some police agencies, while strongly in favor of such mandates, say its tough for officers to enforce them.

The California Highway Patrol has handed out nearly 163,000 tickets to drivers talking on hand-held phones since mid-2008. But it has issued only 1,400 texting citations since January in a state of 23 million drivers -- not for lack of trying.

"The handheld cell phone is relatively easy for us to spot, we can see when somebody has their phone up to their ear," CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

"But with the texting it's a little bit more of a challenge to catch them in the act, because we have to see it and if they are holding it down in their lap it's going to be harder for us to see."

Texting increases the likelihood of being in an accident by as much as 23 times.

"What I would say is that texting and cell phone devices have become such a component of life for teens and for young people that it's hard for them to differentiate between doing something normal and doing something wrong," said Steven Bloch, senior research associate for the Automobile Club.

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Posted In: Recent Case News

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The Alabama Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article that discusses the FDA's reluctance to discipline doctors and medical researchers who have committed crimes while carrying out research for the FDA.

According to government watchdog group, many of these criminally convicted health professionals are in charge of overseeing the safety of patients undergoing clinical trials, which calls into question how safe any of us are when it comes to medical research in general.

The article mentions one specific doctor who remained in practice for 11 years...

even though he had been convicted of 53 counts of criminal offense for, among other things, bribing an employee to conceal information about the attempted suicide of a clinical-trial patient and prescribing a drug without a license.

The FDA has the power to ban doctors from overseeing medical research if federal regulations are ignored while caring for clinical trial patients. The organization is also required to disqualify doctors who have been accused of other crimes, such as fraud.

The types of misconduct that can get a doctor debarred include submitting false information to the FDA, forging patient consent forms and not reporting when a patient has an adverse reaction to an experimental drug.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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The Tennnessee Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article that discusses another dangerous aspect of driving under the influence.

If convicted of a DUI, the jury may also require that the offending driver pay punitive damages, on top of the criminal charges associated with a DUI. The driver may be held responsible for damages to the other vehicle and/or other property, medical bills and lost wages of the other driver and any other expenses because of the accident.

Driving under the influence is one of the most commonly committed criminal offenses. Often, no one is seriously injured as a result of such conduct but driving under the influence has also been responsible for a multitude of deaths and serious injuries. If such injury occurs, the driver can be held responsible for the injury both by the imposition of criminal charges and the awarding of a large amount of damages against the driver.

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Posted In: Car Wreck

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The Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article that serves as an excellent reminder to use caution when operating your in-car navigation systems. While they can be very helpful, navigation systems can also be a huge distraction and often cause accidents (and lawsuits) when drivers are tinkering with them and not paying attention to the road.

The companies that make navigation systems are well aware of the dangers that interacting with them while driving can pose, and most navigation systems have a disclaimer that makes the user agree that they will not be actively interacting with the system while in motion. One obvious danger posed by such systems is that drivers who are using a hand to adjust something on the system do not have two hands with which to control the automobile if necessary.

Another danger is that some drivers choose to rely on their navigation system rather than common sense. They often assume the navigation system will warn them of every detail of the road.

However, possibly the greatest risk of navigation systems is that if you're looking at it, you're not looking at the road. This is good for everyone to remember, especially during the holiday season when so many people are on the road.

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Posted In: Car Wreck

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The Indiana Injury Law Blog has posted an article that discusses a new regulation that would require truckers to drive for less than eleven consecutive hours, the current time limit.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is working to produce an official plan to reduce the number of hours truckers can drive, but likely won't have results for around nine months. Previously, truckers were limited to ten hours of driving time per day, so it would seem likely the FMCSA would revert back to that.

At first it may not seem that a single hour can make a significant difference, but trucker fatigue accounts for a large number of traffic accidents.

Every year, thousands of truck accidents can be traced to tired, drowsy truckers, fatigued from too many hours spent on the job...Dealing with trucker fatigue is an important part of reducing accident fatality rates, and setting lower maximum working hours for truckers is an important part of those efforts.

An eleven hour day would certainly make sense from an economic standpoint, but the pressure truckers are under to make timed deliveries combined with fatigue can often lead to serious accidents.

Profits for the trucking industry must not be allowed to take precedence over the safety of motorists and truck drivers.

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Posted In: Truck Wreck

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The Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article on the latest slip and fall statistics. Nearly a third of Americans ages 65 and older will sustain an injury due to a fall; deaths as a result of falls have been rising since the year 2000.

Falls account for 87% of the annual 250,000 hip fractures in people over 65. Hip fractures can then lead to other serious health complications such as blood clots, "skin breakdown" and pressure sores, ulcers and infection. More time for recovery is needed, which raises the risk of the above complications.

Family members can help their elderly relatives by trying to lessen the risk of the possible side effects. For example, try to keep seniors among familiar settings where they are less of a risk of suffering a fall. Also, to make sure they are in the best possible health, make sure they attend their doctor's appointments, which might require making driving arrangements for less mobile seniors. Make sure they are taking all their necessary medications and receiving proper nutrition. These measures will help ensure your family member stays as healthy as possible and lessens the risk of any negative outcomes.

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Posted In: Slip and Fall

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The Indiana Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an entry about the risks of surgical fires and how to prevent them. There are roughly 550-650 surgical fires a year, with about 1-2 being fatal and 30 resulting in serious injuries.

The risk of being the victim of a surgical fire (or "flash fire") is rather low, but the article suggests that it is entirely too high considering the fires are completely preventable.

According to ECRI forensic investigators, most flash fires occur when high oxygen levels cause material like surgical sheets in the operating room, to ignite. High oxygen levels can often be found under these sheets or drapes. Other common causes of flash fires are alcohol-based cleaners. The cleaner must be fully dried before laying out the electronic surgical equipment. Otherwise, the vapors can ignite, causing a sudden flash fire.

The article brings up the recent case of Janice McCall, a 65 year old woman who sustained fatal injuries from a surgical fire in a hospital in Illinois. She was badly burned before operating room staff could put out the fire; no one else was injured. Ms. McCall was rushed to another hospital in Tennessee with severe burns and died six days later.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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