Washington Injury Attorney Blog

A Oregon construction worker, John Thomas Sparks, was killed in a construction accident when a dump truck backed over him on a work site on the Washington County road realignment project in Oregon.

According to a report on Oregon Live.com, Sparks, 51, was a flagger on the construction site on Saturday and was directing traffic and facing the other direction when the truck backed up and hit him. Sparks was apparently in the truck driver's blind spot. He was knocked down and received crushing injuries. He was pronounced dead at the accident scene.

The Federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) are conducting a full investigation. The Washington County Crash Analysis Reconstruction Team (CART) are also assisting in the investigation.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in construction accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The parents of Stephanie Kuleba, an 18-year-old Florida girl who died because of complications of anesthesia while undergoing plastic surgery, have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the anesthesiologist and plastic surgeon who operated on their daughter.

According to a posting on KPTV.com, Kuleba died of a condition known as malignant hyperthermia, a rare genetic disease which was triggered by anesthesia. Kuleba was undergoing surgery in 2008 to correct inverted nipples and breast asymmetry at the time of her death. Malignant hyperthermia is a condition which speeds up the body's metabolism and heart rate. About 90% of patients survive the condition when treated properly. The condition occurs in one of every 20-100,000 people who undergo anesthesia.

Thomas and Joanne Kuleba's wrongful death lawsuit contends that Dr. Steve Schuster's office was not prepared to respond to their daughter's needs once her condition because life-threatening. The Kulebas claim the physicians were negligent in not diagnosing Stephanie's condition soon enough, not administering enough Dantrolene, a drug used to treat the condition, and waited too long to call 911.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people for medical malpractice claims if a physician's negligence resulted in injury or death.

Plastic surgery malpractice can lead to serious injuries or death due to infection or can lead to permanent damage, excessive scarring, nerve damage or disfigurement.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

For more information about malignant hyperthermia, see the Stephanie Jude Kuleba - Awareness of Malignant Hyperthermia web-site.

Two adults and five children were injured in a single-car accident at Highway 3 at Belfair around 8:30pm Monday night. No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt when the driver missed a turn onto Highway 3 and went down an embankment, hitting several trees.

The two adults in the car, a 32-year-old Belfair woman and a woman, seemed to have the most severe injuries. The man, who was driving, suffered chest pains and the woman sustained a head injury. The children suffered abrasions and sprains according to Seattle's King5.com. All seven were taken to Harison Medical Center in Bremerton for treatment.

According to the article, the driver may be charged with driving under the influence. The driver could also be charged with Vehicular Assault, RCW 46.61.522, which is a statute that can be used if a person is seriously injured and the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In Washington, according to statute RCW 46.61.688, all vehicle occupants must wear a seat belt and it is the responsibility of the driver that each child be properly secured.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents due to the negligence of another. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Health and Human Services (HHS) provides people with Medicare and Medicaid a tool which allows them to compare every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in their own community.

On-line Tool

• Name and address of nursing home
  
• Overall rating of the facility -- on a 1-5 scale which includes a health inspection rating, the staffing rating and the quality measures rating.
  
• Health inspections rating -- a rating based upon an annual health inspection.
  
• Nursing home staff rating -- based upon staffing, the number of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Licensed Vocational Nurses and Certified Nursing Statement. This rating is calculated using the number of patients and provides the ratio of staff hours per resident per day.
  
• Quality Measure - based upon residents and quality measures in the nursing home. Quality measures assess aspects of nursing home care including whether residents were given flu shots, are in pair or losing weight.
  
• Program participation -- indicates whether the nursing home takes Medicare or Medicaid
  
• Number of certified beds - the number of Medicare and/or Medicaid beds. It does not include private pay beds.
  
• Type of ownership -- For profit, non-profit.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by nursing home abuse or neglect and their families. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will head up a summit this week on distracted driving. He may announce a plan to address cell phone usage by bus and truck drivers.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommends banning cell phone usage for bus and truck drivers . While the NTSB had made the recommendation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has not made any edicts yet.

Driver distraction is the cause of approximately 8 percent of large truck accidents.

Tips to avoid driver distraction include:

• Do not fixate on non-driving related objects. Outside of your vehicle, this could be billboards or buildings and inside your vehicle it could be paperwork or electronic devices.
  
• Do not smoke while driving. Studies show that smoking while driving increases your chances of being in an accident.
  
• Do not use cell phones or text messaging while driving. Cell phones distract the drivers eyes (to dial), auditory (to listen), biomechanical (physically operating the phone) and cognitive distracter (requiring you to attend in a mental task that is not driving).
  
• Do not eat while driving. Eating while driving can be dangerous as it requires a driver to remove their hands from the wheel and is both a physical and visual distraction.

Check the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration web-site for more information on driver distraction.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car or truck accidents caused by the negligence of another driver including cell phone usage.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Arthur R. Waldon, 56, of Centralia was seriously injured in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident on Bucoda Highway Southeast near 174th Avenue Southeast, south of Tenino reports The Olympian.

According to the report, Waldon crashed when the wheels of his 2004 Harley Davidson Roadking went off the roadway. He was airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

The Washington State Patrol say Waldon was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident and that his helmet was not compliant with Department of Transportation standards. All motorcycle helmets sold must be tested and certified in a certified testing lab. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) known as FMVSS 218 (49CFR571.218), describes what is required to be certified.

The report says that charges against Waldon are pending.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motorcycle accidents due to the negligence of another.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

In a story that is hard to fathom, two female who were employed at the Pigeon Forge Care and Rehabilitation center in Tennessee have been arrested on charges of healthcare abuse.

According to WBIR.Com the two women, Mary Ann Burgess, 50, and April Longmire, 35, allegedly took "nude and degrading pictures of elderly patients" under their care at the nursing home.

Investigators for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation allege that the two women took the photos of patients with their cell phone cameras and that this behavior dated back to 2007.

We often find that when nursing home abuse occurs, there are systemic problems at the home which includes inadequate staffing, supervision and training.

If one of your loved ones has been injured or died as a result of nursing home staff negligence or abuse, contact The Farber Law Group, a law firm which specializes in nursing home abuse and neglect cases.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Melissa Hinkle has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after her 13-year-old son, Casey and her father, Gervious Dale Hinkle, were killed in a motor vehicle accident over the 4th of July weekend. Melissa Hinkle also received injuries so severe in the same accident that she spent five days in the ICU.

According to KTEN.com, the Hinkle and the members of her family were on Interstate-35 just South of Gainesville when they slowed down in a construction zone. A 18-wheel semi-truck slammed into their SUV, killing Casey and Gervious. A few weeks later, in an almost identical accident, three more people were killed in a semi-truck accident in the same construction zone.
Hinkle's wrongful death lawsuit names five defendants including the truck driver, the trucking company, and the construction company that has the contract to repair the interstate, and the Texas Department of Transportation.

Hinkle's attorney, Steven Laird, says, "What makes it so tragic is that it was preventable." Laird contends that the Texas DOT did not have an adequate safety traffic control plan.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. At The Farber Law Group we often represent clients who have lost a family member due to the negligence of another. Wrongful death cases arise when a negligent act is the cause of person's death. A wrongful death lawsuit can be brought on behalf of a deceased loved one by a parent or a child.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The family of Miriam "Feenee" Hadley of Virginia Beach settled a medical malpractice lawsuit after the federal government agreed to pay the family $450,000. The family filed the malpractice lawsuit after Hadley, who was 43 at the time, died at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center after a routine surgery. In the terms of the settlement, the government did not admit to fault in Hadley's death.

According to an article in the PilotOnline.com, Hadley underwent surgery in 2006 to remove an infected boil. The lawsuit claimed that Hadley died because the anesthesiologist failed to intubate her after the surgery but should have known to because Hadley had underlying medical issues which included diabetes. Intubation is the placement of a tube in the patient's trachea to protect the airway and provide for mechanical ventilation. Hadley's airway became obstructed and she stopped breathing while she was being transferred from the operating room to the intensive care unit. She went into cardiac arrest and was later declared brain dead.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the family of those who have died. Washington state has a wrongful death statute which allows the family who has lost a loved one because of the negligence of another to recover damages on behalf of their loved one.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Bicycle accident deaths are up approximately 14 percent since 2003. Bicycle safety is paramount and all riders should wear helmets to protect from brain injuries. While Washington state law does not require bicyclists to wear a helmet, many cities in Western Washington require helmets. King County has a helmet law which includes Seattle and Bellevue.

In addition to wearing a helmet, here are some bicycle safety tips:

• Be visible -- use lights at night, wear visible clothing and ride in the street.
• Be predictable -- don't make sudden maneuvers or attempt to dart in and out of traffic. Use your arm signals to let motorists know what you are doing.
• Ride on the road, not on sidewalks. Riding on the road especially decreases your chances of being hit at an intersection as you are more visible. On narrow roads, it is ok for the bicyclist to take the lane.
• Install safety equipment like a rear-view mirror and flashing reflector lights.
• Obey traffic laws.
• Choose your route wisely.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A 10-year-old Yakima girl was critically injured in a pedestrian accident as she walked to school on Monday morning in Yakima reports the Yakima Herald.com. The girl was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment and she remains in critical condition.

According to the report, the girl was crossing the street at an intersection with her sisters when she was hit by a pickup truck driven by a retired Washington State Patrol sergeant, David Gotazh. Apparently Gotzh did not see the red light because of the glare of the sun.

People who are in pedestrian accidents often sustain serious injuries including head, pelvis and leg injuries. Last year there were 4,378 people killed in pedestrian accidents in the United States.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in pedestrian accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Kennewick doctor, Dr. John C. Perry, has been charged with "unprofessional conduct" and is under investigation by the Washington state Medical Quality Assurance Commission reports The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Perry, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist, allegedly violated the standard of care for six patients, resulting in medical complications for some of them. He allegedly was sexually involved with one patient for whom he reversed a tubal ligation performed other surgical procedures including a DNC.

According to the state, sexual relationships between physicians and their patients is not tolerated because it obscures medical judgment concerning the patient's healthcare and is detrimental to a patient's well-being.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice. With more than 30 years experience practicing personal injury law, we are here to help you.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Wenatchee World reports that Arnulfo Garcia Maldonado, age 47, died of injuries he received in a hit-and-run pedestrian accident early Sunday morning.

According to the report, Maldonado was crossing North Wenatchee Avenue around 1am Sunday when he was struck by a speeding pickup truck. He was taken to Central Washington Hospital where he died of his injuries around 3am.

Police have arrested a 34-year-old Waterville man and arrested him on suspicion of Vehicular Homicide. Charges of felony hit-and-run are pending. Vehicular Homicide can be charged if a person was killed and the driver of a car was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving recklessly or driving without regard to the safety of others.

A witness told the police that after Maldonado was hit by the truck, he was thrown into the air and fell on the hood of the truck before landing on the roadway. The pickup truck accelerated and left the accident scene. The police later arrested the truck's owner outside of the Wenatchee Roaster & Ale house.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in pedestrian accidents and the families of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

An Everett woman, Nichole Lynn Beery, age 22, was killed in a single-car roll-over car accident on Friday evening around 6pm near Yakima.

According to a report in the Yakima Herald.com, Beery was a passenger in a Suzuki Samurai driven by Patrick Hignard, age 44 of Puyallup. The small SUV failed to negotiate a curve and went off of State Route 410, a Forest Service road, eight miles west of the Woodshed Restaurant.

Hignard and another passenger, Shannon Sims, age 20 of Lynnwood, made it out of the vehicle and hiked out and made the report of the car accident on Saturday morning. Sims was uninjured but Hignard was treated for injuries. It is ironic that Sims was the only person in the vehicle not to have been wearing a seat belt.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Some users of a the popular denture cream, Poligrip and Fixodent, have filed a lawsuit against the makers of these two products saying that their illnesses were caused by the denture cream.

The Seattle Times reports that 25 lawsuits against GlaxoSmithKline and Proctor & Gamble have been consolidated into one lawsuit.

Users of the denture creams claim that their illnesses including Zinc Poisoning, Hyperzincemia, Hypocupremia and Neuropathy were caused by the ingredient Zinc that the manufacturers use in the product because of its adhesive qualities. An excessive amount of Zinc, however, can disrupt a person's mineral balance and cause a copper deficiency which is know to result in nerve damages with symptoms including weakness and numbness in the extremeties, loss of balance and memory problems.

Some denture wearers say that the manufacturers did not warn them that the product could caused illness of more than the recommended amount was used. The lawsuits seek reimbursement for medical expenses and damages.

In a study of four patients who suffered nerve damage, there has been a link between using an exceessive amount of the product and the nerve damage. In their lawsuit, patients said they were not warned that excessive amounts of the product could harm their health.

This information has been provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. If your or a loved one suffered Zinc poison, Hypocupremia, Hyperzincemia or Nueropahty and used either Poligrip or Fixodent denture creams, you should The Farber Law Group immediately. You may be entitled compensation for your damages and we can help you using product liability law.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The family of Janice McCall of Illinois has retained an attorney after the 65-year-old woman died of injuries she received during a flash fire in the operating room of an Illinois hospital.

According to a report on Fox News, McCall was set ablaze while she was undergoing surgery at the Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion. She was later transferred to a Nashville, Tennessee hospital where she died six days later.

While patient privacy laws prohibits release of the details of McCall's case, the Tennessee state medical examiner's office ruled her death as accidental and as a result of complications from a burn injury.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured due to medical malpractice and the family of those who have been killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The trial of David Jason Stinson, the former Louisville, Kentucky high school football coach who was charged with wanton endangerment and reckless homicide has ended with a "not guilty" verdict.

Stinson had been charged after the heat-related death of offensive lineman, Max Gilpin. Gilpin died three days after he collapsed at football practice which was held when the heat index measured 94 degrees. Gilpin's core body temperature when he arrived at the hospital was measure at 107 degrees. The prosecution said that Stinson pushed the players and Gilpin too far.

This case was significant because it tested whether coaches could be held criminally liable if a player dies during practice under harsh conditions. 35 football players have died of heat-related causes in the past 15 years.

Gilpin's parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stinson and five other coaches who were at practice the day that Gilpin died. In their suit, the parents claim that the coaches were negligent in not calling the paramedics immediately after Gilpin collapsed.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent families who have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another. Wrongful death cases can arise when a loved one dies for a variety of reasons including car accidents, medical malpractice, workplace accidents and playground or sports activities.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Toyota Motor Corporation sent the following "specific order" to Lexus and Toyota dealers this week requesting owners and drivers of Lexus and Toyota cars to inspect their floor-mats after a car accident resulted in the death of four people.

“We are instructing all of our Lexus and Toyota dealers to immediately inspect their new, used and loaner fleet vehicles and we urge all other automakers, dealers, vehicle owners and the independent service and car wash industries to assure that any floor mat, whether factory or aftermarket, is correct for the vehicle and properly installed and secured,” wrote Brian Lyons, Toyota spokesman.

Toyota ordered the inspections after a fatal car accident in San Diego on August 28th. Officer Mark Saylor was driving a 2009 ES 350 Lexus loaned to him by his Lexus dealership and experts suspect the floor mat slipped forward and snagged the gas pedal causing acceleration which made Saylor lose control of the car. Killed in the car accident were Saylor, his wife, their daughter and Saylor's brother-in-law.

The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration investigated Saylor's car accident and found that a mat that did not fit had been installed and was not properly attached to the floorboard.

Information for this blog is from Blomberg.com and is provided as a service by The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm that represents people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those killed. In this case, the family may be able to follow a wrongful death suit using Washington Products Liability Act which allows for injured persons to recover damages for defective and dangerous products.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has just released their report "Warning! Safety Violations Ahead: Motor Carrier Companies Keep Unsafe Trucks on U.S. Roads" To compile the report, the AAJ studied data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCS). After sifting through the data, they estimate that there are 200,000 trucks on U.S. roads with safety violations.

Commercial trucks are only 4% of all passenger vehicles yet 12% of all motor vehicle accident fatalities involve large trucks. In fact, the 9 million trucks on the road make up only 4% of all passenger vehicles but the accident rate for commercial trucks is 56% higher than for all motor vehicles combined.

Every year more than 4,000 people are killed in accidents with trucks and more 80,000 people are seriously injured. In Washington state in 2007, there were 79 fatalities involving large trucks.

Truck Crash Facts - FMCSA

Often truck accidents are caused by serious violations of federal safety standards including:

• overloading of trucks
  
• allowing unqualified or untrained drivers to operate large trucks
  
• improper maintenance of truck brakes and tires
  
• excessive speed by truck drivers
  
• excessive hours at the wheel by truck drivers

Click here to read the full AAJ report .

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents involving large commercial trucks and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Yakima Herald.com reports that a Yelm couple, Douglas L. Chaffee and Kathryn Chaffee, are in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after a motorcycle accident on Friday afternoon.

According to the report, Douglas Chaffee lost control of the Honda GL motorcycle he was driving and landed in the median. The motorcycle accident occurred about nine miles west of Cle Elum on Interstate 90.

The Washington State Patrol reports that driver inattention may have been the cause of the motorcycle accident. The article said that Vehicular Assault charges are pending against Douglas Chaffee. Vehicular Assault can be charged if a person is seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident and the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motorcycle accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Times reports that a man was hit and killed by an Amtrak train while walking on a railroad trestle over the Lewis River south of Woodland on Friday afternoon. This is the ninth pedestrian accident involving a train in Washington so far this year.

The train was traveling from Seattle to Vancouver on the BNSF Railway.

Apparently the man and a companion were on the trestle looking for a place to swim.

It is tragic that so many pedestrians have lost their lives this year. Use the following common sense safety tips when walking near train tracks:

• Never walk down a train track. Not only is it illegal but it is dangerous. Trains always have the right-of-way.
  
• Only cross railway tracks at designated crossing and never go around or over lower crossing gates.
  
• Always expect a train to be arriving. Even if a track has weeds or looks rusty, you must assume that it is in use.
  
• You won't always hear an approaching train. Modern trains are quieter than you might think. In some areas, trains will not blow warning horns, especially near residential areas.
  
• Approaching trains are moving faster and are closer than you think.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A 66-year-old South Dakota woman, Chrystal Grorud, was killed and two people were injured, one seriously in a head-on collision in Long Beach on Wednesday around 1:44pm reports The Daily Astorian.

The car accident occurred on State Route 103 when a Chrysler PT Cruiser, driven by Sandra May Murphy, 71 of Long Beach, crossed the center line and hit a Buick Sabre driven by Richard Elmer Grorud, 74, of Grenville, SD. Grorud swerved to avoid the collision but was unable to do so. His passenger, Crystal Grorud, was killed in the accident. Richard Grorud was taken to Ocean Beach Hospital with cuts to his face and hands.

Murphy received serious injuries including a broken neck and multiple fractures. She was initially taken to Columbia Memorial hospital and then airlifted to Emanuel Hospital in Portland.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the accident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Washington state's Supreme Court ruled that police officers may obtain search warrants to force motorists, who they suspect of drunk driving, to submit to a blood test reports The Seattle Post Intelligencer.

The case in front of the court was brought by a man, Robert St. John, who was forced to undergo a blood test after his Seattle motorcycle accident. The arresting officers obtained a search warrant to test St. John's blood. A Seattle Municipal court ruled that the blood evidence could not be used against St. John and when a King County Superior Court overruled the lower court ruling, St. John appealed.

The court voted 7-2 in favor of the King County Superior Court ruling. Writing for the majority opinion, Justice Susan Owens wrote:

"The implied consent statute explicitly allows a police officer to obtain a blood alcohol test pursuant to a warrant even after a driver refuses a voluntary blood alcohol test."

"If we accept the majority's reasoning, a driver's refusal to consent … would be meaningless."

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents caused by drunken drivers and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The father of Sebastian Hizey, the six-year-old Puyallup boy that was killed at a monster-truck show at the Tacoma Dome in January, says he has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the show's operator.

Hizey was attending the show with his father when a 10-pound piece of metal flew off a truck and hit him in the head.

Hizey's family had filed three claims against Feld Motor Sports including wrongful death, infliction of emotional distress and economic losses reports Seattle's KOMO News.com.

The terms of the financial settlement were not disclosed. Washington state has a wrongful death statute which allows the families who have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another to sue on behalf of their deceased family member.

Wrongful death suits can arise from car accidents, work-related injuries, medical negligence or deaths caused by faulty equipment like playground gyms or soccer goals.

Besides compensating a family economically for their loss, a wrongful death lawsuit can also bring pressure upon company, school or other entity to put in place safety measures.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury firm with more than 30 years experience representing families in their wrongful death claims.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A California hospital administrator, Pamela Ott, has been charged with eight felony counts of elder abuse. Ott's name has been added to the indictment of former director Gwen Hughes, former pharmacist; Debbi Hayes, former staff pharmacist; and Dr. Hoshang Pormir, staff physician, who were all arrested in February after a two year investigation by the Department of Health. The four were accused of elder abuse for forcibly sedating patients with high dosages of psychotropic drugs for the convenience of the Kern Valley Hospital and not for the welfare of the patients.

The Bakersfield News, Turn to 23.com, has a copy of the full indictment which says that 22 residents were forcibly give medication. Allegedly, three elderly patients died as a result of the medication including Mae Brinkley, 91; Joseph Shepter, 76; and Alexander Zaiko, 85. Another patient was greatly harmed because of the drugs.

Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, allegedly ordered that the psychotropic medications be given to Alzheimer's and dementia patients so that they would be easier to control. She ordered the drugs for any patient who argued with her, was noisy or disruptive. According to the report, she even ordered two patients to be held down and forcibly given the injections when they resisted. She has been charged with elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon.

Pharmacist Hayes allegedly provided the medications without a written prescription or physician approval. She has turned state's evidence after a plea of no contest to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to public health. She was sentenced to three years probation and one year in jail but her jail time is suspended based upon her testimony.

Dr. Pormir, the staff physician, allegedly approved the prescription of the drugs after they had already been filled and without examining the patients.

Ott has been indicted because she hired and directly supervised Gwen Hughes. California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. said:

"As hospital administrator, Pamela Ott, was ultimately responsible for safeguarding the welfare of her patients, instead, Ott abdicated her responsibility and allowed the staff of the Kern Valley Hospital to forcibly sedate patients who questioned their care."

The defendants face up to 11 years in prison if they are convicted. They are being prosecuted by the Attorney General's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse along with the Kern County District Attorney's Office.

Over prescription of sedating medication is a form of chemical restraint. Chemical restraints should only be given in extraordinary circumstances such as a patient being at severe risk to harm themselves or another in a time of emergency. Signs of over-medication can include tremors, abnormal face and body movements, low blood pressure, hypothermia, cardiac and blood disorders and extreme drowsiness.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured because of nursing home neglect or abuse or the families of those killed.

See our Nursing Home and Elder Abuse Resources.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Motorists have paired up with the Washington State Patrol (WSP) by using their cell phones and dialing 9-1-1 when they see another motorist driving drunk. Over the Labor Day weekend, the patrol responded to 44 such calls.

In a media release, the WSP said that when they were able to contact the suspect vehicles, that:

• 19 of the vehicles had drivers who were driving under the influence of alcohol
  
• 1 driver was under the influence of drugs
  
• 1 driver was arrested on a warrant
  
• Four drivers of suspect cars were cited for traffic infractions and released.

This year there were three traffic fatalities over the holiday weekend compared with four in 2008. The fatalities were in King, Okanogan and Skagit Counties.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by a drunken driver and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Coast Guard along with the Tillamook County sheriff's office rescued six boaters after their small boat capsized at the entrance to Nehalem Bay along the Oregon Coast. Five of the six boaters were treated for minor injuries after the boating accident.

The Seattle Times reported that three of the boaters made it to shore while the others were rescued from the south jetty. According to the Coast Guard, only two of the six boaters were wearing life jackets.

The Coast Guard reports that in 2007, of 476 drowning deaths due to boating accidents, 427 of the drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket. The importance of life jackets can not be stressed enough. While all of these boaters survived this boating accident, one never knows when an accident will occur and everyone should be prepared by wearing a life vest.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blgo, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in boating accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

One person was injured in a boating accident near Commencement Bay at the mouth of the Puyallup River when two boats collided after 4pm on Monday afternoon reports KOMO News.com.

According to the report, two small boats, a 19-foot boat and a smaller aluminum boat were involved in the boating accident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in boating accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The message to driver is to put on your brakes and stop. Don't honk at the school bus driver. Regulations requires that school bus drivers stop at railroad crossings and to look and listen for oncoming trains.

Operation Lifesaver is a nonprofit organization which seeks to eliminate death and injury accidents at railroad crossings. Here are their safety tips:

1. Expect a train at every highway-rail intersection. Trains do not always run on a predictable schedule.
   
2. Trains have the right of way 100% of the time.
   
3. Even if it looks like a track is not in use because of weeds, assume that it is.
   
4. A loaded train can weigh 6,000 tons. Be aware that the weight ratio of an automobile to a train is "proportional to a soda can and an automobile."
   
5. A trains width extends three feet or more outside of the steel rails. Pedestrians and cars need to leave a safety zone.
   
6. It takes a train more than a mile to stop.
   
7. Trains are quieter than one might think. An approaching train is always closer and moving faster than one thinks. Turn down your stereo sound system and listen for a train whistle.
   
8. Cross tracks only at designated pedestrian and railroad crossings. Never drive around a crossing gate.
   
9. Never walk down a train track, it is both illegal and dangerous.
   

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The owner of the Houghton Lakeview Adult Home in Kirkland, Patricia Goodwill of Marysville, is charged with "failure to report" and one of her employees, Effie Tutor-Dutton of Lynnwood, has been charged with criminal mistreatment in connection with the death of a patient at the home.

According to a report on Seattle's KOMO News.com, Jean Rudolph, an 87 year old resident at the adult family home died in June 2008 of a bone infection caused by severe bed sores. Rudolph weighed only 68 pounds when she died at a hospital where she was taken for treatment by her son.

Court documents said that Rudolph's bed sores were so severe that her hip bone was exposed. Rudolph, who had dementia, was unable to communicate her pain.

Bed sores or pressure sores are layman's terms for decubitus ulcers. A bedsore is a common injury to nursing home patients and is caused by neglect. They are caused when the patient is not positioned correctly in bed and is not cared for. In the early stages, bed sores are treatable with especially designed cushions and turning the patient often. Rudolph suffered from the worst form of ulcer, a Stage IV, where the ulcer extended into the muscle, tendon and bone. It would have taken a period of time for a Stage IV ulcer to develop.

Rudolph's son, James Rudolph, said he visited his mother twice weekly but that he was not aware of the bedsore until he was informed by Tutor-Dutton as her sores were covered by her bed clothing.

In the case of a patient who dies of nursing home abuse or neglect, the family of the deceased may file a wrongful death claim.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We have more than 30 years experience representing victims of nursing home abuse and neglect and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

In January, we wrote about a wrongful death suit filed against a High School football coach after one of his players died of heat exhaustion.

While no trial date has been set for the wrongful death suit, the trial of coach, David Jason Stinson, former football coach at Louisville Kentucky Pleasure Ridge High, for charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the death of offensive lineman Max Gilpin heard opening arguments today.

Gilpin died three days after he collapsed of heat stroke during football practice; his core body temperature at the time was measured at 107 degrees. The heat index was 94 degrees during practice.

This court case is one in which many athletes and coaches are watching because it tests whether coaches should be held criminally liable if a player dies during harsh practice conditions. Last year six football players died from heatstroke. Since 1995, 39 football players have died of heat-related causes. Lawsuits that have been triggered by some of these deaths have certainly made various athletic associations change some of their training guidelines. The outcome of this trial may make trainers and coaches change their methods even more.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. Our law firm has more than 30 years experience representing families in their wrongful death claims.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has drafted a set of safety recommendations including asking the federal government to provide more oversight over medical helicopter and airplane operations such as air ambulances and Medivac reports The Seattle Times. The NTSB recommendations come after the medical flight industry experienced seven fatal air accidents last year which killed 23 crew members and five patients.

Emergency medical Services (EMS) using either airplanes or helicopters provide an important service by transporting seriously injured and ill patients or donor organs to trauma or surgical centers. In the Pacific Northwest, Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle routinely accepts Medivac flights from surrounding states.

The NTSB recommends that Medicare only pay for medical flights using companies that meet certain safety and performance standards.

Some of the NTSB recommendations include requiring aircraft to have the following safety equipment:

• terrain warning systems
  
• flight data records
  
• night-vision systems
  
• auto-pilot

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the families of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Florida couple, Toby and Kerstin Fenn, are currently on trial in Palm Beach after being charged with elder abuse and murder in the death of Kerstin Fenn's mother, Elly Lorey, reports the Sun Sentinel.com.

It has taken three years for this case to come to trial and the Fenn's have been in jail all this time. Jury selection in the case is currently underway.

The Fenn's were charged after Elly Lorey's body was found dead in the couple's living room after Toby Fenn called police. Lorey, who was an Alzheimer's patent, was 89 years old at the time of her death. She weighed just 80 pounds at the time of her death. The Palm Beach County medical examiner's office determined the cause of death as starvation and dehydration.

Each side in this case has hired leading experts and forensic pathologists, Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Vincent DiMaio.

The Fenn's defense attorney says the couple did the best in caring for Lorey and that they both loved her.

It will be interesting to see how the defense presents their case. Lorey was clearly neglected because her bedroom lacked electricity and water and it was saturated with urine and feces. She was not under a physician's care. We will watch and see if the couple are convicted of murder.

If you know of a elderly person who may be neglected or abused, check our Nursing Home & Elder Abuse resources. Or, call our law offices and we may be able to help. The Farber Law Group has more than 30 years experience in representing nursing home abuse and neglect victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Texas jury has awarded a $3.5 million medical malpractice award to the family of a young woman, Melissa Hendricks, who died of cancer finding that her physicians were negligent in not diagnosing her cancer. Because of Texas law, the award will be reduced to $1.5 million which will be shared among the woman's family including her father, husband and two young children.

According to an article in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Melissa Hendricks, who was 33 at the time, discovered a bump on her head. When the bump was still there after a month she went to Highland Family Medical Center where Dr. Stephen Glaser misdiagnosed it as a sebaceous cyst which is non-cancerous. A week later when Glaser's physician's assistant Jason Maris, removed the cyst, he did not send it to a laboratory for testing.

A year later, the Hendrick's lesion returned and Hendricks saw Dr. Jeffrey Charney, a surgeon, who opted not to remove the lesion because Hendricks was pregnant at the time. When she returned later, the lesion had grown substantially and Charney diagnosed it as sarcoma. Hendricks died less than a year after this cancer diagnosis.

The jury found that both physicians were negligent and assigned each 45% of the blame. The jury assigned Hendricks 10% of the blame because she waited one month before seeing a physician even though she knew her family had a history of cancer.

It is critical that cancer be diagnosed it its most early stages because early detection provides for a broader array of treatment options and patients have a better prognosis and a chance for a cure.

In Washington state, a health care provider is negligent if he or she "failed to exercise that degree of care, skill and learning expected of a reasonably prudent health care provider." In Hendricks case, it was reasonable to expect that the lesion be biopsied the first time it was removed.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the families of those that have died. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages. Washington state has a wrongful death statute which allows the a family to file a civil suit on behalf of their deceased loved one.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A teenage boy, Justin Dunn, age 13, is being treated for leg and head injuries after a boating accident near Don Morse Park on Lake Chelan.

According to a report in The Wenatchee World, Justin and his brother were both operating personal watercraft when Justin was run over by his brother. He was taken to Lake Chelan Community Hospital for treatment.

According to Washington code RCW 79A.60, a person under the age of 14 is prohibited from operating a personal watercraft and may be fined up to $1,000 for doing so.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in boating accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Wenatchee World reports that Terry Tussey, age 59, of Wenatchee was injured in an industrial accident on Monday.

According to the report, Tussey lost two fingers while using a saw at Standard Pallet Co. in Monitor around 1:15pm.

Tussey was taken to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee for treatment.

If you lose a limb or an appendage on the job or suffer another serious injury, you should contact a personal injury attorney who has experience with construction accident law. At The Farber Law Group we have more than 30 years experience working with clients to insure they receive maximum compensation for their Washington construction accident injuries.

Often times, construction workers who lose a limb or appendage may be unable to continue in their line of work which prevents them from receiving a salary. With our help, they may recover compensation for their injuries including medical costs and loss of wages to insure a stable future for themselves and their family.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Two men were killed in separate motorcycle accidents in western Washington, one in Seattle and one in Snohomish County reports The Olympian.

A 22-year-old man from Olympia, Shane Crowell, was killed in Seattle after "attempting motorcycle stunts" near Qwest and Safeco Fields. The Washington State Patrol said the man was attempting a stunt on the Interstate 90 on-ramp on Fourth Avenue South when he lost control and was thrown off his motorcycle and over a guard rail, falling to his death.

The Washington State Patrol Chief, John Batiste, said "I'm outraged because these deaths were completely unnecessary. I'm heartbroken because these were decent young men who died of what can only be called stupid, youthful mistakes."

The other motorcycle accident occurred on State Route 522 east of State Route 9. In that accident, a Monroe man, Walter Barron, age 22, was attempting stunts when he lost control and hit a guard rail.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motorcycle and car accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Coast Guard rescued the two crew-members of a Washington-based fishing vessel after fire broke out in the boat's engine room.

According to a report on Seattle's KOMO News.com, the pair were about 10 miles from the coast of Long Beach when they reported that their vessel, The Portlock, was on fire.

The Coast Guard sent The Cutter Active, a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a 47-foot motor lifeboat to the rescue. The crew were rescued from their life raft and were not injured.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been injured in boating accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.