Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Hospital-acquired infections can be deadly to patients. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 1.7 million patients acquire an infection while in the hospital which is about 1 in 20 patients. Of those patients, approximately 100,000 patients die of complications caused by the infection they picked up in the hospital.

One solution to bringing down the number of infections is requiring hospital staff to be vaccinated for common diseases including the flu, hepatitis B and chicken pox.

In Michigan, some hospitals are making it mandatory that their employees get a flu shot. Previously, compliance at many hospitals has been as low as 50%.

According to an article we found on Michigan radio, More hospitals require flu shots as condition of employment by Tracy Samilton, some employees are bristling about the new requirement calling it a "civil rights issue."

While the Michigan hospitals are letting employees opt out if they have allergies or if their faith prohibit it, they are requiring employees to get the shots or get fired.

It seems to us like vaccinations in a health care setting is extremely important to protect the lives of patients. Healthcare workers and patients can be contagious up to a couple of days before they feel flu symptoms. A doctor, nurse, respiratory therapist or even house keeping staff could potentially spread the flu to people with compromised immune systems.

When a healthcare professional is working in a hospital setting, he or she is part of a team that should contribute to healing and caring for patients. Inadvertently spreading germs either through poor hand washing or failure to be vaccinated seems to us like negligence.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people with medical malpractice claims and the family of those who have died. With our help, you may receive compensation for your damages.

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Every year in the U.S., hospital-acquired infections are factors in the deaths of nearly 100,000 Americans. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that approximately 1.7 million Americans acquire an infection of some sort in the hospital. To put it in persective, 1 in 20 patients in the hospital will pick up an infection. This is a huge problem across the nation as many of the infections are antibiotic resistant.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times reports on a California-initiative to bring down the number of hospital-acquired infections to save lives and to save money. It is estimated that hospital-acquired infections adds $600 million to California health care costs each year.

Many, if not most, hospital-acquired infections can be prevented because they are transmitted when doctors, nurses and other hospital staff do not practice correct hygiene and transmit disease from patient-to-patient. Common hospital infections include ventilator-associated pneumonia; staphylococcus aureus; tuberculosis; urinary tract infection; hospital-acquired pneumonia; Methicillin-resisten Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are some of the most common infections.

Fighting infection can sometimes be pretty low tech such as frequent hand washing. Medical personnel should wash their hands between patient contacts and after contacts with items contaminated with blood, bodily fluids or equipment. Though hand washing may seem simple, it must be done correctly.

Requiring hospital personnel to be to be vaccinated for common diseases such as hepatitis B, influenza and chicken pox is another fairly straight-forward solution.

Another low-tech infection prevention device is the tooth brush. Making sure that ill patients get their teeth brushed can go a along way to preventing pneumonia as bacteria can build up in a patient's mouth. The Times article said that with a routine of teeth brushing and hydrogen peroxide swabbing of ventilator patient's mouths, the rate of ventilator infections went down from 18 to 0 in a one-year period in one hospital.

Sterilization also plays a key role in infection prevention. Equipment and items that patients and medical staff come into contact with can prevent transmission. Sterilization can be done with chemicals, dry heat, steam under pressure or radiation.

One preventative measure that many patients can take is check the infection rate of the hospital where an elective surgery will take place. The Washington State Department of Health provides a website with information about the state's Healthcare Associated Infections Program. This information provides patients with data to make healthcare decisions.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm with offices in Seattle and Bellevue and we represent victims of medical malpractice and their family.

Source: Hospital-related infections drop under California initiative, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2011

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with Vita Food products has issued a recall of 8,088 4 oz. packages of smoked salmon due to the fact that they may be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytoges. The salmon was sold in Safeway stores across the nation including in the western states of Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado.

The salmon is sold under the label Vita Class Premium Slicked Smoked Atlantic Nova Salmon and it is sold nationwide through Safeway, Publix and Winn-Dixie stores. The sell by date and code of DEC 15 2011 01961B is on the packages.

Consumers with this product should seal the product in a plastic bag or container and return it to the store where purchased. Vita Foods is asking consumers with this SELL BY Date and Code to call 800-989-8482 during the hours of 8am to 5pm (Central Time Zone) Monday through Friday.

Listeria contamination can cause serious food borne illness. Listeria can cause serious infection which can be fatal to young children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. Listeria infection can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.

Systems of Listeria infection include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Persons with any of these symptoms should contact their physician for advice and go to an emergency room for treatment.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have become seriously ill due to foodborne illness and the family of those who have died. With our help, you may recover compensation for your medical costs and non-compensatory damages including pain and suffering.

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A jury found Dr. John Patterson not liable in the medical malpractice lawsuit against him in the amputation of a patient's penis during surgery to remove the man's foreskin.

The patient, Philip Seaton, asked for up to $16 million damages saying that he went through great anguish after undergoing surgery for, what he thought would be a circumcision, to find that his penis had been amputated. Dr. Patterson argued that after he began the surgery, he discovered Stage T-2 penile cancer and that removal of the penis saved the man's life.

The trial hinged, in part, on whether Seaton had provided his informed consent. His attorneys said he should have been awakened from the surgery and been able to make a decision as to whether he wanted the amputation.

The attorney for Patterson argued that Seaton had, in fact, signed a consent form for what ever the surgeon felt was necessary to treat him, despite the fact that the surgeon had not expected to find cancer but only an infected foreskin.

In judging a physician negligent, one must ask the question, "What would a reasonable and prudent surgeon do under the same circumstances." In tort law "professional standard of care" is the test for negligence. While Seaton was understandably very upset and traumatized by his situation, the jury appeared to have felt that the surgeon made the right call and that he made the right call to amputate. Their decision was unanimous.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a medical malpractice law firm, representing people who have been seriously injured by medical negligence and the family of those who have died.

Source: Jury rules for doctor in penis amputation case
By Lisa King. The Sentinel-News,
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

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The Children's Safe Products Act which went In effect this week and requires manufacturers of designated baby and toy products to report to the Washington State Depart of Ecology if a product contains one of 66 chemicals on the state's list of chemicals which may not be safe for children.

The products include toys and other products which a child or baby would place in their mouth or would be next to a child's skin.

The state's list contains chemicals including Formaldehyde, aniline, n-Nitrosodimethylamine, n-Butanol, Benzene, Vinyl Chloride, Acetaldehyde, Menthylene chloride, Carbon disufide, Biesphenol A, to name a few.

These chemicals have been found to be either toxic or present in blood, breast milk, or tissue samples. While the presence of these chemicals does not necessarily mean they are harmful to children, the Law seeks to minimize the risk of exposure to children and the environment.

The Children's Safe Product Act, also known as CSPA, and is set forth in Chapter 70.240 of the Revised Code of Washington. One section of the outlaw strictly prohibits the manufacture and sale of children's product containing lead, cadmium or phthlates. In the past few years we have seen some children's products, especially those manufactured in China, coming into the American market with these chemicals and they have been the subject of recalls.

The new reporting act that just went into effect requires manufacturer's of children's products that contain one of the 66 chemicals on the state's list, to report the chemical, its purpose, and the amount used. If the reporting is not done, the manufacturer can be fined up to $5,000 for each violation. The law will be phased in over a period of time with manufacturers with gross sales of over a billion dollars to begin the reporting by next August.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured or sickened by defective or dangerous products. Washington's product liability act takes a consumer-friendly approach for those injured by defective or dangerous products, allowing the injured to seek compensation via a civil action.

Source: Children's Safe Products Act, Department of Ecology, State of Washington

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A $5.2 million wrongful death award has been upheld by Pennsylvania Superior Court in the medical malpractice claim by the widow of Gregory S. Volutza, 37, who died of a heart attack while at work as a pharmacist.

A Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld a 2009 Berks County medical malpractice award to the widow of Gregory S. Volutza, 37, who died in 2003.

In 2009, the lower court jury award Volutza's widow, Dianne, the $5.2 million malpractice settlement.

Volutza had seen his family physician, Dr. Donald J. McBryan Jr. for chest and jaw pain and anxiety but Dr. McBryan did not send Volutza immediately to the emergency room. Just four days later, Volutza called Dr. McBryan experiencing the same symptoms but went into cardiac arrest and died before he could speak to McBryan.

Symptoms of a heart include discomfort to the upper body including chest and discomfort in the arms, back, new, jaw or upper stomach. Volutza's symptoms aligned with someone who is having a heart attack, and coupled with the fact that he was overweight, had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, was suffering from anxiety and had a family of heart disease, McBryan should have sent him straight to the hospital.

"Failure to diagnose" makes up approximately 40% of medical malpractice cases. When a physician is presented with symptoms that they cannot diagnose, they should hand the patient off to a physician who can. In cases where a patient has high risk factors for a certain condition, the physician should be aware of these factors and monitor the patient closely. Clearly McBryan did not provide Volutza with a "standard of care" -- the care another physician would provide given the same training and experience and in similar circumstances.

In Washington state, wrongful death statutes allows the family of someone who was wrongfully killed or died due the negligence of another, to recover damages on behalf of their deceased loved one.

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 with their wrongful death claims.


Source: $5.2 million malpractice award against ex-Wyomissing doctor upheld, The Reading Eagle, 8/20/2011

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In Washington state, youth sports have received notice about traumatic brain injuries with the "Lystedt Concussion Law for Student Athletes." The law, which is named after Zackery Lystedt, a middle school football player who returned to a football game after a concussion and suffered a serious brain injury, requires concussion training for those involved in student athletics and also requires a player be removed from a game if a concussion is suspected. In addition, the student athlete with a suspected concussion can not return to play until examined by a medical professional.

Now, six former NFL football players and one active player are taking on the NFL with a potential class-action lawsuit claiming that the NFL did not treat players for concussions and for not divulging the association between football, concussions and traumatic brain injuries. In another lawsuit, 75 retired NFL players filed suit against the NFL and Riddell, the NFL's official helmet supplier, saying the NFL knew that concussions were harmful but that they hid the knowledge from the players, coaches and trainers.

The Concussions Committee of the NFL generally denies that there is a connection between brain disease and concussions however a National Health survey shows an increase in symptoms of permanent brain injury in retried football players and this is attributed to concussion injuries.

The players say that they were instructed to "lead with their heads" and were not removed from play even after they suffered four, five or six concussions.

The players are seeking funds to provide both medical care including diagnostic screening tests and funds to care for players who are so severely injured that they are unable to work. They are also seeking a change in football with safer helmets and changes to "head-down" tackling practices.

Retired football players suffer from various brain injuries which they say are related to taking big hits during their football. One player complains of walking around in a fog. Other players suffer from pre-mature dementia and Traumatic Encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease with symptoms including dementia, memory problems, Parkinson-like symptoms, speech problems, unsteady gait and behavioral problems.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have suffered a serious traumatic brain injury from car accidents, bicycle accidents, sporting accidents or slip, trip and fall accidents. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

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King County law enforcement is working together to conduct been up DUI patrols in hopes of getting drunken and unsafe drivers off of the road.

The King County Target Zero Task Force organizes the efforts of King County law enforcement to conduct the DUI patrols for the last two weeks of August through the Labor Day weekend.

The Task Force is trained to detect motorists who are driving under the influence. They look for drivers who are driving erratically, have committed a moving violation, are driving with an equipment violation such as a burned-out tail light, have an expired registration or drivers whom they have seen leaving bars, restaurants, markets or parties.

Police are able to identify a lot of driving patterns which tip them off that the driver might be intoxicated including drifting, braking erratically, following too closely, weaving, making wide turns, driving without headlights and driving on the shoulder are a few of the tip-off behaviors.

Once a driver has been stopped, the officer can administer a field sobriety test but often they can detect if a motoring is intoxicated just by the way they answer questions, get out of their vehicle or by visually seeing alcohol containers in the vehicle. If a driver is stopped for suspected DUI, he or she will be asked to submit to a breath test.

In Washington state, the standard for intoxication is 0.08% blood alcohol content. In Washington State, all DUI offenses are gross misdemeanors. RCW 9A.20.021, 46.61.502(5) & 46.61.504(5).

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 caused by drunken drivers and the families of those killed.

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We came across an article today from New Zealand today that had figures from their state Accident Compensation Corporation that found that 7,600 people are injured every year due to falling out of bed. While the majority of people who fall out of beds are small children and the elderly, 23% of those injured were people between the ages of 25 and 64.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that every year over 400,000 are injured so seriously that they require hospital admission. For the frail elderly, a bed fall can result in a broken hip or a head trauma which can be very a serious injury and can even result in death.

Falls are a particular problem in nursing homes where as many as 3 out of 4 residents fall every year and often residents suffer an average of a couple of falls per year.

Nursing home falls can be caused by muscle weakness and problems with gait (24%); environmental hazards including wet floors, poor lighting, incorrect bed height (16-27%),; medications that affect the nervous system, and other problems such as when moving a patient from bed to chair, poorly fitting shoes and improper use of canes and walkers.

Most nursing homes have fall prevention plans including:

• assessing patients for their fall risk
• educating staff
• implementing exercise programs which can increase a patient's strength, balance and ability to walk and function
• reviewing medications and minimizing use where appropriate
• improving the nursing home environment by making sure there is adequate lighting, raised toilet seats, handrails in hallways, etc
• installing fall alarms which can alert staff when an at-risk patient is trying to get out of bed without help

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent victims of nursing home neglect and their families.

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The U.S. Government & Accountability Office just released a study that looked at differences between for-profit and non-profit nursing homes. What they found was that for-profit nursing home were more likely to have serious deficiencies which posed actual harm or immediate jeopardy to residents than non-profit nursing homes, resulting in nursing home neglect.

The GAO study examined how nursing homes that were acquired by private investment forms differed from other nursing homes in three areas:

1. deficiencies cited on state surveys
   
2. nurse staffing levels
   financial performance

The study found that nursing homes acquired by private investors effected cost-cutting measures which reflected on the quality of nursing care and the ratio of skilled nursing care to residents were cut after the nursing home acquisition. The resulting effect is that vulnerable adults received less care, often to their detriment.

One area in which PI firms seemed to spend money was on the capital expenses which increased the attractiveness of the home to attract higher paying residents. However, these types of changes did not relate to the bottom line care to the residents.

It is no surprise that for-profit nursing homes owned by PI works to maximize profit to provide a returns for investors and owners. At for-profit homes, they work hard to minimize costs which often relates to trimming staff.

At The Farber Law Group, we have found in our 30 year career of representing victims of nursing home neglect that often the for-profit nature of a nursing home often results in less care for the patient. When we see cases of severe bedsores, falls resulting in hip fractures or even physical or sexual abuse, we often find the cause is that there was not enough trained supervision of patients.

If you have a loved one who was seriously injured or died due to nursing home staff negligence or abuse, contact The Farber Law Group, a Bellevue law firm specializing in nursing home abuse and neglect cases.

Source: Nursing Homes: Private Investment Homes Sometimes Differed from Others in Deficiencies, Staffing, and Financial Performance; U.S. Government Accountability Office; July 15, 2001

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Attorneys across the U.S. are starting to advertise for and are being contacted by people who took the diabetes drug Actos® and now have bladder cancer.

While France has pulled Actos® off of the market and Germany has recommended to physicians that no new patients begin the drug, in the U.S., Actos® is still being sold with only added warnings to the patient information labels. Physicians have also been give the warning that they should not prescribe Actos® to patients who have bladder cancer or who have had bladder cancer.

Actos® came to the market 10 years ago and it seemed like a perfect Type II diabetes drug because it helped control blood sugar and only had to be taken once a day. For many patients, it meant they would not have to inject insulin.

The problem with Actos® is no one really understood the effects it would have on the body when taken for 5 or 10 years.

The FDA has just released their analysis of five years of data of a 10-year Actos® safety study that began in 2002. The conclusion is that, while the overall number of bladder cancer cases are small, it appears that there are an extra 28 cases a year for every 100,000 people who have taken Actos®. The conclusion is that the risk of risk of bladder cancer was 40% higher for those patients who have taken Actos® for a year or more.

In recent months, personal injury attorneys across the U.S. have been contacted by patients with bladder cancer. Many bladder cancer patients have had to undergo several surgeries and chemotherapy.

The personal injury lawyers at The Farber Law Group feels that Takeda Pharmaceuticals either knew or should have known about the serious risk of bladder cancer. We will work hard to investigate Takeda's actions and we will do all that we can to help bladder cancer patients who took Actos®.

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The News Tribune of Tacoma reports that Sue Gorman of Gig Harbor, was awarded a $2.2 million damage award by a Pierce County jury after she was seriously injured when two pit bull dogs attacked her in her own home.

Gorman, who was seriously injured with dog bites to her arms, face, neck, chest and nose in 2007, filed a lawsuit against both Pierce County and the owners of the two pit bulls.

Gorman woke up in the bedroom of her home to find the two pit bull dogs mauling her service dog and another dog she was carrying for. She was injured when she tried to save the two dogs. The pit bulls had entered her home through a sliding glass door.

The Pierce County jury found that the county was 42% to blame in the mauling because county animal control office had received numerous reports -- 14 in all -- that at least one of the dogs was running loose and "terrorizing people." In fact, Gorman had filed two complaints about the dog previous to the August, 2007 attack.

The jury assigned 52% of the liability to Shellie Wilson and her son, Zachary Marti, owners of one of the pit bull. They also assigned 5% of the liability to Jacqueline Evan-Hubbard who owned the second pit bull that was entrusted to the care of Wilson and Martin.

1% of the liability was assigned to Gorman herself. It is not clear what the jury was thinking here whether it was because Gorman's door was left open or because she intervened in the attack against her dogs.

Washington state has a dog bite law, 16.08.040 which states that any owner of a dog that bites a a person whether in a public place or in a private place is liable for damages suffered by the victim, regardless of the former viciousness or a dog.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious dog bite injury, you should contact a personal injury attorney who has experience representing dog bite victims. At The Farber Law Group, a Bellevue, Washington based personal injury firm, we have more than 30 years experience in representing dog bite victims. With our help, you may recover compensation for your medical costs, rehabilitation costs and for pain and suffering. 

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a notice to the public that they have approved updating drug labels of medications including pioglitazone, including Actos®. The added information states that, in patients using pioglitazone for more than one year, there can be an increased risk of bladder cancer.

The new wording for the label can be found in the Warnings and Precautions section of medicines containing pioglitazone. The patient Medication Guide will also be revised to indicate the bladder cancer association.

The FDA made this action after review a five-year interim analysis of a ten-year epidemiological study which found an increased risk of bladder cancer in patients who had taken Actos® the longest and those who had taken it at higher dosages.

It is interesting to note that the FDA did not suspend the sale of Actos® in this country though France has suspended the use of pioglitazone and Germany has recommended that physicians do not prescribe any new patients with the medication.

The FDA recommends:

• Patients with bladder cancer should not take Actos®
  
• Patients with a history of bladder cancer previously should decide whether the benefits of the drug outweigh the risk.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been injured due to faulty medical devices and dangerous drugs, including Actos.

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Child safety experts are warning people who use transdermal medication that they must exercise caution when using the patches around children after one small child nearly died after getting a hold of one of his grandparent's patches containing the drug fentanyl, a strong opioid.

While there is no source of complete statistics on the injuries to children because of contact with transdermal patches, records show that at least four children have died and six children were hospitalized after contact with fentanyl patches.

While transdermal patches containing powerful pain killers are probably the most dangerous, other patches can also be dangerous including nitroglycerin patches which could cause life-threatening hart problems or Nicotine patches which could cause rapid breathing and even seizures.

Medication Safety Tips

The following safety tips should be adhered to to keep children safe:

• Safely store medication patches in the same way you would other drugs.
• Dispose of patches where children can not pull them out of waste cans and adhere them. They can be placed in child proof containers before being discarded.
• For pain patches, the patches should be folded with the sticky sides together and flushed down the toilet.
• Keep track of patches because they can get stuck to clothing or fall of where children might pick them up.

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 the negligence of another and the family of those killed.

Continue reading " Child safety experts warn about the hazards of transdermal medications and children " »

A U.S. District Court Judge approved a $2.15 medical malpractice settlement award to an Army soldier whose wife died from rectal cancer after the military hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky, failed to diagnose her condition.

According to the Insurance Journal, Melodee Cloer, presented symptoms of rectal cancer back in 2006 when she went to the hospital at Fort Campbell complaining of bloody stools , pain and constipation. Cloer was diagnosed with hemorrhoids and the hospital failed to perform a follow up colonoscopy.

It was not until Staff Sgt. Adam Cloer was moved to a new Army installation, was Melodee Cloer's cancer diagnosed and treatment began. Unfortunately, despite multiple surgeries, Melodee Cloer succumbed to the disease.

While symptoms of colorectal cancer depend on the location of a tumor, rectal bleeding and bloody stools are common symptoms. Caught early, the survival rate beyond 5 years is over 90%.

Cloer's husband, Staff Sgt. Adam Cloer, filed the medical malpractice claim on behalf of his wife who died last year. In the lawsuit, Cloer claimed that the hospital was negligent in not diagnosing and treating his wife's illness.

The medical malpractice settlement is subject to final approval by the U.S. Attorney General, according to the 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 by medical malpractice and the family of those who have died.

Continue reading " Feds agree to $2.15 'failure to diagnose' medical malpractice settlement " »

A woman who is described as "elderly" has died and four people have been hospitalized after an outbreak of E-coli illness linked to strawberries grown at the Jaquith Strawberry Farm near Newburg, Oregon. Six other people have become ill due to the outbreak reports The Daily Astorian.

Those that have become ill were infected with the E-coli O157:H7 strain, which is one of the most virulent strains.

Dr. Paul Cieslak of the Oregon Public Health Authority says that the source of the E-coli bacteria appears to be from deer fecal matter which contaminated the strawberries.

The tainted fruit has been pulled from farm stands and farmer markets.

E-coli O157:H7 is associated with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a very serious complication which causes kidney failure. The woman who died succumbed to kidney failure caused by the disease. One report said that at least one other victim also contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome. The elderly and people with compromised immune systems are most at risk for this serious complication.

It is not easy to track down the source of an E-coli infection. Health investigators start with interviewing patients about where they shopped and what they ate. Patient's don't always accurately remember eating a particular food. Tracing infection to a fruit or vegetable can be very difficult because when sold at farm stands, they are not labeled with lot or other identifying numbers.

Tenacious health investigators in this case, however, pinpointed the source of infection to Jacquith Strawberry Farm.

Since the source of the infection has been found, no new cases of the illness should emerge from fresh berries but the fear is that someone may have frozen the berries which could be still cause illness.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have become seriously ill due to foodborne illness and the family of those who have died.

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The widow of Bob Boardman, the hiker who was gored by a mountain goat in Olympic National Park last October, has filed three separate wrongful death claims in federal District Court in Tacoma asking for more than $10 million in damages.

The personal injury attorney representing Boardman's widow, Susan Chadd, Boardman's estate and her son Jacob Haverfield, claims that the park was negligent in handling the mountain goat that had a history of "aggressive behavior".

Boardman was gored by the 360 pound mountain goat after it followed him for about a mile before attacking according to the Peninsula Daily News.

The National Park Service believes that mountain goats may be hanging around hiking trails because they are attracted to the salts of humans sweat and urine. They are recommending that hikers urinate away from the trail.

Washington state has a wrongful death statute that allows the family of a person killed due to the negligence of another or entity to obtain compensation on behalf of their deceased loved one.

This family may find an uphill slope to battle to prove their wrongful death case. The basis of their arguments might be that the Park failed to respond to the threat of the aggressive animal, that the Park responded poorly to the incident and the National Park Service also allowed the goat population to grow in the Olympics where they are not a native species. However, most people going into the wilderness understand there are inherent risks including falls, getting lost and wild animals including bears.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group.

Continue reading " Widow of hiker gored by mountain goat in Olympic National Forest to file wrongful death lawsuit " »

Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warnings that Actos (pioglitazone), a drug to treat Type II Diabetes, may be linked to bladder cancer. The risk is even higher for those patients who take the medication at a higher dosage over an extended period of time according to The Wall Street Journal. Actos is one of several drugs that have contains pioglitazone.

Pioglitazone has been pulled from drug store shelves in France and Germany has recommended not prescribing medication containing pioglitazone to new patients after an epidemiological study by the Caisse National d'Assurance Maladie but it remains on drug store shelves here in the United States.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Actos, has agreed to sponsor a study which looks at link between Actos and bladder cancer.

The FDA's mid-review of a ten-year epidemiological study of 193,000 patients over the age of 40 with type II diabetes found that the patients who took Actos for more than 12 months had a 40 percent higher risk of developing bladder cancer.

Signs and symptoms of bladder cancer include blood in the urine which may or may not be visible to the eye or detected by microscopic investigation. Other symptoms include painful urination or urgency in urination.

The Farber Law Group, a personal injury law firm in Western Washington, is currently representing people who have bladder cancer and have taken Actos. Fill out our Contact Form if you would like more information.

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Congress is addressing several bills, including H.R. 1449, concerning the Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act, which is also known as "Right to Repair." The bills, in their various forms, would require motor vehicle manufacturers to share the same repair information with independent repair shops that they do with auto dealerships.

Consumer rights organization along with independent repair shops and the Automobile Association of America (AAA) have been clamoring for the right to have access to the diagnostic codes and service information which is provided to the auto dealer shops.

Another strong lobbying group for the "Right to Repair" comes from farmers and people working in agriculture living in rural areas because many of these people repair their own motor vehicles, tractors and farm equipment and do not have access to repair shops in urban areas.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers' oppose such bills because they believe that foreign manufacturers will use the data to steal trade secrets and manufacture inexpensive automobile parts without paying any research and development costs.

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 family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

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