Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Paul F. Stewart, 52, was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with critical injuries after he was injured in an Olympia bicycle accident.

The Olympian, in an article written by Rolf Boone, reported that Stewart was riding on Meridian Road Northeast at 46th Avenue around 11am, when he was struck from behind by a Ford Expedition driven by Samalaulu C. Punimata, 22, of Lacey.

Police are investigating the bicycle accident but the article says that charges are pending. It's unclear whether alcohol or drugs were involved or if Punimata was distracted by a cell phone. The section of Meridian Road where the bicycle accident occurred has a speed limit of 60mph.

If it is determined that Punimata was speeding, distracted or under the influence, he could face serious charges including Vehicular Assault.

Stewart's bicycle accident is one that bicyclist's fear most, getting hit behind. Even when a bicyclist is doing everything right, there is no way to avoid a hit-from-behind accident. In these types of accidents, bicyclists are thrown from the bicycle, sometimes out into traffic , and they can suffer blunt force trauma injuries or head injuries. Stewart was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident which hopefully went a long way in protecting his head.

Continue reading "Bicyclist critically injured in Olympia accident, driver may be charged" »

If you want to keep your teenage driver safe and lessen their chance of being involved in a motor vehicle accident, you might consider having your teen drive the family's large SUV, minivan or large car instead of letting them drive a motorcycle, sports car or a mini car. There are two factors operating here:

1. SUV's and other large vehicles crash less regardless of who is driving. SUV's are also equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) which reduces collision claims by overall by 18 percent.
   
2. Teens tend to drive a sports car or motorcycle too fast and they tend to show off when driving those vehicles.

A Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study compared the incident of motor vehicle accidents between two groups: 16-19 year old teenage drivers and 35-60 year old "prime-age" drivers. The study revealed some startling facts:

• Teenage drivers of super sport motorcycles had motorcycle accident claims at the rate of 27.4 per 100 insured vehicle years which is more than 4 times the accident rate of the prime-age driver group.
• Teenager drivers of sport motorcycles had an accident claim rate of 14.5 versus 5.3 for prime-age drivers.
• Teen age drivers of mid-size sports cars had double the accident claim rate than prime age drivers with 14.9 claims versus 2.5 claims per 100 insured vehicle years.
• Teen age drivers of mini cars and small cars had double the car accident claims than that of prime age drivers.
• Teen age drivers who drive large and very large SUVS have almost the equivalent car accident claims as prime age drivers.

Starting in 2012, all passenger vehicles will be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) which should reduce collision rates overall.

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.

Continue reading "Buying your teen a "muscle car" or motorcycle increases their accident risk" »

The Everett Herald Net reports that a 45-year-old man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries after his vehicle was rear-ended on Highway 99 in Lynnwood.

According to the report, the accident occurred around 3:50pm and there were multiple vehicles involved in the accident.

Whose at fault in a rear end car accident?
In rear end car accident, fault is frequently found with the following driver. Causes of rear end motor vehicle accidents include "tailgating", driver distraction such as using a cell phone or a driver not anticipating the traffic flow.

Of course proof of negligence of either driver is required to apportion fault. In any accident, an investigation must be conducted to determine which driver is at fault. The driver of the first car must exercise ordinary care not to stop or slow without giving the driver behind him or her adequate notice of his/her intentions. The following driver must exercise due care by following at a reasonable distance and providing a proper lookout.

Rear End Collision Injuries
Victims of rear end collisions can be seriously injured even in low speed accidents. That is because, even at a low speed, the impact of being hit can cause a person's headto snap forward and back causing a hyperflexion/hyperextension or "whiplash" injury. Because the head's movement is greater than the normal range of motion, the neck muscles can be ripped or stretched.

Whiplash is not the only injuries someone can suffer in a rear-end accident, however.

Continue reading "Lynnwood rear end car accident seriously injures man" »

The Pacific Northwest has experienced a severe storm this past week and The Seattle Times reports that 191,000 Puget Sound Energy power customers are without power.

During times of power outages, there are always several incidences of people suffering carbon monoxide poisoning or death.

In Kent, Washington, in two separate incidences, two families were hospitalized after becoming ill from carbon monoxide poisoning. In both cases, the families were using charcoal barbecues for heat according to KOMO News.

Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that is colorless and odorless and when people are exposed to it without sufficient proper ventilation they are unable to absorb oxygen and they become ill with symptoms what include confusion, headaches, chest pains, confusion, shortness of breath, vomiting, drowsiness and flu-like symptoms. With higher exposure levels victims can experience central nervous system damage, heart problems and even death.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is the number one cause of accidental poisoning deaths every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 500 people die and more than 15,000 are treated in hospital ER rooms every year due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide poisoning cases arise during power outages when people try to warm their homes with alternate methods including portable stoves, barbecues and generators.

Of course it doesn't have to be the middle of a power outage for carbon monoxide poisoning occur. Faulty appliances, unventilated heaters, clogged chimneys and cars left running in a garage can all lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Continue reading "Carbon monoxide poisoning a danger during power outages" »

It's cold outside and there are a few inches of the white stuff on the ground in Seattle, Bellevue and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Many people are hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass but others have to go to work, go out to pickup up groceries or medications and for others, cabin fever can drive one to get out and about.

Walking on snow and ice can be dangerous, however, and a person has the potential to slip and fall. While slipping on an icy driveway may be funny in a cartoon or in a YouTube video, fall injuries are one of the leading causes of death among the elderly.

We often get calls this time of year after someone has slipped and fallen and suffered a serious injury. Moderate injuries include bumps and bruises but more serious injuries include fractures to knees, hips and ankles. And, the most dangerous injury of all is a traumatic brain injury which is fatal in 46% of falls among the elderly.

Often people wonder if the property owners has legal obligations in the case of an injury when a person slips on an icy sidewalk, parking lot or place of business. They wonder if the property owner has a duty to remove snow and lay down deicer.

Who is at fault for slips and falls on an icy or unshoveled sidewalk?
The truth of the matter is that the statutory laws can vary from city to city and homeowners may have a different standard than business owners or municipalities. That's why it is a good idea to contact an experienced slip and fall attorney who can evaluate the merits of your case. An experienced personal injury will research the various municipal codes and will ask some important questions such as:

• Where did the accident happen?
  
• Was the property initially shoveled and de-iced?
  
• Was snow falling?
  
• What was the time period between the end of snow fall and the fall?

Answers to these questions as well as other factors can help in determining whether negligence on the part of the property owner was responsible for your slip and fall accident.

We can help
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a slip and fall accident, the slip and fall accident lawyers at The Farber Law Group are there to help. We have more than 30 years experience in representing people with their premise liability and slip, trip and fall accident claims.

Continue reading "Premise liability and slip and fall accidents" »

Cellphone and loud music are a distraction when we’re driving, that’s common knowledge at this point. But there are more people on the road than just drivers, and these pedestrians and cyclists are also prone to distracting gadgets.

This point is reinforced by a new study published in The Journal of Injury Prevention. Researchers from the University of Maryland examined pedestrian-car accident profiles over the last six years, and found that injury rates tripled for people wearing headphones. This alarmed researchers, who noted that it is a limited study but also saw the data as cause for further investigation.

Richard Lichenstein, M.D. was the lead author of the study, and put it this way: "Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears.”

Dr. Lichenstein makes a good point, though it’s based on anecdotal evidence. Consider all of the times you’ve seen a young person bumping around the sidewalk or crossing an intersection while looking at a phone and listening to headphones. Lichenstein’s study supports his eye-ball test. Of the 116 reported deaths or injuries that he tracked, the majority of victims were male and younger than 30. Most strikingly, 74 percent of the cases stated that the victim was wearing headphones at the time of the crash.

The primary flaw of the relatively small study was that the source of most of the information came from media reports, which is not the most reliable source. That being the case, researchers were careful not to put too much stock in the specifics of the data, instead presenting the study as a means of highlighting the issue of pedestrian distraction itself.

Just like driving safety, children are taught how to move safely around the streets from a young age. What we learn to look both ways before crossing the street and to always use our ears to inform us of what’s going on around us. More simply, to use our eyes and ears at all times. But handheld devices--and especially devices that engage eyes and ears with headphones—can dramatically impair those senses.

Comparisons have been drawn between distracted and drunk driving. Perhaps an appropriate parallel to distracted walking is public intoxication. But unlike drunk driving, not since prohibition has public intoxication been a hot button national issue. It’s simply hard envision a person walking around on his or her phone ever being viewed as a public evil like distracted driving. That’s because young people like those the study found were more likely to be involved in a headphones-related accident don’t use cellphones as a communication device. It’s a connection to the virtual self where we store information, entertainment and of course our entire social network. But no matter how connected to our devices we become, our bodies stay in the here and now of the physical world, where crosswalks, cars and unexpected dangers remain.

The solution may be as simple as parents and teachers integrating an awareness of just how distracting mp3 players and cell phone applications can be into the routine lessons about looking both ways. As the researches pointed out, a thorough investigation into the dangers that these devices can pose to pedestrians can help us all understand what needs to be done.

Continue reading "Distractions such as cell phones and headphones increases pedestrian and bicycle accident risk " »

In mediation, the family of Susan Slattery, 47, has settled a wrongful death and negligence claim against a trucking firm for $40.8M in damages for the trucking accident that claimed Slattery's life and seriously injured her two sons.(Citation: Slattery v. Estes Express Lines, Inc., No. 1116-CV-13913 (Mo., Jackson Co. Cir. June 22, 2011).)

In two separate mediation sessions, Slattery's family was awarded $6.2 for their wrongful death claim, $1.2 million for Slattery's son Peter's injuries and $33.4 million for her son Matthew's personal injury claims.

Slattery was driving with her sons Matthew, 12, and Peter, 15, when a large truck pulling triple trailers rear ended her vehicle. The force of the crash caused Slattery's car to be pushed under the rear of another semi trailer.

Slater died at the accident scene.

Slater's son, Matthew, suffered a traumatic brain injury in the accident. He was hospitalized for a month and is disabled, requiring 24-hour care. His future care and life care costs ranges from between $22M to $30M.He has difficulty communicating as he suffers from aphasia as a result of his head injury.

Slater's son, Peter, has mostly recovered from injuries which included fractures to his pelvis and face. His medical expenses totaled around $220,000 and he is still unable to participate in sporting activities.

Trucker's Negligence
The Slattery family claimed that the semi-truck driver, Douglas Bouch, driving for Estes Express Lines, fell asleep at the wheel causing the accident. They made a claim against Estes Express under the doctrine respondeat superior. They also claimed that Estes Express failed to have an adequate plan to supervise their drivers.

Continue reading "Family awarded $40.8M wrongful death and injury settlement in accident caused by trucker who fell asleep" »

Sometimes the most bizarre stories are true.

Today, The Olympian reported that a 60-year-old woman was arrested after she drove her car 17 miles on Interstate 5 in the wrong direction. The report said that drove north in the southbound lanes at speeds of more than 100mph without her headlights on.

Everyone driving on the stretch of Interstate 5 between Tumwater and Joint Base Lewis-McChord is lucky to have avoided being in a collision though the paper said there were several near misses.

Police were able to apprehend the woman after they used spike strips to stop her car.

Though this story is decidedly bizarre, wrong-way car accidents occur more than one would think. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wrong-way car accidents are the cause of 3% of all motor vehicle accidents and 5% of all motor vehicle fatalities.

Causes of Wrong Way Driving

About half of all wrong way driving accidents are caused by people attempting to make a U turn. Unfathomable that it may seem, some people attempt to make U turns on major highways.

The other major cause of wrong way driving is intoxication. Drunk drivers get confused and enter off ramps and start driving down the highway. In fact, most wrong-way car accidents involve either alcohol or elderly drivers.

Elderly drivers can be confused while driving at night time. Many elderly people suffer from cataracts or other vision problems and they have trouble reading traffic signs and become confused with on and off ramps after dark.

Occasionally, a suicidal person will deliberately cross the center line and drive the wrong way.

Avoiding the Wrong Way Driver

Whenever you are driving be sure to scan the road ahead of you and look for emergency situation such as traffic suddenly braking or swerving. Look out for headlights coming in the opposite direction. Use extreme caution when driving in the inside lane of an undivided highway, especially on curves. Most wrong way drivers will drive in the inside lane or inside shoulder thinking they are on a two-lane road.

Results of Wrong Way Driving

Most wrong way drivers cause head-on collisions or side swipe accidents. These are some of the most serious types of accidents and they often result in catastrophic injuries, such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or death to the wrong way driver and to the innocent people he or she runs into.

Car Accident Help

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed by a negligent driver, you are advised to seek legal help. The reason is that a Washington personal injury attorney investigating your car accident would determine whether there was alcohol consumption by the driver who caused your crash. In some circumstances, you might be able to make a claim against the establishment that served the alcohol.

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 who have died. We provide a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL case evaluation and we will honestly assess your case with no pressure put on you to sign anything.

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Continue reading "Wrong way driver drives 17 miles on I-5 nearly avoiding car accidents" »

You are standing at a rental car counter and the rental agent asks you if you want to purchase car insurance on the vehicle you are renting. Should you purchase the insurance? Does the insurance you purchase for your personal automobile cover a rental car?

The car rental company will likely tell you that buying additional insurance will give you "peace of mind" or that the insurance you purchase through them has "no deductible" which can save you in the case of a car accident.

It is a good idea to check with your insurance company about your own policy because policies can vary from state-to-state and you want to make sure you are adequately insured. Sometimes even your credit card company will reimburse you for your deductible if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident in a rental car.

Non-Owned Car Coverage

When checking with your insurance agent, be sure to ask the question, "Do I have Non-Owned Car Coverage."

We were reading a court decision, Chandler v. Geico Indem. Co, 2011 WL 5864808 (Fla. Nov. 23, 2011) in which the case decided the question, "Does Geico's Non-Owned Car Coverage cover motor vehicle accident injuries caused by the negligent use of a rental car even though the driver of the rental car was not an authorized driver under the rental car contract?"

In this case, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the rental car was a "temporary substitute auto" under the insured's automobile insurance policy and therefore Geico was liable for injuries.

The case arose when Kutasha Shazier rented a car from Avis because her auto was in the repair shop. The rental car contract stated that Shazier was not authorized to allow additional drivers of the rental car unless Avis provided prior written approval.

Shazier's personal car insurance with Geico provided "Non-Owned Car Coverage" to cover a temporary substitute auto not owned by Shazier but temporarily used with the permission of the owner.

Shazier lent the rental car to Tercina Jordan who was involved in a single-car accident in which one passenger was killed and several others were injured. The injured passengers and the deceased passenger's estate filed a lawsuit against Shazier and Jordan. Geico, Shazier's insurer argued that they did not have to cover damages because the rental car was not a temporary substitute because Jordan did not have Avis' permission to drive the vehicle.

The court ruled that the rental car qualified for insurance under Geico's "temporary substitute auto" policy and even though it was not owned by the insured person it could be considered an "owned auto" and the insurer must cover the insured and any person using the vehicle that Shazier had given permission to.

How a Personal Injury Attorney can Help You in a Car Accident

Even though you may large insurance premiums, your insurance company may not one to pay a legitimate claim or they might want to lessen your award. A Seattle personal Injury attorney can help you fight insurance companies after your accident. You will likely receive a greater award if you hire a qualified and experienced lawyer to represent you. And, in a complex case like the one we described above, hiring a personal injury attorney is absolutely essential.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm representing clients with car accident injury claims throughout the greater Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma metropolitan area and throughout the Pacific Northwest. We provide FREE and CONFIDENTIAL case evaluations so contact us today.

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Automobile Accident Questions

Continue reading "Does my car insurance cover an accident in a rental car?" »

We get this question a lot. You lend your car to a friend or your roommate borrowed your car without permission and they crashed your vehicle and perhaps even injured another person in the process. "Who is liable for damages when someone else was driving my car?""

If someone else is driving your car and is involved in a motor vehicle accident, your car insurance will pay for the damages. Car insurance is generally with the car and not the driver. Regardless of who was driving your vehicle, your car insurance policy is considered the primary policy.

Of course there are exceptions to this and scenarios that involve claims that exceed the coverage amount.

One case that recently settled was Roberts V. Deane in California. (Citation: Roberts v. Deane, No. 2:10-cv-06354 (C.D. Cal. July 8, 2011).) In this case, Nicole Deane was driving a car owned by her friend Sandy Robert's father and Sandy was a passenger in the vehicle. While driving, Deane attempted to pass a slower moving vehicle in a no-passing zone and she ended up in a head-on collision with a pickup truck. Tragically, Sandy Roberts was killed in the car accident and a couple of passengers in the pickup truck suffered serious injuries.

Manuel Mosqueda, 55, a pickup truck passenger, suffered multiple blunt-force trauma injuries, a head injury, fractures to his ribs and back injuries. His medical expenses were over 100,000 and he has future medical expenses which may run up to 100,000. He also experienced loss of present and future earnings of around 250,000

Another passenger in the pickup truck, Karla Reyes, 30, suffered a "hangman's fracture" which is a hyperextension injury that can occur when the face or chin strike an object. This is a common injury when a person who is involved in a motor vehicle accident strikes the windshield or the dashboard. Reyes suffered blunt force injuries to her abdomen, spine, chest and thorax and now lives with severe neck pain. Her breast was also disfigured in the accident. Her medical expenses were calculated at 64,200 with future medical expenses estimated at $150,000.

After the accident Reyes and Mosqueda filed a negligence lawsuit asking for compensation for their damages.

Robert's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of themselves and their son's estate. A wrongful death lawsuit can be filed on behalf of a deceased loved one when another person's or entities negligence caused the death of a loved one.

All parties to the lawsuit settled before it went to trial. In this case, Deane had a $2.6 million insurance policy limit and her insurance paid $2.2 million to the Roberts plaintiffs and $400,000 to Reyes and Mosqueda. The Roberts also recovered $600,000 from their own underinsured motorist policy. Additional proceeds from the Roberts policy included a payment of $100,000 to the Roberts, $100,000 between Mosqueda and Reyes, and $100,000 to three occupants of the pickup truck who did not file claims.

This case is an example of when you should hire an attorney because of the complexities of the claim, the multiple claimants and two auto insurance policies.

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

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Passengers and families receive $3.25 million settlement in bus accident that killed 2

Estate of woman killed by trucker who fell asleep at the wheel receives $4.8M wrongful death award

Continue reading "Who is liable for damages in a car accident when someone else was driving your car?" »

The Federal Drug Administration has issued a warning to health care professionals after a pharmacist mixed up two medications with similar sounding names causing serious injury to a patient's eye.

The FDA says that a pharmacist accidentally dispensed Durasal, a wart remover, instead of the steroidal eye drop Durezol to a patient, resulting in serious injury. Durezol was being prescribed to the unnamed patient to help with inflammation and pain after eye surgery. Durasal contains salicylic acid and one can only image the pain that the mistake caused to the patient.

The FDA says that this is not the first time the two similarly named products have been confused. According to the FDA, in the other cases, the prescription error was discovered before the patient actually used the eye drops.

The FDA says Durasal has not been approved by the FDA for wart removal and has asked Elorac, Inc., the drug's distributor, to remove the product from the marketplace.

As part of the FDA approval process, drugs are supposed to be screened for similar names but in the case of Durasol,the drug had not been screened by the FDA.

Preventable medication errors can result in serious physical injury to patients and sometimes even death. Medication errors can occur to one of 25 hospital patients and it is estimated that medication errors result in more than 48,000 patients every year.

The following are some common reasons for medication errors:

• Medication prescribed without knowledge of a patient's allergies, lab results, diagnosis.
  
• Insufficient drug information -- not understanding drug interactions or having information about a drug recall.
  
• Misreading of a prescription due to poor handwriting
  
• Confusion between drugs with similar names.
  
• Confusion regarding dosage units.
  
• Lack of proper labeling.
  
• Improper storage of medications which can affect their potency.
  
• Distraction to the pharmacist which can cause lead in a medication mistake.
  
• Overworked pharmacists.
  
• Relying too heavily on technicians.

Medication errors can cause serious injury and even be deadly. If you or a loved one has been injured by a medication error, you should seek medical attention immediately and you should bring all your medications with you if you are not in a hospital setting.

If your injuries are serious, you might want to consider contact an experienced personal injury attorney who can help you make a claim against the professional’s medical malpractice insurance to cover your damages.

The Farber Law Group, a personal injury and medical malpractice law firm has more than 30 years experience representing people seriously injured by medical malpractice and pharmacy errors. We represent our clients on a contingency basis which means that our clients pay a percentage of the recovery from the settlement or verdict in the case.

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Teachers given insulin instead of H1N1 vaccine in medication error

Hospital gives up to 17 babies overdose of Heparin; 1 dies

Prescription Errors – an all too common form of Medical Malpractice

Continue reading "Medication error results in FDA action" »

The Farber Law Group is engaged in representing several clients who have claims against DePuy Orthopedics, a division of the Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. Our clients have suffered some serious injuries after they were implanted with defective metal-on-metal hip implants manufactured by DePuy.

It was of great interest to our firm when we read today's front page article in The Seattle Times entitled "Failing hip implants will cost billions to replace." The article discusses at length the money that the failure of metal-on-metal hip implants will cost individuals, the manufacturers of the hip implant devices, the insurance companies, and taxpayers and contribute to the escalating cost of health care. According to The Times' article, the medical costs to replace the faulty hip devices could be in the billions of dollars.

Thousands of patients who received the DePuy hip implant have filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson in hopes of receiving compensation for their damages which include medical costs, loss of wages and pain and suffering. Many patients have medical bills of up to a half million dollars. Medical costs are not the only financial hardship to patients. Many of the patients are younger and have been disabled or been prevented from working.

According to the article in The Times, a half million patients have received a metal-on-metal hip replacement. The DePuy ASR XL Acetabular and Hip Resurfacing Systems were recalled on August 24, 2010 after many patients suffered serious side effects and many required a second "revision" surgery to replace their device. Side effects included severe pain, fractures, dislocation, nerve damage and necrosis, or tissue death.

There is also a heightened concern that the metal-on-metal design of the DePuy artificial hips may cause metallosis, a condition in which the metal shavings from the device are shed into the surrounding tissue and cause inflammation. Some symptoms of metallosis include pseudo-tumors, premature tissue death and even cancer.

The DePuy hip implant devices were marketed to active and younger patients but they were brought to market using a "fast track" approval process under FDA rule 510 without the testing necessary to make sure they were safe. By 2008, the FDA received hundreds of complaints from patients who had serious problems with their implants. The devices were pulled from the market in Australia and France where patients there were requiring revision surgeries at an alarming level but DePuy continued to market and sell the product in the United States even though the evidence was mounting that the devices were defective.

DePuy has engaged a risk management company, Broadspire, to deal with patient's medical claims. Broadspire has contacted patients with the defective hip and offering to pay co-payments and deductibles of patients requiring revision surgery. Broadspire asks patients to sign a Medical Release Form which allows the company to see a patient's private medical records. The Farber Law Group recommends that patients not sign such a form until they receive sound advice from a product liability law firm.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of the Seattle product liability law firm, The Farber Law Group. Call us for answers to your questions about your DePuy hip implant device. We provide local representation to patients in the Pacific Northwest. We have a co-counsel relationship with a leading New York law firm in order to maximize your recovery.

Related Posts:

Is it time to revamp the FDA approval process of medical devices?

Australian journalist investigates DePuy metal hip

British orthopedics group estimates DePuy ASR hip implant failure may reach 49%

Continue reading "Financial fallout of defective hip implants may cost billions" »

The wife and daughter of Othon Cortes of Miami have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against American Airlines and Sky Chefs, an airline catering company, alleging that food contamination of a chicken meal that Cortes consumed on a Barcelona to New York flight on May 18 caused him to become ill and led to his fatal heart attack.

The family is asking for $1 million in damages.

Cortes experienced symptoms of food poisoning including severe stomach cramps and extreme thirst that came on suddenly after he arrived at JFK and not long after he consumed his airline meal. Cortes went ahead and boarded his Miami connecting flight where he experienced a cardiac emergency with symptoms of nausea and shortness of breath. American Airlines landed the plane at Norfolk but Cortes was deceased by the time the flight landed.

Cortes' family claims that the meal was contaminated with Clostridium perfingens bacteria, the third leading cause of food poisoning in the United States.

The bacteria can grow in food that is prepared properly but if too much time elapses before it is served bacteria germination can occur and bacterial colonies can form.

Most times when food is contaminated by C. perfingens it is not lethal

Sky Chefs is attempting to dismiss the case against them saying:

"Based upon the allegations in the complaint it is not possible that Sky Chefs is the responsible party because we did not cater the Barcelona flight in question."

There are a lot of unanswered questions about this case. Most cases of food contamination do not present for 12 to 24 hours. The claimants will need to provide an autopsy report which reveals the presence of perfingens and show how that bacteria contributed to Corte's death.

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

Source: Passenger dies in-flight, family says airline to blame
By Tanya Mohn, msnbc.com contributor
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Continue reading "Family files wrongful death lawsuit against American Airlines and Sky Chefs saying food poisoning was a factor in man's death" »

A Washington State Appeals Court has ruled that Pierce County cannot require owners of dogs that animal control officers have deemed to be "dangerous" or “potentially dangerous” to pay fees to appeal the county's ruling on their dog.

Pierce County constructed an animal control ordinance that allowed them to deem any dog a "dangerous animal" if the dog:

• bit a person without provocation
  
• injured or killed another animal without provocation
  
• has previously been found to be potentially dangerous and the owner was previously warned of the animal being aggressive and a danger to human or other animals.

A dangerous dog designation requires owners to purchase a $250 permit and buy $25,000 in insurance that allows them to keep a dangerous dog.

The case came before the appeals after one dog owner, Heidi Downey, appealed the ruling that her dog was dangerous after it injured another dog that had to be put to sleep. Downey was required to pay $125 of an initial hearing on the ruling and another $250 for a hearing before an examiner.

The appeals court found that requiring owners to pay such stiff fees to get a hearing is tantamount to “purchasing justice” and that the fees denied owners due process.

Due process is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and it balances the rule of law with an individual’s rights. Due process allows all people to have access to the judicial system regardless of their financial status.

Pierce County argued that without fees that some owners may have “frivolous appeals”. The court, however, felt that dog owners were legally entitled to a hearing before they were deprived of their property.

According to the Centers for Disease Control approximately 4.5 million people suffer dog bites every year and 31,000 people are so severely bitten or injured that they require surgery. In addition, approximately 16 people are killed ever year because of a dog attack.

Washington state does have a dog bite law, RCW 16.08.040 which states that the owner of a dog that injures another person, regardless of whether the dog was previously declared dangerous, to be liable for the injuries to the dog bite victim.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group, a Seattle dog bit lawyer. We represent people who have suffered serious dog bite injures. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Source: Pierce County's dangerous-dog policy unconstitutional, judge rules, The Tacoma News Tribune, 12/04/11

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Continue reading "Washington appeals court says Pierce County "dangerous dog" policy unconstitutional" »

Not so long ago in the United States, the legal standard for drunken driving was 0.15%. The standard from state-to-state varied but in 2011, the standard was set to 0.08%. The blood alcohol content can be measured either by a breathalyzer, through urinalysis or a blood test.

Even though the standard was lowered to 0.08%, the U.S. still has one of the most lenient drunk driving policies in the world when compared with other nations. Some nations including Brazil, Hungary and Romania have a zero tolerance policy. Other countries such as Canada and New Zealand have a zero policy for young drivers Norway, Puerto Rico and Sweden have a 0.02% standard. Countries that have a 0.05% policy include Argentina, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland and Switzerland.

Studies have shown that at BAC levels of between .030 and 0.059%, people experience euphoria and lose concentration. At levels up to .09%, people have impaired reasoning, depth perception, peripheral vision and problems recovering from glare.

The author of One for the Road: Drunk Driving since 1900, Barron H. Lerner, doesn't believe that we have the political will in the U.S. to lower the blood alcohol content standard. He believes that technology may be the answer to preventing intoxicated drivers from driving. Mothers Against Drunk Driving concur and believe that new technologies could save an estimated 8,000 lives each year.

The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), a partnership of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Inc. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is working to develop a couple of technologies which would prevent an intoxicated driver from being able to start their motor vehicle.

One proposed technology would be to have sensors on the steering wheel which would scan a driver's skin for blood alcohol content.

Another technology, already commonly in use, is to fit all cars with an interlock device which measures a person’s BAC via their exhaled breath. Drivers who have been convicted of drunken driving are often ordered by the court to install an ignition interlock devices. In Washington state, interlock devices prevent a person’s vehicle from starting if their BAC is over 0.25%. The court will require an interlock device for convictions of reckless and negligent driving.

The problem with the interlock device is that many drivers try to circumvent it because it is costly or because they want to continue their behavior. People have been known to have companions blow into the interlock device or they will drive someone else’s car.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a Seattle Personal Injury Law Firm and we represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents caused by drunken drivers and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

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Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday that most Americans enjoy really look forward to. Most families cook a turkey and try hard to serve a turkey that is moist tender and juicy.

In the past few years, home chefs have embraced deep frying the turkey because it does not require as much cooking time than other methods such as baking or grilling on a rotisserie and it leaves the meat juicy with a crispy skin.

Deep frying turkeys can be delicious but every year fires related to turkey fires result in approximately five deaths and 60 burn injuries and the damage or destruction of nearly 900 homes.

These facts are pretty scary but they should not deter you from frying your turkey if this is your preferred cooking method. However, you should follow these safety tips:

• Never fry a frozen turkey. Defrost your turkey fully before frying.
  
• Watch the oil thermometer. You should keep your frying oil around 350 degrees. Allowing the oil to over heat to 400 degrees or more can cause a fire.
  
• Don’t overfill the fryer with oil. If you put too much oil in your turkey fryer and then add your turkey, it will overflow and the oil can come in contact with the flame and catch on fire.
  
• Do not fry your turkey indoors. You should fry your turkey away from garages, wooden structures and the deck so that if it catches on fire it does not catch your home on fire. You should never fry your turkey inside.
  
• Keep a fire extinguisher handy.
  
• Wear proper protective gear including heavy gloves or oven mitts and wear proper shoe coverings.
  
• Lower and remove the turkey slowly to avoid splashing.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have suffered burn injuries due to car accidents, industrial accidents and household accidents.

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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College) and the American Urogynecoloc Society (AUGS)recommends that synthetic mesh placed vaginally to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) should only be performed on women that surgeons deem "high risk" whose benefit from the surgery outweighs the risks. This is only one of the recommendations of The College and AUGS involving this surgical procedure in wake of many women coming forward with continuing pain after the corrective surgery and other complications.

The joint committee of The College and AUGS is also calling for a development of a national registry to track the outcomes of patients who have been or will be treated with surgical mesh.

More than 350,000 women have surgery for POP every year in the United States. POP is a condition in which the muscles in the pelvis become torn or stretched and organs in the pelvis can bulge into the vagina. A leading cause of POP is childbirth but other factors such as obesity, constipation, coughing, aging and physical activity can contribute to the condition.

Surgical mesh was first introduced to repair POP in 2001 and it was cleared through the FDA 501(k) premarket notification system which is the "fast track" for a product to get FDA approval. The approval was based on the vaginal mesh being "substantially equivalent" to the surgical mesh used in hernia repair. Products introduced to the market using the 501(k) approval do not have to go through clinical trials and provide data which supports the safety of the medical devices.

Another recommendation by The College and AUGS is that surgeons be trained specifically in the procedure to place the device. Many suspect that one factor in the device failure unskilled surgeons performing the operation.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm and we represent people who have been seriously injured due to dangerous or defective products.

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Patients in Washington state and throughout the Northwest are not the only ones mulling over their options after the ASR XL Acetabular and Hip Resurfacing Systems hip implant was recalled after many patients had very serious health repercussions due to the faulty design of the hip implant. Common complications include swelling, loosening of the joint, severe pain and fractures. More serious complications include metallosis which is metal poisoning.

In Australia, their senate is mulling over whether they want to mandate that doctors be forced to report problems that they observe with medical devices. This comes after the DePuy hip implant failed in about 5,000 Australian patients who received the device and these same patients have initiated a class action lawsuit.

One of the Australian senators said that he believes that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), a consumer watchdog agency which is similar to the Federal Drug Administration here in the U.S., "failed consumers".

One Australian news agency went so far as to call the massive DePuy failure a "scandal".

The community affairs committee of their Senate is recommending a couple of major reforms in the Australian healthcare system including:

• Mandatory reporting -- Requires all health practitioners report adverse results from medical devices to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
  
• Transparency -- Eliminates financial incentives paid to doctors by medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to use their products.

Looking at Australia from the U.S., it seems like their TGA did a better job than the FDA did here in the U.S. as the DePuy hip devices were pulled from their market while they were still being implanted here in the U.S.

Source: "Doctors could be forced to report faults", news.com.au, 11/22/11

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury law firm representing patients with failed DePuy hip implants in the greater Seattle area and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

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The United States has made huge strides against drunk driving. In the past 50 years, the number of drunk driving car accident deaths have dropped from 25 thousand deaths a year to 10 to 11 thousand deaths per year. Still, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are 110 million instances of drunk driving in the U.S. every single year.

Compared to other countries, the U.S. is very permissive about the driving under the influence says the author of a new book, "One for the Road -- Drunk Driving Since 1900", Barron H. Lerner, a Columbia University Professor. Says Lerner, "You can still drink an awful lot in this country and get into your car and drive legally."

In his book, Lerner says that while the U.S. allows a driver to have up to a 0.08% blood alcohol content (BAC), countries like Sweden and Norway are considerably more strict and their legal limit is 0.02%.

Lerner conducted an experiment upon himself and found that it took about 5 shots of alcohol for him to reach a BAC of .08% and he found himself "pretty wasted" at that point. Still, he says, had he had one fewer drinks and a BAC of .075%, he still would have been to drunk to drive.

In his fascinating book, Lerner discusses the attitudes towards drinking and driving in this country. For example, he does not feel like there is the political will in the country to lower the blood alcohol limit for driving so he opens that new technologies like breathalyzers may be part of the solution to the problem.

The author feels that Americans should more heartily embrace the concept of a designated driver. He says Americans are still reticent to designate a non-drinking driver while in other countries designated drivers are enthusiastically embraced.

Lerner says that 50 years ago, a victim of a drunken driver was viewed at someone "in the wrong place at the wrong time" or someone "whose time it was to go."

At The Farber Law Group, a Bellevue personal injury law firm, we represent victims of drunken driving. Many of them have serious injuries due to the negligent behavior of the person who decides to get behind the wheel and drive while intoxicated. With our help, victims can recover their damages which includes medical expenses, lost wages and for pain and suffering.

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Marie-Therese Connolly, the director of Life Long Justice,a non-profit which works to protect the elderly, describes the sometimes hidden signs of elder abuse. She says bruises in unlikely places such as the bottom of the feet, genitalia, head, neck and inner thigh can often be a sign of elder abuse.

Other signs of elder abuse can include unexplained urinary tract infections, falls and bed sores.

Life long Justice provides some chilling numbers about elder abuse. According to their web-site:

• up to 11% of people ages 60 and over are victims or elder abuse, neglect or exploitation
  
• Nearly 50% of dementia patients that live at home are abused or neglected
  
• Elder abuse is grossly under-reported, LLJ say that for every reported case, 23.5 cases are not reported.
  
• 50-90% of nursing homes do not have adequate staffing which can lead to neglect.

Connolly, who recently was named a MacArthur fellow, is working to educate the medical professionals and the public the signs of elder abuse. She advances the use of forensics and research so that abuse can be detected and responded to. She says:

 "Advancing forensic knowledge is important so social and protective services workers, physicians, emergency room personnel and prosecutors know what to look for and what kinds of questions to ask about injuries."

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

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