Medical Malpractice Lawyers in New York

Contaminated Meat Recalled

2008-05-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

A New York food company, Gourmet Boutique, is recalling 143 tons of poultry and meat products, found to be possibly contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. Florida agricultural officials and federal food safety inspectors found the problem, and Gourmet Boutique is voluntarily recalling specific products. They are listed on the USDA website, along with recommendations for what to do if you think you may have ingested any of these products.

There are so far no reports of any illness resulting from ingestion of these products. The Listeria monocytogenes bacterium causes Listeriosis, a bacterial infection. It is a rare condition and during 2004 and 2005, occurred only about 3 times per million people in the U.S. About 30% of those cases occurred in pregnant women, and the remaining 70% occurred in people whose immune system was compromised, such as:

HIV or AIDS sufferers
Those with a blood cancer
Chemotherapy patients
Elderly people
Some who have a hereditary condition

Listeriosis Symptoms

The Listeria monocytogenes bacterium usually enters the body through ingested food. In the past it has been found in seafood, vegetables and dairy products, besides poultry and meat. After one or two days, the symptoms appearing would be:

Diarrhea
Nausea
Headaches
Fever
Sore muscles
Confusion
Trouble with balance
Convulsions

If you suspect you may have used any of the contaminated products, do not delay in seeing your doctor. Antibiotics are used for treating Listeriosis – most often ampicillin or gentamicin or both. Please also feel free to call or email us for a free consultation. We would be glad to give you information about your legal rights and options.

Car Accident Claims

2008-05-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Of all possible causes for personal injury claims, car accidents are the most frequent. Whether you’re the driver, a passenger, a motorcyclist, bicyclist or pedestrian, you can be hurt by an automobile. It makes sense when you think of how most people drive to and from work everyday and how those who stay home still drive to do errands. Almost everybody is on the road most days.

If you are injured in an auto accident, some of the claims you might be able to bring would be:

Against the driver responsible and/or his insurance company – for your medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering
Against the vehicle manufacturer for a possible defect in the vehicle, either yours or the responsible driver’s vehicle
Against the City or County for poor road maintenance, signage, or lighting
Against a bus company if a bus driver was responsible or partly responsible

In car accidents which cause what are considered severe or serious injuries – brain, neck or spinal cord injuries, or severe burns – you may sustain a permanent disfigurement or disability. You may need living assistance from then on. That means very high medical bills and ongoing costs for things like physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy etc. Who should pay for that? What if the negligent driver is uninsured, or under-insured?

Help Your Auto Accident Attorney to Help You

For those situations, legal help is invaluable. It will help your auto accident lawyer if you can supply copies of medical records, bills, and contact information for others involved in the accident. Why not keep a disposable camera in the car so that you can take photos at the scene of the accident? Photos of vehicle damage, relative positions of vehicles, road conditions, and personal injury taken at the time of the accident could be central in winning you the compensation you deserve. Even if you have no camera, you could jot down some notes at the time, if you aren’t too injured. They could be enormously useful.

Keep in mind that insurance companies do not make their money by paying out claims to their customers. They make it by investing the money they receive in premiums. Insurance adjusters are trained to be pleasant, but to make lowball offers in hopes that the traumatized accident victim will accept them without getting any legal advice. Before you sign anything for an insurance adjuster, or accept any offer, please contact us here for a free case evaluation. Why throw away the comfort of a fair and just monetary compensation?

An $850,000 House on the Town Dump?

2008-05-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Gesner family knew nothing of the land’s history when they bought their nice house at Manchester-By-The-Sea in Massachusetts. Not until they tried to sell it did they discover that it had apparently been built on an old dump. So they had the soil tested and found that it contains several heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium and chromium, all within four inches of the surface. Testing also revealed that the lead content is about six times the EPA’s limit for children and pregnant women.

Julie Gesner was pregnant

So the family moved out immediately. During their subsequent investigations, they found a letter dated november 2000, written from the Board of Health to the builder. It ordered the builder to stop construction on that house. They could find no follow-up to that letter.

The town administrator, one Wayne Melville, has said he was unaware of this letter until April 18 of this year, when it was brought to his attention. He states that there is no evidence that the land was ever a dump or a landfill. The site is 1.3 acres and apparently there are some old records that indicate a dump did operate there in the 1950s.

The Gesner family considers that the town should have informed them of the fact that their house was on a previous dump, if in fact this is true. The broker who sold them the house mentioned at the time that he had heard a rumor that it was built on a dump. But the Gesners knew no more than that, and went ahead and bought the house.

Now they can neither live in it nor sell it

The EPA has ordered the town of Manchester-By-The-Sea to either explain how it plans to clean up the site, or prove that it is not responsible.

When we buy a house, it’s an emotional event, and sometimes an urgent one if we have our old house in escrow already. People often become attached to a house before they actually own it, and may disregard vague rumors rather than pushing for more information.

If you have sustained financial or other injury through somebody else’s negligence, please feel free to contact us. In a free consultation, we can listen to you and start to determine whether you might have a valid legal claim.

Toddler Suffocates in a Sandbox

2008-04-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

In Colorado Springs last week, a four-year-old boy was found in a sandbox face down. He was at a daycare center, and two of the workers there found him. One called 911 and the other tried to clear sand from the child’s mouth. Emergency workers arrived quickly from a nearby fire station and tried using suction to remove the sand, but without much success.

The child was pronounced dead at the Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital about one hour later. Police said that he had put his head into a hole dug by another child playing in the sandbox previously. It was about 12 inches by 16 inches and surrounding sand collapsed on him, burying him for about a minute.

Local police and the Colorado Department of Human Services are both investigating the incident, although it appears to have been a genuine accident. The daycare center has never been cited for any incidents or violations, and has been licensed for 13 years.

The child’s father is not blaming anyone. He told the local newspaper reporter that his son was a happy boy.

“He'd walk up to you without even knowing you and give you a big hug. Not a care in the world," he said. "Bad things happen to good people, you know? Just don't take your kids for granted."

Some daycare centers are repeatedly found to be in violation of one regulation or another, and some are prone to unfortunate incidents. If you have a child in a daycare center, or are considering putting your child in one, be sure to check into the center’s past history and records with the State Department of Human Services. Talk to other parents who use that center and ask them how satisfied they are with its childcare services.

If your child has suffered any injury at a daycare center and you are wondering whether you might have a valid legal claim, please call or email us. We have considerable experience with daycare centers and will be glad to give you a free consultation.

The Supreme Court strikes again.

2008-04-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court strikes again.

Patients rights have been taken away by the Supreme Court, leaving them defenseless against medical device makers. The nine judges ruled against the estate of a patient who suffered serious injuries due to an alleged defective catheter, which burst during a procedure.

The Supreme Court found that the estate of Charles Riegel could not sue the manufacturer of the defective product (Medtronics Inc.) because the US Food and Drug Administration had approved it for the market. The court feared that states would impose requirements upon the manufacturers, which were harsher than those imposed by the federal government. In other words this is a case of federal preemption of state's rights. Patients have long held the right to sue manufacturers of defective medical devices in New York State. That right has been taken away.

Under federal law once a company complies with the US Food and Drug Administration's requirements the agency allows the product to be market. At the time Congress enabled the Food and Drug Administration there was no expressed intent to limit states rights or protect the manufacturer of medical devices. Activist judges on the Supreme Court felt otherwise.

Applying the rationale of the Court we can foresee this reasoning affecting other areas where the federal government allegedly has a role in protecting the public interest. The FDA supposedly approves drugs, yet we know of many instances where they fell short of insuring safety for patients. One has only to use their imagination to come up with a list of federal regulatory and approval agencies which are underfunded and understaffed.

If you or a loved one has Queens medical malpractice question , please contact the Malpractice Law Offices of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, serving clients in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County

This may be considered a legal advertisement.

Joseph Miklos

Lead Poisoning: Part 2

2008-04-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Since lead in paint, plumbing, and gasoline has been banned in the U.S., we don’t have very much lead exposure any more. But the main concern with lead exposure is regarding young children, and in old houses, a young child can still be exposed to harmful amounts of lead. If there is old flaking paint, it falls on the floor, gets caught into stuffed toys, clothing, bed linen etc. and a child could ingest it. Toddlers often pick things off the floor and put them in their mouths. The paint flakes also create dust containing lead which everyone in the house will breathe.

If old plumbing still exists, lead can leach into the drinking water. It is also present in food cans and juice containers made in some other countries and can therefore be in the food and juice.

Lead poisoning symptoms in children

Lead affects the brain, the kidneys, and the bone marrow (soft tissue inside bones). Resulting symptoms can be:

Difficulty with paying attention
Learning difficulties
Muscle weakness
Stomach pain
Headaches
Confusion
Fatigue
Hair loss
Anemia

Any of these symptoms could show up, but not necessarily. The way to detect lead poisoning is through a blood test. Since children are still growing, lead exposure at an early age can affect development.

Cutting down on lead exposure

If you live in an old house and are renovating it, close off each room that is being worked on. Keep young children out of them. Make sure that your diet is high in iron and calcium, as they can help prevent lead poisoning.

Foods containing iron are chicken and turkey, spinach, eggs, tuna, lean beef and pork, dried beans and peas and whole grain products
Foods containing calcium are dairy products and anything made with milk such as puddings and creamy soups

Lead Poisoning: Part 3 will cover New York laws regarding lead poisoning and will appear in this space next week. If you think your child or you yourself may be suffering from lead poisoning, be sure and have a blood test done. You might also schedule a free consultation with one of our lead poisoning attorneys, to learn more about your legal options. Please call or email us.

Lead Poisoning: Part 1

2008-04-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

What is Lead?

Lead is one of the group of Earth’s elements known as “heavy metals” (the heavy part referring to atomic weight). Some others in the group are iron, copper, zinc, manganese, mercury and plutonium.

Iron, copper and zinc are essential nutrients up to a point, but too much will cause illness.
Mercury, plutonium, and lead have no known positive effect on living organisms including humans. When they accumulate in the body, they can cause severe illness

A Little History

People have mined and used lead for many thousands of years. People have also known for thousands of years that it can be harmful. Writings exist from 250 BC about anemia and colic caused by lead poisoning.

In ancient Rome, where eating and drinking were a major recreation, wine was sweetened with lead acetate and caused gout. A Roman medical document from 30 AD includes “white lead” in a list of poisons for which there are antidotes. White lead (also called sugar of lead) is lead soaked in vinegar, which made a lead paste. The remedy for white lead was walnut juice in the wine. But although the Romans knew of lead’s toxicity, they still used it in make-up and skin care, and in treatments for bleeding, infection, and inflammation.

In ancient China, alchemists had a practice of soaking lead in blood and then firing it. If that was done several times, a protective coat formed on the lead’s surface – very useful for martial training. This procedure kept the fighters safe from lead poisoning.

In Boston, in the 18^th century, people were fond of rum. Because the rum was made in stills made partly of lead, lead poisoning became widespread at that time.

In modern times, lead exposure has mostly come from leaded paint and leaded gasoline, besides occupational exposure for some. Although paint and gasoline are no longer made with lead in the U.S. (or in many other countries), old buildings still have old lead paint, usually flaking off and causing air-borne dust.

In Lead Poisoning: Part 2, this space will cover the symptoms of lead poisoning. If you have a child who may be suffering from lead poisoning, please call or email us and we’ll be glad to consult with you at no charge.

Bisphenol A (BPA) a Toxin

2008-04-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic hormone used in some plastics manufacturing. When the plastic is heated it can leach out, and some of the products that contain it are water bottles, baby bottles and sippy cups. The Canadian government is apparently preparing to declare it a toxin.

The Walmart Canadian division announced on Wednesday that it would no longer sell any pacifiers, water bottles, baby bottles, sippy cups, or food containers made with BPA. In the U.S., Walmart announced yesterday (April 17, 2008) that it would sell only BPA-free baby bottles by early next year.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) Draft Report

The NTP is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has done BPA experiments on rats, exposing them to BPA levels analogous to human exposure. They issued a draft report on April 14. They found that the rats developed urinary problems, prostate tumors, and early puberty.

The draft report states that human exposure to BPA is mostly through food and drinks. BPA can leach into food from the container, from an internal resin coating on the container. It leaches more as the temperature of the food or drink increases, but not more if the container is older. Workers in plastics manufacturing plants can be exposed to it on the job. We are also exposed to it through the air, dust and water around us, but this is not significant exposure.

The degree of a person’s exposure to BPA can be measured by testing body fluids such as blood, urine or breast milk. So far, the highest exposure has been found in infants and children. In the draft report, several reasons are advanced for this:

Pound for pound, children eat and drink more than adults
They spend more time on the floor or ground
They tend to put more things in their mouths and may even eat soil or objects found on the soil or floor

The NTP concluded in its draft report that:

…there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures. The NTP also has some concern for Bisphenol A exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females.

The italics on the word “some” are in contrast to later text where italics are on the word “negligible”. The NTP has negligible concern about BPA causing any birth defects, and about adults sustaining any reproductive problems, although it has minimal concern “for workers exposed to higher levels in occupational settings”.

More studies will surely be done and will give us more definite information. Meanwhile, it would be as well to buy BPA-free products, and if you are wondering about possible negative effects in your small children, please give us a call, or send an email. We will be glad to give you a free consultation and information as to your legal options.

Spinal Cord Injury: Part 3

2008-04-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Rehabilitation

After hospital discharge, procedures will vary according to the specific injury and its results. There’ll be a team that includes any of the following, or others, depending on the nature of the injury:

Neurologist
Orthopedist
Internist
Physical therapist
Occupational therapist
Rehabilitation nurse
Social worker
Dietitian
Speech therapist
Psychologist or psychiatrist
Respiratory therapist
Vocational counselor

There will be both short-term and long-term medications, for pain, any infections that arise, bladder and bowel control, muscle movement, and sexual function. There will usually be education for the family, so they can best support their loved one and understand what is needed. For example, the injured person may need a ventilator and there are programs for family education about that, as well as weaning programs when the injured person could potentially learn to breathe without it.

Medical Devices

Enormous progress has been made in the past fifty years or so in helping people become more active and functional after severe injuries.

Neural prostheses – these are designed to replace lost neural transmission. They may be outside the body, or implanted, and they connect electrically with the nervous system. They can enable a person to stand, walk, reach for things, and hold things. A good example is cochlear implants, which have become widely used to restore lost hearing.
Versatile wheelchairs – improvements have made wheelchairs lighter and more comfortable. Some can negotiate rough ground or climb stairs, and in some the seat can lift to give a person access to high places, as in a supermarket.

Surgery

Great progress has been made in surgeries to enable movement after the nerve damage has made it impossible. Tendon surgery repositions tendons connected to working muscles so those muscles can take over what the paralyzed muscles cannot do. This can restore hand movement, arm movement, and wrist movement, for example. The working muscles do double duty.

There are many spinal cord injury centers which offer counseling, therapy, re-training, and family training. This spinal cord injury site gives a list of such facilities in each state. The New York Presbyterian Hospital site gives good information as to anatomy, diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, and rehabilitation.

If you have sustained a spinal cord injury, or if you have a loved one in that position, please call us or send an email to learn more about your legal options. Depending on how the injury happened, you may have a valid legal claim for compensation.

Spinal Cord Injury: Part 2

2008-04-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

The central nervous system, once damaged, does not regenerate. Such an injury is a medical emergency and needs treatment as quickly as possible to minimize the long-term effects.

On no account should you ever move a person who has sustained a back injury, as that could severely worsen their plight.

Keep the person still and call 911 on the assumption that the spinal cord is injured. The Mayo Clinic website gives good pointers for how to deal with this situation until medical help arrives.

Initial Treatment

Paramedics will make sure the person can breathe, prevent the onset of shock, and immobilize the neck. They will apply a rigid neck collar and use a rigid board to transport the person to a hospital.

Emergency room personnel will focus on maintaining good blood pressure and preventing the many possible complications, such as retention of stool or urine and formation of blood clots in the extremities. They will usually sedate the person and proceed with diagnostic tests to pinpoint the injury. Most often the person is transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, or perhaps to a local spine injury center which has staff highly specialized in every aspect of spinal cord injury treatment.

Emergency surgery may be performed to treat broken vertebrae which are putting pressure on the spinal cord, or to remove bone fragments or foreign objects. There are cartilage pads between the vertebrae which allow us to move flexibly without bones rubbing against each other, which would painful. Some of these may have been knocked out of position or damaged, and may need treatment.

Further Treatment

Once the injury is stabilized, the next group of issues arises from the person’s immobilization. Preventive measures must be taken for:

Bedsores
Blood clots
Urinary infection
Muscle contracture

Nurses will help with body functions and skin lotion and will reguarly change the person’s position. Special mattresses will be used. A therapist will do range-of-motion exercises for paralyzed limbs.

This topic is an enormous one, so the writer in this space will continue with Part 3 next week, on the subject of Rehabilitation.

If you have sustained a spinal cord injury, or if you have a loved one in that situation, please feel free to contact us about your legal situation. If medical negligence was involved, or if the injury was caused by somebody’s carelessness, you may have a valid legal claim.

Spinal Cord Injury: Part 2

2008-04-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

The central nervous system, once damaged, does not regenerate. Such an injury is a medical emergency and needs treatment as quickly as possible to minimize the long-term effects.

On no account should you ever move a person who has sustained a back injury, as that could severely worsen their plight.

Keep the person still and call 911 on the assumption that the spinal cord is injured. The Mayo Clinic website gives good pointers for how to deal with this situation until medical help arrives.

Initial Treatment

Further Treatment

Once the injury is stabilized, the next group of issues arises from the person’s immobilization. Preventive measures must be taken for:

Bedsores
Blood clots
Urinary infection
Muscle contracture

This topic is an enormous one, so the writer in this space will continue with Part 3 next week, on the subject of Rehabilitation.

Spinal Cord Injuries: Part 1

2008-04-09T09:39:00.001-07:00

Our bodies have two nervous systems:

The peripheral nervous system – with nerves throughout the body which give sensation and movement
The central nervous system – consisting of the spinal cord and brain

These nervous systems are the communication systems within the body. They carry messages from the brain to the entire body, such as “Pull your hand back from that hot stove”, and back to the brain, such as “Right foot is hurting”.

The spinal cord runs from the base of the brain to just above the waist. It is inside the spinal vertebrae, well protected from injury, but not injury-proof. The 33 vertebrae can be damaged – you can break your back – without the spinal cord necessarily being affected.

But when the spinal cord is damaged, paralysis can result, in different areas of the body depending on where the spinal cord was damaged. There are four areas in the spinal cord, each with a number of large spinal nerves which branch off the spinal cord, run through apertures in the vertebrae, and then subdivide, branching around in different body areas.

The Cervical Area – is in the neck and its nerves control the diaphragm, the shoulders, neck, arms, hands, and back of the head
The Thoracic Area – is in the upper back and its nerves control the torso and part of the arms
The Upper Lumbar Area – is in the mid back just below the ribs, and its nerves control the hips and legs
The Sacral Area – is in the mid back just below the Upper Lumbar Area, and its nerves control the groin, parts of the legs, and the toes

The spinal cord stops in the mid back, but the vertebrae continue on down to the coccyx.

Two types of spinal cord injury

Complete – the person has now lost all sensation and voluntary movement on both sides of the body, below the injury location. When the injury is in the cervical area, quadriplegia will result. When it is lower down, paraplegia results.
Partial – the person will have individualized consequences, differing from person to person, and according to the exact nature of the injury

Spinal cord injuries can affect not only the limbs and voluntary movement, but any other body function as well. So, for instance, the person might need a respirator for breathing if the injury is high on the spinal cord. Males can become infertile. People can suffer from bladder and bowel problems. Functions that we take for granted can be impaired, such as body temperature, blood pressure, or ability to sweat.

And of course, there can be pain, often chronic.

Causes of spinal cord injury

Some are the result of a disease such as spina bifida or polio, but most result from trauma. About 44% of spinal cord injuries are caused by auto accidents. Other causes are violent assaults, falls, and sports injuries. Over 80% of spinal cord injuries happen to males.

Please watch this space for Spinal Cord Injuries: Part 2, on treatment and management.

Brain Mapping

2008-04-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) are often hard to diagnose and harder to treat. There is a great deal of imaging that can be done, such as CTs and MRIs, but the brain has many areas and each area, if injured, will cause different disabilities and symptoms.

Researchers have worked for decades on mapping the brain and this is an overview of the cerebral cortex areas and what they enable us to do.

Frontal Lobe (under forehead)Provides consciousness, so that we know where we are and why. It controls our movements in our environment, emotional responses, language, and memory of habits.

If it is injured, we may experience paralysis of some body areas, trouble with planning our actions, with speaking, and with thinking flexibly. We may become stuck on one thought and have wide mood swings.

Parietal Lobe (at back and top of head)Visual attention, touch perception, manipulation of objects, integration of our five senses.

Injury can reduce ability to focus on one thing at a time, ability to name things, to find words for writing, to read, to distinguish left from right.

Occipital Lobe (back of head)Provides vision.

Injury causes hallucinations, inability to recognize words, read or write, color confusion.

Temporal Lobes (sides of head)Hearing, memory, some visual aspects

Trouble with recognizing faces and understanding spoken words; memory loss, increased aggression.

The cerebral cortex is not the entire brain. There are also the brain stem, deep inside the brain, which controls heart rate, blood pressure, and other life-sustaining functions; and the cerebellum at the base of the skull, which coordinates balance and fine movements.

If you have sustained a head injury, but didn’t feel hurt or sick, and therefore didn’t go for any medical treatment, you might want to reconsider that. Brain injuries can give delayed symptoms. They can also give mild, vague symptoms at first which then worsen.

One thing to remember if you’re in an auto accident is to always have medical treatment as soon as possible. If you pass on it at the time of the accident and later on develop symptoms, your initial refusal will be used to your disadvantage in any possible lawsuit.

Please contact us if you have had a head injury and would like to know more about your legal options and rights.

Upset Truckers

2008-04-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, April 1, some U.S. truck drivers drove slowly to cause traffic backups and others staged a protest at a service area with hundreds of people in attendance. These things took place on freeways around Chicago and New Jersey but not in California where trucks are more numerous on the freeways. Other protests occurred in Florida. Some truckers who were driving below the speed limit received tickets.

These were independent truckers, who comprise about 90% of the trucking industry. They were protesting the cost of diesel fuel which has risen recently. Many of these big rig drivers are represented by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). This organization has about 161,000 members, and there are about as many more truckers in the U.S. who are not members.

The OOIDA has asked Congress for help with the diesel fuel cost and is warning the public that the cost of many items such as groceries could rise because of the extra costs that truckers have to bear. Some truckers have to keep their vehicles off the roads for lack of funds up front to buy diesel fuel. Others are finding other work. If there’s a shortage of trucks, prices of goods they normally transport will rise.

The numbers of big rigs on our roads has certainly been increasing in recent years. The drivers work to tight delivery schedules and there is a trend among retail stores to order smaller amounts of goods each time. That way they need less storage space on their premises. It also means that trucks must head for their back entrance more often, and most such stores are in neighborhoods where we all drive our passenger vehicles locally, expecting to be relatively safe.

The issues involved with numbers of 18-wheelers and the accidents they are involved in are many, complex, and changing. If you, or someone you love, have been injured in an accident involving a big rig, please contact us for some legal help. We can give you a free consultation and advise you of your legal rights and options.

Another Crane Collapse

2008-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, March 25, 2008, a second crane collapsed, this one in Miami, FL. It was attached to a high-rise condominium building under construction. Its main section remained intact but a 20-foot section fell, which workers were trying to raise and attach to the top of the crane. It fell 30 floors and through the roof of a nearby two-story house which workers were using for storage.

Two construction crew workers were killed, one who had been in that storage house, and the other later in hospital. Five more workers were injured, one critically. The company which was managing the construction, Bovis Lend Lease Holdings Inc., had worked well with OSHA (Office of Safety and health Administration) before and was regarded as typically going “above and beyond” regarding safety and health. The crane workers were part of a sub-contractor, and that company is cooperating with investigators. OSHA has two investigators onsite.

In New York, contractors are not permitted to raise or lower large cranes on construction sites without a buildings inspector being present. However, in Florida, the state does not license or regulate crane operators. Bills which would change that are at present in both houses of the legislature.

We will be glad to give you a free consultation if you or a loved one have been injured on a construction site. We take both Workers’ Compensation and Premises Liability cases, as well as Wrongful Death and Severe Personal Injury. Please send us an email, or give us a call if you would like to learn more about your legal options and rights.

Update on New York Crane Collapse

2008-03-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

On March 20, a New York City inspector was arraigned in connection with the March 15 collapse of the 20-story crane (see last Wednesday’s blog in this space). He was charged with falsifying business records and “offering a false instrument for filing”. His name is Edward Marquette and he worked as an inspector in the NY Department of Buildings division of cranes and derricks.

What this amounts to is that he is charged with lying about whether or not he had inspected this crane. The crane was attached to a Manhattan building under construction by two six-ton steel collars. The top one came loose and fell on to the lower one, detaching it from the building. With no support, the crane collapsed and killed 7 people, mostly workers on that construction site.

City records show that several local residents had called in complaints about the crane’s questionable safety. Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster said that complaints were received on January 10 and February 11, and one on March 4 to the city’s 311 hot line. Marquette told them he inspected it but they later determined that he had not.

However, Lancaster also said that even if he had inspected the crane on March 4, it would probably not prevented the crane’s collapse, because the two steel collars were not at the construction site on that day.

Residents were upset with the construction site because of its early-morning noise, besides the crane’s doubtful safety. The jackhammers and drills had been starting at 7 a.m. and neighbors were wondering how the work crew had received permission to start work so early.

If you have been injured by something unsafe at a construction site, please give us a call, or send an email. We’d be glad to give you a complimentary consultation. We have over twenty years of experience in representing construction site workers, and as much experience representing members of the public who have been hurt by a negligent premises owner.

NY Crane Collapse Disaster

2008-03-19T12:22:00.003-07:00

On Saturday, March 15, a large crane collapsed in the area of 50^th and 51^st Streets near Second Avenue in New York. Seven bodies have now been pulled from the site, so that all who were thought to be affected by the collapse are now accounted for. Most were construction workers. There were also 24 other people injured, three of them severely.

The crane’s fall damaged six buildings and about 12 nearby buildings were evacuated. The day before, Friday, city officials had inspected the crane and found no violations. The construction site had previously been cited for 13 minor infractions unrelated to the crane and its fall. One was failing to perform adequate housekeeping and another was failing to have a safety manager present. When asked about these, Mayor Bloomberg had replied, “Every large construction site has violations.”

In response to that, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said that it should not be regarded as “business as usual” for construction sites to have violations.

It seems that what caused so much destruction was a piece of steel falling and cutting a tie which held the crane to a skyscraper under construction. We will probably see more news reports following up on this event.

If you have been injured on a construction site, or if you have lost a loved one in a construction accident, please call or email us to arrange for a free consultation.

Can Dr. Death be Extradited to Australia?

2008-03-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

In 1984, one Dr. Jaycant Patel was found guilty of gross negligence and incompetence by New York regulators. He had failed to examine patients before their surgery and was fined and placed on clinical probation. In 1989, he moved to Oregon, where he worked for Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Portland. Complaints began at once, that he performed surgery when it was not needed, and on patients who were not his responsibility. In some cases the surgeries led to severe injury or patient death.

In 1998 Kaiser put limitations on his licence, requiring that he seek second opinions before performing any surgery, and banning him from performing liver or pancreatic surgeries. The limitations were made statewide in 2000, and in 2001 New York State health officials had him surrender his license.

A distant sanctuary?

So Dr. Patel took action which 100 years ago might have been effective: he went to Australia to disappear. By falsifying application forms he managed to be appointed the Director of Surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia in April, 2003. The Queensland health authorities did not check his background. They hired him for the “area of need” program which hires foreign-trained doctors for under-serviced areas. Bundaberg is a pretty town 385 kilometers north of Brisbane, on the Burnett River, just south of the Great Barrier Reef. It has a large sugar cane industry and manufactures rum.

Again, complaints began at once, his surgeries being described as “sloppy” and “antiquated”. They called him Dr. E. coli. Nurses had noticed that he didn’t wash his hands, and some hid their patients when he was in the hospital. Between 2003 and 2005 Patel was linked to over 87 deaths. Thirty of those died under his care in Bundaberg.

Patel arrested

After some Queensland politicians raised these issues, the media uncovered Patel’s past, giving him the name Dr. Death. He quickly left Australia, returning to Portland Oregon. On March 13, 2008, FBI agents arrested him there. The subsequent hearing revealed that he is facing numerous charges and three life terms in prison, plus over 100 years more. Now there is a warrant for his extradition to Australia for trial.

The question of extradition

A Texas doctor in support of Dr. Patel has urged him to fight the extradition, and stated that the responsible party is the Queensland medical authorities who should have provided more supervision. He claims that Patel would not get a fair trial in Australia because of the media coverage. There is a case concerning a possible extradition to Greece of another defendant, and lawyers say it might provide a test as to whether Patel can be extradited to Australia. In the other case the defendant is claiming he would not get a fair trial in Greece because of media coverage.

If you have been injured by a medical professional, or if you have lost a loved one because of medical malpractice, please call or email us for a free case evaluation.

Dealing with Traumatic Brain Injury

2008-03-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Our soldiers put their lives and health in danger voluntarily to protect the nation, and although both the military and the federal government have some programs in place to provide healthcare to injured soldiers, it is not always enough.

In West Virginia, a bill has been sponsored that would create a state Traumatic Brain Injury Services Commission. Its job would be to identify soldiers diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and find healthcare for them, or other services they might need.

TBIs can be utterly life-destroying. Depending on which part of the brain is injured, a person can be:

Partially or totally paralyzed
Unable to speak
Unable to see or hear well, or at all
Unable to learn, or to remember what was previously learned

The brain is still a medical mystery to some extent, and each brain injury is an individual thing. Severe TBIs can leave a person in need of permanent living assistance, in chronic pain, and unable to earn a living.

The West Virginia bill would apportion one percent of the state’s video lottery revenues to this new TBI resource. It is not known how many West Virginia soldiers have brain injuries, but nationally it is estimated that over 7,000 Americans are admitted to hospitals (military and veterans) each year for TBI.

It is not only soldiers in the line of fire who are at risk for TBI. Any civilian can sustain a TBI in a motorcycle accident, sports accident, construction site accident, or in many other ways. If you have a loved one with a TBI and are wondering how to meet all the medical and other costs, perhaps you have a valid legal claim. Depending on how the injury happened, there could be a negligent party who could be held responsible. For a free consultation, please call us or send an email.

Parents Sue After Son's Penis is Amputated by Mistake

2008-03-10T06:35:00.001-07:00

The family of an infant boy whose penis was severed during a circumcision filed a lawsuit in July 2007 claiming a doctor and the hospital were negligent. The Chicago lawsuit alleges that due to negligence, Dr. Sherif Malek severed the entire glans, commonly called the "head" of the penis during a routine circumcision the day after his birth on February 14, 2007.

At the completion of the procedure, hospital records indicated that significant bleeding occurred, and upon inspection, nearly all of the glans had been amputated at the time of the circumcision. Three months later, the little boy required penile skin transfer surgery and will need future procedures, some of which are only appropriate at the time of puberty.

According to an expert witness from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the clamp used in the procedure cannot amputate a male infant's glans when it is used properly and the injury to the infant was completely preventable.

Medical malpractice caps in Illinois will prevent the boy from recovering more than $500,000 against the physician, and the hospital's liability is capped at $1 million.

Trasylol Fallout

2008-03-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

In November, 2007, Bayer AG, the German company long famous for its aspirin and more recently the manufacturer of Trasylol, pulled Trasylol off the worldwide market. This was in response to a request from the FDA which asked Bayer to remove Trasylol from the American market for safety reasons. The FDA had previously approved Trasylol in 1993.

Trasylol is a blood-clotting drug used to control bleeding during surgery. It has often been used in coronary artery bypass graft surgeries, but has been associated with increased chances of kidney damage and death.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association back in January 2006 found that patients taking Trasylol had a greater risk of death during the following five years than patients who took alternative drugs. One of the authors of this study, Dr. Dennis T. Mangano, has recently estimated that perhaps 1,000 people per month have died because of Trasylol use between January 2006 and November 2007, when Bayer AG began pulling it off the market. He made that statement on a 60 Minutes program on February 17, 2008.

Trasylol’s withdrawal from the market has been done gradually, to make sure that alternative drugs would be available. There are two alternatives, known as aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid, both of which are effective, according to two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 21, 2008. They are also less expensive and less risky than Trasylol.

If you have a loved one who sustained kidney damage after Trasylol was used in surgery, or who has since died, please contact us for a free case evaluation.

Hospital Feeding Tube Mistake

2008-03-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Roy Hodgson, aged 66, was a cancer patient in Britain who had been through the procedure to remove a tumor from his throat. He was recovering in hospital with a feeding tube inserted, since he was unable to swallow until the throat area had healed up.

His prognosis was good until the feeding tube came out and a nurse re-inserted it incorrectly. Nobody noticed for two weeks, not even the radiologist who studied a scan of the area. When Mr. Hodgson’s family visited him, he tried to tell them he was hungry, and pointed to his swollen abdomen. Nobody could understand what he was trying to say. No hospital personnel noticed that his feeding tube was in the wrong place and the food was not going into his stomach.

It had been inserted into the abdominal cavity instead of into the stomach. He developed peritonitis, which is a difficult condition to treat under the best circumstances. It is an infection of the membrane which lines the abdominal cavity. His abdomen was swollen from the infection. Still nobody noticed.

Finally he was found crouching in the hospital foyer, clutching his stomach, and trying to escape from the hospital. He was quickly taken to intensive care, where he died of hunger and infection.

The hospital has accepted responsibility for this medical negligence and will be paying damages to Mr. Hodgson’s family. The hospital is a National Health Service hospital, part of Britain’s socialized medicine system, paid for by taxes. The entire system immediately changed its protocol for feeding tubes, and Mark Hodgson, Hodgson’s son, aged 28, feels that this is enough. The family is not pursuing legal action for the money, as Mark explained:

““We have been told that they have changed the procedure nationwide. That is the best thing we could have got from this.”

At the inquest following Mr. Hodgson’s death, the Coroner concluded that Mr. Hodgson had died as a result of an accident.

If you have lost a loved one because of a hospital mistake, please contact us for a free case evaluation. We believe that medical negligence should be exposed and those responsible should be held liable for the pain and injury they cause.

Can a State Lawsuit Override Previous FDA Approval?

2008-02-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

On February 20, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that manufacturers of medical devices which meet the FDA’s specification and have been approved for marketing, cannot later be sued for any personal injury claimed to have been caused by that device. In other words, FDA pre-market approval of a new medical device takes precedence over later state lawsuits.

Such state lawsuits have been filed in the past, and some patients have won large amounts for injuries held to have been caused by an approved medical device. Many such pending lawsuits will now be moot.

The case before the Supreme Court concerned a man who was injured when a balloon catheter burst as it was being inserted to dilate his coronary artery. The catheter had been approved by the FDA in 1994, two years previously.

Two Approval Processes

Up until 1996, FDA approval was done according to the Medical Device Amendments process of 1976. Since 1996, medical devices have been approved differently, where the FDA has deemed them “substantially equivalent” to the ones marketed before 1976. In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that this second process does not pre-empt state lawsuits being brought against manufacturers of any “grandfathered” devices.

The situation is not fully clear at this point as to how many of the pending suits will be affected by the ruling. For example, devices which were FDA-approved but subsequently manufactured in a sub-standard way are not included in the 2008 Supreme Court ruling. Further, if a state has laws which mirror the federal laws (rather than differing and supplementing them), some cases may be permissible.

Some State Lawsuits “disrupt the federal scheme”

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said that allowing a state jury to assign liability to a manufacturer who has previously gone through the FDA approval process for the device in question “disrupts the federal scheme”. He noted too that juries see only the injured plaintiff’s situation and therefore tend to consider the dangers of a device more than its benefits. “The patients who reaped those benefits are not represented in court.”

Devices affected by this 2008 opinion tend to be more technologically sophisticated and include devices such as a heart pump, an implantable defibrillator, a drug-coated stent, an artificial heart valve, and artificial knees and hips.

If you have been injured by a medical device, or if you are wondering whether you have, it will help to contact us for a free case evaluation.

Crib Recall

2008-02-28T09:36:00.001-08:00

Today, February 28, 2008, 24,000 cribs were recalled which were made in Indonesia. They have faulty railings, with brackets which don’t allow the mattresses to be fully lowered. That means there is less vertical space between the mattress top and the railing top. A baby could climb over and fall.

The cribs were imported by Munire Furniture, Inc., a New Jersey-based company which makes furniture for babies, children and teenagers. They have stores in a dozen or so locations. This recall includes cribs called Majestic Curved Top, Majestic Flat Top, Essex, Brighton/Sussex, and Captiva, with different model numbers. They were sold between November, 2005 and November, 2007.

Although as yet no deaths or injuries have been reported caused by these cribs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been looking into deaths of children in cribs in general, caused by what is in the crib. Between 2002 and 2004, 241 children below the age of five died in their crib. Soft bedding seems to be the main culprit, as it suffocates a baby who lies face down on it. Soft bedding has also caused deaths for children in playpens.

Ill-fitting mattresses are another culprit – the baby can become trapped and suffocate. Nor should old broken cribs be used, or any crib with a gap between the crib and the sides of the mattress more than two fingers wide.

If your baby has been injured by any defective new crib, or if such a crib has caused a death, please contact Silberstein, Awad and Miklos today for a free case evaluation.

Novelist Ordered to Pay $25 Million After Wife’s Murder

2008-02-20T07:34:00.001-08:00

Last week, a judge accepted a $25 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit against Durham novelist Michael Peterson, nearly a year after he and his step-daughter reached the agreement. The consent judgment is for $25 million in compensatory damages. Hudson also awarded nearly $1,500 in court costs and another $10,500,000 in interest, bringing the total judgment to $35,501,486.80. Additionally, interest continues to accumulate at a rate of $166,666.67 per month.

Peterson, 64, was convicted in October 2003 of first-degree murder in the 2001 death of his wife, Kathleen Atwater Peterson. Emergency workers found her dead at the bottom of a staircase in the couple's Durham home. Peterson's stepdaughter, Caitlin Atwater, filed the lawsuit against him in October 2002 with the intent that he would never be able to profit from the crime.

On Feb. 1, 2007, they reached the settlement in which Atwater agreed to stay her lawsuit until Peterson's criminal appeals were exhausted. The settlement also states that Peterson admits no guilt or liability in the death of his wife.

The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld Peterson's conviction on Nov. 9, exhausting his direct criminal appeals.

If your loved one suffered a wrongful death in Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island or the Bronx, New York, please contact Silberstein Awad & Miklos today to schedule your initial consultation.