Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

Medical malpractice lawsuits in Georgia have long been the target of doctors’ groups and big insurance companies. Using advertising, political contributions, and misinformation, they have been successful in fostering the notion that these lawsuits are frivolous. Many people have bought into this misconception, that is, until it happens to them or a loved one.

A recent story in the Miami newspaper illustrates this well. A Belle Glade, Florida judge plans to sue two radiologists and a surgeon after a foot long by foot wide sponge was left in him after surgery and went undiagnosed for five months, even as he developed serious health issues from it.

Late last year 67-year old Nelson Bailey checked into Good Samaritan Medical Center for surgery to treat his diverticulitis which was causing him abdominal pain. After the surgery the pain not only continued, but got worse.

Preventable medical errors add extremely high costs to the healthcare provided in Georgia and across the United States. The Society of Actuaries, the largest professional organization dedicated to supporting 21,000 members in the United States and Canada, recently commissioned a study to assign a cost to these medical errors.

The study defined measureable costs of medical errors to include increased medical costs, costs related to an increased mortality rate, and costs related to lost productivity after the occurrence of an error. Most other costs of medical errors, such as pain and suffering, which are not measureable from medical claim databases, were not included. Neither were malpractice costs or insurance payments.

An error was defined as a preventable adverse outcome of medical care that is a result of improper medical management (a mistake of commission) rather than a progression of an illness due to lack of care (a mistake of omission).

Inattentive drivers are responsible for many Georgia motorcycle accidents every year. Sadly the negligence of these inattentive drivers often results in the serious injury or wrongful death of the motorcyclist. Such may have been the case yesterday in Macon, Georgia when a woman driving a 1999 Chevrolet Impala ran a stop sign at the intersection of Peeble Street and Second Avenue and struck a motorcycle. According to witnesses, the woman struck 59-year old James Collins of Danville and then left the scene of the accident. The victim was pronounced dead shortly after the crash.
Hopefully authorities will be able to apprehend the driver and prosecute her for her callous, criminal conduct and hopefully for the family of the victim, there will be insurance coverage to compensate them for their loss.

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Georgia injury lawyers know that dog bites can result in serious and disfiguring injuries and sometimes the wrongful death. Because of the population of Atlanta area, it is not uncommon to hear about these cases on a weekly basis. It is estimated that almost 5 million Americans each year are dog bite victims. About 800,000 of these are serious enough to seek medical treatment for their injuries. Sadly, about half the victims are children and most of them are between the ages of 5 and 9 years old.
According to the law, dog owners are responsible for their dog’s actions and homeowner’s insurance will pay for the damages. Owning a dog know to have dangerous propensities or failing to abide by leash laws will subject the owner to liability if the dog bites someone. It is estimated that dog bites account for roughly one-third of homeowners’ insurance claims. For that reason, many insurance companies that sell homeowner’s insurance coverage will now inquire about the types of pets the prospective insured may have living in the home and factor that into the underwriting process when determining a fair premium.
Georgia law provides two ways that an animal owner or handler may be found liable for injuries inflicted by the animal. The first requires that the victim prove: (1) that the animal is dangerous or vicious; (2) that the owner or handler had knowledge of the dog’s viciousness or tendency to attack humans; and, (3) that the owner or handler either carelessly managed the animal or allowed it to go at liberty. The second basis upon which an owner or handler may be found liable for injuries inflicted by an animal requires that the victim prove that the animal; (1) was not at heel or on a leash as required by a local ordinance; and, (2) that the owner or handler either carelessly managed the animal or allowed it to go at liberty. The second ground does not require knowledge of dangerousness or viciousness of the animal. To successfully prove liability under the Georgia statute, the claim can be based on either a violation of a leash law or the owner’s or handler’s knowledge that the dog had the temperament or propensity to bite people.

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Acts of medical malpractice are often hidden by the secrecy afforded hospitals and health care providers by various state laws which make these matters confidential and immune from discovery by the public.

In an effort to reduce these sometimes deadly errors, the state of Indiana initiated a method of publicly tracking preventable medical errors. In just the fourth year of reporting, Indiana hospitals and surgery centers reported more than a 10 percent decrease in errors between 2008 and 2009.

Indiana’s Medical Error Reporting System requires hospitals, surgery centers, abortion clinics and birthing centers to report “never events.” These are medical errors that should never occur. The errors cover 28 serious events, from surgery performed on the wrong patient to an infant discharged to the wrong person to patient suicide.

On August 4, 2010, DePuy Orthopedics recalled its ASR XL Acetabular System (hip implant) and ASR Hip Resurfacing System. Recent data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales indicated a higher than expected revision rate at five years. Specifically, the data showed that the five-year revision rate for ASR XL Acetabular System was approximately 12% and for ASR Hip Resurfacing System was approximately 13%.

The revision rate was highest with ASR head sizes below 50mm in diameter and among female patients.

DePuy is a unit of Johnson & Johnson. ASR XL Acetabular System has been

Not a week goes by that we do not see a significant number of road debris items laying in the middle of Georgia highways. Whether it is an old mattress, furniture, tools, chain, truck tie-down straps or whatever, these items on the highway often result serious injury or death to innocent motorists who encounter and try to avoid them.

In October of 2008, a woman, trying to avoid road debris, died instantly in a single car crash. The accident happened at about 7:30 a.m. in the westbound lane of Interstate 285 in north Atlanta, Georgia. The victim tried to avoid a truck bed liner in the highway when she hit a median wall.

In July of 2010, a Canadian woman died when a brake drum broke free from a large commercial truck was struck by the wheel of a tractor trailer and thrown into the air and through the woman’s windshield, striking her in the head.

Traffic fatalities in Georgia and across the United States have shown a significant decline between 2008 and 2009, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Georgia’s number of traffic fatalities in the period fell by 14 percent for a total of 1,495 in 2009. Florida led the nation with 422 fewer traffic fatalities in 2009, followed by Texas (405 fewer), California (353), Pennsylvania (212) and Georgia (211 fewer).

Increased seatbelt use and campaigns against drunk driving are being credited with the drop.

All manufacturers have a duty to warn consumers of dangers associated with the use of their products. An example of this would be drug manufacturers who dispense and promote the sale of prescription medication with known side effects. Warnings of these side effects must be provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices before they use such products. However, many different products in the marketplace have risks attendant with their use and consequently it is incumbent upon the manufacturer to warn the public and consumers of the products of dangers specifically known to be associated with such use.
We recently blogged about a case where a house fire was caused by a defective oxygen generating device which resulted in the death of three people. If the manufacturer of this product was aware of dangers associated with its use and/or if there had been other fires caused by the product, it may very well be that the product should have been recalled by the manufacturer. This is an example of where a manufacturer who is responsible not only gives warnings to the public but also takes prophylactic steps to remove a dangerous product from the marketplace. In cases where there have not been a sufficient number of incidents to result in a recall of a product, nonetheless, if a manufacturer is aware of dangers associated with its use, warnings should be given to the users to notify them of foreseeable dangers connected with the use of the product.
Many court opinions have held that the failure to warn by a manufacturer of known dangers associated with the use of the product can make the product in and of itself defective. Lack of warnings provided to a consumer deprives the consumer of intelligent choices particularly where the dangers are known to the manufacturer. A failure to warn in this context can render the product defective because a dangerous product which distributed to the public should contain warnings about know dangers associated with its use. A failure to do so can be a basis of strict liability under the law.

The Dram shop theory of liability is a legal doctrine which essentially holds that restaurants and lounges who serve noticeably intoxicated patrons with alcoholic beverages knowing that they are soon to drive can be held liable to third parties who are injured by such drunk drivers. Drunk driving is a major problem in this country and those vendors, including specifically restaurants and lounges, who serve visibly intoxicated patrons should be held legally liable for the damages inflicted by their customers. Responsible restaurant chains and lounges train their staff not to serve those who are noticeably intoxicated. Such establishments also train their staff never to serve those they know will soon be driving if they appear to be intoxicated from having consumed alcoholic beverages. Obviously, for such a policy to have any effect, the staff of these establishments must be sufficiently trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of someone becoming intoxicated.
Over the years, our firm has handled many cases involving Dram shop claims. These cases typically involve wrongful death actions where the drunk patron left the restaurant or lounge and ran over and killed someone on the way home, either by running over a pedestrian or colliding with a vehicle by running a red light or otherwise. In order to win these cases and help the family or the victim, who sometimes may be paralyzed or suffer a traumatic amputation or some other serious personal injury, it is necessary that there be a full, complete and immediate investigation to prove that the patron/drunk driver was noticeably intoxicated and that the establishment knew or had reason to know that there customer would soon be driving after having become noticeably intoxicated. Like any other serious legal claim, it is imperative that such investigation be conducted while the facts are fresh otherwise this type of claim can be lost due to a lack of available evidence.