Trial Attorney Blog

Our Atlanta lawyers see many cases involving serious head injuries which at first appear to be minor or nonexistent. The recent report about actress Natasha Richardson who fell at a Canadian ski slope is a prime example. According to reports, Ms. Richardson, suffered a minor fall while skiing.
According to reports, she was talking and joking after she fell Monday. But soon after she returned to her hotel room she complained of head pain and was taken to a nearby hospital, then to a larger medical center in Montreal. She was later flown by private jet to a New York hospital, where she is reportedly in critical condition.
A blow to the head that at first seems minor and does not result in immediate pain or other symptoms can in fact turn out to be a life-threatening brain injury. Immediate treatment is essential after a brain injury because damage caused by swelling is often irreversible.
The initial fall or injury doesn’t have to be hard at all. The delay in symptoms can range from five minutes to three hours after the accident.
Experts report that a patient can appear deceivingly normal at first, but they may actually have a brain bleed and as the pressure builds up, they experience classic symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. This condition is commonly referred to as “talk and die” syndrome, because the patient can decline so rapidly.
These injuries are known as epidural hemorrhages. Blood gets trapped between the skull and the dura which is a hard layer of skin between the bone and brain. As the blood flows from the ruptured artery, the fluid builds and can puncture the dura.
The pressure is pushed on the brain, causing it to swell. Since the brain is restricted by the skull, there is often no room for it to move inside the skull cavity.
Nausea, severe headache, glossy eyes, sudden sleepiness, are all common symptoms of a brain injury. Getting to a hospital within the first few hours is critical to prevent permanent brain damage. Immediate treatment is essential after a brain injury because the initial damage caused by swelling often is irreversible.
Experts warn that the most important thing to do to lower your risk of a brain injury is to wear a helmet.

Continue reading

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many victims of nursing home abuse over the years. With our aging population, we expect the numbers of these cases to increase. Nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect of the elderly and vulnerable in nursing homes and other facilities occurs in many forms. A Georgia nursing home lawyer is here to assist your loved ones with holding the wrongdoers accountable. Some types of abuse are obvious such as elder sexual or elder physical assault or financial exploitation. Other forms of abuse and neglect are less noticeable and are often the result of having fewer nursing staff and aides than are needed and required. Staffing and training issues lead to many forms of avoidable neglect such as: falls, pressure ulcers (bed-sores), medications errors, dehydration and malnourishment, urinary tract infections, unsupervised residents wandering or suffering burn injuries and a multitude of other problems.
If you suspect abuse or neglect to any vulnerable adult, please contact the lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP.

Emergency defibrillators in public gathering places have become common throughout Georgia. Now, about 14,000 external defibrillators are being recalled after 39 reported incidents, including two that involved patient deaths.

The recall was announced Tuesday by manufacturer Welch Allyn. It involves 14,054 AED 10 and MRL JumpStart external defibrillators made between Oct. 3, 2002, and Jan. 25, 2007. The company said there is a chance the AEDs, available through prescription, may produce low-energy shock, shutdown unexpectedly or be susceptible to electromagnetic noise interference.

These problems could prevent defibrillation of a patient in cardiac arrest and could lead to death. There have been reported 20 instances of low-energy shock, eight instances of electromagnetic noise interference, and 11 instances of the device unexpectedly shutting down.

Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia has been involved in a controversy concerning undisclosed payments to the head of the psychiatry department by drug companies. The danger that these financial relationships between physicians and drug and medical device manufactures can pose to patients is being brought to light in West Virginia.

Two companies that make medical devices and surgical materials may face sanctions related to medical malpractice lawsuits filed by patients against John Anderson King, an osteopathic surgeon on the staff of Putnam General Hospital in West Virginia between November 2002 and June 2003.

Wright Medical Technology Inc. and EBI Inc., disclosed potential financial penalties in required filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed that it is investigating Wright Medical and several other medical device companies.

Many Bowflex exercise machines are found in homes and gyms throughout Georgia. Now, Nautilus Inc, the manufacturer is recalling 78,000 of its Bowflex Ultimate 2 Home Gyms.

There are reports that the seat rails can unlatch causing potentially serious injury. At least 18 people have been injured so far, with some customers suffering cuts to their heads and shoulders; some requiring stitches.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the gym’s horizontal seat rail, if not manually latched for storage, can fall on a user or bystander, causing the injuries.

Georgia residents and countless others across the nation received good news today. In a surprise decision handed down today the United States Supreme Court held that drug manufacturers who fail to warn of known dangers are not immune from liability due to the federal preemption doctrine.
In the case of Wyeth v. Levine , the Supreme Court was confronted with a situation in which drug manufacturer Wyeth had been sued by Levine. Wyeth manufacturers the anti-nausea drug Phenergan. Levine had been injected with Phenergan by a clinician using the IV-push method whereby the drug is injected directly into a vein. However, the drug entered an artery and doctors were forced to amputate her arm below the elbow.
Levine sued in the state courts of Vermont alleging among other things, that Wyeth knew of the increased risks of using the drug by the IV-push method, but failed to provide adequate warnings to healthcare practitioners. A Vermont jury determined that Wyeth was liable under state failure to warn claims and awarded damages against Wyeth.
Wyeth appealed arguing that prior approval of the label for Phenergan by the FDA preempted all state law actions, in effect granting them immunity from suit.
The Supreme Court squarely rejected this argument, finding that Wyeth’s argument would shift the burden of providing adequate warnings to the FDA when the duty to warn rests directly upon the manufacturer.
This is a major victory for consumers across the United States.

Continue reading

The United States Department of Justice has charged the drug maker Forest Laboratories with defrauding the government of millions of dollars by illegally marketing the popular antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved uses in children and teenagers.

In a civil complaint filed by the United States attorney’s office in Boston, federal prosecutors alleged that former top executives at Forest concealed for several years a clinical study that showed that the drugs were not effective in children and might even pose risks to them, including suicides. The drugs are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for adults.

Doctors can legally prescribe drugs to patients, including children, for whom those drugs are not approved by the FDA, but it is illegal for companies to actively promote such uses

We have posted entries before about traumatic amputations and just how profound such injuries can be on the victims of the same. Unfortunately, we have seen these injuries too often in the context of motorcycle accidents. Because there is so little protection to the human body, if an accident is bad enough, the unfortunate victim riding on the motorcycle can lose a leg, an arm, a foot or a hand. In addition to traumatic amputations, traumatic brain injuries are also a distinct possibility in such cases. We have seen many such cases even when the motorcycle rider (or passenger) was wearing a helmet. If the blow is hard enough and the victim is thrown from his motorcycle and lands on the pavement, even with a good helmet, one can sustain either a closed head injury or a fractured skull. We have also handled cases where a broken neck resulted in death and/or paralysis. Again, when a motorcycle rider is involved in a serious collision, it is almost to be expected that there will be serious injuries involved.
The most dangerous aspect of riding a motorcycle is not the driver of the motorcycle but the third party driver who does not see the motorcycle and pulls out in front of it. Drivers are accustomed to seeing other cars and for whatever reason, many times pull out in front of motorcycles and fail to yield right-of-way to them. This can cause a serious collision between the motorcycle and vehicle resulting in a serious injury to the motorcycle rider. Traumatic amputations, traumatic brain injuries and associated orthopaedic injuries are what we typically see, which obviously indicates that motorcycle riders must be extremely cautious at all times when operating their bikes. This is particularly true in an urban area such as Atlanta where there are so many vehicles on the road. As accidents can happen in a split second and as such accidents are always serious for the motorcycle rider, wearing a helmet is absolutely mandatory from a safety standpoint but, of course, a helmet provides little protection from injuries to one’s limbs.
If you or a loved one are involved in a serious accident while riding a motorcycle, you should consult with counsel who has experience handling such cases. Typically the injuries are serious and thus qualified and experienced counsel is needed to assess the physical, emotional and vocational needs that arise from these types of cases. In addition, if liability is contested, an accident reconstruction expert may be needed to evaluate the claim. If the injuries are likely to be permanent, a Life Care expert may be necessary if something as serious as paralysis or traumatic brain injury or amputation is involved. In short, these are serious cases that involve extremely serious matters which require that qualified and competent counsel with experience in such cases be retained if the innocent victim’s interests are to be properly protected.

Georgia injury lawyers have seen products liability cases involving food poisoning for years; however, none like the one involving Peanut Corp. Of America (PCA). It appears that the problems of PCA extend well beyond their Georgia processing facility. Federal officials said Tuesday that tests have confirmed that peanut butter made from peanuts processed at a Texas plant contains the same strain of salmonella blamed for the poisoning hundreds in a national outbreak. Both the Texas plant and the Georgia plant were operated by PCA, which filed for bankruptcy amid fallout from the outbreak that had sickened more than 600 and may have contributed to nine deaths. Reports show that, federal inspectors are now taking a closer look at PCA’s plant in Virginia. There is also a criminal investigation underway by federal authorities to determine whether PCA knowingly shipped tainted food.
If it can be proven that the company knowingly shipped tainted product, then victims may not only be able to seek compensatory damages for injuries and wrongful death but may also be entitled to an award of punitive damages. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of consuming adulterated or contaminated peanut butter products, call the experienced Georgia products liability lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP at (800) 228-9159.

The motorcycle accident lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many motorcycle riders over the years who have been seriously injured in collisions involving automobiles. Some result in brain injuries and others involve amputation of limbs. Just in the last couple of weeks ago we settled a case where our client sustained very serious injuries to his leg and foot when his motorcycle was struck in an intersection by a medical doctor who ran a red light in her SUV. As a result of the injuries he sustained, doctors had to amputate several toes and part of his foot. In this case and most others, the motorcycle rider was obeying the law and did nothing to cause or contribute to the collision.
As an example, we read an article yesterday about a motorcycle accident. A 22-year-old former Georgia resident who was traveling southbound on U.S. 1 near St. Augustine, Florida when a car pulled out onto the highway in front of him. Although he tried to avoid the car, he collided with its left rear fender and had to be flown to a hospital in Jacksonville where he was in critical condition. Unfortunately, he was not wearing a helmet or jacket.
If you or a loved one are involved in a serious accident while riding a motorcycle, you should consult with counsel who has experience handling such cases. The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have years of experience handling these cases. Call us for a free consultation at (800) 228-9159.