Trial Attorney Blog

There are two major organizations which crash test automobiles and report the results to the public. One is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHTSA), an agency of the United States government. The other is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, (IIHS), a non-profit organization funded by auto insurers.

Both work to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes, and the rate of injuries and amount of property damage in the crashes that still occur. They each conduct basic research and produce ratings for each model of vehicle.

The Insurance Institute’s frontal crash testing differs from that of the NHTSA New Car Assessment Program in that its tests are offset from the center. This test exposes 40% of the front of the vehicle to an impact with a deformable barrier at approximately 40 mph (60 km/h). Because only 40% of the vehicle’s front must withstand the impact, some contend it shows the structural strength better than the NHTSA New Car Assessment Program full-width testing does. Many real-life frontal impacts are offset.

The Associated Press has reported that an 86-year-old Providence Rhode Island man died three weeks after a neurosurgeon operated on the wrong side of his head. The patient, whose name wasn’t released, died Saturday, and the state medical examiner was determining the cause of death.The man underwent emergency surgery at Rhode Island Hospital on July 30 to treat bleeding in his brain A nurse practitioner for Dr. Frederick Harrington didn’t record which side of the man’s brain required surgery. When another nurse pointed out the missing information, Harrington allegedly relied on his memory without consulting a CT chart and began operating on the wrong side. Upon realizing the error during the surgery, the surgeon operated on the correct side.
The hospital has suspended Harrington’s surgical privileges, and he has agreed to stop performing surgery until an evaluation is complete. The incident marked the third wrong-side surgery error in the hospital’s neurosurgery unit in six years. Harrington also operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head during a surgery at Roger Williams Medical Center in September.
After reviewing that incident, the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline decided there were mitigating circumstances and opted to create a remediation plan for Harrington rather than publicly sanction him.

Last week, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released test results for side impact ratings of large cars. Three of six large car models tested earned the top rating of good, but one was rated marginal in the side impact crash tests. The Institute ratings of good, acceptable, marginal, or poor are based on a crash test in which a barrier designed to replicate the front end of a typical SUV or pickup truck strikes the tested vehicle in the side at 31 mph.

The best performers were the Acura RL, Kia Amanti, and Volvo S80, all 2007 models. The Volvo also earned the Institute’s 2007 TOP SAFETY PICK award for superior overall crash protection. The Volvo’s selection was based upon the fact that it rated good in the Institute’s front, side, and rear tests and has electronic stability control as standard equipment. The 2007 Cadillac STS and Mercedes E class earned acceptable ratings. The lowest rating was given to the 2008 BMW 5 series, which earned the second lowest rating of marginal for side impact protection.

These side impact tests are important because side impacts are the second most common fatal crash type after frontal crashes. About 9,200 people in passenger vehicles were killed in side impacts in 2005. In crashes with other passenger vehicles during 2004-05, 49 percent of driver deaths in 1-3-year-old cars and minivans occurred in side impacts, up from 31 percent in 1980-81. During the same time, the proportion of driver deaths in frontal crashes declined from 61 to 46 percent.

Our lawyers frequently review cases involving hospital acquired infections, many of which are fatal. New Medicare regulations have been enacted in an effort to prevent these all too frequent tragedies. Under new Medicare regulations, which will become effective in October 2008, hospitals will no longer receive higher payments for the additional costs associated with treating patients for certain hospital-acquired infections and medical errors. The new rules will give hospitals a powerful new incentive to improve patient care, according to Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. These new regulations are a giant step in the effort to save lives and money by holding hospitals responsible for their preventable negilgent acts which harm patients and cost taxpayers huge sums of money.

“Every year, millions of Americans suffer needlessly from preventable hospital infections and medical errors,” said Lisa McGiffert, Director of Consumers Union’s Stop Hospital Infection’s campaign. “These new rules are a good beginning for Medicare to use its clout to mobilize hospitals to improve care and keep patients safe.”

Under the rules payments will be withheld from hospitals for care associated with treating certain catheter-associated urinary tract infections, vascular catheter-associated infections, mediastinitis after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and five other preventable medical errors. These errors are bed sores, objects left in patients’ bodies, blood incompatibility, air embolism, and falls.

Each spring and summer our attorneys see an increasing number of injuries to children caused by lawnmowers. An estimated 9,400 children are injured each year. Many of the accidents result in amputations of legs, hands, fingers, feet, and toes. Experts say that the most serious accidents occur when operators back up rider mowers with the mower blades engaged and run over small children they can’t see.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, back over accidents alone account for 560 injuries to children each year. Statistics show that the overall rate of all types of injuries for both adults and children is 2.6 injuries per 1,000 involving ride-on mowers. That is a very high ratio of injury especially for a product used seasonally and not on a daily basis.

In 2003, the lawnmower industry adopted a voluntary industry safety standard requiring new rider mowers to have a “no-mow-in-reverse feature” to prevent the mower from backing up with the blades powered. But, the safety standard allows manufacturers to install a device that overrides the feature.

In the not too distant past, our lawyers’ experience had been that medical malpractice encompassed almost exclusively the negligent wrongs of physicians. However, as nursing has evolved into a sophisticated, technical, and specialized profession, nurses regularly assume roles previously in the exclusive domain of physicians. These include examinations, diagnosis, post-surgical monitoring, and treatments of patients. Sometimes this is done without any direct supervision from physicians. The nurse’s expanded role in patient care, the continual development of specialized and sophisticated medical technology, and the heightened emphasis on independent nursing practice have placed nurses into positions of increased accountability.
Generally, when the nurse’s negligence occurs in the scope of the nurse’s employment at a hospital or clinic, the nurse’s conduct can be imputed to the facility or the hospital. In certain cases, the nurse’s conduct may be imputed to the physician.
Most nursing negligence results from one or more of the five steps in the nursing process: Assessment, nursing diagnosis, care planning, intervention, and evaluation. More specifically, the allegations often focus on improper treatment, performance of treatment, failure to prevent injuries, failure to follow the chain of command, failure to monitor a patient’s condition, failure to communicate information to physicians, failure to follow hospital policies and protocols, and medication errors.

This is the time of year where it seems that everyone who rides in an automobiles passes a high school football practice. The sweltering sun and heat of this summer, which is particularly hot, is obviously a danger to those practicing. If those responsible for the players are not careful, deaths can ensue. Indeed, it has almost become commonplace every summer to read about the death of a high school or college football player due to extreme heat conditions.

Our firm, regrettably, has been involved in cases where football players have died. Two years ago, we represented the family of a member of the football team of a state university who died during extreme heat on the very first day of his team’s practice. This particular player had failed the physical provided by the team’s doctor the week before practice began but inexplicably, even though the doctor wanted to conduct more tests, the coaching staff allowed the player to practice with the all to predictable result the he succumbed to the heat. To make matters worse, when the player got into trouble, there was no trainer on the field nor were there any defibrillators present to render aid to the stricken player who died from a heart attack.

Obviously, caution is the best word here particularly for members of the coaching staff. Coaches need to make sure that their players are properly hydrated. They need to have a defibrillator present. Indeed, we contended in the case we handled that the failure to have a defibrillator readily available was negligence in and of itself. Most sports trainers would agree that in this day and age this is inexcusable particularly since these events are predictable.

In Georgia, owners and occupiers of land or buildings owe certain duties to those who come on the premises. The duties vary according to the relationship between the owner and the person coming onto the premises. The mere fact that one owns or occupies land or a building does not make one liable for injuries sustained by persons who have entered onto the land or the premises. It is a commonly accepted in Georgia law that the owner of a building or land is not the insurer of the safety of those who enter the property.

In general, the respective duties of care owed are determined by the person’s status while on the property. There are three categories by which the status of one on property is classified —- trespasser, licensee, and invitee.

A trespasser is one who enters upon the property of another wrongfully and without express or implied permission for the trespasser’s own benefit or amusement.

Toy maker Mattel, Inc. issued recalls yesterday for about 9 million Chinese made toys that could be potentially dangerous for children. The recalls were negotiated by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. The majority of the toys subject to the recall contain magnets that can be swallowed by children and the rest have lead paint. The recall includes play sets, including the Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures as well as almost a quarter of a million die cast cars that contains lead paint.

This massive recall followed other recent recalls of toys produced in China. Currently, it is estimated that more than 80% of the toys sold worldwide are made in China. The recall involving lead paint was Mattel’s second in two weeks. Earlier this month, consumers were warned about 1.5 million Chinese made toys that contain lead paint.

A parent should be cautious of any products containing magnets which children can potentially swallow. If more than one magnet is swallowed, they can attach to each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage which can be fatal. Mattel reported that since the initial recall of Polly Pocket play sets on November 11th of this year, three children had been injured by swallowing more than one magnet. All three suffered intestinal perforations which required surgery.

Nokia Corp. warned Tuesday that up to 46 million batteries used in some of its cell phones could pose a serious risk of overheating. The batteries subject to the warning were manufactured by Matsushita from December 2005 to November 2006. Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. of Japan is one of several suppliers that have together made some 300 million BL-5C batteries.

Nokia is the world’s largest mobile phone maker. The lithium-ion battery is one of 14 different types of battery used in Nokia phones.

Nokia reported 100 incidents of overheating of the Matsushita-made BL-5C batteries. “Consumers with a BL-5C battery subject to this advisory should note that all of the approximately 100 incidents have occurred while charging the battery,” the Finnish company said. “According to Nokia’s knowledge this issue does not affect any other use of the mobile device.”