Atlanta, Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer
Atlanta personal injury lawyer blog
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Drink Responsibly this New Year’s Eve
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tire Blowout Kills Two on I-20 in Atlanta
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Manufacturers Knew Toy Was Dangerous
Monday, December 28, 2009
Cobb County DA Plans to Move Forward in Consent Case
Friday, December 25, 2009
Beware Hazardous Toys this Christmas
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Protect Yourself This Holiday Season
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
New Findings on the Prevalence of Teen “Sexting”
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Atlanta Father Convicted of Fatally Beating Daughter
Monday, December 21, 2009
Child Found Not Guilty of Murder
Cobb Count Judge Gregory Poole recently found a twelve year old boy not guilty of murdering his cousin. This ruling came immediately after the closing arguments were delivered in this tragic case involving the death of a five week old infant.
The boy, whose name has been withheld, was found guilty of two lesser charges of misdemeanor battery.
“What I found is that you did some things wrong," the juvenile court judge explained to the young defendant. "I haven’t found you did something as bad as they say you did.”
Throughout the trail, Poole took action to make sure the boy understood what was happening, but to spare him the most graphic details of the autopsy, as well as minimize explicit language which may have been beyond the boy’s level.
Even so, while the boy said he understood the judge’s decision, it was not until after he spoke with his lawyer and grandmother that he began crying.
“Can I go home?” the boy asked. In this case, home means returning to his family and his home state of Florida.
The unfortunate answer was no. While found not guilty of murder, the boy’s fate is still undecided. Poole has delayed sentencing until January, but stated that his inclination was to give the boy probation and mandatory counseling.
“I do believe this child is in needs of services. I find that he is delinquent and in need of treatment, rehabilitation and supervision,” the judge said regarding his decision.
Derek Wright, the boy’s attorney, seemed satisfied with the results.
“This child was restored his childhood,” he said. “The ruling goes a long way in saying maybe he did something wrong and something he can learn from.”
Wright has expressed that he feels that through counseling, the boy will eventually be able to return to a normal life. And with the end of the trial, perhaps the boy’s family – a close knit family who regularly travel between states to visit one another – will also be able to start to return to a normal life.
“This family has suffered terrible loss. They lost someone and were at risk of losing another family member,” Wright said. “But there never was a time when the family chose sides, including [the infant’s mother] Brittany.”
And while the trial has no doubt been a strain on the family, there does seem to be some evidence that they are still attempting to maintain their bonds. At one point, the boy’s mother was observed offering comfort to her cousin, the deceased infant’s mother.
On July 4, the boy had been left alone with his infant cousin while her mother was inside a Target store. After 18 minutes of shopping, the mother returned to find her daughter unresponsive. The baby died the next day. The autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma – a finding which prosecutors claimed was the result of the boy having shook his cousin and struck her head on some hard surface.
The boy declined to testify at his trial.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Researchers Offer Hope to Victims of Brain Injuries and Spine Injuries
Drive Safely This Holiday Season
CVS Prescription Error May Have Caused Infant Brain Damage
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Child Injuries from Falling TVs on the Rise
Top Ten Holiday Home Safety Tips
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Family of Miami Beach Drowning Victim Gets $5 Million
GE Healthcare Sued over CT Scan Radiation
Georgia Safe S.P.O.T.'s - Atlanta Continues Effort to Aid Abuse Victims
Can Students Consent to Sex with a Teacher?
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
CT Scans and Mammograms Cause Cancer
CPSC Recalls 50 Million Roman Shades and Roll-up Blinds
Harassment Leads to Suicide in ‘Sexting’ Scandal
Monday, December 14, 2009
Cornell Professor Sues Wesleyan University over Misleading Photograph
Parent’s Guide for Child Brain Injuries
Four Year Old Survives Brush with Train
Friday, December 11, 2009
Veteran Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit against VA Hospital
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed against Debt Collector
Nerve Cell Transplants for Traumatic Brain Injuries
George W. Bush Wore a Defective Brand of Bulletproof Vest? And Manufacturers Knew
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Nerve Cell Transplants for Traumatic Brain Injuries
Beware "Settlement Mill" Personal Injury Law Firms
NTSB: Driver Fatigue Caused Fatal Bus Wreck near Victoria, Texas
Family of Teen Sues Police and Youth Group in Fatal Police Chase Case
Medical Abandonment? Dialysis Patients Stand to Lose
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Emory Student Killed in Pedestrian Auto Accident
Baby Hammocks Recalled After Death of Georgia Infant
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the recall of 24,000 Amby Baby Motion Beds after two infants have reportedly suffocated in the baby hammock beds. One of the victims was a four-month-old girl from Lawrenceville, Georgia, who died in one of the baby hammocks in June. The other reported victim was a five-month-old boy from Gresham, Oregon, who died in August. In both case, the infants were suffocated in the baby hammock.
The CPSC recall announcement states that the side-to-side motion of the hammock bed can cause a child to roll and become trapped between the fabric of the hammock and the mattress pad, and this can potentially lead to suffocation. The recall includes approximately 24,000 Amby Baby Motion beds sold online at AmbyBaby.com and through other internet retailers between January 2003 and October 2009. The beds consist of a steel from and a fabric hammock connected by a large spring and a metal crossbar. A label on the hammocks reads “Amby - Babies Love It, Naturally.” Only one model of the hammock was sold, and all of them are being recalled, according to the CPSC.
The CPSC and Amby Baby USA are telling consumers to stop using the hammocks immediately and contact the company for a free repair kit. In the meantime, if you have one of those baby hammocks, find another safe place for your infant to sleep. But make sure it’s not a recalled Stork Craft drop-side crib. Last month the CPSC announced a recall of 2 million of the Stork Craft cribs. It was the largest crib recall in U.S. history. These cribs could also potentially cause suffocation due to a defect.
For additional information about the Amby Baby hammock recall, you can call Amby Baby USA at 1-866-544-9721 or visit www.ambybaby.com. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772 to reported a dangerous product or product-related injury, or visit www.cpsc.gov for more information.
In fact, during the holiday season, it’s a good idea to visit the CPSC website frequently - especially before you go shopping for the children on your gift list. The CPSC does a wonderful job of alerting us about dangerous consumer products.
“The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children,” according to the agency’s website. “The CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.”
Check www.cpsc.gov often for the latest news about potentially dangerous products. If you or a loved one have been injured by a defective product, contact a Georgia Personal Injury Attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Georgia Taser Lawsuit Dismissed
Better Feedback, Better Drivers?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Virginia Tech Faces Lawsuit for Negligence in Student Suicide
Atlanta Wrong Way Driver Causes Fatal Car Wreck
Fire Safety for the Winter Holidays
Monday, December 7, 2009
$850,000 Settlement in Jiffy Lube Slip and Fall Case
Actor James Woods Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit against Hospital
More Traffic Fatalities Occur on Rural Roads
Fire Destroys Clayton Apartments
Friday, December 4, 2009
Georgia Tractor Trailer Wreck Injures Mother and Three Children
Racing Motorcycles Kills One in Marietta
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Power Windows Pose Risk of Child Injury
Vaccines to Prevent Secondary Infection Urged During Swine Flu Scare
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Childhood Lead Poisoning Can Cause Permanent Brain Injury
Federal Study Validates Corrosion Problems Caused by Defective Chinese Drywall
Male Nurse Arrested; Could Have 100 Victims
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
La Salle University Settles Football Player Brain Injury Lawsuit for $7.5 Million
$89 Million Verdict Awarded to Family of Drunk Driver Victim
Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch More Dangerous than Pill, and They Knew
For many, New Year’s Eve is an opportunity to celebrate the closing of one year and the potential they feel at the start of the new. It is a time for remember the year that has passed, making resolutions and looking forward to the future.
For many others, New Year’s Eve becomes a time when all of those opportunities and all of that planning falls apart because they – or someone else – drove while intoxicated.
Drunk driving kills an estimated 32 people in the United States every day, or around one every forty-five minutes. Every year, alcohol related crashes cost more than $51 billion in total damage, which cannot take into account the cost in lost life or quality of life or the emotional toll.
New Years Eve, with its parties and late night rituals, is almost legendary among emergency responder personnel as a night for drunken driving and car accidents.
While you celebrate the end of the old and the arrival of the new, please keep in mind the effects of alcohol on the human body, and most importantly, on your driving ability.
Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain. The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but it is clear that alcohol can drastically impair function. The level of this impairment depends on the level alcohol in the blood stream. The more alcohol, the higher the degree of impairment.
In large quantities (a BAC of =.40, for example), alcohol can be fatal, paralyzing the respiratory system. As shocking as it may sound, though, in people with particularly high tolerances, driving with a blood alcohol level this high is not entirely impossible. While rare, it can and has happened, and presents an extreme danger to other drivers.
It is important to remember, though, that impairment begins well below this. Difficulty performing simple tasks can start in some people at a BAC as low as .03. For most people, significant changes in driving can begin around .05.
Driving is a complex task. It relies on a person’s ability to judge and respond to situations quickly, and to monitor many factors at the same time. In reality, driving is not just one task, but one action that requires the driver to multitask – the driver must be aware of traffic around him, his own speed and status, changes in the environment, pedestrians, road conditions, and any number of other factors, any of which may change at any time and require an appropriate and timely response.
It is not a task which mixes with alcohol. Any alcohol at all can be detrimental to a driver’s judgment and reaction time, and lead to accidents.
And alcohol is especially dangerous to younger drivers. Drivers between twenty-one and twenty-four were most likely to be involved in alcohol related crashes. This age group is more likely to drink heavily, and also more likely to have limited driving experience.
If that is not enough to keep you from driving while intoxicated this holiday, then also remember that New Year’s Eve is also legendary for its drunk driving police stops. The police will be ready for the possibility of overindulgence, and sobriety check points along with aggressive enforcement of drunk driving laws and strict punishment are among the best tools at law enforcement officials’ disposal. Be safe tonight while ringing in the New Year.
Happy New Year from the Law Offices of Michael Lawson Neff!
For many others, New Year’s Eve becomes a time when all of those opportunities and all of that planning falls apart because they – or someone else – drove while intoxicated.
Drunk driving kills an estimated 32 people in the United States every day, or around one every forty-five minutes. Every year, alcohol related crashes cost more than $51 billion in total damage, which cannot take into account the cost in lost life or quality of life or the emotional toll.
New Years Eve, with its parties and late night rituals, is almost legendary among emergency responder personnel as a night for drunken driving and car accidents.While you celebrate the end of the old and the arrival of the new, please keep in mind the effects of alcohol on the human body, and most importantly, on your driving ability.
Alcohol acts as a depressant on the brain. The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but it is clear that alcohol can drastically impair function. The level of this impairment depends on the level alcohol in the blood stream. The more alcohol, the higher the degree of impairment.
In large quantities (a BAC of =.40, for example), alcohol can be fatal, paralyzing the respiratory system. As shocking as it may sound, though, in people with particularly high tolerances, driving with a blood alcohol level this high is not entirely impossible. While rare, it can and has happened, and presents an extreme danger to other drivers.
It is important to remember, though, that impairment begins well below this. Difficulty performing simple tasks can start in some people at a BAC as low as .03. For most people, significant changes in driving can begin around .05.
Driving is a complex task. It relies on a person’s ability to judge and respond to situations quickly, and to monitor many factors at the same time. In reality, driving is not just one task, but one action that requires the driver to multitask – the driver must be aware of traffic around him, his own speed and status, changes in the environment, pedestrians, road conditions, and any number of other factors, any of which may change at any time and require an appropriate and timely response.
It is not a task which mixes with alcohol. Any alcohol at all can be detrimental to a driver’s judgment and reaction time, and lead to accidents.
And alcohol is especially dangerous to younger drivers. Drivers between twenty-one and twenty-four were most likely to be involved in alcohol related crashes. This age group is more likely to drink heavily, and also more likely to have limited driving experience.
If that is not enough to keep you from driving while intoxicated this holiday, then also remember that New Year’s Eve is also legendary for its drunk driving police stops. The police will be ready for the possibility of overindulgence, and sobriety check points along with aggressive enforcement of drunk driving laws and strict punishment are among the best tools at law enforcement officials’ disposal. Be safe tonight while ringing in the New Year.
Happy New Year from the Law Offices of Michael Lawson Neff!
Labels: avoiding car accidents, car accidents, drugged driving, drunk driver, drunk driving
Two people were killed last week and an additional four were injured in a single car accident. The accident temporarily closed I-20 eastbound lanes.
The accident was caused when a tire on the vehicle, a 2003 Ford Explorer, blew out and caused it to flip several times. Three of the Explorers six passengers were thrown out of the vehicle entirely.
Adriana Gil, twenty-nine, and Rocia Jimenez, also twenty-nine, both died in the accident. Both young women were from Forest Park. The other four victims were rushed to receive medical attention; their identities have not been released.
Tire blowouts are not uncommon, and can lead to very dangerous accidents, as demonstrated before on this blog when I wrote about the infamous Firestone Tire Recall. A rapid loss of air pressure in the tire – in that case due to tread separation – can easily lead to a total loss of control or a rollover when driving at speed.
How can you avoid a tire blowout or a rollover?
Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to avoid either. Even safe drivers who properly maintain their tires can find themselves in a circumstance where one of their tires blows as a result of debris in the road, a pothole or in some cases, defective tires. There are, however, things you as a driver can do to minimize your chances of a serious blowout or rollover, and to protect yourself if the worst comes to pass.
First, check your tires regularly to insure that they have proper traction and are properly inflated. Properly maintaining your tires will help prevent a blowout in the first place.
Do not immediately hit the breaks if one of your tires loses pressure. If possible, maintain your speed until the car stabilizes – this will help your car’s traction. Only after the car stabilizes should you slow down and pull over to the side of the road.
Most rollovers occur on rural roads and highways, so exercise particular caution on these roads. Keeping two hands on the wheel and staying alert will help you avoid obstacles which could potentially cause a blowout or rollover, and ensures that you will be more likely to respond appropriately if something does go wrong.
Secure heavy cargo inside your car tightly, so it will not transform into a projectile in the event of a rollover.
And, of course, avoid driving at excessive speed.
The most common reason why people lose control of their cars is because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are tired, or they are otherwise distracted by talking on their cell phones or sending text messages. I’ve mentioned the perils of distracted driving on this blog many times, but, of course, distracted driving will always be one of our major problems on the road.
In the event the worst come to pass, remember that you should always be wearing your safety belt. Passengers wearing seatbelts are significantly more likely to survive a rollover crash than those who are unbelted.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, contact an experienced Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights. For legal advice, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
The accident was caused when a tire on the vehicle, a 2003 Ford Explorer, blew out and caused it to flip several times. Three of the Explorers six passengers were thrown out of the vehicle entirely.
Adriana Gil, twenty-nine, and Rocia Jimenez, also twenty-nine, both died in the accident. Both young women were from Forest Park. The other four victims were rushed to receive medical attention; their identities have not been released.Tire blowouts are not uncommon, and can lead to very dangerous accidents, as demonstrated before on this blog when I wrote about the infamous Firestone Tire Recall. A rapid loss of air pressure in the tire – in that case due to tread separation – can easily lead to a total loss of control or a rollover when driving at speed.
How can you avoid a tire blowout or a rollover?
Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to avoid either. Even safe drivers who properly maintain their tires can find themselves in a circumstance where one of their tires blows as a result of debris in the road, a pothole or in some cases, defective tires. There are, however, things you as a driver can do to minimize your chances of a serious blowout or rollover, and to protect yourself if the worst comes to pass.
First, check your tires regularly to insure that they have proper traction and are properly inflated. Properly maintaining your tires will help prevent a blowout in the first place.
Do not immediately hit the breaks if one of your tires loses pressure. If possible, maintain your speed until the car stabilizes – this will help your car’s traction. Only after the car stabilizes should you slow down and pull over to the side of the road.
Most rollovers occur on rural roads and highways, so exercise particular caution on these roads. Keeping two hands on the wheel and staying alert will help you avoid obstacles which could potentially cause a blowout or rollover, and ensures that you will be more likely to respond appropriately if something does go wrong.
Secure heavy cargo inside your car tightly, so it will not transform into a projectile in the event of a rollover.
And, of course, avoid driving at excessive speed.
The most common reason why people lose control of their cars is because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are tired, or they are otherwise distracted by talking on their cell phones or sending text messages. I’ve mentioned the perils of distracted driving on this blog many times, but, of course, distracted driving will always be one of our major problems on the road.
In the event the worst come to pass, remember that you should always be wearing your safety belt. Passengers wearing seatbelts are significantly more likely to survive a rollover crash than those who are unbelted.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, contact an experienced Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights. For legal advice, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: avoiding car accidents, car accidents, car crashes, car wreck, product liability
Last week, I wrote about the importance of recognizing dangerous toys and applying common sense when choosing your children’s toys. I mentioned then a boy in Texas who died when he swallowed a flexible dart.
It is important to understand that this is not an isolated danger. When poor toy design undermines parents’ honest attempts to protect their children from hazards, the youngest, most defenseless children are often the ones in danger.
In 2005, Penny Sweet bought her ten year old son two boxes of Magnetix toys for his birthday. Magnetix are a type of building kit, where plastic pieces can be held together by powerful magnets. They are a choking hazard.
Sweet’s younger son, Kenny, was not allowed to be in the room when his older siblings played with the Megnetix. He was less than two years old, and his parents realized that the Magnetix toys were not suited for him.
What they did not expect was that the plastic building pieces might break, spilling tiny, powerful magnets and leaving them hidden in the carpet. There, they waited unnoticed until the toddler found them and swallowed them.
Kenny became ill not long after swallowing the magnets. At first, his parents thought he might have caught a stomach bug. They were concerned, but they did not realize at the time that the magnets had become attached within the child’s intestines, cutting off the circulation of blood. The lack of circulation to parts of Kenny’s lower intestine caused the tissue to die, and allowed gangrene to set in. Kenny died during the night as a result of these unseen injuries.
The injury that killed Kenny was comparable to a gunshot or stab wound.
The Sweet family filed a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which led to the toy’s manufacturer, Mega Bloks, released a statement in which they claimed to have no knowledge of other such occurrences with their Magnetix product. This statement, however, was a lie.
The truth was, Mega Bloks was aware of several complains that the magnets within this toy could fall out of their plastic casing, and there had already been at least one incidents where another child was dangerously injured as a result of swallowing them.
Even after Kenny’s death, the Mega Bloks company left millions of the toy sets on the shelves for months, before finally voluntarily recalling them in March of 2006. By the time of the recall, the CPSC had reports of 34 injuries to children, nearly half of which had occurred after Kenny Sweet’s death.
The sad fact is that many companies cannot be trusted to keep the best interests of their consumers in mind, and even careful parents cannot prepare or avoid every dangerous situation. By remembering these dangers, parents can keep themselves better informed to protect their children.
If you or someone you love has been injured as the result of a faulty product, it is important to talk to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible. Call (404) 531-9700 to schedule your free consultation at MLN Law.
It is important to understand that this is not an isolated danger. When poor toy design undermines parents’ honest attempts to protect their children from hazards, the youngest, most defenseless children are often the ones in danger.
In 2005, Penny Sweet bought her ten year old son two boxes of Magnetix toys for his birthday. Magnetix are a type of building kit, where plastic pieces can be held together by powerful magnets. They are a choking hazard.Sweet’s younger son, Kenny, was not allowed to be in the room when his older siblings played with the Megnetix. He was less than two years old, and his parents realized that the Magnetix toys were not suited for him.
What they did not expect was that the plastic building pieces might break, spilling tiny, powerful magnets and leaving them hidden in the carpet. There, they waited unnoticed until the toddler found them and swallowed them.
Kenny became ill not long after swallowing the magnets. At first, his parents thought he might have caught a stomach bug. They were concerned, but they did not realize at the time that the magnets had become attached within the child’s intestines, cutting off the circulation of blood. The lack of circulation to parts of Kenny’s lower intestine caused the tissue to die, and allowed gangrene to set in. Kenny died during the night as a result of these unseen injuries.
The injury that killed Kenny was comparable to a gunshot or stab wound.
The Sweet family filed a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which led to the toy’s manufacturer, Mega Bloks, released a statement in which they claimed to have no knowledge of other such occurrences with their Magnetix product. This statement, however, was a lie.
The truth was, Mega Bloks was aware of several complains that the magnets within this toy could fall out of their plastic casing, and there had already been at least one incidents where another child was dangerously injured as a result of swallowing them.
Even after Kenny’s death, the Mega Bloks company left millions of the toy sets on the shelves for months, before finally voluntarily recalling them in March of 2006. By the time of the recall, the CPSC had reports of 34 injuries to children, nearly half of which had occurred after Kenny Sweet’s death.
The sad fact is that many companies cannot be trusted to keep the best interests of their consumers in mind, and even careful parents cannot prepare or avoid every dangerous situation. By remembering these dangers, parents can keep themselves better informed to protect their children.
If you or someone you love has been injured as the result of a faulty product, it is important to talk to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible. Call (404) 531-9700 to schedule your free consultation at MLN Law.
Labels: child safety, product liability
I have written before about the controversial position taken by the Georgia Supreme Court in June about the status of sex between teachers and students over the age of sixteen. Well, the story continues. The Cobb County district attorney has decided to move forward in the case of Steven Martin Parkman.
The DA has taken this step in spite of a controversial State Supreme Court. The court decided in the similar case of Christopher King last week that relationships between teenage students and teachers were “gross” and “awful” but not illegal.
Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy ruled that Christopher King – a former Marietta High School teacher – was not guilty of sexual assault when he engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with his seventeen year old female student.
While this conclusion could be seen as continuing a trend toward legal – if not social – protection for sexual relationships between teachers and their students as long as those students are over the age of consent, the DA does not see this issue as settled.
Cobb County DA Pat Head has openly said that he disagrees with Judge Flournoy’s ruling. He says that he still plans on to move forward in the Parkman case.
"The judge and I differ on our opinion about whether expert testimony regarding consent is a factual issue for the jury or not," Head said. "Obviously, I think it is and he does not.”
Parkman, thirty-four, is a former high school orchestra teacher who resigned from his position in lieu of termination before his arrest. He is accused of having consensual sex with his own seventeen year old student.
More than that, Head plans to ask the grand jury to Parkman and add a sodomy charge to those already facing the former teacher.
Parkman’s lawyer, Noah Pines, called the continued prosecution of his client “ridiculous.”
Pines defends his client by citing letters, texts and posts on the networking site Facebook which indicate that the alleged victim consented to her relationship with Parkman. The logic being that, consistent with the previous rulings, since the alleged victim was over the state of Georgia’s age of consent sex between the two was not illegal as long as the girl was a willing participant.
Pines says that he will file a motion to dismiss the sodomy charges on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
"If they present the case on sodomy, they are selectively prosecuting my client," he said. "The law applies to anyone who gives or receives [oral sex]. She is just as guilty as my client."
Sodomy is a felony, and if found guilty, Parkman could face as little as one year or as many as 20 years in prison. In either event, it would lead to a lifetime on the sex offender registry. The punishment for oral sex is much harsher than the misdemeanor crime of public indecency.
Parkman admits to having had sex with his student in the orchestra room at the school where he taught and in his car.
The DA has taken this step in spite of a controversial State Supreme Court. The court decided in the similar case of Christopher King last week that relationships between teenage students and teachers were “gross” and “awful” but not illegal.
Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy ruled that Christopher King – a former Marietta High School teacher – was not guilty of sexual assault when he engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with his seventeen year old female student.While this conclusion could be seen as continuing a trend toward legal – if not social – protection for sexual relationships between teachers and their students as long as those students are over the age of consent, the DA does not see this issue as settled.
Cobb County DA Pat Head has openly said that he disagrees with Judge Flournoy’s ruling. He says that he still plans on to move forward in the Parkman case.
"The judge and I differ on our opinion about whether expert testimony regarding consent is a factual issue for the jury or not," Head said. "Obviously, I think it is and he does not.”
Parkman, thirty-four, is a former high school orchestra teacher who resigned from his position in lieu of termination before his arrest. He is accused of having consensual sex with his own seventeen year old student.
More than that, Head plans to ask the grand jury to Parkman and add a sodomy charge to those already facing the former teacher.
Parkman’s lawyer, Noah Pines, called the continued prosecution of his client “ridiculous.”
Pines defends his client by citing letters, texts and posts on the networking site Facebook which indicate that the alleged victim consented to her relationship with Parkman. The logic being that, consistent with the previous rulings, since the alleged victim was over the state of Georgia’s age of consent sex between the two was not illegal as long as the girl was a willing participant.
Pines says that he will file a motion to dismiss the sodomy charges on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
"If they present the case on sodomy, they are selectively prosecuting my client," he said. "The law applies to anyone who gives or receives [oral sex]. She is just as guilty as my client."
Sodomy is a felony, and if found guilty, Parkman could face as little as one year or as many as 20 years in prison. In either event, it would lead to a lifetime on the sex offender registry. The punishment for oral sex is much harsher than the misdemeanor crime of public indecency.
Parkman admits to having had sex with his student in the orchestra room at the school where he taught and in his car.
Labels: child abuse, child safety, child sexual exploitation, sex offenders, sexual predator
Christmas is a special time of year for children and their parents. While the season is one of joy for many, most adults’ enjoyment of Christmas simply cannot compare to the excitement of children in the face of lights, cookies, music and – of course – presents.
And many parents experience their own kind of joy when they watch their children tear into presents or throwing themselves into playing with their new toys.
However, inside some of those brightly wrapped boxes and under those bows, heartbreak can sometimes lurk.
Every year, toys and other children’s products are recalled due to toxicity, unsafe design, choking hazards and more. This year when buying presents for the children in your life, be sure that the gifts you give are age appropriate and safe.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers a page on their website listing hazardous toy recalls, which is a good resource for any concerned parent. Also, local news programs often run stories about potentially dangerous toys. The internet is a vast and valuable tool for those who know how to use it.
Recently recalled toys include a toy dart gun set by OKK Trading which led to an asphyxiated child after it became lodged in the child’s throat, a toy truck set called Super Rigs Play Sets which violated lead paint standards, and the Evenflo ExerSaucer® 1-2-3 Tea for Me™ Activity Learning Centers, which was recalled because of choking hazards.
The OKK Trading dart gun has already caused the death of one 8 year old boy in Texas, when he was chewing on it and inadvertently inhaled and swallowed it.
Evenflo ExerSaucer® 1-2-3 Tea for Me™ has not yet caused any reported injuries, but there have been 11 reports of pieces detaching and becoming dangerous choking hazards.
Despite recalls, dangerous toys still often make it onto shelves, and in many cases the manufacturers are well aware of the product’s flaws. A parent cannot trust these companies to look out for the best interests of their children.
The CPSC also offers some advice on toy safety. This sort of advice is useful and available all year, but in this time of giving, it becomes especially relevant.
• Choose toys carefully, respecting the child’s age, interests and skill levels.
• Look for quality design and construction in toys for children of all ages.
• Make sure that all instructions and directions are clear, both to you and your children.
• Discard of plastic and other dangerous packaging immediately.
• Read labels – including age recommendations, warnings and safety labels, and whether or not fabric or dolls are made of washable or hygienic materials.
• Be aware that not all toys are for all children; keep toys for older children out of reach of younger children.
• Toys for infants such as rattles should always be large enough that swallowing them is impossible.
With responsible action, everyone can make this Christmas a safe one for the children who enjoy it.
If your child has been injured as the result of a faulty product, contact a Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
And many parents experience their own kind of joy when they watch their children tear into presents or throwing themselves into playing with their new toys.
However, inside some of those brightly wrapped boxes and under those bows, heartbreak can sometimes lurk.Every year, toys and other children’s products are recalled due to toxicity, unsafe design, choking hazards and more. This year when buying presents for the children in your life, be sure that the gifts you give are age appropriate and safe.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers a page on their website listing hazardous toy recalls, which is a good resource for any concerned parent. Also, local news programs often run stories about potentially dangerous toys. The internet is a vast and valuable tool for those who know how to use it.
Recently recalled toys include a toy dart gun set by OKK Trading which led to an asphyxiated child after it became lodged in the child’s throat, a toy truck set called Super Rigs Play Sets which violated lead paint standards, and the Evenflo ExerSaucer® 1-2-3 Tea for Me™ Activity Learning Centers, which was recalled because of choking hazards.
The OKK Trading dart gun has already caused the death of one 8 year old boy in Texas, when he was chewing on it and inadvertently inhaled and swallowed it.
Evenflo ExerSaucer® 1-2-3 Tea for Me™ has not yet caused any reported injuries, but there have been 11 reports of pieces detaching and becoming dangerous choking hazards.
Despite recalls, dangerous toys still often make it onto shelves, and in many cases the manufacturers are well aware of the product’s flaws. A parent cannot trust these companies to look out for the best interests of their children.
The CPSC also offers some advice on toy safety. This sort of advice is useful and available all year, but in this time of giving, it becomes especially relevant.
• Choose toys carefully, respecting the child’s age, interests and skill levels.
• Look for quality design and construction in toys for children of all ages.
• Make sure that all instructions and directions are clear, both to you and your children.
• Discard of plastic and other dangerous packaging immediately.
• Read labels – including age recommendations, warnings and safety labels, and whether or not fabric or dolls are made of washable or hygienic materials.
• Be aware that not all toys are for all children; keep toys for older children out of reach of younger children.
• Toys for infants such as rattles should always be large enough that swallowing them is impossible.
With responsible action, everyone can make this Christmas a safe one for the children who enjoy it.
If your child has been injured as the result of a faulty product, contact a Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: child safety, holiday safety, product liability, toy safety
In many ways the holidays bring out the best in people. It is a time for giving and sharing, for visiting with family and friends, and for remembering what is most important to us.
In other ways, they bring out the worst in people: stress, overindulgence, airing of family grievances, and something else which might really ruin a holiday – home burglary.
No one is immune, warns Sergeant Archie Ezell with the Atlanta police gang unit. In fact, the sergeant expects theft to be worse danger this year than in the past.
"An APD employee went home […] and found it broken into," Ezell said. "Not only did they steal the presents under the tree, they stole the ornaments off of the tree and the food from the refrigerator. It dawned on me then that the economy has gotten really bad and people are out of work and we can expect an increase in thefts."
Enzell explains that a lot of homeowners make themselves targets by advertising what is waiting for thieves inside. Sometimes they do this by leaving the boxes for their new flat screen TV visible on the curb with the trash; other times they do it by opening their windows to display their extravagantly decorated tree, and all the gifts underneath along with it.
"One of my neighbors bought a bunch of expensive audio equipment and he had all the boxes sitting by the curb instead of cutting them up and putting them in a trash bag," Ezell said. "There are people who ride around to see what you got. You are just setting yourself up to be a victim."
Volkan Topalli, gang expert and professor at Georgia State University, interviews gang members as part of his job. According to him, crime picks up around holidays for the same reason it picks up around paydays. Criminals follow the economy.
"They are aware of economic patterns," he said. "They know when the welfare checks come, and that is a day when people will have cash in their pocket; and they know Friday and Saturday are good days to rob people because they get paid; and they know people are brand-new-item-heavy around Christmastime and they’re storing them in their homes.”
The National Crime Prevention Council offers a number of easy, common sense tips for avoiding theft this holiday season and all year.
• When shopping, park in well lit areas, avoid over burdening yourself with packages, and attempt to keep purchases out of sight by hiding them in the trunk. If possible, shop with a friend.
• Make sure to lock your home’s doors and windows – more than 60 percent of burglaries do not involve forced entry.
• Don’t leave gifts where they can be seen from outside.
• Stop mail and newspaper delivery while you travel, to avoid having it pile up and tell potential thieves that you aren’t home.
• Also while traveling, be careful in motels. Use main entrances to return to your room, and don’t answer the door without verifying who it is first. Check with the front desk if someone claims to be an employee.
• Inventory valuables, especially new ones. Photograph, video tape, and secure serial numbers where possible.
Just follow a few simple safety precautions can assure that this holiday season won’t be one that you remember for all the wrong reasons.
From all of us at the Law Offices of Michael Lawson Neff, have a safe, happy and healthy holiday!
In other ways, they bring out the worst in people: stress, overindulgence, airing of family grievances, and something else which might really ruin a holiday – home burglary.
No one is immune, warns Sergeant Archie Ezell with the Atlanta police gang unit. In fact, the sergeant expects theft to be worse danger this year than in the past."An APD employee went home […] and found it broken into," Ezell said. "Not only did they steal the presents under the tree, they stole the ornaments off of the tree and the food from the refrigerator. It dawned on me then that the economy has gotten really bad and people are out of work and we can expect an increase in thefts."
Enzell explains that a lot of homeowners make themselves targets by advertising what is waiting for thieves inside. Sometimes they do this by leaving the boxes for their new flat screen TV visible on the curb with the trash; other times they do it by opening their windows to display their extravagantly decorated tree, and all the gifts underneath along with it.
"One of my neighbors bought a bunch of expensive audio equipment and he had all the boxes sitting by the curb instead of cutting them up and putting them in a trash bag," Ezell said. "There are people who ride around to see what you got. You are just setting yourself up to be a victim."
Volkan Topalli, gang expert and professor at Georgia State University, interviews gang members as part of his job. According to him, crime picks up around holidays for the same reason it picks up around paydays. Criminals follow the economy.
"They are aware of economic patterns," he said. "They know when the welfare checks come, and that is a day when people will have cash in their pocket; and they know Friday and Saturday are good days to rob people because they get paid; and they know people are brand-new-item-heavy around Christmastime and they’re storing them in their homes.”
The National Crime Prevention Council offers a number of easy, common sense tips for avoiding theft this holiday season and all year.
• When shopping, park in well lit areas, avoid over burdening yourself with packages, and attempt to keep purchases out of sight by hiding them in the trunk. If possible, shop with a friend.
• Make sure to lock your home’s doors and windows – more than 60 percent of burglaries do not involve forced entry.
• Don’t leave gifts where they can be seen from outside.
• Stop mail and newspaper delivery while you travel, to avoid having it pile up and tell potential thieves that you aren’t home.
• Also while traveling, be careful in motels. Use main entrances to return to your room, and don’t answer the door without verifying who it is first. Check with the front desk if someone claims to be an employee.
• Inventory valuables, especially new ones. Photograph, video tape, and secure serial numbers where possible.
Just follow a few simple safety precautions can assure that this holiday season won’t be one that you remember for all the wrong reasons.
From all of us at the Law Offices of Michael Lawson Neff, have a safe, happy and healthy holiday!
Labels: atlanta, holiday safety
According to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, 15 percent of teens who have a cell phone have received messages or images of a sexually explicit nature, a practice that has recently become known as sexting.
The study’s data comes from phone surveys, questionnaires and interviews with 800 American teens between the ages of twelve and seventeen, 625 of whom had cell phones of their own.
The study was able to apply statistics to a situation which has worried lawmakers and parents since anecdotal evidence for it first hit the mainstream news. Law enforcement officials have since been stepping in more and more as they attempt to take control of the increasingly unruly sexting situation.
On the one hand, their actions have seemed somewhat disproportionate and unfair when it leads to teens being prosecuted as sex offenders, a lifetime label, for possessing nude or nearly nude photos of their own girlfriends or ex-girlfriends, or in some cases of themselves.
The stories include those like Phillip Albert, an eighteen year old boy who forwarded a naked picture of his sixteen year old girlfriend in a fit of rage after the couple had a fight. Albert was found guilty of sending out child pornography, and registered as a sex offender.
On the other hand, stories like that of Hope Witsell, a teen girl who committed suicide after a nude picture of her was shared with classmates, drive home the serious consequences that can result from authority figures failing to step in or from responding inappropriately to sexting situations.
Some states have already begun changing their laws to take into account the fact that the real problem here is not child pornography, but the generations old fight to get teenagers to think before acting in ways they might later regret.
The Pew Research results found that 4 percent of teens who own cell phones had actually sent photos of themselves to someone else. The likelihood grew along with those involved, with seventeen year olds being twice as likely as the overall average to have sent images.
15 percent of teens who owned cell phones reported receiving sexts. By the age of seventeen, that percentage was as high as 30 percent.
The study found that teens who pay for their own phone were more likely to send sexts. Teens who paid for all of the costs associated with their phones sent the controversial messages at the rate of 17 percent, as opposed to those who paid none or only part of their bill who reported only 3 percent.
Dealing with focus groups highlighted three separate scenarios for sexting. The first scenario is the exchanging of images between romantic partners. The second involved partners exchanging images, then one or the other sharing them with individuals outside of the relationship. The third and last scenario, and perhaps the most dangerous, involved a situation where the two individuals involved in the exchange are not in a relationship, but at least one of them hopes to be.
All of these possible scenarios show the need to teach young people the importance of considering their actions carefully, and being aware that things they do now may hurt themselves or others in the future. Click here for more on this controversial topic.
The study’s data comes from phone surveys, questionnaires and interviews with 800 American teens between the ages of twelve and seventeen, 625 of whom had cell phones of their own.
The study was able to apply statistics to a situation which has worried lawmakers and parents since anecdotal evidence for it first hit the mainstream news. Law enforcement officials have since been stepping in more and more as they attempt to take control of the increasingly unruly sexting situation.
On the one hand, their actions have seemed somewhat disproportionate and unfair when it leads to teens being prosecuted as sex offenders, a lifetime label, for possessing nude or nearly nude photos of their own girlfriends or ex-girlfriends, or in some cases of themselves.
The stories include those like Phillip Albert, an eighteen year old boy who forwarded a naked picture of his sixteen year old girlfriend in a fit of rage after the couple had a fight. Albert was found guilty of sending out child pornography, and registered as a sex offender.On the other hand, stories like that of Hope Witsell, a teen girl who committed suicide after a nude picture of her was shared with classmates, drive home the serious consequences that can result from authority figures failing to step in or from responding inappropriately to sexting situations.
Some states have already begun changing their laws to take into account the fact that the real problem here is not child pornography, but the generations old fight to get teenagers to think before acting in ways they might later regret.
The Pew Research results found that 4 percent of teens who own cell phones had actually sent photos of themselves to someone else. The likelihood grew along with those involved, with seventeen year olds being twice as likely as the overall average to have sent images.
15 percent of teens who owned cell phones reported receiving sexts. By the age of seventeen, that percentage was as high as 30 percent.
The study found that teens who pay for their own phone were more likely to send sexts. Teens who paid for all of the costs associated with their phones sent the controversial messages at the rate of 17 percent, as opposed to those who paid none or only part of their bill who reported only 3 percent.
Dealing with focus groups highlighted three separate scenarios for sexting. The first scenario is the exchanging of images between romantic partners. The second involved partners exchanging images, then one or the other sharing them with individuals outside of the relationship. The third and last scenario, and perhaps the most dangerous, involved a situation where the two individuals involved in the exchange are not in a relationship, but at least one of them hopes to be.
All of these possible scenarios show the need to teach young people the importance of considering their actions carefully, and being aware that things they do now may hurt themselves or others in the future. Click here for more on this controversial topic.
Labels: child sexual exploitation, sexting, teenagers, teens and technology
Miguel Padilla, thirty-two, was finally convicted December 10 for the 2005 death of his two year old daughter.
Over four years after the September 23, 2005 death of his daughter, Artearia Love as the result of blunt force trauma, this Atlanta man has been sentenced to life in prison.
The little girl’s mother had left Artearia with Padilla while she went to work that day. Around three hours after she left, Padilla left the house and approached a neighbor, who he told that Artearia had blood in her diaper, and that she was holding her stomach.
Padilla failed to seek help immediately because he feared reporting the injuries would lead to his arrest on unrelated charges.
The neighbor urged Padilla to call 9-1-1, but court officials report that he hesitated. Padilla had an outstanding warrant for parole violation. At the time, he was on parole for burglary.
After his conversation with the neighbor, Padilla returned home to find his daughter’s body lying cold in her own vomit.
In his testimony, the Fulton County Medical examiner explained how the girl had suffered trauma from an impact to her stomach, with force comparable to that of an automobile accident. As a result of her injuries, the two year old girl bled to death.
Childhood death due to neglect or parental abuse remains a serious problem in our country, despite the best efforts of the child protection system and the general sentiment of our society. While deaths due to accidents and illness tend to be closely monitored and recorded, in cases of abuse or maltreatment, the perpetrators – most likely the victims parents or some other trusted guardian – are unlikely to be forthcoming.
Most data on child abuse fatalities come from state level child welfare agencies, and while these agencies may draw on supplementary resources for additional information, most experts still believe that child abuse and neglect fatalities are under reported in this country.
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System estimated 1,760 children died in 2007 as a result of maltreatment. They also report a chilling trend: it appears that the number of child fatalities has been gradually increasing over the last five years.
While there are complicating factors in this report, such as improved data collection and variations among the systems that collect this information, these findings still point to the unfortunate fact that for an estimated 2.35 children out of every 100,000, the people who ought to be supporting and protecting them are in fact, ending their lives.
The vast majority of victims in these cases are children under the age of three, and infants under one year old are especially vulnerable, making up an estimated 42.2 percent of child abuse fatalities.
In 69.9 percent of cases, one or both of the victim’s parents were responsible for the child’s death.
For more information about child abuse and fatalities, and particularly how they could be prevented, visit Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect. And if you ever even suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, report it. Isn’t it better to be wrong and embarrassed than to be right and remain silent while a child is abused? As adults, we are responsible for the welfare of the littlest ones among us. Don’t neglect an at-risk child by failing to provide all the help you can.
Over four years after the September 23, 2005 death of his daughter, Artearia Love as the result of blunt force trauma, this Atlanta man has been sentenced to life in prison.
The little girl’s mother had left Artearia with Padilla while she went to work that day. Around three hours after she left, Padilla left the house and approached a neighbor, who he told that Artearia had blood in her diaper, and that she was holding her stomach.
Padilla failed to seek help immediately because he feared reporting the injuries would lead to his arrest on unrelated charges.
The neighbor urged Padilla to call 9-1-1, but court officials report that he hesitated. Padilla had an outstanding warrant for parole violation. At the time, he was on parole for burglary.After his conversation with the neighbor, Padilla returned home to find his daughter’s body lying cold in her own vomit.
In his testimony, the Fulton County Medical examiner explained how the girl had suffered trauma from an impact to her stomach, with force comparable to that of an automobile accident. As a result of her injuries, the two year old girl bled to death.
Childhood death due to neglect or parental abuse remains a serious problem in our country, despite the best efforts of the child protection system and the general sentiment of our society. While deaths due to accidents and illness tend to be closely monitored and recorded, in cases of abuse or maltreatment, the perpetrators – most likely the victims parents or some other trusted guardian – are unlikely to be forthcoming.
Most data on child abuse fatalities come from state level child welfare agencies, and while these agencies may draw on supplementary resources for additional information, most experts still believe that child abuse and neglect fatalities are under reported in this country.
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System estimated 1,760 children died in 2007 as a result of maltreatment. They also report a chilling trend: it appears that the number of child fatalities has been gradually increasing over the last five years.
While there are complicating factors in this report, such as improved data collection and variations among the systems that collect this information, these findings still point to the unfortunate fact that for an estimated 2.35 children out of every 100,000, the people who ought to be supporting and protecting them are in fact, ending their lives.
The vast majority of victims in these cases are children under the age of three, and infants under one year old are especially vulnerable, making up an estimated 42.2 percent of child abuse fatalities.
In 69.9 percent of cases, one or both of the victim’s parents were responsible for the child’s death.
For more information about child abuse and fatalities, and particularly how they could be prevented, visit Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect. And if you ever even suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, report it. Isn’t it better to be wrong and embarrassed than to be right and remain silent while a child is abused? As adults, we are responsible for the welfare of the littlest ones among us. Don’t neglect an at-risk child by failing to provide all the help you can.
Labels: atlanta, child abuse
Cobb Count Judge Gregory Poole recently found a twelve year old boy not guilty of murdering his cousin. This ruling came immediately after the closing arguments were delivered in this tragic case involving the death of a five week old infant.
The boy, whose name has been withheld, was found guilty of two lesser charges of misdemeanor battery.
“What I found is that you did some things wrong," the juvenile court judge explained to the young defendant. "I haven’t found you did something as bad as they say you did.”
Throughout the trail, Poole took action to make sure the boy understood what was happening, but to spare him the most graphic details of the autopsy, as well as minimize explicit language which may have been beyond the boy’s level.
Even so, while the boy said he understood the judge’s decision, it was not until after he spoke with his lawyer and grandmother that he began crying.
“Can I go home?” the boy asked. In this case, home means returning to his family and his home state of Florida.
The unfortunate answer was no. While found not guilty of murder, the boy’s fate is still undecided. Poole has delayed sentencing until January, but stated that his inclination was to give the boy probation and mandatory counseling.
“I do believe this child is in needs of services. I find that he is delinquent and in need of treatment, rehabilitation and supervision,” the judge said regarding his decision.
Derek Wright, the boy’s attorney, seemed satisfied with the results.
“This child was restored his childhood,” he said. “The ruling goes a long way in saying maybe he did something wrong and something he can learn from.”
Wright has expressed that he feels that through counseling, the boy will eventually be able to return to a normal life. And with the end of the trial, perhaps the boy’s family – a close knit family who regularly travel between states to visit one another – will also be able to start to return to a normal life.
“This family has suffered terrible loss. They lost someone and were at risk of losing another family member,” Wright said. “But there never was a time when the family chose sides, including [the infant’s mother] Brittany.”
And while the trial has no doubt been a strain on the family, there does seem to be some evidence that they are still attempting to maintain their bonds. At one point, the boy’s mother was observed offering comfort to her cousin, the deceased infant’s mother.
On July 4, the boy had been left alone with his infant cousin while her mother was inside a Target store. After 18 minutes of shopping, the mother returned to find her daughter unresponsive. The baby died the next day. The autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma – a finding which prosecutors claimed was the result of the boy having shook his cousin and struck her head on some hard surface.
The boy declined to testify at his trial.
Labels: child perpetrator, child safety, infant death
According to U.S. News and World Report, a new study may lead to new treatments for people with brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Researchers found that they can enable the regeneration of injured nerve fibers in mice by deleting a single gene.
The researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Boston deleted the SOCS3 gene in the retinal ganglion cells in the optic nerve of mice. The SOCS3 gene is an inhibitor of the growth pathway known as mTOR. The removal of the SOCS3 gene resulted in vigorous growth of injured nerve fibers (axons). After one week, the mTOR growth pathway was reactivated. When the scientists used ciliary neurotrophic growth factor (CNTF) on the eyes of the mice, axon growth increased even more.
“CNTF and other cytokines [cellular signaling molecules] have been tested for promoting axon regeneration previously, but with no success,” said lead author Zhigang He of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Children’s hospital Boston. “Now we know that this is due to the tight negative control of SOCS3. Inhibiting SOCS3, using small molecule compounds or RNA interference, might allow these cytokine growth factors to be functional.”
The study appears in the December 10 issue of the medical journal Neuron. It was conducted by scientists from the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and the Institute of Neuroscience at Carleton University in Ottawa. The abstract of the study follows:
Axon regeneration failure accounts for permanent functional deficits following CNS injury in adult mammals. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In analyzing axon regeneration in different mutant mouse lines, we discovered that deletion of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) in adult retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) promotes robust regeneration of injured optic nerve axons. This regeneration-promoting effect is efficiently blocked in SOCS3-gp130 double-knockout mice, suggesting that SOCS3 deletion promotes axon regeneration via a gp130-dependent pathway. Consistently, a transient upregulation of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was observed within the retina following optic nerve injury. Intravitreal application of CNTF further enhances axon regeneration from SOCS3-deleted RGCs. Together, our results suggest that compromised responsiveness to injury-induced growth factors in mature neurons contributes significantly to regeneration failure. Thus, developing strategies to modulate negative signaling regulators may be an efficient strategy of promoting axon regeneration after CNS injury.
Studies on axon regeneration constitute one of the most exciting fields of scientific research. These studies give hope to the millions of people who suffer from traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. In the future, doctors may be able to repair spinal cord injuries through axon regeneration and allow new beginnings for millions of patients.
Spinal cord injuries and brain injuries are common in auto accidents as well as workplace accidents and sports accidents. If you or a family member have suffered a spinal cord injury, contact an experienced Georgia spinal cord injury attorney. You may be entitled to recovery if someone else is legally liable for the injury. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation and learn more about your legal rights.
The researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Boston deleted the SOCS3 gene in the retinal ganglion cells in the optic nerve of mice. The SOCS3 gene is an inhibitor of the growth pathway known as mTOR. The removal of the SOCS3 gene resulted in vigorous growth of injured nerve fibers (axons). After one week, the mTOR growth pathway was reactivated. When the scientists used ciliary neurotrophic growth factor (CNTF) on the eyes of the mice, axon growth increased even more.
“CNTF and other cytokines [cellular signaling molecules] have been tested for promoting axon regeneration previously, but with no success,” said lead author Zhigang He of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Children’s hospital Boston. “Now we know that this is due to the tight negative control of SOCS3. Inhibiting SOCS3, using small molecule compounds or RNA interference, might allow these cytokine growth factors to be functional.”
The study appears in the December 10 issue of the medical journal Neuron. It was conducted by scientists from the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and the Institute of Neuroscience at Carleton University in Ottawa. The abstract of the study follows:
Axon regeneration failure accounts for permanent functional deficits following CNS injury in adult mammals. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In analyzing axon regeneration in different mutant mouse lines, we discovered that deletion of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) in adult retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) promotes robust regeneration of injured optic nerve axons. This regeneration-promoting effect is efficiently blocked in SOCS3-gp130 double-knockout mice, suggesting that SOCS3 deletion promotes axon regeneration via a gp130-dependent pathway. Consistently, a transient upregulation of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was observed within the retina following optic nerve injury. Intravitreal application of CNTF further enhances axon regeneration from SOCS3-deleted RGCs. Together, our results suggest that compromised responsiveness to injury-induced growth factors in mature neurons contributes significantly to regeneration failure. Thus, developing strategies to modulate negative signaling regulators may be an efficient strategy of promoting axon regeneration after CNS injury.
Studies on axon regeneration constitute one of the most exciting fields of scientific research. These studies give hope to the millions of people who suffer from traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. In the future, doctors may be able to repair spinal cord injuries through axon regeneration and allow new beginnings for millions of patients.
Spinal cord injuries and brain injuries are common in auto accidents as well as workplace accidents and sports accidents. If you or a family member have suffered a spinal cord injury, contact an experienced Georgia spinal cord injury attorney. You may be entitled to recovery if someone else is legally liable for the injury. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation and learn more about your legal rights.
Labels: brain injury, spine injury
In the coming weeks, many of us will join the rush of holiday travel. It’s the time of year we will enjoy with friends and family, celebrating our unique traditions and relationships. For most of us who join the celebration, it will be an exciting and memorable time of year.
But for some of us, this time of year can lead to increased risks. Every year, people drinking and or driving while distracted lead a few celebrators – and a few of those who they happen to share the road with – to accidents and even death.
The holidays are one of the busiest long distance travel periods of the year, and much of that traveling is done by car.In the spirit of the holiday safety, I would like to remind readers to be especially safe driving this holiday season, and offer a few tips.
- Prepare thoughtfully. Be prepared with a cell phone, water, blankets, snacks and other gear should your car breakdown and help cannot arrive immediately. You do not want to be stranded in winter weather during holiday travel.
- Pack chains if there is any chance of encountering snow.
- Before starting your trip, make sure your vehicle is fit for travel, tuned up, and prepared for winter driving conditions. Check antifreeze, windshield wipers and other cold weather components.
- Make sure you and your passengers both wear their safety belts.
- Leave early and be ready to change your travel plans if it becomes necessary. Winter weather can be dangerous and unpredictable. If snow or ice is expected, change your travel plans to accommodate it as much as possible.
- Don’t try to force yourself to adhere to an unrealistic schedule. Take regular breaks and stay fresh. Driving while tired and distracted increases your likelihood of acting recklessly. Don’t rush or speed.
- Give yourself plenty of time. Again, speeding is dangerous, especially if you hit poor weather. Even if you are running late, obey the speed limits and drive safely. It’s better to be late and safe than risk an accident.
- Pull off the road if you want to use your cell phone to call or text. Driving requires your full attention. I’ve written often enough in the past about the dangers of distracting driving that this should go without saying.
- Only pass when it is safe to do so.
- Alcohol features among many of our holiday parties and traditions, and can add to the festivities of the season, but if drinking is part of your holiday plans, remember to plan responsibly. Have a designated driver.
I hope that everyone’s holiday travel plans are safe and enjoyable. Remembering to drive safely is one way to help ensure that this is the case. Property damage, injury and death should stay well away from your plans over the holidays.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a distracted or otherwise impaired driver, contact an experienced Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights. For legal advice, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
But for some of us, this time of year can lead to increased risks. Every year, people drinking and or driving while distracted lead a few celebrators – and a few of those who they happen to share the road with – to accidents and even death.
The holidays are one of the busiest long distance travel periods of the year, and much of that traveling is done by car.In the spirit of the holiday safety, I would like to remind readers to be especially safe driving this holiday season, and offer a few tips.
- Prepare thoughtfully. Be prepared with a cell phone, water, blankets, snacks and other gear should your car breakdown and help cannot arrive immediately. You do not want to be stranded in winter weather during holiday travel.
- Pack chains if there is any chance of encountering snow.
- Before starting your trip, make sure your vehicle is fit for travel, tuned up, and prepared for winter driving conditions. Check antifreeze, windshield wipers and other cold weather components.
- Make sure you and your passengers both wear their safety belts.
- Leave early and be ready to change your travel plans if it becomes necessary. Winter weather can be dangerous and unpredictable. If snow or ice is expected, change your travel plans to accommodate it as much as possible.
- Don’t try to force yourself to adhere to an unrealistic schedule. Take regular breaks and stay fresh. Driving while tired and distracted increases your likelihood of acting recklessly. Don’t rush or speed.
- Give yourself plenty of time. Again, speeding is dangerous, especially if you hit poor weather. Even if you are running late, obey the speed limits and drive safely. It’s better to be late and safe than risk an accident.
- Pull off the road if you want to use your cell phone to call or text. Driving requires your full attention. I’ve written often enough in the past about the dangers of distracting driving that this should go without saying.
- Only pass when it is safe to do so.
- Alcohol features among many of our holiday parties and traditions, and can add to the festivities of the season, but if drinking is part of your holiday plans, remember to plan responsibly. Have a designated driver.
I hope that everyone’s holiday travel plans are safe and enjoyable. Remembering to drive safely is one way to help ensure that this is the case. Property damage, injury and death should stay well away from your plans over the holidays.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a distracted or otherwise impaired driver, contact an experienced Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights. For legal advice, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: driver safety, driving, driving and texting, drugged driving, drunk driving
WABC-TV in New York, NY, reports that a CVS prescription error on cough medicine dosage may have caused permanent brain damage in an 8-month-old infant in Linden, New Jersey.
Infant Jayden Trowbridge weight only 19 pounds but she was taking the amount of cough medicine that a 120-pound adult would take. The baby could not sleep for four days because he was taking four times the prescribed amount of Carbofed DM cough medicine.
“Jittery, anxious, he was crying and whining, and he’s usually relaxed,” said his mother Angela Trowbridge. “He was go to sleep and then jump back up.”
The family is worried that the baby may have suffered permanent brain damage, and they want answers from the CVS in Roselle, New Jersey. The pharmacy’s label contained instructions that they infant should take a full teaspoon every 12 hours. However, the doctor’s prescription called for one-fourth of a teaspoon every 12 hours.
“You could overdose a grownup and kill them, much less a child,” said the infant’s grandmother Barbara Cutcher.
The family’s regular pediatrician was out of town, and Jayden visited a doctor covering for him when his received the prescription. WABC-TV checked the prescription to verify the correct dosage instruction from the doctor.
Jayden was born prematurely. The family says that they have always gotten all of his medicine from CVS. His mother says that the pharmacist should have known that a teaspoon was too much for her infant son. The mother even suspected and error and asked the pharmacist about the dosage.
“I said ‘Is this too strong for him?’ I said I have older kids who have taken this,” Angela said. “She said it was fine.”
CVS corporate headquarters is looking into matter as Jayden’s family worries that the prescription error may have caused a permanent brain injury.
Carbofed DM contains carbinoxamine, dextromethorphan, and pseudoephedrine. According to drugs.com, overdose symptoms may include extreme drowsiness, confusion, feeling restless or nervous, blurred vision, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, hallucinations, fainting, and seizure. The medication can also cause an increase in blood pressure.
To be safe, always double-check your pharmacy’s prescription doses by comparing them to the doctor’s prescription. It is also wise to read about doses, side effects, precautions, and interactions of any medicine before you take it or give it to your child. You can learn about specific medications on websites such as drugs.com and webmd.com.
If you ever suspect a medication overdose, seek immediate medical assistance. Call 911 or call the U.S. national poison hotline at 1-800-222-1222.
If you or a family member have been injured because of a prescription medication error, contact an experienced Georgia medical malpractice attorney immediately. Medical malpractice lawsuits may be brought against pharmacists as well as doctors and other health care professionals. In the event of an injury due to negligence, you may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation and discuss your legal rights.
Infant Jayden Trowbridge weight only 19 pounds but she was taking the amount of cough medicine that a 120-pound adult would take. The baby could not sleep for four days because he was taking four times the prescribed amount of Carbofed DM cough medicine.
“Jittery, anxious, he was crying and whining, and he’s usually relaxed,” said his mother Angela Trowbridge. “He was go to sleep and then jump back up.”
The family is worried that the baby may have suffered permanent brain damage, and they want answers from the CVS in Roselle, New Jersey. The pharmacy’s label contained instructions that they infant should take a full teaspoon every 12 hours. However, the doctor’s prescription called for one-fourth of a teaspoon every 12 hours.
“You could overdose a grownup and kill them, much less a child,” said the infant’s grandmother Barbara Cutcher.
The family’s regular pediatrician was out of town, and Jayden visited a doctor covering for him when his received the prescription. WABC-TV checked the prescription to verify the correct dosage instruction from the doctor.
Jayden was born prematurely. The family says that they have always gotten all of his medicine from CVS. His mother says that the pharmacist should have known that a teaspoon was too much for her infant son. The mother even suspected and error and asked the pharmacist about the dosage.
“I said ‘Is this too strong for him?’ I said I have older kids who have taken this,” Angela said. “She said it was fine.”
CVS corporate headquarters is looking into matter as Jayden’s family worries that the prescription error may have caused a permanent brain injury.
Carbofed DM contains carbinoxamine, dextromethorphan, and pseudoephedrine. According to drugs.com, overdose symptoms may include extreme drowsiness, confusion, feeling restless or nervous, blurred vision, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, hallucinations, fainting, and seizure. The medication can also cause an increase in blood pressure.
To be safe, always double-check your pharmacy’s prescription doses by comparing them to the doctor’s prescription. It is also wise to read about doses, side effects, precautions, and interactions of any medicine before you take it or give it to your child. You can learn about specific medications on websites such as drugs.com and webmd.com.
If you ever suspect a medication overdose, seek immediate medical assistance. Call 911 or call the U.S. national poison hotline at 1-800-222-1222.
If you or a family member have been injured because of a prescription medication error, contact an experienced Georgia medical malpractice attorney immediately. Medical malpractice lawsuits may be brought against pharmacists as well as doctors and other health care professionals. In the event of an injury due to negligence, you may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation and discuss your legal rights.
Labels: medical error, medical malpractice
The Associated Press reports that, even though many consumers are replacing heavy televisions with lighter flat-screen TVs, the number of children getting injured or killed by falling televisions continues to rise. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 80 of the 180 furniture-related child deaths between 2000 and 2006 involved televisions, and that number has been rising over the years.
Some experts believed that lighter, flat-screen TVs would lead to fewer injuries, but that has not been the case. Perhaps the number of injuries is increasing because more people hanging TVs on walls and placing them in unsafe places where they may not be totally secure.
In 2006 alone, 16,300 children ages 5 and under were treated in emergency rooms due to injuries associated with televisions, furniture, and appliance falls and tip-overs.
“Many parents are unaware of the deadly danger of this hidden hazard,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “I urge parents to include securing TVs, furniture, and appliances in their childproofing efforts. Taking a few moments now can prevent a tip-over tragedy later.”
Many parents focus on ground-level hazards when childproofing their homes. But parents must also watch out for higher hazards, such as television on walls or appliances on top of bookcases. For instance, a speaker sitting on top of a bookcase could fall off due to sound vibrations.
“You may think your home is safe, but everyday things like a television can hurt your child. I was right there and it happened,” said Sylvia Santiago who lost her 2-year-old daughter in 2008.
Most injuries of this nature occur when children climb onto or fall against television stands, shelves, bookcases, dressers, desks, chests, and appliances. A television placed on top of a piece of furniture or on top of a rickety stand may tip over onto a child and cause fatal injuries.
“The most devastating injuries that we see resulting from furniture tipping on children are injuries to the brain and when a child is trapped under a heavy piece of furniture and suffocates,” said Dr. Gary Smith of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The CPSC offers the following tips to prevent television falls and other furniture tip-over injuries among children:
Furniture should be stable on its own. For added security, anchor chests or dressers, TV stands, bookcases and entertainment units to the floor or attach them to a wall.
Place TVs on a sturdy, low-rise base. Avoid flimsy shelves.
Push the TV as far back as possible.
Place electrical cords out of a child’s reach, and teach kids not to play with them.
Keep remote controls and other attractive items off the TV stand so kids won’t be tempted to grab for them and risk knocking the TV over.
Make sure free-standing ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.
Of course, some of these child injuries are caused by defective products or negligence on the part of a property owner. If your child has suffered such a personal injury, contact a Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Some experts believed that lighter, flat-screen TVs would lead to fewer injuries, but that has not been the case. Perhaps the number of injuries is increasing because more people hanging TVs on walls and placing them in unsafe places where they may not be totally secure.
In 2006 alone, 16,300 children ages 5 and under were treated in emergency rooms due to injuries associated with televisions, furniture, and appliance falls and tip-overs.
“Many parents are unaware of the deadly danger of this hidden hazard,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “I urge parents to include securing TVs, furniture, and appliances in their childproofing efforts. Taking a few moments now can prevent a tip-over tragedy later.”
Many parents focus on ground-level hazards when childproofing their homes. But parents must also watch out for higher hazards, such as television on walls or appliances on top of bookcases. For instance, a speaker sitting on top of a bookcase could fall off due to sound vibrations.
“You may think your home is safe, but everyday things like a television can hurt your child. I was right there and it happened,” said Sylvia Santiago who lost her 2-year-old daughter in 2008.
Most injuries of this nature occur when children climb onto or fall against television stands, shelves, bookcases, dressers, desks, chests, and appliances. A television placed on top of a piece of furniture or on top of a rickety stand may tip over onto a child and cause fatal injuries.
“The most devastating injuries that we see resulting from furniture tipping on children are injuries to the brain and when a child is trapped under a heavy piece of furniture and suffocates,” said Dr. Gary Smith of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The CPSC offers the following tips to prevent television falls and other furniture tip-over injuries among children:
Furniture should be stable on its own. For added security, anchor chests or dressers, TV stands, bookcases and entertainment units to the floor or attach them to a wall.
Place TVs on a sturdy, low-rise base. Avoid flimsy shelves.
Push the TV as far back as possible.
Place electrical cords out of a child’s reach, and teach kids not to play with them.
Keep remote controls and other attractive items off the TV stand so kids won’t be tempted to grab for them and risk knocking the TV over.
Make sure free-standing ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.
Of course, some of these child injuries are caused by defective products or negligence on the part of a property owner. If your child has suffered such a personal injury, contact a Georgia accident lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: child proofing, child safety
The holiday season is a time of celebration and joy – and personal injuries. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging consumers to make safety a priority this holiday season.
More than 14,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms due to injuries related to holiday decorating. Christmas trees, candles, and holiday lights can be sources of hidden dangers. Christmas tree fires result in an average of 15 deaths and $13 million in property damage each year. Holiday candles cause more than 12,000 fires, 150 deaths, and $393 million in property damage each year.
“Holiday decorating-related fires and injuries most often involve defective holiday lights, unattended candles and dried-out Christmas trees,” reported CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We are providing simple safety steps to help keep your holiday home safe.”
Here are the top 10 holiday home safety tips from the CPSC:
Christmas Trees & Decorations
1. When purchasing an artificial tree, DO look for the label "Fire Resistant." Although this label does not mean the tree won't catch fire, it does indicate the tree is more resistant to catching fire.
2. When purchasing a live tree, DO check for freshness. A fresh tree is green, needles are hard to pull from branches and do not break when bent between your fingers. The bottom of a fresh tree is sticky with resin, and when tapped on the ground, the tree should not lose many needles.
3. When setting up a tree at home, DO place it away from heat sources such as fireplaces, vents, and radiators. Because heated rooms dry out live trees rapidly, be sure to monitor water levels and keep the stand filled with water. Place the tree out of the way of traffic, and do not block doorways.
4. In homes with small children, DO take special care to avoid sharp, weighted or breakable decorations, keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of children who could swallow or inhale small pieces, and avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food that may tempt a child to eat them.
Holiday Lights
5. Indoors or outside, DO use only lights that have been tested for safety by a nationally-recognized testing laboratory, such as UL or ETL/ITSNA.
6. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Throw out damaged sets. DON’T use electric lights on a metallic tree.
7. If using an extension cord, DO make sure it is rated for the intended use.
8. When using lights outdoors, DO check labels to be sure the lights have been certified for outdoor use and only plug them into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protected receptacle or a portable GFCI.
Candles
9. Keep burning candles within sight. DO extinguish all candles before you go to bed, leave the room or leave the house.
10. DO keep lighted candles away from items that can catch fire and burn easily, such as trees, other evergreens, decorations, curtains and furniture.
From all of us here at MLN Law, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season!
More than 14,000 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms due to injuries related to holiday decorating. Christmas trees, candles, and holiday lights can be sources of hidden dangers. Christmas tree fires result in an average of 15 deaths and $13 million in property damage each year. Holiday candles cause more than 12,000 fires, 150 deaths, and $393 million in property damage each year.
“Holiday decorating-related fires and injuries most often involve defective holiday lights, unattended candles and dried-out Christmas trees,” reported CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We are providing simple safety steps to help keep your holiday home safe.”
Here are the top 10 holiday home safety tips from the CPSC:
Christmas Trees & Decorations
1. When purchasing an artificial tree, DO look for the label "Fire Resistant." Although this label does not mean the tree won't catch fire, it does indicate the tree is more resistant to catching fire.
2. When purchasing a live tree, DO check for freshness. A fresh tree is green, needles are hard to pull from branches and do not break when bent between your fingers. The bottom of a fresh tree is sticky with resin, and when tapped on the ground, the tree should not lose many needles.
3. When setting up a tree at home, DO place it away from heat sources such as fireplaces, vents, and radiators. Because heated rooms dry out live trees rapidly, be sure to monitor water levels and keep the stand filled with water. Place the tree out of the way of traffic, and do not block doorways.
4. In homes with small children, DO take special care to avoid sharp, weighted or breakable decorations, keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of children who could swallow or inhale small pieces, and avoid trimmings that resemble candy or food that may tempt a child to eat them.
Holiday Lights
5. Indoors or outside, DO use only lights that have been tested for safety by a nationally-recognized testing laboratory, such as UL or ETL/ITSNA.
6. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Throw out damaged sets. DON’T use electric lights on a metallic tree.
7. If using an extension cord, DO make sure it is rated for the intended use.
8. When using lights outdoors, DO check labels to be sure the lights have been certified for outdoor use and only plug them into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protected receptacle or a portable GFCI.
Candles
9. Keep burning candles within sight. DO extinguish all candles before you go to bed, leave the room or leave the house.
10. DO keep lighted candles away from items that can catch fire and burn easily, such as trees, other evergreens, decorations, curtains and furniture.
From all of us here at MLN Law, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season!
Labels: holiday safety
The Miami Herald reports that the family of New York jazz musician Zachary Breaux has been awarded $5 million in damages in a wrongful death case that lasted longer than a decade and raised liability issues for seaside communities that don’t provide lifeguards at public beaches.
Breaux drowned in 1997 while trying to save a rabbi’s wife in treacherous riptides off Miami Beach. Eugenie Poleyeff had gone for a swim at Miami Beach. Caught in the riptides, she yelled for her husband Israel, but he didn’t hear her.
Breaux jumped into action and ran into the water.
“I saw Zachary reach her,” said his wife Frederica Breaux, a schoolteacher. “I thought he would bring her back in . . . It was over in an instant.”
Both of the tourists drowned when they were pulled under by the forceful riptides.
Frederica Breaux and Rabbi Israel Poleyeff both sued Miami Beach, claiming that the city should have had riptide warnings and lifeguards at the public beach. The city had provided parking, showers, and concessions to cater to the public at the beach, but the city had not provided lifeguards, safety equipment, or any kind of tide warnings.
Last week U.S. District Jude Alan Gold ordered Delaware-based Monticello Insurance to pay the damages to Frederica Breaux. The insurance company had previously refused to pay even though the family’s attorney and the city of Miami Beach had reached a settlement. Gold also ordered the insurance company to pay $750,000 to Rabbi Poleyeff. The city had also previously negotiated this settlement which the insurance company had refused to pay.
Since Breaux’s drowning, the Florida legislature has passed a law removing liability for seaside cities if they posted warning flags about dangerous conditions or if someone drowned due to natural causes. However, this law did not apply to the 1997 incident.
“The city at the time had created the appearance of a protected beach,” said Howard Pomerantz, attorney for the Breaux family. “All we were saying is that they should have posted signs that this was not a protected beach.”
Soon after the 1997 drowning deaths, the city put up a lifeguard stand at the beach. The cases never actually went to trial.
“The city long ago realized that if this went to trial, a jury sympathetic to the Breaux family’s case could return a huge verdict,” said Pomerantz. “The city wanted to do the right thing and settle with the victims, but they became a victim themselves when Monticello abandoned them by denying both coverage and defense.”
The judge ultimately ordered the insurance company to pay for the damages and reimburse the city for its $200,000 obligation under settlements. The judge also ordered the insurance company to pay interest on the damages plus attorney fees and costs for the decade-long case. Monticello may appeal the ruling.
When a property owner knows about a dangerous condition, that property owner may have the legal responsibility to warn the public about the danger. If you or a family member have been injured due to negligence on the part of a property owner, contact an experienced Georgia premises liability lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Breaux drowned in 1997 while trying to save a rabbi’s wife in treacherous riptides off Miami Beach. Eugenie Poleyeff had gone for a swim at Miami Beach. Caught in the riptides, she yelled for her husband Israel, but he didn’t hear her.
Breaux jumped into action and ran into the water.
“I saw Zachary reach her,” said his wife Frederica Breaux, a schoolteacher. “I thought he would bring her back in . . . It was over in an instant.”
Both of the tourists drowned when they were pulled under by the forceful riptides.
Frederica Breaux and Rabbi Israel Poleyeff both sued Miami Beach, claiming that the city should have had riptide warnings and lifeguards at the public beach. The city had provided parking, showers, and concessions to cater to the public at the beach, but the city had not provided lifeguards, safety equipment, or any kind of tide warnings.
Last week U.S. District Jude Alan Gold ordered Delaware-based Monticello Insurance to pay the damages to Frederica Breaux. The insurance company had previously refused to pay even though the family’s attorney and the city of Miami Beach had reached a settlement. Gold also ordered the insurance company to pay $750,000 to Rabbi Poleyeff. The city had also previously negotiated this settlement which the insurance company had refused to pay.
Since Breaux’s drowning, the Florida legislature has passed a law removing liability for seaside cities if they posted warning flags about dangerous conditions or if someone drowned due to natural causes. However, this law did not apply to the 1997 incident.
“The city at the time had created the appearance of a protected beach,” said Howard Pomerantz, attorney for the Breaux family. “All we were saying is that they should have posted signs that this was not a protected beach.”
Soon after the 1997 drowning deaths, the city put up a lifeguard stand at the beach. The cases never actually went to trial.
“The city long ago realized that if this went to trial, a jury sympathetic to the Breaux family’s case could return a huge verdict,” said Pomerantz. “The city wanted to do the right thing and settle with the victims, but they became a victim themselves when Monticello abandoned them by denying both coverage and defense.”
The judge ultimately ordered the insurance company to pay for the damages and reimburse the city for its $200,000 obligation under settlements. The judge also ordered the insurance company to pay interest on the damages plus attorney fees and costs for the decade-long case. Monticello may appeal the ruling.
When a property owner knows about a dangerous condition, that property owner may have the legal responsibility to warn the public about the danger. If you or a family member have been injured due to negligence on the part of a property owner, contact an experienced Georgia premises liability lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: premises liability
Newsinferno.com reports that a class action lawsuit has been filed against GE Healthcare in U.S. District Court in Alabama. The lawsuit claims that a CE Healthcare CT scan machine lacked adequate safety features to warn about radiation overdoses.
The lawsuit states that Becky Coudert had a CT scan on September 8 at a Huntsville, Alabama hospital. Soon after the scan, Coudert said she lost her balance, experienced memory problems, and lost a narrow band of hair from ear to ear. Hair loss is a common sign of radiation overdose. The lawsuit alleges that GE Healthcare “carelessly researched the design and failed to adequately test” its CT scanners and that the machines lacked adequate safety features to warn technicians in the event of radiation overdose.
The lawsuit seeks a minimum of $5 million to set up a fund to cover healthcare costs and provide regular monitoring for brain cancer in all affected patients. According to the lawsuit, the affects of the CT scan radiation overdoses may not surface for decades.
The FDA announced its investigation of CT scan radiation overdoses in October. The FDA investigation began after the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles revealed that 206 patients had accidentally received eight times the standard does of radiation during CT scans of the brain. The machine had been delivering radiation overdoses since February 2008 after it was reset. The error was not detected until August of this year when a patient reported hair loss.
Last week the FDA confirmed at least 50 more patients who were exposed to excessive radiation during their brain scans. These patients also received up to eight times the normal dose of radiation. An Associated Press report states that some incidents have occurred at Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. The FDA reports that the radiation overdose cases involve other manufacturers of CT scanners besides GE Healthcare.
Two recent studies in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine suggest that even a single normal dose of radiation from a CT scanner can cause cancer, along with radiation from other radiation-based imaging technologies such as mammograms. One study estimated that 29,000 future cancers could be due to CT scans performed in 2007 alone. Another study found that low-dose mammogram radiation can increase the change of developing breast cancer by 150 in high-risk women. See CT Scans and Mammograms Cause Cancer to learn more.
Expect to see more high-profile lawsuits revolving around cancer-causing radiation from CT scans and mammograms. Now that scientific research confirms the risks of these imaging technologies, patients should be aware of their options. In some cases, the benefits of a CT may outweigh the risks. However, sometimes CT scans may not be necessary. Furthermore, alternatives to mammograms exist. If you’re concerned about radiation-based imaging, talk to your doctor about alternatives.
If you or a family member have been injured by a defective medical device or by medical negligence, contact an experienced Atlanta medical malpractice attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
The lawsuit states that Becky Coudert had a CT scan on September 8 at a Huntsville, Alabama hospital. Soon after the scan, Coudert said she lost her balance, experienced memory problems, and lost a narrow band of hair from ear to ear. Hair loss is a common sign of radiation overdose. The lawsuit alleges that GE Healthcare “carelessly researched the design and failed to adequately test” its CT scanners and that the machines lacked adequate safety features to warn technicians in the event of radiation overdose.
The lawsuit seeks a minimum of $5 million to set up a fund to cover healthcare costs and provide regular monitoring for brain cancer in all affected patients. According to the lawsuit, the affects of the CT scan radiation overdoses may not surface for decades.
The FDA announced its investigation of CT scan radiation overdoses in October. The FDA investigation began after the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles revealed that 206 patients had accidentally received eight times the standard does of radiation during CT scans of the brain. The machine had been delivering radiation overdoses since February 2008 after it was reset. The error was not detected until August of this year when a patient reported hair loss.
Last week the FDA confirmed at least 50 more patients who were exposed to excessive radiation during their brain scans. These patients also received up to eight times the normal dose of radiation. An Associated Press report states that some incidents have occurred at Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. The FDA reports that the radiation overdose cases involve other manufacturers of CT scanners besides GE Healthcare.
Two recent studies in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine suggest that even a single normal dose of radiation from a CT scanner can cause cancer, along with radiation from other radiation-based imaging technologies such as mammograms. One study estimated that 29,000 future cancers could be due to CT scans performed in 2007 alone. Another study found that low-dose mammogram radiation can increase the change of developing breast cancer by 150 in high-risk women. See CT Scans and Mammograms Cause Cancer to learn more.
Expect to see more high-profile lawsuits revolving around cancer-causing radiation from CT scans and mammograms. Now that scientific research confirms the risks of these imaging technologies, patients should be aware of their options. In some cases, the benefits of a CT may outweigh the risks. However, sometimes CT scans may not be necessary. Furthermore, alternatives to mammograms exist. If you’re concerned about radiation-based imaging, talk to your doctor about alternatives.
If you or a family member have been injured by a defective medical device or by medical negligence, contact an experienced Atlanta medical malpractice attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: medical error, medical malpractice
Atlanta fire departments have recently become the focus of a new initiative to protect children and victims of domestic abuse.
This latest initiative is the idea of former Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran, and but the latest step in the Franklin administration’s efforts to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. It follows the mixed successes of the Dear John campaign which struggles to protect child prostitutes and the city’s complaints regarding the ease with which children could be trafficked via Craigslist.
This latest step shifts focus slightly. Or rather, it expands the focus of the campaign beyond child prostitution to include victims of domestic abuse, child abuse, exploitation and sexual assault.
It does this by creating "Safe S.P.O.T.S."
The initiative is simple. Mayor Franklin unveiled it recently, explaining how the goal of this program is to turn every fire station in Atlanta into a safe, available haven for victims of abuse.
A victim of abuse would be able to walk into any Atlanta fire station at any time. There, the trained firefighters could offer her protection and support, locking the doors in the event she’s been followed, and offering any medical attention she may need. They would then call the police if the victim consents.
"The goal of the Safe S.P.O.T.S. program is to provide immediate protection to empower abuse victims to regain control over their own lives and their own bodies," the mayor said.
Victims are sometimes afraid to go directly to the police, or might not be able to reach them directly. This is often because abuse victims are made to feel that the abuse is somehow their fault. Or, in the case of women and girls who are being prostituted, they have been told by their pimps that if they contact police they will be arrested for their illegal behavior. Fire stations provide an obvious alternative to a potentially fraught call to the police, according to officials. The programs logo will be displayed on participating stations, advertising their involvement.
In preparation for this initiative, Atlanta firefighters and paramedics have been receiving extra training to enable them to assist the kind of victims which they expect to see. In doing so, the city is cooperating with several other organizations, including the state Department of Family and Children Services, the Victim's Assistance Network, and the Grady Rape Crisis Center.
Mayor Franklin has said that the city will accept any financial contributions which supporters of this initiative are willing to make, but the actual cost of this program to the city is expected to be very minor.
I have written several times before about the dangers of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation, and I believe I have made it clear that this is an issue not only important to me, but important to us both as a city and a society. It’s encouraging to see Atlanta taking steps to make breaking away from abusive situations that much easier for the victims of exploitation, as well as domestic abuse and sexual violence. Escaping an abuser is both the most important, and one of the most dangerous, steps a victim can take, and anything that we can do to make it safer should be applauded.
If you know a child who is the victim of sex trafficking, do not pause. Immediately contact one of the following numbers:
Georgia Statewide Tip Line
(404) 577-8477
National Center For Missing and Exploited Children Hotline
1-800-THE-LOST
Dear John Hotline
(404) 379-3602
This latest initiative is the idea of former Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran, and but the latest step in the Franklin administration’s efforts to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. It follows the mixed successes of the Dear John campaign which struggles to protect child prostitutes and the city’s complaints regarding the ease with which children could be trafficked via Craigslist.
This latest step shifts focus slightly. Or rather, it expands the focus of the campaign beyond child prostitution to include victims of domestic abuse, child abuse, exploitation and sexual assault.
It does this by creating "Safe S.P.O.T.S."
The initiative is simple. Mayor Franklin unveiled it recently, explaining how the goal of this program is to turn every fire station in Atlanta into a safe, available haven for victims of abuse.
A victim of abuse would be able to walk into any Atlanta fire station at any time. There, the trained firefighters could offer her protection and support, locking the doors in the event she’s been followed, and offering any medical attention she may need. They would then call the police if the victim consents.
"The goal of the Safe S.P.O.T.S. program is to provide immediate protection to empower abuse victims to regain control over their own lives and their own bodies," the mayor said.
Victims are sometimes afraid to go directly to the police, or might not be able to reach them directly. This is often because abuse victims are made to feel that the abuse is somehow their fault. Or, in the case of women and girls who are being prostituted, they have been told by their pimps that if they contact police they will be arrested for their illegal behavior. Fire stations provide an obvious alternative to a potentially fraught call to the police, according to officials. The programs logo will be displayed on participating stations, advertising their involvement.
In preparation for this initiative, Atlanta firefighters and paramedics have been receiving extra training to enable them to assist the kind of victims which they expect to see. In doing so, the city is cooperating with several other organizations, including the state Department of Family and Children Services, the Victim's Assistance Network, and the Grady Rape Crisis Center.
Mayor Franklin has said that the city will accept any financial contributions which supporters of this initiative are willing to make, but the actual cost of this program to the city is expected to be very minor.
I have written several times before about the dangers of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation, and I believe I have made it clear that this is an issue not only important to me, but important to us both as a city and a society. It’s encouraging to see Atlanta taking steps to make breaking away from abusive situations that much easier for the victims of exploitation, as well as domestic abuse and sexual violence. Escaping an abuser is both the most important, and one of the most dangerous, steps a victim can take, and anything that we can do to make it safer should be applauded.
If you know a child who is the victim of sex trafficking, do not pause. Immediately contact one of the following numbers:
Georgia Statewide Tip Line
(404) 577-8477
National Center For Missing and Exploited Children Hotline
1-800-THE-LOST
Dear John Hotline
(404) 379-3602
Labels: child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence
Last June, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that in cases where the teenager was over sixteen years of age, consent could be used as a defense in cases of sex between teachers and students. This is based on the fact that, in Georgia, the legal age of consent is sixteen.
From this perspective, if the student is a willing participant in the act, the sex between teachers and their students could be viewed as irresponsible or objectionable, but not technically illegal.
At least one state lawmaker has this issue in his sights for the coming year.
State Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville) plans to attempt to clarify the language of the law where it protects to sexual assault in cases where one party has custody of the other. This law applies to someone, such as a teacher, who has power over the victim. The theory behind this sort of law is that when one person is in a position of power over another, consent becomes difficult to determine. A victim may consent out of fear of retribution if they do not, or out of an eagerness to please someone who they respect. By this theory, this sort of relationship is by nature exploitive.
Collins would remove the consent defense from teachers who sleep with their students when those students are in primary or secondary school.
"It's not OK for a teacher or administrator who has control over a student to have sex with that student, even if that student consents or falls in love with him, as was the case in Cobb," Collins said regarding this issue. "I bet 99 percent of Georgians – especially parents – would say it's not OK."
Any changes to the law will come too late to make a difference in at least two cases, though.
Both teacher Christopher King, thirty-six, and teacher Steven Martin Parkman, thirty-three, were arrested for having sex with their seventeen year old female students. In both cases, the alleged victims claim to have consented to the sex. Both girls involved in these cases were legally above the age of consent by state law, but the nature of the teacher student relationship in these cases cast that consent into question.
"I absolutely knew I had the choice, I could engage in a relationship or not," King’s alleged victim said during his bond hearing. "I chose to wholeheartedly pursue it."
Noah Pine, the defending lawyer in Parkman’s case, would seem to agree with her position.
"If you ask me, the case was presented to the grand jury under a theory that a student – no matter how old she is - doesn't have the ability to consent," Pines said. "That's not what the law is. It is just what the prosecutor interpreted it to be."
But at what point does a student have the ability to consent to sex with a teacher?
Thankfully, while the law may be ambiguous on this issue, school policies are not. Both teachers resigned from their jobs rather than face termination, and both have lost their teaching certification.
From this perspective, if the student is a willing participant in the act, the sex between teachers and their students could be viewed as irresponsible or objectionable, but not technically illegal.
At least one state lawmaker has this issue in his sights for the coming year.
State Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville) plans to attempt to clarify the language of the law where it protects to sexual assault in cases where one party has custody of the other. This law applies to someone, such as a teacher, who has power over the victim. The theory behind this sort of law is that when one person is in a position of power over another, consent becomes difficult to determine. A victim may consent out of fear of retribution if they do not, or out of an eagerness to please someone who they respect. By this theory, this sort of relationship is by nature exploitive.
Collins would remove the consent defense from teachers who sleep with their students when those students are in primary or secondary school.
"It's not OK for a teacher or administrator who has control over a student to have sex with that student, even if that student consents or falls in love with him, as was the case in Cobb," Collins said regarding this issue. "I bet 99 percent of Georgians – especially parents – would say it's not OK."
Any changes to the law will come too late to make a difference in at least two cases, though.
Both teacher Christopher King, thirty-six, and teacher Steven Martin Parkman, thirty-three, were arrested for having sex with their seventeen year old female students. In both cases, the alleged victims claim to have consented to the sex. Both girls involved in these cases were legally above the age of consent by state law, but the nature of the teacher student relationship in these cases cast that consent into question.
"I absolutely knew I had the choice, I could engage in a relationship or not," King’s alleged victim said during his bond hearing. "I chose to wholeheartedly pursue it."
Noah Pine, the defending lawyer in Parkman’s case, would seem to agree with her position.
"If you ask me, the case was presented to the grand jury under a theory that a student – no matter how old she is - doesn't have the ability to consent," Pines said. "That's not what the law is. It is just what the prosecutor interpreted it to be."
But at what point does a student have the ability to consent to sex with a teacher?
Thankfully, while the law may be ambiguous on this issue, school policies are not. Both teachers resigned from their jobs rather than face termination, and both have lost their teaching certification.
Labels: child sexual exploitation, sex offenders, teenagers
Two new studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine urge caution in the use of CT scans and other forms of medical imaging that involve radiation. CT scans and mammograms use radiation, although the dose from a mammogram is smaller.
These studies support new controversial breast cancer screening guidelines which push back the recommended age for annual mammograms to 50 from 40.
The CT scan, or computerized tomography scan, has been used since the 1990s, and its use has grown dramatically, according to the Wall Street Journal.
One study of more than 1,000 adult patients found that the dose of radiation received in a single CT scan of the heart would later cause cancer in 1 in 270 women and 1 in 600 men. However, the dose of radiation varies widely depending on the hospital and the equipment. There can even be wide variation of radiation doses using the same equipment at the same hospital.
“These are doses we should be concerned about,” said Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, first author of the study. “They don’t have to be this high.”
Variation in doses may be due to a lack of standardized settings and differences in how radiologists and technicians use the technology.
Another study estimated that 29,000 future cancers could be related to CT scans received in 2007 alone. Cancers in the pelvis and abdomen are projected to the most common. The study found the young patients are at greatest risk. For example, a female who received an abdominal scan at age 3 had a 1 in 500 chance of developing cancer due to the radiation from the scan.
These studies bring into question the overuse of radiation-based imaging studies for screening purposes.
“You’re exposing a lot of healthy people,” said Amy Berrington of the National Cancer Institute.
CT machines can be dangerous if used incorrectly. For example, last year patients at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles received more than eight times the normal dose of radiation after a CT scan machine was reset. The error was discovered only after a patient started to lose his hair following a scan. Over 200 people suffered from radiation sickness because of the product defect.
More than 19,000 CT scans are performed in the United States each day. In many cases, CT scans are still necessary. The risks should be weight against the benefits.
On December 1, a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North American verified that mammography screenings may cause breast cancer in women who are predisposed to the disease. The study found that low-dose mammography radiation increased the chance of developing breast cancer by 150 percent for a group of high-risk women.
Non-radiation breast cancer screening alternatives are available. These include ultrasounds, MRIs, and thermography screenings.
Next time your doctor wants to shoot you with radiation, make sure there’s a darn good reason!
Have you or a family member been injured by medical negligence or a defective medical device? If so, contact an experienced Georgia medical malpractice lawyer immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700.
These studies support new controversial breast cancer screening guidelines which push back the recommended age for annual mammograms to 50 from 40.
The CT scan, or computerized tomography scan, has been used since the 1990s, and its use has grown dramatically, according to the Wall Street Journal.
One study of more than 1,000 adult patients found that the dose of radiation received in a single CT scan of the heart would later cause cancer in 1 in 270 women and 1 in 600 men. However, the dose of radiation varies widely depending on the hospital and the equipment. There can even be wide variation of radiation doses using the same equipment at the same hospital.
“These are doses we should be concerned about,” said Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, first author of the study. “They don’t have to be this high.”
Variation in doses may be due to a lack of standardized settings and differences in how radiologists and technicians use the technology.
Another study estimated that 29,000 future cancers could be related to CT scans received in 2007 alone. Cancers in the pelvis and abdomen are projected to the most common. The study found the young patients are at greatest risk. For example, a female who received an abdominal scan at age 3 had a 1 in 500 chance of developing cancer due to the radiation from the scan.
These studies bring into question the overuse of radiation-based imaging studies for screening purposes.
“You’re exposing a lot of healthy people,” said Amy Berrington of the National Cancer Institute.
CT machines can be dangerous if used incorrectly. For example, last year patients at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles received more than eight times the normal dose of radiation after a CT scan machine was reset. The error was discovered only after a patient started to lose his hair following a scan. Over 200 people suffered from radiation sickness because of the product defect.
More than 19,000 CT scans are performed in the United States each day. In many cases, CT scans are still necessary. The risks should be weight against the benefits.
On December 1, a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North American verified that mammography screenings may cause breast cancer in women who are predisposed to the disease. The study found that low-dose mammography radiation increased the chance of developing breast cancer by 150 percent for a group of high-risk women.
Non-radiation breast cancer screening alternatives are available. These include ultrasounds, MRIs, and thermography screenings.
Next time your doctor wants to shoot you with radiation, make sure there’s a darn good reason!
Have you or a family member been injured by medical negligence or a defective medical device? If so, contact an experienced Georgia medical malpractice lawyer immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700.
Labels: medical malpractice
Today the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) announced a voluntary recall to repair all Roman shades and roll-up blinds due to the risk of strangulation for young children. Roman shades or Roman blinds are made of soft fabric that pleats together when raised. The recall involves approximately 50 million shades and blinds. This is a product recall of historic proportions. Approximately 5 million Roman shades and 3 million roll-up blinds are sold each year.
In regard to Roman shades, the CPSC has received reports of 5 deaths and 16 near-strangulations since 2006. In regard to roll-up blinds, the CPSC has received reports of 3 deaths since 2001. A strangulation can occur with Roman shades if a child places his or her neck between the cord and fabric or if a child wraps the cord around his or her neck. Child strangulations may occur with roll-up blinds if the child’s neck becomes entangled in a cord loop or between the lifting loop and roll-up material.
“Over the past 15 years, CPSC has been investigating window covering hazards and working with the WCSC to ensure the safety of window coverings. We commend the WCSC for providing consumers with repair kits that make window coverings safe and look forward to future steps to eliminate these hazards,” said CPSC Chair Inez Tenenbaum.
The CPSC and the WCSC has worked together to investigate window covering hazards and ensure the safety of all window coverings. In 1994, the CPSC and WCSC announced recalls to repair strangulation hazards posed by horizontal blinds with pull cords and cord loops. As a result of continued CPSC investigations, the window covering industry has changed products and now offers free repair kits for horizontal blinds and other window coverings. Earlier this year the CPSC issued a safety alert to warn parents about the strangulation hazards associated with window coverings.
If you have Roman shades or roll-up blinds in your home, and if children ever visit your home, you should contact the WCSC immediately by visiting windowcoverings.org or by calling 1-800-506-4636. The WCSC will supply a free repair kit.
The CPSC released the following guidelines for parents and caregivers to prevent child strangulation in window coverings:
Examine all shades and blinds in the home. Make sure there are no accessible cords on the front, side, or back of the product. CPSC and the WCSC recommend the use of cordless window coverings in all homes where children live or visit.
Do not place cribs, beds, and furniture close to the windows because children can climb on them and gain access to the cords.
Make loose cords inaccessible.
If the window shade has looped bead chains or nylon cords, install tension devices to keep the cord taut.
If you or a family member have been injured by a defective product or a recalled product, contact a Georgia personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
In regard to Roman shades, the CPSC has received reports of 5 deaths and 16 near-strangulations since 2006. In regard to roll-up blinds, the CPSC has received reports of 3 deaths since 2001. A strangulation can occur with Roman shades if a child places his or her neck between the cord and fabric or if a child wraps the cord around his or her neck. Child strangulations may occur with roll-up blinds if the child’s neck becomes entangled in a cord loop or between the lifting loop and roll-up material.
“Over the past 15 years, CPSC has been investigating window covering hazards and working with the WCSC to ensure the safety of window coverings. We commend the WCSC for providing consumers with repair kits that make window coverings safe and look forward to future steps to eliminate these hazards,” said CPSC Chair Inez Tenenbaum.
The CPSC and the WCSC has worked together to investigate window covering hazards and ensure the safety of all window coverings. In 1994, the CPSC and WCSC announced recalls to repair strangulation hazards posed by horizontal blinds with pull cords and cord loops. As a result of continued CPSC investigations, the window covering industry has changed products and now offers free repair kits for horizontal blinds and other window coverings. Earlier this year the CPSC issued a safety alert to warn parents about the strangulation hazards associated with window coverings.
If you have Roman shades or roll-up blinds in your home, and if children ever visit your home, you should contact the WCSC immediately by visiting windowcoverings.org or by calling 1-800-506-4636. The WCSC will supply a free repair kit.
The CPSC released the following guidelines for parents and caregivers to prevent child strangulation in window coverings:
Examine all shades and blinds in the home. Make sure there are no accessible cords on the front, side, or back of the product. CPSC and the WCSC recommend the use of cordless window coverings in all homes where children live or visit.
Do not place cribs, beds, and furniture close to the windows because children can climb on them and gain access to the cords.
Make loose cords inaccessible.
If the window shade has looped bead chains or nylon cords, install tension devices to keep the cord taut.
If you or a family member have been injured by a defective product or a recalled product, contact a Georgia personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: product liability, product recall
What started with a girl sending a boy she liked a picture of her breasts on her cell phone – a practice widely identified as ‘sexting’ in the media – ended with bullying, the misapplication of punishment and eventually the tragic suicide of a thirteen-year-old child.
The Tampa Bay St. Petersburg Times reported on the story and painted a grim picture of a girl under attack from her peers.
The story goes that after sending a picture to a boy, another girl found the picture and forwarded it to others. From there, it circulated through the school. The picture she had taken, and thought – perhaps naively – would not go beyond one person who she wanted to see it was then seen by many, many others, and without her consent.
For this, the student body saw fit to punish this young woman informally, largely through the use of threatening bullying and gender based slurs. But not only that, she was also punished officially by the school.
The school continued what seems to me to be a mishandling of the girl’s situation when she returned.
This has been reported as the second sexting related suicide, but it seems to me that this would be more accurately called one of countless suicides related to bullying. The justification for that bullying may be different, but there is no doubt that this girl was mercilessly harassed, that she was taken advantage of without her consent, and that before her death, authority figures who should have come to her aid only questioned her conduct without protecting her from the grossly inappropriate responses of others.
It is nothing less than heartbreaking that this girl felt that suicide was the only way she could escape an incredible and disproportionate punishment for her inexperience. If you have children or young loved ones, talk to them about sexting. In this space I previously posted some other horrifying stories about the consequences of sexting and a guide on how to talk to your teens about sexting. This conversation may be difficult, but an open and honest conversation about this increasingly prevalent practice now is far preferable to the possible alternatives.
The Tampa Bay St. Petersburg Times reported on the story and painted a grim picture of a girl under attack from her peers.
At the end of the school year at Beth Shields Middle School, the taunting became so bad that Hope Witsell's friends surrounded her between classes. They escorted her down hallways like human shields, fending off insults such as "whore" and "slut." A few days before, Hope had forwarded a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked — a practice widely known as "sexting." The image found its way to other students, who forwarded it to their friends. Soon the nude photo was circulating through cell phones at Shields Middle and Lennard High School, according to multiple students at both schools. "Tons of people talk about me behind my back and I hate it because they call me a whore!" Hope wrote in her journal. "And I can't be a whore I’m too inexperienced. So secretly TONS of people hate me… "
The story goes that after sending a picture to a boy, another girl found the picture and forwarded it to others. From there, it circulated through the school. The picture she had taken, and thought – perhaps naively – would not go beyond one person who she wanted to see it was then seen by many, many others, and without her consent.
For this, the student body saw fit to punish this young woman informally, largely through the use of threatening bullying and gender based slurs. But not only that, she was also punished officially by the school.
School authorities learned of the nude photo around the end of the school year and suspended Hope for the first week of eighth grade, which started in August.
The school continued what seems to me to be a mishandling of the girl’s situation when she returned.
About two weeks after she returned to school, a counselor observed cuts on Hope's legs and had her sign a "no-harm" contract, in which Hope agreed to tell an adult if she felt inclined to hurt herself, her family says. The next day, Hope hanged herself in her bedroom. She was 13.
This has been reported as the second sexting related suicide, but it seems to me that this would be more accurately called one of countless suicides related to bullying. The justification for that bullying may be different, but there is no doubt that this girl was mercilessly harassed, that she was taken advantage of without her consent, and that before her death, authority figures who should have come to her aid only questioned her conduct without protecting her from the grossly inappropriate responses of others.
It is nothing less than heartbreaking that this girl felt that suicide was the only way she could escape an incredible and disproportionate punishment for her inexperience. If you have children or young loved ones, talk to them about sexting. In this space I previously posted some other horrifying stories about the consequences of sexting and a guide on how to talk to your teens about sexting. This conversation may be difficult, but an open and honest conversation about this increasingly prevalent practice now is far preferable to the possible alternatives.
Labels: child sexual exploitation, sexting, teenagers, teens and technology
Personal injury lawsuit commonly involve around slip and fall accidents or auto accidents that results in bodily injuries, but an individual may also received a personal injury to his or her reputation. That’s why Cornell University Professor Stephen L. Morgan is suing Wesleyan University. The lawsuit claims that Wesleyan released a photograph to national and international media outlets that identified the professor as the alleged killed of 21-year-old Wesleyan student Johanna Justin-Jinich.
Stephen L. Morgan, 38, is a sociology professor who lives in Ithaca, NY, and teaches at Cornell - hundreds of miles from Wesleyan’s Middletown campus. He says that he has suffered “humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress” from the photo mix-up that happened in May.
Connecticut State Police and Middletown police officers gave the photograph of the Cornell professor to Wesleyan University. The officers had gotten the image from a driver’s license database. According to Morgan’s attorney, the photo was taken when he was a student at Harvard University.
Police were looking for Stephen P. Morgan, a 29-year-old man from Massachusetts. They sent the photo of Professor Morgan to Wesleyan University officials so that they could determine if the professor had any kind of connection with the school. The officers did not give the university permission to publish or release the image. But, of course, Wesleyan did release the image. The photo was published on several websites and even appeared on CNN with a report which stated “police believe he may be targeting the school and Jews.”
Then Wesleyan employees began to notice comments on a university message board which stated that the man in the photo did not resemble the gunman in surveillance videos. University officials realized that the man in the photo they had released was not the murder suspect. By then, the damage had already been done to Professor Morgan’s reputation.
“Dr. Morgan has been forced to expend significant amounts of time and effort explaining that he is not a murderer to his family, friends, colleagues, students, professional associates, and others,” states the lawsuit. “Through these statements, [Wesleyan] implied that Dr. Morgan murdered the victim and may murder others because of their Jewish faith thereby implying that Dr. Morgan was a homicidal racist.”
Dr. Morgan has not commented on the case. His attorney James K. Robertson said, “Wesleyan was understandably in turmoil, but that doesn’t justify the reckless damage to Dr. Morgan’s spotless reputation.”
Robertson also said that the professor is still contacting various websites in an effort to have his photography taken down. “It seems to be a story without an end,” said Robertson.
Police eventually caught the right man, Stephen P. Morgan, 29, a former Navy petty officer, and charged him with Justin-Jinich’s murder. The two had met in a summer class at New York University.
If someone else has damaged your professional reputation, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact a Georgia personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Stephen L. Morgan, 38, is a sociology professor who lives in Ithaca, NY, and teaches at Cornell - hundreds of miles from Wesleyan’s Middletown campus. He says that he has suffered “humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress” from the photo mix-up that happened in May.
Connecticut State Police and Middletown police officers gave the photograph of the Cornell professor to Wesleyan University. The officers had gotten the image from a driver’s license database. According to Morgan’s attorney, the photo was taken when he was a student at Harvard University.
Police were looking for Stephen P. Morgan, a 29-year-old man from Massachusetts. They sent the photo of Professor Morgan to Wesleyan University officials so that they could determine if the professor had any kind of connection with the school. The officers did not give the university permission to publish or release the image. But, of course, Wesleyan did release the image. The photo was published on several websites and even appeared on CNN with a report which stated “police believe he may be targeting the school and Jews.”
Then Wesleyan employees began to notice comments on a university message board which stated that the man in the photo did not resemble the gunman in surveillance videos. University officials realized that the man in the photo they had released was not the murder suspect. By then, the damage had already been done to Professor Morgan’s reputation.
“Dr. Morgan has been forced to expend significant amounts of time and effort explaining that he is not a murderer to his family, friends, colleagues, students, professional associates, and others,” states the lawsuit. “Through these statements, [Wesleyan] implied that Dr. Morgan murdered the victim and may murder others because of their Jewish faith thereby implying that Dr. Morgan was a homicidal racist.”
Dr. Morgan has not commented on the case. His attorney James K. Robertson said, “Wesleyan was understandably in turmoil, but that doesn’t justify the reckless damage to Dr. Morgan’s spotless reputation.”
Robertson also said that the professor is still contacting various websites in an effort to have his photography taken down. “It seems to be a story without an end,” said Robertson.
Police eventually caught the right man, Stephen P. Morgan, 29, a former Navy petty officer, and charged him with Justin-Jinich’s murder. The two had met in a summer class at New York University.
If someone else has damaged your professional reputation, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact a Georgia personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: defamation, personal injury lawsuits
Few injuries are more devastating than traumatic brain injuries in children. A brain injury may not only hinder your child’s abilities to enjoy life but it may also seem to change your child’s personality and core identity. Parents of children with brain injuries must understand that brain injuries can have physical and behavioral consequences.
A child with a traumatic brain injury might experience symptoms such as constant fatigue, depression, anger, reduced cognitive skills, and immature or impulsive behavior. Fatigue is a common problem among children with brain injuries. Allow your child to rest, even if it seems like they should not need the rest. Keep in mind that a brain injury can cause all sorts of problems that a child may not be able to communicate. For instance, brain injuries often cause vision problems and extreme sensitivity to light. If your child throws a temper tantrum when you turn on a light, it could be because of the brain energy. After a brain injury, try to avoid forcing your child back into regular life and activities too quickly. Be patient. Your child will be ready to play and learn again as soon as the mental energy returns.
Depression is another common response to child traumatic brain injury. It’s not uncommon for the child and the parents to become depressed. Parents may experience feelings of guilt and grief. Understand that these feelings are normal, but it’s not normal if they continue for an extended period of time. Seek professional help if you suspect that you are clinically depressed. You need to be there for your child. Furthermore, some parents might direct their guilt or sadness toward others in the form of angry lashing out. This is not healthy. Try to set a good example for your children by maintaining control even in the most difficult situations.
A child traumatic brain injury may cause extreme changes in behavior. Angry outbursts may erupt as the child readjusts to life. Look for problem areas and try to help your child get past the anger. Immature behavior may appear after a brain injury, too. Keep in mind that your child may not be acting inappropriately on purpose; the behavioral changes could very well be due to the injury.
It’s also important to note that some behavioral changes may not appear immediately after the brain injury. Some changes may not appear until days or weeks after the injury. It’s important to take children to the doctor any time they experience a head injury. The injury could be worse than you suspect, especially when it comes to young children who do not have a fully developed skull.
It’s your responsibility as parent to help your child get through brain injury recovery - and that means you should seek help when you need it. If someone else was at fault for your child’s brain injury, you may be entitled to recovery. Contact a Georgia brain injury lawyer as soon as possible Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
A child with a traumatic brain injury might experience symptoms such as constant fatigue, depression, anger, reduced cognitive skills, and immature or impulsive behavior. Fatigue is a common problem among children with brain injuries. Allow your child to rest, even if it seems like they should not need the rest. Keep in mind that a brain injury can cause all sorts of problems that a child may not be able to communicate. For instance, brain injuries often cause vision problems and extreme sensitivity to light. If your child throws a temper tantrum when you turn on a light, it could be because of the brain energy. After a brain injury, try to avoid forcing your child back into regular life and activities too quickly. Be patient. Your child will be ready to play and learn again as soon as the mental energy returns.
Depression is another common response to child traumatic brain injury. It’s not uncommon for the child and the parents to become depressed. Parents may experience feelings of guilt and grief. Understand that these feelings are normal, but it’s not normal if they continue for an extended period of time. Seek professional help if you suspect that you are clinically depressed. You need to be there for your child. Furthermore, some parents might direct their guilt or sadness toward others in the form of angry lashing out. This is not healthy. Try to set a good example for your children by maintaining control even in the most difficult situations.
A child traumatic brain injury may cause extreme changes in behavior. Angry outbursts may erupt as the child readjusts to life. Look for problem areas and try to help your child get past the anger. Immature behavior may appear after a brain injury, too. Keep in mind that your child may not be acting inappropriately on purpose; the behavioral changes could very well be due to the injury.
It’s also important to note that some behavioral changes may not appear immediately after the brain injury. Some changes may not appear until days or weeks after the injury. It’s important to take children to the doctor any time they experience a head injury. The injury could be worse than you suspect, especially when it comes to young children who do not have a fully developed skull.
It’s your responsibility as parent to help your child get through brain injury recovery - and that means you should seek help when you need it. If someone else was at fault for your child’s brain injury, you may be entitled to recovery. Contact a Georgia brain injury lawyer as soon as possible Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: brain injury, child safety
Elijah Anderson is one lucky boy. The doctors who treated him have taken to calling him Superman, because it seems he would have had to have been made of steal steel to survive being hit by a train.
Somehow, he did though, and with no other signs of emerging superpowers.
On Nov 5, this four year old boy was playing with his dog outside of his family’s home in northwest Atlanta. Elijah chased the dog – a Jack Russell terrier named Poochy – behind the Lamar Avenue home to the train tracks on Wilson Boulevard.
The boy was focused on the dog to such an extent that he did not notice the oncoming train, explained his mother.
The train was traveling at 30 mph when it struck the boy, throwing him clear of the tracks. The train’s conductor reported that he say Elijah on he tracks, but did not have sufficient time to stop the train to avoid him.
The incident left the four year old stunned and in pain.
“He couldn’t even cry because it hurt so bad,” Elijah’s mother said in an interview with AJC. “His eyes were closed and he couldn’t move.”
Paramedics who arrived on the scene were quick to take Elijah to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where he was treated for a concussion and received stitches. Within twenty-four hours his condition was upgraded from critical to good. Two days later, miraculously, he was home and eager to go back to playing outside. His dog was not injured, and presumably also eager to return to their normal routine.
Elijah and his twin sister were under the supervision of their thirteen year old sister when the accident occurred. Now, they are not allowed to play outside without their mother present. Instead, they play in the house. And everyone is incredibly relieved that he is able to play at all.
“I’m so blessed. He’s so blessed,” his mom said as she prepared the twins for Christmas shopping. “We have all the presents we need.”
With 15 deaths last year, Georgia ranks tenth in the United States for train related pedestrian fatalities. Another 8 were injured last year by trains. Nation wide, 452 pedestrians were killed by trains.
Pedestrians do not have the right of way on train tracks, and as in this case, it is normally physically impossible for a train to stop once the conductor has seen someone on the tracks in front of them. According to the non-profit Operation Lifesaver, it takes the average freight train a mile to come to a stop when it’s traveling at a speed of 55 mph.
“There was no way they could have stopped for that little boy,” said Jennie Glasgow, Georgia coordinator for Operation Lifesaver. “People don’t have the right of way on the tracks. They are breaking the law and risking their lives.”
Police say that CSX, whose train was involved in the incident, will not be held responsible for the accident.
Somehow, he did though, and with no other signs of emerging superpowers.
On Nov 5, this four year old boy was playing with his dog outside of his family’s home in northwest Atlanta. Elijah chased the dog – a Jack Russell terrier named Poochy – behind the Lamar Avenue home to the train tracks on Wilson Boulevard.
The boy was focused on the dog to such an extent that he did not notice the oncoming train, explained his mother.
The train was traveling at 30 mph when it struck the boy, throwing him clear of the tracks. The train’s conductor reported that he say Elijah on he tracks, but did not have sufficient time to stop the train to avoid him.
The incident left the four year old stunned and in pain.
“He couldn’t even cry because it hurt so bad,” Elijah’s mother said in an interview with AJC. “His eyes were closed and he couldn’t move.”
Paramedics who arrived on the scene were quick to take Elijah to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where he was treated for a concussion and received stitches. Within twenty-four hours his condition was upgraded from critical to good. Two days later, miraculously, he was home and eager to go back to playing outside. His dog was not injured, and presumably also eager to return to their normal routine.
Elijah and his twin sister were under the supervision of their thirteen year old sister when the accident occurred. Now, they are not allowed to play outside without their mother present. Instead, they play in the house. And everyone is incredibly relieved that he is able to play at all.
“I’m so blessed. He’s so blessed,” his mom said as she prepared the twins for Christmas shopping. “We have all the presents we need.”
With 15 deaths last year, Georgia ranks tenth in the United States for train related pedestrian fatalities. Another 8 were injured last year by trains. Nation wide, 452 pedestrians were killed by trains.
Pedestrians do not have the right of way on train tracks, and as in this case, it is normally physically impossible for a train to stop once the conductor has seen someone on the tracks in front of them. According to the non-profit Operation Lifesaver, it takes the average freight train a mile to come to a stop when it’s traveling at a speed of 55 mph.
“There was no way they could have stopped for that little boy,” said Jennie Glasgow, Georgia coordinator for Operation Lifesaver. “People don’t have the right of way on the tracks. They are breaking the law and risking their lives.”
Police say that CSX, whose train was involved in the incident, will not be held responsible for the accident.
Labels: child safety, train accident
WIVB in Buffalo, New York, reports that war veteran David Cohen put his life on the line for his country only to have the VA hospital turn down his request for a colonoscopy that would have detected his deadly colon cancer.
“I was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in August,“ Cohen said. Cohen was diagnosed with colon cancer in August 2009, but he had been requesting a colonoscopy since at least December 2008 because he had signs of colon cancer and a family history of colon cancer.
“My grandmother died of colon cancer in the seventies,” said Cohen. Several other family members had also showed signs of colon cancer. When Cohen started to have symptoms of colon cancer, he requested a colonoscopy. But his request was denied by the VA hospital.
“I didn’t understand why I was not being approved - denied every single request,” said Cohen.
Cohen provided WIVB with proof that he had been denied. He showed paperwork from a request he submitted in December 2008. His request was denied just four minutes later.
“The prognosis from what they say is 26 months,” said Cohen. “But I don’t ever plan on living up to that.”
Cohen says that he plans to live much longer than 26 months. He is on a mission to educate the public about health care. When it comes to your health care, Cohen says, don’t take “no” for an answer.
“If you feel something is wrong,” he said,” if you know something, if you feel you’re not getting the right answers, don’t take anyone’s word for it until you get yourself checked out and know for yourself.”
When asked if he felt like he had been let down by his country, Cohen said, “I don’t’ know about the country letting me down. I know the VA let me down.”
Cohen said he filed the medical malpractice lawsuit as part of his efforts to educate the public about health care.
The VA hospital said that health regulations and the lawsuit prevent comments on a specific patient, but a spokesperson said that the VA hospital has a comprehensive colon cancer screening program that follows that U.S. Preventive Health Task Force recommendations for screening.
Medical malpractice cases are typically, long, complex, and difficult to pursue. Medical malpractice may apply to hospitals and doctors as well as other healthcare providers including chiropractors, therapists, nurses, psychologists, and dentists. Common medical malpractice cases involve failure to diagnose, medication errors, diagnosis errors, and failure to properly attend to the patient. Hospitals and other healthcare providers rarely settle cases early. If you’ve been injured due to medical negligence or medical malpractice, prepare for a long fight in the courtroom. Hospitals and doctors will certainly hire a lawyer who specializes in defending medical malpractice claims. You will need an experienced Georgia medical malpractice attorney on your side to have a decent shot at winning the case. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation. Call now, as time is of the essence. You may lose your right to sue if you wait too long.
“I was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in August,“ Cohen said. Cohen was diagnosed with colon cancer in August 2009, but he had been requesting a colonoscopy since at least December 2008 because he had signs of colon cancer and a family history of colon cancer.
“My grandmother died of colon cancer in the seventies,” said Cohen. Several other family members had also showed signs of colon cancer. When Cohen started to have symptoms of colon cancer, he requested a colonoscopy. But his request was denied by the VA hospital.
“I didn’t understand why I was not being approved - denied every single request,” said Cohen.
Cohen provided WIVB with proof that he had been denied. He showed paperwork from a request he submitted in December 2008. His request was denied just four minutes later.
“The prognosis from what they say is 26 months,” said Cohen. “But I don’t ever plan on living up to that.”
Cohen says that he plans to live much longer than 26 months. He is on a mission to educate the public about health care. When it comes to your health care, Cohen says, don’t take “no” for an answer.
“If you feel something is wrong,” he said,” if you know something, if you feel you’re not getting the right answers, don’t take anyone’s word for it until you get yourself checked out and know for yourself.”
When asked if he felt like he had been let down by his country, Cohen said, “I don’t’ know about the country letting me down. I know the VA let me down.”
Cohen said he filed the medical malpractice lawsuit as part of his efforts to educate the public about health care.
The VA hospital said that health regulations and the lawsuit prevent comments on a specific patient, but a spokesperson said that the VA hospital has a comprehensive colon cancer screening program that follows that U.S. Preventive Health Task Force recommendations for screening.
Medical malpractice cases are typically, long, complex, and difficult to pursue. Medical malpractice may apply to hospitals and doctors as well as other healthcare providers including chiropractors, therapists, nurses, psychologists, and dentists. Common medical malpractice cases involve failure to diagnose, medication errors, diagnosis errors, and failure to properly attend to the patient. Hospitals and other healthcare providers rarely settle cases early. If you’ve been injured due to medical negligence or medical malpractice, prepare for a long fight in the courtroom. Hospitals and doctors will certainly hire a lawyer who specializes in defending medical malpractice claims. You will need an experienced Georgia medical malpractice attorney on your side to have a decent shot at winning the case. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation. Call now, as time is of the essence. You may lose your right to sue if you wait too long.
Labels: medical malpractice
CNN reports that Dianne McLeod has filed a wrongful debt lawsuit against a debt collector over the death of her husband. She remembers her husband getting visibly upset when the debt collector called and believes that the harassing phone calls and other debt collection tactics contributed to his death.
“I think they were a major contributor to his death because of the stress and what I saw it doing to him,” she said.
McLeod is suing Green Tree Servicing, her mortgage company, for the wrongful death of her husband. She said he’d still be alive if not for the stress caused by debt collectors. McLeod said they called up to 10 times a day and even called neighbors.
“He would begin to sweat,” said McLeod. “he would also get very red in the face and complain about chest pains. We were worried he was going to have a heart attack right there on the phone.”
Stanley McLeod had heart disease and had his second heart attack in 2002. He had to go on disability, and his wife said that they fell about three months behind on their mortgage payments.
One phone message left by a male from Green Tree said, “Stanley McLeod, you need to call Green Tree and get your act together and make your payments on your mortgage and quit playing these games. Why don’t you have that helicopter pick you up and bring that payment to the office.”
The caller was referring to the helicopter that airlifted Stanley McLeod to a hospital after his second heart attack.
“It was so inhumane to talk to someone like that and to take an event that was traumatizing to him and to make a jest out of it,” said Diane McLeod. Her husband died of heart failure in 2005.
Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brian Corey of Green Tree Servicing said, “The collection activity did not lead to his death. The claim is meritless. We deny that the content, the number or the timing of the calls had anything to do with him dying in 2005.”
Bill Howard is the attorney who is representing McLeod. He’s had about 500 cases against companies who use what he calls “Tony Soprano tactics.”
“I think it’s frightening because these companies go after people and they utilize tactics people just don’t know are illegal,” Howard said. “Scare tactics work. They’ve worked for years. That’s how the mafia made so much money. That’s how these mafia-like tactics result in so much money. People are scared.”
“They did not seem to care,” said McLeod. “They didn’t care what they said or how many times they called.”
The trial is scheduled to begin in January. If you have lost a relative in what you believe to be a wrongful death, contact a Georgia wrongful death attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
“I think they were a major contributor to his death because of the stress and what I saw it doing to him,” she said.
McLeod is suing Green Tree Servicing, her mortgage company, for the wrongful death of her husband. She said he’d still be alive if not for the stress caused by debt collectors. McLeod said they called up to 10 times a day and even called neighbors.
“He would begin to sweat,” said McLeod. “he would also get very red in the face and complain about chest pains. We were worried he was going to have a heart attack right there on the phone.”
Stanley McLeod had heart disease and had his second heart attack in 2002. He had to go on disability, and his wife said that they fell about three months behind on their mortgage payments.
One phone message left by a male from Green Tree said, “Stanley McLeod, you need to call Green Tree and get your act together and make your payments on your mortgage and quit playing these games. Why don’t you have that helicopter pick you up and bring that payment to the office.”
The caller was referring to the helicopter that airlifted Stanley McLeod to a hospital after his second heart attack.
“It was so inhumane to talk to someone like that and to take an event that was traumatizing to him and to make a jest out of it,” said Diane McLeod. Her husband died of heart failure in 2005.
Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brian Corey of Green Tree Servicing said, “The collection activity did not lead to his death. The claim is meritless. We deny that the content, the number or the timing of the calls had anything to do with him dying in 2005.”
Bill Howard is the attorney who is representing McLeod. He’s had about 500 cases against companies who use what he calls “Tony Soprano tactics.”
“I think it’s frightening because these companies go after people and they utilize tactics people just don’t know are illegal,” Howard said. “Scare tactics work. They’ve worked for years. That’s how the mafia made so much money. That’s how these mafia-like tactics result in so much money. People are scared.”
“They did not seem to care,” said McLeod. “They didn’t care what they said or how many times they called.”
The trial is scheduled to begin in January. If you have lost a relative in what you believe to be a wrongful death, contact a Georgia wrongful death attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: wrongful death
The December issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association, announces that nerve cells transplanted into brain-damaged rats helped them recover their ability to learn. Scientists say that the transplanted neurons probably promoted growth factors.
The researchers for this study confirmed that nerve cell transplants can help the brain heal itself. This research could lead to new therapies to help people affected by traumatic brain injury as well as dementia. In a process known as neural plasticity, the brain can restore cognitive function by regenerating or reorganizing. The nerve cell transplants seem to stimulate neural plasticity.
The study examined the hippocampus, the site of learning and memory in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus. Damage to the hippocampus can lead to learning problems for rats. The researchers set out to see if they could repair the hippocampus and restore memory function and learning ability in the rats. They first injected a neuron-destroying chemical into the hippocampus of 48 rats. Then they transplanted hippocampus cells that had been taken from newborn transgenic mice into about half the rats. The transplanted cells contained a fluorescent protein that allowed scientists to track them.
Two months later, the researchers found that the rats that had received the transplanted cells had recovered completely. They were tested using a maze. The rats that received transplanted cells performed as if they had never received a brain injury. However, the rats that did not receive the transplanted cells did not recover and showed many learning problems in the maze tests.
The scientists then tracked the transplanted cells. They found that the transplanted cells had settle into the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, where they promoted the secretion of growth factors that boosted the growth and survival of cells that grow into neurons. In rats that received the transplanted cells, the expression of brain-derived growth factor increased threefold. Neural growth factors, also known as neurotrophic factors, hold great promise in the treatment of brain injuries and other neurological problems. They provide a nourishing environment for the production of new neurons and protect existing brain cells.
More research on neurotrophic factors is necessary and in progress. Co-author of the study Bindu Cutty of India’s National Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences said, “More studies along these lines using appropriate animal models are required to find definitive answers about the safety and efficacy of such approaches. We are still some way from achieving a new therapy based on these findings.”
While we may be years away from a new therapy, it is exciting to know that it is possible to stimulate the growth of brain cells and restore cognitive functions like memory and the ability to learn. Traumatic brain injuries can have a devastating impact on one’s life by even slightly altering such cognitive functions.
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury and someone else is at fault, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury lawyer to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
The researchers for this study confirmed that nerve cell transplants can help the brain heal itself. This research could lead to new therapies to help people affected by traumatic brain injury as well as dementia. In a process known as neural plasticity, the brain can restore cognitive function by regenerating or reorganizing. The nerve cell transplants seem to stimulate neural plasticity.
The study examined the hippocampus, the site of learning and memory in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus. Damage to the hippocampus can lead to learning problems for rats. The researchers set out to see if they could repair the hippocampus and restore memory function and learning ability in the rats. They first injected a neuron-destroying chemical into the hippocampus of 48 rats. Then they transplanted hippocampus cells that had been taken from newborn transgenic mice into about half the rats. The transplanted cells contained a fluorescent protein that allowed scientists to track them.
Two months later, the researchers found that the rats that had received the transplanted cells had recovered completely. They were tested using a maze. The rats that received transplanted cells performed as if they had never received a brain injury. However, the rats that did not receive the transplanted cells did not recover and showed many learning problems in the maze tests.
The scientists then tracked the transplanted cells. They found that the transplanted cells had settle into the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, where they promoted the secretion of growth factors that boosted the growth and survival of cells that grow into neurons. In rats that received the transplanted cells, the expression of brain-derived growth factor increased threefold. Neural growth factors, also known as neurotrophic factors, hold great promise in the treatment of brain injuries and other neurological problems. They provide a nourishing environment for the production of new neurons and protect existing brain cells.
More research on neurotrophic factors is necessary and in progress. Co-author of the study Bindu Cutty of India’s National Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences said, “More studies along these lines using appropriate animal models are required to find definitive answers about the safety and efficacy of such approaches. We are still some way from achieving a new therapy based on these findings.”
While we may be years away from a new therapy, it is exciting to know that it is possible to stimulate the growth of brain cells and restore cognitive functions like memory and the ability to learn. Traumatic brain injuries can have a devastating impact on one’s life by even slightly altering such cognitive functions.
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury and someone else is at fault, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury lawyer to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: brain injury, TBI
Tony Zeppetella was twenty-seven years old in June of 2003. He was a California police officer and the proud father of a six month old son named Jakob. The man, described in two sentences, sounds like the image of American potential – young, starting his family and pursuing his career in law enforcement.
But that month, Zeppetella would be shot during a routine traffic stop. A gang member with a stolen hand gun shot him in the chest as he approached the window, severing an artery in his chest. Zeppetella was able to return fire, but lost his life as a result of his injury.
This story is saddening, but certain details change the tone from unfortunate but a hazard of his job to horrifyingly reprehensible. First, there is the fact that Zeppetella was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time. And second, there is that the vest’s manufacturer, Second Chance Body Armor, had known for years that their products were defective, and had taken no action to warn or protect their consumers.
As early as 1998, executives at Second Chance Body Armor knew that the Zylon material they used in their vest was prone to degradation which could render the supposedly durable armor penetrable. The Zylon, which was supposed to be strong enough to stop a bullet, was known to be untrustworthy.
In a memo written in 2001, one Second Chance executive recommended that the company take immediate action to notify their customers of the degradation problems with the vest – a memo written not only before Zeppetella died, but before his defective vest was even manufactured. In this memo, he argued that “lives and our credibility are at stake.”
However by the next year, no action had yet been taken, and in another memo company president, Richard Davis outlined potential courses of action as he saw them. This outline included, “operating as though nothing is wrong until one of our customers is killed or wounded.” This “option,” as Second Chance put it, guaranteed that someone would injured, potentially fatally, eventually.
Second Chance did not warn its customers until September of 2003, when they recalled some 130,000 of their bulletproof vests. This number did not represent all of their Zylon products on the market, and in 2005 they recalled another 98,000. They company argued that they could simply not afford to replace all of their Zylon products, leaving many still in circulation. One has to wonder if at how Second Chance executives valued the lives of the young men and women who relied on their vests for protection as they protected and served.
In the years between learning of Zylon’s deficiencies and the recall of the Zylon body armor, hundreds of thousands of Second Chance Body Armor’s vests were sold both to law enforcement officers and military personnel. They were even worn by former president George W. Bush.
If you or someone you know has been injured because of a bad product, it is essential to find a skilled attorney and protect your own health and rights as soon as possible. Contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 and schedule a free consultation.
But that month, Zeppetella would be shot during a routine traffic stop. A gang member with a stolen hand gun shot him in the chest as he approached the window, severing an artery in his chest. Zeppetella was able to return fire, but lost his life as a result of his injury.
This story is saddening, but certain details change the tone from unfortunate but a hazard of his job to horrifyingly reprehensible. First, there is the fact that Zeppetella was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time. And second, there is that the vest’s manufacturer, Second Chance Body Armor, had known for years that their products were defective, and had taken no action to warn or protect their consumers.
As early as 1998, executives at Second Chance Body Armor knew that the Zylon material they used in their vest was prone to degradation which could render the supposedly durable armor penetrable. The Zylon, which was supposed to be strong enough to stop a bullet, was known to be untrustworthy.
In a memo written in 2001, one Second Chance executive recommended that the company take immediate action to notify their customers of the degradation problems with the vest – a memo written not only before Zeppetella died, but before his defective vest was even manufactured. In this memo, he argued that “lives and our credibility are at stake.”
However by the next year, no action had yet been taken, and in another memo company president, Richard Davis outlined potential courses of action as he saw them. This outline included, “operating as though nothing is wrong until one of our customers is killed or wounded.” This “option,” as Second Chance put it, guaranteed that someone would injured, potentially fatally, eventually.
Second Chance did not warn its customers until September of 2003, when they recalled some 130,000 of their bulletproof vests. This number did not represent all of their Zylon products on the market, and in 2005 they recalled another 98,000. They company argued that they could simply not afford to replace all of their Zylon products, leaving many still in circulation. One has to wonder if at how Second Chance executives valued the lives of the young men and women who relied on their vests for protection as they protected and served.
In the years between learning of Zylon’s deficiencies and the recall of the Zylon body armor, hundreds of thousands of Second Chance Body Armor’s vests were sold both to law enforcement officers and military personnel. They were even worn by former president George W. Bush.
If you or someone you know has been injured because of a bad product, it is essential to find a skilled attorney and protect your own health and rights as soon as possible. Contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 and schedule a free consultation.
Labels: consumer products, product liability, product recall
The December issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association, announces that nerve cells transplanted into brain-damaged rats helped them recover their ability to learn. Scientists say that the transplanted neurons probably promoted growth factors.
The researchers for this study confirmed that nerve cell transplants can help the brain heal itself. This research could lead to new therapies to help people affected by traumatic brain injury as well as dementia. In a process known as neural plasticity, the brain can restore cognitive function by regenerating or reorganizing. The nerve cell transplants seem to stimulate neural plasticity.
The study examined the hippocampus, the site of learning and memory in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus. Damage to the hippocampus can lead to learning problems for rats. The researchers set out to see if they could repair the hippocampus and restore memory function and learning ability in the rats. They first injected a neuron-destroying chemical into the hippocampus of 48 rats. Then they transplanted hippocampus cells that had been taken from newborn transgenic mice into about half the rats. The transplanted cells contained a fluorescent protein that allowed scientists to track them.
Two months later, the researchers found that the rats that had received the transplanted cells had recovered completely. They were tested using a maze. The rats that received transplanted cells performed as if they had never received a brain injury. However, the rats that did not receive the transplanted cells did not recover and showed many learning problems in the maze tests.
The scientists then tracked the transplanted cells. They found that the transplanted cells had settle into the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, where they promoted the secretion of growth factors that boosted the growth and survival of cells that grow into neurons. In rats that received the transplanted cells, the expression of brain-derived growth factor increased threefold. Neural growth factors, also known as neurotrophic factors, hold great promise in the treatment of brain injuries and other neurological problems. They provide a nourishing environment for the production of new neurons and protect existing brain cells.
More research on neurotrophic factors is necessary and in progress. Co-author of the study Bindu Cutty of India’s National Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences said, “More studies along these lines using appropriate animal models are required to find definitive answers about the safety and efficacy of such approaches. We are still some way from achieving a new therapy based on these findings.”
While we may be years away from a new therapy, it is exciting to know that it is possible to stimulate the growth of brain cells and restore cognitive functions like memory and the ability to learn. Traumatic brain injuries can have a devastating impact on one’s life by even slightly altering such cognitive functions.
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury and someone else is at fault, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury attorney to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
The researchers for this study confirmed that nerve cell transplants can help the brain heal itself. This research could lead to new therapies to help people affected by traumatic brain injury as well as dementia. In a process known as neural plasticity, the brain can restore cognitive function by regenerating or reorganizing. The nerve cell transplants seem to stimulate neural plasticity.
The study examined the hippocampus, the site of learning and memory in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus. Damage to the hippocampus can lead to learning problems for rats. The researchers set out to see if they could repair the hippocampus and restore memory function and learning ability in the rats. They first injected a neuron-destroying chemical into the hippocampus of 48 rats. Then they transplanted hippocampus cells that had been taken from newborn transgenic mice into about half the rats. The transplanted cells contained a fluorescent protein that allowed scientists to track them.
Two months later, the researchers found that the rats that had received the transplanted cells had recovered completely. They were tested using a maze. The rats that received transplanted cells performed as if they had never received a brain injury. However, the rats that did not receive the transplanted cells did not recover and showed many learning problems in the maze tests.
The scientists then tracked the transplanted cells. They found that the transplanted cells had settle into the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, where they promoted the secretion of growth factors that boosted the growth and survival of cells that grow into neurons. In rats that received the transplanted cells, the expression of brain-derived growth factor increased threefold. Neural growth factors, also known as neurotrophic factors, hold great promise in the treatment of brain injuries and other neurological problems. They provide a nourishing environment for the production of new neurons and protect existing brain cells.
More research on neurotrophic factors is necessary and in progress. Co-author of the study Bindu Cutty of India’s National Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences said, “More studies along these lines using appropriate animal models are required to find definitive answers about the safety and efficacy of such approaches. We are still some way from achieving a new therapy based on these findings.”
While we may be years away from a new therapy, it is exciting to know that it is possible to stimulate the growth of brain cells and restore cognitive functions like memory and the ability to learn. Traumatic brain injuries can have a devastating impact on one’s life by even slightly altering such cognitive functions.
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury and someone else is at fault, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury attorney to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: brain injury, TBI
An article titled “Run-of-the-Mill Justice” by Nora Freeman Engstrom of Stanford Law School was published in the December issue of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. In the article, Engstrom discusses “settlement mill” law firms.
Here’s the abstract of the article:
This Article examines a particular form of heretofore unexamined personal injury law practice that has proliferated across the United States. These law firms, which I call settlement mills, are characterized by their high claim volume, aggressive advertising, significant delegation to non-attorneys, entrepreneurial focus, and quick resolution of claims, typically without initiation of suit. Drawing on voluminous documents extracted from federal court and state bar disciplinary files, as well as fifty interviews with current and past law firm employees, the Article demonstrates that settlement mills represent a relatively new, largely distinct, and surprisingly prevalent form of law firm organization. After setting forth the characteristics that distinguish settlement mills from conventional personal injury practices, the Article considers the forces that have contributed to their rise, analyzes how they resolve claims in practice and to what effect, and asks why insurers (not facing a realistic threat of trial) bargain with settlement mills at all. The analysis reveals that settlement mills are not only organized differently than their conventional counterparts; they actually settle claims differently, in a manner that challenges prevailing theories of settlement as well as our basic notions of compensation through tort.
You can probably recognize the flashy ads from settlement mill law firms. If you never actually meet with an attorney, it’s probably a settlement mill. Settlement mills make their money through sheer case volume. They do not offer clients the best possible legal representation. Settlement mills generally accept the first offer put on the table by an insurance company. The settlement mills have no leverage because insurance companies know they’re not willing to go to court.
At MLN Law, our experienced attorneys prepare for each case as if we’re going to court. We will settle some cases when it makes sense to settle, but we’re always prepared to go to trial with all relevant evidence. That gives us the leverage we need to get the best possible settlement for our clients. At MLN Law, we think of our clients as people, not cases. We offer caring yet aggressive representation. Our advertising might not be aggressive compared to the settlement mills, but our representation certainly is. I became an attorney to represent people who have been injured through no fault of their own, and I take pride in helping people get through difficult situations and get back on their feet.
Beware of settlement mills. They have the biggest, boldest billboards, the full-page yellow page ads, and the in-your-face television commercials. But they cannot offer the same level of representation as an experienced Georgia personal injury lawyer. If you need a personal injury attorney, make sure you can trust your attorney to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Here’s the abstract of the article:
This Article examines a particular form of heretofore unexamined personal injury law practice that has proliferated across the United States. These law firms, which I call settlement mills, are characterized by their high claim volume, aggressive advertising, significant delegation to non-attorneys, entrepreneurial focus, and quick resolution of claims, typically without initiation of suit. Drawing on voluminous documents extracted from federal court and state bar disciplinary files, as well as fifty interviews with current and past law firm employees, the Article demonstrates that settlement mills represent a relatively new, largely distinct, and surprisingly prevalent form of law firm organization. After setting forth the characteristics that distinguish settlement mills from conventional personal injury practices, the Article considers the forces that have contributed to their rise, analyzes how they resolve claims in practice and to what effect, and asks why insurers (not facing a realistic threat of trial) bargain with settlement mills at all. The analysis reveals that settlement mills are not only organized differently than their conventional counterparts; they actually settle claims differently, in a manner that challenges prevailing theories of settlement as well as our basic notions of compensation through tort.
You can probably recognize the flashy ads from settlement mill law firms. If you never actually meet with an attorney, it’s probably a settlement mill. Settlement mills make their money through sheer case volume. They do not offer clients the best possible legal representation. Settlement mills generally accept the first offer put on the table by an insurance company. The settlement mills have no leverage because insurance companies know they’re not willing to go to court.
At MLN Law, our experienced attorneys prepare for each case as if we’re going to court. We will settle some cases when it makes sense to settle, but we’re always prepared to go to trial with all relevant evidence. That gives us the leverage we need to get the best possible settlement for our clients. At MLN Law, we think of our clients as people, not cases. We offer caring yet aggressive representation. Our advertising might not be aggressive compared to the settlement mills, but our representation certainly is. I became an attorney to represent people who have been injured through no fault of their own, and I take pride in helping people get through difficult situations and get back on their feet.
Beware of settlement mills. They have the biggest, boldest billboards, the full-page yellow page ads, and the in-your-face television commercials. But they cannot offer the same level of representation as an experienced Georgia personal injury lawyer. If you need a personal injury attorney, make sure you can trust your attorney to represent you in court. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: personal injury attorney, personal injury lawyer, settlement
According to a press release from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the board determined that the fatal bus crash near Victoria, TX, in January 2008 was caused by the driver’s loss of control of the vehicle after he fell asleep at the wheel. The driver, 42, drifted off the road and reacted by overcompensating once he woke up. He lost control of the motor coach and it rolled over onto its side.
The bus accident killed one passenger, and 17 other passengers suffered severe injuries. The driver and 29 other passengers received minor injuries. The NTSB discovered that passengers were injured from partial ejections as well as collisions with objects and other passengers inside the bus.
On January 2, 2008, the 2005 Volvo motor coach operated by Capricorn Bus Lines under International Charter Services was traveling on U.S. Highway 59 near Victoria, Texas, when the driver fell asleep, partially ran off the road, and then overturned the bus. The bus was traveling from Monterrey, Mexico to Houston, Texas and carrying 47 passengers. After the bus rolled over, a pickup truck struck the underside of the bus.
Through their accident investigation, the NTSB identified driver fatigue as well as lack of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) oversight of passenger motor carriers in the areas of operating authority, leasing agreements, scope of operating authority violations, safety rating methodology, and the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program and registration and use of non-Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)-compliant, passenger-carrying vehicles in commercial motor carrier operations in the United States.
“When we looked at the specific chain of events that led to this tragic accident, we also found numerous holes in the federal regulatory environment that allows a non-compliant motorcoach to be registered and operated on U.S. roadways,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “The traveling public should expect that any motorcoach they ride complies with all of the safety criteria imposed on every other commercial passenger vehicle within our borders.”
The NTSB has issued 19 safety recommendations as a result of this investigation: 1 to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 11 to the FMCSA, 2 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 2 to U.S. Customers and Border Patrol (CBP), and 1 to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and the International Registration Plan.
The NTSB urged the NHTSA and the FMCSA to work with the CBP to develop a process to detect motor carriers operating buses or other passenger-carrying commercial vehicles that do not meet U.S. safety standards. Such non-compliant vehicles should be placed out of service once detected. The NTSB also urged the FMSCA to deny or revoke operating authority for commercial interstate motor carriers who fail to disclose any prior operating relationship with another motor carrier, prior operations as another motor carrier, or previously holding a different U.S. DOT number. Such action on the part of the FMSCA should eliminate some of the loopholes that allow unsafe motor carrier companies to continue operating.
If you’ve been injured in a bus wreck, call an experienced Georgia bus wreck lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
The bus accident killed one passenger, and 17 other passengers suffered severe injuries. The driver and 29 other passengers received minor injuries. The NTSB discovered that passengers were injured from partial ejections as well as collisions with objects and other passengers inside the bus.
On January 2, 2008, the 2005 Volvo motor coach operated by Capricorn Bus Lines under International Charter Services was traveling on U.S. Highway 59 near Victoria, Texas, when the driver fell asleep, partially ran off the road, and then overturned the bus. The bus was traveling from Monterrey, Mexico to Houston, Texas and carrying 47 passengers. After the bus rolled over, a pickup truck struck the underside of the bus.
Through their accident investigation, the NTSB identified driver fatigue as well as lack of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) oversight of passenger motor carriers in the areas of operating authority, leasing agreements, scope of operating authority violations, safety rating methodology, and the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program and registration and use of non-Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)-compliant, passenger-carrying vehicles in commercial motor carrier operations in the United States.
“When we looked at the specific chain of events that led to this tragic accident, we also found numerous holes in the federal regulatory environment that allows a non-compliant motorcoach to be registered and operated on U.S. roadways,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “The traveling public should expect that any motorcoach they ride complies with all of the safety criteria imposed on every other commercial passenger vehicle within our borders.”
The NTSB has issued 19 safety recommendations as a result of this investigation: 1 to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 11 to the FMCSA, 2 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 2 to U.S. Customers and Border Patrol (CBP), and 1 to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and the International Registration Plan.
The NTSB urged the NHTSA and the FMCSA to work with the CBP to develop a process to detect motor carriers operating buses or other passenger-carrying commercial vehicles that do not meet U.S. safety standards. Such non-compliant vehicles should be placed out of service once detected. The NTSB also urged the FMSCA to deny or revoke operating authority for commercial interstate motor carriers who fail to disclose any prior operating relationship with another motor carrier, prior operations as another motor carrier, or previously holding a different U.S. DOT number. Such action on the part of the FMSCA should eliminate some of the loopholes that allow unsafe motor carrier companies to continue operating.
If you’ve been injured in a bus wreck, call an experienced Georgia bus wreck lawyer as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the family a teen killed last year in a fatal police chase has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Louisville Metro Police officers, claiming they should not have chased the vehicle. The vehicle was in fact a stolen car, but the driver was giving rides home to four teenagers from a youth group event. Aaron Shields was one of the four teens who died in the crash.
The parents of Aaron Shields claim that police officers found the stolen vehicle while it was unoccupied - before Herbert Lee, III, the driver, was asked to give Shields and three other teens a ride home on December 18, 2008. But the police did not take possession of the vehicle at that time. The lawsuit alleges that Officers Dale Cottongim, James Franklin, and Aaron Tinelli waited until Youth Alive staff had placed four teens in the vehicles and asked 17-year-old Lee to take them home. The police officers then pursued the car at a high rate of speed in bad weather “for a lengthy period of time,” according to the lawsuit. Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said that she could not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit names Youth Alive, a youth group for at-risk teens, as a defendant as well, claiming that Youth Alive staff acted negligently by placing teens in a vehicle with Lee, who did not have a driver’s license (but did have a criminal record). Defendants named in the lawsuit include Youth Alive founder Kenny Boyd and employee Tanya Middleton, several Youth Alive board members, Louisville Metro Police, and Chanika Bartee, the mother of Lee. According to Lee’s mother, he had volunteered to drive some teens to the youth group event. When Lee tried to leave, he was told to take some people home since he brought some people. The teens were placed in Lee’s vehicle because they lived near him and because the youth group’s vans were overcrowded. Lee is facing trial on chargers of murder, evading police, receiving stolen property, reckless driving, and driving without a license. Lee fled when police tried to pull him over and eventually lost control of the vehicle and ran into a tree. The crash split the car in two. The four teen passengers were killed.
Boyd, founder of Youth Alive, could not be reached for comment. A self-described former drug dealer, he started Youth Alive for at-risk teens so they would not fall into the same street life that he experienced.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages. Of course, I do not know all of the facts in this case, but given the nature of the youth event, it seems like the police officers would have stopped the driver of the stolen vehicle before he left, if they indeed found the car while it was still parked. But perhaps the police had good reason for their actions. If this case goes to trial, more facts will be revealed.
If you have lost a family member due to negligence or recklessness, contact an Atlanta, GA wrongful death attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 for a free consultation.
The parents of Aaron Shields claim that police officers found the stolen vehicle while it was unoccupied - before Herbert Lee, III, the driver, was asked to give Shields and three other teens a ride home on December 18, 2008. But the police did not take possession of the vehicle at that time. The lawsuit alleges that Officers Dale Cottongim, James Franklin, and Aaron Tinelli waited until Youth Alive staff had placed four teens in the vehicles and asked 17-year-old Lee to take them home. The police officers then pursued the car at a high rate of speed in bad weather “for a lengthy period of time,” according to the lawsuit. Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said that she could not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit names Youth Alive, a youth group for at-risk teens, as a defendant as well, claiming that Youth Alive staff acted negligently by placing teens in a vehicle with Lee, who did not have a driver’s license (but did have a criminal record). Defendants named in the lawsuit include Youth Alive founder Kenny Boyd and employee Tanya Middleton, several Youth Alive board members, Louisville Metro Police, and Chanika Bartee, the mother of Lee. According to Lee’s mother, he had volunteered to drive some teens to the youth group event. When Lee tried to leave, he was told to take some people home since he brought some people. The teens were placed in Lee’s vehicle because they lived near him and because the youth group’s vans were overcrowded. Lee is facing trial on chargers of murder, evading police, receiving stolen property, reckless driving, and driving without a license. Lee fled when police tried to pull him over and eventually lost control of the vehicle and ran into a tree. The crash split the car in two. The four teen passengers were killed.
Boyd, founder of Youth Alive, could not be reached for comment. A self-described former drug dealer, he started Youth Alive for at-risk teens so they would not fall into the same street life that he experienced.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages. Of course, I do not know all of the facts in this case, but given the nature of the youth event, it seems like the police officers would have stopped the driver of the stolen vehicle before he left, if they indeed found the car while it was still parked. But perhaps the police had good reason for their actions. If this case goes to trial, more facts will be revealed.
If you have lost a family member due to negligence or recklessness, contact an Atlanta, GA wrongful death attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 for a free consultation.
Labels: wrongful death
Patients receiving dialysis treatments at Grady Memorial Hospital are running out of time and options.
In early October, Grady was forced by expenses to close its out patient dialysis unit. The hospital paid a separate clinic to provide dialysis services to patients who had nowhere else to receive treatments due to lack of insurance, government assistance or other alternatives. However, they only secured that clinic for three additional months – and that time is now running out.
Some thirty patients still receiving care stand to have nowhere to go starting January 3. These patients – mostly low-income immigrants – fear for their health after that. Without dialysis, they stand to have little to do but watch their health spiral downward.
Matt Grove, a spokesman for Grady Memorial Hospital, has said that the situation is not as simple as that. The hospital’s contract with dialysis provider Fresenius actually allows for up to a year of treatment. On the other hand, the hospital’s agreement with its patients only promised three months of care. It may be possible for the hospital to extend care for those who truly have no where else to go.
Grove has made it clear that this option will be considered on a case by case basis. If approved, patients could have their dialysis covered as long as until September of next year.
More long term care remains out of reach, though. Patients and their advocates attempted again to gain attention and bring together forces which may have been able to provide real long term care solutions to the table. Unfortunately, their efforts saw little success. They failed to attract the elected officials and community leaders who they had hoped would be able to help them find an answer.
Indeed, only one of the dialysis firms invited to their forum even attended, and that one declined to take on patients.
“I don't have any options,” said Bineet Kaur, a twenty-six year old dialysis patient who confessed that she fears for her life in the event her coverage should run out.
The preliminary plans to close the dialysis center were announced in May. Since then, Grady helped many of the then approximately 90 – many of whom were poor, uninsured, undocumented immigrants – patients it served either relocate back to their home countries, or move to other states with provide more care for undocumented immigrants.
Head of the group called Grady Advocates for Responsible Care, Dorothy Leone-Glasser, expressed her disappointment that solutions for the remaining patients remains so unforthcoming.
"It's the unwillingness to come to the table that's disappointing," she has said.
Advocates and patients are not giving up just yet, despite their disillusionment. They are still pursuing a lawsuit with the aim of reopening the dialysis center at Grady. While the judge has been unfriendly to the argument that this loss of medical care is a denial of the patients’ rights under the state constitution, they hope for a warmer reception to the idea that it constitutes medical abandonment.
In early October, Grady was forced by expenses to close its out patient dialysis unit. The hospital paid a separate clinic to provide dialysis services to patients who had nowhere else to receive treatments due to lack of insurance, government assistance or other alternatives. However, they only secured that clinic for three additional months – and that time is now running out.
Some thirty patients still receiving care stand to have nowhere to go starting January 3. These patients – mostly low-income immigrants – fear for their health after that. Without dialysis, they stand to have little to do but watch their health spiral downward.
Matt Grove, a spokesman for Grady Memorial Hospital, has said that the situation is not as simple as that. The hospital’s contract with dialysis provider Fresenius actually allows for up to a year of treatment. On the other hand, the hospital’s agreement with its patients only promised three months of care. It may be possible for the hospital to extend care for those who truly have no where else to go.
Grove has made it clear that this option will be considered on a case by case basis. If approved, patients could have their dialysis covered as long as until September of next year.
More long term care remains out of reach, though. Patients and their advocates attempted again to gain attention and bring together forces which may have been able to provide real long term care solutions to the table. Unfortunately, their efforts saw little success. They failed to attract the elected officials and community leaders who they had hoped would be able to help them find an answer.
Indeed, only one of the dialysis firms invited to their forum even attended, and that one declined to take on patients.
“I don't have any options,” said Bineet Kaur, a twenty-six year old dialysis patient who confessed that she fears for her life in the event her coverage should run out.
The preliminary plans to close the dialysis center were announced in May. Since then, Grady helped many of the then approximately 90 – many of whom were poor, uninsured, undocumented immigrants – patients it served either relocate back to their home countries, or move to other states with provide more care for undocumented immigrants.
Head of the group called Grady Advocates for Responsible Care, Dorothy Leone-Glasser, expressed her disappointment that solutions for the remaining patients remains so unforthcoming.
"It's the unwillingness to come to the table that's disappointing," she has said.
Advocates and patients are not giving up just yet, despite their disillusionment. They are still pursuing a lawsuit with the aim of reopening the dialysis center at Grady. While the judge has been unfriendly to the argument that this loss of medical care is a denial of the patients’ rights under the state constitution, they hope for a warmer reception to the idea that it constitutes medical abandonment.
Labels: health
Atlanta, Georgia news channel 11alive reports that Stephanie Davis, aa 18-year-old Emory University student, was killed last Friday night when she was struck by a car while crossing the stress near the intersection of Mason Mill Road and Houston Mill Road in Atlanta. The area is very close to Emory University’s campus.
Only six months ago, The Stokes News in North Carolina reported that Davis, a West Stokes High School senior at the time, had received a scholarship to attend college at Emory University. She was a native of King, NC, and a freshman at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College dean Stephen Bowen said the following in a statement: “It is with deep sadness that I must inform you that freshman Stephanie Davis died this morning from injuries sustained in a car/pedestrian accident last night near the Emory Atlanta campus. Her parents were with her this morning. Chaplain Lyn Pace will organize an Oxford community memorial service for Stephanie with more information being available in the next few days.”
“It always brightened my day to see her,” said Libba Cooper, a friend of Davis and member of King Moravian Church. “We’d always talk about her going to Emory. She was thrilled to have gotten into that school.”
Davis volunteered at her church and participated in the youth group, church members said. Sunday school teacher Jennifer Sealy said, “She was always a leader. I know she’s in good hands, and we’re going to miss her.”
A reader at 11alive.com commented, “I drive through this area several times a week and although there are several crosswalks established (with traffic lights) many students, faculty, and medical personnel attempt to cross the roads either against the light or outside of the crosswalks. Spending a little extra effort to use the crosswalk may help save a life.”
The Emory Wheel campus newspaper reported that Davis darted out into traffic and was struck by a Toyota RAV4 at 12:40 a.m. on Saturday, according to the motor vehicle accident report. Davis was rushed to the Emory University Hospital emergency room and transferred to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment of traumatic brain injury. She was pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m.
According to the report, Davis “sprinted in front of the vehicle in an attempt to cross ahead of it.” The driver, also an Emory student, was unable to stop. The driver had a green light, and there was no indication that the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. No charges were filed against the driver. The investigation is ongoing.
The location of the accident is a windy, hilly residential area near campus. According to a friend, Davis was visiting a friend’s house near campus and walking to a party. According to the accident report, there were no signs that Davis was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. Even though the driver was apparently not at fault, other factors - such as inadequate lighting, for instance - could have contributed to the accident.
Several fatal pedestrian accidents have occurred in Atlanta lately. In fact, Atlanta has been ranked as one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians.
If you have been seriously injured in an Atlanta pedestrian accident, contact an experienced Atlanta auto accident lawyer immediately. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Only six months ago, The Stokes News in North Carolina reported that Davis, a West Stokes High School senior at the time, had received a scholarship to attend college at Emory University. She was a native of King, NC, and a freshman at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College dean Stephen Bowen said the following in a statement: “It is with deep sadness that I must inform you that freshman Stephanie Davis died this morning from injuries sustained in a car/pedestrian accident last night near the Emory Atlanta campus. Her parents were with her this morning. Chaplain Lyn Pace will organize an Oxford community memorial service for Stephanie with more information being available in the next few days.”
“It always brightened my day to see her,” said Libba Cooper, a friend of Davis and member of King Moravian Church. “We’d always talk about her going to Emory. She was thrilled to have gotten into that school.”
Davis volunteered at her church and participated in the youth group, church members said. Sunday school teacher Jennifer Sealy said, “She was always a leader. I know she’s in good hands, and we’re going to miss her.”
A reader at 11alive.com commented, “I drive through this area several times a week and although there are several crosswalks established (with traffic lights) many students, faculty, and medical personnel attempt to cross the roads either against the light or outside of the crosswalks. Spending a little extra effort to use the crosswalk may help save a life.”
The Emory Wheel campus newspaper reported that Davis darted out into traffic and was struck by a Toyota RAV4 at 12:40 a.m. on Saturday, according to the motor vehicle accident report. Davis was rushed to the Emory University Hospital emergency room and transferred to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment of traumatic brain injury. She was pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m.
According to the report, Davis “sprinted in front of the vehicle in an attempt to cross ahead of it.” The driver, also an Emory student, was unable to stop. The driver had a green light, and there was no indication that the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. No charges were filed against the driver. The investigation is ongoing.
The location of the accident is a windy, hilly residential area near campus. According to a friend, Davis was visiting a friend’s house near campus and walking to a party. According to the accident report, there were no signs that Davis was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. Even though the driver was apparently not at fault, other factors - such as inadequate lighting, for instance - could have contributed to the accident.
Several fatal pedestrian accidents have occurred in Atlanta lately. In fact, Atlanta has been ranked as one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians.
If you have been seriously injured in an Atlanta pedestrian accident, contact an experienced Atlanta auto accident lawyer immediately. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: auto accident, pedestrian
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the recall of 24,000 Amby Baby Motion Beds after two infants have reportedly suffocated in the baby hammock beds. One of the victims was a four-month-old girl from Lawrenceville, Georgia, who died in one of the baby hammocks in June. The other reported victim was a five-month-old boy from Gresham, Oregon, who died in August. In both case, the infants were suffocated in the baby hammock.
The CPSC recall announcement states that the side-to-side motion of the hammock bed can cause a child to roll and become trapped between the fabric of the hammock and the mattress pad, and this can potentially lead to suffocation. The recall includes approximately 24,000 Amby Baby Motion beds sold online at AmbyBaby.com and through other internet retailers between January 2003 and October 2009. The beds consist of a steel from and a fabric hammock connected by a large spring and a metal crossbar. A label on the hammocks reads “Amby - Babies Love It, Naturally.” Only one model of the hammock was sold, and all of them are being recalled, according to the CPSC.
The CPSC and Amby Baby USA are telling consumers to stop using the hammocks immediately and contact the company for a free repair kit. In the meantime, if you have one of those baby hammocks, find another safe place for your infant to sleep. But make sure it’s not a recalled Stork Craft drop-side crib. Last month the CPSC announced a recall of 2 million of the Stork Craft cribs. It was the largest crib recall in U.S. history. These cribs could also potentially cause suffocation due to a defect.
For additional information about the Amby Baby hammock recall, you can call Amby Baby USA at 1-866-544-9721 or visit www.ambybaby.com. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772 to reported a dangerous product or product-related injury, or visit www.cpsc.gov for more information.
In fact, during the holiday season, it’s a good idea to visit the CPSC website frequently - especially before you go shopping for the children on your gift list. The CPSC does a wonderful job of alerting us about dangerous consumer products.
“The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children,” according to the agency’s website. “The CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.”
Check www.cpsc.gov often for the latest news about potentially dangerous products. If you or a loved one have been injured by a defective product, contact a Georgia Personal Injury Attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: product recall
Last week the Dalton Daily Citizen reported that a federal appeals panel sided with Whitfield County deputies in a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died in 2005 after being shocked by a taser.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a federal judge’s decision to rule against the lawsuit brought by the family of Melinda Neal Fairbanks. Deputies shocked Fairbanks in 2005 as they arrested her for walking into a stranger’s home. According to court records, she had smoked meth earlier that day and was in a delusional state. Deputies used the taser because she was hitting and kicking them.
The death certificate stated that the cause of death was malignant hyperthermia (overheating) caused by methamphetamine toxicity. An inquest found that toxic levels of meth had caused her body to overheat. Family members disputed the claim. The appeal panel said that while the death was “unfortunate,” the federal judge had ruled appropriately.
Whitfiled County Sheriff Scott Chitwood told reporters that he had not been officially notified of the decision, but “if that is indeed the case, we are very pleased,” he said. County attorney Robert Smalley had no comment.
Fairbanks died in June 2005 after being arrested by deputies. She had walked into a stranger’s home and started opening cabinets and doors. Fairbanks was outdoors when deputies arrived, and she started kicking and hitting when they tried to arrest her. She was shocked with a taser after a struggle with deputies.
The $15 million lawsuit was filed against Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Taser International, and Hamilton Health Care System in U.S. District Court in Rome on behalf of Fairbanks’ children. The lawsuit alleged that the tasering and subsequent beating by law enforcement officials led to her death and that she was denied medical treatment. The lawsuit also alleged false arrest and false imprisonment.
While tasering has led to many untimely deaths, lawsuits against law enforcement officials and Taser International are usually unsuccessful. However, in December 2006, Gwinnett County officials settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of a taser victim who died in jail after being repeatedly shocked with a taser. Ray Charles Austin, former inmate of Gwinnett County Jail, reportedly suffered from mental illness. After an altercation with a deputy, he was tasered, restrained, and given psychotropic drugs. The coroner’s report stated that the taser could have contributed to the heart attack that killed him. Austin’s family received $100,000 to settle the wrongful death lawsuit. Taking advantage of a county ordinance that allowed settlements of $100,000 or less to happen without a public vote, county officials did not make any kind of public declaration or put the decision up for discussion or vote. The county officials also restricted the victim’s family and all involved in the case from speaking about the settlement. The media learned about the settlement only through open court records.
Last year a federal jury awarded $6 million to the family of Robert Heston, Jr, who was killed after police tasered him approximately 30 times. The verdict was against Taser International, the manufacturer of the taser, for failing to “warn police that stun guns could be dangerous when used on people under the influence of drugs or in conjunction with chest compressions.”
If you or a loved one have been injured due to negligence, contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a federal judge’s decision to rule against the lawsuit brought by the family of Melinda Neal Fairbanks. Deputies shocked Fairbanks in 2005 as they arrested her for walking into a stranger’s home. According to court records, she had smoked meth earlier that day and was in a delusional state. Deputies used the taser because she was hitting and kicking them.
The death certificate stated that the cause of death was malignant hyperthermia (overheating) caused by methamphetamine toxicity. An inquest found that toxic levels of meth had caused her body to overheat. Family members disputed the claim. The appeal panel said that while the death was “unfortunate,” the federal judge had ruled appropriately.
Whitfiled County Sheriff Scott Chitwood told reporters that he had not been officially notified of the decision, but “if that is indeed the case, we are very pleased,” he said. County attorney Robert Smalley had no comment.
Fairbanks died in June 2005 after being arrested by deputies. She had walked into a stranger’s home and started opening cabinets and doors. Fairbanks was outdoors when deputies arrived, and she started kicking and hitting when they tried to arrest her. She was shocked with a taser after a struggle with deputies.
The $15 million lawsuit was filed against Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Taser International, and Hamilton Health Care System in U.S. District Court in Rome on behalf of Fairbanks’ children. The lawsuit alleged that the tasering and subsequent beating by law enforcement officials led to her death and that she was denied medical treatment. The lawsuit also alleged false arrest and false imprisonment.
While tasering has led to many untimely deaths, lawsuits against law enforcement officials and Taser International are usually unsuccessful. However, in December 2006, Gwinnett County officials settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of a taser victim who died in jail after being repeatedly shocked with a taser. Ray Charles Austin, former inmate of Gwinnett County Jail, reportedly suffered from mental illness. After an altercation with a deputy, he was tasered, restrained, and given psychotropic drugs. The coroner’s report stated that the taser could have contributed to the heart attack that killed him. Austin’s family received $100,000 to settle the wrongful death lawsuit. Taking advantage of a county ordinance that allowed settlements of $100,000 or less to happen without a public vote, county officials did not make any kind of public declaration or put the decision up for discussion or vote. The county officials also restricted the victim’s family and all involved in the case from speaking about the settlement. The media learned about the settlement only through open court records.
Last year a federal jury awarded $6 million to the family of Robert Heston, Jr, who was killed after police tasered him approximately 30 times. The verdict was against Taser International, the manufacturer of the taser, for failing to “warn police that stun guns could be dangerous when used on people under the influence of drugs or in conjunction with chest compressions.”
If you or a loved one have been injured due to negligence, contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: personal injury
A Colorado company called Cartasite has begun experimenting with a device they call ROVER. ROVER is a little gadget that can be installed in a car and includes a three-dimensional accelerometer, GPS and the ability to send data through cellular networks. The concept is simple; with these sensors, ROVER is able to monitor a motorist’s driving. It records hard breaking, swerving, fast acceleration, speed, fuel consumption and various other readings, which are then sent back to the Cartasite computers, where it can be analyzed.
While for many reasons, this device might not be a perfect judge of driving skills, it is still able to provide something sorely lacking in many drivers’ experience – feedback.
Slate magazine’s Tom Vanderbilt agreed to an arrangement with Cartasite and joined some thousands of Colorado drivers in having a ROVER installed in his car. Unfortunately, the feedback was not immediate. It came several weeks after he participated in this experiment. However he reports that even without any input from ROVER, he was very aware of it in the car with him, monitoring his decisions.
“I began, in fact, to anthropomorphize it a bit; it became "David," (i.e., Cartasite's CEO, whom I envisioned as having a window open on his desktop monitoring my progress with day-trader intensity),” wrote Vanderbilt. “When, on I-95 South, a florist's van changed lanes in front of me without warning, necessitating a firm press on the brake pedal, I thought, ‘David's going to see that one, but how will he know it was the van's fault?’”
But it was not until his report came that he actually discovered how he scored by Cartasite’s standards. The Rover had tracked his driving for hard breaking, rapid acceleration, overspeeding, nighttime driving, mpg and time spent idle. Do to poor speed limit data, the system cannot actually compare speed against the posted speed limit, but it still provided interesting insight into Vanderbilt’s driving behavior.
He was in for a pleasant surprise. The outlier in Cartasite’s data, during Vanderbilt’s second week, he was able to score a perfect 100.
Indeed, Vanderbilt was well off the curve of normal drivers in the data Cartasite shared with him. Among the cases he was able to review (names removed for privacy’s sake), he discovered a driver with more than 30 incidents of hard breaking in one hour, and another driver who had driven only 11 miles, but spent seven hours idling.
As a personal injuries attorney with experience dealing with the sometimes tragic aftermath of auto wrecks, I find the potential of this technology incredibly interesting. As Vanderbilt mentions himself in his article, drivers rarely receive any kind of direct feedback on their performance on the road. The rare traffic tickets are an exception to the rule. Many reckless drivers go years without traffic violations or accidents, and the occasional honked horn or shout during rush hour are hardly going to make much of an impression on them. And knowing reckless drivers, the normal reaction to that kind of feedback is anything but than, “How can I improve my driving?”
This kind of advance may be a step toward drivers more self-aware and safer on the road.
While for many reasons, this device might not be a perfect judge of driving skills, it is still able to provide something sorely lacking in many drivers’ experience – feedback.
Slate magazine’s Tom Vanderbilt agreed to an arrangement with Cartasite and joined some thousands of Colorado drivers in having a ROVER installed in his car. Unfortunately, the feedback was not immediate. It came several weeks after he participated in this experiment. However he reports that even without any input from ROVER, he was very aware of it in the car with him, monitoring his decisions.
“I began, in fact, to anthropomorphize it a bit; it became "David," (i.e., Cartasite's CEO, whom I envisioned as having a window open on his desktop monitoring my progress with day-trader intensity),” wrote Vanderbilt. “When, on I-95 South, a florist's van changed lanes in front of me without warning, necessitating a firm press on the brake pedal, I thought, ‘David's going to see that one, but how will he know it was the van's fault?’”
But it was not until his report came that he actually discovered how he scored by Cartasite’s standards. The Rover had tracked his driving for hard breaking, rapid acceleration, overspeeding, nighttime driving, mpg and time spent idle. Do to poor speed limit data, the system cannot actually compare speed against the posted speed limit, but it still provided interesting insight into Vanderbilt’s driving behavior.
He was in for a pleasant surprise. The outlier in Cartasite’s data, during Vanderbilt’s second week, he was able to score a perfect 100.
Indeed, Vanderbilt was well off the curve of normal drivers in the data Cartasite shared with him. Among the cases he was able to review (names removed for privacy’s sake), he discovered a driver with more than 30 incidents of hard breaking in one hour, and another driver who had driven only 11 miles, but spent seven hours idling.
As a personal injuries attorney with experience dealing with the sometimes tragic aftermath of auto wrecks, I find the potential of this technology incredibly interesting. As Vanderbilt mentions himself in his article, drivers rarely receive any kind of direct feedback on their performance on the road. The rare traffic tickets are an exception to the rule. Many reckless drivers go years without traffic violations or accidents, and the occasional honked horn or shout during rush hour are hardly going to make much of an impression on them. And knowing reckless drivers, the normal reaction to that kind of feedback is anything but than, “How can I improve my driving?”
This kind of advance may be a step toward drivers more self-aware and safer on the road.
Labels: avoiding car accidents, driver safety, driving and technology, safe driving
The Washington Post reports that a $43 million lawsuit accuses Virginia Tech of negligence in its response to a warning that a student was suicidal. The lawsuit states that Daniel Kim committed suicide on December 9, 2007, and claims that the university did not contact Kim, his parents, his roommates, or his professors after a friend sent an email to the school’s health center stating that the 21-year-old college senior was suicidal. According to the lawsuit, the school relied on a Blacksburg police officer’s assessment that Kim seemed okay. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker says that university regrets what happened.
In a 2008 CNN interview, Daniel Kim’s father William Kim said, “They treated it like some kind of joke.”
The article also states that Kim’s friend had emailed the university health center with the subject line “Emergency About Suicidal Student.”
“Daniel has been acting very suicidal recently, purchasing a $200 pistol and claiming he’ll go through with it,” read the email from Shaun Pribush, an online friend of Daniel Kim. “Once again, this is very serious; this is not a joke.”
The email was sent on November 5, 2007. Virginia Tech University protocol states that a suicidal student should see the psychologist on call, but that never happened. The health center passed the information to the Blacksburg police department. The police performed a “welfare check” at Kim’s doorstep.
“All they did was just knock on the door, and they got Dan, and that was pretty much it. Thirty seconds later, the door was closed,” said Kim’s roommate Chris Crumpler.
Virginia Tech said that it handled the case properly even though Kim was not seen by the on-call psychologist.
“The appropriate measures were taken in his case,” said Zenobia Hikes, vice president of student affairs. “Two-thirds of our students live off campus, and the protocol is for the police to go and do a wellness check in an individual lives off campus.”
Virginia Tech later told CNN that Hikes was describing an unwritten policy for off-campus students. The university also said it was considering changing its policy for suicidal students.
“We followed the protocol for Daniel Kim in following all the procedures that we were scheduled to do based on… information that we had in the e-mail, and we pursued the information in the e-mail, followed the protocol and acted appropriately," Hikes said.
The police actually checked on two different Daniel Kims living off campus. The other Daniel Kim said that police asked him about the online friend but didn’t seem very interested - “they didn’t ask me if I was feeling depressed or suicidal.”
The police did not comment on the story. Records show that they interviewed Kim and classified him as “C-4” which is code for okay. The police then left.
Three weeks later Kim bought a pistol with his father’s credit card. More than a month after the warning email was sent, Kim shot himself seven miles from campus.
This will be a very difficult case for all involved. My heart goes out to the Kim family.
If you have lost a family member because of negligence, contact an Atlanta, Georgia wrongful death lawyer. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
In a 2008 CNN interview, Daniel Kim’s father William Kim said, “They treated it like some kind of joke.”
The article also states that Kim’s friend had emailed the university health center with the subject line “Emergency About Suicidal Student.”
“Daniel has been acting very suicidal recently, purchasing a $200 pistol and claiming he’ll go through with it,” read the email from Shaun Pribush, an online friend of Daniel Kim. “Once again, this is very serious; this is not a joke.”
The email was sent on November 5, 2007. Virginia Tech University protocol states that a suicidal student should see the psychologist on call, but that never happened. The health center passed the information to the Blacksburg police department. The police performed a “welfare check” at Kim’s doorstep.
“All they did was just knock on the door, and they got Dan, and that was pretty much it. Thirty seconds later, the door was closed,” said Kim’s roommate Chris Crumpler.
Virginia Tech said that it handled the case properly even though Kim was not seen by the on-call psychologist.
“The appropriate measures were taken in his case,” said Zenobia Hikes, vice president of student affairs. “Two-thirds of our students live off campus, and the protocol is for the police to go and do a wellness check in an individual lives off campus.”
Virginia Tech later told CNN that Hikes was describing an unwritten policy for off-campus students. The university also said it was considering changing its policy for suicidal students.
“We followed the protocol for Daniel Kim in following all the procedures that we were scheduled to do based on… information that we had in the e-mail, and we pursued the information in the e-mail, followed the protocol and acted appropriately," Hikes said.
The police actually checked on two different Daniel Kims living off campus. The other Daniel Kim said that police asked him about the online friend but didn’t seem very interested - “they didn’t ask me if I was feeling depressed or suicidal.”
The police did not comment on the story. Records show that they interviewed Kim and classified him as “C-4” which is code for okay. The police then left.
Three weeks later Kim bought a pistol with his father’s credit card. More than a month after the warning email was sent, Kim shot himself seven miles from campus.
This will be a very difficult case for all involved. My heart goes out to the Kim family.
If you have lost a family member because of negligence, contact an Atlanta, Georgia wrongful death lawyer. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: wrongful death
Imagine traveling on I-75 in downtown Atlanta and seeing a pair of headlights speeding toward you in the opposite direction. That’s what happened to Jasmin Zachery, 25, early this morning. A student at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, she was on her way home from a friend’s house when a wrong-way driver crashed into her car.
Police say that the wrong way driver, Theus Monroe, 26, was going north on I-75 southbound and traveling at a high speed when he collided head-on with another car. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles and had to be rescued. Zachery died in the accident.
The accident occurred near Langford Parkway. Police closed all southbound connector lanes to investigate the scene and clear the wreckage. The interstate reopened at 5:30 a.m. this morning.
Monroe is in critical condition at Grady Hospital. He was arrested for reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle, and driving the wrong way. At this point, there are no reports on whether or not Monroe was intoxicated. According to CBS Atlanta, it was his birthday. As you can imagine, most wrong way drivers are intoxicated.
Sadly, this is not the only recent traffic fatality caused by a wrong way driver in Atlanta. Last month an Atlanta drunk driver going the wrong way on I-20 killed a mother of two. The suspect, Robert Ayiteyfio, was driving west on the eastbound lanes of I-20 when his Camry collided with a Ford Taurus driven by Shameyka Welch, 24, who died at Grady Hospital. Ayiteyfio fled on foot but was caught by police. He was charged with DUI, homicide by vehicle, and driving the wrong way. He was taken to Fulton County Jail. Last week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Ayiteyfio’s preliminary hearing has been delayed.
Back in June, an Atlanta drunk driver was arrested after he caused nine crashes while driving the wrong way on I-85 and the Buford connector. After the drunk driver, Richard Jernigan, caused the ninth wreck that day, a group of witnesses chased him down and held him for police. Witness Brian Shields said, “I guess the adrenalin . . . I was not going to let him get away because he hurt that lady and almost hurt us. (He) could’ve hurt many more people.” Luckily, there were no fatalities in this case. One woman was seriously injured but expected to fully recover.
As we enter the holiday season, more drunk drivers will be on the roads of Atlanta. Be vigilant and drive defensively. You’d probably never expect to see a wrong-way driver headed toward you on an Atlanta interstate, but as these reports show, it’s a distinct possibility. Be prepared and keep your eyes on the road at all times.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a drunk driver or reckless driver, contact an Atlanta car wreck lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Police say that the wrong way driver, Theus Monroe, 26, was going north on I-75 southbound and traveling at a high speed when he collided head-on with another car. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles and had to be rescued. Zachery died in the accident.
The accident occurred near Langford Parkway. Police closed all southbound connector lanes to investigate the scene and clear the wreckage. The interstate reopened at 5:30 a.m. this morning.
Monroe is in critical condition at Grady Hospital. He was arrested for reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle, and driving the wrong way. At this point, there are no reports on whether or not Monroe was intoxicated. According to CBS Atlanta, it was his birthday. As you can imagine, most wrong way drivers are intoxicated.
Sadly, this is not the only recent traffic fatality caused by a wrong way driver in Atlanta. Last month an Atlanta drunk driver going the wrong way on I-20 killed a mother of two. The suspect, Robert Ayiteyfio, was driving west on the eastbound lanes of I-20 when his Camry collided with a Ford Taurus driven by Shameyka Welch, 24, who died at Grady Hospital. Ayiteyfio fled on foot but was caught by police. He was charged with DUI, homicide by vehicle, and driving the wrong way. He was taken to Fulton County Jail. Last week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Ayiteyfio’s preliminary hearing has been delayed.
Back in June, an Atlanta drunk driver was arrested after he caused nine crashes while driving the wrong way on I-85 and the Buford connector. After the drunk driver, Richard Jernigan, caused the ninth wreck that day, a group of witnesses chased him down and held him for police. Witness Brian Shields said, “I guess the adrenalin . . . I was not going to let him get away because he hurt that lady and almost hurt us. (He) could’ve hurt many more people.” Luckily, there were no fatalities in this case. One woman was seriously injured but expected to fully recover.
As we enter the holiday season, more drunk drivers will be on the roads of Atlanta. Be vigilant and drive defensively. You’d probably never expect to see a wrong-way driver headed toward you on an Atlanta interstate, but as these reports show, it’s a distinct possibility. Be prepared and keep your eyes on the road at all times.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a drunk driver or reckless driver, contact an Atlanta car wreck lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to compensation. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: car wreck
Every holiday season, fires injure approximately 1,650 people in this country and cost Americans over $990 billion in damages. This is also the time of year when dropping temperatures and high heating costs cause Americans all over the country to turn to alternative heating sources – wood burning stoves, electrical space heaters and kerosene heaters are all common and reasonable alternatives to central heating, but all present their own particular fire dangers.
It would be easy to write thousands of words devoted solely to fire safety advice, and many people have done so. In a previous post, I linked to firesafety.gov’s holiday safety page, but they offer a variety of resources for fireproofing year round and for all sorts of homes and situations.
Still, it seems timely and appropriate considering the recent fires and the unique dangers presented by both the season, to take the opportunity to offer some tips.
Wood Stoves: Wood stoves are the source of thousands of house fires every year. Always make sure that the manufacturer’s instructions are followed carefully when wood stoves are installed, and each year inspect that the structure is still sound. Check for cracks and make sure the seams, hinges and legs are smooth and intact. Clean pipes and chimneys every year, and check for problems or obstructions every month.
Electric & Kerosene Heaters: In the case of both electrical and kerosene heaters, look for units with a UL approval symbol attached. This means that they have been approved by Underwriter's Laboratories, a national regulatory body. In the case of Kerosene heaters, check the legality of using them in your area. Always use Kerosene heaters in a well ventilated area and use only clear K-1 kerosene.
Fire Places: Clean your fire place’s chimney frequently to avoid creosote build up. Burn only seasoned wood, not trash, green wood, or other inappropriate fuel. Always make sure the damper is open before starting a fire. Use a screen to catch flying sparks, and prevent logs from rolling away – it should large enough and sturdy enough to cover the entire opening.
With all these heating methods, keep flammable items away from them, and be aware that they are not driers, nor tables. Do not attempt to use them as such. Keep the area around them clear.
And remember this year, when disposing of your holiday tree, not to be tempted to burn it. The dry branches and needles should not go in fire places or wood burning stoves. Your tree should be fresh, green and resilient when you pick it out, and keep its stand filled with water. When your tree becomes dry, discard it promptly, and either taking it to a community recycling center, or hauling it away by a curb-side pick up. You should not attempt to keep a real tree for more than two weeks.
And, as always, have working smoke alarms. There should be one on every level of your home, kept clean and equipped with fresh batteries. Test them monthly to ensure that they are in working order. Know when, who and how to call for help in the event that your precautions fail and a fire does breakout, and make sure you and everyone in your household is aware of the escape plan.
It would be easy to write thousands of words devoted solely to fire safety advice, and many people have done so. In a previous post, I linked to firesafety.gov’s holiday safety page, but they offer a variety of resources for fireproofing year round and for all sorts of homes and situations.
Still, it seems timely and appropriate considering the recent fires and the unique dangers presented by both the season, to take the opportunity to offer some tips.
Wood Stoves: Wood stoves are the source of thousands of house fires every year. Always make sure that the manufacturer’s instructions are followed carefully when wood stoves are installed, and each year inspect that the structure is still sound. Check for cracks and make sure the seams, hinges and legs are smooth and intact. Clean pipes and chimneys every year, and check for problems or obstructions every month.
Electric & Kerosene Heaters: In the case of both electrical and kerosene heaters, look for units with a UL approval symbol attached. This means that they have been approved by Underwriter's Laboratories, a national regulatory body. In the case of Kerosene heaters, check the legality of using them in your area. Always use Kerosene heaters in a well ventilated area and use only clear K-1 kerosene.
Fire Places: Clean your fire place’s chimney frequently to avoid creosote build up. Burn only seasoned wood, not trash, green wood, or other inappropriate fuel. Always make sure the damper is open before starting a fire. Use a screen to catch flying sparks, and prevent logs from rolling away – it should large enough and sturdy enough to cover the entire opening.
With all these heating methods, keep flammable items away from them, and be aware that they are not driers, nor tables. Do not attempt to use them as such. Keep the area around them clear.
And remember this year, when disposing of your holiday tree, not to be tempted to burn it. The dry branches and needles should not go in fire places or wood burning stoves. Your tree should be fresh, green and resilient when you pick it out, and keep its stand filled with water. When your tree becomes dry, discard it promptly, and either taking it to a community recycling center, or hauling it away by a curb-side pick up. You should not attempt to keep a real tree for more than two weeks.
And, as always, have working smoke alarms. There should be one on every level of your home, kept clean and equipped with fresh batteries. Test them monthly to ensure that they are in working order. Know when, who and how to call for help in the event that your precautions fail and a fire does breakout, and make sure you and everyone in your household is aware of the escape plan.
Labels: fire safety, holiday safety
Last month Jiffy Lube International agreed to an $850,000 settlement with the family of at 88-year-old man who was injured after a slip and fall at a Chicago Jiffy Lube service center. The serious injuries resulted in the man’s death four weeks after his fall.
On October 16, 2006, Robert Kinzle went to the Jiffy Lube center for an oil change. As he was walking to his car after the oil change, Kinzle slipped on an arrow painted on the driveway of the Jiffy Lube. It had rained earlier that day, and the painted arrow was slippery. Jiffy Lube employees were aware that the arrows became slippery when wet and had previously complained to management about the safety hazard.
Jiffy Lube employees did not call for an ambulance after Kinzle’s injury, even though he said that he was in pain. Instead, an employee helped him to his vehicle and drove him to his house. Once he got back home, Kinzle’s daughter decided that he needed medical care and drove him to Lutheran General Hospital. Kinzle was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis, a fractured hip joint socked, and a fractured shoulder.
When Kinzle was being prepped for surgery to repair his injuries, he went into respiratory arrest which required intubation. His condition prevented him from returning home, and he spent several weeks in the hospital. He was eventually sent to a nursing home. His conditioned continued to worsen until he died on November19, 2006. Before the slip and fall injury, Kinzle was in good health and lived at his house with his wife rose.
The Kinzle family was represented by Susan Novosad of the Levin & Perconti law firm. Novosad said, “Jiffy Lube employees were aware that the arrow on the driveway become exceptionally slippery when wet. As a consequence of this knowledge, Jiffy Lube was obligated to repair the surface for the safety of its employees and patrons. They failed to rectify the situation, or even warn customers of this dangerous condition, before Bob’s fall; this negligence directly resulted in his death.”
According to a press release from the law firm, the case was mediated by the Honorable Judge Michael Hogan, and the settlement order was approved on November 12, 2009 in the Circuit Court of Cook County by the Honorable Judge James D. Egan.
Slip and fall injuries may occur as a result of slippery substance, poor lighting, or hidden hazards. If the management of a business knows about such hazardous conditions, they are obligated to at least warn customers of the hazard. If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident as the result of negligence on the part of a property owner, contact an Atlanta slip and fall attorney immediately. You may be entitled to compensation. Do not speak to anyone else (like claims adjusters) about your injury, and do not sign any statements regarding the incident. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
On October 16, 2006, Robert Kinzle went to the Jiffy Lube center for an oil change. As he was walking to his car after the oil change, Kinzle slipped on an arrow painted on the driveway of the Jiffy Lube. It had rained earlier that day, and the painted arrow was slippery. Jiffy Lube employees were aware that the arrows became slippery when wet and had previously complained to management about the safety hazard.
Jiffy Lube employees did not call for an ambulance after Kinzle’s injury, even though he said that he was in pain. Instead, an employee helped him to his vehicle and drove him to his house. Once he got back home, Kinzle’s daughter decided that he needed medical care and drove him to Lutheran General Hospital. Kinzle was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis, a fractured hip joint socked, and a fractured shoulder.
When Kinzle was being prepped for surgery to repair his injuries, he went into respiratory arrest which required intubation. His condition prevented him from returning home, and he spent several weeks in the hospital. He was eventually sent to a nursing home. His conditioned continued to worsen until he died on November19, 2006. Before the slip and fall injury, Kinzle was in good health and lived at his house with his wife rose.
The Kinzle family was represented by Susan Novosad of the Levin & Perconti law firm. Novosad said, “Jiffy Lube employees were aware that the arrow on the driveway become exceptionally slippery when wet. As a consequence of this knowledge, Jiffy Lube was obligated to repair the surface for the safety of its employees and patrons. They failed to rectify the situation, or even warn customers of this dangerous condition, before Bob’s fall; this negligence directly resulted in his death.”
According to a press release from the law firm, the case was mediated by the Honorable Judge Michael Hogan, and the settlement order was approved on November 12, 2009 in the Circuit Court of Cook County by the Honorable Judge James D. Egan.
Slip and fall injuries may occur as a result of slippery substance, poor lighting, or hidden hazards. If the management of a business knows about such hazardous conditions, they are obligated to at least warn customers of the hazard. If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident as the result of negligence on the part of a property owner, contact an Atlanta slip and fall attorney immediately. You may be entitled to compensation. Do not speak to anyone else (like claims adjusters) about your injury, and do not sign any statements regarding the incident. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: slip and fall
The Providence Journal in Rhode Island reports that actor James Woods and his family have settled their negligence lawsuit against Kent Hospital. James Wood’s brother Michael Woods, died in the hospital emergency room in 2006, and attorneys for the family presented evidence that the hospital’s emergency room staff were negligent and responsible for his death.
The settlement included undisclosed payments to Michael Woods’ surviving daughters and son, plus a promise by the hospital to invest $1.25 million over the next five years in creating the Michael J. Woods Institute at Kent Hospital. The institute will be managed by a board that will include a Woods family member and will be charged with developing new procedures and training for hospital staff.
A sincere apology from the hospital’s president paved the way for the settlement, according to James Woods. He said he’d never heard someone from the hospital say they were sorry for his family’s loss. Coletta and Woods decided to meet face-to-face.
“It was all I ever needed to see in my life - one human being saying to another human being ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’” said Woods.
“We know we’re not perfect at Kent Hospital,” said hospital president Sandra Coletta at a press conference. “Mistakes were made. We can do better.”
The announcement of the settlement was a shock after weeks of testimony in which attorneys for the Woods family argued that hospital staff had missed or ignored signs that Michael Woods’ heart attack and left him unattended on a gurney in a hallway.
James Woods said that Coletta was “very gracious.” The actor, who had previously spoken very harsh words about the hospital, even told reporters, “Let’s not rub anyone’s nose in anything. They did do it [apologized] and people don’t do it. I don’t want to put her [Coletta] in the position of saying it twice.”
Coletta said that the plan for the new institute at the hospital is to design “human-centered” policies and protocols for hospital staff. Attorneys for the Woods family had argued that the hospital lacked this kind of approach to health care.
Michael Woods, 49 at the time, had gone to the emergency room with a sore throat and vomiting. An EKG showed that he had an abnormal heartbeat. During the trial, a doctor testified that she ordered he be put on a heart monitor, but the nursing staff did not follow up. Woods was left on a gurney in the hallway where he suffered the heart attack that killed him.
“Nobody knew where my brother was for the last hour and a half,” Woods said.
“Human errors in the health-care setting occur for a number of reasons, but at the root of many of them is poor communication,” Coletta said. She and Woods hope that the institute will facilitate better communication among hospital staff and reduce human errors.
If you or a loved one has been injured due to medical negligence, contact an Atlanta Medical Malpractice Attorney immediately. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
The settlement included undisclosed payments to Michael Woods’ surviving daughters and son, plus a promise by the hospital to invest $1.25 million over the next five years in creating the Michael J. Woods Institute at Kent Hospital. The institute will be managed by a board that will include a Woods family member and will be charged with developing new procedures and training for hospital staff.
A sincere apology from the hospital’s president paved the way for the settlement, according to James Woods. He said he’d never heard someone from the hospital say they were sorry for his family’s loss. Coletta and Woods decided to meet face-to-face.
“It was all I ever needed to see in my life - one human being saying to another human being ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’” said Woods.
“We know we’re not perfect at Kent Hospital,” said hospital president Sandra Coletta at a press conference. “Mistakes were made. We can do better.”
The announcement of the settlement was a shock after weeks of testimony in which attorneys for the Woods family argued that hospital staff had missed or ignored signs that Michael Woods’ heart attack and left him unattended on a gurney in a hallway.
James Woods said that Coletta was “very gracious.” The actor, who had previously spoken very harsh words about the hospital, even told reporters, “Let’s not rub anyone’s nose in anything. They did do it [apologized] and people don’t do it. I don’t want to put her [Coletta] in the position of saying it twice.”
Coletta said that the plan for the new institute at the hospital is to design “human-centered” policies and protocols for hospital staff. Attorneys for the Woods family had argued that the hospital lacked this kind of approach to health care.
Michael Woods, 49 at the time, had gone to the emergency room with a sore throat and vomiting. An EKG showed that he had an abnormal heartbeat. During the trial, a doctor testified that she ordered he be put on a heart monitor, but the nursing staff did not follow up. Woods was left on a gurney in the hallway where he suffered the heart attack that killed him.
“Nobody knew where my brother was for the last hour and a half,” Woods said.
“Human errors in the health-care setting occur for a number of reasons, but at the root of many of them is poor communication,” Coletta said. She and Woods hope that the institute will facilitate better communication among hospital staff and reduce human errors.
If you or a loved one has been injured due to medical negligence, contact an Atlanta Medical Malpractice Attorney immediately. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: medical malpractice
In October USA Today reported that several states are ramping up efforts to reduce traffic fatalities on rural roads. Statistics show that more Americans die on rural roads than urban roads.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that in 2008, 56 percent of the nation’s 37,261 traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads. Only about 23 percent of the population lives in rural areas.
“There are more crashes in urban areas, but fewer of them result in fatalities,” said Lee Munnich, director of the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota.
Overall, U.S. traffic fatalities decreased last year. The economic recession and high gas prices likely contributed to the decline in fatalities. However, rural roads had less of a decline in fatalities compared to urban roads.
Of course, people typically drive faster on rural roads, and this is probably the main reason for the higher rate of fatalities. Additionally, rural roads are generally not as well engineered or maintained as urban roads. Other factors in the higher rate of fatalities include more drunken driving on rural roads, less use of seat belts on rural roads, and slower response times for emergency medical care on rural roads.
In predominantly rural Montana, for example, the average response time for emergency rescue is approximately 80 minutes, compared to 15 minutes in Massachusetts.
Several states are making efforts to reduce fatalities on rural roads. Some states are widening rural roads. In South Carolina, where 95 percent of traffic fatalities last year happened on rural roads (this is the highest rate in the nation), officials are retrofitting 1,600 miles of rural roads with rumble strips to alert drivers when they’re driving off the pavement. The South Carolina highway patrol has also created a drunk driving unit because approximately 80 percent of the state’s traffic fatalities involve alcohol. In Montana, officials are building crossing points for deer, elk, and bear to keep the animals off the roads. In Iowa, officials are using public information campaigns to encourage the use of seat belts in rural areas. The state is also adding center-line rumble strips to alert drivers that are crossing the center line into oncoming traffic. Officials in Missouri are also campaigning to increase seat belt use on rural roads and adding rumble strips to center lines and edges of rural roads.
In Georgia, 47 percent of the 1,493 traffic fatalities in 2008 occurred on rural roads. This is in stark contrast to the neighboring state of South Carolina, where 95 percent of fatalities occurred on rural roads.
As we move into the holiday season, it’s important to be especially careful while driving on both rural roads and urban roads. More intoxicated drivers will be on the roads, and defensive driving is necessary.
If you’ve been injured in an auto accident, contact a Georgia auto accident attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery, but time is of the essence. You must act fast. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that in 2008, 56 percent of the nation’s 37,261 traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads. Only about 23 percent of the population lives in rural areas.
“There are more crashes in urban areas, but fewer of them result in fatalities,” said Lee Munnich, director of the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota.
Overall, U.S. traffic fatalities decreased last year. The economic recession and high gas prices likely contributed to the decline in fatalities. However, rural roads had less of a decline in fatalities compared to urban roads.
Of course, people typically drive faster on rural roads, and this is probably the main reason for the higher rate of fatalities. Additionally, rural roads are generally not as well engineered or maintained as urban roads. Other factors in the higher rate of fatalities include more drunken driving on rural roads, less use of seat belts on rural roads, and slower response times for emergency medical care on rural roads.
In predominantly rural Montana, for example, the average response time for emergency rescue is approximately 80 minutes, compared to 15 minutes in Massachusetts.
Several states are making efforts to reduce fatalities on rural roads. Some states are widening rural roads. In South Carolina, where 95 percent of traffic fatalities last year happened on rural roads (this is the highest rate in the nation), officials are retrofitting 1,600 miles of rural roads with rumble strips to alert drivers when they’re driving off the pavement. The South Carolina highway patrol has also created a drunk driving unit because approximately 80 percent of the state’s traffic fatalities involve alcohol. In Montana, officials are building crossing points for deer, elk, and bear to keep the animals off the roads. In Iowa, officials are using public information campaigns to encourage the use of seat belts in rural areas. The state is also adding center-line rumble strips to alert drivers that are crossing the center line into oncoming traffic. Officials in Missouri are also campaigning to increase seat belt use on rural roads and adding rumble strips to center lines and edges of rural roads.
In Georgia, 47 percent of the 1,493 traffic fatalities in 2008 occurred on rural roads. This is in stark contrast to the neighboring state of South Carolina, where 95 percent of fatalities occurred on rural roads.
As we move into the holiday season, it’s important to be especially careful while driving on both rural roads and urban roads. More intoxicated drivers will be on the roads, and defensive driving is necessary.
If you’ve been injured in an auto accident, contact a Georgia auto accident attorney as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery, but time is of the essence. You must act fast. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: auto accident, traffic wreck
Ten units of Laurel Pointe Apartments in Forest Park are now uninhabitable as a result of a two-alarm fire which took place early November 29.
The fire erupted around 2:20am low and in the rear of the Clayton County apartment building. No cause for the fire has been identified yet. Quick response from the fire department contained the blaze.
"Pretty much six of the 10 units are destroyed, and the other four sustained smoke damage," Clayton County Battalion Chief Landry Merkison told the papers. "We had the bulk of the fire knocked out within an hour and a half, then we still had hot spots to work on for the next couple hours."
Luckily, no one was injured in the fire. Twelve residents had already evacuated the burning building when firefighters reached the scene, and others were out of town, avoiding a situation which could easily have led to deaths.
This incident follows close behind another fire in Clayton County. Only days before, a two-story home belonging to a family of five burned down on Elizabeth Terrace.
The family had been leaving town for Thanksgiving when they were called back by neighbors to find that their house was a lost entirely. Though the last of the flames were being extinguished by firefighters, their home had been destroyed.
A neighbor reported that a family member first noticed flames coming from the brick home’s garage around 6:30pm. She immediately responded by calling 9-1-1 while her father called the owner of the house, and another family member alerted the other neighbors.
"When our first units arrived, there were flames on half of the house," said Chief Merkison of this fire.
It took about forty-five minutes to extinguish the fire. Fire crews remained on site well into the evening searching for potential hot spots which could spring back to life, while the family stayed Thanksgiving night with relatives.
According to neighbors, the family handled the loss well. When they arrived on the scene with their three children, most of the damage had been done.
"They were pretty calm," the neighbor said. "They had time to process it during their drive back home."
As in the apartment fire, no cause of the fire was immediately apparent.
This time of year in particular, looking forward to the winter holidays with all their light and sparkle, but also the fire danger presented by countless strings of electrical lights, power strips and extension cords, coupled with dry trees, wreaths and festive garland, it is important to remember fire safety. As both these events sadly illustrate, fire can spread quickly and within the space of hours or even minutes, families may lose their homes and everything in them.
Every year, more than 4,000 Americans die in fires, and approximate 20,000 are injured. Most of these fires occur in the home, and many could have been avoided if proper steps had been taken to insure fire safety. Visit firesafety.gov’s page on holiday safety for some precautionary advice.
The fire erupted around 2:20am low and in the rear of the Clayton County apartment building. No cause for the fire has been identified yet. Quick response from the fire department contained the blaze.
"Pretty much six of the 10 units are destroyed, and the other four sustained smoke damage," Clayton County Battalion Chief Landry Merkison told the papers. "We had the bulk of the fire knocked out within an hour and a half, then we still had hot spots to work on for the next couple hours."
Luckily, no one was injured in the fire. Twelve residents had already evacuated the burning building when firefighters reached the scene, and others were out of town, avoiding a situation which could easily have led to deaths.
This incident follows close behind another fire in Clayton County. Only days before, a two-story home belonging to a family of five burned down on Elizabeth Terrace.
The family had been leaving town for Thanksgiving when they were called back by neighbors to find that their house was a lost entirely. Though the last of the flames were being extinguished by firefighters, their home had been destroyed.
A neighbor reported that a family member first noticed flames coming from the brick home’s garage around 6:30pm. She immediately responded by calling 9-1-1 while her father called the owner of the house, and another family member alerted the other neighbors.
"When our first units arrived, there were flames on half of the house," said Chief Merkison of this fire.
It took about forty-five minutes to extinguish the fire. Fire crews remained on site well into the evening searching for potential hot spots which could spring back to life, while the family stayed Thanksgiving night with relatives.
According to neighbors, the family handled the loss well. When they arrived on the scene with their three children, most of the damage had been done.
"They were pretty calm," the neighbor said. "They had time to process it during their drive back home."
As in the apartment fire, no cause of the fire was immediately apparent.
This time of year in particular, looking forward to the winter holidays with all their light and sparkle, but also the fire danger presented by countless strings of electrical lights, power strips and extension cords, coupled with dry trees, wreaths and festive garland, it is important to remember fire safety. As both these events sadly illustrate, fire can spread quickly and within the space of hours or even minutes, families may lose their homes and everything in them.
Every year, more than 4,000 Americans die in fires, and approximate 20,000 are injured. Most of these fires occur in the home, and many could have been avoided if proper steps had been taken to insure fire safety. Visit firesafety.gov’s page on holiday safety for some precautionary advice.
Labels: fire safety, holiday safety
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a mother and her three children were transported to local hospitals yesterday afternoon after their van was hit by a tractor trailer truck that ran a stop sign.
The wreck happened about 2:30 Thursday afternoon at the intersection of High Falls Road and North McDonough road. Cindy Lynn Fain, 38, was driving her Dodge minivan with her three children as passengers when a tractor trailer truck driver by Solomon Debela, 37, ran a stop sign and collided with the passenger side of the van. Fain was traveling west on High Falls Road, and Debela was traveling south on North McDonough Road.
Georgia State Patrol spokesman Lt. Paul Cosper reported that Fain and her three kids were all seriously injured in the crash. The kids were Landon Todd, age 2, Jason Todd, age 4, and Josieanna Arriaga, age 5. The children were airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and their conditions have not been released by hospital officials. Fain was taken to Spalding Regional Medical Center, and her condition has not been reported, either.
Cosper said that the tractor trailer accident is still under investigation, but Debela has been charged with failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to obey a traffic control device, and driving a semi truck on a no-thru road.
WSB-TV reporter Ryan Young spoke to a witness who said that a toddler was bleeding from the head when she arrived on the scene. Another child also appeared to be bleeding and in pain, the witness reported.
Let us hope that everyone injured in the semi truck wreck survives. Tractor trailer wrecks cause far too many injuries and fatalities. We may never know what caused Debela to run the stop sign, but driver distraction and driver fatigue among truckers are major problems for all drivers on the road.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cites the following most common causes of tractor trailer wrecks: poor driving training, driver fatigue, speeding, overloaded trucks, oversized trucks, brake failure, poor driving conditions, driver inexperience, failure to yield, driving under the influence, aggressive or reckless driving, mechanical failure or improper maintenance, and defective parts. Driver fatigue plays a role in 30 to 40 percent of truck wrecks. According to the Federal Safety Regulations, the trucking company has a duty to monitor the driving record of the driver and look for problems. In one survey, 64 percent of truck drivers surveyed were willing to anonymously admit they falsified their hours of service logs. Sadly, falsified log books are common. Truck drivers and trucking companies may be held liable when their negligence leads to injuries or fatalities.
We’d like to think that the majority of truck drivers are safe and responsible, but the industry tends to promote driver fatigue and unsafe conditions. If you are involved in a wreck involving a tractor-trailer truck or construction vehicle, you need someone to fight to make sure you receive full compensation. Contact an experienced Georgia tractor trailer wreck lawyer immediately. Cal MLN Law at 404-531-9700 for a free consultation.
The wreck happened about 2:30 Thursday afternoon at the intersection of High Falls Road and North McDonough road. Cindy Lynn Fain, 38, was driving her Dodge minivan with her three children as passengers when a tractor trailer truck driver by Solomon Debela, 37, ran a stop sign and collided with the passenger side of the van. Fain was traveling west on High Falls Road, and Debela was traveling south on North McDonough Road.
Georgia State Patrol spokesman Lt. Paul Cosper reported that Fain and her three kids were all seriously injured in the crash. The kids were Landon Todd, age 2, Jason Todd, age 4, and Josieanna Arriaga, age 5. The children were airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and their conditions have not been released by hospital officials. Fain was taken to Spalding Regional Medical Center, and her condition has not been reported, either.
Cosper said that the tractor trailer accident is still under investigation, but Debela has been charged with failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to obey a traffic control device, and driving a semi truck on a no-thru road.
WSB-TV reporter Ryan Young spoke to a witness who said that a toddler was bleeding from the head when she arrived on the scene. Another child also appeared to be bleeding and in pain, the witness reported.
Let us hope that everyone injured in the semi truck wreck survives. Tractor trailer wrecks cause far too many injuries and fatalities. We may never know what caused Debela to run the stop sign, but driver distraction and driver fatigue among truckers are major problems for all drivers on the road.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cites the following most common causes of tractor trailer wrecks: poor driving training, driver fatigue, speeding, overloaded trucks, oversized trucks, brake failure, poor driving conditions, driver inexperience, failure to yield, driving under the influence, aggressive or reckless driving, mechanical failure or improper maintenance, and defective parts. Driver fatigue plays a role in 30 to 40 percent of truck wrecks. According to the Federal Safety Regulations, the trucking company has a duty to monitor the driving record of the driver and look for problems. In one survey, 64 percent of truck drivers surveyed were willing to anonymously admit they falsified their hours of service logs. Sadly, falsified log books are common. Truck drivers and trucking companies may be held liable when their negligence leads to injuries or fatalities.
We’d like to think that the majority of truck drivers are safe and responsible, but the industry tends to promote driver fatigue and unsafe conditions. If you are involved in a wreck involving a tractor-trailer truck or construction vehicle, you need someone to fight to make sure you receive full compensation. Contact an experienced Georgia tractor trailer wreck lawyer immediately. Cal MLN Law at 404-531-9700 for a free consultation.
Labels: truck wreck
One man lost his life Wednesday, November 18, while riding his 2007 Suzuki GSXR 1000 northbound on Canton Road in Marietta. The deceased was engaging in exceptionally unsafe behavior by racing another motorcyclist on a 2004 Honda VFR800 through traffic.
The two were weaving through traffic when the deceased clipped the rear end of a Mercury Villager, which sent him into southbound lanes. There, he fell off of his motorcycle and was hit by a Toyota Camry among the oncoming cars. The rider of the Suzuki was pronounced dead on the scene.
The Honda rider, David James Tipton, a thirty-four year old from Marietta, was charged with DUI, reckless driving, illegal racing and vehicular homicide.
I am sad to hear of this man’s death, but at the same time, I am appalled by his unsafe behavior, and hope sincerely the other drivers involved in this – those driving the Villager and the Camry – were not hurt. Motorcycles can be mode of transportation and a fun hobby, but those who drive them and who share the road with them must always treat them with the respect they deserve. Unlike a car, motorcycles offer little to no protection in the event of an accident. While a car’s body and roof might protect a passenger in the event of a crash or rollover, a motorcyclist’s body is subjected to any punishment itself.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motorcycles account for 11 percent of the national traffic fatalities, while making up only about 3 percent of the registered vehicles on the road. This difference is in part due to the fact that while only approximately 20 percent of car accidents involve a fatality, while by comparison approximately 80 percent of accidents involving a motor cycle do. It's a macabre truth that doctors and emergency professionals often caustically refer to motorcycles as "donor cycles" due to the high amount of fatalities due to motorcycle accidents.
In this incident, two men behaved irresponsibly, and one of them paid the price.
People interested in motorcycle safety can investigate the resources provided by the NHTSA on their website. Everyone who wishes to be a responsible motorcyclist ought to thoroughly research how to protect themselves and others, and to be aware of the very real, unique risks posed to motorcycles on the road.
On average, 25 percent of the motorcyclists killed in accidents are not licensed, or not properly licensed to handle their vehicle, and have not received standard safety training.
An important first step for a driver who wishes to become a responsible motorcyclist is to make sure that he is properly trained and registered to drive it. This training will include a great deal of useful information, including basic safety tips for motorcyclists, such as being particularly cautious in intersections and taking care not to ride in a car’s blind spot, where a person on a motorcycle might easily be entirely invisible to the driver. They will also address issues of finding the right motorcycle for particular drivers’ needs, and the necessity of protective gear.
Many motorcycle accidents are the result of a lack of basic riding skills and understanding and a failure to realize the unique limitations and characteristics of these popular vehicles.
If you or someone you know has been injured in a motorcycle accident or an accident with a motorcycle, time is of the essence. Call 404-531-9700 for a consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney.
The two were weaving through traffic when the deceased clipped the rear end of a Mercury Villager, which sent him into southbound lanes. There, he fell off of his motorcycle and was hit by a Toyota Camry among the oncoming cars. The rider of the Suzuki was pronounced dead on the scene.
The Honda rider, David James Tipton, a thirty-four year old from Marietta, was charged with DUI, reckless driving, illegal racing and vehicular homicide.
I am sad to hear of this man’s death, but at the same time, I am appalled by his unsafe behavior, and hope sincerely the other drivers involved in this – those driving the Villager and the Camry – were not hurt. Motorcycles can be mode of transportation and a fun hobby, but those who drive them and who share the road with them must always treat them with the respect they deserve. Unlike a car, motorcycles offer little to no protection in the event of an accident. While a car’s body and roof might protect a passenger in the event of a crash or rollover, a motorcyclist’s body is subjected to any punishment itself.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motorcycles account for 11 percent of the national traffic fatalities, while making up only about 3 percent of the registered vehicles on the road. This difference is in part due to the fact that while only approximately 20 percent of car accidents involve a fatality, while by comparison approximately 80 percent of accidents involving a motor cycle do. It's a macabre truth that doctors and emergency professionals often caustically refer to motorcycles as "donor cycles" due to the high amount of fatalities due to motorcycle accidents.
In this incident, two men behaved irresponsibly, and one of them paid the price.
People interested in motorcycle safety can investigate the resources provided by the NHTSA on their website. Everyone who wishes to be a responsible motorcyclist ought to thoroughly research how to protect themselves and others, and to be aware of the very real, unique risks posed to motorcycles on the road.
On average, 25 percent of the motorcyclists killed in accidents are not licensed, or not properly licensed to handle their vehicle, and have not received standard safety training.
An important first step for a driver who wishes to become a responsible motorcyclist is to make sure that he is properly trained and registered to drive it. This training will include a great deal of useful information, including basic safety tips for motorcyclists, such as being particularly cautious in intersections and taking care not to ride in a car’s blind spot, where a person on a motorcycle might easily be entirely invisible to the driver. They will also address issues of finding the right motorcycle for particular drivers’ needs, and the necessity of protective gear.
Many motorcycle accidents are the result of a lack of basic riding skills and understanding and a failure to realize the unique limitations and characteristics of these popular vehicles.
If you or someone you know has been injured in a motorcycle accident or an accident with a motorcycle, time is of the essence. Call 404-531-9700 for a consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney.
Labels: driver safety, motorcycle accident, motorcycle safety
KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing child injuries in and around vehicles, recently published research data that contests estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and exposes the child safety risk posed by power windows on vehicles. The research shows injuries to occupants in vehicles equipped with power windows to number in the tens of millions; this is in sharp contrast to the NHTSA estimates of less than 2,000.
According to the press release from KidsAndCars.org, NHTSA concluded that safety technology such as auto-reversing systems (ARS) does not need to be mandated because so few people are injured by power windows. KidsAndCars.org is urging the NHTSA to reexamine its data and mandate ARS technology for all vehicles sold in the U.S.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D – IL, has said, “Without question, vehicle safety for the citizens of this country is one of our main responsibilities. As far as the dangerous potential of power windows is concerned, automakers have existing technology to prevent millions of injuries and deaths, and we should require them to utilize this preventive technology to save lives.”
The new research, commissioned by KidsAndCars.org, was conducted via telephone and online surveys and administered by the research firm Harris Interactive in October 2009.
Results of the research indicated the following:
More than 13 million U.S. adults have injured someone they know by closing a car window.
Over 22 million U.S. adults have been personally injured or know someone who has been personally injured by someone else closing a car window.
Over 10 million U.S. adults have been personally injured by someone else closing a car window but did not seek medical care, thus they were not included in any government data collection efforts.
ARS technology reverses a window when an obstruction is detected, thus preventing passengers from being injured by the force of power windows. The NHTSA estimated 1,943 injuries and six deaths annually due to power windows. The KidsAndCars.org data suggests that a significantly larger number of people are injured by power windows each year.
“We’ve known for a long time that millions of people are injured by power windows. When you bring up the topic, everyone has a story about an incident they are familiar with,” said Janette Fennell, KidsAndCars.org founder and president. “And even though the NHTSA believes mandated ‘pull-up’ switches will rectify this issue by eliminating injuries caused by inadvertent activation of the window, our data proves that it is someone else in the vehicle that causes the majority of the injuries. Common sense, life-saving technology exists and can be easily implemented, as it has been on garage doors and elevators, to prevent senseless child deaths and injuries.”
ARS technology, which costs about $6 per window, is a simple way to prevent injuries and deaths. The technology is standard on most European vehicles but found in less than half of the vehicles made in the U.S.
If you’ve been seriously injured because of someone’s carelessness or a defective product, contact an experienced Georgia personal injury attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
According to the press release from KidsAndCars.org, NHTSA concluded that safety technology such as auto-reversing systems (ARS) does not need to be mandated because so few people are injured by power windows. KidsAndCars.org is urging the NHTSA to reexamine its data and mandate ARS technology for all vehicles sold in the U.S.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D – IL, has said, “Without question, vehicle safety for the citizens of this country is one of our main responsibilities. As far as the dangerous potential of power windows is concerned, automakers have existing technology to prevent millions of injuries and deaths, and we should require them to utilize this preventive technology to save lives.”
The new research, commissioned by KidsAndCars.org, was conducted via telephone and online surveys and administered by the research firm Harris Interactive in October 2009.
Results of the research indicated the following:
More than 13 million U.S. adults have injured someone they know by closing a car window.
Over 22 million U.S. adults have been personally injured or know someone who has been personally injured by someone else closing a car window.
Over 10 million U.S. adults have been personally injured by someone else closing a car window but did not seek medical care, thus they were not included in any government data collection efforts.
ARS technology reverses a window when an obstruction is detected, thus preventing passengers from being injured by the force of power windows. The NHTSA estimated 1,943 injuries and six deaths annually due to power windows. The KidsAndCars.org data suggests that a significantly larger number of people are injured by power windows each year.
“We’ve known for a long time that millions of people are injured by power windows. When you bring up the topic, everyone has a story about an incident they are familiar with,” said Janette Fennell, KidsAndCars.org founder and president. “And even though the NHTSA believes mandated ‘pull-up’ switches will rectify this issue by eliminating injuries caused by inadvertent activation of the window, our data proves that it is someone else in the vehicle that causes the majority of the injuries. Common sense, life-saving technology exists and can be easily implemented, as it has been on garage doors and elevators, to prevent senseless child deaths and injuries.”
ARS technology, which costs about $6 per window, is a simple way to prevent injuries and deaths. The technology is standard on most European vehicles but found in less than half of the vehicles made in the U.S.
If you’ve been seriously injured because of someone’s carelessness or a defective product, contact an experienced Georgia personal injury attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: child safety
Bacterial infections are not an uncommon flu complication. Even during normal flu seasons, they pose a very real, even potentially fatal risk to the elderly. This year, however, there has been a spike among Americans with the H1N1 flu. And unlike most of these infections, these seem to pose a real risk to children and younger adults.
November 25, federal health officials cited this troubling spike as they urged more at risk individuals to seek out a vaccine to prevent these secondary infections.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used Denver as an example. Denver is one of ten cities her organization monitors for circulating bacteria strains. In a typical October, the city might have twenty cases of bacterial secondary infections following the flu; this October, they experienced nearly sixty, two thirds of which were in adults under sixty.
Dr. Schuchat spoke not only of this trend and the particulars of the diseases involved, but also encouraging the use of the Pneumovax vaccine. The Pneumovax vaccine protects those who receive it from twenty-three strains of bacteria which commonly cause pneumonia. It is routinely given to adults over sixty-five, but according to Schuchat it could benefit anyone with increased risk factors – factors such as diabetes, asthma, smoking, or suffering from heart, kidney or lung disease. Only perhaps a quarter of younger adults have had it, according to the doctor.
The symptoms of these secondary infections often start as an apparent relapse in a patient who had seemed to be recovering from the flu. This is caused when bacteria from the nose and throat move into the lungs when they are still inflamed from the flu. From the lung tissue, bacteria can potentially enter the blood stream, where they may spread to other systems and the infection can become even more dangerous, and potentially even deadly.
Schuchat urged doctors to be alert for signs of pneumonia in swine flu patients.
At the same time, swine flu vaccines continue to be produced, with 61 million doses now available. Here in Atlanta, organizations have worked hard to make them available to the most at risk groups – children and infants, those who live with infants under six months in age, the elderly, pregnant women, asthmatics and others with factors which might compromise their immune systems.
Officials have been monitoring the reports of side effects for the swine flu vaccine, and have been reassured by the results. The averse side effects of the vaccines have followed the patterns observed most years with the normal seasonal flu vaccine. Ninety-four percent of these reactions so far have, after review, been deemed “not serious.” A “not serious” reaction may present as something like a sore arm.
Serious negative effects often result from a previously undiagnosed allergy to some ingredient in the vaccine, such as the eggs (in which the vaccines are produced). There have been six allergic reactions reported so far, all treated successfully and, according to Dr. Schucat, this number is not more than expected.
November 25, federal health officials cited this troubling spike as they urged more at risk individuals to seek out a vaccine to prevent these secondary infections.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used Denver as an example. Denver is one of ten cities her organization monitors for circulating bacteria strains. In a typical October, the city might have twenty cases of bacterial secondary infections following the flu; this October, they experienced nearly sixty, two thirds of which were in adults under sixty.
Dr. Schuchat spoke not only of this trend and the particulars of the diseases involved, but also encouraging the use of the Pneumovax vaccine. The Pneumovax vaccine protects those who receive it from twenty-three strains of bacteria which commonly cause pneumonia. It is routinely given to adults over sixty-five, but according to Schuchat it could benefit anyone with increased risk factors – factors such as diabetes, asthma, smoking, or suffering from heart, kidney or lung disease. Only perhaps a quarter of younger adults have had it, according to the doctor.
The symptoms of these secondary infections often start as an apparent relapse in a patient who had seemed to be recovering from the flu. This is caused when bacteria from the nose and throat move into the lungs when they are still inflamed from the flu. From the lung tissue, bacteria can potentially enter the blood stream, where they may spread to other systems and the infection can become even more dangerous, and potentially even deadly.
Schuchat urged doctors to be alert for signs of pneumonia in swine flu patients.
At the same time, swine flu vaccines continue to be produced, with 61 million doses now available. Here in Atlanta, organizations have worked hard to make them available to the most at risk groups – children and infants, those who live with infants under six months in age, the elderly, pregnant women, asthmatics and others with factors which might compromise their immune systems.
Officials have been monitoring the reports of side effects for the swine flu vaccine, and have been reassured by the results. The averse side effects of the vaccines have followed the patterns observed most years with the normal seasonal flu vaccine. Ninety-four percent of these reactions so far have, after review, been deemed “not serious.” A “not serious” reaction may present as something like a sore arm.
Serious negative effects often result from a previously undiagnosed allergy to some ingredient in the vaccine, such as the eggs (in which the vaccines are produced). There have been six allergic reactions reported so far, all treated successfully and, according to Dr. Schucat, this number is not more than expected.
A study recently presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago illustrates the long-term effects of childhood exposure to lead. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center researchers found that childhood lead poisoning damages the regions of the brain that control decision-making. These brain injuries persist into adulthood.
Most childhood lead poisoning occurs because of lead paint. Lead-based paint is no longer legal, but it is still present in many older homes. Paint chips and even dust from walls can cause lead poisoning in children who eat the chips or inhale the dust. Lead poisoning can cause brain injury and result in seizures, mental retardation, coma, or even death. However, many cases of lead poisoning are subtle. The only symptoms may be a lower IQ or difficulty controlling impulses.
The researchers from Cincinnati examined 33 adults who had elevated blood levels of lead as children. All of the subjects had decreased IQ and criminal histories. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed that the frontal lobe of the brain was permanently damaged by lead exposure. The frontal lobe develops late in adolescence. Frontal lobe damage causes problems with decision making, impulse control, and focus. The researchers note that other regions of the brain try to make up for the frontal lobe injury, but they cannot perform the same tasks as efficiently.
This study indicates that brain damage caused by lead poisoning in childhood does not reverse as levels of lead in the blood decrease. The damage is permanent, and it will affect the individual’s intelligence and behavior throughout life.
Approximately 250,000 children in the United States currently have elevated levels of lead in the blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned lead paint in 1978, but it is still present on many walls. Peeling paint or remodeling work can exposure individuals to toxic lead paint particles. Symptoms of lead poisoning may include seizures, convulsions, nerve damage, or changes in behavior. In the past few years, several children’s toys have been recalled because of lead paint. Pay attention to product recalls to keep your children safe.
When remodeling an older home, make sure that children are not in the house. Wear dust masks to avoid inhaling lead dust particles, and be sure to thoroughly clean up after the work is complete.
Lead paint poisoning is a major problem in older rental properties, especially in big cities. Landlords are responsible for not only making tenants aware of any lead paint but also properly maintaining the properties to prevent lead paint poisoning. Property owners can be held liable for lead poisoning and associated brain injury if they allow old paint to flake off the walls or otherwise expose tenants to lead paint or dust.
If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury due to negligence, contact an Atlanta brain injury attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Most childhood lead poisoning occurs because of lead paint. Lead-based paint is no longer legal, but it is still present in many older homes. Paint chips and even dust from walls can cause lead poisoning in children who eat the chips or inhale the dust. Lead poisoning can cause brain injury and result in seizures, mental retardation, coma, or even death. However, many cases of lead poisoning are subtle. The only symptoms may be a lower IQ or difficulty controlling impulses.
The researchers from Cincinnati examined 33 adults who had elevated blood levels of lead as children. All of the subjects had decreased IQ and criminal histories. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed that the frontal lobe of the brain was permanently damaged by lead exposure. The frontal lobe develops late in adolescence. Frontal lobe damage causes problems with decision making, impulse control, and focus. The researchers note that other regions of the brain try to make up for the frontal lobe injury, but they cannot perform the same tasks as efficiently.
This study indicates that brain damage caused by lead poisoning in childhood does not reverse as levels of lead in the blood decrease. The damage is permanent, and it will affect the individual’s intelligence and behavior throughout life.
Approximately 250,000 children in the United States currently have elevated levels of lead in the blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned lead paint in 1978, but it is still present on many walls. Peeling paint or remodeling work can exposure individuals to toxic lead paint particles. Symptoms of lead poisoning may include seizures, convulsions, nerve damage, or changes in behavior. In the past few years, several children’s toys have been recalled because of lead paint. Pay attention to product recalls to keep your children safe.
When remodeling an older home, make sure that children are not in the house. Wear dust masks to avoid inhaling lead dust particles, and be sure to thoroughly clean up after the work is complete.
Lead paint poisoning is a major problem in older rental properties, especially in big cities. Landlords are responsible for not only making tenants aware of any lead paint but also properly maintaining the properties to prevent lead paint poisoning. Property owners can be held liable for lead poisoning and associated brain injury if they allow old paint to flake off the walls or otherwise expose tenants to lead paint or dust.
If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury due to negligence, contact an Atlanta brain injury attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule your free consultation.
Labels: brain injury, child safety
Last week the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) confirmed that there is a link between imported Chinese drywall and problems of accelerated corrosion of metals in homes that contain the defective drywall.
Federal researchers tested 51 homes in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. Though no Georgia homes were tested, some homes in Georgia reportedly contain the defective Chinese drywall. The federal researchers found “a strong association between the problem drywall, the hydrogen sulfide levels in homes with that drywall, and corrosion in those homes.”
Hydrogen sulfide not only smells horrible (like rotten eggs) but it can also caused metals to corrode and turn black. The hydrogen sulfide in Chinese drywall has caused problems with copper parts in air conditioning units as well as electrical wires and other metal substances. The contaminated Chinese drywall has also been linked to headaches, nosebleeds, and respiratory problems.
Until last week, no agency had officially linked corrosion problems to the contaminated drywall. The CPSC continues to investigate the health problems associated with the defective drywall. The report from the CPSC stated that chemicals found in contaminated homes were at levels lower than what might be expected to cause irritation, but these chemicals could cause symptoms when they combine with other substances. The CPSC stressed that not all Chinese drywall is contaminated.
“Not all drywall is alike,” said Jack McCarthy of Environmental Health and Engineering, the firm that conducted the tests for the CPSC. “Not all Chinese drywall is alike. It depends on what it’s made of - not the country it came from.”
The CPSC has received over 2,000 complaints about defective drywall from homeowners in 32 states, including Georgia. The homeowners believe that the drywall is causing health problems and / or the corrosion of metal. The majority of homeowners who have complained are from Florida.
According to previous estimates, as many as 100,000 homes may be affected by the defective drywall, but CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said that the problem probably isn’t that widespread.
So far, the CPSC has spent nearly $3.5 million on its investigation of Chinese drywall. The agency is now moving into the next phase of the investigation, in which they will work on ways to identify problem drywall and treat contaminated homes.
“I’m still disappointed the government is taking too long to establish whether there’s a link between drywall, corrosion, and health problems,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL. He is not happy with CPSC efforts thus far.
As for the affected homeowners, many of them had to move out of their new homes but keep paying the mortgage on top of rent. Many homeowners are pursuing lawsuits against foreign drywall manufacturers and hoping that they will soon get some type of financial help from the federal government or through the courts. However, the Chinese drywall lawsuits may take years to resolve.
If you suspect that your may contain defective drywall, or if you’ve experienced injuries or health problems due to other defective products, contact a Georgia personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Federal researchers tested 51 homes in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. Though no Georgia homes were tested, some homes in Georgia reportedly contain the defective Chinese drywall. The federal researchers found “a strong association between the problem drywall, the hydrogen sulfide levels in homes with that drywall, and corrosion in those homes.”
Hydrogen sulfide not only smells horrible (like rotten eggs) but it can also caused metals to corrode and turn black. The hydrogen sulfide in Chinese drywall has caused problems with copper parts in air conditioning units as well as electrical wires and other metal substances. The contaminated Chinese drywall has also been linked to headaches, nosebleeds, and respiratory problems.
Until last week, no agency had officially linked corrosion problems to the contaminated drywall. The CPSC continues to investigate the health problems associated with the defective drywall. The report from the CPSC stated that chemicals found in contaminated homes were at levels lower than what might be expected to cause irritation, but these chemicals could cause symptoms when they combine with other substances. The CPSC stressed that not all Chinese drywall is contaminated.
“Not all drywall is alike,” said Jack McCarthy of Environmental Health and Engineering, the firm that conducted the tests for the CPSC. “Not all Chinese drywall is alike. It depends on what it’s made of - not the country it came from.”
The CPSC has received over 2,000 complaints about defective drywall from homeowners in 32 states, including Georgia. The homeowners believe that the drywall is causing health problems and / or the corrosion of metal. The majority of homeowners who have complained are from Florida.
According to previous estimates, as many as 100,000 homes may be affected by the defective drywall, but CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said that the problem probably isn’t that widespread.
So far, the CPSC has spent nearly $3.5 million on its investigation of Chinese drywall. The agency is now moving into the next phase of the investigation, in which they will work on ways to identify problem drywall and treat contaminated homes.
“I’m still disappointed the government is taking too long to establish whether there’s a link between drywall, corrosion, and health problems,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL. He is not happy with CPSC efforts thus far.
As for the affected homeowners, many of them had to move out of their new homes but keep paying the mortgage on top of rent. Many homeowners are pursuing lawsuits against foreign drywall manufacturers and hoping that they will soon get some type of financial help from the federal government or through the courts. However, the Chinese drywall lawsuits may take years to resolve.
If you suspect that your may contain defective drywall, or if you’ve experienced injuries or health problems due to other defective products, contact a Georgia personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to recovery. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: product liability
A Marietta nurse anesthetist has been arrested for the second time in two weeks. The first arrest was for eavesdropping and unlawful surveillance. This second arrest, which took place on Monday, November 22, added child molestation and sodomy to his list of crimes when a juvenile appeared among his alleged victims.
Paul Patrick Serdula, age forty-seven, is the nurse in question, and the investigation into his alleged crimes is still on-going. Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce has said that at the moment, the number of victims is in the low double digits, but “we expect as many as 100."
Detectives have talked to a number of victims, and people who believe they may have been victims, he said.
With these new charges, Pierce said that Serdula will most likely be kept in jail without bond. The new charges filed against Serdula include aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery alleged to have occurred July 29, and a charge of aggravated sodomy alleged to have occurred September 16.
The initial charges were only three instances of unlawful surveillance in a dental office where Serdula was employed.
However Serdula, as a contracted nurse anesthetist, did not work only in one dentist or medical office. He may have worked for a number of separate medical establishments. Police are still trying to identify where he may have worked.
Police are also trying to identify locations and victims found on video recordings found during a search of Serdula’s home. The search uncovered electronic recording devices and untold hours of video.
"We are looking at tapes not only from the incident that occurred at the dental office, but also other incidents that are recorded that we are trying to find the location of that criminal activity as well as identify the victims," Sgt. Pierce said.
The original investigation opened when a woman spotted a suspicious recording device in the bathroom at her dentist’s office. The woman immediately called 911.
Paul Patrick Serdula received his Georgia nursing license December 16, 1997, and has been practicing since then. Prior to that, he held a nursing license in the state of Florida.
Anyone who suspects they may have been a victim of Serdula is advised to first contact their physician or dentist rather than the police and ask as to whether or not Serdula was their anesthetist. If in fact he was, then they should contact the police to further the investigation.
This incident drives home very clearly the vulnerable position we all put ourselves in, not only with doctors, but with other medical professionals as well. We must trust them for the benefit of our own health and well being, and most times their intentions are good, however when a predator finds access into the medical establishment, his access to victims might be frighteningly easy.
To imagine that such a person might feasibly be able to victimize a hundred or more patients, minors among them, is nothing less than horrifying.
Paul Patrick Serdula, age forty-seven, is the nurse in question, and the investigation into his alleged crimes is still on-going. Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce has said that at the moment, the number of victims is in the low double digits, but “we expect as many as 100."
Detectives have talked to a number of victims, and people who believe they may have been victims, he said.
With these new charges, Pierce said that Serdula will most likely be kept in jail without bond. The new charges filed against Serdula include aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery alleged to have occurred July 29, and a charge of aggravated sodomy alleged to have occurred September 16.
The initial charges were only three instances of unlawful surveillance in a dental office where Serdula was employed.
However Serdula, as a contracted nurse anesthetist, did not work only in one dentist or medical office. He may have worked for a number of separate medical establishments. Police are still trying to identify where he may have worked.
Police are also trying to identify locations and victims found on video recordings found during a search of Serdula’s home. The search uncovered electronic recording devices and untold hours of video.
"We are looking at tapes not only from the incident that occurred at the dental office, but also other incidents that are recorded that we are trying to find the location of that criminal activity as well as identify the victims," Sgt. Pierce said.
The original investigation opened when a woman spotted a suspicious recording device in the bathroom at her dentist’s office. The woman immediately called 911.
Paul Patrick Serdula received his Georgia nursing license December 16, 1997, and has been practicing since then. Prior to that, he held a nursing license in the state of Florida.
Anyone who suspects they may have been a victim of Serdula is advised to first contact their physician or dentist rather than the police and ask as to whether or not Serdula was their anesthetist. If in fact he was, then they should contact the police to further the investigation.
This incident drives home very clearly the vulnerable position we all put ourselves in, not only with doctors, but with other medical professionals as well. We must trust them for the benefit of our own health and well being, and most times their intentions are good, however when a predator finds access into the medical establishment, his access to victims might be frighteningly easy.
To imagine that such a person might feasibly be able to victimize a hundred or more patients, minors among them, is nothing less than horrifying.
Labels: atlanta, Georgia, medical malpractice
The Associated Press reports that La Salle University, a private university, will pay $7.5 million to provide care to a football player who suffered a severe brain injury during a 2005 football game. The agreement with the family of Preston Plevretes, now 23, settles a lawsuit that revolved around how the school handled a concussion that Plevretes suffered a month prior to the injury.
The settlement comes as the NFL and NCAA reviews rules about when football players should be allowed to return to play after a concussion. Research suggests that returning too soon can lead to brain damage. Last Sunday, NFL quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh and Kurt Warner of Arizona both sat out of their games after suffering head injuries.
Shanin Specter, an attorney for the Plevretes family, said, “Only in the past one to two years has there been the kind of attention placed on this matter necessary to force schools, colleges and the NFL to actually adhere to the well-promulgated and common-sense standards of the medical profession.”
Plevretes was injured when he took a hit while covering a punt in a 2005 game at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He was 19 at the time. The hit knocked him unconscious. He awoke and was combative for three to five minutes before lapsing into a coma, according to Specter.
“That is the signature presentation of a second-impact syndrome. A brain already contused from a prior concussion swells very, very rapidly and herniated while the player is still on the field,” said Specter.
The lawsuit revolved around the claim that an earlier concussion had made Plevretes more vulnerable to the second catastrophic concussion. The lawsuit stated that Plevretes took a head-on hit in an October 4 practice and removed himself from the next game because of a headache.
La Salle University maintains that the injury stems solely from the hit at Duquesne University. La Salle admits no wrong-doing, and the settlement is covered by insurance. A school statement read: “From the time of Preston’s injury, the university community led by those who know Preston and his family, have been hoping and praying for his recovery. That hasn’t changed.”
Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, said that the focus on football player safety has grown recently as the medical understanding of traumatic brain injuries has grown. He believes that better training can prevent injuries. Teaff said, “We’re all in a learning process. What the outcome of that will be, I don’t think anybody knows, because the game is a very important part of Americana.”
Plevretes, who once dreamed of becoming a sportscaster, now wants to become a motivational speaker. Unfortunately, at this point, he can barely speak. He communicates using a keyboard most of the time. He needs help to walk even short distances and suffers from short-term memory loss.
“He and his family still love football,” Specter said. “They realize that what occurred is a rare circumstance, but one that is preventable through proper medical attention after a concussion.”
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury due to negligence, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
The settlement comes as the NFL and NCAA reviews rules about when football players should be allowed to return to play after a concussion. Research suggests that returning too soon can lead to brain damage. Last Sunday, NFL quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh and Kurt Warner of Arizona both sat out of their games after suffering head injuries.
Shanin Specter, an attorney for the Plevretes family, said, “Only in the past one to two years has there been the kind of attention placed on this matter necessary to force schools, colleges and the NFL to actually adhere to the well-promulgated and common-sense standards of the medical profession.”
Plevretes was injured when he took a hit while covering a punt in a 2005 game at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He was 19 at the time. The hit knocked him unconscious. He awoke and was combative for three to five minutes before lapsing into a coma, according to Specter.
“That is the signature presentation of a second-impact syndrome. A brain already contused from a prior concussion swells very, very rapidly and herniated while the player is still on the field,” said Specter.
The lawsuit revolved around the claim that an earlier concussion had made Plevretes more vulnerable to the second catastrophic concussion. The lawsuit stated that Plevretes took a head-on hit in an October 4 practice and removed himself from the next game because of a headache.
La Salle University maintains that the injury stems solely from the hit at Duquesne University. La Salle admits no wrong-doing, and the settlement is covered by insurance. A school statement read: “From the time of Preston’s injury, the university community led by those who know Preston and his family, have been hoping and praying for his recovery. That hasn’t changed.”
Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, said that the focus on football player safety has grown recently as the medical understanding of traumatic brain injuries has grown. He believes that better training can prevent injuries. Teaff said, “We’re all in a learning process. What the outcome of that will be, I don’t think anybody knows, because the game is a very important part of Americana.”
Plevretes, who once dreamed of becoming a sportscaster, now wants to become a motivational speaker. Unfortunately, at this point, he can barely speak. He communicates using a keyboard most of the time. He needs help to walk even short distances and suffers from short-term memory loss.
“He and his family still love football,” Specter said. “They realize that what occurred is a rare circumstance, but one that is preventable through proper medical attention after a concussion.”
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury due to negligence, contact an experienced Georgia brain injury attorney as soon as possible. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: brain injury, TBI
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a Franklin Country, Missouri jury has awarded $89 million in damages to the family of a drunk driver victim killed in 2008.
“The eye-popping numbers were the jury’s attempt to send a message the only way they could,” said attorney Mark Bronson, who won the case after a day-long trial in Franklin County Circuit Court.
Bronson said that his clients probably won’t ever see a fraction of the money, but the jury made a big statement about their disgust with drunk driving.
In this case, the drunk driver was Troy Zerna, who was 20 years old at the time of the crash. Zerna was already driving on a hardship license because of a previous DWI. Zerna caused a head-on collision in 2008 with his previous DWI.
In the most recent crash, Zerna’s blood alcohol level was 0.20 percent - 2.5 times the legal limit to drive, according to Missouri Highway Patrol.
Dennis Riegel, Jr., 28, was killed in the crash. His fiancee Christine Hodge, who was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, was seriously injured. Hodge recovered and now has a daughter. The jury awarded $53.5 million to Hodge and $35.5 million to the couple’s daughter and Riegel’s parents, Dennis and Linda Riegel.
Zerna’s license had been suspended for his previous DWI just five months before the fatal DWI wreck. Zerna was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.
“I think the jury was expressing its belief that the system is not working, and they’re sending a message that sentences need to be tougher and they need to be increased across the board,” said Bronson.
A CNN ireport article states that the family of Riegel asked the jury to send the following message: “We are fed up with drunk drivers in our community. If you drink, do not drive. We all have cell phones. Call a friend, call a family member, call a taxi - do not get behind the wheel. Do not cause a senseless unnecessary tragedy.”
“The twelve jurors heard this family’s tragic story of the harms caused by a drunk driver and each of them wanted to do what they could to send a message to keep us all safer. Now the rest of the community needs to make sure the jury’s message sinks in. Do not drink and drive,” Bronson said after the verdict was read.
At the time of the wreck, Hodge and Riegel were returning from a mall, where they had been registering for their wedding. Zerna was speeding around a curve when he lost control of his vehicle and collided with Riegel’s vehicle head-on.
During the trial, Hodge testified and described how the force of the crash shattered nearly all the bones in her face and caused complications in her pregnancy. Relatives of Hodge and Riegel spoke about how they were looking forward to the young couple’s wedding and the need for tougher penalties for drunk drivers.
Have you been injured or lost a family member in an auto accident with a drunk driver? If so, contact an experienced Atlanta auto accident attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
“The eye-popping numbers were the jury’s attempt to send a message the only way they could,” said attorney Mark Bronson, who won the case after a day-long trial in Franklin County Circuit Court.
Bronson said that his clients probably won’t ever see a fraction of the money, but the jury made a big statement about their disgust with drunk driving.
In this case, the drunk driver was Troy Zerna, who was 20 years old at the time of the crash. Zerna was already driving on a hardship license because of a previous DWI. Zerna caused a head-on collision in 2008 with his previous DWI.
In the most recent crash, Zerna’s blood alcohol level was 0.20 percent - 2.5 times the legal limit to drive, according to Missouri Highway Patrol.
Dennis Riegel, Jr., 28, was killed in the crash. His fiancee Christine Hodge, who was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, was seriously injured. Hodge recovered and now has a daughter. The jury awarded $53.5 million to Hodge and $35.5 million to the couple’s daughter and Riegel’s parents, Dennis and Linda Riegel.
Zerna’s license had been suspended for his previous DWI just five months before the fatal DWI wreck. Zerna was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.
“I think the jury was expressing its belief that the system is not working, and they’re sending a message that sentences need to be tougher and they need to be increased across the board,” said Bronson.
A CNN ireport article states that the family of Riegel asked the jury to send the following message: “We are fed up with drunk drivers in our community. If you drink, do not drive. We all have cell phones. Call a friend, call a family member, call a taxi - do not get behind the wheel. Do not cause a senseless unnecessary tragedy.”
“The twelve jurors heard this family’s tragic story of the harms caused by a drunk driver and each of them wanted to do what they could to send a message to keep us all safer. Now the rest of the community needs to make sure the jury’s message sinks in. Do not drink and drive,” Bronson said after the verdict was read.
At the time of the wreck, Hodge and Riegel were returning from a mall, where they had been registering for their wedding. Zerna was speeding around a curve when he lost control of his vehicle and collided with Riegel’s vehicle head-on.
During the trial, Hodge testified and described how the force of the crash shattered nearly all the bones in her face and caused complications in her pregnancy. Relatives of Hodge and Riegel spoke about how they were looking forward to the young couple’s wedding and the need for tougher penalties for drunk drivers.
Have you been injured or lost a family member in an auto accident with a drunk driver? If so, contact an experienced Atlanta auto accident attorney immediately. Call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 to schedule a free consultation.
Labels: drunk driver, drunk driving
Stephanie Rosfeld was a twenty-five year old mother, a volleyball coach at the University of Cincinnati, a healthy, active young woman just returning from maternity leave, and among the fifty or more women who died as a result of using Johnson & Johnson’s birth control patch, Ortho Evra. No one who knew her could have predicted it, but executives at Johnson & Johnson probably could.
How could they have seen this tragedy coming? Because even before the FDA approved Ortho Evra, Johnson & Johnson knew that the patch’s method of delivering hormones to the bloodstream was giving women a much higher dose of estrogen than low dose birth control pills do.
Estrogen, as many people know, is the primary female sex hormone. Many women take estrogen supplements both as a form of oral contraception – often paired with progesterone – or in hormone replacement therapies. What fewer people know is that higher levels of estrogen increase the likelihood of blood clots and stroke, even in healthy women.
Over the past several years a growing body of evidence has connected female hormonal birth control to these increased risks of heart attack and stroke. These risks are higher in women over thirty-five, smokers, and those with other cardiovascular risks like high blood pressure.
Johnson & Johnson knew all this, and new from their own research that Ortho Evra carried too high of a risk for blood clots, and rather than halting its production, they hid the results. In fact, the company misreported their results by 40 percent.
The FDA were troubled when they reviewed the results of Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trials because there seemed to be troubling discrepancies in the research. However not knowing that the results had been willfully doctored to misrepresent the safety of the drug, they approved it for use in 2001.
Once Ortho Evra was on the market, Johnson & Johnson’s dishonesty only continued. The company avoided further research, including refusing to conduct comparison trials against the oral contraception, Ortho Cyclen. Internal memos sent within the company reveal that the reason for this refusal was “too high a chance that study may not produce a positive result for Evra” and fear that “risk that Ortho Evra may be the same or worse than Ortho Cyclen.”
Between 2002 and 2006, the FDA received reports of fifty deaths which were linked to the use of the Ortho Evra patch. Yet despite Johnson & Johnson having paid out over $68 million in settlements with hundreds of women who suffered from the increased averse side effects of this drug, Ortho Evra is still sold in the United States without even a black box warning.
If you or someone you know has been injured because of a bad product, it is essential to find a skilled attorney and protect your own health and rights as soon as possible. Contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 and schedule a free consultation.
How could they have seen this tragedy coming? Because even before the FDA approved Ortho Evra, Johnson & Johnson knew that the patch’s method of delivering hormones to the bloodstream was giving women a much higher dose of estrogen than low dose birth control pills do.
Estrogen, as many people know, is the primary female sex hormone. Many women take estrogen supplements both as a form of oral contraception – often paired with progesterone – or in hormone replacement therapies. What fewer people know is that higher levels of estrogen increase the likelihood of blood clots and stroke, even in healthy women.
Over the past several years a growing body of evidence has connected female hormonal birth control to these increased risks of heart attack and stroke. These risks are higher in women over thirty-five, smokers, and those with other cardiovascular risks like high blood pressure.
Johnson & Johnson knew all this, and new from their own research that Ortho Evra carried too high of a risk for blood clots, and rather than halting its production, they hid the results. In fact, the company misreported their results by 40 percent.
The FDA were troubled when they reviewed the results of Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trials because there seemed to be troubling discrepancies in the research. However not knowing that the results had been willfully doctored to misrepresent the safety of the drug, they approved it for use in 2001.
Once Ortho Evra was on the market, Johnson & Johnson’s dishonesty only continued. The company avoided further research, including refusing to conduct comparison trials against the oral contraception, Ortho Cyclen. Internal memos sent within the company reveal that the reason for this refusal was “too high a chance that study may not produce a positive result for Evra” and fear that “risk that Ortho Evra may be the same or worse than Ortho Cyclen.”
Between 2002 and 2006, the FDA received reports of fifty deaths which were linked to the use of the Ortho Evra patch. Yet despite Johnson & Johnson having paid out over $68 million in settlements with hundreds of women who suffered from the increased averse side effects of this drug, Ortho Evra is still sold in the United States without even a black box warning.
If you or someone you know has been injured because of a bad product, it is essential to find a skilled attorney and protect your own health and rights as soon as possible. Contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney, call MLN Law at 404-531-9700 and schedule a free consultation.
Labels: consumer products, product liability
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