Personal Injury

Botox Danger

The U.S. consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, has called upon authorities to require that Botox and a similar injections come with strong warnings following reports of 16 deaths and other serious problems after the botulinum toxin spread inside the body. Public Citizen asked U.S. authorities to require the strongest possible warning, highlighted in a “black box,” on Allergan Inc’s Botox and Solstice Neuroscience Inc’s Myobloc.
Botox is used widely to decrease facial wrinkles but also has approved medical uses such as treating cervical dystonia, or
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Sugar Refinery Blast Leaves Many Dead – Others Injured

Our Georgia injury lawyers are accustomed to seeing cases involving horrible injury and cases of death caused by all types of accidents but burn cases are at the top of the list. We were discussing the news accounts today in Savannah reporting that firefighters found three, and perhaps as many as six, bodies in the wreckage of a still-burning sugar refinery leveled by an explosion overnight. In addition to the death cases, dozens of employees have been injured, many critically burned. Officials suspect
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Georgia and Atlanta Area Serious Injury Cases: Frequently Asked Question Number 9

This blog will continue in our series of providing our readers with answers to frequently asked questions in the context of a serious injury case. This blog will address FAQ number 9:
8. If I am injured by a third party, but I am also working on the job at the time, am I entitled to both workers’ compensation coverage and a liability settlement?
Answer: The answer is yes although there may be a claim for subrogation made by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier. If
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PART II: TOLLING THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

It is well established that failure to comply with an ante-litem notification provision within the time required by law is a bar to any right of action. See Mattox v. Bailey, 221 Ga. App. 546, 472 S.E. 2d 130 (1996). However, an ante-litem time requirement has been held to be, in itself, a form of statute of limitations, with all general principles applicable to statutes of limitation also applying to ante-litem time restrictions, including tolling provisions. See Howard v. State, 226 Ga. App. 543, 487
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DANGEROUS MEDICAL DEVICES AND DOCTORS

Lawyers who practice in the field of dangerous medical devices and drugs are never surprised to discover relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Recently, questionable ties between supposedly objective researchers and the maker of an artificial spinal disk have come to light. An artificial spinal disk is a device that is used in place of conventional surgery during which patients’ vertebrae are fused.
In a study of nearly 240 patients with lower back pain, physicians reported that the artificial spine disk, manufactured
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TOLLING THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IN TORT CASES FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME

As Georgia personal injury lawyers know, the typical statute of limitations for a bodily injury case in Georgia is two years from the date of the occurence at issue. However, in cases involving victims of criminal acts who have potential civil causes of actions against those who brought about injury to them, there are some nuances of Georgia law that all attorneys in this field should know.

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Car Accidents: Georgia Serious Injury Cases: Frequently Asked Question Number 8

This blog will continue in our series of providing our readers with answers to frequently asked questions in the context of a serious injury case. This blog will address FAQ number 8:
9. If I have no health insurance and the at fault driver has little or no liability insurance coverage, what happens if my medical bills exceed available coverages?
Answer: This is a sad case that we see far too often in our practice. The hypothetical at fault driver has run the stop sign
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Georgia Serious Injury Cases: Frequently Asked Question Number 6

This blog will continue in our series of providing our readers with answers to frequently asked questions in the context of a serious injury case. This blog will address FAQ number 6:
6. Can my spouse recover damages if I am seriously injured and he/she misses time from work caring for me?
Answer: A spouse does not have a legal claim for their own lost wages while they miss work caring for their injured spouse. However, under Georgia law, a spouse does have a claim
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Georgia Serious Injury Cases: Frequently Asked Question Number 5

This blog will continue in our series of providing our readers with answers to frequently asked questions in the context of a serious injury case. This blog will address FAQ number 5:
5. Who will pay my lost wages while I am recovering from my injuries?
Answer: In Georgia, there is no “Pay as You Go” rule so unfortunately the answer to this question is that you may receive no lost wages at all unless your employer continues to pay you and/or you have disability
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Another Atlanta Area Police Chase Case and More Avoidable Deaths

We have written previously about the dangers of police chase cases. This week we read in the paper about a chase that occurred on January 24 involving a man fleeing the police in a stolen vehicle. As he was fleeing, allegedly with a police officer in pursuit, the suspect in the stolen vehicle engaged in increasingly dangerous behavior. Ultimately, he collided head-on with another innocent motorist, killing that motorist and decapitating a female passenger in his car. According to the news accounts, the deceased
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Medical Error Costs Quantified

Preventable medical errors add extremely high costs to the healthcare provided in Georgia and across the United States. The Society of Actuaries, the largest professional organization dedicated to supporting 21,000 members in the United States and Canada, recently commissioned a study to assign a cost to these medical errors.
The study defined measureable costs of medical errors to include increased medical costs, costs related to an increased mortality rate, and costs related to lost productivity after the occurrence of an error. Most other costs of
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Hit-and-Run Crash Results In Death Of Georgia Motorcyclist

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

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Dog Bites and Dog Attacks Are Serious Business – Georgia’s Homeowners Should Beware!

Georgia injury lawyers know that dog bites can result in serious and disfiguring injuries and sometimes the wrongful death. Because of the population of Atlanta area, it is not uncommon to hear about these cases on a weekly basis. It is estimated that almost 5 million Americans each year are dog bite victims. About 800,000 of these are serious enough to seek medical treatment for their injuries. Sadly, about half the victims are children and most of them are between the ages of 5 and 9 years old.

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Reporting Reduces Medical Errors

Acts of medical malpractice are often hidden by the secrecy afforded hospitals and health care providers by various state laws which make these matters confidential and immune from discovery by the public.
In an effort to reduce these sometimes deadly errors, the state of Indiana initiated a method of publicly tracking preventable medical errors. In just the fourth year of reporting, Indiana hospitals and surgery centers reported more than a 10 percent decrease in errors between 2008 and 2009.
Indiana’s Medical Error Reporting System requires
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Depuy Orthopedics Hip Implant Product Recalled

On August 4, 2010, DePuy Orthopedics recalled its ASR XL Acetabular System (hip implant) and ASR Hip Resurfacing System. Recent data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales indicated a higher than expected revision rate at five years. Specifically, the data showed that the five-year revision rate for ASR XL Acetabular System was approximately 12% and for ASR Hip Resurfacing System was approximately 13%.
The revision rate was highest with ASR head sizes below 50mm in diameter and among female patients.
DePuy is
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Road Debris Can Kill

Not a week goes by that we do not see a significant number of road debris items laying in the middle of Georgia highways. Whether it is an old mattress, furniture, tools, chain, truck tie-down straps or whatever, these items on the highway often result serious injury or death to innocent motorists who encounter and try to avoid them.
In October of 2008, a woman, trying to avoid road debris, died instantly in a single car crash. The accident happened at about 7:30 a.m.
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Traffic Fatalities Show Significant Decrease

Traffic fatalities in Georgia and across the United States have shown a significant decline between 2008 and 2009, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Georgia’s number of traffic fatalities in the period fell by 14 percent for a total of 1,495 in 2009. Florida led the nation with 422 fewer traffic fatalities in 2009, followed by Texas (405 fewer), California (353), Pennsylvania (212) and Georgia (211 fewer).
Increased seatbelt use and campaigns against drunk driving are being credited
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Products Liability Claims Based On Failure To Warn

All manufacturers have a duty to warn consumers of dangers associated with the use of their products. An example of this would be drug manufacturers who dispense and promote the sale of prescription medication with known side effects. Warnings of these side effects must be provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices before they use such products. However, many different products in the marketplace have risks attendant with their use and consequently it is incumbent upon the manufacturer to warn the public
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Suing Restaurants And Lounges For Serving Alcohol To Visibly Intoxicated Patrons

The Dram shop theory of liability is a legal doctrine which essentially holds that restaurants and lounges who serve noticeably intoxicated patrons with alcoholic beverages knowing that they are soon to drive can be held liable to third parties who are injured by such drunk drivers. Drunk driving is a major problem in this country and those vendors, including specifically restaurants and lounges, who serve visibly intoxicated patrons should be held legally liable for the damages inflicted by their customers. Responsible restaurant chains and lounges
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Tire Failures Cause Many Automobile and Truck Accidents

Tire failures have caused the death or serious injury of many motorists in Georgia and across the nation over the years. There are many causes of tire failure but the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP know that one of the most common causes for tire failure is heat buildup. Heat buildup, especially in truck tires, usually results from under-inflation, overloading, high speed operation or a combination of these factors. A recent study by The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) demonstrated that the top two types of damage for tire debris fragments found on the roadside were: road hazard (39%) and excessive heat (30%). Sometimes, tire failures occur because the tires being sold and used on a particular vehicle are not suitable for that vehicle or application.

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