Personal Injury

Muscle Relaxant Cream Causes Teen Death

Lately there has been a lot of publicity about the death of a 17-year old track star due to her use of the common muscle relaxant sports cream Bengay.

As I was reading these articles, it reminded me of case I handled several years ago involving a similar product called Icy Hot.

In that case, a diabetic client that I represented had used the product and apparently due to her diabetic condition, developed topical salicylate poisoning due to the main ingredient found in the Icy
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Hospital Infections in Georgia – Symptoms of a National Problem

Lawyers in Georgia who handle serious injury and wrongful death cases are often confronted with situations where their clients are hospitalized and later acquire a Staph infection which greatly complicates their recovery. We also see cases where clients call complaining about the development of an infection while hospitalized for one condition where the infection becomes much more serious than the condition for which they were originally treated. Regrettably, many people die from these infections.

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Pharmacy Errors and Serious Injuries

In the summer of 2006 MSNBC.com reported that each year as many as 1.5 million Americans suffer a serious injury or death because of errors made in the dispensing, prescribing or taking of prescription drugs. In an earlier report published by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, it was estimated that each year more than 7,000 people in the United States die from pharmacy related medication errors. Last year, in the nationally syndicated program 20/20, ABC News reported extensively on this problem. Regrettably,
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Georgia Motorcycle Injuries and Accidents

Just this past week, clients retained our firm’s services with respect to a serious motorcycle injury. As is often the case, because motorcycle riders are unprotected except for the helmet they wear, whenever an accident occurs involving a motorcycle, typically, serious injuries are involved.
The worst case we handled was about 3 years ago when one of our partners represented a motorcycle rider who was hit by a drunk driver and almost killed. This drunk driver not only ran over the motorcycle driver, the motorcycle
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Another Need for Uninsured Motorist Coverage: Hit and Run Accidents

A few days ago, we wrote an article about the importance of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in those situations where the at fault party has minimum limits of liability insurance coverage. Today we write about another reason why all Georgia motorists should consider carrying uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in amounts at least as much as their liability insurance coverage and perhaps much more.
The distinction between liability coverage and uninsured motorist coverage is the fact that liability coverage protects the person you hit whereas uninsured motorist coverage
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Georgia Mesothelioma Cancer Cases

Mesothelioma results from inhalation and exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is a specific form of lung cancer affecting the thin membrane linings of the abdomen and internal organs (cancer of the mesothelium). Because of exposure to asbestos, the cells of the mesothelium become abnormal and cancerous.
In Georgia and elsewhere, asbestos has been used in building materials, paper products and plastics. It is also found in textiles, packings and asbestos reinforced plastics. Nationwide, more than a quarter of a million people have been known to have
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Georgia Workers Compensation Act Needs Amending To Help Injured Workers

Uninsured Employers is a growing problem for injured workers in Georgia. In our practice we have seen a growing number of employees who have been seriously injured only to discover that their employers have no workers’ compensation insurance coverage. Many of those employers have no real assets and they are therefore “judgment proof.”
I recently read that on November 9, 2006, the Governor of Pennsylvania signed into law a significant change in the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act. Like Georgia, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act covers
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Finding a Qualified Attorney

As I ride around the City, I am amazed at the number of billboard advertisements by attorneys. Occasionally, even though I am working all day long, I also get a chance while I am in a waiting room (usually awaiting a doctor’s deposition) to watch daytime TV. When I watch the TV, I am similarly amazed at the number of lawyer advertisements on daytime television. Obviously, this leads me to consider how the average person goes about finding a qualified personal injury attorney in a
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Loss of Consortium Claims

Many of the clients we represent are married individuals. When they are seriously injured, obviously, their spouses are adversely affected. The emotional toll of caring for an injured spouse, worrying about their health and financial issues and being overwhelmed by dealing with the totality of a serious injury case can be debilitating. The spouse of the actual client may be emotionally taxed and physically burdened by increased demands and therefore entitled to compensation for their damages. The question is whether a loss of consortium claim
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Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Don’t Leave Home Without It

A typical case we see far too often is that where the motorist who caused the damage to our client had the minimum limits of Georgia law which provides only $25,000.00 in liability insurance coverage. Typically such a driver has little or no personal assets to satisfy an excess judgment against them. In those cases where our client’s damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering) clearly exceed the $25,000.00 in available limits, the best chance for an excess recovery is to procure uninsured/underinsured motorist
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Minor Falls Can Lead To Severe Brain Injury

Our Atlanta lawyers see many cases involving serious head injuries which at first appear to be minor or nonexistent. The recent report about actress Natasha Richardson who fell at a Canadian ski slope is a prime example. According to reports, Ms. Richardson, suffered a minor fall while skiing.

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Nursing Home Elder Abuse and Neglect

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many victims of nursing home abuse over the years. With our aging population, we expect the numbers of these cases to increase. Nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect of the elderly and vulnerable in nursing homes and other facilities occurs in many forms. A Georgia nursing home lawyer is here to assist your loved ones with holding the wrongdoers accountable. Some types of abuse are obvious such as elder sexual or elder
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Defibrillator Recall

Emergency defibrillators in public gathering places have become common throughout Georgia. Now, about 14,000 external defibrillators are being recalled after 39 reported incidents, including two that involved patient deaths.
The recall was announced Tuesday by manufacturer Welch Allyn. It involves 14,054 AED 10 and MRL JumpStart external defibrillators made between Oct. 3, 2002, and Jan. 25, 2007. The company said there is a chance the AEDs, available through prescription, may produce low-energy shock, shutdown unexpectedly or be susceptible to electromagnetic noise interference.
These problems could
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Dangers Of Industry Payments To Doctors

Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia has been involved in a controversy concerning undisclosed payments to the head of the psychiatry department by drug companies. The danger that these financial relationships between physicians and drug and medical device manufactures can pose to patients is being brought to light in West Virginia.
Two companies that make medical devices and surgical materials may face sanctions related to medical malpractice lawsuits filed by patients against John Anderson King, an osteopathic surgeon on the staff of Putnam General Hospital in
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Bowflex Recalls Dangerous Gyms

Many Bowflex exercise machines are found in homes and gyms throughout Georgia. Now, Nautilus Inc, the manufacturer is recalling 78,000 of its Bowflex Ultimate 2 Home Gyms.
There are reports that the seat rails can unlatch causing potentially serious injury. At least 18 people have been injured so far, with some customers suffering cuts to their heads and shoulders; some requiring stitches.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the gym’s horizontal seat rail, if not manually latched for storage, can fall on a user
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Supreme Court Ruling Affects Georgia Consumers and Others

Georgia residents and countless others across the nation received good news today. In a surprise decision handed down today the United States Supreme Court held that drug manufacturers who fail to warn of known dangers are not immune from liability due to the federal preemption doctrine.

In the case of Wyeth v. Levine , the Supreme Court was confronted with a situation in which drug manufacturer Wyeth had been sued by Levine. Wyeth manufacturers the anti-nausea drug Phenergan. Levine had been injected with Phenergan by a clinician using the IV-push method whereby the drug is injected directly into a vein.

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Federal Prosecution of Major Drug Manufacturer

The United States Department of Justice has charged the drug maker Forest Laboratories with defrauding the government of millions of dollars by illegally marketing the popular antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved uses in children and teenagers.
In a civil complaint filed by the United States attorney’s office in Boston, federal prosecutors alleged that former top executives at Forest concealed for several years a clinical study that showed that the drugs were not effective in children and might even pose risks to them, including suicides.
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Motorcycle Accidents and Serious Injuries: An Unfortunate Combination

We have posted entries before about traumatic amputations and just how profound such injuries can be on the victims of the same. Unfortunately, we have seen these injuries too often in the context of motorcycle accidents. Because there is so little protection to the human body, if an accident is bad enough, the unfortunate victim riding on the motorcycle can lose a leg, an arm, a foot or a hand. In addition to traumatic amputations, traumatic brain injuries are also a distinct possibility in
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Peanut Corp. Of America Salmonella Strain Has Also Been Linked To Texas Plant

Georgia injury lawyers have seen products liability cases involving food poisoning for years; however, none like the one involving Peanut Corp. Of America (PCA). It appears that the problems of PCA extend well beyond their Georgia processing facility. Federal officials said Tuesday that tests have confirmed that peanut butter made from peanuts processed at a Texas plant contains the same strain of salmonella blamed for the poisoning hundreds in a national outbreak. Both the Texas plant and the Georgia plant were operated by PCA,
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Motorcycle Accidents Usually Result In Serious Injuries

The motorcycle accident lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many motorcycle riders over the years who have been seriously injured in collisions involving automobiles. Some result in brain injuries and others involve amputation of limbs. Just in the last couple of weeks ago we settled a case where our client sustained very serious injuries to his leg and foot when his motorcycle was struck in an intersection by a medical doctor who ran a red light in her SUV. As a result of
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