Personal Injury

Tamiflu Dangers For Children

Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety review of Tamiflu, manufactured by Roche, and Relenza, manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline. Both of these drugs are designed to mitigate the effects of the flu. The review addresses the potential dangerous effect these drugs can have on children.
The FDA began reviewing Tamiflu in 2005 after it received reports of children experiencing neurological problems, including hallucinations and convulsions. Twenty five patients under the age of 21, most of them in Japan, have died
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ATV Dangers – Units Recalled

Late last week, Baja Motor Sports of Phoenix in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall for 16,000 all terrain vehicles marketed for children as young as 12. The Baja 90, Baja Wilderness 90 and Baja Wilderness 90U four-wheel ATVs were recalled because they are missing a tire pressure gauge and a flagpole mounting bracket. Although neither the CPSC nor the company reported any injuries, they did consider the lack of the items to be a potential danger. These particular vehicles were
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Dangerous Toy Lawsuit Filed By California

This week, California’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against 20 companies implicated in the various lead-tainted toy recalls of 2007. Among the companies named in the lawsuit are Mattel, Fisher-Price, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, K B Toys, Costco Wholesale, Eveready Battery Company, K-Mart, and Marvel Entertainment.
The lawsuit alleges that the companies violated the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 since they failed to notify customers of toys in the marketplace that contained high concentrations of lead. Although the
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Cell Phones- Driving Dangers

Our serious injury lawyers are frequently litigating car collision cases in which the driver causing the serious injury was using a cell phone while operating the vehicle.
Research has consistently shown that operating an automobile while talking on a cell phone, either hand-held or hands-free, increases the risk of an accident by three to four times that normally experienced by attentive drivers. The general consensus of the scientific community is that there is little, if any, difference in crash rates involving hands-free versus hand-held cell
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Serious Dangers from Toys – Will It Ever End?

Many of you have already read press reports about the recall of over 4 million children’s craft kits because they contain beads coated with a chemical that turns into a dangerous drug if ingested. We have previously blogged about problems with Chinese manufactured toys and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In light of the massive recalls of these extremely dangerous toys, one has to wonder why these toys reached the shelves of stores in the first place. Many consumer advocates are now contending that these
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Structured Settlements in Serious Injury Cases

When a client is so seriously injured that they may not be able to work again at the same job and will likely incur future medical costs, it may be prudent for the client to consider a structured settlement as opposed to a lump sum cash settlement if one is offered. Our attorneys have handled many serious injury cases where a structured settlement has truly been in the best interests of our client. This is particularly so in the context of cases where the client
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Life Care Plans for the Catastrophically Injured Child

One of the many difficulties faced by attorneys who work on serious injury cases arises in the context of a catastrophic injury case involving a child. Many times, due to limitations on the extent of their medical knowledge, the doctors treating the child cannot always give an accurate prognosis for the child. Thus, it can be difficult when a child has been seriously injured to accurately predict how the injuries will manifest themselves as the child grows older. In some very sad cases, of course,
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Drug Liability Issues Raised By Questionable Relationships Between Doctors and Drug Companies

In many of the medical negligence and pharmaceutical liability cases our lawyers handle, we find numerous perks being provided to prescribing physicians by drug companies.
The New England Journal of Medicine, the most prestigious medical journal in the country, has published an article concerning the relationship between doctors and drug companies. The article reports that several United States Senators have introduced a bill in the United States Congress that would require manufacturers of drugs and medical devices with annual revenues of more than $100 million
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Pharmacy Error Kills Small Child

On June 15 of this year, we wrote an article on this blog about how pharmacy errors were causing serious injuries and wrongful deaths at an alarming rate on a nationwide basis. The problem about which we wrote unfortunately was the topic of a headline article in the news today concerning the death of a 3-year old child in Gainesville, Florida. This child died from a medication overdose. Instead of receiving the prescribed dose of a medication ordered by the doctor, the pharmacy gave him
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Dangerous Products Litigation – Trouble at the CPSC

Every year our lawyers handle many cases involving unsafe products which are subject to recalls issued by the The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Tragically, many of these cases involve the deaths of young children and infants.
The CPSC is the federal agency which is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage due to consumer product incidents cost the nation more than
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Motorcycles and Drunk Drivers: A Deadly Combination

We read in the paper this week about a tragedy involving a motorcyclist who was struck and killed by a drunk driver. According to news accounts, the drunk driver was completely at fault in the incident and struck the innocent motorcycle rider from the rear. Regrettably, this case is indicative of the dangers to which all motorcycle riders are exposed. Such dangers are exponentially increased, obviously, when a drunk driver is involved.
We read in the paper this week about a tragedy involving a motorcyclist
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Dangerous Glass Products and Preventable Injuries

Approximately 2 years ago we published an article on the dangers of unsafe and dangeous glass products. We re-print this article because of the tragic death of a young woman who fell to her death this week after falling through a window at a hotel in downtown Atlanta. This accident was preventable but occurred because safety glass was apparently not properly used. In today’s modern age, with the known dangers involved, this is inexcusable. Our earlier blog entry is posted again in view of this
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Unit Measurement Approach When Discussing Wrongful Death Damages

If a 28 year old male is killed and hypothetically he should have a 48 year life expectancy, when killed at age 28, the decedent has lost 46 years of his life according to the Annuity Mortality Tables of most states. Forty-eight years translates into 46 years times 365 days a year times 16 hours a day of consciousness (46x365x16=268,640 hours). Because we sleep for 8 hours a day, if one argues before a jury that the decedent would have consciously enjoyed life for 46
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Measuring Damages In Wrongful Death Cases

As every individual is unique, so is the challenge faced by a trial attorney in trying to address a jury on the issue of the proper measurement of damages in the wrongful death case of any individual. All individuals are different. They come from different backgrounds and they are different ages, sexes, races, nationalities and religious beliefs. Whoever the unfortunate victim in a wrongful death case may be, the challenge is coming up with the best assessment of addressing damages when trying to obtain
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The Centers For Disease Control Releases Wrongful Death Statistics

According to a recently released report authored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, car accident cases and wrongful deaths cost the State of Georgia approximately $1.5 billion in the calendar year 2005. Regrettably, this is the most recent data which as been collated and studied. Nationwide, car accident related deaths cost approximately $41 billion. Georgia ranked number 4 among 10 other states with the highest medical and work lost costs associated with preventable deaths caused by motor vehicle collisions.
Obviously, much can
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New Georgia Law Designed To Prevent Injury To Children

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed a new law requiring all children under the age of 7 to be placed in booster seats unless they are over 40 pounds in weight and/or stand more than 4 feet 9 inches tall. The new law will go into effect this coming January to give parents time to purchase booster seats if needed. The reason for the new law: Protection of our children. Authorities have tracked injuries to children over the last five years and have determined that
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Mammogram Recommendations Disputed By Scientific Studies

Women under 50 who follow the advice of a U.S. panel to forgo annual mammograms may be at risk for more severe forms of breast cancer
Three recent studies led by radiologists suggest that failing to get regular breast screenings left women more likely to discover cancer at an advanced stage. The delay resulted in larger tumors and a worse prognosis once the cancer was uncovered, the data found.
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force said in 2009 that most women ages 40 to 49
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Nursing Home Infection Rates Increase

Infections are now the number one cause of deaths in nursing homes, causing nearly 400,000 deaths annually.
A study published in the May issue of The America Journal of Infection Control reports that 15% of American nursing homes each year receive deficiency citations for infection control.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, looked at deficiency data collected from about 16,000 nursing homes per year between 2000 to 2007 as part of Medicare/Medicaid certification.
The researchers reported
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Medical Errors Can Be Reduced

Preventable medical errors kill thousands of Americans every year.
A recent study found that nearly one out of three hospital patients is harmed by the care they receive. The Institute of Medicine, an independent nonprofit organization within the National Academy of Sciences which works to provide unbiased advice to decision makers within the medical community, estimates that as many as 100,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors in hospitals. This is approximately the same number of annual deaths caused by auto accidents, AIDS,
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Construction Accidents And Third Party Claims

When an employee is injured on a job site, particularly on a construction job site, unfortunately the injuries sustained can be serious. Heavy equipment is typically involved on large commercial construction projects and it is not unusual for construction workers on large construction projects to be exposed to a variety of different dangers during the work day. If an employee is injured on the job, under our Workers’ Compensation laws, the claim will primarily have to be brought against the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance
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