All Topics

• Magnetic Building Set Recall

  Ken Margolin | April 24, 2007 1:25 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Toys with small, removable parts, continue to pose hazards to children. Last month, Mega Brands, Inc., the maker of "Magnetix" building sets, recalled nearly 4 million of the toys. The recall was an expansion of an original recall of some of the sets, in March 2006. The building sets include magnets that are easily removed, and easily swallowed. To date, at least one death and more than 25...

• Important Massachusetts Slip and Fall Decision

  Ken Margolin | April 23, 2007 3:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  As I wrote in a recent blog, lawsuits arising from slipping on a foreign substance in a Massachusetts premises were made difficult by the rule that the plaintiff had to show the substance was on the ground long enough for the proprietor to become aware of, and remove it. Many a significant slip and fall case never made it past summary judgment, because of the rule, which the courts considered a...

• Slip, Trip, and Fall Traps

  Ken Margolin | April 19, 2007 1:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Very serious injuries can result from incidents of slipping, tripping, or falling down. A fall can end careers, from such injuries as broken bones, traumatic brain injury, spine injuries, and others. But winning a fall down case in Massachusetts, is quite difficult. A number of legal theories stand in the way of success for even a severely injured plaintiff. If the incident occurred on a...

• Charitable Immunity - a Failed Principle

  Ken Margolin | April 17, 2007 11:05 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Most catastrophic instances of medical malpractice, are due as much to systemic failures, as to the negligence of any individual. Yet, you will never see a hospital as a defendant in a Massachusetts malpractice jury trial. The hospital - almost all in Massachusetts are non-profit corporations - will not have been named in the lawsuit, or will have been dropped before trial. Regardless of the...

• Wrong-Side/Wrong-Site/Wrong-Procedure/Wrong-Patient

  Ken Margolin | April 11, 2007 10:35 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Although wrong-side/wrong-site/wrong-procedure/wrong-patient (WSPE) hospital errors are not common, they occur more often than one would expect. As the phrase implies, WSPE typically means that the right patient has been operated on the wrong side or organ, or that the correct procedure was done - correct for a patient other than the one on whom it was performed. When WSPEs occur, the results...

• Jury System Still Safe in Massachusetts

  Ken Margolin | April 10, 2007 2:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  I got a momentary scare the other day, when I read of a Supreme Judicial Court decision upholding a binding arbitration contract between a nursing home and the son of an elderly parent admitted to the home. Binding arbitration agreements require that if there is a dispute between the parties, resort to the courts and juries is waived in favor of submission to a professional arbitrator. The case...

• Fake Studies for Medical Malpractice Defense

  Ken Margolin | April 09, 2007 11:20 AM | 2 CommentsBoston, MA

  Today's Boston Globe carried an article with the title, "Bed sores aren't always a sign of negligent care." Having written blogs on this site, suggesting that severe pressures sores are usually caused by nursing home negligence, I read the Globe piece carefully (the law firm of Stark & Stark, has an excellent blog on the subject). My radar went up when I read the sentence that "[T[he sentiment...

• Staff Abuse of Clients with Developmental Disabilities

  Ken Margolin | April 06, 2007 10:55 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  It's not often discussed outside of professional settings, but the issue of sexuality and developmental disability, poses ethical dilemmas. In fact, a book on the subject, bears that exact title: Ethical Dilemmas: Sexuality and Developmental Disability, Dorothy M. Griffiths, Ph.D., et al., ed., NAAD Press, Kingston, NY 2002. Professionals who work with individuals with developmental...

• Pedestrian Accidents

  Ken Margolin | April 05, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  A few years ago, the National Safety Council ran a television ad showing a deadly car crash, with the superimposed message, "he was right - dead right." I don't know if the ad stopped any accidents, but its message was undeniably true - when on the roads, drivers have to put safety over pride. Sometimes, the best course is to give the right of way to the car, that by rights, shouldn't have it....

• Massachusetts Personal Injury Update

  Ken Margolin | April 04, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Verdicts and settlements reported in this week's Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly newspaper, show the continued appreciation by jurors, of the terrible impact that severe injuries can have on the victim's enjoyment of life. Obstetrical negligence resulted in permanent neurological injuries to an infant, when the obstetrician failed to go to the hospital in a timely manner to deliver his patient's...