All Topics

• Working Teens at Risk

  Ken Margolin | March 07, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  A disturbing article in Yahoo News the other day, described a serious problem with high school aged youths put in dangerous work situations. According to the piece, many teens between the ages of 14 and 18, were assigned to work with dangerous tools, with inadequate training, allowed to work excessive hours, or permitted to work with no adult supervision. Many of the violations noted were in...

• Choosing a Nursing Home

  Ken Margolin | March 06, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Cases of nursing home abuse are profoundly depressing. The saving thought for families forced to move a loved one from their home is that they will receive the care and the protection that they need in the home. Nursing home neglect or abuse is a betrayal of trust. Those facing the necessity of placing a family member in a nursing home can take some comfort from the realization that competent...

• The Atlanta Bus Tragedy

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

  A tragedy in Atlanta, Georgia, killed six members of the baseball team of Bluffton University, Bluffton, Ohio, and injured dozens of others. The Bluffton baseball team was traveling in a charter bus on highway I-75 in Atlanta, Georgia, on the way to games during the team's spring break. It appears that the bus took a left lane exit at full speed, the driver possibly thinking that he was in a...

• Workplace Assaults

  Ken Margolin | March 03, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that an average of 1.7 million people annually were the victims of non-lethal workplace assaults during the period 1993-1999. Leading the way for types of employment carrying the greatest risk of assault, were nursing homes and hospitals. Retail operations, such as grocery stores, also carried a surprisingly high risk...

• Sexual Assaults on People with Disabilities

  Ken Margolin | March 02, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  The Florida InjuryBoard law firm partner of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., just took on a case of an autistic young adult who was sexually assaulted while in the care of a group home. The obligation of organizations providing day and residential care for people with disabilities, to keep them safe from sexual assault, is undeniable. Sexual assaults on the disabled are...

• Dangerous Toys Still for Sale

  Ken Margolin | March 01, 2007 2:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Little has changed since I ran a blog some months ago, on dangerous toys. They are still out there, still for sale, and still marketed to the children most likely to be harmed by them. A number of consumer and advocacy groups put out lists of the year's most dangerous toys. The list by W.A.T.C.H. (world against toys causing harm), of the most dangerous toys of 2006, illustrates the kinds of...

• Private Investigators for Real Plaintiffs

  Ken Margolin | February 27, 2007 9:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  You've seen them on television - those private investigators who can solve any crime or get the true story on any disaster while the authorities fiddle around without a clue. If you are old enough to remember "The Rockford Files," then you know how creative television private eyes can be. The work of real-life private investigators is more boring, generally consisting of tenacity, a good...

• Injuries to Disabled People

  Ken Margolin | February 26, 2007 11:20 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  It may be tempting to think that the value of a serious injury case due to negligence, to a person already burdened with significant disabilities, has to be substantially discounted. Unfortunately, I've dealt with some insurance adjusters who take just such an attitude. They are seriously mistaken. Juries throughout the country, including my own state of Massachusetts, have recognized the value...

• Missed Heart Attack Diagnosis

  Ken Margolin | February 23, 2007 5:05 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  For years, we have been hearing of the importance of a prompt trip to the emergency room or a call to "911" if one is suffering from symptoms of potential heart attack. The expectation is that once in the care of physicians, the various tests available to detect heart attacks will be correctly employed and proper treatment administered. It turns out that getting to the emergency room on time may...

• Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak

  Ken Margolin | February 21, 2007 12:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Massachusetts has not escaped the salmonella outbreak attributed to jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter, that has sickened hundreds of consumers. According to federal officials, lids of peanut jars produced by ConAgra Foods with a product code beginning "2111" may contain the contaminated peanut butter. While a majority of the people known to date to have gotten ill from the peanut...