- Ken Margolin | January 31, 2007 3:00 PM |
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MiscellaneousPortable space heaters, while seemingly a convenient option for adding some warmth to a work or living space, are in fact extremely dangerous. It is estimated that electric space heater fatalities account for almost half of all home-heating related deaths. Statistics vary, but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission cites approximately 25,000 space heater fires per year, as well as 300...
- Ken Margolin | January 30, 2007 4:00 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsA widely cited USA Today analysis of 2006 statistics shows that traffic fatalities were down significantly in sixteen states. Obviously that's good news. The causes of reduced fatalities raise some interesting cost-benefit questions. Some measures - public relations campaigns to reduce aggressive driving - are not controversial. Other means to reduce car accidents force the public to think about...
- Ken Margolin | January 30, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeDespite the fact that the anesthesia profession led the way in medical error reduction techniques, there are still too many anesthesia deaths and serious injuries. When anesthesia malpractice occurs, the results are often catastrophic. With general anesthesia, the patient is helpless. Serious anesthesia errors can deprive the brain of oxygen, causing irreversible damage within minutes or result...
- Ken Margolin | January 29, 2007 2:15 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesTools and machines, simple and complex, carry risks. Manufacturers have an obligation to design their products to eliminate the most obvious risks, for example, placing effective hand guards on power tools. Obviously, though, the ways in which tools and machines may be used are many. Mechanical design safety measures have some practical limits, not the least of which is financial. One the...
- Ken Margolin | January 27, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbusePressures sores, also known as "bed sores" and "decubitus ulcers," are a risk for anyone confined to bed for long periods of time with limited mobility. They can become a dangerous problem in nursing homes, especially in residents already frail from age and other diseases. Pressure sores can kill as they can provide the conduit for deep systemic infection. Certain residents are at highest risk...
- Ken Margolin | January 26, 2007 3:30 PM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsFord Motor Company recently settled a tragic case involving death of a 21 month old girl who was strangled by a rear-seat power window that she inadvertently activated. It turns out that the on-off switch could be activated with very little pressure, that the window rose quickly, and that there was no mechanism to stop the window if it encountered pressure. There was a wrinkle in the case, as is...
- Ken Margolin | January 26, 2007 11:15 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesI was thinking the other day about the gripes of the anti-justice forces who would reserve the courts for corporations and the wealthy and who enhance political careers by bashing trial lawyers. If they long for an America of 100 years ago, they have a good reason for their animosity. Want your segregated schools back? Sorry. Brown v. Board of Education took care of that, using trial lawyer...
- Ken Margolin | January 25, 2007 3:00 PM |
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Tractor-Trailer AccidentsLast year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") reported to Congress, the results of a 3-year study into the causes of large truck crashes. Large trucks were defined for the study, as any truck weighing 5 tons or more. The study was the most comprehensive yet conducted, involving a thorough review of nearly 1,000 crashes in 17 states. The purpose of the study was to gain an...
- Ken Margolin | January 24, 2007 5:00 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeThere may be no better way to learn the current areas in which there are the most problems with substandard medical care, than to look at the web site of CRICO/RMF (also known as "Risk Management Foundation"), one of the largest medical malpractice insurers. Risk Management Foundation's web site identifies 4 areas that generate just over 2/3 of all medical malpractice claims. These areas are...
- Ken Margolin | January 23, 2007 3:00 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesA New York Times article at the end of last year reported that the number of construction fatalities more than doubled from the previous twelve month period. The biggest cause of construction deaths was falling, followed by deathfrom falling objects. The OSHA spokesman in New York City noted that non-union workers appeared to be more heavily at risk for death and serious injury. Union workers...
- Ken Margolin | January 22, 2007 1:00 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeAn estimated 250,000-450,000 Americans are living with spinal cord injury . The primary causes are motor vehicle accidents (nearly 50%), falls, violence (especially gunshot wounds) and sports activities. The majority of victims are males under the age of 30 (some studies indicate that the age range has risen in recent years). Spinal cord injuries are either complete or incomplete and their...
- Ken Margolin | January 21, 2007 1:10 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeA recent article in the Washington Post recounted how a fatal airline crash some years ago prompted fundamental changes in the airline industry. The black box tape revealed that the co-pilot had noticed something amiss, but that the pilot ignored his concerns, reflecting the military-style chain of command. In the modern airlines industry, any individual involved in the flight, from co-pilot to...
- Ken Margolin | January 19, 2007 6:30 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeA disturbing study reported in the journal Cancer reported that misdiagnosis of cancer is much more common than realized. Worse, the authors concluded that many of the misdiagnoses caused serious harm to the patient. Time is the key element for people with treatable cancers. Treatment for many types of cancers has improved so that complete recovery and long-term survivability is no longer a...
- Ken Margolin | January 17, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesThis week's Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly contained a summary of significant plaintiffs' verdicts and settlements in Massachusetts in 2006. Fifteen jury verdicts equaling or exceeding $1 million were reported, as well as 88 seven figure settlements. A survey of these positive results gives an idea of the current thinking of juries and insurance claims personnel. I will start with the verdicts...
- Ken Margolin | January 16, 2007 5:00 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesMost states in the US have some form of laws imposing liability on liquor licensees that serve liquor to clearly intoxicated persons who then go out to cause injury or wrongful death to a third party, usually by causing a car crash. The laws are known as "dram shop" acts. Organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have been quite successful in campaigning and lobbying to get...
- Ken Margolin | January 16, 2007 12:45 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesSuccess in serious personal injury cases require the plaintiff's lawyer to put together many pieces in a way that makes the jury decide that justice requires a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. One of these pieces is testimony from a vocational expert. Testimony from a vocational expert is called for in any serious accident case in which the injuries permanently impair the plaintiff's ability...
- Ken Margolin | January 12, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbusePrevious blogs on this site have touched on nursing home abuse of residents by staff. Unfortunately, cases are increasingly coming to light of abuse and assault of nursing home residents by visitors and fellow residents. An elderly woman in a Minnesota home was the victim of a sexual assault by another resident of her home who had been in prison and had a long history of committing sex crimes....
- Ken Margolin | January 11, 2007 5:00 PM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsRecent study findings by Consumer Reports have caused a flurry of news reports about the safety of infant and child car seats. The Consumer Reports tests found that most US-manufactured rear-facing car seats passed the standard U.S. car seat test, which is for a frontal collision tests at 30mph. It turns out that these tests are dangerously inadequate. The crash safety test for most cars is for...
- Ken Margolin | January 11, 2007 9:30 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsThe Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts just ruled that commercial establishments that serve drinks to underage persons (under 21 in Massachusetts) have a higher level of liability than when they serve to legal age, intoxicated patrons. The case, decided on January 9, 2007, is Nunez v. Carrabba' Italian Grille, Inc. The plaintiff, a 19 year old, spent a night drinking heavily at Carrabba's...
- Ken Margolin | January 09, 2007 8:40 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesPeople falling down has provided generations of comedians, from the Three Stooges to Chevy Chase, with material. In real life, there is nothing funny about falling down and being injured because of someone else's carelessness. These cases are typically known as "slip and fall cases." Fellow InjuryBoard lawyer, Benjamin Glass, of Northern Virginia, has written an excellent blog describing some...
- Ken Margolin | January 08, 2007 8:30 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesA decade ago, Congress passed the Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 1996. The legislation reflected a recognition at the highest levels of national leadership that traumatic brain injury (TBI) was an under-recognized problem that affected millions of people. With the legislation, Congress appropriated funds to study the prevalence of TBI and to encourage innovative efforts to reduce the incidence of...
- Ken Margolin | January 07, 2007 9:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeThe image is familiar from television and real life alike: doctors, nurses, orderlies, scurrying through maze-like hospital hallways, off to one task or another. The size and varied crises faced in hospitals makes a certain amount of apparent chaos inevitable. When there is real disorganization, though, the results can be tragic. Miscommunication between medical professionals remains one of the...
- Ken Margolin | January 06, 2007 9:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeI handled a tragic case a few years back, in which a healthy 41 year wife, and mother of 5 children, died during routine surgery due to operating room miscommunication. The woman, Marie, (not her real name) went to her community hospital complaining of stomach pain and inability to keep food down. She was diagnosed with an obstructed bowel due to non-malignant, non-life threatening causes. The...
- Ken Margolin | January 05, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsElevators are often described as the safest means of travel. I don't know if that is true, though it may well be, given the untold numbers of times elevators go up and down across America on any given day. Nevertheless, elevators are machines and like all machines, they can and do fail. The reality of a free-falling elevator can be as frightening as the nightmare. The occupant is completely...
- Ken Margolin | January 04, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesFor many clients injured in a car accident, the first question asked of the attorney after "is there cream for the coffee," is "how much is my case worth?" That question is always a fair one, but not always easily answered at the beginning of a case. In any personal injury case, value depends on both tangible and intangible elements, many of which, especially the intangible, will not be known...
- Ken Margolin | January 03, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseAny regular readers of this blog site know that two of my primary concerns are medication errors and nursing home negligence. The two areas are not entirely unrelated. Medication errors often harm the most vulnerable - children and infants, people weakened from the illness that is being treated, elderly patients. Nursing home negligence always harms those who are vulnerable. Tragically, the two...
- Ken Margolin | January 02, 2007 1:00 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeToday's New York Times has a chilling article by Jane E. Brody, detailing a pharmacy error that ended the independence of a previously healthy elderly woman. The pharmacy gave her methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug that suppresses the immune system, instead of her glaucoma drug, methazolamide. The woman took the wrong pills for a month, with a catastrophic result. She ended up in a coma and...
- Ken Margolin | January 01, 2007 1:00 PM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseIt is frightening to think about the vulnerability of seniors in nursing homes. Stories of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect show up with alarming frequency in the news and some sources claim that these incidents are increasing as funding decreases across the healthcare system, leading to the staffing problems that create situations for abuse and neglect. Many of the instances of...