Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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Wallcure simulation ssalineTwo patients were seriously injured in a New York urgent care facility after they were inadvertently administered non sterile simulation intravenous fluids. They both experienced a febrile illness during administration and had to be hospitalized. One of them developed sepsis. Both of them survived.

The cases were reported to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)last year. The NYSDOH  began a collaborative investigation with the CDC in December.  The investigation found that four other New York outpatient facilities had received Wallcur simulation saline. All facilities said they had ordered the real product and weren’t aware that they had received a simulation product until they were were notified by the NYSDOH. Fortunately none of the facilities had used the product yet.

Wallcur recalled all its saline simulation products from the market at the beginning of the year (see previous blog). Investigation was pursued by the CDC at a national level. So far nationally 9 adverse events have been reported for 25 people including 11 hospitalizations. Two deaths occurred even though it wasn’t clear that they were related to the administration of the product.  All clinical facilities that received the products confirmed that they were not aware at time of purchase that the product was intended for simulation only. Read more on the CDC website

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TestosteroneIn recent years the off-label use of testosterone has been exploding as doctors prescribed testosterone to their aging patient to improve their libido and make them feel more vigorous and younger. However, the FDA warned that recent studies indicate that the off label use of testosterone as the ultimate anti-aging therapy may  increase cardiovascular risks.  Testosterone was only approved by the FDA to treat hypoginadism, a condition of the sex glands that can be genetic or result from damages of chemotherapy or infection.   Therefore the FDA is now requiring all manufacturers of approved prescription testosterone to change their labeling to clarify the approved used of the medication and warn about  the possible increased risk of heart attacks and strokes associated with testosterone use. Read more in Medical Law Perspectives

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Polly+Trottenberg+Bill+De+BlasioFour NYC streets that have a very high pedestrian fatality rate may be completely redesigned and reconstructed in a safer way over the next four years. According to mayor de Blasio’s preliminary budget, 100 million will be allocated to make Queens Boulevard safer and the other 150 million will be allocated to Fourth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn as well as the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. These four streets have been identified as some of the most deadly streets in New York City and even though some safety upgrades such as lower speed limits and speed cameras have already been implemented, the city is planning to completely redesign them. According to officials, theses safety improvements should lead to a reduction of 30 to 40% of deaths and injuries on these streets. Read more in Transportation Nation
Picture: Mayor de Blasio and Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg

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A year ago 8 people were killed and many others suffered severe personal injuries in a gas explosion that destroyed two five-story buildings in Manhattan. A vigil led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was held this to mark the anniversary of this tragedy. Cecilio Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant who lost his wife and his daughter in the explosion will be among the attendees with Oscar, his teenager son who was badly injured and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. The family lived in the 1644 Park Avenue building. Four other victims lived in this building: Griselde Camacho, 44, Carmen Tanco, 67, George Amadeo, 44, and Alexis Salas, 22.  The two other victims 43 year old Andreas Panagopoulos and 34-year-old Mayumi Nakamura lived at 1646 Park Avenue.

The investigation indicates that the ground beneath the building was saturated with natural gas.

The 8:30 a.m. vigil was held at 108 E. 116th St. and attended by other survivors of the blast along with Mark-Viverito and other elected officials. Read more in the New York Daily News

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Dave Jones, a 21 year old pedestrian, was killed and several other people were injured in a car accident in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NYC  Sunday night. 18 year old Raymond Ramos was driving his Volkswagen Passat with two other occupants when he was pulled over by the police after they detected the smell of marijuana coming out of his car. Instead of pulling over the teenager sped off.  As he was fleeing from the police, Ramos hit another car and both vehicles careened onto the sidewalk where Ramos’s car hit a pedestrian. The two occupants of Ramos’car and the driver of the other car all sustained non life threatening personal injuries. The pedestrian, Dave Jones suffered a critical head injury and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Ramos was arrested and charged with Criminally Negligent Homicide, Vehicular Assault, First Degree Reckless Endangerment, Fleeing Officer in Motor Vehicle, Unauthorized Use of Vehicle, and Traffic Device Violation. Read more in the Gothamist

The death of David Jones and the arrest of Raymond Ramos reminds us of  4 year old Ariel Russo who was also killed on the New York City streets  by a teenager trying to flee the police (see previous blog)

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Two people were badly injured this morning in a bus accident in New York. The bus was about to enter a ramp connecting the Henry Hudson Parkway to the George Washington Bridge when it slid down the embankment north of Fort Washington Park. The two victims who were the only two people in the bus were rescued by the FDNY and taken to the hospital. The police are still investigating the cause of the crash. Read more on the NBC New York website

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Patient SafetyMedical errors and adverse events are among the leading causes of death and personal injury in the U.S. According to a recent study in the Journal of Patient Safety  the number of premature deaths associated with preventable harm to patients is estimated at more than 400,000 per year. Serious harm seems to be 10- to 20-fold more common than lethal harm.

The patient safety awareness week is an annual campaign led by the National Patient Safety Foundation to create awareness about patient safety among healthcare providers and their patients. The campaign is running this week and the subject is “United in safety” . The emphasis is on better communication between healthcare providers and patients to reduce adverse events or medical errors.

Tomorrow Wednesday March 11th at 8:30 pm ET anyone interested can join a twitter chat on patient and family engagement using  #PSAWunited to participate. People interested can also join a free webcast on patient safety on Thursday March 12th.

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Janet Hickey, a resident of City Island in the Bronx, NYC, was recovering from  brain surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital and was transferred by ambulance to Phelps Memorial Hospital, for  rehabilitation. During the trip between the two facilities, the ambulance that was transporting her crashed into a pole in Westchester County. During the accident, the 60 year old woman suffered serious head and neck injuries that left her brain dead. According to doctors who tried to save her after the accident, the woman wasn’t proprely strapped to her stretcher by the Senior Care Emergency Services ambulance staff. Read more in the New York Daily News

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The risk of  being injured in a manhole explosion will be at its highest this week for New Yorkers as salty melted ice and snow will pour into the city manholes after a sudden increase in temperature. Hundreds of manhole explosions have sent several people to the hospital this winter in New York City. The heavy use of salt in the streets of New York during the wintry weather is to blame for these explosions.  The salty melting ice gets through the street cracks and erodes the underground electrical wires and cables causing dangerous manhole explosions that can injure passers by.There were well over a thousand of them so far this winter according to Con Ed. 600 explosions were reported in New York City in the first week of February alone. To prevent these explosions Con Ed started to install manhole covers with grates. These covers don’t prevent fire but at least in case of a fire they allow smoke to escape thus preventing an explosion.

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Pigment_stone_extractionAfter two patients died and many other suffered personal injury from a recent “superbug”outbreak involving duodenoscopes, the safety of these medical devices (see previous blog) and the method used by hospitals to reprocess them are being questioned. In a recent Hazard Report, the ECRI Institute is recommending culturing Duodenoscopes as a key step to reducing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).  The Institute believes that duodenoscope procedures are vital when treating and diagnosing conditions of the gall bladder and pancreas with Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures and the risk of infection can be mitigated if hospitals upgrade their reprocessing methods by also scope culturing.The Institute recommemds that hospitals not only check with the duodenoscope manufacturer as to whether they are using the appropriate reprocessing method but also add a baseline culture of all duodenoscpoes.  Read the complete ECRI High Priority Hazard Report 
Picture Duodenoscopy image of two pigment stones extracted from common bile duct courtesy of Wikipedia

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