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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Severely injured women are 21% less likely to receive appropriate care in a trauma center than men. Results are similar for women injured after a fall or a car accident, across all income levels and also when comparing rural versus urban patients according to a study , led by Andrea Hill, MSc, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and the University of Toronto in Canada, and presented yesterday at the American Thoracic Society International Conference .

The researchers studied more than 98,800 patients admitted to trauma centers for severe injuries. Results show that 49.6% of women and 63.2% of men received care after being severely injured.

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young%20workers%20accident%20prevention.jpgEvery 9 minutes a young worker suffers injury at work. In 2010, 328 teens died and 110’000 were injured at their workplace. Most accidents are due to unsafe equipment, insufficient training and supervision, dangerous work not appropriate for teens, pressure to perform better and stressful environment. Accidents happen mostly in retail, restaurant & fast food, cleaning & maintenance, outdoor work, construction, industry, agriculture and in offices. There is an increase of accidents in the summer as young people are finishing school and starting a new job or simply trying to make a little extra money during their vacations.

Young workers are twice as likely to get hurt on the job than older workers and often they are not aware of their rights. For this reason OSHA just launched a campaign that includes a special young workers web section as well as specific brochures for young workers on landscaping, retail work and grain engulfment. Brochures on landscaping and retail also exist in Spanish

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Raechel and Jacqueline Houck died driving a rental car that had been recalled for a power steering hose defect but had not been repaired. The car caught fire because of the defect while traveling on the highway, causing a loss of steering and a head-on collision with a semi-trailer truck.

To make sure this tragedy is not repeated, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have introduced a bill that would ban rental car companies from renting cars that have been recalled by manufacturers. The bill is named in memory of the two sisters who tragically died in a rental car that had been recalled by the manufacturer but wasn’t repaired by the rental car company (see picture).
Hearing in the Senate is planned for May 21st.

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In New York City, some 70,000 motor vehicle crashes are reported every year and among them 250 are fatal crashes, 3000 crashes lead to serious personal injury . 10,000 crashes involved pedestrians struck by a car or another vehicle such as a bus or a truck.

Slow%20Zone.jpgIn order to reduce the frequency and the severity of these crashes the New York City Department of Transport has been running a Community based Neighborhood Slow Zone Program. Last year a dozen neighborhoods in the city had their application accepted and a speed limit of 20 mph with signage, gateways as well as speed bumps is being implemented this year. New Applications can now be filed by communities until the end of this month.

Many cities in Europe are already running this type of program. In London Slow Zone program saw a reduction a more that 40 % of fatal and severe injury crashes and the average speed in theses area will now be reduced to 9 mph. In the Netherlands crashes dropped by 25% in slow zones and in Barcelona by 27%. Similar results are expected in New York City’s newly created Slow Zones.

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A new inexpensive prototype device provides non invasive and instant diagnosis of brain injury to determine if the brain is swelling or if it is bleeding.The device can be combined with a cell phone for remote diagnosis according to a new study from University of California, Berkeley.

Brain%20trauma%20diagnostic.jpgA research team led by Boris Rubinsky, Professor of the Graduate School at UC Berkeley’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and César A. Gonzáleza professor in Mexico at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Superior de Medicina (National Polytechnic Institute’s Superior School of Medicine) has developed a new technology using wireless signal that could transform brain injury diagnostics.

A prototype was tested in a pilot study involving healthy adults, and patients with brain damage. The engineers fashioned an helmet-like device that was broadcasting electromagnetic signals through the brain. Based on the signal received the researchers were able to identify which patient was suffering from a brain injury and which patient was healthy. Signals were able to differentiate brain edemas, for which swelling results from an increase in fluid in the tissue, from brain hematomas, which are internal bleeding causing the buildup of blood in certain regions of the brain.

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a specific staph bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics and therefore very difficult to treat. If not diagnosed on time MRSA can be life threatening. MRSA is a major concern for hospitals where the superbug can attack older patients or those suffering from weakened immune system. Patients necessitating medical tubing such as intravenous line or catheters are also at risk as well as patients staying in nursing homes. MRSA is also an issue in child care centers, military camps and jails.

There is an urgent need to find therapeutic ways to fight this superbug. In research appearing in the Journal PLOS ONE , Shelley Haydel, a researcher at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute demonstrate that particular metal ions attached to the clay may have the potential to kill MRSA as well as a range of other dangerous pathogens including E-coli. Medical property of clay has been recognized since antiquity when it was used for its wound healing property.

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According to a new study by New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill-Cornell Medical College presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW), usual methods to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal problems are controversial and lead to a high rate of misdiagnosis.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) happens when stomach acid or bile flows back into the esophagus from the stomach, causing acid reflux and heartburn. The usual method used to treat this condition is to submit the patient to an eight eight-week trial of proton-pump inhibitors (PPI) and then to observe the patient to see if symptoms subside.

According to David Kleiman, MD, a research fellow in the department of surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital, “Many patients remain on proton-pump inhibitors for years after the trial period without any confirmation that they are being treated for the right diagnosis,”. This leads to unnecessary expenses and increased medical risks linked to extended PPI use.

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After 4 children died and 360 suffered injury in 1200 strollers incidents that occurred from 2008 through 2012, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently proposed a federal safety standard for strollers.

The report of incidents would scare any mother or caregiver. In one of the fatal accidents the head of the infant became entrapped between the seat and the tray. In the second fatality the infant’s head was wedged between the car seat of a travel system and a metal bar located under the cup holder. In the third accident the stroller collapsed on the child resulting in asphyxiation. In the fourth incident the stroller fell off a dock and the child drowned, however there were not sufficient details to define whether incident was product related.

Among the non fatal incidents reported injuries were mostly lacerations requiring stitches, tooth extractions, fractures head injuries and partial amputation of fingers.

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There is a higher rate of failure to diagnose breast cancer among women who are screened using computed radiography compared to women who are screened using digital direct radiography according to a new study lead by Anna M. Chiarelli, Ph.D., senior scientist in Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto, and published online in the journal Radiology.

The study results show that cancer detection with digital mammography that involves direct radiography technology was similar to that with screen film mammography in women aged 50–74 years; however, for computed radiography the risk of cancer detection is significantly lower-by 21%-among all screening techniques.

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New%20York%20City%20Commercial%20Bicycle%20Accident%20Prevention%202.jpgIn New York, bicycle accidents are too frequent among delivery employees and the resulting injuries are often catastrophic or even fatal. To protect delivery cyclists from severe accidents, The City of New York will soon be enforcing new rules for commercial bicycling.

Commercial bicyclists will be required to take a bicyclist safety course. Courses will be available in English, Spanish and Chinese.

New%20York%20City%20Commercial%20Bicycle%20Accident%20Prevention.jpgBusiness owners who employ delivery bicyclists will have to post a commercial bicyclist safety poster where employees can easily see it. Additionally they will have to maintain a bicyclists roster with detailed information on each employee.