Articles Posted in Personal Injury
How can hospitals and other health care facilities mitigate the risk of falls and fall related injuries
Falls in hospitals can cause serious personal injury and sometimes death. Every year hundreds of thousands of people are falling in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing facilities or other healthcare facilities. 30 to 50% of them will sustain injury. Elderly people are not the only ones at risk. Medical conditions, medication, surgery, medical procedures or diagnostic testings for example can result in weakening and confusion for any patient independently of his or her age and increase the risk of a fall.
According to a recent alert from the Joint Commission, falls in hospitals are a prevalent patient safety problem. Even though it can be difficult and complex to prevent, hospital can take action to prevent them. Here are recommendations suggested by the Joint Commission:
- Raise awareness about the risk of falls by communicating it to clinical and non clinical staff at every level as well as to patients and their family
A pedestrian suffered serious personal injury in a hit and run accident in Queens, NYC
A young man was seriously injured after being struck by a car in New York City a little bit before 10:00 pm yesterday night. The pedestrian was crossing Union Turnpike near Woodhaven Blvd, in Forest Hills, Queens, when he was hit by the negligent driver. According to a witness, the car didn’t break and struck the pedestrian at full speed. The impact was so hard that the pedestrian went flying against a metallic dumpster at the corner of the street. The didn’t stop and fled the scene. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News
A year ago, a participant at a Vision Zero Queens South workshop pinpointed the dangerous intersection of Union Turnpike and Woodhaven Blvd (see picture below). Forrest Hill residents consider Union Turnpike very unsafe for both pedestrians and bicyclists. Last year the speed limit was lowered to 25 mph and this summer the police cracked down on speeding drivers to try to prevent accidents such as the one that happened yesterday night.
Two cases handled by New York Personal Injury Law Firm Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz made it to the 2015 New York’s Verdicts & Settlements Hall of Fame
We are proud to announce that a bicycle accident verdict and an auto accident settlement obtained by our New York personal injury attorneys have been listed in the 2015 New York Law Journal’s New York’s Verdict & Settlement Hall of Fame. Induction into the New York’s Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame is based on five years of verdicts and settlements submitted to the Verdict Search database. Those cases that could not be submitted due to confidentiality restraints were not considered. The practice area focus for this year’s Hall of Fame honors is Motor Vehicle.
The two cases handled by our firm that made it to the Hall of Fame are “Ortiz v. New York Transit Authority” and “Estate of Farinacci v. Powell”. In the first case, our personal injury attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir obtained a $8.57 million verdict for a bicyclist who suffered degloving injuries to her leg after being struck by a MTA bus in Manhattan. In the second case, attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Diana Carnemolla obtained a $8 million settlement for the husband and the 4 year old child of a 22 year old mother who was killed by a drunk driver. This settlement was the largest award in the State of New York for the wrongful death of a mother leaving one child surviving her.
11 people suffered personal injury in a New York bus accident
A motorcyclist was critically injured and 10 other people suffered minor injury after a bus collided with a car in New York City last Wednesday. The accident happened at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and 81st Road in Woodhaven, Queens. The bus that was transporting special needs adults collided with a Nissan Sedan. The impact was so hard that the bus rocked and almost tipped while the front of the Nissan sustained severe damage trapping the driver. Good Samaritans ran to him and tried to get him out of the car by breaking the windows. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News
New York City streets are getting safer with both traffic deaths and traffic personal injuries trending lower
4,737 people were injured and 21 died in 18,862 traffic accidents in New York City in August according to recent statistics released by the NYPD. The number of motor vehicle accidents has been increasing steadily over the last three years however the number of deaths and injuries are both on a declining trend in the city (click on graphs for a larger view) which indicates that New York City streets are getting a little safer.
Pedestrians are the most at risk of dying in a traffic accident in New York City. They represent more than half of the traffic fatalities. Last month 11 of them died after being struck by a vehicle compared to 6 during the previous month and 10 in August 2014.
While pedestrian fatalities are on a downtrend, bicycle accident fatalities have been increasing since the beginning of 2013. Last August 3 cyclists died in accidents. 3 cyclists also died in July bringing to 11 the total number of people who died in a bicycle accident this year. During the same period of 2013 and 2014 there were respectively 7 and 15 bicycle accident fatalities.
How to prevent construction accidents and injuries related to nanomaterials?
Nano-enabled construction products usage has been expanding fast but little is know about the potential health dangers of these products for construction workers who are exposed to them. Because manufacturers are not obligated to disclose that their products contain nanoparticles it makes it even more difficult for contractors and construction workers to identify these products and to protect themselves from potential injuries.
CPWR, the Center for Construction Research and Training, has dedicated resources to research these products. Researchers at CPWR have created a website ( http://nano.elcosh.org/ ) that contains information on over 400 construction products that are probably nano-enabled.
Tomorrow September 23rd at 2:00 pm (Eastern Time) CPWR will host a 20 minutes webinar to present this new website and the result of their research on nanomaterials used in construction. Participants will learn about the different types of exposures and how to use control technologies and respiratory protection against nanoparticles. They will also be briefed on the new products trends and will also learn how to navigate the new website hat contains over 450 products and numerous relevant documents. The seminar will be followed by a Q&A session.
A bicyclist suffered severe personal injury after being struck by a truck in Queens, New York City
A 19 year old was seriously injured in a bicycle accident Monday early morning in Queens. The young man was riding on the eastbound bicycle lane along 34th street in Corona when he was struck by a truck turning right onto 105th street. The accident happened at night around 1:15 am. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. The teenager was transported to the hospital where he is being treated for a severe leg injury. Read more in the NY Post
The intersection where the collision between the bicyclist and the truck happened. Picture courtesy of Google Map
To avoid additional costs to protect tenants from potential injury many New York property owners planning to do construction work falsify paper work by indicating the building is vacant
Tenants at many building in New York City and particularly rent-stabilized tenants are being endangered and harassed by negligent property owners that are allowed to start construction work after they asserted that their building was empty when filing with the NYC Department of Buildings.
Despite Mayor de Blasio’s blue print to improve the efficiency of the NYC DOB, and pledge to preserve and create rent stabilized apartment, tenants and some elected officials are complaining that the lack of enforcement has created a climate of lawlessness. A recent article in the New York Times explains how unscrupulous landlords and developers are defrauding the DOB with false fillings, endangering the life and safety of tenants and harassing them into leaving their apartments. The author, Mireya Navarro is providing numerous examples of cases where residents complaints were ignored or handled lightly by the Department of Buildings and owners were allowed to continue their work.
The Department of Buildings is aware of the false filling problem and has been working on upgrading their technology. Among the improvements, the DOB announced that it was about to launch Inspection Ready, a new online tool that is supposed to dramatically simplify compliance and reduce wait times when scheduling appointments for inspections. The system will include the ability to request and cancel appointments online, as well as view inspection results and documentation.
Two pedestrians were injured in two separate car accidents in the Bronx, NYC
A man suffered serious personal injury after he was intentionally run over by a driver with whom he had an argument minutes before the hit and run on 155th street and Union Street in the Bronx, NYC. The man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The police were looking for a black Ford Taurus with Pennsylvania plates seen driving away from the scene.
Less than two hours later a driver apparently distracted by the TV trucks at the scene of the previous accident struck a pregnant woman. The woman suffered leg injuries and was transported to the hospital. Her husband who with her when the accident happened had to be handcuffed by the police after he assaulted the driver.
Read more in the NYDaily News