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.
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According to statistics from the NYC Department of Buildings there were no fatalities at New York City construction sites during the first trimester of 2019 compared to 2 during the last trimester of 2018 and 4 during the same period a year ago. A total of 137 construction workers were injured in NYC during the first 3 months of the year compared to 158 during the previous trimester and 174 during the same period a year ago.  From April 1st 2018 to March 31st 2019, 8 construction workers died on the job, compared to 16 for the same period a year earlier. (click on graphs for full size)

Fatalities in the New York City Construction Industry
Among the 137 workers who were injured, 90 of them were working at Manhattan construction sites, 10 at Bronx sites, 23 at Brooklyn sites, 13 at Queens sites and 1 at  a Staten Island construction site.

Construction Accident Injuries NYC by boroughs
Most construction accident fatalities and deaths in New York City occur in Manhattan. Both fatalities and injuries are on a rising trend in Manhattan. However, on a positive note, it is the first time since 2015 that no hard hat death was recorded in Manhattan over a 5 month-period. 25 workers were injured at Manhattan construction sites in both January and March with a spike at 40 in February.

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New York Personal Injury Lawyer Ben RubinowitzOur Managing partner, New York Personal Injury Lawyer Ben Rubinowitz is the New National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA)] Board Chair. He succeeds L. Joseph Loveland and will hold this position for two years. He was introduced as the new Board Chair at the NITA Board’s annual meeting on April 25-26 at the organization’s headquarter located in Boulder Colorado. During the meeting, three new members were also elected to the Board of Trustees: Judge George C. Hanks, Jr. of Houston, Daniel M. Kotin of Chicago, and Whitney M. Untiedt of Miami.

State of the Art Advocacy Programs

A non profit organization created in 1969, NITA is made up of a volunteer network of lawyers, judges and esteemed advocates across the globe. Based in Boulder Colorado since 2010, the organization provides top level advocacy programs that give attorneys the opportunity to learn and practice skills such as taking depositions, making opening and closing arguments, examining witnesses, and more.  NITA courses are being taught all over the US and internationally. The Boulder Education Center offers 6 meeting rooms that can be configured into courtrooms with tablet review and recording, providing lawyers a chance to learn and develop their skills in a safe environment without the stakes of a real courtroom.

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4 children and two adults died in a fire accident in New York early wednesday. The fire broke out a little after 1:30 am in the apartment where 45 year old Andrea Pollidore was living with her stepson 32 year old Matt Abdularauph and her 4 young children, 3 year old Elijah, 6 year old Brooklyn, 8 year old Andre and 11 year old Nakaira. Located on the fifth floor of the Frederick E. Samuel Houses at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. and W. 142nd St, the 3 bedroom apartment was completely destroyed by the flames. The fire started from the kitchen burning stove that was left unattended. No fire alarm went on and the fire spread quickly to the entire apartment while the family was asleep. When they woke up it was too late. They were trapped in their rooms and couldn’t access the door or the fire escape anymore.  When the firefighters arrived flames were pouring out of five windows of the apartment.  When they reached the two rear rooms they found the six occupants dead.

This accident is one of the most deadly New York fire accidents. A candlelight vigil was held in front of the building. Mayor de Blasio was on the site as well and said the entire city was saddened by the tragedy. The family were beloved members of the community. According to friends and family, Pollidore was a wonderful single mother and a nurse who loved her children and would give her life for them.

NYCHA said a new smoke alarm was installed in the apartment in 2017 but the firefighters couldn’t find it and tenants testified that they didn’t hear any alarm. When the FDNY checked the apartments near the one that burned all of them had relatively new and working detectors. Investigators will have to find out why there were none recovered in the apartment.

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Top 10 patient safety concern in 2019As medicine evolves so do the risks for medical malpractice. Here are the top main risks according to  the 2019 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns recently published by the ECRI Institute:

  1. Improper use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) can be medical malpractice that can cause severe harm and sometimes death.  Diagnoses that are not proprely communicated or followed up are the number one concern when it comes to patient safety in 2019.  Too often, the 3 main components of the EHR, The diagnosis, the treatment plan and the follow up plan are inaccurate or missing. As a result, the risk of diagnostic error increases.
  2. The second biggest cause of concern for patient safety is the over prescription of antibiotics to patients that increases their antibiotic resistance and as a result limits their future treatment options. The over prescription of antibiotics affect particularly seniors who believe antibiotics can help them to feel better in almost any type of situation and doctors who are handing them out like candies.
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Donna Sturm was killed by a cyclistDonna Sturm, a pedestrian who suffered traumatic brain injury after being struck by a bicyclist in midtown Manhattan almost two weeks ago died from her injuries over the week-end. Donna was left in a coma since the accident that occurred on April 24 around 1:00 pm. The 67 year old woman was coming back from lunch and was crossing 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues when  a bicyclist identified as 40-year old Damian Dewart recklessly ran the red light and struck her. (see our previous blog for more details on the accident)

Our managing partner, New York Personal Injury Attorney Ben Rubinowitz who is representing the family of  Donna Sturm  issued the following statement on behalf of the family:

Donna Sturm was a vibrant, energetic and wonderful woman who died as a result of carelessness and negligence.

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Location of the fatal truck accidentA pedestrian was fatally struck by a USPS truck in New York City. The accident occurred on Friday around 5:00 pm in Brooklyn.  52 year old Charles McClean was crossing MacDougal Street at Howard Avenue in Bedforsd-Suyvesant when a USPS truck stopped in the crosswalk. As the pedestrian walked in front of the truck, the driver started  to move forward and struck the pedestrian. The pedestrian fell underneath the truck and was dragged across the the street by the truck to the next crosswalk. Charles McClean was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries but he couldn’t be saved. He leaves behind him 2 twin 10-year-old daughters.  Just before the accident, McClean mother’s sent him to the store to get lottery tickets. He never came back. The mother, 72-year-old Shirley McClean previously lost two other of her eight sons. One died from gun violence and the other one from a medical infection.

USPS drivers above the law

The USPS driver remained at the scene of the accident, so far he hasn’t been charged. One of the surviving brothers, Gregory Mclean told Streetblog that the intersection wasn’t safe because most drivers only looked to their left for oncoming cars but din’t look at their right for oncoming pedestrians. He also said that postal workers in the neighborhood were reckless drivers always rushing to clock out  and accused the young postal driver wo killed his brother of homicide. Another brother, Arkim, mentioned that USPS trucks didn’t have license plates therefore they couldn’t get ticketed by the police. No tickets means no accountability, he said.

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toddler killed by van locationA toddler was fatally struck by a van in New York City. The pedestrian accident occured yesterday around 12:45 pm in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, NYC. The van which was delivering candies and had Kittles and Starbust logos on it, was making a turn from Bay 25th street onto Benson Avenue when he ran over the 3-year-old Emur Shavkator who was riding a small green scooter. The boy was with his mom and another child. His mother was frantically trying to pull him from underneath the van. When the EMS arrived the boy was unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The van driver wasn’t exercising due care and killed the young pedestrian

The driver of the van, 61 year old Johnny Gonzalez of Bensonhurst, stayed at the scene of the accident. He was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. There is a stop sign just before the sidewalk where the van struck the young boy. However according to a crossing guard working nearby who spoke with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, many drivers in the area are behaving dangerously. “I see drivers do stupid things here all the time. They race by me, they run lights, stop signs and sometimes I try to get their license plates, but it happens so fast,” she said. “I hope we can find a way for people to just slow down.” Residents also confirmed that drivers were constantly blowing the stop sign on Bay 25th Street.

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New York Construction SiteAs part of its yearly Safety Week Campaign, the New York City Department of Buildings will deploy 90 safety inspectors throughout the city to inspect construction sites and educate construction workers about safety. This year the inspectors will emphasize the new Local Law 196 compliance and distribute written material in various languages. The inspectors will have various backgrounds and will come from the Department’s newly created Construction Safety Compliance and Construction Safety Enforcement units, the Cranes and Derricks Unit, the Scaffold Safety Unit, and the Special Operations Unit.

5000 construction site visit in one week

The inspectors will not only promote safety by distributing flyers but will also effectuate regular safety sweeps and take necessary actions if needed. If the construction sites visited do not comply with safety standards, contractors and developers could face up to $25 k penalties and even see their construction site temporary closed if the lives of the construction workers are being endangered. The DOB inspectors will visit approximately 5000 sites between May 6 and 10.

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Blog_Medical_Malpractice-thumbArmy medical staff and doctors should be accountable for medical malpractice says a bipartisan group of House lawmakers that just announced a legislation that would allow malpractice lawsuits against the military by creating an exemption to the Feres Doctrine, a 69-year-old legal precedent barring that legal action. This new legislation is coming after congressional hearings of victims of military medical mistakes last April.

One of the key victims testifying was Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal.  The 37-year-old green beret who miraculously survived a pierced lung after being shot by a sniper when he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 is now fighting for his life again because of  of gross medical malpractice by army doctors. In 2017, after struggling with severe breathing issues Stayskal went to visit a civilian doctor who diagnosed him with stage 4 lung cancer. Previously Stayskal consulted with Army doctors who diagnosed him with bad pneumonia. The Army doctors misdiagnosed the tumor in his lung, allowing it to double in size and spread to vital organs. A father of two young daughters, Stayskal has a one year life expectancy.

Also appearing in front of Congress last month was the widow of 25 year old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Witt. The young man was admitted  at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California for a routine appendectomy. He was left in a vegetative state after a nurse anesthetist inserted a breathing tube into his esophagus instead of his trachea or airway, depriving his brain of oxygen. His family decided to remove him from life support one month after the operation.

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Chicken CoopIn 2018, 120 Americans died and 25,606 suffered illness after being contaminated by dangerous food. 5,893 of them had to be hospitalized to be treated. Produce caused half of the illnesses, then in order meat and poultry, dairy and eggs, fish and shellfish.

The infections are caused by 7 main bacteria ad 1 parasite:

  1. 9,084 cases of Salmonella caused 2,416 hospitalizations and 36 deaths. Salmonella is mainly found in eggs and chicken