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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Diane HoffmanCan medical malpractice lawsuits help reduce opioid addiction?  In a recent opinion in the New York Times Diane Hoffman  a law professor and the director of the Law and Health Care program at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law is warning about the consequences of erroneous criminal prosecutions of doctors who treat chronic pain patients. While she agrees that bad actors who are over prescribing drugs for profit should be punished, she worries that good doctors may under threat their patients for fear of being investigated and prosecuted.  While she recognizes that opioid addiction and abuse is a major issue that should be addressed by law enforcement, she also believes that the 100 million American patients who are suffering from serious pain condition shouldn’t be under treated. We agree that doctors who specialize in treating patients for chronic pain should not be subject to criminal prosecution. However, those doctors who run so called prescription mills and write narcotic prescriptions for anyone who walks in the door should be criminally prosecuted. Doctors who have no training in the field of pain medication and over prescribe narcotics resulting in fatal overdoses may be liable for medical malpractice. The fact is that lawyers who specialize in medical malpractice will not bring these cases unless the prescribing doctor blatantly over prescribed without any medical basis. Ms. Lane’s statement that doctors who under prescribe pain medication may be subject to medical malpractice law suits is based on one 15 year old case in which a doctor was found liable for elder abuse for under prescribing pain medication to an elderly man dying of cancer. In reality these types of cases are rarely brought.

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Running injuries are unfortunately extremely common. Over a full year, an estimated 90% of runners will temporarily stop training because they have been inured. It is not very clear why runners are getting injured. Some blame it on their new shoes, others on excessive body weight or some believe they were injured because they increase mileage too fast. It is difficult to clinically determine the exact cause of the high rate of injuries among runners.

A study published in the British Journal of Sport Medicine recently looked at pounding or impact loading. The researchers recruited 249 females who were experienced recreational runners. They studied their injury history  and used technical devices to determine their impact load. The researchers discovered that 21  runners had never been injured before the study and weren’t injured either during the two years observation time. This small group of non injured runners was compared to the group of runners who suffered the most serious injuries. They discovered that the never injured runners were landing much more lightly on their feet than the badly injured runners. One of the doctor mentioned being amazed by one of the woman they studied and who had one of the lowest impact landings. He said: “When you watched her run, it was like seeing an insect running across water. It was beautiful.” The woman ran several marathons and never sustained any injury.

If your are an avid runner, next time you are training try to make a conscious effort to land more lightly to avoid potential injuries. Doctors involved in the study also recommend landing closer to the mid-foot instead of on the heel. It may help soften the landing. You may also consider increasing the number of steps you take per minute. Smaller but faster steps are better. The study also demonstrated that increasing the cadence may reduce the impact loading. Imagine that you are walking over eggshells.

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car washA veteran car wash worker died two weeks ago in the Bronx, NYC, and “The Car Wash Campaign” is asking for a full investigation into the death of the worker to see if the chemicals that he used may have been the cause of his death. 36 year old William Alberto Castellano Gomez who had been working for the last nine years at C&P Car Wash in the Bronx, NYC started to vomit after work and told his family he suffered from general pain while at work. Two days later he was hospitalized for one night and then released. He died at his home several hours after he was released from the hospital.

On August 21, 2015 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on Hydrofluoric Acid Injury from Car and Truck Washing. Hydrofluoric Acid is contained in many car and truck wash products. The report points out that, “Exposure to hydrofluoric acid (HF) causes corrosive chemical burns and potentially fatal systemic toxicity”. Read the full report here.

According to activists who are pushing for reform in the industry, car wash workers are using unlabeled chemicals that they are constantly inhaling while they are at work. Even though no proven connections have been established yet in this case, car wash workers have often been complaining about health issues that they believe are related to the inhaling of dangerous chemicals.

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United_States_Postal_Service_TruckA woman was killed in a truck accident in Brooklyn, NYC, early this morning. For some mysterious reason, 52 year old Dorria Campfield from the Bronx was lying face down in the middle of Fulton Ave near Roackaway Ave at 5:00 am this morning when a US postal truck ran over her. The driver said it din’t realized it was a person. He thought it was a bump.  After he realized what happened, the 66 year old driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charge.

Recently our personal injury law firm obtained a $4.6 million verdict for the family of a woman who was killed by a postal truck while she was riding her bike. (see previous blog)

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Kew_GardensA commuter was killed after being dragged by a New York City Subway. The accident happened yesterday night at the Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens in Queens, NYC around 6:45 pm. The man was boarding the southbound F train when he got caught between the doors. The train then took off, dragging the man along the platform.  He was transported to the hospital where he later died. The New York Post reported the man may have been intoxicated. The police are investigating.

Door holding is something that New York Subway riders are practicing everyday but in this case a part of the man’s clothes apparently got caught in the closed doors and the engineer may have in fact received a signal that the doors were closed.

Picture: the subway station where the accident happened, source Wikipedia

 

 

 

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deblasioA week after a man died in a crane collapse in New York, the Mayor announced that the city will kick off a massive inspection blitz of construction sites and quadruple penalties for serious violations of safety on construction sites. The construction boom in the city has led to a dramatic increase of construction accidents. Last year there were 433 accidents, an increase of 75%  compared to 2014. Before the boom in 2009 there were  218 accidents, 98% less than in 2015.  According to DOT investigations, most of the construction accidents that happened last year in New York City could have been prevented if the contractor had simply followed the existing safety rules. Unfortunately too often contractors and developers are cutting corners and putting the life of their workers at risk to increase their profit.

Despite the cold weather Mayor de Blasio held his press conference in front of a East Village Construction site where a construction worker fell to his death on Christmas Eve. 33 year old Luis Alberto Pomboza, was working on the renovation of a multi-family  townhouse at 356 East 8th Street. Pomboza was demolishing a wall when a large portion of the wall fell on him and caused him to fall 4 stories. An Ecuadorian immigrant and father of 5, Pomboza was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died there from serious head trauma.  The construction site superintendent who was legally required to be on the construction site to ensure the safety of workers and the public wasn’t there when the accident happened. De Blasio indicated that last year 70% of the construction accidents in New York City occurred in buildings with 10 stories or less. Therefore the investigation blitz  that starts this week will focus on these types of construction sites. Inspectors will target contractors with bad safety records and working on buildings lower than 10 stories as well as all construction sites higher than 15 stories. The DOB will inspect a total of 1,500 job sites in the 90 coming days.

Fines for “serious failures to safeguard construction sites” will increase from $2,400 to $10,000 and if the construction site is lacking a site superintendent the penalty will reach a maximum of $25,000 instead of $5,000. Additionally starting in July, superintendents will be required for all major construction projects at buildings under 10 stories. Superintendents will be required to log daily reviews of site safety.

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A pedestrian was fatally hit by a dump truck in New York City on Friday. The accident between the truck and the pedestrian happened at the intersection of 11th Avenue at West 37th Street, Manhattan, in front of the Javits Center. The 48 year old woman was crossing 11th Avenue when the truck made a right turn from 37th Street onto 11th Ave.  Brenda Katz who was in a cab just behind the truck told DNA Info that the pedestrian was most probably in the dead angle of the truck driver and that he didn’t see her. She said the back wheel of the truck ran over her. The woman died at the scene of the accident. According to the Daily News the victim was travelling from Canada.

dump truck accident location

 

 

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Hudson and LaighA bicyclist was critically injured after he collided with a truck in New York last Thursday. The accident happened at the intersection of Hudson Street and Laight Street in Tribeca around 6:40 pm. The 50 year old bike-rider was pedaling North on Hudson Street when he collided with a crane truck driving West on Laight Street. The crane truck is owned by the company “Service Sign Erectors”. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. According to the NY Daily News the bicyclist ran the red light. The accident is being investigated by the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad.

Picture of the intersection: Google Map

 

 

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A 63 year old grandmother died in a truck accident yesterday in New York. The accident happened yesterday night at 8:48 pm at the intersection of Broadway and West 165th Street in Manhattan. Maria Minchala had just come out of the church and was on her way to work. She was crossing Broadway in the crosswalk when a flatbed truck hit her.

The truck driver who was operating a NYC Tire and Auto Care Inc. truck, was making a left turn onto Broadway when he hit her. He stayed at the scene of the accident and told the police that he never saw the victim. He explained that as he was turning he felt a bump and pulled over. He stepped out and discovered the victim.

Maria Minchala was rushed to the hospital but she didn’t survive. She was the second pedestrian to die in a traffic accident in NYC yesterday. Earlier in the day a 16 year old girl was fatally struck by a hit and run van in Queens (see previous blog)

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Kids_at_daycareIn New York City, too many kids are seriously injured or even die every year because their day caregivers ignore safety regulations and break laws according to a special investigation that is being published Today in the New York Daily News. The newspaper investigated the 11,513 licensed day care centers in the city and found that “The New York City day care system is plagued with terrifying overcrowding and lack of oversight, putting the lives of children across the city in danger.” Over the last 3 years, five children died, 8 suffered serious personal injury in New York day care centers. Additionally 9 kids were reported lost while under the supervision of day care staff.  Adding to the danger are  also the increasing number of illegal day care centers which are operating out of apartments and houses without any license.

According to New York State Law a caregiver can not take care more than 6 children. However because care givers are paid by child most of them ignore this rule and put money ahead of child safety.  Hundreds of complaints related to overcrowding are being filed every year.  Kids don’t have enough space to sleep. They are getting injured because they are not proprely supervised or get lost in parks and play grounds.

According to the investigation, even though the number of negligent day care centers that are being shut down by the city nearly tripled between 2011 and 2015, some day care centers that previously committed gross negligence are still in operation. For example Kathy’s Day Care in Elmhurst, Queens had a special needs child leave the facility without being noticed. The child was found wandering in the middle of Junction Boulevard by a car driver who luckily was able to break in time to avoid hitting him. Kathy received a citation but still continues to operate. Would you feel comfortable leaving your child there?

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