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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Pipe_installation_2During the summer, outdoor construction workers such as those raking asphalt or sweating pipes can suffer from personal injury such as dizziness, discomfort and the fogging of safety glass and put themselves and others at risk of accidents. In some cases heat exhaustion can even lead to death. According to OSHA statistics an average of 30 construction workers die every year from heat stroke.

Construction workers can mitigate these types of injuries by arriving at work rested, wearing light clothing, drinking water every 15 minutes, doing demanding tasks in early morning when the heat is lower and when resting in a shady area is possible. Workers should also check their colleagues for signs of illness. Symptoms of heat exhaustion include headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, weakness, moist skin, mood changes such as irritability or confusion, upset stomach and vomiting. Heat stroke is an immediate threat to life. Rapid cooling with ice packs or cold water must begin at once. A victim may sweat a lot, but some may have hot, dry skin and no sweating. Either way, it’s an extreme emergency. Call 911 immediately.  For more info see the CPWR Hot Weather Toolbox

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BriefingBook_SiteBriefing Book: Medical Malpractice by the Numbers is a yearly compilation by the Center for Justice and Democracy  of all recently published statistics and research related to Medical Malpractice in the US. The Briefing book cover Medical Malpractice Litigation, Health Care Costs and “Defensive Medicine” , Tort Reform, Medical Malpractice Insurance,  Patient Safety and a special chapter related to Army Medicine.

Medical Malpractice Litigation

Recent studies added to the briefing book confirm that a very low percentage of individuals are filing claims or lawsuits when medical malpractice is being committed against them or a family member. A 2014 analysis of National Practitioner Data Bank(NPDB) by Public Citizen indicates that between 93 and 98 percent of deaths from medical negligence did not result in any liability payment. Compared to 2001, the year in which the most medical malpractice payments were made, the number and size of medical malpractice claims, lawsuits and payments stayed at an historical low in recent years.  Most of the compensation theses days is made for serious personal injury or wrongful death and high verdicts are almost always reduced.

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Medtronic announced yesterday that certain lots of its neonatal and pediatric Covidien Shiley(TM) tracheostomy tubes are defective and can seriously injure children. The defective products were formed with a wider-angle bend than standard models, making it difficult for patients to breath.  In its press released Medtronic indicates that it already started to notify hospitals and distributors at the end of May. The company also asks that customers and distributors  notify primary care physicians and home care providers to whom they provided such devices. Read the press release 

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Bicycle accidents injuries deaths NYC April 2015A man died in an accident between a bicycle and a truck in New York City. The man who was 57 years old was riding his bicycle at the Corner of Church Ave and Ocean Ave near Prospect Park in Brooklyn when he was struck by a box truck.

According to the police both the cyclist and the truck were riding in the same direction when they collided. The bike rider was run over by the rear wheels of the truck. The police found him with severe trauma to his body and he was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital. Read more in the Mean Streets section of the Brooklyn Paper

For the last two years 3 people died in a bicycle accident in the month of June. Even though the Vision Zero Program includes several measures to protect bicyclists from being hurt or dying in dangerous traffic crashes the recent collision statistics published by the NYPD show no decline in deaths and injuries related to bicycle accidents in New York City.

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CO55 year old Nilda Sing was found dead in her apartment after she was apparently poisoned by  carbon monoxide fumes coming from a defective boiler. The woman was living in a basement apartment of a four-story building on Fort Hamilton Parkway near 55th St. in Borough Park, Brooklyn in New York City. She was discovered dead by her brother early Saturday morning. When the police and the firefighters arrived they detected a high level of CO in the basement and the 16 apartments of the building were temporarily evacuated. Nilda Sing’s sister who was also in the apartment but in another room with AC survived and only suffered personal injury. The origin of the deadly gas leak seemed to come from the boiler that was located just below the appartment of the victim. The boiler was not working proprely and a repair crew had been working on fixing it for the last two weeks. One of the workers didn’t comply with safety guidelines and secured the exhaust pipe with tape. The pipe burst on Friday.

Read more in the NY Daily News  and see video on New York CBS Local

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size_550x415_homeless9n-2-webJohileny Meran Almonte, a New York teen who has cerebral palsy and needs to use a wheelchair lost her mother to cancer in 2010. Since then she has been living in a homeless shelter while she was attending high school.

Last Friday, she graduated from Juan Morel Campos Secondary School with a 95 average. The valedictorian of a class of 86 students, she obtained a full scholarship from New York University where she wants to study to become a doctor to treat children with cancer.

Her counselor, Mariela Regalado helped her to apply to multiple colleges and Almonte landed a dozen acceptances and chose NYU. The student will move from the homeless shelter to the NYU campus but she still will have to pay for clothes, school supplies, rent and medical expenses.

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Montefiore_Medical_Center_logoMore than 12,500 patients of a New York Hospital had their financial records compromised after an assistant clerk sold them for $3 a piece to a ringleader who made purchases at various high end retailers in Manhattan. Between January and June 2013 32 year old Monique Walker who worked in the financial department of the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx sold information such as names of patients, social security numbers, credit card numbers and birth dates to 28 year old Fernando Salazar who was sending his “buyers” Patricia Charles, 43, Lawrence Davenport-Brown, 23 and Charde Lawrence, 28, of Staten Island, Ashly Garrett, 25, of Queens, Sasha Rivera, 31, of Brooklyn, and Crystal White, 32 to shop at various high end venues in Manhattan. They all face charges including grand larceny, possession of a forged instrument, identity theft, unlawful possession of personal identification information and related counts. Read more in the NY Daily News 

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verdict002Top 25 verdictLast year, our partners New York Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Sagir obtained a $8,570,000 verdict for a bicyclist who suffered personal injury after being hit by a bus in New York (see previous blog. This verdict is the 16th highest verdict of all verdicts obtained in New York in 2014. Therefore our firm is honored to be featured this week in the 2014 New York’s Top 25 Verdicts and Settlements section of New York Magazine. This verdict was also was the highest verdict in New York in 2014 for a bicycle accident involving another vehicle.

Since 1919 we have been representing victims of catastrophic injury and we are constantly thriving  to achieve the highest results for our clients and their family in order to help them get back to their life with dignity and independence. A few years ago our New York personal injury law firm obtained a 27.5 million verdict for a female pedestrian who lost her leg after being struck by New York City Transit Authority Bus (see previous blog). Last year, in addition to the above verdict we also obtained a $7,125 million verdict against the City of New York for a woman who was struck by a bus when riding her bike and a $5 million verdict against the Federal Government for a woman who died after being struck by a postal truck (see previous blog).

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New York Personal Injury lawyer Anthony GairA bill that makes it a felony for drivers to kill or injure others while driving without a license was passed yesterday by the New York State Senate. The bill was introduced by state Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) following the death of Noshat Nahian, an 8 year old pedestrian who was on his way to school when he was fatally struck  by a tractor-trailer driven by an unlicensed driver. Our partner, personal injury lawyer Anthony Gair (picture) who is in charge of the case commented: “This is a very important bill and long over due. In this tragic case, all charges against the driver were dismissed except for driving without a licence for which he paid an $85 fine. This is outrageous in a case in which Noshat was in the crosswalk with the right of way and easily visible at the time the tractor trailer turned left striking him. Hopefully the law will also discourage commercial carriers from hiring unlicensed truck drivers.” Read more in the Times Ledger

 

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A motorist who was speeding lost control of his car and crashed into a SUV , spun around ran into other parked cars, injuring himself and 3 other people including a a woman who was four months pregnant. What will it take to prevent these needless accidents caused by drivers who are so irresponsible they never consider the dire consequence of their behavior. Long term suspension of their licences would be a good start. When death or catastrophic injuries result jail would not be a bad idea. Too few accidents caused by reckless driving result in criminal prosecutions. See our post above.  The car accident happened last Friday around 7:00 pm on Boston Road near East Gunhill Road in the Bronx, NYC. Read more in the NY Daily News