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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wandering preventionIf a nursing home resident who suffers from dementia or Alzheimers gets injured because he or she wandered unsafely or into unsafe places, got hurt, eloped, got lost or became trapped in unsafe areas, the nursing home can be held liable for negligence because it failed to proprely supervise the resident.  Incidents of unsafe wandering happen most often in nursing homes that are understaffed or in which the staff is not proprely trained.

Because wandering represents a significant safety risk to older adults with dementia it is often a reason why a family makes the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home.  A good nursing home will train employees on how to prevent unsafe wandering and elopement, assess each patient on a regular basis as to his or her propensity to wander and balance safety and autonomy while implementing measures to deter unsafe wandering.

Families also need to understand the risks of unsafe wandering and elopement and what they can do to help. Discussions may prepare residents and family members who may be unused to seeing wandering behavior in others, and because residents may begin wandering after moving in, discussions might invite more conversation about past or current behaviors.

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A 35 year old pedestrian was in critical condition after he was hit by a car driven by a 44 year old retired police officer who was drunk. The retired NYPD cop crashed into the pedestrian as he was turning off the Henry Hudson Parkway onto Broadway near W. 254th street in the Bronx, NYC. He remained at the scene of the accident and was taken into custody for drunk driving. The pedestrian was rushed to the hospital in grave condition.

Every month in New York City, there are more than 100 vehicle accidents related to drunk driving. This number reached a peak of 235 in September 2014, went back down below 150 at the beginning of the year and was again above 150 in March 2015.

car accidents alcohol NYC

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A 68 year old Spanish woman visiting from Spain died in a bus accident in Manhattan last Thursday.  The woman was waiting to cross the street with her sister when a United Coach Line white bus that was parked just next to her pulled out of its spot and caught her under the front wheels. The scene unfolded in front of her sister who had to be hospitalized in shock. The United Coach Line bus had parked on Amsterdam Ave. outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where the Teacher’s College of Columbia University was holding a hooding ceremony. The university was also holding its commencement, so thousands of graduates and their families were milling about the neighborhood. The driver apparently didn’t see the victim before pulling out. Read more in the NY Daily News

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Two construction workers as well as several pedestrians and car passengers suffered personal injury in a crane accident in New York yesterday morning. The crane was hauling an air conditioning unit of the size of a shipping container to the top floor of a 30-story building at 261 Madison Avenue, N.Y.C. when a rigging strap broke. The unit first crashed into the side of the building before landing on Madison Avenue between 38th and 39th streets. 10 people were injured by the falling debris. The crane operating company, Skylift, had a similar accident in 2010 during which no one was injured and received two serious OSHA violations.

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Tracy_Morgan_5_Shankbone_2009_NYCTracy Morgan and other people who were injured after a Walmart truck crashed into their limo van have reached  a confidential settlement with the retailer.  The children of comedian James ‘Jimmy Mack’ McNair who was killed in the accident, settled a separate lawsuit for $10 million last January.  Our partner, New York personal injury lawyer Howard Hershenhorn, who is regularly quoted by the New York City Press,  told the Daily News that the deal was likely “multiples of that — many, many multiples of that.” He noted that Morgan, Fuqua and Millea have serious injuries they’ll likely deal with the rest of their lives, and that Morgan — who hasn’t worked since the accident — has a strong claim that his injuries have impacted his substantial earning power.  Read more here
Picture: wikipedia

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A 42 year old man died in a horrible bicycle accident in New York.  Yesterday night, around 11;30 pm, New York Court State Officers saw a silver Mercedes Benz sedan running a red light North of the Third Avenue Bridge in the Bronx. The Court Officers put on their flashing lights to stop the Mercedes but the driver sped off and and as he tried to make a turn on E.129th street he hit the bicyclist. The driver and the two passengers ran out of the car and disappeared leaving the cyclist dying on the road. The police are still looking for the three men.

 

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A woman driving a SUV lost control of her car and crashed into a supermarket in Flushing, Queens, NYC, injuring several people. A cashier was transported to the hospital in critical condition and several shoppers were injured. Police are still investigating why the SUV crashed into the supermarket.

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An elderly woman suffered personal injury after she lost control of her car and crashed into a doctor’s office in Long Island, NY. The auto accident was caught on tape by a camera that was previously installed by the doctor who got fed up after two other drivers previously slammed into the doctor’s office and fled the scene.  The tape shows the car barreling across the roadway barely missing another car and hitting the fence at full speed before ending up in the medical building owned by the doctor. The elderly woman was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The police are still investigating  the cause of the car accident.

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New York car accidentThe New York Daily News analyzed NYPD crash data from July 2012 to March 2015 to see if the Zero Vision Plan launched by Bill de Blasio was making the streets of New York City safer. According to the newspaper analysis that compared the road statistics after the Vision Zero Roll out from September to December 2014 with the same period of 2012, the results are mixed.  Some roads had very large decline in the numbers of vehicles accidents resulting in severe personal injuries or fatalities such as Broadway between 125th street to 95th Street in Manhattan but other roads saw an increase in accidents resulting in injuries or fatalities. For example during the months following a reduction of the speed limit on E. Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, car accidents on this road resulted in 50 fatalities or severe personal injuries while for the same period of 2012 this number was 33.

Read more in the New York Daily News

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Failure to diagnose neurosarcoidosis can be medical malpractice that can drastically impair the quality of life of a person. In its “Case of the Month” , the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAPA) discusses the case of a 68 year old woman who’s condition severely worsened after she was misdiagnosed. In 2011 the patient complained to her neurologist that she had difficulties walking. The neurologist’s diagnosis was normal pressure hydrocephalus and had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt placed to drain the increased Cerebrospinal fluid. The condition of the patient seemed to improve at the beginning but after two years the symptoms worsened and she developed double vision and couldn’t walk without a cane. The neurologist thought the problem was coming from the shunt and tried different adjustments that were unsuccessful.  The patient was using a walker and suffered from ataxia, weakness and increased urinary incontinence when she decided to consult with a neuromuscular clinic. The patient was diagnosed with a rare condition called neurosarcoidosis. The patient received cortocosteroids and her condition started to improve after 5 days.

Read the complete case in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAPA)