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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Tappan Zee Bridge3 men died after their tugboat crashed into a barge at a Tappan Zee Bridge construction site on Saturday morning.

63 year old Paul Amon from New Jersey, 29 year old Timothy Conklin from Long Island and 56 year old Harry Hernandez from Staten Island were the 3 crew members of the  tugboat “Specialist” that sank Saturday morning after crashing into a stationary construction barge belonging to Tappan Zee Constructors . The rescuers were able to find the bodies of Amon and Conklin. Searches to find Hernandez who is presumed dead were suspended sunday night according to The Associated Press.

The accident happened Saturday morning. The “Specialist” was one of three tugboats that were pushing a crane barge from Albany to New Jersey. The “Specialist” was located at the right of the barge while the second tugboat was on the left and the third one in the back. As they arrived at the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site, the “Specialist” hit a stationary construction barge. Before the accident happened, the crew sent a radio message saying “”We are too close. We have to move left,” but it was too late. The tugboat sank 40 feet within minutes with the 3 men on board. The tugboat also leaked into the Hudson some of the 5000 gallons of fuel that were on board at the time of the accident.

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A young woman was seriously injured in a car accident in New York City early morning Saturday.  As she went to help a  drunk driving girlfriend in a disabled car, she ended plunging 30 feet off an highway overpass after being caught in a chain reaction accident. The accident happened as follows.

Around 5:00 am Saturday morning, 22 year old Samantha Maloney who was drunk driving, crashed her car into a concrete median on a Whitestone Expressway  overpass near Grand Central Parkway in Flushing, Queens. The car was left disabled on the right shoulder. Instead of calling 911, Samantha called her girlfriend Victoria Garratt, also 22 years old, to the rescue. Victoria showed up a few minutes later at the scene of the accident.  At the same time Christopher Pierce, an off-duty FDNY EMT who was driving by, stopped his car and offered assistance to the two young women.  According to officials, Pierce parked his car “at an angle” in front of Samantha’s disabled car. As the three of them were waiting for “official” rescuers to arrive, a 38 year old off-duty NYPD lieutenant who was driving by tried to swerve to avoid them but instead he crashed into them. The impact was so strong that it sent Victoria flying over the highway overpass. She landed 30 feet on the road below.  The young woman almost died in the accident. According to the Gothamist she was so badly injured that she may end up paralyzed for the rest of her life. Pierce was also injured in the car accident. His arm was broken. Samantha was not injured but she was arrested for drunk driving. If investigators determine that she caused her girlfriend’s injuries she may be charged with reckless endangerment.  The 38 year old off-duty cop was tested for alcohol and had a 0.02 blood alcohol level which is well below the legal level of 0.08. Investigators will have to determine if he was driving at an appropriate speed.

 

 

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Among the various types of medical malpractice suffered by hospital patients, misdiagnosis accounts for approximately 10% of patient deaths. In a recent Opinion Page from the New York Times, Sandeep Jauhar, a Long Island cardiologist, wants to Bring Back the Autopsy as a weapon to fight misdiagnosis.

With the evolution of medicine and the proliferation of medical tests, autopsy doesn’t seem as essential these days as it was in the past to determine the cause of death of a patient. Before 1971, community hospitals were required to perform autopsies on 20% of their dead patients to earn their accreditation from the Joint Commission. This requirement was dropped after that date. Furthermore in 1986, Medicare considered autopsies financially draining and stopped paying for them. Now an autopsy is mostly considered by doctors as an educational tool.

Recent studies however have demonstrated that despite the medical technological advances autopsy can be a very effective manner to reduce the rate of hospital misdiagnosis.  In his opinion Sandeep Jauhar suggests that Medicare and private insurers pay for them again so that financial considerations doesn’t limit their use.

 

 

 

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Vision Zero mapA pedestrian was fatally struck by a van in NYC on Thursday. The accident happened at the intersection of Jerome Avenue and Shakespeare Avenue in the Bronx. The man was crossing the street where the two avenues make a V shape when he was hit by the van. The driver of the van, Danny Telpha, a Bronx plumber, sstayed at the scene of the accident. He said that he never saw the victim. Read more in the NY Daily News

A look at the Vision Zero map, shows that residents have reported speeding and aggressive driving at this intersection.

 

 

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In New York State, 142 bicyclists and 925 pedestrians died in accidents during the 3-year period of 2011, 2012 and 2013 according to the recently released  Alliance for Biking and Walking 2016 Benchmarking Report. The number of bicyclists and pedestrian fatalities increased compared to the 3-year period of 2008, 2009 and 2010. This doesn’t mean however that the streets and the roads in New York are getting more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. A study of the bicyclist fatality rates between 2005 and 2013 shows that the bicyclist fatality rate over the 3-year period of 2005, 2006, 2007 was 13 fatalities per 10K biking commuters compared to 9 on average for the 3-year periods of 2008-2010 and 2011-2013. For New York pedestrians the sames rates were respectively 6, 5 and 5.

Even though these rates indicate that the roads of New York have gotten slightly safer, New York State’s bicyclist fatalities as a percentage of all traffic fatalities is 3% which is the second highest rate of all states in the US behind Florida with 4%. Looking at the pedestrian fatality rate as a percentage of all traffic fatalities, New York has the highest rate of all states in the US with 24%  (click on graph below to see them in a larger size)

bicyclist fatality by state
pedestrian fatality by states
Looking at selected demographics, data shows that in New York State from 2005 to 2013 an average  31% of bicyclists killed in bicycle accidents were Hispanic, 11% were seniors (over age 65) and 15% were youth (under age 16).

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co_detectorA whole family was injured by a carbon monoxide gas leak in NYC early morning yesterday. Initially called for a fall accident, the firefighters arrived to a Flushing home in Queens and found the mother unconscious in the bathroom and the dad circling the apartment and talking in a way that didn’t make sense. One of the two kids was crying. An elderly man was also present in the house. The FDNY checked the house for carbon monoxide and found that the level of CO was at 755 parts per million, an extremely high and fatal level. The family was immediately transported to the hospital to be treated. They are now in stable condition.

The family had recently moved into the Queens house. They hadn’t installed CO detectors which are mandatory in New York City. According to the FDNY, the gas leak was coming from a defective heating unit that was venting CO in the house. The FDNY told the NY Daily News that “some work was recently done to the furnace and it wasn’t done to code”.

Carbon monoxide is a very dangerous gas because it has no smell and no color.  The first symptoms of CO poisoning are upset stomach, vomiting, headache, chest pain, dizziness and confusion. Further intoxication can make people pass out and ultimately die. People who are sleeping or who are drunk may die without even feeling the first symptoms.

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The Obama administration is trying a new system to try to prevent doctors from prescribing expensive drugs to medicare patients when a cheaper similar drug is available.

Doctors who are giving drugs to their patients in their office such as doctors treating eyes, cancer and arthritis are required by Medicare to purchase the drug and then to get a re-reimbursement from Medicare. When Medicare pays them back, doctors also receive an incentive of 6% of the cost of the drug. Therefore if doctors have a choice between a $50 drug or a $2,000 drug they may  tempted to choose the most expensive one to make extra money.

Previous studies such as “Least Costly Alternative: Impact on Prostate Cancer Drugs Cover Under Medicare Part B”   or “Does Reimbursement Influence Chemotherapy Treatment For Cancer”  have shown that the actual Medicare system of reimbursement is indeed perversely encouraging doctors to prescribe the most expensive drug for their patients.

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A woman is loaded into an air ambulance that landed on Ski Hill Rd. after a head-on crash near Lifford Rd. on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. She was flown to Toronto's Sunnybrook hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries. Another woman was also airlifted to the same hospital with serious injuries. JASON BAIN/THE LINDSAY POST/QMI AGENCY

Personal injury attorneys representing construction workers that have been injured at work understand too well the economic consequences of such accidents. When a worker is injured he will not only have direct costs such as medical expenses but also indirect ones such as lost wages and fringe benefits as well as lost home productivity.

A recent study published by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine provides an analysis of the economic consequences of workplace injuries in the United States.  The authors of the study , Xiuwen Sue Dong DrPH1,*, Xuanwen Wang PhD1, Julie A. Largay MPH1 and Rosemary Sokas MD, MOH2   estimated that in 2007, the total of the direct and indirect costs of all reported work injuries in the US cost $250 billion, higher than the $219 million spent on cancer. Worker’s compensation covers an average 44.5% of the direct medical costs but this amount represents only 20.7% of the total costs. The difference is being  shifted onto the workers and their families, insurance carriers and the government.

The study finds that following an injury, an injured worker’s family will suffer income loss because of the lost wages and his or her disability. The study also shows that Union workers are better protected in case of an accident and will suffer a moderate income loss compared to a non union worker who suffers the same work injury. Income disparity will persist in the long term.

 

 

 

 

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sheet-metal-workersAmong all construction workers, sheet metal workers have one of the highest risks of personal injury. Some of them are injured so badly that they are permanently disabled. A recent study published in the American Journal of  Industrial Medicine provides an Analysis of Permanent Work Disability Among Construction Sheet Metal Workers. The authors Gavin H. West MPH1,*, Jaime Dawson MPH2, Claire Teitelbaum BA1, Rebecca Novello BA1, Katherine Hunting PhD, MPH2 and Laura S. Welch MD1,2  analyzed the pension records of disabled sheet metal workers to compare the causes of disabilities. They found out that 47% of the disabilities were related to Muskuloskeletal disorders (MSDs). 14% of them were related to circulatory diseases and 10 % were related to other  injuries suffered at work.

Sheet metal workers are construction workers installing, repairing and maintaining heat and AC units or installing signs, rain gutters or roofs. They have one of the highest rate of non fatal personal injury among construction workers. The study indicates that these injuries are  often related to working at heights and overexertion as well as manual material handling.

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An off-duty drunk NYPD detective side-swiped a car and crashed into a hair Salon. Then his two off duty colleagues, also drunk, got him into their vehicle and fled the scene of the accident leaving the other car behind. All 3 were suspended without pay for 30 days and are being internally investigated.

Officer Vincent Mollini was celebrating his promotion to lieutenant with detectives Christopher Corulla and Franck Muirhead at the Rookies Sport Bar in Staten Island a few weeks ago. They left the bar drunk. Detective Corulla got in his car and as he was trying to leave, he damaged the car of a DJ working in a nearby bar before backing up into the Hair-Do or Dye Salon. Officer Mollini and Detective Muirhead then loaded Corulla in their vehicle and attempted to flee the scene of the accident. The DJ whose car was damaged chased them and caught them at a nearby red light. The officers told the DJ they were cops and that Corulla was sick from food poisoning. The DJ agreed to meet them again the following day to settle up. The accident wasn’t reported until Saturday morning.  All 3 officers have been suspended without pay and are being investigated by the Force Investigation Division.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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