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
A bicyclist died yesterday morning after being struck by a box truck in Brooklyn NYC
A 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.
A carbon monoxide leak coming from a defective boiler is suspected in the death of a woman in Brooklyn, NYC
55 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
Homeless girl with cerebral palsy on her way to NYU
Johileny 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.
A hospital worker at Bronx Montefiore Medical Center sold patients financial information to scammers who went shopping at Barneys and other high end retailers in Manhattan
More 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
Our personal injury law firm is featured in the 2014 New York’s Top 25 Verdicts and Settlements section in this week’s edition of New York Magazine
Last 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).
Following the death of 8 year old Noshat Nahian whose family is represented by our personal injury law firm, The New York State Senate passed the Gianaris bill, new legislation that stiffens penalties for motorists who injure and kill people while driving without a valid license
A 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
A pregnant woman and 3 other people suffered personal injury in a car accident in the Bronx, NYC
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
The monthly number of pedestrians who died or who suffered personal injury in a traffic accident in New York City was at its lowest in April while the number of deaths and injuries related to bicycle accidents remained high
5 pedestrians died and 696 suffered personal injury in April in New York City compared to respectively 8 and 854 in April 2014 and 12 and 904 in April 2013. Pedestrian fatalities have been declining since the beginning of this year and reached their lowest in April. The total number of pedestrian fatalities since the beginning of the year was 28 compared to 39 for the same period of 2014 and 55 for the same period of 2013. Since the beginning of the year there was also a decrease in the number of pedestrians who suffered personal injury in a traffic accident in NYC.
2 people died and 300 were injured in a total of 300 bicycle accidents in New York City in April compared to respectively 1, 306 and 382 in April 2014 and 0, 288 and 358 in April 2013. The number of cyclists fatalities and injuries remains elevated in the City.
Even though there was an unusually high number of 10 motorist deaths last April the total number of traffic fatalities in New York City since the beginning of the year is down compared to the same periods of 2014 and 2013.
New York Bus Drivers’ Union initiated a work slowdown this morning to protest a new Zero Vision Law that makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists with the right of way.
In New York every year several pedestrians and cyclists die and many others suffer personal injury after being struck by an MTA Bus. In many of these accidents investigation shows that drivers were negligent and failed to yield or failed to exercise due care. Since the beginning of the year a few bus drivers were arrested after a new Vision Zero Law made it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way. TWU Local 100, the bus drivers Union is against this new law and would like bus drivers to be exempted from it. This morning TWU local 100 launched a work slow down on 181st Street in Washington Heights between 7:00 am and 9:00 am to protest the law.
The flyers handed out to bus drivers by the Union (see picture) said “DO NOT TURN UNLESS THE INTERSECTION IS CLEAR!”. Isn’t that what bus drivers are supposed to do to keep NYC streets safe?
Read more in the New York Post and on Streetblog