Our partner, New York Construction Accident Attorney Anthony Gair was recently invited by the New York State Bar Association to speak about New York Labor Law Section 240 also commonly known as the scaffolding law. Here is his presentation.
To learn more about Construction Accident Law in New York visit our website
To reduce personal injury and deaths related to tractor-trailer truck accidents the National Transportation Safety Board sent a letter last week to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urging the agency to take the following actions:
Address Blind Spots
Blind spots are a major cause of accidents between large trucks and other motor vehicles as well as more vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. The rate of fatal accidents is particularly high among vulnerable road users. Research from the NTSB show that 16% of pedestrians and bicyclists involved in a truck accident will die. This ratio is of 12% for motorcyclists, 1% for passenger vehicle occupants and 0,2% for the tractor-trailer occupants.
Blind spots for large trucks are much bigger than blind spots for regular cars and exist in the front, in the back and on both sides of the truck. According to the study “Prioritizing Improvements to Truck Driver Vision” by Matthew P. Reed, Daniel Blower and Michael J. Flannagan from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute , the blind spot on the right of the cab of the truck is the most dangerous. During a lane change, most collisions with another motor vehicle happen in this spot. It is also the spot where most pedestrians and bicyclists are struck during start-up and right turn crashes.
Countermeasures to mitigate blind spots include enhanced mirror systems as well as more advanced technologies such as sensors to detect vehicles and vulnerable road users in blind spots.
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When a Personal Injury Lawyer is representing a plaintiff in a Product Liability case he usually works with a team of experts including engineers who will have to demonstrate that the injuries or the death of the plaintiff were the result of a defective design in the product or a flaw in the manufacturing of the defective product.
In a perfect world manufacturers supervised by regulatory agencies would be making sure that the products they sell are not in any way defective or dangerous to consumers. In reality manufacturers tend to put profits before safety and underfunded regulatory agencies are often too weak to assume their mandate of protecting the consumer.
29 year old Brooke Melton was driving a 2005 General Motors Chevrolet Cobalt when the engine suddenly shut off causing an accident that resulted in her death.
Engaging patients and their families can prevent medical errors and reduce harm to patients. In their latest report “Safety Is Personal: Partnering with Patients and Families for the Safest Care” the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute is advocating for the inclusion of patients and families in clinical activities, health care design and delivery as well as policy development.
The report points out that the actual health system makes it difficult for patients and families to partner with care providers in order to improve patient safety. Lack of access to health records, intimidation or fear of retribution promoted by a generally paternalistic professional culture as well as a lack of easy to understand tools and checklists are among the many barriers that prevent a positive collaboration between the medical staff and the patient’s family.
The report calls for targeted education and training for health care clinicians and staff to give them skills to better engage patients in decisions and management of health problems and to redesign processes and systems to facilitate patient and family partnerships.
Several pedestrians were injured in an accident during which a van crashed into an MTA bus sending both vehicles into a group of a dozen pedestrians at a bus stop and ending their course in a pizza parlor. The bus accident happened in NYC in Washington Heights, on Broadway and 155th Street.
Both the bus – which had no passengers – and the van were heading north when the van side-swiped the bus causing it to lose control and plowing through about a dozen people waiting at an M4 stop, city officials said.
Read more in DNA Info New York
The optional PS500 Power Supply Unit used with the Evita V500 and Babylog VN500 ventilators is defective and is being recalled by Dräger. The defective device may not indicate a low battery charge until the battery is totally depleted. When the battery is depleted, mechanical ventilation will stop and manual ventilation will be required until the device is connected to the main power. The company investigated the defective product after it received complaints that found that the batteries installed in the PS500 depleted much earlier than expected, although the battery indicator showed a significantly charged battery. No patient injuries have been reported so far.
For more info read the FDA press release and visit our product liability and defective products page
Poisoning, driven largely by prescription drug overdose deaths, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury related deaths in the United States – surpassing motor vehicle accidents.
In order to fight this tourbling trend, The FDA just approved a hand held auto injector device to deliver a single dose of Naloxone, a drug that can rapidly reverse the effect of opioids in case of overdose. Evzio (naloxone hydrochloride injection) can be injected into the muscle or under the skin. It is designed to be used by family members and caregivers.
Read more in the FDA press release
A dangerous Queens intersection where a young boy was killed in the crosswalk by an unlicensed truck driver making a left turn will be the first Vision Zero project in Queens. The site of the truck accident was visited by Mayor de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Bratton and DOT Commissioner Trottenberg as well as Queens officials and shortly after additional crossing guards were added.
Last Friday, Dalila Hall, Queens Borugh Commissioner for the DOT announced in a letter to local elected officials and community boards that the agency wants to start to redesign the intersection to make it safer. The redesign includes the addition of concrete pedestrian islands and the elimination of left turns from westbound Northern Boulevard to southbound 61st Street. It will also adjust signals to increase crossing time for pedestrians and feature new school zone crosswalk markings and signage. DOT has already restricted some on-street parking to “daylight” the intersection’s northeast corner and improve visibility for pedestrians and drivers. Construction is set to begin this month and wrap up within weeks.
Read more in New York Streetblog
Getting cheap cosmetic surgery in a foreign country can be risky. Medical malpractice such as surgical errors and hospital negligence have a higher risk of happening in foreign hospitals because medical standards are lower than in the US. Recently, a young New York woman who decided to go to The Dominican Republic to get a cheaper tummy tuck and liposuction died from a massive pulmonary embolism on the operating table.
Beverly Brignony was 28 years old. She was married and had a 4 year old daughter. She had gastric bypass surgery a year earlier and since she had lost 80 pounds. she was very excited about getting a tummy tuck and liposuction her friends said.
Because her flight was delayed, she arrived at The Dominican Republic Hospital late at night before the surgery started early the next morning. She may not have received a proper medical evaluation before the surgery and the medical staff may not have taken into account the higher risk of embolism related to the fact that she sat on a plane for several hours before the surgery.
A business manager who was stealing money from the residents of a New York nursing home by falsifying the books and forging names on receipts was sentenced to 3 years probation including counseling for gambling problems. Wendy Vice a former business manager at Highland Nursing Home admitted to stealing $18,000 in residents funds. Read the press release
Financial exploitation is a widely spread form of nursing home abuse. It is a crime but it is not always reported. If you or a loved one is residing in a nursing home, make sure you fully understand nursing home residents’ financial rights and watch for warning signs such as caregivers taking money for gifts, discharge notices due to non-payment, changes in financial practices, unknown charges to credit cards or statements from unknown credit cards. If you suspect you or a loved one has been a victim of a financial abuse share your concern with the nursing home administrators and contact your Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, your state licensing and certification agency, Adult Protective Services (APS) and your local law enforcement agency.
For additional information regarding elder abuse, neglect or exploitation visit the National Center
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog