New York Personal Injury Attorneys BlogMayor Bill de Blasio who has been passionately advocating safe street initiatives to reduce traffic accidents is not practicing what he is preaching. A CBS video shows the mayor’s car engaged in multiple reckless driving behaviours: blowing traffic stops, speeding 15 miles over the authorized limit, changing lanes without signaling and parking on the pedestrian crosswalk. That’s enough violations for a license suspension in New York.
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Long term care seniors who are transitioning from a long stay in a nursing home to a home and community based services program have a higher risk of being hospitalized than those who choose to stay in the nursing home
Because medical needs of long term care patients are often being neglected when they transition from a long term stay in a nursing home to a home and community based services program, they are at a greater risk of hospitalization than those with similar conditions who choose to stay in a nursing home.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (J Am Geriatr Soc 62:71–78, 2014.) and led by Andrea Wysocki, PhD, Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island compares hospitalizations of dually eligible older adults who had an extended Medicaid nursing home (NH) stay and transitioned out to receive Medicaid home- and community-based services (HCBS) with hospitalizations of those who remained in the nursing home.
Home and Community based services programs for patients with long term care (LTC) needs have been very in demand recently not only because patients prefer to be in a home and community setting rather than in an institutional setting but also because the per-person costs are usually lower for HCBS than for nursing homes.
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To reduce truck accidents the FMCSA proposes to gather all commercial drivers’ drug and alcohol test results in one unique database
35% of all truck drivers who die in a truck accident test positive for alcohol or illegal drugs according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Out of this 35%, Alcohol and Marijuana represent 13% , cocaine 9%, amphetamines and methamphetamine’s 7%, other stimulants 5%, PCP and codeine less than 1%.
To reduce these types of accidents the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed the establishment of the Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a database under the Agency’s administration that will contain controlled substances (drug) and alcohol test result information for the holders of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). The FMCSA is now accepting comments on the proposal until April 21st. Click here to read the proposal and add your personal comments
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In small overlap front crash accidents,most mini cars do not protect the driver from serious personal injury
In a car accident during which the front corner of a car hit another vehicle or an object such as a tree or a pole most minicars do not protect drivers adequately from serious personal injury according to a recent test from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The only minicar that provided an acceptable level of protection was the Chevrolet Spark. The worst performers were the Honda fit and the Fiat 500.
Read the complete test results here
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Older drivers these days are not only less likely to be involved in a car accident, they are also less likely to suffer personal injury or to die than previously
Older drivers Today have a lower risk of being involved in a car accident than their peers did during the mid nineties. Because cars are safer and seniors are generally healthier they are also less likely to be killed or seriously injured if they crash. A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrates that drivers 70 and older have enjoyed bigger declines in fatal crash rates per licensed driver and per vehicle miles traveled than drivers ages 35-54, referred to in the study as middle-age drivers, since 1997.
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Texting while driving continued to increase in 2012 putting road users at higher risk of an accident, young drivers are texting less while adults are texting more
Vehicle Accidents caused by texting and driving are injuring and killing people every day but sadly the percentage of drivers who are texting or manipulating electronic devices while driving continued to increase in 2012 according to the latest National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In 2012, the rate of drivers texting while driving was of 1.5% compared to 1.3% in 2011.
The rate of people using a hand held cell phone has been steady at 5% since 2009 with a significant higher rate of usage among female drivers (6% compared to 4% for male drivers).
0.6% of drivers used headset cell phone while driving in 2013.
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A man who lost his leg after being treated for a broken ankle was awarded 9.1 million by a Jury in a New York Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
In a recent malpractice lawsuit, a New York State Supreme Court Jury, Erie County, awarded $6 million for past and future pain and suffering and $2.8 million for medical expenses and lost of wages to a man who lost his leg as the result of medical malpractice by his surgeon. His ex-wife was also awarded $350,000 for loss of services.
Donald Schultz was a 35 year old public safety dispatcher for the City of Tonawanda, NY, when he broke his ankle in 2004. After initial treatment he still felt pain on the side of his foot near the little toe and made an appointment with Dr. Michael A. Parentis at the Knee Center of WNY. Dr Parentis performed 12 surgeries on his foot and leg. He started with surgeries on the little toe then amputated it. After the patient developed an infection, the doctor also amputated the fourth toe. As the pain continued the doctor continued to operate up until July 2009 when he amputated the leg below the knee.
Read more in Buffalo news
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Male nurse charged with raping elderly woman with dementia in a Bronx Nursing home
An elderly patient with dementia was sexually abused in a Bronx nursing home last night. A male nurse at Manhattanville Health Care Center in the Bronx, NYC, was caught in the act of raping a 64 year old patient who was suffering from dementia. 42 year old Nanic Aidasani was picked up by the Bronx police and charged with rape.
For more info see video.
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To prevent defective drug importation a better collaboration between Indian and US regulators is necessary
Imported sub-standard quality and defective drugs were the central theme of FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg’s visit to India. The visit was organized after the FDA recently banned the import of drugs and drug ingredients from several large Indian manufacturers for quality reasons. The commissioner met with health officials, regulators and drug makers executives including those of the banned companies.
Both countries agreed that their regulators would work more closely to better coordinate regulatory oversight as well as organize seminars, webinars, meetings and training sessions.
India is the second largest drug importer in the US after Canada and supplies 40% of the generic and over the counter drugs used in the US. Recently the FDA has been concerned by the increase of defective or low quality drugs imported from India. Weak domestic regulatory oversight and a lax approach to quality control by some manufacturers are the main reasons why a significant quantity of low quality or defective drugs reach the American market undetected.
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In order to allocate more resources to prevent the import of high risk defective drugs the FDA is testing a Secure Supply Chain Pilot Program that allows 13 pharmaceutical companies to have expedited entry for up to 5 drug products
Imported high risk defective drugs are a rising concern for the FDA. The agency wants to spend more resources to fight the “bad guys” and provide incentives to drug manufacturers who are adopting best practices for supply chain integrity by giving them expedited access for the importation of up to five of their drug products. The pilot will last two years and if effective, will be open to additional companies.
Companies that have qualified for the pilot are
• AbbVie Inc.
