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.

Articles Tagged with personal injury

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covid-19-236% of patients who are hospitalized for Covid-19 have heart injury and have a higher risk of death according to a recent study by Anu Lala, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Anu Lala’s team studied the records of 3000 patients who checked in at the emergency room of five New York City hospitals during the first two weeks of April. Among these 3000 patients. 60% of them were male. The average age was 66 year old. 25% were self-identified as African American and 26% were self identified as Hispanic or Latino. A quarter of them had a history of heart disease and another quarter had cardiovascular risk factors.

High level of Troponin is an indicator of  myocardial injury or hearth damage

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MTD_Lawn_MowerAn estimated 9,400 children sustain lawnmower injuries  every year in the US. Injuries are often catastrophic, sometimes deadly. They often require multiple treatments and hospital stays and can have life long consequences. 4 year old boys in rural areas are the most at risk of getting injured in a lawnmower accident.

A study by the Department of Orthopaedics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (Mr. Shah, Dr. Talwar, Mr. Aoyama, and Dr. Ganley), the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City, Kansas City, MO (Dr. Schwend), and the Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, MD (Dr. Sponseller) and recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons studied lawnmower injuries in the US over 13 years.

The researchers used the Pediatric Health Information System database to identify 1,302 Americans between 1 and 18 years old who checked into the ER to be treated for a lawnmower injury. While, the Pediatric Health Information System database does not record all children injuries in the country,  it is nationally representative as it contains a varied selection of 49 participating children’s hospitals located around the regions and locales.

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doctor-and-x-rayMissed and delayed diagnoses are common medical errors that can lead to serious injury and death. This morning the Daily Mail wrote about an 11 year old boy who died from severe bowel obstruction after a doctor misdiagnosed him with constipation and sent him back home. The doctor neglected to send him for an X-ray despite symptoms consistent with bowel obstruction.
Failure to diagnose or delay to diagnose a medical condition occur so often that the ECRI institute ranked this type of medical malpractice its number one concern out of its Top 10 Patients Safety Concern in 2020.

In the US it is estimated that 12 million adults or 1 out of 20 patients are misdiagnosed every year

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Happy family at homeThe Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just released  recommendations on how families can make sure nobody gets injured by dangerous products or other hazards while staying at home during the Coronavirus crisis. The agency highlights specific hazards related to children, seniors and the whole family globally.

Fire, poisoning and drowning are among the most common causes of accidents in the house

As families are staying home, several fires erupted in New York City over the last few days. On Saturday, 6 people and a firefighter were injured in a basement fire in Brooklyn including one critically injured and another one in serious condition. This morning two people were critically injured and several others became homeless after a fire ravaged an apartment in the Bronx.
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infant car seatTo protect children from serious head, neck and spinal injuries during a car crash, the NY Child Safety Seat Law requires that parents use a rear-facing car seat for all children younger than 2 year old.
Tests have demonstrated that infants have a head that is heavy compared to the rest of their body and that if they were sitting in a forward facing seat during a collision, they would be thrown forward and as a result suffer more serious injury.

While most parents do respect the law and install car seats for their little ones, previous research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that almost 60% of child seats are not installed properly

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Construction-workers-injuries-preventionSafety on construction sites is not only about preventing accidents but also about keeping construction workers healthy and preventing injuries.

Because of the nature of the tasks they perform on a daily basis, construction workers are at a high risk of developing work-related muskuloskeletal disorders (WMSDs) also known as soft tissues injuries.

Keeping  a worker free from injuries is a win win situation for both the employer and the worker

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ProfessorDanielPollackUsing seclusion and restraints on children can result in injury and liability, however in some last resort cases seclusion and restraint might be necessary to protect children or others.

There is too little information available as how frequently the use of seclusion or restraint occur in out-of-home care settings such as foster parents or day care settings.  In a recent article, Daniel Pollack, a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in  New York City explains why more research is needed to evaluate these type of cases.

A PDF of the entire article can be downloaded here

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skull-breaker-challenge-victimSeveral children and teenagers recently suffered serious personal injury after they were pranked by others in a new disturbing challenge on the popular app Tik Tok called “The skull breaker challenge”.  The prank requires two people to ask a third person to stand in line with them and take turns jumping. The person pranked is placed in the middle and when she or he jumps the two others kick their feet out from under making the person in the middle fall backward.  A 12 year old kid in Alabama ended up at the hospital with a broken wrist. Another 16 year old girl in Miami was also hurt in the same prank after she was told by other kids that they were shooting a video for a school project. A 13 year old  boy in New Jersey suffered a concussion followed by a seizure. His mother said that she arrived at the school 20 minutes after the accident and found her son unresponsive while the school was waiting for an ambulance.

SERIOUS INJURIES AND DEATH

Falling backward can not only result in serious injury but can also be deadly. Severe injuries of the neck and head can occur when falling backward. Bruises, hematoma, skull fracture, neck fracture and concussion are the most common injuries suffered in these type of accidents. Internal bleeding, loss of consciousness, paralysis and death can also occur in the worst cases.

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train-accident-prevention
Did you know that 95% of fatal train accidents were caused by vehicles at train crossings and pedestrians on tracks? Every 3 hours in the US someone is hit by a train. Most of these accidents are preventable.

According to preliminary Federal Rail Road Administration Statistics, 262 people died and 871 were injured in 2,296 collisions with trains in 2018 in the US. 2,217 collisions occurred at highway-rail grade crossings. Pedestrian rail trespassing resulted in 1015 causalities (fatalities and injuries).  California and Texas have the most accidents  for both highway-rail grade crossings and trespassing.  New York ranked number 4 of  all states with the most pedestrian trespassing causalities. 36 people died and 13 were injured while trespassing on New York railroads in 2018.

Tips for New York Pedestrians to stay safe near railroads

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NYC construction workersConstruction workers and extraction workers not only have a high risk of getting injured on the job but also they are the most at risk of getting addicted to drugs such as non prescription opioid, cocaine and marijuana according to a recent study published by NYU. The study looked at 290,000 workers belonging to 13 different industries and found out that 3.4% of construction workers were misusing painkillers compared to a 2% average for the rest of the professions.

The study confirms that the opiate crisis is a major problem in the construction industry but also found that construction workers were also consuming more marijuana and cocaine than other workers. The study links the increased risk of addictions to all 3 substances to the precarious condition of employment sustained by construction workers and found that absenteeism is a trigger  for increased used of all 3 drugs. The study also found that  employers with written drug policies  have less workers dealing with cocaine addiction and employers using drug testing had less workers using marijuana.

Drug addiction treatments not proposed by employers