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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Snow stormWinter storm related injuries and fatalities can often be prevented by preparing ahead. Now is the time for individuals and employers to prepare and get ready for future winter snow storms. The occupational Safety and Health Administration just released a set of guidelines that covers most winter weather related hazards and how to prevent them:

  • Winter driving is always hazardous, OSHA recommends drivers who have to drive in wintery conditions to follow the “3 P’s of safe driving: “Prepare for the trip”, “Protect yourself” and “Prevent crashes on the road”. Preparing for the trip means checking that the car is well maintained, making sure that the breaks are proprely balanced, that the cooling system has a proper mix of antifreeze and water, that the battery is fully charged, that the tires are in good condition and proprely inflated, that the windshield wipers are in good condition and that your windows are clear. Protect  yourself  and your passengers by making sure everybody buckles up and children are in proper seats in the back. Prevent crashes by avoiding drugs and alcohol, keeping a safe distance between cars, keeping alert for pedestrian and avoiding fatigue.
  • Special precautions should be taken for workers exposed to traffic as drivers may skid or loose control of their vehicle during winter weather and strike workers. Signs, cones barrels and barriers should be set up to protect workers.
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Pollack-and-RadcliffeWhen a child suffers personal injury as the result of an abuse by an adult, Child Protective Services will intervene to prevent more injuries to the child. However when a child suffers emotional trauma, child welfare workers often lack knowledge and basic training on the neurology of trauma and the factors that will promote brain resilience. As a result, children are often placed in homes that are not appropriate for their well being and healing.

In a recent article,  Susan Radcliffe, LCSW-C, a mental health therapist and a clinical social worker at the Dorchester County Health Department, Cambridge, MD and Daniel Pollack, MSSA (MSW), JD, an attorney and professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work, look at the case of a Child Protective Service worker who after being informed by a mental health therapist that a boy placed in a safety home alleged that his “emergency plan safety parents” were physically fighting decided the boy should remain in the home. When the mental health therapist questioned the decision,  The Child Protective Services worker replied “What do you want me to do?”.  She also  said she was following her training.

The article provides an in-depth explanation on how, during an emotional trauma the limbic system of the brain produces cortisol, a stress hormone that provides energy to respond to danger. For example if a car is speeding toward an individual, the cortisol will give the person the energy to respond to the danger and quickly get out of the way.

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teen driverThis week is National Teen Driver Safety Week. For the 13th consecutive year, the National Highway Traffic Administration is organizing a one week campaign to raise awareness  and seek solutions to prevent and reduce teen drivers fatalities and injuries.

Car accidents are the leading cause of fatality for teenagers in New York and in the US

In New York State, every day, 10 people are injured or killed in an accident caused by a teen driver.  Unsafe speed accounts for 21% of these accidents, driver inexperience for 8%, failure to yield right of way for 6%, driver distraction for 4% and alcohol for 1%.  Male teen drivers have a higher risk of causing an accident than female teen drivers. Drivers with only a few months of experience driving alone are also at high risk of causing a crash as well as teen driver driving with other teens on board. In New York State, teen drivers are at fault in almost 80% of the car crashes resulting in incapacitating and fatal injuries.

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16 people were injured after a defective pedal on their peloton bike broke. Five of them required medical care such as stiches in their lower leg.  Peloton Interactive, Inc. a New York based company, received so far 120 complaints of defective pedal and announced on October 15 that it was recalling the PR70P Clip-In Pedals fitted on Peloton bikes  which were sold between July 2013 and May 2016. The potentially defective pedal has a orange logo and the name Peloton is printed in white letters next to it.  It was manufactured in Taiwan. While Peloton recommend consumers change their pedals every year, consumers who bought the PR70P Clip-In Pedals are being notified directly by the company that will let them know how they can receive free pedals with accompanying instructions on how to install them.

5,700 defective Extension Cord Splitters sold by Homerygardens at Walmart and Amazon.com recalled the same day

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teen driverCar accidents are the number one cause of teen fatalities and disability in the US. Close to 2,000 young drivers between 15 and 20 year old die in car crashes every year. This doesn’t include the deaths of passengers riding with teens or other road users including cyclists and pedestrians who died in traffic accidents caused by teens.  A majority of auto accidents caused by teens are related to lack of scanning, speeding and distraction such as using a cell phone or travelling with other teen passengers.

Based on analysis of previous teen accidents, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles tested a portable driver simulator system that has the ability to predict with accuracy which teen will pass the on-road exam and which one will fail. Additionally the simulator can highlight which driving errors are associated with failing the test.

The simulator was originally developed by researchers at the Children Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who created  a laboratory-based driving assessment that safely put teen drivers in common crash scenarios and measure their skills at avoiding accidents.  As the development appeared to be successful, CHOP created a spin off called Diagnostic Driving to commercialize the technology.  The product is  now in a pilot stage in the form of a cloud-based software application called Ready-Assess™.

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traumatic-brain-injury-picture-1A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that affects the brain function. It is diagnosed quite frequently among children however its diagnosis remains challenging. Doctors often rely on symptoms and historical factors.

A recent study published by the “Minds Matter Concussion Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia” found that the Visio-Vestibular Examination is an easy and useful tool to distinguish to concussed from not concussed children following a head injury. The exam can also be conducted outside of the Emergency Department setting.

The Visio-Vestibular Examination (VVE) is a series of examinations that determine if the patient has some degree of visio-vestibular deficit such as impaired eye movements and pupil response. The following examinations are being done:

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school sport can lead to injuriesFall sports have arrived and unfortunately some children will get injured when practicing sports. Having to bring a child to the emergency room, especially during the pandemic, is every parent’s nightmare. Therefore parents should discuss  sport injury prevention with their children and also make sure that coaches do follow safe practices.

While almost any sport can be played during the fall, the most popular are football, soccer, lacrosse, cheer leading, cross country, field hockey, volleyball, basketball as well as tennis and golf. It is estimated that 7.8 million children participated in sport activities last year in the US. Unfortunately every year more than 1.3 million of them are seriously injured while playing sports. (see article in USA Today)

Fractures, strains, sprains, concussion, shin splints and patellofemoral syndrome are among the most common serious injuries sustained by young athletes.

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safety stand down constructionFalls in construction are the main cause of construction worker deaths and injuries. In the US, every year  around 200 workers die and 10,000 suffer personal injury after they fell on a construction site.

To prevent and reduce fall accidents, every year since 2012, the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and  the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are joining forces annually for a one week national campaign asking construction workers and their supervisors all over the nation to conduct a stand down focusing on fall prevention.

During a stand down, workers pause work and  participate in discussions or activities related to fall prevention and safety policies

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At least 3 teenagers suffered serious injury and were hospitalized and another one died after they participated in  a new challenge on the popular Tik Tok app. The Benadryl challenge  requires participants to take an amount of Benadryl larger that the recommended dosage in order to be able to hallucinate or trip and to post the experience on Tik Tok.

According to Oklahoma’s News 4 Channel, a 15 year old girl died last week after overdosing on Benadryl. It is not sure how many pills of Benadryl the young girl took but teens participating in this dangerous challenge usually take between 10 and 12 pills of Benadryl. This type of dosage is extremely dangerous.It is specially dangerous for the heart which can go out of rhythm and not pump blood effectively. It can cause seizures.

The Tik Tok Benadryl challenge has been on for several months. In May after 3 teenagers were hospitalized in one week at the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the hospital issued a warning to all parents about the danger of the Benadryl challenge.  Teens who are participating in the challenge are not of the suicidal type. They just see other teens getting high on Tik Tok and they want to do the same. Videos on TikTok indicate how many milligrams they should take and encourage them to try to see how they feel. Doctors at the Cook’s Children’s Medical Center were showed several videos by their young patients providing step by step instructions on how to take large amounts of Benadryl mixed with an energy drink.

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simon-cowell-twitterA few days ago, Simon Cowell broke his back in a self inflicted e-bike accident. He broke his back in several places and had to undergo a 6-hour long surgery.  “If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time,” he tweeted on Sunday night.  Electrical bicycles are becoming more and more popular but how safe are they?  In New York, e-bike and scooters were legalized last March as the coronavirus pandemic hit the city and people were reluctant to use public transportation.

Less expensive than a car and allowing to travel longer distance than a bike, electrical bicycles have become an attractive alternative to public transportation especially during the pandemic. While e-biking is quite a new thing for New Yorkers, it has been a popular mode of transportation in Switzerland for more than 15 years. In 2013, Doctors at the University Department of Emergency Medicine in Bern, the capital of Switzerland published a detailed study on e-bike injuries based on patients admitted at the ER between April 2012 and September 2013. They found that most patients were male with a mean age of 47.5 year old and that most injuries were caused by self inflicted accident. Head and neck injuries were the most common. Among the patients studied, 9 were treated as outpatients, 9 had to be hospitalized, 5 had to be kept in Intensive care unit and 6 had to undergo surgery.

While data about e-bike injury in New York are still limited, a recent study authored by several New York surgeons found that in case of an accident, e-bike users were more likely to suffer internal injuries and more likely to be hospitalized than regular bicycle users. E-bikes were found to be less dangerous than scooters whose users have a higher risk of concussion in case of an accident. The study also found that e-bike injuries were more than three times more likely to involve a pedestrian than regular bicycle injuries or scooter injuries. Another finding was that the risk of injury was particularly high for older people.