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 Posted in Personal Injury

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skeleton athleteWhile there has been a lot of media and medical attention in regards to traumatic brain injury related to football boxing or other contact sports, there are other sports that have a high risk of TBI.

A recent article in the New York Times looks at traumatic brain injury caused by skeleton, the headfirst Olympic sledding sport. Skeleton is very popular in Canada. In 2010 when Canada hosted the Olympic games, skeleton athletes thought they had a great advantage as they had early access to the track and could train for unlimited time.  Instead many of them are still suffering from the long term consequences of  traumatic brain injuries caused by over training.

Mellissa Hollingsworth was one of the favorite skeleton competitors this year. She recalls taking as many as 11 runs a day on the Whistler track that was specifically built for the Olympic games and was the fastest in the word. At the end of a training day, her brain was scrambled. She could not tolerate noises and she could barely speak. At the time, skeleton athletes were experiencing mental fog, headache, speech inability, loss of appetite and high sensibility to sound. They thought it was part of the training routine like sore muscles or fatigue and just casually called it “sled head”. Now years later they are still suffering from the consequences of over training, repetitive shaking and crashing head first on icy surfaces.

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location of the fatal tractor trailer truck accidentA mother and her two children lost their lives and several other family members suffered personal injury in a truck accident in Upstate NY.

The accident occurred last night around 8:30 pm on the New York State Thruway near Exit 19 for Ulster. A family from Pelham Bay in the Bronx, NYC, was returning home from a trip Upstate in two separate cars: a Honda and a Kia minivan. Both cars were stopped in traffic when a truck rear ended the Honda and swiped the rear end of the Kia. Zulika Salim, a 47 year old mother was sitting on the back seat of the Honda with her two children, 19 year old Justin Gayapersad and 14 year old Chelsea Gayapersad. They all died in the crash. The driver of the Honda, 24 year old Neta Singh and the front seat passenger, 18 year old Singh suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital hospital.  3 other family members who were travelling in the Kia minivan that the truck sideswiped also suffered personal injury. One of them, a 48 year old passenger identified as Ramnarine Singh, was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to a medical center in Albany. Two other passengers, 27 year old Sangeeta Singh and 45 year old Saleema Salim suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital. The driver of the Kia Van, 26 year old Maheshwarnauth Karan declined medical treatment at the scene of the accident.

The truck driver was identified as 61 year old Luc Leblanc from Quebec. According to the police, the truck driver was driving in the right lane when he encountered traffic stopped in front of him. He tried to avoid a collision but the distance between the truck and the stopped cars was too short for the truck to stop and he rear-ended the Honda. He was not injured in the accident and so far he has not been charged by the police.

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injured hand of an elderly patientA recent study at a New York emergency room compared the injuries of  elderly patients who suffered physical abuse with the injuries of elderly patients who suffered unintentional fall.  The reason for the study was for the emergency room professionals to be able to identify “red flags” for elderly abuse.  Elderly abuse in New York and elsewhere is largely under-reported. Often abused seniors who show up at the emergency room tell the staff that they fell.

“The first place that many vulnerable older patients turn for care is the emergency department,” said lead study author Tony Rosen, MD, MPH, FACEP, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and director of the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team based at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center’s emergency department. “Emergency physicians have a unique opportunity to identify the ‘red flags’ for elder abuse. Improving the ability to recognize, treat, and prevent these incidents can improve the lives of millions of older patients.”

The study looks at a total of 156 elderly patients who showed up at the emergency room of a New York Hospital.  The researchers compared 78 cases of injuries related to abuse with 78 cases of injuries related to unintentional fall. They  found specific differences between unintentional  fall injuries and abuse injuries:

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garden hose injuriesEvery summer emergency room doctors and vets treat cases of children and pets who suffered burn injuries from scalding garden hose water. Water sitting in a garden hose under the sun for hours can reach scalding temperature that can burn children or pets. During a heat wave it is common for kids to play with the garden hose to refresh or for parents to use it to fill the kiddie pool or to spray their pets.  When doing so, parents should make sure to let the water run and check the temperature before using the hose.

A few days ago a mother in Florida was charged with child neglect resulting in great bodily harm after she neglected to seek treatment for her toddler who suffered permanent scaring from burn injuries after he was sprayed with hot water from a hose. According to Yahoo News, Jessica Smith a 24 year old divorced mother, admitted that her child was sprayed with hot water from a hose by another kid but she didn’t seek medical care because she was afraid that the Department of Children and Families (DFC) would get involved and that she would loose custody of the child.  The child’s father described the child as “permanently disfigured” by the burns and he alerted the DFC.

Similar accidents occurred in the past. A few years ago the Las Vegas Fire Rescue team circulated the picture of a 9 month-old boy who was accidentally burned by his mom as she was filling the kiddie pool and accidentally sprayed him.  The child had to be treated for second-degree burn injuries.

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location of the truck accidentSeveral people were injured in a pickup truck accident in New York City last week . The crash occurred in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NYC.  The driver of a Ford pick up truck crashed into the barriers of  an outdoor dining areas erected on Fifth Avenue near 41st Street by L’Wren restaurant (see Google map Picture on the left). “Open Restaurants”, the city’s initiative to expand dining area into the street to reduce the risk of covid-19 propagation is allowing restaurants to create outdoors dining area on parking spaces. As a result cars are driving right on the side of people having food and drinks. Protective barriers are mandatory, however in the case of the accident that occurred at L’Wren restaurant, the 5000-pound pick up truck knocked them down onto the floor.  3 patrons were injured and taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries. A mother just had the time to scoop her two kids away to prevent them from being injured. The scene was really scary according to witnesses and it could have been much worse. The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found that he was unlicensed and he was issued a summon for driving without a license and let go. Read more in Street Blog.

This is the second time that a vehicle plows into the outdoor area of a restaurant in New York City

On July 13, a driver made a mistake and press on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal and crashed into the outdoor seating of 12 Corazones Restaurant and bar on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. A waitress and 4 customers were injured and hospitalized after the car jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the restaurant at full speed destroying not only the seating area but also the indoor structure of the establishment. (see video here).

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location of the fire accidentAn overloaded power strip might have been the cause of a gigantic fire in a New York City residential building that caused 4 people to be critically injured. The fire occurred early last Friday around 12:15 am in a residential building located on 35th Ave near Rowan Street in Flushing, Queens, NYC.  When the firefighters arrived they were able to pull a 9 year old girl, a 24 year old woman, a 32 year old woman and a 56 year old woman from their bedrooms. They were all unconscious and required CPR. All 4 were rushed to the hospital with critical injuries. The young girl suffered smoke inhalation while the 3 women were treated for burn injuries and smoke inhalation. The firefighter also saved a small hamster that is now in the hands of the Animal Care Center of New York City.  Four fire fighters also suffered minor injuries while combating the fire and were also brought to the hospital to be treated.

According to preliminary investigations by the FDNY Fire Marshals, the inferno started on the first floor and might have been caused by a bad power strip to which an air conditioning unit was plugged into

Multiple extension cords plugged in with multiple devices might have overload the outlet and sparked the fire that quickly propagated to the entire two story building. The fire marshals didn’t mention if smoke alarms were installed in the apartments or not. In New York, the law requires that all apartments be equipped  with smoke alarms. They might not have been installed or might not have been working proprely.  Someone was seen on video throwing something at the home and investigators determined it was a good Samaritan trying to alert people inside that their house was on fire.

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person-holding-hand-sanitizer-396233175 dangerous hand sanitizers that are being sold at major retailers such as CVS, Wallmart and others have been recalled by the FDA. The dangerous products contained methanol, also known as wood alcohol. When absorbed by the skin or swallowed, methanol can lead to severe injury such as blindness neurological damage or even death. The FDA has received several reports of consumers including children who suffered personal injury or died  after being exposed to these dangerous products.

Please check your hand sanitizer  and make sure it is not part of the list released by the FDA.

Some of the products recalled were sold under the following brands: Good Gel, Lavar 70, Saniderm, CleanCare, All-Clean and Eskbiochem. All these brands are manufactured by the same Mexican company Eskbiochem SA de CV.

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location of the falling debris accidentA man suffered a skull fracture after a facade collapsed on him as he was walking on a New York City sidewalk.  39 year-old Oumar Ba, a father of two, was walking  on the sidewalk on St. Johns Place in Crown Heights yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm. when a chunk of bricks and debris fell on him.  His friend Abdouramane Thiam whom he was visiting, as well as other local vendors who witnessed the accident ran to rescue the man as he was lying unconscious on the ground. They called 911 and applied pressure on the back of his head to contain the bleeding until the EMS arrived.  Oumar Ba was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a skull fracture and injuries to his ribs and shoulder. He is now in stable condition.

Violation for for failure to maintain exterior building wall open since 2004!

The building is an old movie theater that has been reconverted into commercial use. Several complaints dating from as far as 2004 have been logged with the DOB about the illegal  occupancy of the second floor. The building received a total of 37 DOB violations including 28 still open and dating as far as 1991.  The building also has OATH/ECB violations for failure to maintain the exterior building walls open since 2004! The violation mentions “brick work cracked and mortar joints missing with missing bricks at second floor front of building also defective brick work with missing mortar joint”.

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29 people including 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died in crashes in New York City last June. While truck and bus accidents remain lower than usual, reckless car driving and speeding continue to be a cause of many injuries and deaths.

After dipping to a record low of 5 deaths during the Covid-19 lock-down, traffic fatalities peaked to 29 in June. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, this is a record high number of fatalities that was only reached once previously in June 2016. Injuries were on the rise too in June compared to the previous months of May and April but not as dramatically as the fatalities.  The total number of accidents increased as well. One of the main reasons why the total number of accidents dipped so dramatically is because since last March the NYPD doesn’t dispatch officers anymore at the scene of minor accidents. As a result the big drop observed since March is not only related to the Covid-19 crisis but also to the the fact there are no more NYPD reports for minor accidents.

Auto Accident NYC Injuries Deaths June 2020
New York traffic accident fatalities were on the rise for all categories of road users. 11 motorists, 5 passengers, 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died last June compared to respectively 7, 0, 2 and 2 during the previous month and 6, 3, 3, 8 in June 2019. Many of these fatalities are related to speed and reckless driving. While the city has slowly started to get back to normal, the traffic is not as heavy as it used to be before the coronavirus crisis and many motorists are driving over the speed limit.

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accident sceneFatal car accidents related to speed are on the rise in New York City and many of them are caused by young inexperienced drivers behind the wheel.

While New Yorkers witnessed or heard the noise of drag racing all over the city during the coronavirus lock-down that started at the end of March, the city is now about to enter phase 4 of reopening but many drivers seem not to have realized that they are not alone on the road anymore.

Two days ago a 21 year old driver was speeding on the southbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway when he lost control of his Honda, slammed into the median, overturned and landed on the northbound side, hitting another driver in a Toyota

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