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 Wrongful Death

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Are cell phones and other electronic equipment to blame for the recent spike in pedestrian deaths all over America?

GHSA-Pedestrian-3According to a report prepared by by Richard Retting of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants for the Governors Highway Safety Association, projected pedestrian traffic fatalities in the US for 2016 increased by 11% compared to 2015 and by 22% compared to 2014.  This is the biggest increase in pedestrian fatalities in 40 years since national statistics started to be recorded. The second biggest increase was recorded in 2015.

Pedestrian deaths represented 11% of all traffic accident deaths in 2006. They now represent 15% of them.

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An 87 year old pedestrian who was hit by a SUV in New York a few weeks ago died from his injuries yesterday according to the police. The man was crossing Grand Street in the Lower East Side around 6:40 pm on March 7th when he was hit by a SUV.  The pedestrian was first hit by the front bumper. He then slammed into the windshield and collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital where he died from his injuries 20 days later. Read more in the NY Daily News 

During the winter months when the sun goes down around 4:30 pm in New York, statistics show an increase of 40%  in pedestrian fatalities. Pedestrians killed are mostly seniors. In an effort to reduce these fatalities, Vision Zero launched the Dusk and Darkness Safety initiative last November.  Over the 3-month period of November 2016, December 2016 and January 2017, 39 pedestrians died in car accidents, compared to 46 for the same period a year earlier, 28 for the same period two years earlier and 54 for the same period three years earlier just before the launch of Vision Zero.

If we compare the recent numbers to a year before, statistics show a decline. However if we compare the same numbers to two years before, the number of fatalities increased despite the Dusk & Darkness Safety Initiative. Too many elderly pedestrians are still dying in traffic accidents and more needs to be done to protect them.

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NYPD logoGiovanni Nin died in a bicycle accident in NYC last June in the Bronx, NYC. The driver who hit him fled the scene of the accident. 11 months later the police arrested him. On June 11 2016, Giovanni was heading for a nap at his girlfriend’s between two shifts at Fedex.  It was around midnight. As he was riding his bike on East Tremont Avenue he was hit by a BMW SUV. The driver left him dying on the street. The police identified the car but the car owner, 44 year old Victor Pelaez declared his car stolen. He told the police he wasn’t behind the wheel during the accident. However cell phone records showed that Pelaez was near the scene of the accident when it occurred. Pelaez was also seen by an NYPD detective driving the supposedly stolen car on August 10. He was arrested last week and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. Read more in the Gothamist

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accident scene1 person died and two people were injured in a truck accident in New York early Monday morning.  Around 2:20 am, 23 year old Sandhu Simranjeet Singh from Durham, NC was driving a tractor-trailer, heading west on the Cross Bronx Expressway. As he was near the George Washington Bridge he lost control of his truck and slammed into a car. He then fled the scene of the accident leaving behind him 3 critically injured people. The reckless drunk truck driver was later caught by the police near the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop. He was arrested and charged with drunk driving.  The 3 occupants of the car had to be pulled out of the mangled vehicle by the emergency responders. They were transported to the hospital. The driver, 25 year old Caeser Contreras, didn’t make it and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The two other passengers who were 28 and 39 years old were in critical condition.

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Patient wristbandPatient identification error may be medical malpractice that can result in serious injury and sometimes death of a patient. This type of medical error can happen at any step of a medical process from lab testing to medication administration and even billing.

A special report published by the ECRI Institute reviewed 160 recent scientific searches and publications written on this type of medical malpractice to provide a snapshot of the status of this prevalent occurrence.

The report found patient  identification errors at each of the following clinical contexts:

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A NYC drunk driver killed his passenger after he crashed into a divider. The fatal car accident took place on the Williamsburg bridge Thursday around 3:30 am. That night, Amanda Miner was celebrating her 21st  birthday. She was driving back home with her two friends, both NYPD traffic enforcement agents. Stefan Hoyte was driving the car and his friend was in the front seat. Amanda was seating in the back. Hoyte was in the middle of the bridge when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the divider. The impact was so strong that the car split in two and Amanda was thrown from the vehicle. She died at the scene of the accident. The two men suffered minor injuries. The driver was taken into custody. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

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NYCOSH logo236 workers, many of them construction workers died on the job in New York in 2015, according to the most recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As recent Congressional actions have been pushing for the deregulation of workers safety rules, these disturbing statistics may even get worse.

In an effort to fight back, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) recently announced that it has joined a national campaign for workplace safety. Entitled “Protecting Workers’Lives & Limbs” the campaign launched by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health has already rallied 92 groups across the country.

The goals of the campaign are to make sure that workers health and safety stay a priority and to insure that all workers are protected including illegal immigrant workers. The campaign will work on eliminating disparities, reduce the use of toxic chemicals at work, make sure workers have access to quality medical treatments and fair wage replacement benefits. It will also focus on getting a better count of injuries and illnesses on the workplace as many workers still fear retaliation from employers if they report their injuries.  The complete campaign agenda can be downloaded here.

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hoverboardA 3 year old girl died from her injury after a hoverboard explosion caused a major fire in her apartment in Harrisburg, PA, last Friday night. The hoverboard battery was charging at the time of the explosion.  The girl fell from the second story of her home as she was trying to escape the blaze that was ravaging her apartment. Her two sisters suffered critical burn injuries and her dad as well as a teenage boy who was in the house at the time of the accident, were treated for smoke inhalation. Dennis Voe, a 21 year old  firefighter who was en route to the fire was struck by a car and died from his injury as well.

It is the first time that a hoverboard explosion is directly linked to a fatality. The accident prompted a federal investigation. Previously the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigated multiple cases of burn injuries related to defective hoverboards. So far investigations have led to the recall of approximately half a million hoverboards with defective battery packs. At least 8 models manufactured in China with defective lithium battery packs were part of the defective models recalled. Despite the many fires and injuries caused by exploding hoverboards many families still buy them and use them.

If you or your children own one of them, you can check the list of the hoverboards recalled by CPSC. However, please remember that owning a hoverboard that is not on the list is not a guarantee that the battery may not be prone to fire hazard.  Do not charge your hoverboard at night when you sleep but during the day in a location where you can keep an eye on it and where there is an extinguisher nearby.

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senior pedestrians3 pedestrians died and another one was critically injured in New York City last Tuesday. The carnage started at 6:00 am in the morning in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 71 year old Joseph Ramieri was crossing Meeker Avenue between Bridgewater Street and Gardner Avenue when he was struck by a car. He was transported unresponsive to the hospital. He died there. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged by the police.

3 hours later, at 9:00 am, 81 year old Carmen Velez was crossing E. Fordham Road when she was struck by a car making a left turn from Hughes Avenue onto Fordham Avenue, Bronx. She was taken to the hospital with severe trauma to her body. She was declared dead upon her arrival. The driver of the car was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

The third fatal pedestrian accident of the day occurred at night in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn. A woman in her 50s was fatally hit by a pick up truck at the intersection of Gerritsen Avenue and Whitney Avenue. No charges were filed against the driver.

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Falls_Are_Leading_Cause_of_Death_Map_InfographicEvery year more than 200 construction workers die and around 10,000 are seriously injured after falling on the job in the US. Falls are the number one cause of death in construction accidents. Most of them are preventable. Planning ahead, using proper equipment and being trained for the job are key to prevent falls from scaffolds, roofs or ladders.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) and the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Construction Sector Council are joining forces to organize the fourth National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction.

This awareness campaign will take place all over the Country from May 8th to May 12th. Construction companies as well as contractors and their employees are invited to halt regular activities and organize a workshop to develop awareness on safety measures to prevent falls on construction sites.