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

Published on:

Guler-Ugur-Yaacobi44 year old Guler Ugur-Yaacob, was struck and killed by 28 year old Prezibor Porbeni at the intersection of W. 113 Street and Amsterdam Ave on December 31st 2013 (see previous blog). The driver fled the scene of the accident leaving the woman dying on the street. He later surrendered to the DA’s office and  was charged with leaving the scene of an accident without reporting it and aggravated unlicensed driving.  Yesterday Porbeni appeared for a brief appearance at Manhattan Supreme Court where several friends of Guler Ugur-Yaacob were present to face him and to plead for harsher charges. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

A year ago 8 people were killed and many others suffered severe personal injuries in a gas explosion that destroyed two five-story buildings in Manhattan. A vigil led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was held this to mark the anniversary of this tragedy. Cecilio Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant who lost his wife and his daughter in the explosion will be among the attendees with Oscar, his teenager son who was badly injured and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. The family lived in the 1644 Park Avenue building. Four other victims lived in this building: Griselde Camacho, 44, Carmen Tanco, 67, George Amadeo, 44, and Alexis Salas, 22.  The two other victims 43 year old Andreas Panagopoulos and 34-year-old Mayumi Nakamura lived at 1646 Park Avenue.

The investigation indicates that the ground beneath the building was saturated with natural gas.

The 8:30 a.m. vigil was held at 108 E. 116th St. and attended by other survivors of the blast along with Mark-Viverito and other elected officials. Read more in the New York Daily News

Published on:

26 year old Jessica Labetti was driving on Four Corner Rd in Long Island New York when she crashed into a stone wall after being distracted by her 88 year old grandmother who suffers from dementia. As Labetti was driving, her grandmother, who was sitting in the back seat suddenly pulled her hair. Labetti jolted, lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a wall. The granddaughter  suffered minor injuries. Her grandmother was transported to the hospital in critical condition where she later died. Labetti was driving with a suspended licensed and was charged and arrested by the police. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

Franklin Reyes admitted that he struck Ariel Russo, resulting in her death, because he was speeding while trying to avoid being arrested by the police without a license after he was caught making an illegal turn. He will spend up to nine years in jail. 4 year old Ariel Russo was walking to school with her grandmother when Reyes lost  control of his car and struck both of them at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 97th street in NYC. Ariel died in the accident and her grandmother, 46 year old Katia Gutierrez was seriously injured. Read more in the NY Daily News 

Published on:

Patient SafetyMedical errors and adverse events are among the leading causes of death and personal injury in the U.S. According to a recent study in the Journal of Patient Safety  the number of premature deaths associated with preventable harm to patients is estimated at more than 400,000 per year. Serious harm seems to be 10- to 20-fold more common than lethal harm.

The patient safety awareness week is an annual campaign led by the National Patient Safety Foundation to create awareness about patient safety among healthcare providers and their patients. The campaign is running this week and the subject is “United in safety” . The emphasis is on better communication between healthcare providers and patients to reduce adverse events or medical errors.

Tomorrow Wednesday March 11th at 8:30 pm ET anyone interested can join a twitter chat on patient and family engagement using  #PSAWunited to participate. People interested can also join a free webcast on patient safety on Thursday March 12th.

Published on:

Pigment_stone_extractionAfter two patients died and many other suffered personal injury from a recent “superbug”outbreak involving duodenoscopes, the safety of these medical devices (see previous blog) and the method used by hospitals to reprocess them are being questioned. In a recent Hazard Report, the ECRI Institute is recommending culturing Duodenoscopes as a key step to reducing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).  The Institute believes that duodenoscope procedures are vital when treating and diagnosing conditions of the gall bladder and pancreas with Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures and the risk of infection can be mitigated if hospitals upgrade their reprocessing methods by also scope culturing.The Institute recommemds that hospitals not only check with the duodenoscope manufacturer as to whether they are using the appropriate reprocessing method but also add a baseline culture of all duodenoscpoes.  Read the complete ECRI High Priority Hazard Report 
Picture Duodenoscopy image of two pigment stones extracted from common bile duct courtesy of Wikipedia

Published on:

NSC35,400 people died and 4.3 million people suffered personal injury that required medical attention last year on American roads according to preliminary statistics from the National Safety Council (NSC). The number of crash fatalities is 0.5% higher than in 2013 however because 2014 was a year of economical expansion during which the estimated mileage on US roads increased 1.4%, the estimated annual mileage death rate was 1.18 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, a decrease of 1% from the 2013 rate. It is also the lowest NSC preliminary estimate ever recorded. The number of personal injuries that occurred during a crash in 2014 was unchanged.  Read more in Automotive Fleeet

Published on:

Dangerous IntersectionA tractor trailer fatally hit a young man who was crossing a street in the Bronx, NYC, Tuesday night. The truck accident happened around 10.20 pm. 20 year old Kenny Valette was crossing Webster Ave near E. 174 Street when he was struck by a large truck that was making a right turn from the Cross Bronx Expressway exit ramp. The drivers remained at the scene while Valette was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. Read more in the NY Daily News.

According to NYCcrashmapper.com, 1 pedestrian, 11 passengers and 3 vehicle drivers suffered personal injury in 29 collisions that took place  at the intersection of East 174 street and Webster Ave between August 2011 and February 2014. As shown in the Heat map this intersection is very dangerous.

Published on:

oxy Elite dangerous productThe FDA is asking consumers to stop using the weight loss product  Oxy Elite Pro Super Thermogenic after the agency found  that the product was tainted with fluoxetine, a potential harmful class of drugs called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). When used without doctor supervision, SSRIs can have serious side effects such as sucidal thougts, abnormal bleeding and seizure. SSRIS use can be deadly and result in ventricular arrhythmia or sudden death when mixed with other medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or other drugs for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, blood clots, chemotherapy, heart conditions, and psychosis. Read more in the FDA press release

It is not the first time that the FDA has discovered hidden ingredients in Oxy Elite Pro.  In october 2013, 1 person died and 11 suffered serious personal injury and had to be hospitalized for liver failure in Hawaii after they used Oxy Elite Pro. The product was subsequently pulled from shelves nationwide. (see previous blog)

 

Published on:

10 pedestrians died and 1220 suffered personal injury  in traffic accidents last December bringing the total number of pedestrian deaths to 135  in 2014 compared to 168 in 2013 and 130 in 2014 according to car crashes data recently released by the NYPD.  The total number of pedestrians injured in vehicle accidents for 2014 was 11,000 compared to 11,978 the previous year, a decline of 8%. While pedestrian deaths are back around the level of 2012,  deaths as a result of a bicycle accident increased by 73% with 19 fatal bicycle accidents in 2014 compared to 11 in 2013. The number of people injured in a bicycle accident decreased by 2% with 3960 cyclists injured in 2014 compared to 4043 in 2014.

Globally New York City roads were less dangerous in 2014 than in 2013 with a total of 250 people dying in crashes in 2014 compared to 286 in 2013 – a decline of 12% – and 50,896 road users suffering personal injury in 2014 compared to 54,818 in 2013 – a decline of 7%.

new york traffic accident deaths 2013 2014new york traffic accident personal injuries 2013 2014
Even though pedestrian deaths and injuries decreased in 2014, the number of pedestrians suffering personal injury in a vehicle accident was above 1200 in December, the highest monthly number for the last two years. Monthly pedestrian deaths never went over 15 in 2014, an improvement compared to 2013, a year during which the monthly number of deaths jumped to 25 in November and 20 in January.