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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When a car accident occurs, some cars are safer than others and will  protect occupants from severe personal injury or death more effectively. The Buick encore and its cheaper version, the Chevrolet Trax just earned the Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. To qualify for Top Safety Pick a car  must earn a “good” or “acceptable” rating for small overlap protection and a “good” rating in the institute’s moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint crash tests. The 2015 Encore received the highest score (“good”) in the small overlap crash test compared to the 2014 model which was rated “poor” in the same test a year before. The small overlap test replicates a collision during which the front corner of a car hits another car or an object such as a light pole or a tree. Read more in the IIHS press release

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AED.jpgWhen a person is injured or dies because of an automated external defibrillator failure, it is often the result of a defective design or a manufacturing flaw such as the inadequate quality control of outsourced components. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are usually stored in public places and ready for use if someone suddenly suffers from a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia. Unfortunately these medical devices have a history of malfunctions. In the last 10 years the FDA received more than 72,000 medical reports associated with defective AEDs. During the same period of time, 111 recalls were conducted affecting more than two million defective products.

Therefore the FDA decided to take additional steps to improve the quality of these products. The agency issued a final order that will require AED manufacturers to submit premarket approval applications (PMAs), which undergo a more rigorous review than what was required to market these products in the past.

Read the FDA press release here

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Failure to manage diabetes can be medical malpractice that can result in serious personal injury such as loss of a limb, an eye or a kidney. A new medical App that was just approved by the FDA may help improve monitoring patients with diabetes. The Dexcom Share Direct Secondary Displays system’s data-sharing capability allows caregivers to a person with diabetes to monitor that individual’s blood sugar levels remotely through a legally marketed device that is available on mobile devices.The patient wears a small sensor inserted under the skin that constantly monitors the patient’s glucose level. The sensor is linked to an app installed on the patient’s mobile device while another app is installed on the caregiver’s mobile device or another person’s mobile device with whom the patient wants to share the data.

Read the press release from the FDA here

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most%20wanted.jpgTransportation accidents are killing and injuring thousands of people every year. Many of these accidents are preventable.

To support and increased awareness of the most critical changes needed to reduce these accidents the NTSB is releasing every year its most wanted list.

This year, distracted driving caused by portable electronic devices (PEDs) is at the top of this list, followed by substance impairment while operating a vehicle and helicopter safety. Implementation of train control, improvement of rail tank car safety, increased safety in mass transportation, prevention of loss of control in non-airline flights, medical fitness for duty, strengthening of commercial trucking safety and strengthening procedural compliance among airlines are the other priorities on the NTSB Most Wanted List.

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After a child’s injury, both the child and the family may experience traumatic stress reactions that can interfere with the recovery of the child. Pediatric trauma nurses have an important role to play in helping the family and the child to recover physically and emotionally. A recent study led by researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hershey Medical Center surveyed more than 200 nurses in pediatric trauma centers. The researchers found that 90 % of nurses understand post traumatic stress disorder and recognize the importance of responding to the psychological needs of the child and the family. Additionally, 75% to 80% of the nurses are helping the child and the family to cope with pain and anxiety during procedures and encourage parents to turn to family and friends for support. However most nurses do not provide a direct assessment of the child or the parents distress and do not provide specific instructions on how to cope with the trauma.

Read more about this subject here

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Winter%20Weather%20Driving.jpgWinter weather conditions make the roads more dangerous and increase the risk of a car accident that could result in severe personal injury or death. Before you take a trip make sure to check the weather forecast and the road conditions and also verify if you need tire chains. Safe driving is key to prevent car accidents during the winter. Here are a few basic safety tips that can make a big difference when driving on wintry roads:

– Brush the snow and the ice from your car before driving – Buckle up. Seat belts are the most effective way to prevent death or severe injuries in a crash – Check the weather forecast and plan ahead what you will do if conditions are getting worse – Allow yourself a lot of extra time to your destination – Keep your headlights on all the time so you are more visible to others
– Drive smoothly, abrupt driving maneuvers such as sudden braking can be fatal – Lower your speed and allow extra space between you and the car in front of you

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Drowsy%20driving.jpgDrowsy driving plays a role in 21 % of fatal car accidents, in 13% of the crashes resulting in hospitalization and in 7% of the accidents requiring treatment for personal injuries according to a new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

The report based on a representative sample of 14,268 crashes demonstrate that drowsy driving is a serious traffic safety issue and that official statistics from the NHTSA do not provide an accurate picture of the prevalence of the probleme

Download the complete Prevalence of Motor Vehicle Crashes Involving Drowsy Drivers report

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A wheelchair-bound resident of a Long Island nursing home suffered serious personal injury after a nurse committed a medical error and injected him with morphine instead of a prescribed muscle relaxant and then attempted to cover up her error by falsifying documents. The nursing home resident overdosed and had to be admitted to a hospital where Narcan, a medication to counter the effects of an opiate overdose was administered. The nurse, Vicki Price, was charged recently with one count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, or an incompetent or physically disabled person, in the second degree, a class E felony; one count of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, a class A misdemeanor; one count of willful violation of the public health laws, an unclassified misdemeanor; and two counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a class E felony. She faces up to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if convicted.

Read more in the Press Release

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liver%20damage.jpgSevere personal injury and even death may result from taking too much acetaminophen. Inadvertent acetaminophen overdose may severely damage the liver and can lead to liver failure, liver transplant and death.

Acetaminophen is used over the counter as a pain and fever medication and is often an ingredient in cold and cough medicine. It is also combined with ingredients to treat pain such as opioids and prescribed by doctors. Many consumers are not aware that their medicine contains acetaminophen, making it easy to accidentally take too much. Prescription narcotics which contain acetaminophen include Tylenol with Codeine, Percocet, and Vicodin. Depending on the milligrams of the narcotic the particular drug may contain as much as 650 Mg. of acetaminophen. Patients should read the label as well as the package insert given with the prescription. Further alcohol should not be used as it is well known that in combination with acetaminophen liver toxicity may result.

To prevent these types of adverse results and to reduce the number of acetaminophen induced liver injuries, the FDA recommends that doctors not prescribe any medication that contains more than 325 mg per dose. The FDA also recommends that pharmacists call doctors and discuss options with them if they receive a prescription for a combination product with more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit.

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Wrongful deaths and serious personal injuries related to traffic accidents are epidemic in New York. The newly appointed NYPD commissioner, Bill Bratton, promised that this situation would change.

In a speech Thursday Bratton said “It is ironic that even as the death totals have declined dramatically with violent crime in this city, this year the number of people killed on our streets – pedestrian and traffic — will almost equal the homicide total”.

Bratton said his priorities are to make the streets and the subways safer.