THE INJURY LAWYER DIRECTORY BLOG

The legislative proposal that State Senator Judith Zaffirini recently introduced has been approved in the House of Representatives: drivers are now prohibited to read, write, or send text messages from their cell phones while operating a vehicle in Texas. Exceptions to the law include enabling voice command on cell phones, the use of hands-free devices, and the use of a GPS.

In recent years, texting has become an increasingly serious problem for motorists. Distracted driving is overtaking drunk driving as the leading cause of serious vehicle accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) considers distracted driving the single most pressing safety issue facing drivers today.

According to traffic studies, texting while driving increases the risk of a traffic accident up to 23 times. On average, texting drivers take their eyes off the road for 4.6 to 6 seconds – long enough to cause an accident. Many Texas cities already had municipal regulations in place to prohibit texting while driving, but now the entire state of Texas is joining more than 30 other states in the union with a law that explicitly prohibits the action.

If you or one of your loved ones has been injured in a Texas car accident because of a driver who was texting or otherwise distracted, please contact the experienced car accident lawyers at The Cochran Firm Dallas today to schedule your free initial consultation.

This past Monday, a ten-year-old boy lost both of his legs after being hit by a night train in Buffalo, New York. The boy was attempting to jump the tracks when the railroad crossing accident occurred. A construction worker nearby reported seeing the boy come up to him, dragging himself on the ground.

The boy managed to drag himself off the tracks and across the street in order to find help. He is currently being cared for at Women & Children’s Hospital, but his legs could not be saved.

The train tracks can be a tempting place for kids to play, but as this story and countless others like it show, they are extremely dangerous. Though great care has been taken to put up safety warnings – such as gates and flashing lights near train tracks – these safety measures are still not preventing railroad crossing accidents. According to the State Coordinator of Florida’s Operation Lifesaver, one-half of collision at public train crossings occur just where many safety measures have been put in place.

During Florida’s annual Train Safety Awareness week in April, the CSX Railroad Police Department stressed that “every collision between a vehicle or person and a train is preventable… safety is the bottom line.”

If you or a loved one has been injured in a railroad crossing accident, please contact an experienced railroad accident attorney in your area through the Personal Injury Lawyer Directory.

On Saturday night, a boat operator manning a 23-foot boat on the Intracoastal Waterway struck an illuminated channel marker, causing one of the five passengers onboard to sustain serious head injuries.

The man who suffered injuries in the boating accident was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center by helicopter. According to investigators, the 21-year-old boat operator fled the scene of the crash and has yet to be located. Police believe alcohol was a factor in the accident.

One other passenger sustained minor injuries, but police remain uncertain whether or not the boat operator was injured. He did not own the boat, which authorities have kept as evidence. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is still investigating the accident.

Any time a boat takes passengers out on the open ocean, the operator must be keenly aware of their environment and the potential danger of a collision. Boat crashes can not only seriously injure passengers, they can cause boats to sink – and injured passengers are often unable to swim. Florida statutes warn boat operators that they should “exercise the highest degree of care in order to prevent injury to others,” and that they should not operate their vessels in a reckless manner – especially not under the influence of alcohol.

If you have been injured in a boating accident in Florida because of someone else’s recklessness or negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced boating accident attorneys at Hardesty, Tyde, Green, & Ashton, PA today to schedule your free consultation.

A New York surgeon is being sued for medical malpractice after operating on the wrong eye of a four-year-old boy, during what was supposed to be a simple procedure to correct a wandering eye. Once the surgeon realized what she had done, she then proceeded to operate on the correct eye without notifying the boy’s parents. The boy’s vision may now be permanently damaged.

When asked to explain why she conducted the wrong site surgery, the doctor merely replies, “I lost sense of direction and didn’t realize I had operated on the wrong eye until I was done.”  There has been no improvement in the correct eye since the surgery, and now the boy’s other eye appears to be wandering as well. He has red marks in the whites of his eyes, requiring him to apply eye drops three times a day.

During any kind of operation, the doctor is not the only person responsible for ensuring that the surgery proceeds correctly. Nursing staff, hospital staff, and other medical professionals can also be held liable for surgical errors. Wrong site operations are such serious medical mistakes that the World Health Organization recently published a safety checklist (containing 19 items) that is being recommended for use in every hospital operating room.

If you or one of your loved ones has suffered because a wrong site surgery or any other type of medical malpractice in New York or New Jersey, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Trief & Olk today to schedule a confidential consultation.

On Wednesday night, a tour bus crossing through Victoria, Texas collided with a pickup truck on U.S. 77, leaving one woman dead and twenty-one other passengers injured. According to authorities, the Valley Transit tour bus was headed south on U.S. 77 when the bus accident occurred. A Chevy S-10 truck pulled onto the highway from a side road and sideswiped the bus, causing it to swerve from the impact and slam into a utility pole.

The front of the bus was damaged and a 53-year-old woman was killed. The remaining 21 victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Thankfully, the most recent report from officials states that none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.

While drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the crash, police officers have cited the truck driver for failing to yield the right of way at the intersection. Further investigations are currently underway.

Accidents are never intentional or expected, but in cases like these, they could have been prevented. One bad judgment call is all it takes for a life to be lost. When a driver’s recklessness and negligence leads to accidents of this magnitude, he or she needs to be held accountable.

If you or one of your loved ones has been injured in a Texas bus accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced bus accident lawyers at Bush Lewis, PLLC today to schedule your free initial consultation.

A dangerous stretch of Interstate 74 in Illinois – the site of a recent collision that killed two teenagers from Tremont – is due to receive a much-needed $2.9 million upgrade for maintenance and safety improvements. For years, the section of highway has taken many lives in cross-over crashes, making it the source of much debate about premises liability.

State representatives are crediting the families of the two deceased teenagers for prompting a response from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Over 3,000 postcards and a petition with close to 12,000 signatures were sent to state officials, asking for the highway’s dangerous condition to be addressed.

Cross-over crashes are common on this stretch of the I-74, between County Highway 39 and the Carlock interchange. A state representative who previously served as the County Coroner said he has been called to the location many times. IDOT will install six miles of cable barrier in order to prevent future cross-over crashes. The work is due to be completed by 2012.

When a road’s unsafe condition causes a pattern of fatal accidents, the parties responsible for the premises can be held liable for failing to address the inherent danger. Lives should not be lost because of a simple lack of preventative maintenance.

If you or a loved one has been injured in Illinois due to a property owner’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the experienced premises liability attorneys at Thaddeus M. Bond, Jr. & Associates, PC today to schedule your free consultation.

Every year, twice as many women are diagnosed with depression than men. The constant fluctuation of a woman’s hormone levels during menstruation, menopause, pregnancy, and lactation make them more susceptible to mood swings and other symptoms of depression.

Many of these women use antidepressants classified as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to keep their depression under control. Some of the more popular SSRIs include:

• Paxil
• Zoloft
• Prozac
• Lexapro
• Celexa

Unfortunately, when taken by pregnant women, SSRI medication can drastically increase the risk of birth defects in children. Problems with the development of a child’s skull, heart, and abdomen have all been linked to the use of SSRIs by pregnant women.

A recent study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that a rare condition called Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN) is significantly increased by SSRI use. PPHN is a serious respiratory disorder where the lungs of a newborn baby cannot adapt to breathing outside of the mother’s womb. As a result, oxygen levels are dangerously reduced in an infant’s bloodstream, causing 10-20% of all newborn children with PPHN to die.

Despite warnings and mandates issued by the FDA, no recall has been announced for any of the major SSRI brands. Many pregnant women remain completely unaware of the dangerous risks associated with using these antidepressants.

If your child has suffered a birth defect that may have been linked to your use of SSRI antidepressants, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact an experienced pharmaceutical injury attorney in your area today using the Personal Injury Lawyer Directory.

This past Friday, an escalator at a DART train station in Dallas malfunctioned, injuring over a dozen middle school students on a field trip in the city. Around 100 students were present at the station when the premises liability accident occurred; some of them reported that the escalator “just gave way,” without any tension to keep the steps moving at a regular pace. One of the teachers was able to press the emergency stop button, but not before several students and teachers alike had tumbled and fallen on top of each other.

Four ambulances were sent to the scene to examine the injured students and teachers. Around 18 people total were injured, with seven children and two adults transferred to a hospital for further treatment. DART officials have initiated an investigation into what caused the motorized steps to malfunction.

A DART spokesman insisted that the escalators are checked daily, with an additional inspection every three years to ensure the devices are safe. However, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation stated that they did not receive a required inspection report from DART last year.

The strict inspection requirements established by law are designed to keep public premises safe for the countless people who use them daily. When these requirements are not met, the owner can be held legally responsible for any injury a person suffers as a result.

If you or one of your loved ones has been injured on unsafe property in Texas, please contact the experienced premises liability attorneys at Polewski & Associates today to schedule a consultation.

California-based food supplier Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. announced a recall on Tuesday of 29 packaged salads that were provided to six retail chain stores: Sam’s Club, Albertson’s, Wal-Mart, Savemart, Raley’s, and Signature Café. The defective products all contained grape tomatoes produced by a grower who notified the company that they could be contaminated with salmonella.

According to the press release, the affected salad products have expiration dates from April 27^th to May 9^th. Thirteen states are affected by the recall, including California, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Nebraska, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Wyoming.

If ingested, salmonella bacteria can result in serious illness and even death. Taylor Farms Pacific is urging customers to return to the products to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. Customers with questions are directed to contact the company (209-835-6300), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

As consumers, we trust that the food products we buy at our local supermarket have been rigorously inspected for their cleanliness and safety. When contaminated products slip through the cracks and appear on the shelves, a recall cannot always prevent every consumer from being harmed.

If you or one of your loved ones has suffered injury or illness because of a defective product, please contact the experienced product liability attorneys at Burg Simpson today to schedule your free case evaluation.

A 35-year-old South Carolina man was riding his bicycle outside of Spartanburg this past Wednesday when he was struck and critically injured by a passing vehicle. The driver then proceeded to flee the scene of the car accident.

The cyclist was rushed to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and remains in critical condition. Authorities state he was indeed wearing a helmet when the accident occurred. Investigators are not certain of the make or model of the vehicle responsible for the accident, but have released a partial description of a red vehicle with extensive windshield and front-end damage. Any citizen with information on the crash is asked to contact SC Highway Patrol as soon as possible.

Accidents are always unfortunate and unexpected, but when the person at fault leaves the scene instead of staying and taking responsibility, they are liable for far more than negligence. When a person is critically injured in an accident, they are often left unable to call for assistance themselves. The failure of the other party to stop and assist could lead to far worse consequences for the injured person, including death.

If you or one of your loved ones has been injured in a hit-and-run car accident in South Carolina, you are entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced car accident lawyers at McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates, PA today to schedule your no-cost, no-obligation consultation.