THE INJURY LAWYER DIRECTORY BLOG

The U.S. government recently paid $7.5 million to an Air Force spouse who suffered from a late diagnosis of a herniated spinal disk. The woman, who became disabled as a result of the medical malpractice, filed a negligence lawsuit against the Air Force medical staff. Although active-duty servicemembers cannot sue for medical malpractice committed by military clinics, military dependents and spouses are permitted to file civil cases.

According to court records, the woman sought medical attention at the Anderson Air Base family clinic for numbness she was experiencing in her legs, groin, and feet. Despite seeking help several times over the course of two months, a nurse and doctor’s assistant at the clinic did not perform basic medical exams for the symptoms. Additionally, they failed to report the case to their supervisors.

The woman’s symptoms persisted, eventually leading to an emergency operation in Hawaii. She still suffers from nerve damage caused by the untreated herniated disc.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or illness due to medical malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney in your area today for a free consultation.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) released the results of its Roadcheck 2011 recently, leaving the public with both good and bad news about the state of commercial motor carrier safety. According to the report, 2011 revealed the lowest out-of-service rates since the program began in 1988. However, the three-day event also uncovered an overwhelming amount of driver violations involving hours-of-service regulations, which are designed to reduce the amount of truck accidents caused by fatigued drivers.

While the majority of the truck drivers passed the inspection, 53% of those who were pulled out of service were found to have violated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s hours-of-service rule, staying on the road too long and keeping inaccurate logs in the name of making a quick delivery. The longer any truck is out on the road, the higher the risk of an accident, which can cause serious injury and death.

The FMCSA is currently considering rule changes that would further reduce driver hours and require that electronic on-board recorders be installed in specific types of commercial trucks, preventing false logs from being kept.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident caused by a fatigued driver, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact an experienced truck accident attorney in your area today to schedule your initial consultation.

Early this morning, a tour bus carrying 52 passengers was pulling back onto a highway in central New York when it was hit in the rear by a tractor-trailer, igniting a fiery crash that totaled both vehicles, killed the trucker, and injured around 30 other people.

According to state police, most of the injuries from the bus accident were minor, although nine people were taken to the hospital. Witnesses say the bus looked like it had stopped for some unknown reason, and then decided to re-enter the roadway. Because the bus wasn’t up to speed, the tractor-trailer wasn’t able to stop in time.

So far in 2011, 32 people have been killed and 323 people have been injured in a total of 17 tour bus accidents nationwide. That is more than the statistics for the entirety of 2010. Tour bus safety has drawn a higher level of attention in recent months, ever since a crash in March 2011 where a bus flipped onto its side and struck a pole, killing 15 people.

If you have been injured, or if your loved one has been killed in a bus accident in New York, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced bus accident attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, PC today for a free initial consultation.

The Georgia Supreme Court recently held a local convenience store liable for a fatal car accident that took place after a man purchased a twelve-pack of beer that was on sale at the store.

According to the court, the man was already noticeably intoxicated when the purchase was made. Four hours later, the driver’s vehicle crossed the highway centerline and collided head-on into a van going the opposite direction. The driver and five other people were killed.

The families of the deceased proceeded to sue the store under the dram shop act, which asserts that any person who knowingly sells or serves alcoholic beverages to a noticeably intoxicated person, knowing that the person will soon be driving, can be held liable for damages. The Supreme Court determined that the convenience store employee who sold the twelve-pack to the driver had the opportunity to observe how the customer arrived, whether or not they appeared to be intoxicated, and how soon they would be driving a vehicle.

If you have been injured, or if one of your loved ones has been killed in a car accident in Georgia because of a drunk driver, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced car accident attorneys at Wagner & Wagner today for a free initial consultation.

Last night, a jury awarded a New Jersey woman and her husband over $34 million in a medical malpractice case. The 42-year-old woman – a mother of five – went to Bon Secours Community Hospital in January of 2004 with extremely low sodium levels. Her condition was chronic, which should have prompted the doctors to slowly infuse her with a saline solution. Instead, the doctors infused her too rapidly, which raised her sodium levels to high levels in under 14 hours.

This too-fast infusion triggered a medical phenomenon called osmotic demyelination syndrome. While the woman initially seemed to improve, she fell into a coma shortly after, suffering severe brain injury. Today, she has significantly limited speech and cannot read a book or even follow a TV program.

Due to her medical needs, the woman has been living at a supported living facility in Pennsylvania. On weekends, her family brings her home for visits, and they are hoping the recently-awarded verdict will allow them to bring her home permanently, with the proper amount of care.

When people’s lives are at stake, physicians need to take every precaution to ensure they are providing safe treatment that will not put patients at risk of worse harm. When a doctor who knows better takes a shortcut, or fails to exercise proper judgment, they should be held accountable for any injury that follows.

If you or a loved one has suffered from medical malpractice in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Weiss & Paarz today for a free initial consultation.

A tractor-trailer recently caused a fatal truck accident on Interstate 40 near Durham, North Carolina, killing three people. Authorities have already uncovered several unsettling facts about the driver and the company he worked for.

According to court records, the truck driver was not only under the influence of marijuana and methadone at the time of the accident, but he was already a convicted rapist and burglar. Meanwhile, federal inspection records revealed that the East Tennessee trucking company he drove for has been cited for numerous violations for unsafe and fatigued driving.

Hawley Transport Services, the company that employed the convicted driver, has nine other drivers who have been charged for speeding and other safety violations a total of eight times over the past 2 years. The drivers have also violated federal driver-fatigue rules 28 times on highways across the Midwest and Southeast.

Trucking companies that have a history of violations and continuously employ unsafe drivers need to be held accountable for their negligence, especially when it leads to the wrongful death of other motorists.

If you have been injured, or one of your loved ones has been killed in a truck accident in North Carolina, please contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm today for a free case evaluation. We can help you obtain the justice and compensation you deserve.

Last Friday, a driver for a Mares Company passenger bus fell asleep at the wheel on Interstate 35, causing a bus accident that injured 18 people in San Marcos.

The San Marcos Police Department (SMPD) released a crash report stating that the driver struck a highway sign after falling asleep, which caused him to wake up and attempt to over-correct the bus back onto the highway. He lost control shortly after, and the bus tipped over, eventually lying on the driver’s side across three lanes of northbound traffic.

Investigators are still looking into the details of the bus accident. No fatalities occurred, although the driver and 17 other passengers (out of 21 total passengers) sustained injuries. Authorities are referring the case to Hays County prosecutors, who will decide whether or not to proceed with criminal charges against the driver.

Fatigued drivers are an increasing problem on our roadways, as people in all types of industries work longer hours and get less sleep than they need. When sleep deprivation and exhaustion affects drivers of large vehicles – such as buses and commercial trucks – the consequences can be devastating.

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

In early 2010, a 40-year-old physicist at NASA’s Langley Research Center was walking on the Cunningham Drive overpass when he slipped and fell onto the highway below. His body was found on the road’s shoulder early in the morning. The investigation that followed backed up traffic for miles. The Virginia State Police ultimately ruled the slip-and-fall death an accident.

However, the family of the victim – his wife and three daughters – is now seeking $5 million in damages against the City of Hampton. Their suit accuses the city’s employees of gross negligence and the “creation of a public nuisance,” as snow had accumulated on the walkway to “extreme heights,” making the guardrails for the overpass ultimately useless.

Apparently, the snow was mounded so high that it caused the pedestrians’ center of gravity to be close to or above the height of the guardrails, both causing and allowing the man to fall onto the interstate below.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a slip-and-fall accident in Virginia because of a negligent property owner, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced premises liability attorneys at Kalfus & Nachman today for a free case evaluation.