Wrongful Death

March 5, 2010

Family’s Boston, Massachusetts Wrongful Death Suit Alleges Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice

In Middlesex Superior Court, family of Donna Ames has filed a Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit seeking damages for plastic surgery malpractice. Ames, 49, died last July while trying to get a face lift. The family’s wrongful death lawyers claim that the procedure killed her.

Ames paid $4,700 for the elective procedure, which was supposed to be an outpatient surgery that should have lasted only an hour. However, after she was administered a local anesthesia, she began to experience what may have been adverse side effects. The oxygen in her blood dropped and her body started to violently jerk around. She was already brain dead by the time the ambulance was called.

According to Ames’ Boston cosmetic surgery malpractice lawyer, there was no anesthesiologist present during Ames’ procedure, and no one had connected her to any monitoring equipment. He says that the staff therefore had no way of determining how much oxygen she was getting. They called the ambulance 48 minutes after giving Ames her first injection.

February 28, 2010

Family Suing Toyota For Massachusetts Auto Products Liability Claims Sudden Acceleration Caused Medford Woman’s Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

The family of Marianne Murphy has filed a Massachusetts auto products liability lawsuit against Toyota seeking damages for her wrongful death. The 47-year-old Medford woman died last October when her 2010 Toyota Camry accelerated out of control, causing her husband, Gerald Murphy, to crash the vehicle into an Interstate 93 South guardrail.

Gerald was also injured in the Massachusetts car accident. Their children were in the car with them.

According to the family’s Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit, as Gerald removed his foot from the gas pedal to exit off the interstate on October 18, 2009, the Camry accelerated instead of slowing down. Gerald tried to slow down the car by stepping on the brakes, but the vehicle kept picking up speed until it struck the rails. The family contends that by the time the tragic Toyota runaway car crash happened, the auto manufacturer had already received a number of complaints that some of its vehicles were accelerating out of control.

February 22, 2010

Boston Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claims Big Dig Tunnel’s Handrails are a Danger

by Altman & Altman

Questions are being raised over whether the handrails that line several miles of the Big Dig tunnel are a danger to Boston motor vehicle accident victims. Seven of the victims that died in the tunnel system between 2004 and 2008 were dismembered after they struck the handrails. One Massachusetts traffic accident victim who did survive lost an arm.

In Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts trooper Vincent Cila’s widow is suing the turnpike and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff for Boston wrongful death. Her Boston, Massachusetts motorcycle accident complaint claims that the sharp edges that support the handrails have the same effect on a person as would blades from a shredder. Cila was riding a motorcycle when he hit a handrail post in 2005. He severed his arm and broke his neck.

The handrails have earned the nickname “ginsu guardrails” after the ginsu knives. They were installed in the Big Dig System to prevent workers from falling into traffic.

February 9, 2010

Family of Amity R. Kozak and Massachusetts are Close to Wrongful Death Settlement Over Her Murder by Ex-MBTA Cop

by Altman & Altman

The family of Amity R. Kozak and the state of Massachusetts are close to reaching a wrongful death agreement over her brutal slaying at the hands of former MBTA cop Helder “Sonny” Peixoto. Kozak, 29, was fatally beaten with a claw hammer and found in Peixoto’s Florida apartment on May 30, 2007, the same day that the former cop killed himself by jumping off a high-rise condo building. The two of them had recently become romantically involved.

Peixoto, 34, relocated to Florida in March 2004. Earlier that year, he pleaded guilty to motor vehicle homicide in the death of a 79-year-old man. He was sentenced to five years probation. Peixoto’s driver’s license was suspended for 10 years, and he was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

In their Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit, Kozak’s family is accusing the state of negligence for letting Peixoto move to Florida while he was on probation. They claim probation officials in Massachusetts violated an interstate agreement that required them to obtain the consent of Florida authorities before letting the former Cambridge resident move there. Their complaint contends that by letting Peixoto leave the state, probation officials neglected to follow the law, which required them to get the consent of the Malden District Court.

January 27, 2010

Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames McLean Hospital After Mentally Ill Aunt Carries Kids into Traffic

by Altman & Altman

Shane and Danielle Lambert are suing McLean Hospital for their children’s Massachusetts wrongful deaths. Kaleigh, 5, and Shane, 4, died on January 11, 2008, when their aunt, Marcelle Thibault, carried them onto Interstate 495 where the three of them were fatally struck by two motor vehicles.

Thibault, who is Danielle’s identical twin, was mentally ill. She had received treatment for her condition at McLean Hospital. Psychiatrists at the Harvard-affiliated psychiatric facility had diagnosed the 39-year-old with bipolar disorder in 2007. After discharging her from the Belmont hospital they recommended outpatient therapy and prescribed psychotropic drugs. However, the Lamberts claim that McLean’s doctors failed to warn them that Marcelle might be a danger to herself and those close to her.

On the night of the tragic incident, four months after she was discharged from the mental hospital, Thibault arrived at the Lamberts home to pick up the kids for a sleepover. Earlier in the evening, Massachusetts State Police almost detained her for a psychiatric evaluation. She reportedly was behaving strangely on an I-495 median and she even hit a motorist who tried to help her.

January 24, 2010

Massachusetts Police Brutality?: Death of Worcester Man While In Police Custody is Ruled a Homicide

by Altman & Altman

An attorney for the family of Kenneth Howe says there will be a civil rights lawsuit filed over his death. The 45-year-old man died while in police custody after he was arrested at a North Andover sobriety checkpoint on November 26.

Howe was accused of striking one state trooper and trying to flee the scene. Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and he was charged with assault and battery on a police officer.

The family’s Massachusetts injury attorney says that Howe never attempted to resist arrest. According to the driver of the pickup truck that the Worcester man was riding in, the trooper pulled Howe from the vehicle and started yelling out that she had been assaulted. 10 – 20 cops then surrounded Howe, who afterwards was unable to stand up unassisted. Police picked him up and dragged him to a cruiser.

While in the booking room at Andover State Police Barracks, Howe became unconscious. He was transported to Lawrence General Hospital where he was declared dead.

Howe’s relatives have said that the “blunt force” injuries to the chest and head that killed Howe were a result of police beating him during his arrest. This week, the Chief Medical Examiner’s office ruled that the Worcester man’s death was a homicide, with “beating” as the cause of the victim’s fatal injuries. However, the medical examiner’s office was quick to point out that it is not assigning criminal wrongdoing or blame. Final forensic and autopsy findings are still pending.

Massachusetts Police Brutality
If you believe that your loved one sustained injuries or died while in police custody because a Massachusetts police officer used excessive force when apprehending, questioning, arresting, or interrogating him/her, you should not be afraid to report the incident. Police brutality is a violation of a person’s civil rights. Even if no wrongdoing is found on the part of an officer or a police department, you may have grounds for filing a Massachusetts police brutality complaint.

Medical Examiner: Death in cop custody a homicide, Boston Herald, January 23, 2010
Man Dies In State Police Custody After Arrest, WBZ, November 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, Mass.gov
Massachusetts State Police
Continue reading

January 13, 2010

Taylor Meyer’s Mom Files Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Friends and Parent

by Altman & Altman

In Norfolk Superior Court, Kathi Meyer filed a Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit against the people that allegedly made alcohol available to her daughter Taylor on the day that she died.

Taylor drowned while drunk. The body of the 17-year-old Plainville teen was found in a swamp. She disappeared after leaving an underage drinking party at the abandoned Norfolk airport. A two-day search ensued.

Named as defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit are siblings Paige and Brian Zuzick, Sean Flynn, Rachel Stark, and her mother Dianne, Matthew Dusseault, and Christopher Moran. Brian gave alcohol to Taylor and Paige. Flynn, a 21-year-old North Attleboro resident, bought the rum for Brian. Taylor allegedly had access to alcohol during a party at the Stark residence before she went to the party at the airport. Dusseault and Moran, who are both from Norfolk, are accused of bringing alcohol to the underage drinking party.

In her Norfolk wrongful death complaint, Kathi says that friends laughingly pointed Taylor toward the swamp instead of the street as she left the party at the airport. Kathi is accusing the defendants of negligence, wrongful death, conscious infliction of pain and punishment, and willful and reckless acts.

Underage Drinking
There is a reason why minors are not allowed to drink alcohol. The US Surgeon General reports that about 5,000 minors die every year because of underage drinking. Teens often do not know how to handle their liquor, which can lead to injuries and deaths from tragic car accidents, violent and sexual crimes, suicide, drug use, and other unfortunate incidents.

Mother files lawsuit after daughter’s drowning death at party, Boston Herald, January 13, 2010
Friends, parents sued in teen’s death, The Sun Chronicle, January 13, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Dangers of Teen Drinking, Federal Trade Commission
Underage Drinking, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Continue reading

December 23, 2009

Family of Shrewsbury High School Senior Sues Former Bar Owner for Massachusetts Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

Michael L. VonBehren was just 18-years-old when a Lowell drunk driver fatally struck him on Interstate 290 in December 2008. Now, his parents Dale and Kathleen VonBehren, are suing JBC of Worcester for the Shrewsbury teenager’s Massachusetts wrongful death.

Somang Ath, the 26-year-old driver of the vehicle that struck the car that their son was riding, was also killed in the tragic Massachusetts car accident. Prior to driving the wrong way and crashing head-on into the vehicle that VonBehren was in, Ath drank alcohol with friends at Jillian’s, a Worcester bar.

According to Massachusetts police, Ath’s BAC was .28%. The License Commission suspended the bar’s license for a week after determining that there was evidence that Jillian’s over-served him. JBC of Worcester, which was bought by Revolution Entertainment of Whitinsville this May, was the owner of the bar at the time that the deadly Shrewsbury traffic accident happened. 10 days after the tragic Shrewsbury car crash that killed Ath and VonBehren, Jillian’s allegedly over-served another man who had a BAC of .30.

December 21, 2009

$15 Million Boston Medical Malpractice Award: Jury Holds Doctors Accountable for Massachusetts Wrongful Death of 3-Year-Old Treated for Birth Defect

by Altman & Altman

Five years after 3-year-old Jason Fox’s death, a Suffolk County jury has awarded his parents $15 million in Massachusetts medical malpractice damages: $5 million for wrongful death, $5 million for the boy’s pain and suffering, and $5 million for the loss of their child. The family’s attorney, James Fox, said fighting the case was an “uphill battle.”

Jason, who was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, died in December 2004 after undergoing a procedure at Children’s Hospital in Boston a year and a half earlier to treat his birth defect. The serious defect, which was treatable, prevented his limbs and organs from receiving enough oxygen.

Jason underwent seven cardiac catheterizations and open heart surgery. During his second catheterization in April 2003, Jason had a seizure. The contrast dye, which allowed doctors to better see his anatomy, went into his brain.

December 4, 2009

Father Sues Harvard for Massachusetts Wrongful Death After Student who was Prescribed Medication Commits Suicide

by Altman & Altman

The father of John Edwards, a Harvard sophomore who committed suicide in 2007, is suing the university and a nurse and supervisor at the school’s Health Services for Massachusetts wrongful death and medical malpractice. John B. Edwards II filed his Boston medical malpractice lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court.

The elder Edwards is accusing Dr. Georgia Ede of failing to properly supervise nurse practitioner Marianne Cannon, who prescribed three drugs to his son even though she doesn’t have physician training. Cannon prescribed the amphetamine Adderall, a drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to the younger Edwards even though he was never diagnosed with this condition. She later prescribed Wellbutrin and Prozac, two strong antidepressants. Edwards was also taking Accutane, an acne drug that is linked to thoughts of suicide.

The US Food and Drug Administration has cautioned that patients who are prescribed Accutane, Wellbutrin, or Prozac should be closely observed in case they begin to have suicidal thoughts.