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11 apartment residents were rushed to the hospital this morning after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Officials say that a faulty furnace in an apartment building may have caused the Nantucket injury accident. The 11 victims “close to death.” Four police officers and one firefighter also went to the hospital because they were exposed to CO.

Police arrived at the Macy Lane residence after a receiving a call from someone reporting that several people in the building were sick. Six of the sick residents were found in the upper-floor apartments, while five residents were discovered “incapacitated” in the apartment located in the basement where the carbon monoxide levels were the highest.

State law requires that there be a carbon monoxide alarm on each floor. According to Massachusetts Fire Marshall Stephen Coan, there were detectors in the building but their batteries weren’t working.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Because carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that people cannot see, smell, or taste, it is so important that there be working CO detectors on a premise. Considered the number one cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that CO poisoning results in over 15,000 ER visits and about 500 people a year. Severe CO poisoning can cause brain injury, heart problems, coma, and death.

Property owners must make sure there are no appliance or hazards on a premise that could lead to CO poisoning. They also must make sure that there are working carbon monoxide detectors in the building. Also, the manufacturers of products that produce CO must make sure that there are no defects or malfunctions that could cause too much carbon monoxide to be emitted into the air.

Nantucket cops: carbon monoxide poisoning puts 11 in hospital, Boston Herald, April 16, 2011
Carbon monoxide sends 12 to hospital, Boston, April 17, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Carbon monoxide poisoning, Mayo Clinic
Carbon monoxide, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

More Blog Posts:
Sterling Man Sues Strip Club for Worcester Personal Injury Over Alleged Beating By Club Employee, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 18, 2011
4-Year-Old Dudley Boy Dies in Auburn, Massachusetts Escalator Fall Accident, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 16, 2011
$6.8 Million Boston Wrongful Death Judgment Awarded Over NU Student’s Fatal Fall Down Bar Stairs, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, February 27, 2011 Continue reading

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A number of people have come forward claiming that they were the victims of Massachusetts child sexual abuse while attending Camp Good News. The ex-campers made their allegations after US Senator Scott Brown revealed that he was molested at a Cape Cod religious camp when he was a boy. The camp was later identified as attending Camp Good News, a Christian Camp in Sandwich.

While the Boston Globe last week counted six adults alleging child sex abuse at the camp, one Boston injury lawyer claims that 13 people-2 women and 11 men-have contacted him claiming that they were abused while attending the camp. The Cape Cod sex abuse incidents allegedly occurred between the 1970’s and 1990’s and multiple perpetrators were allegedly involved. However, some of the adults did say that they were molested by Charles “Chuck” Devita, a camp employee who killed himself last week after a an ex-camper said Devita sexually abused him.

In the wake of the allegations and the ongoing investigation, Camp Good News announced that it will be closed this summer.

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A Plum Island construction accident lawsuit seeking Newburyport wrongful death and injury damages has made it way to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. At issue is whether the plaintiffs, who have already received Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits, should also be able to collect civil damages.

Timothy Wentworth and his son Ezekiel Wentworth were involved in a serious Newburyport construction accident on August 2005 when, while spraying waterproofing material in a home, a pilot light went off, causing the water heater to burst into flames. The two men sustained serious burn injuries with Timothy, 51, dying and Ezekiel suffering disfigurement so serious that he has had to undergo several surgeries.

The Wentworths, who were a subcontractor on that construction job, did not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Following the Plum Island injury accident, Cheryl Wentworth filed a Massachusetts workers’ compensation claim with builder Henry C. Becker, who had hired the father and son. She also sued Becker for Plum Island wrongful death and her son’s personal injuries.

Under Massachusetts law, employers must make sure that its employees, and, in most instances, their subcontractors have workers’ compensation coverage. In her claim, Cheryl said that Becker let an insured subcontractor work. A settlement was reached between the two parties.

Becker contended that injured subcontractors cannot collect both Massachusetts injury damages and workers’ compensation benefits, and a Superior Court judge sided with him. An appeals court panel agreed with the Wentworths, whose lawyers said that the case Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Murtagh based his ruling on was flawed. The Wentworths say that since the father and son weren’t Becker’s employees, they don’t have to only receive either Massachusetts injury compensation or workers’ compensation benefits.

High Court to hear case of deadly PI accident, Newburyport News, April 5, 2011
Wentworth v. Henry C. Becker Custom Building Ltd., Masscases.com

Related Web Resources:
Workers’ Compensation, Mass.gov
Massachusetts Wrongful Death

More Blog Posts:
Department of Transportation Worker Falls Into Shaft in Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog, April 10, 2011
Massachusetts Contractor Fined for Safety Hazards at Hultman Aqueduct Project, Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog, April 10, 2011
Salem Construction Accident at Massachusetts Courthouse Last Summer Caused by Wrong Screw, Boston Injury Lawyer, January 19, 2011 Continue reading

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More than two years after 17-year-old Taylor Meyer drowned in a swamp near the abandoned Norfolk Airport, her family has settled her Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit with Plainville siblings Brian and Paige Zuzick. Meyer died after wandering off from an underage drinking party at the old airport on October 17, 2008.

Meyer’s family contends that friends directed a drunken Taylor, who had attended three parties that evening, toward the swamp instead of the street. She was found three days later, face-down in the shallow water that was no more than 100 yards from where the party had taken place.

In their Norfolk wrongful death complaint, the plaintiffs accused Brian of having a friend purchase two bottles of rum, which he gave to Paige, who offered some of the alcohol to Meyer. The friend accused of buying the alcohol, North Attleboro resident Sean Flynn, is still a wrongful death defendant, as are Dianne Stark from Wrentham, Matthew Dusseault of Norfolk, who is accused of bringing beer to the airport party, and Matthew Riddoch, also of Norfolk, who allegedly was one of those involved in setting up the party area.

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A day of drinking beer turned tragic on Saturday night after two men who were roughhousing fell out of a moving bus on Route 2. The victims are 31-year-old Thomas Johnson of Gardner, who died from his injuries, and 34-year-old Seth Davis of Winchendon, who sustained serious injuries from the Massachusetts bus accident.

According to police, the two men were on a Colonial Tours charter that had taken them on a daylong pub crawl of several breweries when they fell out of one of the windows on the bus. According to Telegram.com, the 3-foot-10inch-by-2-foot-5-inch window, which opens from the bottom, is located in the bus bathroom. The bus driver reportedly didn’t know the two men had fallen out of the bus, which was carrying over 50 partiers and moving at a speed of 60 mph, and kept on going for several miles.

The Boston Herald reports that Davis’ mother has said that passengers on the bus believe that the bus’s faulty equipment is to blame for the tragic Massachusetts injury accident. Police are investigating the fall incident.

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Our Boston injury lawyers are familiar with the toll that Massachusetts nursing home negligence can have on a patient, and we want to remind you that if you suspect abuse or neglect, you should remove your loved one from the assisted living facility immediately. Unfortunately, are nursing homes that are not doing enough to provide patients with better nursing care.

According to a new study, not only are high-quality nursing homes named defendants of nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuits as often as their lower quality counterparts, but also, litigation-or even the possibility of a lawsuit-doesn’t seem to be enough of a consequence to compel assisted living facilities to provide better care. The study, led by Law Professor David Studdert, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and David Stevenson, a Harvard Medical School associate professor of health policy, can be found in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the study, five nursing home chains in the US provided information about nursing home neglect and abuse lawsuits that were filed against them between 1998 and 2006. The data included 4,716 complaints against 1,465 assisted living facilities. On average, each nursing home was, on average, sued once ever two years.

The most common harms alleged in the nursing home abuse and neglect complaints were:
• Bedsores
• Dehydration • Malnutrition • Too much weight loss • Physical abuse • Verbal abuse • Medication mistakes • Injuries from fall accidents
Claimants received nursing home negligence compensation in 61% of the cases. Average compensation was nearly $200,000.

The researchers said that based on 10 measures of quality analyzed, the nursing homes that did the best on these measures were only a little less likely than the facilities that didn’t fare as well to become a defendant in a nursing home neglect or abuse lawsuit. The same goes for assisted living facilities that provided the most nurse’s aide hours per resident a day.

Victims of Boston nursing home neglect or abuse may be hold the assisted living facility liable for personal injury.

Lawsuits Aren’t Improving Nursing Home Care: Study, BusinessWeek, March 30, 2011
The New England Journal of Medicine

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, Massachusetts.gov
Nursing Home Checklist, Medicare.gov

More Blog Posts:
Boston Nursing Home Negligence Can Lead to Food Choking Accidents, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, February 22, 2011
Danvers, Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse: Lynn Woman Convicted of Assault and Battery on an Elderly Person, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, February 4, 2011
One More Reason Why Massachusetts Assisted Living Facilities Should Prevent Boston Nursing Home Neglect: Elderly Who Have Had Sepsis at Higher Risk of Physical and Cognitive Impairments, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, October 28, 2011 Continue reading

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According to information on nearly 11,000 elderly patients, those who are treated with antidepressants, conventional antipsychotic drugs, and benzodiazepines are at greater risk of adverse outcomes and death than if they were treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs. This is disturbing news, considering that nearly two thirds of dementia patients in assisted living facilities are given psychotropic drugs. The Boston Globe reports that in Massachusetts alone, almost 2,500 nursing home patients were given strong antipsychotic drugs that were not recommended or meant for their health issues. If you think that loved one may have gotten sick from taking a medication, you should speak with a Boston injury lawyer right away.

The study, which can be found in CMAJ, notes that this ‘exploratory” examination shows growing evidence that conventional antipsychotics aren’t any safer than atypical antipsychotics when it comes to treating older adults. Dr. Krista F. Huybrechts, PhD of Harvard Medical school and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and her colleagues said they found that:

• Treatment with conventional antipsychotics appears to up the risk of an elderly patient developing a femur fracture by 61%.

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The parents of Jason Alan Foster are suing Mitsubishi for his Revere, Massachusetts wrongful death. Foster, then a 17-year-old Ipswich teen, was fatally injured in a SUV rollover crash on Route 1 on August 6, 2009.

Foster and another person were riding in the rear seat of a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero when the driver, an inexperienced teen, lost control of the SUV, which rolled over on a curve. Foster and 16-year-old girl were both thrown from the vehicle. She also died from her injuries.

In their Revere auto products liability complaint, Michelle and Charles foster claim that the SUV rollover occurred because the Montero had an “unreasonably dangerous” design. Their Boston wrongful death lawyer says that this particular Mitsubishi vehicle is “notorious” for its involvement in rollover accidents. The Fosters are alleging that the vehicle displayed poor maneuverability, had a high gravity center, was prone to oversteering, and had been designed in a way that did not protect occupants during rollovers. They also contend that Mitsubishi did not “properly warn” about the vehicle’s flaws, defects, or flawed design even though a number of plaintiffs had already filed civil complaints about these problems.

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Bayer’s annual report says that as of February 1, 2011, it has been named the defendant in about 6,850 dangerous drug lawsuits over the birth control pills Yaz and Yazmin and their generic equivalents, Ocella and Gianvi.

If you or someone that you love developed the following health conditions after taking any of these pills, you may have grounds for a Massachusetts products liability case against the drug manufacturer. It is a good idea to discuss what happened right away with an experienced Boston injury lawyer:

• Blood clots • Pulmonary embolism • Deep vein thrombosis • Pancreatitis • Gallbladder disease • Stroke • Heart attack

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Brain injuries affected over a million people in the US every year. March is Brain Injury Awareness month, and our Boston injury lawyers want to remind you that if someone you love has sustained a brain injury because of an accident that was caused by another party’s negligent actions, you may have grounds for a Massachusetts brain injury lawsuit.

Some common causes of Boston traumatic brain injuries:

• Fall accidents • Car crashes • Getting hit by or striking a hard object or surface • Assault crimes • Medical mistakes • Strangulation • Construction accidents • Choking accidents • Near drowning accidents • Electrocution • Exposure to hazardous substances • Sports • Slip and fall accidents • Birthing injuries
Suffering a brain injury can irrevocably alter the victim’s life. In addition to costly medical and rehabilitation expenses, a brain injury victim may not be able to work, live independently, or maintain the same quality of life or relationships as before.

Signs someone may be suffering from a brain injury after hitting his/her head include, vomiting, anxiety, fatigue, loss of consciousness, slurred speech, sadness, problems remembering new information, blurred vision, listlessness, headache, and convulsions. Brain injuries are not always immediately detectable. Some brain injuries are so dangerous that one moment, a person may think he/she is fine, and the next moment, the person is in a coma.

A brain injury can be mild or it can be severe. That said, even a “mild” brain injury, such as a concussion, can in fact be a serious injury. Brain injuries can cause personality changes, communication difficulties memory problems, epilepsy, emotional problems, cognitive brain impairment, coma, or increase the chances that the person could develop Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s.

Related Web Resources:
Brain Injury Awareness Month

Traumatic Brain Injury Information Page, NINDS

More Blog Posts:
Boston, Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against MIT and Delta Upsilon Fraternity for Student’s Fatal Fall, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, September 28, 2011
Boston Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors Are More Likely to Suffer from Clinical Depression, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 10, 2011
Traffic Crashes and Fall Accidents Continue to be Leading Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 23, 2011 Continue reading

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