Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

March 22, 2011

Inadequate Rear Guards May Be Doing a Poor Job of Preventing Boston Underride Truck Crash Deaths

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the federal government needs to mandate that stronger rear guards be used on tractor-trailers and other big rig trucks. The underride guards are supposed to prevent smaller vehicles that rear-end large trucks from ending up under the larger vehicle. Unfortunately, the current rear guards do not appear to be doing enough to stop truck underride crashes from happening.

Our Boston injury lawyers are familiar with the damage and catastrophic injuries that can result when a smaller auto ends up under a semi-truck or another type of big rig truck. We welcome any efforts to make and install sturdier rear guards that can stop a smaller vehicle from sliding under a truck. We also represent clients with Massachusetts products liability cases against the makers of defective truck parts.

The IIHS came to the conclusion that the current underride guards in use aren’t tough enough when they failed during low speed crash tests. Also. analysis of about 1,000 real-world collisions between 2001 and 2003 (from the Large Truck Crash causation study) showed that of the 115 rear-end truck crashes involving a passenger vehicle hitting a big rig’s back, underride collisions were a common outcome.

March 18, 2011

Sterling Man Sues Strip Club for Worcester Personal Injury Over Alleged Beating By Club Employee

by Altman & Altman

Patrick Blanchard is seeking Massachusetts personal injury damages from the Platinum Premier Gentleman’s Club in Worcester. The 25-year-old Sterling resident contends that he was beaten and robbed by a club employee last May.

In his Worcester personal injury complaint, Blanchard claims that strip club employee Easton Byfield brought him to the men’s room, wrongfully accused him of selling drugs to dancer, struck his face four times, and stole $300 from him. Byfield, an Oxford resident, has been charged with kidnapping, assault and battery, unarmed robbery, and filing a false police report.

Blanchard says that someone else shot the incident on video and the footage was posted on YouTube and other Websites. The plaintiff says that the video has been watched “hundreds of thousands” of times and that this has caused him to suffer severe emotional distress, humiliation, and extreme embarrassment. He says that his damages for emotional trauma alone are over $30,000.

March 16, 2011

4-Year-Old Dudley Boy Dies in Auburn, Massachusetts Escalator Fall Accident

by Altman & Altman

State officials are ordering a statewide investigation of escalators, after 4-year-old Mark DiBona fell two stories down an escalator in a Sears store at the Auburn Mall on Friday. The Dudley boy landed on a store display and sustained serious injuries during the Massachusetts escalator accident. He died the following day.

Earlier this week, two inspectors were suspended because they did not block off a gap at the top of the escalator. Although the gap should have only been 4 inches wide, it was 6 ¼ inches. A barricade should have been placed between the wall and the side of the escalator to restrict the opening’s size. All escalators that the two inspectors checked will be looked at again.

There are about 975 escalators in the state. Each one is inspected annually.

March 15, 2011

Family Wants the Right to Sue Bank of America for Waltham Man’s Massachusetts Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

Nearly two years after Waltham resident Philip Grossman checked into a Woburn hotel and committed suicide, his family wants to sue Bank of America for his Massachusetts wrongful death. The 65-year-old computer consultant killed himself after he and his wife lost over half their savings.

Until 2007, Grossman had never placed his money in anything riskier than certificates of deposit. He decided to work with a broker at Bank of America’s investment arm on the advice of his longtime banker at the bank and because he thought he would earn more money without great risk to his savings. Grossman’s family claims he lost $400,000 during the economic crisis because his broker, Clifton Spinney, had invested his money more aggressively than promised.

His wife and daughter filed their civil suit alleging Massachusetts wrongful death, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duties. Unfortunately, because Grossman signed an agreement that any dispute with Bank of America needed to be worked out in private arbitration, his family is finding that getting their day before a jury in civil court is proving difficult.

March 10, 2011

Medication Overdose: Boston Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Massachusetts General Hospital Gave 76-Year-Old Woman the Wrong Blood Thinner

by Altman & Altman

The family of Geraldine Oswald believes that she died because of a medical mistake. The 76-year-old Revere woman died last year after she was given too much blood thinner while in the care of Massachusetts General Hospital. Now, they are suing for Boston wrongful death and medical malpractice. Defendants include the hospital, two nurses, and five doctors.

According to Oswald’s daughter Donna Beatrice, her mother fell and broke her shoulder last year. After she developed a minor urinary tract infection, a nurse at the hospital gave her “thirty times more” Lepirudin than the dose that she should have received. Oswald ended up bleeding internally for 12 hours before she died. Beatrice’s Boston medical malpractice lawsuit claims that at the end, the elderly patient started bleeding through her body’s orifices and became unresponsive. The family contends that doctors didn’t realize how serious her condition was until it was too late.

Hospital officials have admitted to the Massachusetts medication mistake. They say that it could have been prevented. Per a report that it gave to the family, the hospital admits that the day nurse knew what dose to give Oswald but made a mistake when putting the dose into the IV pump.

March 8, 2011

Did You Know That If A Massachusetts Hospital Loses Your Medical Records You Have the Right to Sue?

by Altman & Altman

Last year, South Shore Hospital in Weymouth admitted to losing more than 800,000 patient health records. While the hospital admitted this mistake to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the public, it never directly notified each person whose medical records had been lost. Most of those affected by this Massachusetts hospital negligence also likely didn’t realize that they are entitled to sue over this breach of privacy.

Although the hospital decided to invoke a provision under state law that allows consumers to be told of such breaches through the “substitute notice” process-in this case, the media, e-mail, and the hospital’s Web site-Coakley’s office made it clear that it did not agree with the way that the Weymouth hospital chose to notify those who were affected.

The records that the South Shore hospital lost were computer files containing personal information belonging to patients, doctors, employees, donors, volunteers, vendors, and business partners. This information included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, patient numbers, medical record numbers, health plan information, diagnoses and treatment information, dates of service, and credit card information found in files for the period of January 1, 1996 to January 6, 2010. The information went missing early last year as data was being shipped to a contractor that was supposed to destroy them.

March 3, 2011

Boston Medical Malpractice?: Former Needham Doctor and Nurse Practitioner Blamed for Six Drug Overdose Deaths

by Altman & Altman

In federal court today, Dr. Joseph Zolot and nurse practitioner Lisa Pliner were indicted on charges they conspired to illegally distribute controlled substances to patients and that this resulted in six fatalities. Drugs that they allegedly distributed included oxycodone, methadone, and fentanyl.

According to the indictment, Zolot and Pliner knew that the patients had drug addictions yet they still prescribed the painkillers-even though they were medically unnecessary-in exchange for money or insurance payments. Their alleged medical negligence in prescribing these drugs led to certain patients suffering from health issues, addiction, and/or overdose deaths. Jeffrey Campbell, Dennis Dillon, Thomas Dunphy, Christopher Bartoloni, James Curley, and Scot Poulack died from drug overdoses. The victims’ families may decide they have grounds to sue for Boston medical malpractice and wrongful death.

Zolot’s criminal defense lawyer is disputing the criminal charges. He contends that his client acted in good faith as a doctor. Pliner, who continues to work as a registered nurse, also plans to combat the charges against her.

February 28, 2011

Craigslist Murder: Victim’s Mother May Sue Copley Marriott Hotel for Boston Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

According to the Boston Globe, the mother of Julia Brissman, the alleged victim of the man dubbed the Craigslist Killer, is considering filing a Boston wrongful death lawsuit against the Copley Marriott Hotel and a New Hampshire gun shop. Brissman was shot numerous times at the Back Bay hotel in 2009.

Philip Markoff, a Boston University medical student, was arrested on suspicion of being the Craigslist Killer. He was charged with Brissman’s murder. He later committed suicide while in jail and before his case could be tried.

Markoff was dubbed the Craigslist Killer because he allegedly met his victims through ads the women had placed on the popular Web site. The criminal case against Markoff was dropped after his death.

Now, Brissman’s mother, Carmen Guzman says she is frustrated with the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office for not releasing the case against Markoff. Guzman believes that the file could help her make a case for Boston wrongful death against both the Marriot hotel and the State Line Gun Shop where Markoff bought the gun that killed her daughter.

Guzman wants to see if the case files contain evidence that would show whether inadequate security-grounds for Boston premises liability-played a role in her daughter’s murder. She also believes the information could help her and her attorney determine whether the gun shop was negligent in selling the gun to Markoff.

Boston Premises Liability
Hotel and motel owners must make sure that they have adequate security on the premise so that robberies, sexual assault crimes, physical assault crimes, and murders do not happen to visitors or guests. Proper lighting, security cameras, security personnel, safes in the rooms, and locks on doors and windows are some of the ways that property owners can deter robbers, rapists, and murderers.

Mother awaits file on slaying, Boston.com, February 28, 2011
Craigslist Killer’s Suicide Shock, The Daily Beast, August 16, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Craigslist

Copley Marriott Hotel

More Blog Posts:
$6.8 Million Boston Wrongful Death Judgment Awarded Over NU Student’s Fatal Fall Down Bar Stairs, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, February 27, 2011
Revere Man is Fatally Shot in His Apartment Building, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 31, 2011
Gloucester Teen Files Lynn Personal Injury Lawsuit Against MBTA Over Elevator Rape, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, August 17, 2010 Continue reading

February 27, 2011

$6.8 Million Boston Wrongful Death Judgment Awarded Over NU Student’s Fatal Fall Down Bar Stairs

by Altman & Altman

A judge has awarded the family of Jacob Freeman $6.8 million in Boston wrongful death damages. Freeman, a Northeastern University Student, died nearly four years ago after falling down a flight of stairs at Our House East, a Boston bar on Gainsborough Street.

In her Boston premises liability ruling, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Elizabeth M. Fahey noted that even though Freeman’s BAC was .208 when he fell down the stairs going to the basement in the early hours of April 1, 2007, the staircase was poorly lit, lacked a landing, possessed inadequate railings, and was hazardous in other ways. She also notes that vinyl stripes likely made it hard for Freeman to see that there was a staircase there.

Fahey says that she ordered Gainsboro Restaurant Inc. to pay damages on the grounds that not only did the bar ignore the safety hazards that the stairs presented-no repairs were made following two previous incidents of people falling there-but also for decades the bar had been violating the city’s permitting process, including never getting the permit required to run a bar.

February 25, 2011

Injured last Month in New Bedford Oil Truck Accident, 84-Year-Old Wheelchair-Bound Man Dies from His Injuries

by Altman & Altman

Last month, we reported on our Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog that 84-year-old Joao Amaral, who is wheelchair-bound, was injured when he was involved in a New Bedford truck accident. Amaral was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in serious condition. Now, the news media are reporting that the elderly pedestrian has died from his injuries.

Amaral was on the crosswalk near the curb on Purchase Street when an oil truck owned by Star Oil Co. hit him. The driver of the truck, 74-year-old John Duarte, has been charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian. It is not known at this time whether more charges will be field against the trucker now that Amaral has died.

Elderly seniors are at higher risk of becoming involved in a Boston pedestrian accident than their younger pedestrian counterparts. Old age, injuries, and disabilities may make them slower to cross the street. Prescription meds can also dull their reaction time, while their reflexes may have slowed with age. Also, as the Federal Highway Administration reports, pedestrians in the 65 and over age group are two to eight times at greater risk of dying than younger pedestrians. One reason for this is because older people can have a harder time recovering from serious injuries.

While there are steps that pedestrians can definitely take to avoid becoming involved in a Massachusetts traffic crash, motorists must exercise the proper care and attention when driving so that they don’t accidentally strike anyone. Usually, it will be the pedestrian who suffers the more serious injuries.

Wheelchair-bound man, struck by oil truck, dies, South Coast Today, February 24, 2011
Wheelchair-bound Man Struck by Oil Truck in New Bedford, Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, January 13, 2011

Related Web Resource:
FMCSA

More Blog Posts:
Massachusetts Woman Dies in Tractor-Trailer Accident, Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, April 14, 2010
Medford Car Crash Kills Dracut Man, Police Investigating Accident, Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, December 20, 2010 Continue reading