Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

February 10, 2009

Some 48 Massachusetts Residents Affected by Salmonella Illness that Has Spurred Mass Peanut Product Recall

Public health officials in Massachusetts say 48 residents have been afflicted by the same strain of Salmonella that has made over 600 people in the United States sick. The Salmonella Typhimurium originated from a peanut plant in Georgia that is owned by the Peanut Corporation of America.

Those affected in Massachusetts include a 1-year-old and a 91-year-old. There are also 13 reported cases of salmonella in Middlesex County, 4 in Bristol County, 3 in Barnstable County, 6 in Essex County, 4 in Norfolk County, 9 in Hampden County, 1 in Suffolk County, 4 in Plymouth County, and 4 in Worcester County. Fortunately, no one in the state has died from the illness.

Elsewhere in the United States, however, several fatalities are being linked to this particular strain of salmonella, which is being spread because numerous food items contain the tainted peanut products. The family of one woman is suing PCA for her wrongful death. Their lawsuit contends that the 72-year-old died because she ate Salmonella-tainted peanut butter while she was staying at a nursing home. The peanut butter was made at the company’s contaminated Georgia plant.

Meantime, hundreds of companies that are clients of PCA are recalling their products beause of concerns that they may be contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium. More than 1,700 food products are being pulled off store shelves in an effort to keep consumers from getting sick.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration said that PCA had knowingly shipped out some products that had tested positive for Salmonella and that contrary to previous claims by the company that it only shipped out products after follow up tests came back negative, this was in fact only the case for some of the products that were sent out.

Late last month, the US Justice Department announced a criminal probe to determine if any charges need to be filed.

Products Liability
If you or someone you love got sick because you purchased or were served and ate a contaminated or spoiled food products, you may have grounds to file a products liability lawsuit against a negligent food manufacturer or distributor. You also may be entitled to file a Massachusetts personal injury lawsuit against a party that served you the food.

48 in state stricken with salmonella illness, Boston.com, February 10, 2009
FDA: Peanut plant knew product was tainted with salmonella, CNN, February 6, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Recall of Peanut-Containing Products: Salmonella Typhimurium, FDA, February 11, 2009
Peanut Corporation of America
Continue reading

February 8, 2009

Boston Crane Collapse Kills One Massachusetts Construction Worker and Injures Another

by Altman & Altman

In Boston, one worker has died and another suffered serious injuries when a crane fell at Suffolk University on Saturday morning. The crane was being used to inspect the roof of a seven-story dorm building when it tipped over, causing its 110-foot arm to crash into a building and barely miss a number of shoppers who were browsing books at the Brattle Book Shop’s outdoor display.

The two workers who were involved in the deadly Massachusetts work accident were in the crane’s basket when it fell onto a paved lot. They are James Williamson, who died from his work injuries, and Greg Johnson.

Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials, police, and firefighters were at the scene all day to examine the crane and determine determine what caused the accident. According to the Boston Fire Department’s spokesperson, the force of the fall bent the crane and caused it to split apart.

Crane Accidents
Hundreds of thousands of workers suffer serious, if not fatal injuries in crane accidents each year. OSHA cites causes of crane accidents to include:

• Improper assembly • Improper disassembly • Boom buckling • Failed rigging • Falls • Outrigger use • Improperly trained workers • Inadequate safety gear
• Improper safety procedures
Suffolk University says it contracted Tremco Inc to inspect several of its buildings’ roofs. Sheet Metal of Framingham and Reliable Roofing were subcontracted to do the work, and the latter had rented the crane equipment from Height 4 Hire. Last March, OSHA slapped Reliable Roofing with a $4,500 fine because the company neglected to provide workers with safety net systems, guardrail systems, and personal fall arrest systems at a Newburyport job site.

Workers injured at job sites do not have to prove that another party was at fault in order to receive Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits, which they are owed under state law. They do, however, have to prove liability by a third party in order to receive personal injury compensation. While workers’ compensation benefits do provide some relief, the injuries and losses sustained in a construction accident may incur expenses that far surpass the financial compensation your employer is required to provide. This is why it is important that you consider all of your legal options.

Crane accident in Downtown Crossing leaves two injured, Boston Herald, February 9, 2009
Crane falls down, killing worker, Boston.com, February 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Crane Accidents

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Continue reading

February 4, 2009

Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit Pending Against Brockton Nursing Home Assistant Convicted of Assault and Battery of a 93-Year-Old Patient

by Altman & Altman

In Brockton Superior Court, Judge Carroll Ball sentenced former Massachusetts nursing home assistant Steven Laroche to a two-year suspended jail sentence for sexually assaulting an elderly person. Laroche had pleaded guilty to the charges of assault and battery.

He was indicted nearly a year ago after another St. Joseph’s Manor Nursing Home assistant reported witnessing him sexually assault a 93-year-old male resident. The patient, who had been diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s, is now deceased.

As part of Laroche’s sentencing, he is required to register as a Massachusetts sexual offender and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. He is not allowed to work as a caregiver for the duration of his probation.

February 2, 2009

Family Of Marine Who Was Refused Care At The VA Hospital In Massachusetts to Receive Wrongful Death Settlement

by Altman & Altman

A $350,000 wrongful death settlement has been reached between the federal government and the family of a US marine reserve corporal who was refused care at the Veterans Administration hospital in Leeds, Massachusetts. Marine Reserve Corporal Jeffrey Lucey hanged himself in June 2004.

According to his family, the 23-year-old soldier was drinking heavily, severely depressed, and having trouble sleeping after he returned from Iraq in 2004. He was treated at the Massachusetts VA hospital’s psychiatric ward.

Two days after Lucey was released from the medical facility, he tried to kill himself by crashing the family car. It was at this point that the VA hospital refused to readmit him. A nurse reportedly made this decision without having a psychiatrist evaluate Lucey. According to his parents’ wrongful death lawsuit, the VA wouldn’t treat Lucey for post-traumatic stress disorder because he needed to become sober first.

January 29, 2009

Toyota Issues International Recall of 1.3 Million Motor Vehicles

by Altman & Altman

Toyota is recalling 1.3 million motor vehicles over concerns that a foam pad located close to the seat belt could catch fire during an auto crash. Included in the automaker’s recall are 134,000 Yaris subcompacts (2006 and 2007 models) that were sold in the United States.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working with Toyota to recall the cars, which come with front passenger seat belt and driver seat belt pretensioners that retract the belts so that the occupants’ forward momentum is absorbed during a serious frontal impact.

Toyota is concerned that during serious, frontal crashes, the mechanism that is supposed to tighten the seat belt could release a gas that might cause a foam pad used for insulating sound to catch fire. So far, there are no reports of any incidents stemming from the defect in the United States.

Auto defects or defective auto parts can lead to serious injuries and deaths. Auto manufacturers are supposed to make sure their vehicles are safe for use. While defects can occur during the production or shipping of a motor vehicle, there are auto parts that are defective because there are flaws in their design.

If you or someone you love was injured in a Massachusetts motor vehicle accident because the vehicle you were riding in was defective or malfunctioned, you may have grounds for an automobile products liability lawsuit.

Common auto defects that have resulted in personal injury lawsuits:

• Defective seat belts • Rollover accidents • Defective air bags • Faulty engines • Defective tires • Brake defects
Toyota Announces Safety Recall on Select Vehicles, PR Newswire, January 28, 2009
Global Recall by Toyota; Affects 1.35 Million Cars, Huliq.com, January 28, 2009

Related Web Resources:
NHTSA

Toyota
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January 27, 2009

Seat Belts and Air Bags Together Are Key to Preventing Spine Fractures During Motor Vehicle Accidents

by Altman & Altman

New information in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine offers convincing evidence that the combined use of seat belts and air bags is the best protection that auto accident victims can have from sustaining spine fractures. The findings are based on an examination of over 20,000 motor vehicle crash victims who were treated in Wisconsin hospitals between 1994 and 2002.

According to the study:
• The number one cause of spinal cord injuries is motor vehicle accidents.
• Becoming involved in an auto crash in a vehicle equipped with air bags and while using a seat belt lowered the chances of an accident victim sustaining a spine fracture.
• Just 14% of the drivers and front seat passengers who were victims of motor vehicle crashes had the protection of both a seat belt and an air bag.
• 38% of the accident victims were not using seat belts.
• Out of the 2,530 victims with spine fractures who were part of the study, 64 of them died in hospitals.
• Kinds of spine fractures: 1,067 of them were cervical fractures, 1,034 were lumbosacral fractures, and 565 were thoracic fractures.
• Auto accident victims that were using an air bag and not a seat belt had a greater chance of sustaining a severe thoracic spine fracture.

Evidence from the study was based on information about air bag and seat belt usage combined with spine fracture incidences. Some 20,276 auto accident victims were part of the study. All of the individuals had be either front seat passengers or drivers, 16 years of age or older. They also had to not have been thrown from the vehicle during the crash, and complete ICD-9CM data had to be provided.

One of the authors of the study, Marjorie C. Wang, MD, MPH from the Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, says that federal and state governments should dedicate more resources toward making sure that motor vehicle occupants use air bags and seat belts together.

Spinal Fractures
A spinal fracture is when at least one vertebrae in the back or neck breaks. While many spine fracture cases are not serious enough to warrant surgery, more serious spinal fractures can result in spinal cord injuries, paralysis, severe pain, and death. Failing to treat existing fractures can lead to progressed deformity and the ability to live a healthy, normal life.

Research: Air Bags/Seat Belts Important in Preventing Spine Fractures, Huliq News, January 26, 2009
Spinal Fractures, Spine Universe.com

Related Web Resources:

Journal of Neurology: Spine

Spinal Cord Injuries, Medline Plus Continue reading

January 23, 2009

Massachusetts Man Awarded $2 Million for Wrongful Death of Wife Due to Medication Error During Cesarean Delivery

by Altman & Altman

In Salem Superior Court, a jury awarded the family of Priscilla Jardine $2 million for her wrongful death. Jardine died on February 26, 2004 soon after giving birth to a baby girl during an emergency cesarean section. The jury issued its Massachusetts wrongful death verdict after finding that Jardine’s obstetrician, Dr. Debra Gail Knee, acted negligently when she recommended that the 32-year-old then pregnant mother take the drug labetalol.

As a result of taking the drug, Jardine’s blood pressure fell to dangerous levels and decreased her unborn baby’s fetal heart rate so that it became undetectable. Soon after delivering her daughter, Jardine went to cardiac arrest and died. Knee’s lawyer says that his client did not issue the directive for Jardine to take the medication and that another doctor who made the call has acknowledged that it was exclusively on his order.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, hospital staffers told Jardine’s family that labetalol was “safe.” Information from the drug’s manufacturer, however, warns that patients suffering from congestive heart failure should not take the medication. A nurse at Caritas Family Hospital followed orders and administered labetalol to Jardine even though the pregnant woman was exhibiting symptoms that her heart was failing.

January 20, 2009

Investigators Probe Cause of Massachusetts Bus Accident that Injured 5 People

by Altman & Altman

In Massachusetts, an investigation is taking place into a bus crash that occured last Sunday night in Grafton. Five people were injured and taken to UMass Medical Center in Worcester.

The bus, carrying 30 passengers, was headed to the Mohegan Sun casino when its driver crashed through a Massachusetts Turnpike guardrail and stopped in the woods. The reason for why the bus went off the road is unclear. Bus driver Jian Kang Chen works for Sunshine Travel Services. The Massachusetts bus company has offices in Quincy and Boston.

Sunday was a tough time in general for Massachusetts drivers to be on the road. Due to heavy snow, a winter advisory was issued that lowered the speed limit on Massachusetts highways to 40 mph. Throughout the state, snowfall was between 4 and 6 inches.

Bus Accidents
Bus accidents can result in serious injuries for passengers, who usually are not wearing seatbelts, as well as any other motorists and pedestrians involved in the collision.

Many buses are common carriers. This means that bus drivers must exercise even greater caution than other motorists to make sure that their passengers and other people on the roads are safe.

If you are injured in a Massachusetts bus accident, there are steps that an experienced Boston personal injury lawyer can take to successfully pursue financial recovery on your behalf if another party was negligent. Not only can a negligent bus driver or bus operator be held financially responsible for your personal injury or your loved one’s wrongful death, but the manufacturer of a defective bus or another driver may also be liable.

Bus Accident Facts:
• Some 360 million people ride buses every year.
• There are at least 30,000 commercial buses that travel on US roads.

Bus crashes in Grafton, Boston.com, January 19, 2009
Inquiry launched into Pike bus crash, Boston.com, January 20, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Sunshine Travel Services
Continue reading

January 15, 2009

Medical Complications and Operating Room Deaths are Reduced When Safety Checklist is Followed, Says Harvard Study

by Altman & Altman

Researchers from Harvard say that operating room deaths and medical complications are decreased by 1/3rd whenever nurses and doctors follow a 19-step checklist before, during, and after the surgical procedure. Their findings come from a international study involving eight hospitals. All of the hospitals found that medical complications went down from 11% to 7% with the checklist, while patient deaths went down from 1.5% to 0.8%.

According to Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande, who is also the Harvard School of Public Health paper’s senior author, using a surgical checklist doesn’t cause unnecessary delays. Instead, it can decrease medical mistakes.

The study can be found on the New England Journal of Medicine’s Web site. A number of hospitals have already adopted the 19-step checklist because of the study’s findings. The checklist is influenced by the World Health Organization’s guidelines and takes just a couple of minutes to fill out. The list includes verbal steps for staff to follow before administering anesthesia to a patient, performing an incision, and moving the patient out of the operating room.

Steps include:

• Confirming that an anesthesia safety check was conducted • Making sure surgical team members have met each other • Talking about any concerns anyone might have about the procedure or the patient • Confirming that no surgical tools were left inside the patient
The Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Institute of Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge are calling on Massachusetts hospitals to use this surgical checklist.

Surgical Malpractice
Surgical malpractice is grounds for a Massachusetts medical malpractice claim or wrongful death lawsuit. Surgeons, nurses, and other surgical staff in the operating room are supposed to make sure that no mistakes that can cause injury or death are made before, during, or after an operation.

Safety list cuts surgery deaths, Boston.com, January 15, 2009
Surgical Safety Checklist (PDF)

Related Web Resources:

New England Journal of Medicine

Massachusetts Hospital Association
Continue reading

January 13, 2009

Stork Craft and CPSC announce product recall of over 500,000 cribs due to suffocation and entrapment hazards

by Altman & Altman

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Stork Craft Manufacturing are announcing the recall of some 535,000 Stork Craft Baby Cribs. They are telling consumers to stop using the cribs right away. Stork Craft will provide crib owners with a free replacement kit.

The recall is being issued because the metal support brackets that are designed to support the crib’s mattress board and mattress could crack and break, causing the mattress to collapse and a hazardous gap to appear between the crib rails and the mattress.

The CPSC says that so far there have been 10 reported incidents in which at least one support bracket broke. In one case, a toddler sustained bruises to his forehead. In another incident, a child got trapped in the gap but, fortunately, did not get hurt. The Stork Craft Baby Cribs were made and sold between May 2000 and January 2009 at online and major retailers, including Walmart and Kmart.

This is the second crib recall of 2009. On January 6, the CPSC announced that Jardine Enterprises was recalling about 56,450 Jardine Cribs because the wood slats could break, creating a gap that could lead to strangulation and entrapment injuries, including death. The CPSC has received at least 19 reports involving incidents where Jardine crib slats broke. There have been no reports of injuries.

Defective Cribs
Crib manufacturers can be held liable for products liability or wrongful death if a crib the company designed and distributed has defects that contributed to an infant or toddler sustaining injuries or dying.

Examples of crib defects include:
• Faulty mattress design • Crib slats that are too widely spaced • Poorly designed crib corners

Crib accidents can lead to serious injuries include fall accidents, entrapment accidents, and strangulation accidents.

Stork Craft Recalls More Than 500,000 Cribs; Mattress Support Bracket Failures Create Risk of Entrapment and Suffocation, CPSC.gov, January 13, 2009
More than 500,000 cribs recalled, CNN Money, January 13, 2009
Jardine Expands Recall of Cribs Sold by Babies”R”Us; Cribs Pose Entrapment and Strangulation Hazards, CPSC.gov, January 6, 2009
Related Web Resource:
Crib Safety Tips, CPSC Continue reading