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After a mild start to the New England winter, snow showers and freezing temperatures are in the forecast for the Boston area this weekend. Weather forecasters are predicting a winter storm that will most likely bring snow and an icy mix to the area, with some places getting as much as 6 inches. Though some may see the snow as a cheery reminder of the approaching holiday season, it is still important for you to remain aware of the risks that can be caused by the snow and ice. As a pedestrian, you can take precautions against falls by wearing heavy treaded shoes and taking special care to avoid black ice, thin sheets of ice that appear to be wet pavement. You should avoid carrying heavy items and using shortcuts, which may not be cleared. Plan ahead so that you can afford to walk slowly and take smaller steps.

Unfortunately, even when you take these precautions, you can be taken by surprise when walking through a badly maintained property. Property owners have the responsibility and legal obligation to ensure the safety of their properties. Owners of businesses, restaurants, stores, and parking lots must make sure that there are no unsafe or hazardous conditions. This includes the removal of natural and unnatural accumulations of ice and snow. When an owner doesn’t take responsibility for his property, the results can be disastrous.
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An industrial worker was killed on Monday when he was fatally struck by a 12,000-pound steel beam that fell on him at Boston Bridge & Steel Inc., an East Boston plant. The victim, 46-year-old Marco Antonio Huezo Mancea, leaves behind a wife and three children in El Salvador.

According to a Boston Fire Department spokesman, Mancea became trapped when a “large piece” moved onto him. A preliminary probe into the East Boston industrial accident determined that foul play was not a factor. (At the time of the tragic incident, three workers were with Mancea.)

This is the second Boston industrial worker fatality in less than a week. Last Thursday, a 37-year-old construction worker died from injuries he sustained in a Massachusetts work accident involving a scissor lift.

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A man whose mother and infant daughter were killed in a King of Prussia apartment complex has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment complex, its owners, and the person accused of the killings. Venkata Venna is claiming reckless and careless conduct and negligence. He believes the complex managers and owners should be liable for premises liability because, he says, they did not provide proper security on the premises.

Venkata’s 10-month-old daughter Saanvi and his 61-year-old mother Satyavathi Venna were killed after the child was allegedly abducted by Raghunandan Yandamuri, who is accused of kidnapping the girl to extort money to pay off his gambling debt. NBC Philadelphia reports that Yandamuri is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, abusing a corpse, kidnapping, and other offenses in this matter.

According to police, the 27-year-old admitted to accidentally slitting the older woman’s throat and putting a handkerchief in the infant’s mouth. Yandamuri’s lawyer, however, contends that his client was coerced into issuing a confession.

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OSHA has recently announced the launching of a new program that will allow workers in the United States to file whistleblower complaints online.

The online form will provide workers who have been retaliated against, the additional opportunity to reach out for OSHA assistance.

“The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their rights without fear of retaliation provides the backbone for some of American workers’ most essential protections,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Whistleblower laws protect not only workers, but also the public at large and now workers will have an additional avenue available to file a complaint with OSHA.”

The current system allows workers to file a written complaint or verbal complaint (by calling the agency’s regional office), but now workers will be able to submit complaints electronically. The new form will prompt workers to include basic information so that an OSHA representative can easily follow up with the complainant. The electronic version will be identical to the paper version, and requests the same information necessary to initiate a whistleblower investigation. United States whistleblowers are protected under 22 statutes enforced by OSHA, which serve to protect those employees who report violations of various securities laws, trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, public transportation, workplace safety and health, and consumer protection laws.

While the addition of this electronic complaint form will undoubtedly serve to increase the ease and ability for people to file complaints, it is most advised for people wishing to file a whistleblower claim to consult with an experienced Whistleblower Attorney to discuss their rights and options before proceeding with filing a complaint.

Whistleblower lawsuits can be very complex. At the law offices of Altman & Altman, our Boston Whistleblower Attorneys have nearly 50 years of experience assisting individuals wishing to bring a whistleblower lawsuit against an entity committing fraud and/or endangering workers.
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Officials investigating the train that derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in Bronx, New York over the weekend believe human error may have been the main cause of the fatal incident.

The passenger train, which was en route to New York City early Sunday morning, jumped the tracks after going into a curve at 82 mph, nearly three times the speed limit. Four people were killed and dozens more were injured.

Anthony Bottalico, the leader of the rail employees union and the representative for William Rockfeller, the engineer responsible for the crash, said that human error was what may have caused the accident. On the day of the crash, Rockefeller was on the second day of a five-day workweek and reported for duty at 5:04 a.m. after working a typical, nine-hour shift the day before. According to Bottalico, Rockfeller said that he had been in a daze and that his mind had been wandering when he realized the train was in trouble. Rockfeller allegedly caught himself dozing off, and put the train into emergency only six seconds before the train and seven of its cars jumped off the tracks.

National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said that investigators have not yet found any evidence that there were any mechanical issues with the train and New York law enforcement officials have launched a separate investigation to determine whether criminal charges will be filed against Rockfeller. Alcohol and drugs have not been cited as factors in the accident, and officials are still investigating the cause.
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Ensign Group Inc., which runs nursing homes in a number of US states, has consented to pay $48 million to settle Medicare billing fraud allegations that it billed the government for medical procedures that patients didn’t need. The case stems from whistleblower cases brought by Carol Sanchez and Gloria Patterson, two ex-employee therapists who claimed that the nursing home operator conducted rehabilitation therapy that was not always necessary at six of its facilities. The government believes that Medicare fraud took place at Ensign Group facilities from 1999 to 2011. According to the US Department of Justice, Ensign Group provided the therapy to up its Medicare reimbursement.

One whistleblower lawsuit accused Ensign of promoting fraudulent billing by establishing Medicare billing goals that were not reasonable and giving rewards, such as all-expense paid vacations, to employees who met these objectives. The Medicare fraud attorney of one of the plaintiffs said that the only way to meet these goals was to cheat Medicare. As a result, Ensign staff purportedly billed more than the care that was actually provided/needed by patients to meet the incentive goals.

Ensign Group says that even though it is settling, the company never took part in any illegal behavior. It says that it is choosing to resolve the claims to avoid litigation.

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A Suffolk jury has awarded Li Chen and Peter Xu $5 million in a Boston obstetric malpractice lawsuit against Tufts Medical Center. Xu and Chen’s son Edward Xu, now 9, has a permanent debilitating syndrome that makes it impossible to digest food. He can only be fed via a tube in his chest for hours at a time. (The verdict actually was $24.4 million but because of a prior agreement made by the parties, Edward’s family is getting $5.3 million.)

The couple claims that their son’s condition-part of his intestines had to be taken out- is a result of the hospital’s failure to respond appropriately to his symptoms after he was born prematurely and they took too long to diagnose his condition. The hospital, however, disagrees and says that the care team did everything they could, including providing the applicable standard of care. The Boston Herald says that medical expenses for Edward’s care is over $2,000 a week.

Boston Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals are supposed to provide proper prenatal and postnatal care, in addition to proper care during delivery. When failure to provide such care causes a child to sustain serious health issues or injuries, this can be grounds for a Boston medical malpractice case.

Doctors, obstetricians, and nurses need to be very mindful of babies born prematurely, who may already be at risk of: breathing problems, heart issues, brain complications, temperature control issues, gastrointestinal problems, blood issues, metabolism problems, immune system issues, impaired cognitive development, Cerebral palsy, vision difficulties, hearing issues, dental problems, psychological issues, behavioral problems, and chronic health issues. Proper monitoring of both infant and mother before, during, and after delivery are important so that any warning signs of problems can be identified and treated immediately to prevent long-term complications.

Even babies carried to term can end up with serious injuries or health issues if they don’t get the proper medical care or a medical mistake happens: shoulder dystocia, eclampsia, uterine abruption, persistent pulmonary hypertension, placental abruption, macrosomia, and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Family to receive at least $5m in suit against Tufts Medical Center, Boston Globe, November 22, 2013
Jury awards $24.4M to parents of Tufts patient, Boston Herald, November 22, 2013

More Blog Posts:
The Dangers of Robotic Surgery, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 22, 2013

Medford Doctor Accused of Massachusetts Medical Negligence Gets License Suspension, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 14, 2013

Mirena IUD Lawsuits Continue to Make Their Way into the Courts, Massachusetts Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, November 13, 2013 Continue reading

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James Hilario, a Fall River man, has settled his Massachusetts personal injury lawsuit against the Teamworks indoor facility for $325,000. Hilario got hurt in June 2010 while playing flag football for his local team the Fall River Beavers during a game against another team, the Taunton Terrors.

According to Hilario’s Somerset, MA premises liability lawsuit, the 50,000 square ft. facility did not provide proper security (including failed to put in place/execute security the necessary safety policies), and should have previously banned Taunton player Justin Farland from the venue. Farland is the man convicted in Hilario’s stabbing.

Previous to the incident, Teamworks reportedly had been monitoring the Taunton Terrors after others accused the team of making violent threats to other teams. The facility reportedly had been thinking of banning the team from playing there.

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A plane crash in Marshfield injured one person last week. According to the Boston Globe, the small plane crashed into the woods near Marshfield Municipal Airport. The wreck caused a small fire too. Only the pilot was aboard the plane, and he sustained injuries. The small aircraft was a Maule M-5. The plane left the George Hollowfield Airport and was returning to land when it crashed into a tree.

Although small plane crashes rarely make the news, they do happen. There aren’t as many injuries and fatalities involved in small plane crashes, but people are still getting hurt. There are a variety of factors that contribute to why small planes crash. Listed below are a few statistics for plane crashes in 2010.

2010 Plane Crash Statistics

• 1,500 total civil aviation accidents occurred.
• Those incidents involved 1,520 U.S. registered aircraft.
• 275 of those accidents were fatal (18 percent.)
• General aviation accounted for almost 96 percent of total accidents and about 97 percent of fatal accidents.

Independent Federal Agency Study by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
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With the recent advances in medical technology, more people are going under the ‘robotic knife.’ Robotic surgeries are becoming a popular alternative to traditional surgeries, but they’re not without risks. Any time new technology is introduced into the medical field, there can be serious glitches involved. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the dangers and risks involved with robotic surgeries.

The Increase in Robotic Surgeries

• In 2000, only 1,000 robotic surgeries were performed, worldwide.
• In 2011, 360,000 robotic surgeries were performed.
• In 2012, 450,000 were performed.

Poor Standardization and Evaluation May Lead to User Error

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of rigorous standardization or evaluation of doctors who are currently utilizing robotic technology for surgeries. This means that user errors are likely to occur with inexperienced doctors. It’s absolutely critical that a surgeon be well trained in the use of robotic surgical tools prior to working on patients. It’s always a good idea to ask one’s doctor about experience in a particular technique prior to undergoing a surgical procedure.
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