Posts tagged "wrongful death"

Earlier this week, we discussed a trucking accident that tragically killed a California family. The crash happened after a semi-truck failed to slow down to avoid stopped cars sitting in heavy traffic. That truck hit the family's cars at full free-way speeds of 75 miles per hour.

According to the wrongful death suit, driver fatigue was a big factor in the wreck. This post will look at some ways in which this issue could affect the case.

Federal safety rules require truck drivers to get plenty of rest so that they can stay alert on the roads. Before driving, truckers must have 10 continuous hours of off-duty rest time. Rested drivers can then spend 14 hours of "windshield time" behind the wheel before they have to take another 10 hours to rest and recover. These rules exist to prevent fatigue-related problems like impaired judgment or slowed reaction times.

After a California family died in a horrific trucking accident last month, the family's surviving loved ones filed a wrongful death suit against three truck companies and their drivers. Among other allegations, the suit claims that one of the drivers violated federal safety rules and that a safer driver could easily have prevented the fatal wreck.

This trucking accident occurred in September while the family was driving across country to move home to California from the east coast. The husband was driving one car while his wife rode with their two sons in a second vehicle.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released the results of its investigation into nursing home aides and background checks. Its findings suggest that nursing homes need to do better investigations before they hire nurse aides.

Nursing home abuse and negligence happen much too frequently. In part because nursing homes often make do with very few employees, it is all too easy for misconduct-whether intentional or neglectful-to cause catastrophic injuries for residents.

Nurse aides are not nurses. They do not have nursing degrees and instead receive only a little training. Nursing homes usually pay them minimum wage and apparently consider them to be easily replaceable staff.

As of this week, 23 people have died of fungal meningitis across the country after receiving contaminated steroid injections from a pharmacy called New England Compounding Center. Three hundred more victims have fallen ill in numerous states.

Outrage over the meningitis outbreak is growing this week and a wave of lawsuits is already beginning. New documents show a history of concerned regulatory authorities-perhaps pointing to a deadly pattern of disregard for patient safety. If it becomes clear that NECC failed to comply with important procedures, the wrongful death cases against it will gain strong ammunition.

A construction disaster killed at four Miami workers last week and injured seven more. For reasons that remain unclear pending an investigation, a five-story parking garage suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed.

The construction accident has attracted national news as rescuers worked around the clock to try to find a fourth missing worker. Two construction workers died immediately after the ramp came down and a third died at a local hospital after spending 13 hours trapped under the rubble. Yesterday, search crews found the body of a fourth victim. Like many construction accidents here in California and around the country, these bereaved families may have wrongful death claims.

Although wrong-way crashes are thankfully rare, they often involve alcohol and are usually extremely dangerous when they do occur. Both of those characteristics were present in a California crash that killed two people.

The alleged drunk driving accident happened shortly after 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday. A 68-year-old man drove a Ford F-150 onto Highway 152 near San Jose. He headed down the highway and straight into oncoming traffic. The truck smashed head-on into another car that had been driving in the right direction.

According to a new lawsuit, a man died this summer after walking past a fountain in a hotel lobby. The lawsuit makes a claim for premises liability, alleging that the hotel's negligence allowed bacteria to flourish in the fountain. The man, an overnight guest at the hotel, died of Legionnaire's disease two weeks after his stay.

Legionnaire's disease is caused by bacteria. The bacteria thrive in relatively warm water. When the water is agitated or whipped into a vapor mist, humans can inhale the bacteria. Water fountains and hot tubs provide exactly these conditions. However, by following proper disinfectant procedures, it is reasonably simple to prevent contamination.

Exciting action movies usually translate poorly into the real world and illegal drag racing is no exception. After a major Hollywood blockbuster glamorized drag racing in 2001, races began occurring more frequently in American cities, often with destructive consequences. The National Highway Traffic Safety Association reported that drag races killed 153 people between 2001 and 2010.

This month, a criminal prosecution arising from a fatal car accident put drag races back in the news. A mother and her 2-year-old daughter died after a 23-year-old driver slammed into their car. The driver was participating in a drag race at speeds exceeding 85 miles per hour when the crash occurred. His passenger, a 13-year-old boy, also died. The driver will now serve a 45 month prison sentence.

As discussed in the previous post, the FDA approved a new drug for Alzheimer's patients called Aricept 23 even though the new product may cause more harm than good. Two medical investigators recently wrote in the medical journal, BMJ, that the drug has not been seen to help patients any more than the previous incarnation of the product, but it comes with new harmful side effects, including gastrointestinal problems.

If the drug is changed slightly or combined with a new drug and re-marketed, its patent will be extended for another three years by the FDA so companies will be held off from making a generic version of the drug for another three years.

The medical experts argued that the FDA should not have approved the new version of the drug because the side effects could create significant health setbacks for patients without any considerable improvement. In people with Alzheimer's, vomiting and nausea can lead to pneumonia and even death.

Two medical investigators recently wrote in the medical journal, BMJ, that a new FDA-approved drug to treat Alzheimer's may not work any better than any of the other drugs already on the market and could actually make some users miserable due to side effects. These unintended side effects include gastrointestinal problems, which mean that the drug could cause misery to some patients with Alzheimer's without any added benefit.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the medical investigators said Aricept 23 should not have gone to market because the product will cause patients and their families more harm than good.

As discussed in the previous post, the news organization ProPublica has been looking into the death investigation system in the U.S. and has found serious problems. It is possible that many cases of elder abuse, nursing home neglect or wrongful death are being overlooked because elderly people are often not autopsied after they die.

There are a number of flaws in the system that lead to suspicious elder deaths falling through the cracks. For one, the treating physician of the elderly person can say that the cause of death was natural and medical examiners and coroners won't investigate. But they could be wrong. Studies have shown that many doctors cannot correctly identify the cause of death of an elderly person or will fill out a death certificate incorrectly.

An ongoing investigation by journalists at ProPublica in partnership with other news organizations has found serious flaws in the death investigation system in the U.S. One area of death investigations that ProPublica studied is that of the elderly population. ProPublica found that medical examiners and coroners rarely perform autopsies on elderly people who die, which means that sometimes cases of wrongful death, elder abuse and neglectful care are going unnoticed and unchecked.

An article on the subject mentions a man who died in a California nursing home and whose death was first noted as "natural," but further investigation found that his death was likely contributed to or caused by poor care because he was dehydrated, had infected bed sores and pneumonia.

The practice of medicine is growing ever more reliant on technology and medical students are being told that patient care should be "data-driven." Because of this more doctors are equipped with iPads and Internet access in operating rooms -- and many are using this tool for purposes other than taking care of their patients.

Just like distracted drivers can cause a death on the highway, distracted doctors can make preventable medical errors that can lead to permanent injuries or death in operating rooms. A recent article in the New York Times discusses the growing problem of distracted doctors and how some doctors focus on the benefits of increased technology while others see countless disasters waiting to happen.

This week a jury in California convicted Michael Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death in June 2009. Now a wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by Jackson's mother and his children against the company that was contracting Murray as Jackson's doctor and that was going to pay Jackson to perform in a 50-concert tour in London.

Jackson was preparing for the tour when he died. His death was directly caused by a powerful surgical anesthetic that Murray had given to Jackson to give him relief from insomnia. The family claims Anschutz Entertainment Group caused Jackson's death by pressuring him to perform when he was not healthy enough to do so.

One year ago, a PG&E gas pipeline burst and exploded resulting in the death of eight people and destroying 38 homes. Today some have begun to rebuild but chain link fence still surrounds several blocks that had formerly been filled with homes and families.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion the utility company made an explicit pledge that they would do all they could to make the victims whole. But a year after the blast, many victims are questioning the company's resolve to do so. The San Jose Mercury News quoted one survivor who said that the company was playing hardball and that "they don't care if they make us whole."

Authorities are investigating a fatal accident in which the driver of a pickup truck struck a man on horseback, killing both the horse and its rider. The accident occurred on Saturday evening in Coyote Valley as the driver was returning to San Jose after visiting his son in Morgan Hill.

The man, who was riding the horse and lost his life in the accident, worked as an iPod engineer for Apple. He was riding his horse about one half mile from his ranch where he lived.

Earlier this month, a 23-year-old woman was killed when she was struck by a bus. The Muni bus accident occurred just before three in the afternoon in San Francisco as the woman was crossing the street in the crosswalk.

At the time of the accident, residents of the Castro neighborhood commented that they rarely if ever saw buses turn onto Hartford Street where the pedestrian was killed. The policy of the transit agency is to provide specific direction to a bus driver who is driving to a new route. The driver in this case was not provided instructions to reach his new route.

A man who bled to death at Olympic National Park after being gored by a male mountain goat had allegedly told the park about an aggressive goat before his death. However, it is unknown if he was complaining about the same 370-pound animal that killed him. According to park officials, there is no way to be sure.

The wrongful death claims, in addition to personal injury claims against the park, are totaling more than $10 million.

Amusement park owners can be legally responsible for the injuries suffered by their guests. If a guest is injured by a dangerous condition in the amusement park or because of improperly maintained and operated rides, then the amusement park owners are obligated to compensate the injured guest the injuries.

As millions of Californians flock to amusement parks this summer, they were horrified to learn of a fatal amusement park accident last week. A 29-year-old Army veteran died in a fatal accident on a roller coaster. The U.S. Army Sergeant was riding a roller coaster that was capable of speeds near 70 miles per hour and heights higher than 200 feet when he was ejected from the ride.

The Hawthorne California Police Department suffered its first-ever loss of an officer on duty recently. The officer was killed in a motorcycle accident the Thursday before Memorial Day.

According to the police report, the officer was riding his motorcycle in the funeral procession of a Manhattan Beach police officer who had recently died of cancer. During the procession, he collided with another motorcycle officer from the El Segundo Police Department. Witnesses at the scene stated that both officers appeared to be traveling fast.