New York Injury Talk Blog

A 9 year old girl was critically injured and six others were sent to the hospital after a private van that authorities said was illegally carrying a group of young children to school collided with a city bus in Queens, according to a New York Times report. The New York Bus Accident occurred at about 8am, after the Dodge Ram filled with children made a left turn into the path of an oncoming Q46 Bus at 184th street and union turnpike in Fresh Meadows.

Rebecca Frazier, the 9 year old, was in critical but stable condition at Long Island Jewish Medical Center on Friday night. The other six children were in stable condition at various hospitals or were treated and released. The children ranged in ages from 5 to 12 and most were on their way to Public School 178 in Jamaica.

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Eight people were injured in a crash in Laurelton when a fire engine that was responding to an emergency was involved in an automobile accident with a United States Postal Service tractor-trailer and a taxicab, according to a New York Times report published January 18th. The Fire Department reported that three civilians and five firefighters were among the injured and were taken to area hospitals for various injuries. The truck driver, who was not identified, was in critical condition Thursday evening, authorities said. The injuries to the other parties involved in the accident were said not to be life-threatening.

This is a tragic example of the dangers of New York truck accidents on our state’s highways. Our firm has extensive experience in all types of injury accidents including truck accidents. We promptly and thoroughly investigate each case to assess liability and determine fault. We work with experienced investigators to obtain photographs, witness statements and other necessary investigation immediately when the evidence is still fresh. Our New York truck collision attorneys have an excellent understanding of the intricacies of personal injury law.

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The Police suspect drag racing may have played a role in the deaths of three people and the serious injury of a fourth who were involved in a two-vehicle collision on Sunday afternoon on a New Jersey road. According to the New York Times article, the road had a reputation as a place for drag racing.

Maria Leyton, 79 from Fords, George M. Ghebrial, 19 and Mena S. Shafek, 18 both of Jersey City were all pronounced dead at the scene. The sole survivor, Doris Etchegaray, 54, Ms. Leyton’s daughter, was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center, where she underwent surgery, the police said. Investigators speculated that she survived because of an air bag on her side. There was no airbag on the passenger’s side.

The automobile accident occurred a little after 3pm in the 2500 block of Secaucus Road in North Bergen. Secaucus Road has had a recurring drag racing problem as the highway is in an industrial zone that is largely deserted on weekends. The road is two lanes wide and has long, straight stretches between traffic lights. Both vehicles involved in the crash were demolished and authorities believe the collision involved a speed well above the local limit of 25 miles per hour.

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According to a New York Times Report, a construction worker who was pouring concrete at a condominium hotel in SoHo fell 42 floors to his death on Monday, January 14th. A second man was also thrown from the 42nd floor, but he was caught in a safety net that extends outward from the 40th floor. Authorities claim the construction accident occurred when a wooden mold used to set the concrete collapsed. The cause of the collapse was unclear, and remained under investigation Monday by the Fire Department and the city’s Department of Buildings.

Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Galvin said the worker who died was tamping wet concrete in wood molds, constructed of plywood and two-by-four beams. The wood molds collapsed, he said, and fell from the 42nd floor to the 40th floor, leaving a large gash at the southwest corner of the top of the building. It is unclear why one man was not stopped by the safety netting or by an even wider platform that is part of the structure on the lower floor, while a 2nd man was.

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In a tragic example of what will surely become a hotly contested New York Wrongful Death case; a young boy visiting his father’s workplace was killed in Queens when the small forklift style vehicle he was trying to drive flipped over and crushed him, according to a New York Times Article. The accident occurred shortly after noon in a Ridgewood neighborhood lot used by Miron Building Supply, a building materials distributor.

Kevin Hrcka, 13 was son to Rob Hercka who had been a Hi-Lo operator for Miron Building Supply for the past 4 months. Hi-Los are often used in warehouses to lift wooden pallets with steel forks at the front of the vehicle. The machines are used to carry materials throughout the company’s facility near the border of Brooklyn and Queens.

On Saturday, January 19th Kevin came to meet his father at the Miron Building Supply facility. Two HI-Lo forklifts had been put away in a shed, although the keys were left in the ignition because the lot was scheduled to remain open until later that afternoon. Officials believe the boy’s father might have been in a locker room changing out of his work clothes, when the boy climbed into one of the machines and drove it away. Miron officials said Kevin appeared to have driven the Hi-Lo at a high speed toward the end of the lot and then tried to turn. It appeared the boy tried to jump off the vehicle before it landed on its side and pinned him beneath it. The police said Kevin was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of the New York Construction Accident.

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STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT FAILS TO WARN PATIENTS FOR OVER THREE YEARS OF POSSIBLE SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARDS AFTER PATIENTS ARE INJECTED WITH SOLUTION FROM CONTAMINATED VIALS

According to the New York Times, the New York state Health Department took 34 months to inform 628 patients that they should be tested for 2 types of hepatitis and HIV that may have infected their bodies when Dr. Harvey S. Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, injected patients with medicine from contaminated multiple-dose vials. All of the cases involved epidural injections for pain by Dr. Finkelstein. The Times also reported that Dr. Finkelstein’s faulty practice directly caused at least one case of hepatitis C to be transmitted from one of his patients to another. Further, Nassau County health officials said they are now investigating a case of hepatitis B in an effort to establish whether that case of hepatitis is linked to Dr. Finkelstein.

Because of Dr. Harvey S. Finkelstein’s alleged poor infection-control practices, and because of the criticism in the nearly three year delay in notifying patients of possible health hazards, the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, has formulated a series of internal changes that would work to prevent delays in warnings in the future. Dr. Daines has formed a task force that will report to him on a monthly basis. The monthly report will contain such information as:

• All open investigations into doctors’ practices,
• Dr. Daines will request that reports from the various divisions of the Health Department that had not previously coordinated their efforts, now seek to do so
• The Health Department may diligently and aggressively seek to obtain medical records of physicians who are involved in cases where a health hazard is present

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Justin Strzelczyk, 6 feet 6 inches and 300 pounds, was a monstrous presence on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line from 1990-98. He was known for his friendly, banjo-playing spirit and gluttony for combat.

But, according to the New York Times, on a September morning in 2004, Justin Strzelczyk was apparently experiencing a breakdown, when, during a 40-mile high-speed police chase in central New York, his pickup truck collided with a tractor-trailer and exploded, killing him instantly. Was Strzelczyk’s bizarre behavior caused by chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE], a condition which can cause memory loss, depression and eventually Alzheimer’s disease-like dementia, even in a 36 year-old man?

After Strzelczyk’s death, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a neuropathologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, diagnosed Strzelczyk as having CTE. Unfortunately, tests for CTE cannot be performed on a living person other than through an intrusive tissue biopsy. Post mortem tests on Strzelczyk’s brain tissue confirmed Dr. Omalu’s diagnosis. “This is irreversible brain damage,” Omalu said. “It’s most likely caused by concussions sustained on the football field.”

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According to the New York Times, two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno fell from the 47th floor of Solow Tower, a Manhattan building, after their scaffold collapsed beneath them. The two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno, who worked as window washers together, fell from a swing scaffold, a built-in feature of the Solow Tower that is intended to let workers move the platform so window washers can reach any point on the facade. Both brothers were experienced window washers, and both had worked as window washers in high-rise buildings for over ten years.

The times relayed that, two hours before they fell, both Edgar and Alcides told José Cumbicos, their brother-in-law, that they feared a workplace injury might occur on the Solow Tower’s scaffolding, because their scaffold had a ‘mechanical problem’. In fact, according to the Times account, Alcides told his brother-in-law, the morning of the fall, that they were only reporting to work because their boss called telling them, ‘The scaffolding was fixed, come to work.’ So they both left.”

In an interview at his home, Jose indicated he only knew the brother’s boss as ‘Tony’. The Times reported that Jose said the brothers apparently trusted Tony, and that Tony reassured the bothers that the scaffold was safe. Apparently, the scaffold had been used, without incident, earlier in the week. Jose recounted that the brothers “….took every precaution when they worked.” But Jose, who is himself a window washer, added, “Something was wrong with the scaffold.”

As of last Friday, at least one investigator agreed with Jose. Another investigator said that new cables had been installed on the Solow Tower scaffold, but that it was unclear who did the work, when it was done and whether it was satisfactorily completed.

Jose related to the Times, that his brothers-in-law had also shared three other incidents with him where, just this year, there were problems with the scaffolding-one that reportedly put the scaffold totally out of commission just this last summer.

Continue reading "SCAFFOLD COLLAPSES, KILLING ONE BROTHER, AND LEAVING A SECOND BROTHER STRUGGLING FOR HIS LIFE" »

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GOVERNOR SPITZER CALLS FOR RENEWED VIGILANCE, AND A NEWLY ENGERGIZED PRODUCT RECALL, OF UNSAFE, LEAD-BASED TOYS THAT CONTINUE TO BE ON RETAILER’S SHELVES AND ARE STILL BEING SOLD TO CONSUMERS

According to a press release issued by Governor Spitzer’s office yesterday, December 10, 2007, Governor Spitzer has called for a new state-wide recall of lead-based toys that remain on retailer’s shelves. According to the Governor, that while the state Consumer Protection Board’s (CPB) Safe Toys NY Campaign has already investigated and found increased compliance with recall requirements, that an unacceptable number of unsafe, lead-based toys not only remained on retailer’s shelves across the state, but that these toys are still being sold to consumers.

Further, Governor Spitzer is requesting that the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission act immediately to issue a national recall of those toys and other products that the New York state Consumer Protection Board found unsafe during its investigations. Additionally, the Governor has requested the New York state Consumer Protection Board act swiftly to draft new legislation that would create and improve safety standards in the toy industry as a group, and to create avenues to fully inform and protect all consumers. A previous investigation, instituted in August of this year, and handled by the state’s Consumer Protection Board, was impaneled due to mounting problems and health concerns with lead-based toys being sold in New York.

In August, three rounds of random toy collections were completed and gathered from retail outlets in Albany and in New York City. The Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center performed the testing, which included a detailed chemical analysis of the paint from each toy collected and analyzed for lead content. From the information gathered, the state Consumer Protection Board was then able to track information on the location of the distributors of the unsafe, lead-based toys and take all appropriate actions.

Three of the toys that the New York Consumer Protection Board identified as having unacceptably high levels of paint, as measured by the federal standard of lead levels allowed in paint, were found in dollar stores and manufactured in China:
• “Army Force” Car Set, which are green and black, Lot # ES35146, UPC Code 6010785146, and are imported by Encore Sales, Concord, Ontario, Canada;
• “Sprite Tractor Trailer” toys, which are green and orange and have no identifying information on the packaging; and
• “Wrestle Mania” action figures, which are multicolored and distributed by AA of America from New Jersey.
For a more exhaustive list of recalled toys nationally, please visit the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s toy recall page

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According to a recent article, published in the New York Times, and in response to widely held public concerns about preventable and deadly hospital-acquired infections, The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, began publishing statistics on infections and deaths at its 11 hospitals on September 7th of this year. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the nation’s largest public health system, treats 1.3 million patients a year according to the Corporation’s website.

The Times reported that the federal Centers for Disease Control estimated that in any given year 1.7 million patients will get a hospital-acquired infection during their hospital stay. Out of those 1.7 million, 99,000 people, or about 270 per day, will die.

A New York medical malpractice law, requiring hospitals to report specific infections to the State Health Department will result in the State Department issuing hospital report cards in 2009. While mandated infection reporting is only required in a few states. New Jersey’s legislature has passed a bill requiring hospitals to report infections, and that bill is now before the Governor. USA Today reported, that many hospitals have ‘balked’ at requests to provide statistics on hospital-acquired infections.

Simple, and easily implemented steps, like physician and staff members washing their hands between patients, would lessen the opportunity for a hospital acquired infection. But, according to Clean Your Hands’ website, a study reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases in April of this year, compliance with hand-washing is poor.

About.com had several suggestions on how patients can empower themselves when hospitalized. As a patient, you can:
• Insist that anyone who touches you washes and sanitizes their hands. That includes medical personnel, dinner tray delivery people, visitors, even family members. And, according to about.com, just wearing gloves isn't good enough. Gloves may protect the wearer, but not the patient because the infection-causing pathogen may be present on the outside of the gloves.
• Insist that anything you touch is clean. That includes the telephone; the TV remote; the doctor’s stethoscope; bandages and dressing; and, catheters

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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