Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

The challenges of enforcing distracted driving laws

Published on: September 9, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Despite its dangers, many people continue to go to their phones when driving. This is the case here in New York and throughout the country. Now, most states ban at least some types of cellphone use while driving, like texting. Additionally, some states, like New York, prohibit all types of handheld phone use behind the wheel. However, there are things that can make enforcing such laws difficult.

One big one is that this dangerous conduct can be hard for law enforcement officials to spot. There are various things distracted drivers might try to do to conceal their cellphone use. This includes holding their cellphone down low or putting their cellphone away the second they spot anything that looks like law enforcement.

These challenges have led some police departments to go to out-of-the-box methods for trying to catch distracted drivers. Examples include:

A common treatment doesn’t necessarily equal an effective one

Published on: August 31, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

When receiving a treatment that a doctor recommended, patients generally trust that the treatment is one that actually has the potential to help them with their particular medical condition. Unnecessary treatments can have negative consequences for patients, as some treatments can have risks associated with them that patients would be needlessly exposed to if they were given the treatment when it was not likely to have a positive effect. So, one would generally hope doctors would be taking evidence of effectiveness into account when deciding what treatments to recommend.

However, a recent article on the Washington Post’s website indicates that some treatments have remained common despite the fact that recent research had pointed to them not being as effective in as wide of range of circumstances as was initially thought. The three common treatments that the article identified as being in this category were:

Back pain injections.
Arthroscopic knee surgery.
Stents.

This does not mean that these treatments are never the right ones for a patient, rather it raises the possibility that they are perhaps being used more often than is needed. So, when it comes to recommending these types of treatments, or any type of treatment for that matter, one would hope doctors would carefully think about whether the treatment is likely to have a positive impact on the patient given available evidence and the patient’s unique circumstances, rather than just relying on things like the treatment being a relatively common one.

Drivers: as the school year begins, watch out for students

Published on: August 24, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It’s that time of year again, school is about to start. There are all kinds of things that could be on a kid’s mind and on their plate as the school year begins, especially if they are at a new school. One thing one would hope a student would never have to deal with during this eventful time of the year or any other point in the year is getting struck by a car and the injuries that come out of such accidents. Unfortunately, that is exactly what students here in the Syracuse area and the rest of New York state could be subjected to if the state’s drivers aren’t acting properly as the school year begins.

During the school year, there can be a particularly high number of child pedestrians out and about around the time of day school starts up and the time of day school lets out. For one, there can be lots of students walking to and from locations where school buses pick up and let off passengers, such as school bus stops, school zones and school parking lots. Also, student pedestrian traffic is not limited to just these areas, as there are still a fair number of students in the U.S., around 13 percent, who bike or walk to school.

So, with the school year starting up, it is important for drivers to remember to watch out for students when driving, particularly during the times of the day when kids are arriving at or leaving school. It is also critical for drivers to avoid conduct which could endanger student pedestrians, such as using a cellphone or doing other distracting activities behind the wheel, speeding, not fully obeying stop signs or being careless when backing up. When students are harmed by driver negligence, their parents may want a skilled lawyer’s guidance on what legal steps to take in response to the incident.

Children sometimes hurt in strollers or baby carriers

Published on: August 19, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Some might assume that a problem with a stroller or baby carrier is a relatively minor thing, unlikely to cause much in the way of real harm. However, stroller/carrier accidents can inflict some substantial injuries on children. Such injuries sometimes even rise to the level of necessitating emergency care.

A recent study looked at stroller/carrier injuries among young children. The study analyzed data regarding these injuries, covering the 1990 to 2010 period. According to the study, stroller/carrier accident injury rates went down over this period.

However, the total amount of stroller/carrier accident injuries that led to kids five or under going to an emergency room still amounted to a pretty big number for the period. Specifically, the period as a whole saw around 361,000 children of that age group suffer such injuries, according to estimates.

Mothers injured during birth often go undiagnosed

Published on: August 2, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Why aren’t doctors paying more attention to injured mothers?

In our culture, new mothers face a tremendous amount of pressure. In addition to caring for a new child, many women are expected to recover quickly and get back to their normal lives very soon after giving birth.

Unfortunately, many new moms struggle with postpartum pain while trying to adjust to motherhood. Many try to ignore it, hoping that it will go away on its own, but studies show that this pain is often serious and frequently misdiagnosed.

Why is postpartum pain so widely ignored?

Nearly 30 percent of new mothers show evidence of pubic bone fractures without having any idea that they are there. And nearly half of women experience incontinence a year after giving birth.

Why are so many cancer patients misdiagnosed?

Published on: July 18, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Five critical errors that can lead to misdiagnosis

When your body is fighting cancer, a prompt and accurate diagnosis can literally be a matter of life and death. So why do doctors keep getting it wrong?

According to the New York Times, doctors and pathologists misdiagnose up to 28 percent of patients — an alarmingly high number when you consider the damage that an inaccurate diagnosis can cause.

Looking at the role of tire problems in truck accident litigation, P.1

Published on: July 2, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Truck accidents can occur for all manner of reasons, including fatigued driving, misjudging other driver’s movements, speeding or violating other traffic rules, talking on a cell phone and engaging in other activities which distract attention from driving. Another common cause of truck accidents is tire flats and blowouts.

Earlier this week, a truck accident occurred in Bolton when a front tire on the vehicle blew out, causing the driver to veer off the road and roll down an embankment. Fortunately, the driver suffered survived with no life threatening injuries. Reports say that no tickets have been issued over the incident, and it seems that nobody else was injured. Sources provided no indication of why the tire blowout occurred. In some cases of tire blowouts or flats, determining what exactly caused the failure isn’t an easy matter.

According to a 2003 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, tire blowouts or flat tires caused over 400 fatalities that year, as well as over 10,000 injuries and over 78,000 crashes. Those numbers were taken before tire pressure monitor systems were required for commercial motor vehicles, though, so hopefully things have improved. That same report found, though, that certain factors can increase the likelihood of tire problems occurring, such as inadequate tire depth, under-inflation and poor weather conditions.

Seeking compensation for cerebral palsy, other birth injuries: sooner is better than later, P.2

Published on: July 1, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Last time, we began looking at the topic of cerebral palsy, which is a fairly common birth injury. As we noted last time, it is important for parents who believe their child may have suffered a birth injury to take steps early on to have their child medically evaluated and to determine their options with regard to seeking compensation.

For various reasons, parents may be hesitant to seek out legal assistance with regard to a child with developmental issues. Parents who have a concern about their child’s current and future development owe it to themselves, though, to seek out an experienced advocate. As we said before, the earlier this is done, the sooner parents can begin benefiting from the compensation they are awarded. Waiting too long delays these benefits and could mean that parents lose the ability to seek such compensation.

Each state has different rules when it comes to deadlines to file a lawsuit. The deadlines, known as statutes of limitation, vary according to the type of case. In New York, the statute of limitation for medical malpractice is 2 ½ years from the date the negligence occurred or from the end of continuous treatment. To pursue litigation against a negligent physician, therefore, parents must act rather quickly.

Proper tire pressure makes for safer driving

Published on: July 1, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Staying safe on the road extends beyond being a conscientious driver behind the wheel. There are many things that go into maintaining your vehicle and keeping it in the best condition for safe driving. Keeping your tires properly inflated at the their optimum pressure is one way to decrease risk of tire failure and other problems that can result in a car accident.

Contrary to popular belief, the maximum PSI (pound of pressure per square inch) listed on the sidewall of your tire is not necessarily the best pressure to inflate it to. This number actually refers to the maximum cold pressure that the tire is rated for. Cold pressure is indicated because it is ideal to fill your tires when they are cold. Inflating your tires to the maximum PSI listed will change how they handle — a vehicle with tires which are overinflated is at greater risk of fishtailing the back end in a sharp turn, for instance. Over inflated tires are also more likely to exhibit balding at the very center of the tire tread, which increases the risk of an unexpected blowout while driving.

The optimum pressure for your tires can usually be located in your owner’s manual or on a sticker that is usually placed in the doorjamb, inside the gas tank door or on the trunk lid. Usually, ideal tire pressure is somewhere between 30 and 35 PSI. Keeping the tires properly inflated not only improves your fuel economy, but also improves handling, which may make the difference between a close call and a costly car accident.

Seeking compensation for cerebral palsy, other birth injuries: sooner is better than later, P.1

Published on: June 30, 2016 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Birth injuries come in a variety of types, from those related to the brain, to the muscles or other physical injuries, to those related to infections, and injuries from the delivery itself. One common birth injury is cerebral palsy, which affects both the brain and the muscles. Primarily, cerebral palsy is a brain-related injury, but it does impact the way the brain communicates with muscle groups.

Cerebral palsy is not a condemnation to a life of unhappiness. Those who have the condition can adapt fairly well to circumstances and lead a relatively normal life. That being said, there are certainly challenges for those with cerebral palsy. The extent of these challenges depends, in part, on the severity of the condition. A recent article mentioned some of these challenges, and the importance of taking legal action to address these challenges early on.

When parents begin to notice developmental issues related to cerebral palsy, speaking to a lawyer sooner is better than later to ensure that parents understand the extent of the injury and their options for seeking appropriate compensation. Parents who notice developmental issues can have a medical evaluation done to determine cause of the problems. Medical evaluation of an infant is based on the so-called Apgar test, which evaluates an infant’s appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration.