Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

Here we go again. Another snowstorm.

Published on: January 27, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Just when you thought that winter hasn’t been so bad with regard to snow, a major winter storm is bearing down on our region and threatens to bring at least a foot of snow before all is said and done on Tuesday. Indeed, we have had our share of snow this season, but since the last major snow storm before Christmas, things have been relatively light.

That said, officials are telling people to stay off the roads, and thousands of flights across the northeast have been cancelled. Also we have written about safe travel in snowy weather as well as how to avoid ice missiles after a storm. With this post, we venture into the area of “Good Samaritan” laws.

Essentially, “Good Samaritan” laws are statutes that provide legal immunity to those who stop and help someone in distress. Normally, a person does not owe a legal duty to help someone (who is hurt or trapped, for example) absent some type of special relationship between the person in distress and the rescuer (i.e. a parent and child). However, once a person proceeds to rescue someone, he or she has a duty to continue, or to do so in a reasonable manner that would not put others in danger.

Listening may be effective in preventing medical errors

Published on: January 26, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

We have written a number of times about how physicians and medical staff have a duty to use reasonable care while tending to patients they are assigned to. Indeed, the main impetus behind medical malpractice cases is the failure to use such care (i.e. acting as a physician with similar experience would in a given situation), but often malpractice cases may start even before this.

According to a recent Consumer Reports study, the lack of respect a patient may receive from hospital staff may lead to medical errors. For instance, certain pains and complaints of discomfort may be dismissed as a patient simply whining; or a doctor may not carefully listen to a patient’s concerns when he or she speaks up.

Among their many findings, researchers learned that patients who believed that they rarely received respect were more than twice as likely to experience a “preventable medical error” compared to those who received respect. Further, a quarter of the patients surveyed indicated that they were not always treated as adults with regard to their own care and a third of those surveyed said that medical personnel did not listen to their wishes without interrupting.

How deaths after premature births can be avoided

Published on: January 25, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It is difficult enough to bring a baby who is full term into the world. For babies who are premature, caring for them is no less important, but can be difficult as well. However, modern medicine is enabling more pre-term babies to survive. However, pre-term births are still extremely dangerous. According to medicalnewstoday.com, about one in four extremely premature births results in the death of a newborn.

The problem is particularly visible with infants born between 22 and 28 weeks. Babies this young are at risk of death even with hospital supervision. However, with every additional week that a baby can grow inside its mother’s womb, the mortality risks decrease upon birth.

Nevertheless, researchers found that several things can help in avoiding deaths after a premature birth. First, having more prenatal care could help in identifying ailments that could threaten the baby. Second, decreasing the use of prenatal antibiotics, and third the increased use of C-sections have all helped in reduce the number of premature babies falling victim to diseases that lead to death.

Study suggests that defensive medicine still persists

Published on: January 22, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

We have written before on the concept of defensive medicine and the monetary effect that it has on health care costs. Essentially, many doctors have become used to performing unnecessary tests to rule out potential conditions out of fear of being sued for malpractice down the road. This practice has been chronicled as one of the reasons for the dramatic and continuing increase in care costs.

However, in a number of states where medical malpractice reform has changed the standard in which patients must prove harm, it appears that doctors are still hedging their bets and relying on additional tests even when they are not required.

According to a study conducted by research non-profit RAND Corporation, defensive medicine is still the norm despite changes in the law that basically grant immunity for some doctors; particularly emergency room physicians. The study compared data from Medicare patients from Georgia, Texas and South Carolina (three states that enacted malpractice reforms) and compared them to states that did not pass such reforms regarding quality of care (i.e. whether a physician ordered a CT scan or MRI, hospital readmissions, and total costs of hospital visits).

Black ice blamed for multi-car pileups in New York

Published on: January 21, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

If you are venturing out today, it is likely that you have heard warnings about black ice being present on roads across New York. Streets and highways likely provided drivers on Sunday with harrowing experiences because of the thin, invisible sheets of ice that coat the roads once freezing rain actually freezes on the ground.

ABC News reports that nearly 500 accidents occurred over the weekend across the northeast, with huge accidents occurring in New Jersey and New York. On I-95 in the Garden State, a 30 vehicle accident injured 16 people. Outside of New York City, a 60 vehicle crash injured more than 30 people and left one dead. In fact, the New York City Fire Department received more than 3,500 calls for accidents due to slippery roads.

Indeed, the weather calls for another reminder for drivers of the legal implications of failing to use reasonable care on the road. Yes, there are instances where the weather can cause conditions so unpredictable that an accident may occur despite one’s best efforts. But drivers should be wary of conditions and realize that reducing speed on potentially icy roads can also reduce the chances of being in a crash.

Facility where Joan Rivers suffered fatal complication loses accreditation, certification

Published on: January 17, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Following increased scrutiny since the death of comedian Joan Rivers in September, Yorkville Endoscopy—the facility where Rivers was receiving care prior to her death—will reportedly be losing recognition as an accredited and certified facility for insurance purposes.

Both the Centers for Medicare Services and the American Association for the Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities apparently removed their blessing because of substandard care provided by the facility.

As readers may remember, the facility was cited for substandard care following an investigation of the events that led to Rivers’ death, including failure to take notice of deteriorating vital signs. The firm that manages Yorkville Endoscopy and other surgical centers, has been cited for substandard care at its other facilities as well, though the firm’s attorney says the violations in question are not out of the norm for the industry and, in any case, have since been corrected.

Patient ignored in emergency room falls into coma

Published on: January 16, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It is tough enough going to an emergency room after a serious injury, you shouldn’t have to wait an eternity in order to get medical attention. Unfortunately, patients can fall through the cracks in the midst of a busy trauma center, and may not be seen in a reasonable amount of time. When this happens, what may be a commonly treatable injury may progress into something worse and life threatening.

Such was the case of a patient who came to an emergency room complaining of a severe headache and excessive vomiting. The patient’s wife even informed medical personnel that he had recently been hospitalized for bacterial meningitis. He also had been diagnosed previously with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and had been placed on blood thinners.

For more than four hours the patient was not seen by a physician despite abnormal vital signs and laboratory readings. Soon afterwards, the patient fell into a coma. Indeed, the patient did not pass away, but a medical malpractice suit was initiated due to the failure to diagnose him in time to prevent a common ailment from progressing into something substantially worse.

U.S. Hospitals struggle in quality study

Published on: January 15, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Sometimes you wish that the old adage “you get what you pay for” applied to everything in life. For the most part, it does. If you want to pay extra for a luxury vehicle, it will have features and overall performance that outshines an economy vehicle. The same goes for paying for first class tickets on an airplane as opposed to paying coach.

However, what you may be paying for as far as medical services may not reflect the quality of service and advice you may receive. According to a performance evaluation conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. health care system continually underperforms even though it is the most expensive in the world.

The findings were reached through an analysis of several factors, including:

Disneyland deemed safe after measles outbreak

Published on: January 14, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

The place that is dubbed “the happiest place on earth” may have been anything but joyful for a number of people who contracted measles while at Disneyland and its adjacent park, Disney’s California Adventure. According to a recent USA Today.com report, health officials linked the outbreak to patrons who attended the park between December 15 and December 20.

For the uninitiated, the measles virus can be highly contagious. Health officials indicate that the virus can hang in the air “like a ghost” for up to two hours, even though it does not speak on surfaces. As such, it is not suspected that the park could be dangerous for patrons. Additionally, if a person has been vaccinated (as many children in the United States have been), the measles virus is not likely to pose a threat. Since the infected patrons visited the park nearly a month ago, it has been deemed safe for the public.

Nevertheless, the outbreak does raise questions about a theme park’s liability for spreading contagious diseases. On a threshold level, a park (or any other public venue, for that matter) has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to keep public areas free of contaminants that can spread disease. Essentially, there is a duty to sanitize areas where diseases can fester and become dangerous to the public.

Worker killed in elevator shaft accident

Published on: January 13, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

There are a number of dangerous jobs in New York. From working on a construction site to protecting the public as a police officer, jobs that come with a certain amount of risk are completed every day without people being injured. However, accidents do happen, and when they do, an injured worker may be able to assert their rights and seek compensation.

Indeed, the first question an injured worker should ask themselves (or at least a lawyer) is whether the accident is covered under workers’ compensation laws. In many industries, the exclusive remedy for injured workers is to file a claim. However, depending on the circumstances, a worker may file suit to seek damages through a negligence or wrongful death claim.

Such is likely the case for the loved ones of an elevator worker who was killed while doing maintenance on an elevator in Manhattan. According to a recent nbcnewsnewyork.com report, the man was in the elevator shaft when an empty elevator came down three floors, and pinned the man underneath. The weight of the elevator crushed the man to death.