Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

Fungus believed to cause numerous deaths transported by linens

Published on: May 8, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Even though people realize that hospitals are filled with numerous infectious diseases, not many people in Oneida think too much about hospital-acquired infections. The problem is, however, that approximately 75,000 people die each year because of infections they caught in hospitals, at least according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This also means that there are far more people who get sick, need to extend their hospital stays or otherwise suffer damages yet survive hospital-acquired infections.

It is just as much a hospital’s responsibility to prevent contamination and infections as it is a surgeon’s responsibility to perform procedures according to standard medical practice or a nurse’s responsibility to administer the correct dosages of medicine. Hospital malpractice may not seem like a serious threat, but it certainly can be.

Unfortunately, in a recently covered outbreak out of New Orleans, five young patients died after they were infected by mucormycosis, a fungus. It appears that the fungus was in the hospital linens on which the children slept, which has prompted an investigation into how a hospital could use unclean linens.

Brother of Duchess of Cornwall slips, falls, dies of head injury

Published on: May 6, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

The Duchess of Cornwall, the wife of Prince Charles, lost her brother late last month after he slipped and fell outside of a bar in New York City. Though the details of the fall are not entirely clear, his death calls into question whether any unsafe conditions were present and whether the bar’s owner might be held responsible for the man’s death. Of course, it is not known if the duchess’ brother’s family members will file a premises liability lawsuit or not, or even if there is enough evidence to support the bar owner’s or the city’s negligence.

When someone is injured on an individual, company or city’s property, he or she can often file a premises liability lawsuit. In order to succeed with the lawsuit, however, the property owner must have failed in its duty to keep safe conditions on the property. So, when a person is injured, the victim and his or her attorney must have enough evidence to convice a judge and jury that the owner was negligent.

The 62-year-old brother had been out celebrating when he slipped and fell outside of a bar at the Gramercy. According to reports, the man was trying to light a cigarette outside of the building when he fell. He was conscious and told paramedics that his head hurt when they arrived on the scene, so they took him to Bellevue Hospital. Sadly, he died that same day.

Making distracted driving socially unacceptable

Published on: April 30, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Even though there are still people who will get behind the wheel while drunk, drunk driving is still seen as morally reprehensible. There are not many people willing to make excuses for people who drive drunk, but when someone is driving while distracted by a cellphone or some other kind of electronic device, some people are willing to give him or her a pass. The problem is, however, that distracted driving is incredibly dangerous and can cause the same types of injuries and death on New York’s roads that drunk driving can.

There are safety professionals across the country who are trying to cut down on the number of distracted drivers, and one of the main suggestions is to make distracted driving just as socially unacceptable as drunk driving.

One of the ways to do that is by encouraging others to remind drivers to put their electronic devices down while driving. Passengers should feel comfortable telling their drivers to not use the phone while driving. Individuals who receive calls from people driving can also tell drivers to call them back when they are done driving. Basically, the more societal pressure that is put on drivers to stop driving while distracted, hopefully the less likely they will be to use their phones while driving.

Delays in diagnosis could create serious problems

Published on: April 24, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Imagine you go to the doctor for a cough you just can’t beat; it’s something people in Syracuse do all the time. The doctor says what you likely already thought: it’s a cold. He or she gives you a perscription-strength cough supressant and sends you on your way. The problem is, your cough isn’t caused by a cold, but by lung cancer.

This is a frightening scenario that happens all too frequently, reports the New York Post. According to a new study to be published in the British medical journal BMJ Quality & Safety, one in 20 patients in the U.S. are misdiagnosed each year. This boils down to approximately 12 million adults.

In some situations, a misdiagnosis or a delay in diagnosis has no ill effects, but in many situations, it could be deadly.

Could school, city have prevented student suicides?

Published on: April 22, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Ithaca is a beautiful city and the Cornell campus has great views of its lovely gorges. Those gorges, however, have recently become the subject of a premises liability lawsuit following a Cornell student’s death. Though the student did commit suicide, the young man’s parents are alleging that both the school and the city were negligent in not doing more to prevent people from jumping or falling off of the bridges crossing the gorges.

While many people think of premises liability lawsuits as slip-and-fall cases, that is not the only kind of injury for which a plaintiff can collect. Any time someone is injured on a piece of property because of another’s negligence, he or she can file a premises liability lawsuit. Typically, this is seen when a person falls inside or outside of a store, but it can cover things like a dog bite at a private residence, an unmarked hole on a piece of property, an elevator injury, or, as in this case, a student’s suicide.

The young man’s parents are suing both Cornell and the city of Ithaca for not doing more to prevent “jumpers.” It is not as if this student’s suicide was the first. In a span of 20 years from 1990 to 2010, 27 people died after jumping into Cornell’s gorges. In the 2009-2010 school year alone there were six suicides. This young man committed suicide in February 2010.

New York man discovers malpractice when appendix wasn’t removed

Published on: April 19, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It is not that uncommon to suffer appendicitis, or the inflammation of the appendix. People in New York are diagnosed with the condition quite frequently, generally after they go to the hospital with intense pain and swelling in the abdomen. The only treatment is to have the appendix removed or risk it bursting, leaking pus and infection into the abdominal cavity. If the appendix is left in, a patient could die from peritonitis.

So, when a Bronxville, New York, man had to get an emergency appendctomy while on vacation, he may have been a bit surprised, as he was supposed to have had his appendix removed in January 2013 in New York. It seems, however, that the surgeon failed to remove the appendix, just a yellowish mass, and now the man is suing both the hospital and the surgeon for medical negligence.

You see, this was not just the surgeon’s fault (although he is certainly not off the hook). The man’s appendix, or whatever the surgeon removed, was sent to pathology following its extraction. The hospital knew that the man’s appendix was still in him, but it never told him, nor did it tell him that a yellowish mass had been removed from his body.

30 studies agree: hands-free is just as dangerous as handheld

Published on: April 18, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Anyone who drives in Syracuse should know that there is a complete ban in New York on texting while driving, but they might not also realize that there is a ban on using handheld cellphones behind the wheel, too. The reasoning is clear, using a handheld cellphone while driving is dangerous and it really doesn’t matter if it is being used to text, surf the Internet or to talk on the phone. So, what about hands-free cellphones?

The National Safety Council took a public poll and drivers across the country overwhelmingly agreed that hands-free devices were safer than handheld devices. In fact, 80 percent of people thought so. Of those who actually use hands-free devices, 70 percent do so because they believe they are safer. The problem? More than 30 studies have found that hands-free devices are just as dangerous as handsheld devices.

The problem is not so much the looking away from the road to dial (although that is certainly a big distraction), but trying to have a conversation while driving. When people are driving, they need to use their brains to drive, to pay attention to the road and to make the adjustments necessary to stay safe. If they are also trying to hold a conversation, even if it is on a hands-free device, a great deal of brain power is being directed away from driving.

Medical malpractice payouts in New York

Published on: April 18, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

According to an annual report by Diederich Healthcare, total medical malpractice payouts in the state of New York amounted to roughly $39 per capita in both 2012 and 2013. That is the highest per capita rate in the nation—fifty percent higher than any other state. Given this information, one might be tempted to conclude that it is relatively easy to obtain compensation for medical malpractice in New York, but that would be a hasty conclusion.

First off, keep in mind that it is often difficult for those who have been legitimately harmed by medical negligence to find an advocate to represent them. Much of the reason for this is economic—medical malpractice attorneys are often leery of taking cases that don’t promise a significant payout because the cost of going to trial is so great.

Those who can find a good attorney to represent them should keep in mind, though, that taking a case to trial is not necessary the best way to obtain compensation. This is because the majority of medical malpractice payouts do not come through litigation. Most of the time—96 percent of the time in 2013—such payouts happen as the result of a settlement.

Learning from years of mistakes

Published on: April 10, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of hospital-acquired infections is down. Though there may be other explanations as to why the rate of hospital infections has fallen since 2002, it would appear that hospitals are trying to avoid some of the problems of years past. Hospitals should certainly be commended for reducing their rate of illness, but there were still an estimated 722,000 hospital infections in 2011 alone.

Hospital negligence is often a cause of hospital-acquired infections. In some cases, hospitals fail to properly sanitize rooms for new patients, they allow doctors and nurses to wear clothing that has a high risk of transferring germs, or rules regarding hand washing are not thoroughly enforced. When it is clear that a hospital is to blame for a patient’s illness, it is often the hospital that becomes the subject of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

While the drop in the rate of hospital infections is commendable, there is also concern that the rate was compiled from hospital data alone, despite the fact that more than half of patients undergoing an operation have it done at an outpatient surgical center. In addition, much of the transitional and recovery care is done at nursing homes. Without including infection statistics at these types of facilities, the CDC’s approximate rate of infection may not accurately reflect the current state of medicine.

Woman attacked by friend’s dog, wins premises liability lawsuit

Published on: April 8, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Although many people in Oneida may believe they could never file a lawsuit against a friend, when a friend’s negligence causes serious injuries, they may change their minds. Of course no one wants to ruin a friendship, but when someone is facing numerous medical bills, missed work and a seriously upturned life, an individual may need to make a difficult choice. When injured in a friend’s home, consulting a premises liability lawyer first could help to determine whether a lawsuit is even possible.

Sadly, when it does come to a lawsuit, some friendships will be destroyed, much like one out-of-state woman’s following a dog attack. Nearly two years ago, she was visiting friends when their dog ran into the room and bit her leg. The dog caused serious damage and would not let go of the woman’s thigh for several minutes.

Since the attack, the woman has undergone numerous surgeries, including some to remove muscle that had been infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. She can no longer work as a nursing assistant, as she cannot perform the heavy lifting required of her position. So, on top of the numerous medical bills, she is having difficulty earning the money to pay them.