Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

New York tortilla factory owner sentenced for labor violations

Published on: July 19, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

An investigation following the tragic death of a Brooklyn, New York, tortilla factory worker in 2011 has led to charges and conviction of the factory’s owner for labor law violations. These include failure to obtain workers’ compensation insurance for his employees. The owner pleaded guilty, and has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.

The accident occurred in January 2011 when a 22-year-old employee fell into a mixing machine, and was crushed to death by the churning mechanism. New York state officials investigating the factory after the man’s death shut it down when they discovered that the company had not carried workers’ compensation insurance for nearly a year. Although the factory eventually reopened, it was cited by federal officials for safety violations.

The safety violations actually had nothing to do with the criminal charges against the 57-year-old business owner, who was arrested in 2012 by the state attorney general’s office. In June of that year, he pleaded guilty to several counts of failing to pay adequate wages, which is a misdemeanor, and failure to obtain workers’ compensation insurance, which is a felony.

Syracuse hospital nearly harvested organs of live patient

Published on: July 11, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

The Syracuse Post-Standard has just published documents detailing a potentially catastrophic medical mistake by St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in October 2009. They were about to harvest the organs of a patient they believed to be dead when she opened her eyes.

Doctors determined that a woman who had overdosed on Xanax and over-the-counter drugs had suffered cardiac death and irreversible brain damage. Her family agreed to take her off life support and let her organs be removed for transplant. However, as she was wheeled into the operating room, she woke from what had been a deep coma from the overdose.

When the state Department of Health reviewed the case, investigators found that staff had ignored signs of the patient’s improvement. They determined that the woman had not suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest or irreversible brain damage. The state outlined steps that doctors failed to take, including performing enough brain scans, and testing to ensure the drugs were out of her system. Further, doctors ignored nurses’ observations of her increasing neurological function.

Bill to ease NY’s time limits on malpractice suits withdrawn

Published on: July 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A proposed law that would have eased the statute of limitations on medical malpractice lawsuits has died in the New York State Assembly. The proposed legislation was known as Lavern’s Law, after a Brooklyn woman who died of lung cancer this year.

The saga of the bill’s namesake began in 2010 when doctors at Kings Hospital allegedly discovered a mass on a chest x-ray, but failed to tell her about it. When she started having serious breathing problems, another Kings County doctor discovered what had happened. However, by then, it was too late under New York law for her to sue for the medical mistake. She developed cancer that spread to both lungs, and died earlier this year at the age of 41. She is survived by a 15-year-old autistic daughter.

Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein of Brooklyn, who sponsored Lavern’s Law, withdrew it even though it had the backing of others in the Assembly, because she learned that it would not have the support of State Senate leader Dean Skelos. Weinstein, a long-time campaigner against New York’s medical malpractice statute of limitations, said that when she saw that the bill would not be taken up by the State Senate, she decided it would be better to withdraw it, and try again in the next session. She says she did not want to subject the bill to debate in the Assembly only to see it go nowhere in the Senate.

Four New York nurses arrested for illegal medication dispensing

Published on: June 21, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Four nurses at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, New York, have been charged with illegally dispensing medication. The most recent nurse to be arrested was a full-time emergency room nurse, while the other three were traveling nurses.

The full-time nurse, who has been suspended, was found to have discrepancies in several controlled substance withdrawal, administration, and wasting medications between December of 2012 and April of 2013. The three traveling nurses were charged with illegally dispensing various medications, including hydrocodone, oxycodone, Dilaudid, Norco, and Tylenol with Codeine, without a physician’s order. According to Samaritan Medical Center, all three of those nurses were immediately terminated.

A spokesperson for the Samaritan Medical Center said they discovered all four nurses’ violations in their monthly audit of the drug dispensing system. She says they reported their findings to the Bureau of Narcotics and the New York State Police when they discovered the problem. She also reported that the medical center plans to conduct audits more frequently, and make changes to their hiring system. However, she noted that they already do a background check on all nurses, whether traveling or full-time. This includes a drug screening. The nurses were working at this facility on a temporary basis to fill vacancies that resulted from the expansion of Samaritan Medical Center’s emergency room over the past few months.

Syracuse planner calls for stop sign at site of fatal crash

Published on: June 14, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A Syracuse city transportation planner is calling for a stop sign at the corner of Comstock Avenue and Acorn Path, not far from Syracuse University. An 18-year-old West Hill High School senior was killed at the intersection in an auto accident this March.

The student, who was driving home not long after midnight on March 2, had just turned from Acorn Path, a one-block street between Circle Road and Comstock Avenue, onto the 900 block of Comstock Avenue when an oncoming Centro bus struck her SUV.

The planner, who says he plans to discuss the situation with one of the city’s contracted engineering firms, asserts that the intersection exceeds the federal standards for a stop sign. Those standards require three hundred vehicles to drive through the intersection every eight hours to qualify for a stop sign. According to New York state traffic data, and an average of 412 cars pass through the intersection in one hour.

Runaway trailer carrying crushed cars kills seven near Syracuse

Published on: June 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A devastating car accident about 25 miles south of Syracuse, NY, claimed the lives of seven people, four of them children, just hours before the start of Memorial Day weekend. The enormity of the crash left even first responders shaken. It happened when a trailer carrying crushed cars broke away from its truck and slammed into the victims’ SUV, tearing the van apart. Some of the victims had to be removed from underneath the trailer.

The accident occurred Wednesday evening, May 29, on a two-lane stretch of Route 13 in the small rural community of Truxton, NY. The three adults killed were in their twenties. One was killed along with her two young daughters. The other two adults who died in the crash were engaged to be married. The only survivor in the SUV was the father of the other two children who died. He was reported to be in good condition. The children were all between the ages of four and seven. The two people in the truck, which belonged to Newton Salvage of Georgetown, NY, were uninjured.

Investigators have not yet determined whether mechanical failure, driver error, or some other issue caused the trailer to break away from its truck. In New York, trucks must be inspected at least once a year. They can also be pulled over for random roadside checks by the Department of Transportation (DOT) or state troopers. In addition to these precautionary measures, the DOT requires drivers to do a “walk-around” inspection of their trucks before each trip. One of the items they are supposed to check is the truck-trailer coupling. Newton Salvage has only been in business since 2012. According to the DOT, state troopers had records of one roadside inspection, where only minor violations were found. None of these was serious enough to remove the truck from service.

‘Tis the season for safe boating

Published on: June 1, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Summer is upon us, which means residents of New York will soon be flocking to the state’s many waterways for sunny days of boating, fishing and other water-related activities. Unfortunately that also means that people are at an increased risk of becoming involved in boating-related accidents.

In response to this risk, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting increased patrols around local lakes and rivers. In addition, navigation deputies will patrol state waters to make sure boaters and their vessels are prepared for the season.

Part of this effort includes routine inspections of boats and their safety equipment. Boat owners and operators should be sure they flares, an anchor and life jackets. A boat should always have a life jacket on board for every person on the boat and they should be easy to access in the event of an emergency.

U at Buffalo study highlights SUV crash risks

Published on: May 24, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

When you’re shopping for a new ride, many vehicle manufacturers will tout high crash ratings as a reason to invest in a certain model of car. These ratings are meant to give you an indication of how well your new car will fare should you become involved in a vehicle accident and, therefore, your chances of escaping without serious injury or death.

However, a recent study out of our home state of New York suggests that these crash ratings are not always as reliable a predictor or safety as we might like to think. This is particularly true when a car collides with a heavier, larger vehicle like a sport utility vehicle. In those accidents, a passenger car driver is more likely to die or become seriously injured, regardless of their car’s crash rating.

The study from the University at Buffalo found that in head-on collisions between cars and SUVs, the drivers of cars were almost 10 times more likely to die if the SUV had a better crash rating than the car – and, alarmingly, more than four times more likely to die if their crash rating beat the SUVs.

Brain injury basics

Published on: May 16, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Last week we talked about some recent changes the National Collegiate Athletic Association made to its rules for college football. These changes have already decreased the number of concussions sustained by collegiate players but, like any contact sport, football still carries its share of risks.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) usually occurs when a person receives a jolt or blow to the head that disrupts his or her normal brain functioning. These injuries are also commonly referred to as concussions, a fairly common occurrence in sports like football. But even if players frequently shrug them off and get back in the game, brain injuries should not be ignored as a public health problem.

About 1.7 million TBIs occur each year as a result of injury. The severity of these injuries can range from a slight, brief change in brain function to lasting amnesia or even death. Common symptoms include headaches, nausea or vomiting, memory loss, confusion, dizziness or sluggishness.

NCAA changes rules to prevent brain injuries

Published on: May 13, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Over the past several years the worlds of professional, collegiate and youth football have all come under scrutiny because of concern over the high incidence of severe brain injuries in football players. Some states have responded by passing laws to require more oversight of youth practices and safety, while the NFL has faced a number of workers’ compensation lawsuits by injured players.

Now the National Collegiate Athletic Association is stepping up their role in the fight against traumatic brain injury. The NCAA has made several changes to its rules that representatives hope will decrease the number of brain injuries sustained by collegiate players and lead the way for safety in all football organizations.

For example, under new rules players are ejected from play if they make contact with a defenseless opposing player above the shoulders. Most traumatic brain injuries come as a result of a blow or jolt to the head so the organization hopes that this rule will cause players to be more careful.