A medical malpractice complaint has been filed against Maryland's Union Memorial Hospital and two doctors there by the family of a woman who was treated at the hospital after a 2006 head-on crash who eventually died.
According to the claim, which was delivered to a Maryland arbitration board, the Nicole Smith's death was the result of a blood clot traveling from her broken leg to her lungs due to improper treatment.
Lew Schon and Yuhman Hong were named as defendants in the complaint along with the hospital. The 22-year-old accident victim was treated by Schon after she was admitted to the hospital on July 8, 2006. During a follow-up appointment, she was examined by Hong on July 20, 2006 and then discharged, according to the complaint.
Three days after Hong discharged her, Smith suffered a heart attack in her home. She died before the paramedics were able to resuscitate her.
The family's attorney, Christian Lodowski, said that the doctors should have been alerted to the possibility of clots because of Smith's condition after the accident. He said that her right leg was badly broken, she was forced to remain immobile in a bed, was taking birth control pills, and was obese. Yet, he said, the doctors ignored the signs of deep-vein thrombosis.
Here's an intriguing video about the problem of side underride and the lack of side underride guards on trailers in the US. In viewing this, imagine what happens when a driver comes upon a tractor-trailer pulling out of a side road or driveway at night at highway speed. I showed this at a trucking litigation seminar in New Orleans last Saturday, and several people asked where they could get copies.
Ken Shigley is a trucking a product safety trial attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Researchers have finished a study on preschoolers who were exposed in some way to the events of September 11th. They wanted to access any long term effects or trauma that the children suffered from the World Trade Center attacks. Some of the children saw people fall from the tower or the towers collapse. They found that children that had a previous traumatic experience were more likely to suffer psychological effects years later. This study is another in a series trying to gauge the psychological side of World Trade Center Illness.
Children who had been rattled by a previous experience were about 20 times as likely to show signs of depression, anxiety, or attention deficits as children who had not known a significant trauma before Sept. 11.
"The optimistic part of this is that the kids who had no earlier traumas were doing fairly well, even though we set the bar very high for exposure to the World Trade Center attacks -- I mean, some of these kids were going to school practically across the street from the towers," said the lead author, Claude Chemtob, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. His co-authors were Yoko Nomura and Dr. Robert A. Abramovitz.
Researchers interviewed the parents of 116 children that were between the ages of 1 and 5 on September 11th. The study was done in partnership with the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in New York.
As an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, with a practice heavily concentrated on trial of large truck and bus crash cases, I represent injured truck drivers (and their widows) almost as much as occupants of other vehicles. Posts about truckers violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations sometimes give folks the mistaken impression that I am condemning truckers as a group. However, I recognize that most truck drivers are hard working professionals who are conscientious about quality and safety. I also recognize that they are often placed in untenable situations by the demands of shippers and carriers.
The trucking collision data consistently show that about 80% of fatal collisions involving large commercial vehicles are caused by the actions of other drivers on the road, such as those tho erratically dart in front of a tractor trailer. When that happens, and a truck driver is seriously injured or killed, it is important to review all insurance information, including Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist coverage in the trucking company's insurance policy. If that insurance policy includes UM coverage equal to the liability limits, that may be enough to provide substantial help to the trucker and his or her family.
