Michigan Personal Injury Blog

Public Interest Group Discovers Toys with Lead, Dangerous Chemicals Still on Store Shelves

David Mittleman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:45:19 GMT

As the holiday season approaches many parents will travel to the stores, eager to swoop up the latest toys for their children. Luckily, a new law that bans six dangerous chemicals from children’s toys, as well as lowering the lead limit, will help to keep children safer this year. However, what many parents don’t realize is that a number of toys at major retailers still contain dangerous chemicals and high levels of lead.

According to a recently released report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), many manufacturers are complying with the new regulations—but some still aren’t, and it is difficult for consumers to know the difference between safe and unsafe toys. U.S. PIRG sent 15 toys to independent laboratories for testing and found that four of the toys had excessive amounts of lead. Furthermore, two of the toys contained another dangerous chemical known as phthalates, which is widely found in plastic toys and has been linked to reproductive and other health problems. Congress overwhelmingly voted in 2008 to ban phthalates and to significantly reduce the amount of lead in children’s toys in response to the dangerously high levels of lead in toys imported from China during the last several years.

Despite the news that some toy manufacturers are still failing to comply with the new law, the U.S. PIRG stated that they “have seen substantial progress over the last year because of the new law and new leadership at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.” To help protect consumers and help them make wise choices in regards to the toys they purchase for their children, the U.S. PIRG has launched a tool with toy safety tips that parents can access via their cell phones.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Pair of Holiday-Weekend Accidents Result in Death, Injury

David Mittleman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:16:28 GMT

Two young Lansing, Michigan residents fell victim to car crashes over the Thanksgiving holiday - a sobering reminder of the hazards of one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.

Christy Luckett, 30, died Thursday morning, one day after a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Waverly Road and Phoenix Drive in Lansing. The driver and one passenger in the other vehicle were also treated for injuries. The collision is still under investigation.

Some 50 miles away in Oceola Township, Zachery Warren was injured when he swerved to avoid a pickup truck driven by Clem Plowman on M-59 in Livingston County. Warren, a 23-year-old Lansing man, is still receiving treatment at University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

Remember to use extreme caution when driving. Careful driving behaviors should be a year-long habit, but they become especially important during periods of heavy travel.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

FDA Trying to Reduce Preventable Medical Error from Prescription and Over the Counter Drug Use

David Mittleman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:39:08 GMT

Over 3 billion prescriptions are written annually in the United States, and tens of millions of people rely on prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to sustain their health. With such high numbers of drugs being used, the risk of preventable medical error from improper drug combination or the misuse of medication has led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start the Safe Use Initiative.

As my Virginia-based colleague Greg Webb noted, the initiative calls upon doctors, health care professionals, and even patients to help the FDA identify specific, preventable medication risks and develop interventions to such risks. The initiative has a goal to implement some interventions within the first 12 months of the Initiative's existence.

Among the target groups the Initiative seeks to protect is children. One study cited by the FDA found that over 9,000 children were exposed to prescription opioid drugs from 2003 to 2006. Just as startling was the fact that 60,000 emergency room visits occur annually as a result of unsupervised ingestion of medication by children under the age of 12.

Some of the changes consumers can expect will be better information of the prescription and OTC drugs they take, including the proper dosage to take along with calibrated spoons or cups that are easier to read and correspond with the product's packaging.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Use Social Networking Sites With Caution: You Never Know Who's Looking

David Mittleman — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:26:53 GMT

In a world where it has become increasingly more popular to post every aspect of our lives online through social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, Natalie Blanchard hardly realized that her seemingly innocent Facebook photos would change her life as much as they did. Blanchard, like the millions of other Facebook users posted photos of herself on a beach vacation, at a birthday party, and posing with Chippendale dancers at a bar. However, Blanchard like a few other Facebook users, has become a poster child for caution during the social media age.

In fact, Blanchard suffers from severe depression and has been on long-term disability from her job at IBM for over a year-and-a-half. Her insurance provider, Manulife, has paid her disability benefits since she left her job after her depression became severe enough to hinder her daily life activities. Thus, when she suddenly stopped receiving the checks in the mail from Manulife, she called the company to see what was wrong. She was shocked when the company informed her that they had cut her benefits off because they had viewed her photos on Facebook and no longer believed that she suffered from depression.

Publicly, Manulife claims that it “would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on website such as Facebook.” However, the company does admit that it checks the profiles for its clients. Blanchard’s situation offers an important lesson in protecting privacy while utilizing social networking sites: while Facebook offers users an opportunity to share a “slice” of their life with friends and the world, it is important to remember that employers, and apparently insurance companies, use seemingly harmless posted information, too. However, it is too late for Blanchard to heed this privacy advice: instead, she has filed a civil suit against Manulife for $275,000 and is scheduled to appear in Quebec Superior Court on December 8.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Advanced Technology Showing How PTSD Alters Brain Function

David Mittleman — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:22:42 GMT

For years people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were dismissed as complainers and fakers. Their cases were given little to no serious consideration from the medical community and from society at large. Slowly, that has started to change. As our National News Desk at InjuryBoard highlighted, PTSD is now listed in the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists along with the criteria for making the diagnosis.

Up until now, however, PTSD has largely been diagnosed through its symptoms without a significant method of objectively testing just how the mind has been affected by the traumatic events that led to the disorder. That is slowly starting to change. New and powerful imaging tests are being developed to detect just how the brain changes in people with PTSD. The disease that was once "just in your head" is turning out to be the result of damage to the brain's nerve fibers that handle memory and confusion.

The technique is called Diffusion Tensor Imaging. It is a non-invasive procedure adds just a little time to a standard MRI. It involves tracking how water flows through tiny, celery stalk-like nerve fibers in the brain, measuring the direction and speed of the water molecules to determine if the nerve fibers have suffered any damage.

While this research has been primarily driven by the waves of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq who has suffered from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries (PDF), the ramifications of this technology can be far reaching. Countless Americans suffer from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, ranging from an auto accident to surviving traumatic events such as a rape or child abuse. Treatment for all these individuals will likely be altered from this research as scientists learn more about how the brain heals itself from traumatic events.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Survive Black Friday?

Timothy Smith — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:19:54 GMT

A number of years ago, I represented a young woman who was injured by a crowd that had gathered outside a Wal-Mart in Cadillac Michigan after reading about a new home video gaming system that was being released. My client was 7 months pregnant and had hoped to surprise her husband with a new video gaming system for his birthday.

By 5am, the crowd was nearly 100 and the Walmart had advertised that quantities were limited to 25 gaming units. As the store approached the opening hour, the crowd was getting restless. Bullies in the back of the line began pushing forward and tempers began to flare. You'd think that Wal-Mart would have recognized this and set up a system to ensure that the sale of the systems occurred in a safe manner to the 25 first individuals in line. Simple measures such as handing out wristbands to the first 25 or any number of approaches would have spared the crowd from what came next.

At the time of the opening, a Wal-Mart employee came forward and simply unlocked the front door. The crowd surged forward as it became every man and woman for themselves. My client, who was 8th person in line, was pushed to the ground and trampled by the folks behind her.

By the time the dust settled on the stampede, my client lay on the floor of the entry to Wal-Mart - bruised, battered and going into labor from the trauma. Emergency medical technicians from Cadillac were called to the scene and transported her to Cadillac Mercy Hospital where the doctors were able to stop the labor. She wasn't able to have any x-rays of her injured pelvis, hips and back because of the risk to the fetus. She spent the next 2 months on her back wondering if her unborn child was going to be okay.

When I sent my first notice of claim letter to Walmart, they responded by denying that their store or it's employees had done anything wrong. Suit was filed against Walmart in Wexford County Circuit Court. I was able to secure a copy of the security tapes from the front door. The tapes showed the Walmart employees laughing at the crowd gathered outside and then laughing at the stampede that ensued once the front doors were unlocked. The video was very similar to this YouTube clip from a Black Friday Stampede in Grand Rapids Michigan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeSgBL7gpAk

It's shocking to me that this happens every year at the Big Box stores like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Best Buy and others. Even more shocking are the security regulations that each store has drafted and implemented which are rarely followed when the store is releasing a new limited quantity gaming system or on the morning of Black Friday. Through extensive discovery [which Walmart fought every step of the way], my office obtained internal safety rules and regulations that, if followed, could have prevented my client's injury.

What's even more shocking is that Wal-Mart and other big box stores not only endanger the lives of their customers, but evn their employees aren't safe during these Black Friday Riots. In fact, one Wal-Mart employee was killed during one of the Black Friday riots like you just watched above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S6UKRaM5fA

Wal-Mart called this death of it's employee "an unfortunate event". That's an understatement. Every big box store knows that Black Friday brings big crowds and that big crowds can cause big problems. So why is it that every year we have people getting injured and even killed while trying to shop? Why aren't stores following the rules and regulations they themselves have implemented to provide a safe shopping experience for it's customers? I suppose we can answer that question in a single word - Profits. Proper security measures are expensive to implement....

My client was one of the lucky ones. The money that Wal-Mart paid to her at the conclusion of the litigation more than covered her medical bills and her pain and suffering. More importantly, after laying in bed under doctors orders for 2 months, her child was born healthy. She still has days where she has aches and pains in her pelvis and low back from where she was trampled, but she knows that it could have been worse. Much worse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Housing Bust Leads to Opportunistic Party-Goers Cashing In on Empty Homes

David Mittleman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:59:58 GMT

The housing bust seems to have opened the doors to unusual party locations. Atlanta, GA; Fort Myers, FL; San Diego, CA; and Tempe, AZ, have all had their share of rowdy parties that share one common element - they took place in empty or abandoned homes.

The quaint Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs is home to elegant mansions and busy professionals. The last thing they expected was a raucous Halloween party that lasted past 3:00 a.m. That's exactly what happened when party planners rented a foreclosed and abandoned mansion and threw a party that was so heavily planned it included shuttle buses to and from a nearby grocery store. The planner was eventually charged with disorderly conduct when residents complained of the party's excessive noise and traffic gridlock.

Party planners in San Diego were not so fortunate. One man pleaded to burglary charges after a late night rave in a foreclosed home was busted by police. Police have noted the risk factors leading to police involvement as damage and destruction to the homes, along with heightened risk for drug use and underage drinking.

Police in Fort Myers noted that the remnants of parties left the foreclosed homes in shambles, with drywall destroyed, and walls spraypainted.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Jury Orders N.J. Dep't of Transportation to Pay $6M to Man Hurt By Dangerous Road Conditions

David Mittleman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:12:33 GMT

The New Jersey Department of Transportation was found responsible for the permanent disabling injuries suffered by Kenneth Matlock when massive, rotten tree branches fell on his car as he traveled along New Jersey's Route 29. A jury recently awarded him and his wife $6 million in damages as Mr. Matlock has now lost use of his dominant right arm. Mr. Matlock has also just barely begun to regain motion in his head and his left hand is in a permanent claw position.

Mr. Matlock's attorneys presented a case against the New Jersey DOT which claimed that the Department failed to follow its own guidelines regarding dangerous roadway conditions and that during its regular inspections it should have seen the rotting limbs and taken actions to trim them back. Mr. Matlock's expert testified that the tree limb was at a high risk of failure and that the Department should have known about the dangerous condition well before the accident happened.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Deer Involved in Lansing 2 Car Crash

Devon Glass — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:39:28 GMT

With deer hunting season officially open in Michigan for nearly 2 weeks, most of the talk about deer has to do with how big a buck you shot or taking your children for their first hunt. I'm pretty sure that opening day for deer hunting is one of the biggest holidays in Michigan. Sometimes, however, the deer are out to get you and not the other way around.

Just this morning a car near Jolly and Waverly in Lansing hit another car after a deer came onto the road. According to the police, just after 6 am the driver of a Chevy Impala was either hit by a deer or swerved to miss hitting a deer and crashed into a van. The driver of the Impala was ejected from her car during the crash. Both drivers and one passenger were transported to the hospital for treatment.

Here are some tips from the Michigan State Police to keep you safe if you encounter a deer and how to avoid them. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Michigan State Police Troopers remind you to Don't Wreck Your Life! Keep your eyes on the road, never drink and drive, always wear your safety belt, and consider the following tips to help you avoid a car-deer collision:

Use special caution in those areas marked with deer crossing signs.

If you see one deer, expect there will be others. Slow down and be alert.

Do not swerve your vehicle to avoid striking a deer. It is better to strike a deer than another vehicle or a fixed object.

Continually scan the fields and area adjacent to the roadway for deer. Often you can see them approaching the roadway and can slow down.

During hours of darkness use your bright lights when no traffic is approaching. The high beams will illuminate the eyes of deer on the roadway or approaching the roadway much sooner, allowing a greater reaction time.

Always drive at a safe and prudent speed.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Amongst Other Dangerous Chinese Imports, ATVs Are Added to the List

David Mittleman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Here’s another product to add to the growing list of dangerous Chinese imports: besides contaminated pet food and toys coated in lead paint, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are the latest danger to consumers. What’s even more frightening is that this specific type of ATV is marketed to young children; in fact, children as young as six have reported using the Fushin ATV.

The Fushin ATV is painted bright yellow and offers bargain-shopping parents a welcoming price at $250. However, the Fushin is missing one important feature: front brakes. Furthermore, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Fushin also has sharp handlebars that could cause injury. Luckily, in May, the manufacturer agreed to a voluntary recall of the models. Nevertheless, that did not solve the problem as the CPSC discovered a shipment of the ATVs at a U.S. port of entry, where customs officials seized the items for failing to meet domestic safety standards.

In response to the $5 billion market for ATVs, the CPSC is launching a global campaign to improve the safety of the extremely popular product. The statistics surrounding ATVs are not encouraging: in fact, according to the CPSC, ATVs contribute to about 900 deaths per year. Overall, ATVs cause more deaths than any of the 15,000 other products the commission regulates.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman