News Blog
February 2nd, 2012
A slip-and-fall lawsuit filed against Kroger Grocery Stores concluded on January 20 with a massive award for the plaintiff. The Gwinnett County jury awarded an injured shopper $2.3 million in damages, after a judge determined that the defendant, Kroger Co, had destroyed key videographic evidence of the accident. 
The plaintiff, 49-year old Craig Walters, sustained injuries in May of 2008 at a Douglassville Kroger grocery store, after slipping and falling on a piece of smashed fruit on the floor. Falling directly onto his back, Walters suffered a spinal cord injury that resulted in extensive medical treatment and his inability to return to work. According to Walters’ attorney, Lloyd N. Bell, Walters had to undergo spinal surgery among other medical treatments, incurring a total of $135,000 in medical bills.
Lawyers representing Kroger alleged that the grocery store’s video surveillance was not directed to capture the area where the accident took place. They also claimed that all surveillance footage from the day of the incident had been taped over, due to a store policy of recording over surveillance tapes after 17 days of holding them.
Upon inspection, however, Walters’ attorneys discovered that there was in fact a surveillance camera directed on the spot where Walters fell. Further investigation revealed enough evidence that the video tape had existed and been intentionally destroyed to lead Judge Joseph Iannozzone to deduce that Kroger had been negligent, and to schedule a trial to determine the punitive damages owed to the injured customer.
Slip-and-Fall Injuries
According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), an organization dedicated to “the prevention of slips, trips-and-falls through education, research and standards development,” slips and falls account for over one million hospital emergency room visits annually. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 26th, 2012
A study published this month suggests that nurses who work with chemotherapy drugs or sterilizing chemicals are twice as likely to have a miscarriage as their coworkers who were not exposed to those materials.
Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) surveyed nearly 7,500 nurses who became pregnant between 1993 and 2002. The women were asked how frequently they worked with particular equipment and chemicals such as anesthesia, x-rays, disinfectants and cancer drugs during each of their trimesters.
- Nurses who handled chemotherapy drugs for more than one hour per day were found to be twice as likely to miscarry.
- Nurses who handled sterilizing chemicals for more than one hour per day also were twice as likely to miscarry but only in their second trimester.
- Nurses who performed X-rays were about 30 percent more likely to miscarry than nurses who did not perform X-rays.
Chemo Drugs Dangerous Across the Board
Chemo agents have been classified as “hazardous drugs” by the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA). In addition to the increased risk of miscarriage, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that exposure to these drugs could cause: Read the rest of this entry »
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January 22nd, 2012
A study recently published in the journal Pediatrics has suggested that there is a link between using asthma medication during pregnancy and certain birth defects.
Researchers from the New York State Department of Health used the National Birth Defects Prevention Study for data, focusing on 2,853 infants born with birth defects and 6,726 infants born without defects. In the situations where the expectant mother used anti-inflammatory and/or bronchodilator asthma drugs, they found three particular types of rare birth defects that seem to increase in prevalence.
- Esophageal Atresia – Pregnant women who used bronchodilators more than doubled their risk of giving birth to a child with isolated esophageal atresia (a congenital birth defect where the esophagus fails to connect all the way to the stomach, requiring major surgery to ensure survival).
- Anorectal Atresia – Those using anti-inflammatory asthma drugs during the first trimester had more than double the risk of giving birth to an infant with isolated anorectal atresia (closed area of the rectum and/or anus).
- Omphalocele – For expectant mothers who took both types of asthma drugs combined, they faced more than four times the risk of giving birth to a child with Read the rest of this entry »
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January 19th, 2012
The family of 2-year-old River Moore is suing Johnson & Johnson for his wrongful death. Daniel and Katy Moore of Ellensburg, Washington say their 2-year-old son died suddenly after they gave him Children’s Tylenol to treat a slight fever.
In July 2010, River had a fever and was administered Very Berry Strawberry flavored Children’s Tylenol. Shortly afterward, he began spitting up blood and was rushed to a hospital. Within hours his liver had failed, and he died the next day. The family’s lawyer, Joseph Messa, says the medicine contained excessive amounts of acetaminophen that damaged the child’s liver, leading to his death.
Massive Children’s Medication Recall
In April 2010, McNeil Consumer Healthcare issued a recall of over 40 over the counter infant and children’s liquid medication, because the medicines did not meet the required quality standards. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 16th, 2012
Elvira Nunziata was missing from her nursing home for over an hour before staff realized she was gone. The 92-year-old, who was wheelchair bound and suffering from dementia, had been living at Pinellas Park Care and Rehabilitation Center since August 2003.
On that tragic afternoon in October 2004, Nunziata slipped away from a group of residents at the center. Even though she had censors that alert staff of any movement, they did not notice she had left the area. After residents alerted staff that she was missing, they checked an emergency exit door stairwell and found Ms. Nunziata, still strapped in her wheelchair, at the bottom of the staircase. She died shortly after paramedics arrived.
Earlier this month, Nunziata’s family was awarded $140 million in punitive damages and $60 million in compensatory damages. The verdict was one of the largest nursing home negligence lawsuit payouts, if not the largest, in Florida history.
Chronic Understaffing Plagues Facilities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report in 2009 stating that nursing homes understaffing was endangering the welfare of their patients. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 12th, 2012
When 17-year-old Jenny Olenick went to the dentist for an outpatient wisdom tooth extraction, her family never could have imagined that she would not survive the routine procedure.
During the surgery, Olenick’s heart rate dropped to 40 beats per minute and she suffered oxygen loss as a result. The teen had no pulse by the time emergency medical technicians arrived at the dental office in Columbia, Maryland, on March 28,2011. She suffered brain damage and died ten days later.
The Olenick family has filed a lawsuit in Howard County Circuit Court, following an investigation into Jenny’s death by the state’s Chief Medical Examiner. The investigation found that the central cause of death was hypoxia, a deprivation of oxygen, which occurred while Jenny was anesthetized during the procedure. The dental malpractice lawsuit alleges that Olenick died due to the negligence of Dr. Krista Michelle Isaacs, the anesthesiologist, and Dr. Domenick Coletti, the oral surgeon.
Wisdom Teeth Surgery: Unnecessary danger?
A 2007 report in the American Journal of Public Health stated that of those who have undergone wisdom tooth (also called third molar) extraction, over 11,000 suffer permanent nerve damage causing numbness of the tongue, lips or cheeks. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 9th, 2012
The Trooper involved in the tragic vehicle crash that killed the wife of the Braves trainer Jeff Porter on New Years Eve 2011 was recently fired and had a history of prior wrecks.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Trooper Donald Crozier was fired this past Friday, January 6th. He released a statement regarding the tragic wreck and promised to cooperate with the current investigation. Cozier said, “I am still suffering emotionally and physically as a result of the accident, but it is nothing compared to what the Porter family is going through. I am so sorry for their loss and I think of them and pray for them every day.”
This hasn’t been the first vehicle wreck Trooper Crozier has been in. According to authorities, this is his fourth at fault crash since the end of 2008. Disciplinary action was taken during these crashes. In one of the accidents, Crozier just turned on his emergency lights and was actually looking down to activate the siren but then failed to yield the right of way to a vehicle making a left turn in front of him. The Trooper was trying to stop a stolen vehicle.
On New Year’s Eve 2011, the Trooper struck right into a sport utility vehicle the Braves trainer Jeff Porter was driving at the intersection of Capital Avenue and Memorial Drive. On this day, Jeff Porter was driving with his wife Kathy Porter as a passenger and their son David and another passenger. They were on their way to the Chick-fil-A Bowl when this vehicle crash occurred just after 4:30 p.m. The Trooper says he was speeding on that day in order to assist in the chase of a motorcyclist on nearby I-20. Jeff Porter’s wife, Kathy Porter was killed as a direct result of this motor vehicle crash.
In the initial crash report released January 6th, statements from witnesses at the scene said that the trooper “failed to use due regard when traveling through the intersection on a red traffic signal.” According to another witness, the trooper “traveled around other vehicles that were stopped on Memorial Drive for the red signal prior to making impact” with the sport utility vehicle. Other witnesses indicated that the trooper’s blue lights were flashing but no siren was heard.
When Crozier made the statement, he said he was in law enforcement for 17 years. As a result of this tragic crash and the trooper’s history, Crozier was terminated. The motor vehicle crash is still under investigation.
Our thoughts are with the Porter family and friends.
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January 9th, 2012
On Saturday, December 31, 2011, the wife of Braves trainer Jeff Porter was tragically killed in a vehicle crash.
The one witness to this horrific vehicle crash was Steve Bouye, an employee with the federal prison system in Atlanta. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bouye was just off of work and turning out of the BP gas station at the same time he saw a trooper’s cruiser zoom past him around 4:40 pm. It was about seconds later when Bouye heard a very loud sound that sounded like a train crash.
The trooper’s cruiser struck right into a sport utility vehicle that Jeff Porter was driving. This occurred at the intersection of Capital Avenue and Memorial Drive, right in downtown Atlanta. In Jeff Porter’s vehicle, there was his wife, his son, David, 19 years old, and a fourth passenger, Courtney Williams, 18 years old. His wife, Kathy Porter, tragically died at the scene. Jeff Porter, his son and the fourth passenger were all injured but their condition is not available.
According to authorities, the Porter family was on their way to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. Donal Crozier, the trooper driving the cruiser, was en route to help in a chase nearby Interstate 20. Crozier, a 10 year veteran, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for injuries and released after treatment Saturday night. His cruiser’s lights and sirens were activated at the time of the motor vehicle crash.
This tragic vehicle crash is currently under investigation by the state Department of Public Safety’s Special Investigation Division, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency’s Specialized Reconstruction Team, and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Our thoughts are with Kathy Porter’s family and friends.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were about 5,811,000 traffic crashes reported to the police in 2008. In those crashes, 37,261 people were killed and 2,346,000 people were injured. A primary cause of car accidents is driver distraction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration completed a study and found that distraction from the primary job of driving potentially presents serious and deadly danger. High on the list of these dangers include cell phone use, especially texting, while driving.
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December 26th, 2011
A Connecticut man has been awarded $10 million for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) he suffered after falling off a Segway during a company-sponsored contest. The two-wheeled upright personal transporter vehicles were introduced in 2001 to much fanfare and have recently started to be linked to serious injuries.
Earlier this month, a jury decided that New Hampshire based Segway Inc. and two employees were responsible for 23-year-old John Ezzo’s injuries in the accident, which occurred at a company demonstration of its two-wheeled vehicle at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven in September 2009.
Ezzo was injured during a competition called the ‘Segway Challenge,’ set up to benefit the Special Olympics. He fell backwards off of the scooter, hitting his head on the ground and suffering brain damage. As a result of his injuries, Ezzo was forced to drop out of college and now works as a handyman. According to the claim, Segway company officials failed to bring helmets with them for the contest, and they encouraged Ezzo to ride through the course blindfolded.
Study Reveals Segway Brain Injury
A 2010 study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine warned that traumatic brain injuries were becoming increasingly linked with Segway accidents. Read the rest of this entry »
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December 23rd, 2011
A Philadelphia jury ordered pharmaceutical company Pfizer to pay out a $72.6 million settlement in a Prempro lawsuit. Susan Elfont, Bernadette Kalenkoski and Judy Mulderig filed the breast cancer lawsuit when they developing cancer after taking the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug.
Prempro is a combination of the drugs Provera and Premarin, designed to artificially boost hormone levels in women undergoing menopause. These drugs are known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and are intended to reduce menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings and sleep disturbance. Prempro and other HRT drugs have been used by 6 million women.
HRT Drug Cancer Link
A multitude of lawsuits were filed after a 2002 National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found that Prempro users had a much higher incidence of breast cancer. The study revealed that women who had taken Prempro were more likely to:
- Develop breast cancer
- Have breast cancer spread to their lymph nodes
- Eventually succumb to the disease
Pfizer Settlement
The verdict was reached in early December 2011 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Read the rest of this entry »
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