02 October

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Should Hospitals Limit the Number of Patients Nurses Can Help?

in Accidents, Injuries, Premises Liability

The medical community is divided over a November ballot measure that would make Massachusetts only the second state with such staffing requirements. Voters this fall could make Massachusetts only the second state in the country to limit the number of patients that hospital nurses can help at one time. Question 1 would create legal ratios based on the type of patients that nurses are dealing with. Nurses aiding women during birth and up to two hours after, for instance, would be limited to one patient. If they're working with children, they could see four patients at once. In the psychiatric ward, nurses could...

27 September

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Estate Recovers Nothing for Mistaken Brain Surgery

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries, Wrongful Death

The case of a woman who died after undergoing mistaken brain surgery involves apparent errors by her doctors and her lawyers, according to a Michigan Supreme Court justice who agreed with a decision to overturn the $20 million award. Because the lawyers pursued a negligence cause of action barred by collateral estoppel, the estate of Bimla Nayyar will receive nothing, according to the concurring opinion by Michigan Chief Justice Stephen Markman. Nayyar was supposed to receive treatment for a dislocated jaw, but doctors operated on her brain because of a mix-up involving X-rays. The Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn conceded negligence. “This case...

25 September

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New Law Defines Negligence in Workers’ Compensation Cases

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Construction Workers', Injuries

Personal injury cases often turn on whether one party was negligent. However, at law, negligence can have several different meanings. In some personal injury cases, the specific issue in the case comes down to whether the defendant was “grossly negligent,” or merely just “negligent.” One such situation is presented in a recent Florida court of appeals case, Villalta v. Cornn International, LLC. In the case, Villalta was working for a sub-contractor on a larger project. Because it was a large project, there were several other sub-contractors working alongside the company Villalta worked for. One day while on the job, Villalta fell...

19 September

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Ride Sharing vs. Traditional Taxis: How do Injury Insurance Claims Compare?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Injuries

Ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uber are aggressively expanding to new marketsthroughout the United States. These companies are directly competing with traditional taxi companies. The taxi companies, however, are fighting back with a strong public relations campaign painting the ride-sharing companies as a danger to the community as a whole, and the passenger in particular. Incredibly, the taxi companies claim that a passenger injured in a Lyft or Uber car during a car accident may very well find himself or herself without insurance coverage to pay medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. This claim is usually accompanied by a stern “buyer...

17 September

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Law Firm Can’t Toss Woman’s $25M Fraud Suit

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

A Manhattan federal judge refused Friday to toss a $25 million fraud suit targeting Weitz & Luxenberg brought by a woman who says the plaintiffs firm took on her 20-year-old breast implant injury case against Bristol-Myers Squibb but allowed it to be dismissed without telling her. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set up a briefing schedule that would allow counsel for Beverly J. Ezra to amend her claims against the law firm, the $99 billion pharmaceutical giant and its Medical Engineering Corp. subsidiary, already named as defendants in a related case. The judge indicated he was inclined to let Bristol-Myers out of the case after...

06 September

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Is the Legal Doctrine of ‘Res Ipsa Loquitur’ Losing Its Voice?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

The Anglo-American legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) began with an 1863 English case when a pedestrian was struck by a barrel of flour falling while being lowered from the upper floors of a warehouse that was entirely occupied by the defendant. The plaintiff could not present evidence of precisely how the defendant was negligent. Nevertheless, the plaintiff won his lawsuit under a presumption of negligence when the defendant failed to provide an explanation for the event (Byrne v. Boadle) Moving forward to 2015, U.S. courts are reluctant to dispense with a plaintiff proving precisely how...

04 September

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Could Social Media Impact Your Personal Injury Claim?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

The use of social media is becoming more and more common. In fact, as of January 2014, 74 percent of adults who used the internet also used social media sites, a Pew Research Center report found. (Since that time, it is estimated that that number has grown.) As social media provides a forum for individuals to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and photos, it makes sense that some people who have been injured in an accident turn to social media to share details. However, social media effects on a personal injury claim can be negative, and using social media while in the...

08 August

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Brain injuries are some of the worst car crash injuries possible

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Injuries

On behalf of Orin Cohen of Orin J. Cohen Law Ideally, you would never have to worry about the consequences of a motor vehicle collision. If you are a safe driver, you may think your risk is relatively low. Sadly, a lot of the risk on the roads comes from other drivers and their poor decision-making. No matter how carefully you drive or how safe your vehicle is, all it takes is one person texting or driving while drunk to leave you in a terrible position. There are several different kinds of injuries that people can suffer in crashes, ranging from broken bones to spinal cord injuries....

15 May

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Liver injuries may increase risk of death in an accident

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Injuries

On behalf of Orin Cohen of Orin J. Cohen Law New York drivers and passengers are encouraged to wear their seat belts at all times even if their vehicles have air bags. This is because individuals who wear one can reduce the odds of experiencing a severe liver injury in an accident by 21 percent. In a study of 51,202 car accident cases, 15 percent of patients had a severe liver injury. Of those patients, 15 percent died as opposed to just 8 percent who had a minor or moderate liver injury. Liver injuries were either defined as low-grade or severe for purposes of the...

03 May

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Phone use while driving continues to be a problem

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Injuries

On behalf of Orin Cohen of Orin J. Cohen Law When it comes to driving safety, northeastern states such as New York have the worst overall scores compared to the rest of the nation. This is attributable to the prevalence of speeding and hard braking, according to driving safety app Everdrive. However, distracted driving from phone use is a bigger problem in the southern part of the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that distracted drivers were responsible for 3,477 deaths along with 391,000 injuries in 2015. To get a better handle on how pervasive phone distractions are to today's drivers, Everdrive gathered data from...