- Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 4:42 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeDoctor, is there an alternative to this surgery? This may be the best question you ever ask. Consumer Reports has listed 12 surgeries you may be better off without. The conclusion: "before you have these invasive procedures, check out safer alternatives." Among the 12 surgeries are Angiography, Cesarean section, Enlarged-prostate procedures, Surgery for back pain and Surgical weight loss. ...
- Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 8:29 AM |
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MiscellaneousMy thanks to Charles T. Hall of Raleigh, North Carolina, for his post on his Social Security News blog: "The New York Times has an article (registration required) that demonstrates the human costs of delaying filing a claim for Social Security disability benefits -- and the human costs of delay in adjudicating disability claims at SSA. This formerly middle class family was thrust into dire...
- Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 8:10 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is bringing actions when employers treat pregnant employees unfairly. EEOC attorney Jean Kamp is quoted in a news article: “Employers must heighten their awareness of pregnancy discrimination, especially as more women enter the labor force and work/life issues take on greater importance.â€The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is...
- Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 7:18 AM |
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Motorcycle AccidentsSometimes judges get tangled up in abstractions when the simple facts and proper path is clear. If I handed a gun to a 6 year old and said "Go out and play," isn't that a clear violation of a state law as well as very negligent? Or, is that just a parental decision? A Florida appellate court has ruled it is just a business owner's managerial decision to order an employee to drive a motorcycle...
- Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 6:08 AM |
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MiscellaneousIn Justice is a new television series on TV. A real, live Circuit Judge has reviewed an episode for the St. Pete Times. I liked the review better than the premise of the show. This could start a new career for Judge Babb, writing reviews of local trials. If so, I will need to jazz up my courtroom style - I can't take the risk of being labeled a dim light on the horizon. In Justice is a new...
- Bob Carroll | December 29, 2005 6:10 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeIf you were fortunate enough to make it to an Emergency Room soon after a heart attack or a stroke you would hope the best medical care would be provided immediately. TPA (tissue plasminogen activator) is often the most appropriate care, but it must be given within three hours for a stroke and twelve hours for a heart attack. I thank Jeremy Thurman of Napoli Bern, LLP, New York City Personal...
- Bob Carroll | December 29, 2005 5:44 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeMiami personal injury lawyer Jon M. Herskowitz posts about a study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University that should light our hair on fire. Jon reports the study finds almost half of doctors and pharmacists have limited training in prescribing and handling controlled prescription drugs. More details about the study can be found at Under the...
- Bob Carroll | December 28, 2005 5:46 AM |
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MiscellaneousOnly a few more days to work on last year's New Year's Resolutions and to create a new aspiration list for 2006. I didn't accomplish, or even make real progress on, several of my resolutions for 2005. Some are repeat failures which have appeared again and again on my list. But, some can be checked off as mission accomplished. So, I will try again to match my aspirations with my actions. One...
- Bob Carroll | December 28, 2005 5:08 AM |
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Wrongful DeathShould this suicide have been prevented? Juvenal Hernandez Flores, 28, of 2903 Forestbrook Drive, Charlotte, N.C., was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on Thursday. He was being held on charges of failing to appear in court and driving without a driver's license. A Sheriff's Office report notes Flores made suicidal statements while he was being booked. It appears he was recognized as a...
- Bob Carroll | December 27, 2005 9:22 PM |
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Medical Malpractice"Increased numbers of uninsured patients coming into Florida emergency rooms may worsen overcrowding, adversely affect quality of care and lead more emergency rooms to close their doors, a new University of South Florida study shows." From Tampa Bay Business Journal. If you thought the waiting time and the services were problems already....
- Bob Carroll | December 27, 2005 9:00 PM |
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Workplace InjuriesA 19-year-old worker was killed at a construction site in Wesley Chapel Tuesday when he was run over by a curb-making machine operated by another man, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office reported. The accident is being investigated by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and OSHA.The need to focus on job safety, especially where workers are in close contact with vehicles or heavy machinery, ia...
- Bob Carroll | December 26, 2005 8:10 AM |
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FDA & Prescription DrugsFDA Consumer Magazine is available free online. Well worth reading if you require prescription medications.
- Bob Carroll | December 26, 2005 7:54 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsThere must be a better training protocol then to have a deputy sheriff take a jolt from a Taser that ends his career. On the other hand, there must be a better way to disable a subject than to expose him to the same risk. Unfortunately, Deputry Sam Powers was unable to convice a jury that Taser International should be liable for his disability. From Court TV we get more of the details.After...
- Bob Carroll | December 25, 2005 3:36 AM |
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MiscellaneousWith thanks to Live Journal here is the letter of the season:DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?VIRGINIA O'HANLON.115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age....
- Bob Carroll | December 25, 2005 3:18 AM |
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MiscellaneousIf our schools are going to have strict policies against bullying and other harassment of students they will need to enforce them. A Kansas teenager who was bullied by his classmates because they believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement, ending his longstanding legal battle with his school district. The student claimed he was harassed with homophobic slurs from the seventh...
- Bob Carroll | December 23, 2005 12:57 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeA news report from Bartow: A woman who gave birth at Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in 2003 has filed a lawsuit in which she accuses the obstetrician of leaving a sponge inside her. The patient is suing Dr. Edwin Salamanca, Heart of Florida OB/GYN Associates and the hospital, contending the sponge in her vagina led to infection. Normal hospital procedures call for the careful...
- Bob Carroll | December 23, 2005 12:12 PM |
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MiscellaneousOver the years I have been informed by some insurance companies that my client is making a fraudulent claim. Not that the claim may be fraudulent. Not that their investigation raises issues of potential fraud. When that has occurred I have asked for the proof. So far proof has been a close relative of suspicion. In several claims I have so completely disproved the suspicion that the...
- Bob Carroll | December 22, 2005 9:41 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseA Florida nursing home has devised a scheme to deny its residents important rights before they even move into the facility. A Florida Appellate Court found that the nursing home effectively buried an agreement requiring arbitration and limiting liability in a package of documents that the resident's daughter was asked to sign while her father was on route from the hospital to the home. Holding...
- Bob Carroll | December 22, 2005 5:07 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeThe prohibited practice of patient dumping may still be alive and well in parts of Florida. This Makes Me Sick! says so. It definitely makes some ER patients sicker.
- Bob Carroll | December 22, 2005 4:20 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeOvereating is not the only hazard you will face in the next 10 days. If you happen to visit an emergency room you will really enter the danger zone. Five Holiday Tips To Keep You From Being an Emergency Room Malpractice Victim says "What happens in the emergency room when the hospital is understaffed because the doctors and staff are on vacation and they're short-staffed? Your care may...
- Bob Carroll | December 20, 2005 4:52 AM |
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Wrongful DeathConfession may be good for the soul but not necessarily on your blog. A Florida teenager, who admitted in his online journal that he caused an accident which killed his best friend, has pleaded guilty to DUI-manslaughter. Blake Ranking was a passenger in the back seat of a car that crashed Oct. 3, 2004, fatally injuring Jason Coker, 17, and seriously injuring Nicole Robinette. Why was he...
- Bob Carroll | December 20, 2005 4:14 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsMoving a clothes dryer slightly should not cause an explosion. It is simply outrageous that a woman has been severely burned in a gas explosion and fire when she turned her dryer on. Over years of use and maintenance every clothes dryer is going to be moved slightly on many occasions. Proper design or installation of the dryer would have prevented this horrible injury. Corrugated stainless...
- Bob Carroll | December 20, 2005 3:42 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA few years ago I represented the survivors of a father and his married daughter who were killed when a police hot pursuit ended tragically with a violent head-on collision. It was clear in that case that the police had violated the internal Police Department policies against hot pursuits of non-violent subjects. Now, two more needless deaths have occurred in the Orlando area as a result of...
- Bob Carroll | December 19, 2005 6:10 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsYour pizza may have come with something more dangerous than pepperoni. CEC Entertainment, franchisor of the Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant chain, is recalling 144,000 plastic whistles. The recall was prompted by an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission after reports of children starting to choke on the whistle's internal pieces. The made-in-China toy whistles were...
- Bob Carroll | December 18, 2005 9:35 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeWalgreens makes another dangerous pharmacy blunder and sends a teenager to the hospital after he took high blood pressure medicine mistakenly put into his bottle of sleeping pills. Source
- Bob Carroll | December 18, 2005 12:07 PM |
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MiscellaneousOnce again I approach the upcoming holidays, particularly Christmas, with the overwhelming feeling that I could be the most blessed person on earth. I am not sure if this qualifies as a Rant or a Rave, but I extend to everyone a sincere wish that you and your loved ones have peace, good health and happiness in equal measures.Once again I approach the upcoming holidays, particularly Christmas,...
- Bob Carroll | December 18, 2005 11:18 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA tragic death occurred in South Florida this week. Jon M. Herskowitz, Esq., Miami Personal Injury Lawyer, reports on the facts. "Jennifer Green, 49, was killed Wednesday when debris fell from an overturned tractor trailer and landed on her car. The truck had overturned on the overpass ramp and dumped some of its load (constuction debris and tree roots) on the highway below, smashing into...
- Bob Carroll | December 18, 2005 9:49 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe Complementary And Alternative Medicine Law Blog, CAMLAWBlog, is a project of Michael H. Cohen, Esq. Michael's blog is extremely useful in an age when more of us are turning away from traditional medicine to find better paths to a healthier life.The Complementary And Alternative Medicine Law Blog, CAMLawBlog, is a project of Michael H. Cohen, Esq. Michael's blog is extremely useful in an...
- Bob Carroll | December 18, 2005 5:53 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsA Florida jury has awarded $31 Million to a mechanic who contracted mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to asbestos from friction brakes, sources have told Mealey Publications (Joseph Mallia & Gale Mallia v. Bennett Auto Supply, et al., No. 04-16237 CA 42, Fla. Cir., Miami-Dade Co).
- Bob Carroll | December 15, 2005 3:59 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeVictims of medical malpractice in Florida will have the opportunity to select from experienced and competent malpractice attorneys in order to pursue their claims. The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that the newly passed constitutional "right" to guaranteed net recoveries from settlements or awards may be waived by the victims. The "right" was plainly designed by the Florida Medical...
- Bob Carroll | December 15, 2005 7:20 AM |
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MiscellaneousBe thankful you can retain a lawyer in the U.S. for just about any issue or dispute, including those that involve our government. The citizens of China do not have such access according to an Associated Press article: BEIJING - An outspoken Chinese lawyer known for representing clients with complaints of official corruption and police abuse is being stripped of his law license, an official and...
- Bob Carroll | December 14, 2005 6:01 PM |
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MiscellaneousI have never met Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Elizabeth T. Maass, but she definitely takes her orders seriously. And, I think Morgan Stanley will be doing the same from now on. After Morgan Stanley violated her discovery order, Judge Maass muzzled the investment house at a recent trial. After the jury returned a $1.5 Billion verdict Law.com reports Morgan Stanley is clear the judge erred. ...
- Bob Carroll | December 12, 2005 11:27 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesIt has been 11 long years, but Norman Pelletier finally received the jury verdict he deserved. The construction worker's life changed instantly when an overhead steel beam broke loose and struck him, leaving him permanently paralyzed below the chest. He was motionless on a steel deck, his spine shattered and ribs crushed. Norman's attorneys worked mightily on his precedent-setting workplace...
- Bob Carroll | December 10, 2005 4:53 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeDoes the medical profession in Florida get a free pass when it injuries or kills an 84 year old man? You bet it does. The story of Fred Brittain, deceased (possibly as a result of medical malpractice), and his daughter Victoria Brittain shows why. When Fred died in 2002 his family felt it was caused by medical errors. Twelve law firms were contacted regarding the potential claim and all...
- Bob Carroll | December 08, 2005 10:50 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsAn unintended consequence of Tort Reform may be less safe or imaginative playgrounds. This is one of the conclusions in an article by Benjamin Barton in the Florida Law Review entitled Tort Reform, Innovation, and Playground Design. When confronted by potential product liability it seems that entrepreneurial companies do not simply patch failed products. In many instances they fully rethink...
- Bob Carroll | December 07, 2005 5:14 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeImportant decisions are made on the basis of cancer pathology tests. Apparently, 11.8% of those decisions would be wrong. A review of cancer diagnoses from pathology tests at four hospitals found that up to 11.8% were in error, according to a study in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Cancer. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said because of the variety of detection...
- Bob Carroll | December 04, 2005 4:52 AM |
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Wrongful DeathBig is a word that describes much of Disneyland and Disney World. In a big departure from normal business practice Disney has admitted that poor maintenance of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride caused the death of its guest, a 22 year-old man. According to an article posted on SignOnSanDiego.com Disney has agreed to settle the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of the deceased...
- Bob Carroll | December 02, 2005 5:37 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsSeven years ago a Broward County Sheriff's Deputy crashed his cruiser into the car of 18 year old Eric Brody. This week a jury determined that the deputy was speeding and that his negligence was the sole cause of the accident. Eric was severely brain injured and is still struggling to rehabilitate himself and set the damages at $31 Million. Florida imposes a limit or cap upon the liability...