March 10, 2010

By Russell Carter, Womack Publishing Service

A Gretna woman filed a $15 million lawsuit Thursday in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court on behalf of her 12-year-son who drowned in 2008 at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

Dora Mae Henley is suing Sycamore Baptist Church and the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with lifeguards, chaperones and a park ranger.

Henley’s son, Marvin Strickland Jr., was at Smith Mountain Lake State Park with a youth group from Sycamore Baptist Church when he drowned Aug. 7, 2008.

Strickland was found in 6-7 feet of water around 20 feet from the shore.

The Virginia Conservation and Recreation Department, which investigated the drowning, estimated Strickland had been missing about 15 minutes before lifeguards began searching for the youth.

After Strickland was reported missing, lifeguards removed everyone from the water and began diving in the area the boy was last seen.

He was found 20-30 minutes later.

In addition to Sycamore Baptist Church, the lawsuit names Kathy Mohilan, director of youth programs for the church, as well as adult chaperones Lonnie Rowland, Cindy Rowland and Annie Rowland Jones.

Others named in the lawsuit include Anna Woodford, the head lifeguard at the park; lifeguards Joey Nance and Austin Wood; and park ranger Meredith Bennett.

According to the lawsuit, Strickland was among six children from Sycamore Baptist Church who went swimming at the state park.

“When taking the youth group, including Master Strickland, on the trip to the state park, the adult chaperones, and each of them individually, expressly or impliedly assumed duties to supervise and care for Master Strickland for the duration of the trip,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims the chaperones were responsible for Strickland’s care on the trip, lifeguards were responsible for watching the boy while he was in the park and the park ranger was responsible for making sure lifeguards were properly trained.

Henley, who is represented by the Roanoke law firm of Crandall & Katt, is seeking $15 million for sorrow and grief, loss of her son’s income and his funeral expenses.

The plaintiff also asked for $350,000 in punitive damages.

Posted March 2, 2010

By wsfb.com

STAMFORD, Conn. — A man was killed in a Tuesday morning collision with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 in Stamford.

Police said a Toyota Sienna driven by Xiaoyuan Huang, 28, was either stopped or traveling slowly in the right, northbound lane of Interstate 95 before 5 a.m. Police said Clarence Edwards came up behind Huang’s vehicle in a tractor-trailer. They said Edwards attempted to swerve around the Toyota, but struck the rear of the car.

The Toyota went into the roadway’s right shoulder, striking a metal guardrail. The tractor-trailer traveled into the median and struck the barrier, police said.

Huang was extricated from his vehicle and taken to Stamford Hospital, where he later died. Edwards was uninjured in the crash.

The crash, which closed northbound lanes of the roadway for hours, remains under investigation.

Tom Bowen said he commutes to Stamford from Long Island, usually on Interstate 95, but said he took back roads on Tuesday.

“I used to work in the local area and I know the local roads,” he said.

By suntimes.com

BLUE ISLAND — A man died in an accident while at work Monday in south suburban Blue Island.

Brian Fuller Sr., 48, of La Grange, was pronounced dead at 1:03 a.m. at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Fuller died at 2258 Vermont St. in Blue Island.

George J. Roll & Sons, a building material supplier company, is located at that address, according to an online directory. No one was immediately available from the company.

Fuller Sr. was killed when he was pinned in by a truck, an official said.

Fuller’s son, Brian Fuller Jr., 23, said his father had worked with the company for more than 15 years and was in charge of loading trucks in the dry wall and lumber yards.

“He worked a strenuous job that was incredibly hard and no one else would do,” Fuller said. “He put my sister and I through college.”

Fuller Jr. described his father as a family man who was “there for us.” In his free time, he was an avid muskie fisherman, he said.

The muskie or muskellunge fish is a trophy fish that is highly prized by fishermen, according to an online site.

Fuller Sr. left behind his son, daughter Alyssa, and wife Kathleen, to whom he was married for 25 years, Fuller Jr. said.

Neither the Blue Island police or fire department would comment.

No one was immediately available from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

By Christopher Tuffley

www.newssun.com

SEBRING –Two fatalities have been confirmed by the Florida Highway Patrol in the charter bus crash that occurred at 2:15 p.m. Monday afternoon on U. S. 27 at the intersection with Lake Francis Road.

The bus, chartered by South Florida Community College for its Exploritas program, was traveling north, returning from a tour of the Lake Placid murals at the time of the crash.

FHP Lt. Chris Miller confirms that Alice J. Adams, 81, a resident of Lake Placid, was driving east on Lake Frances Road in a 2010 red Mercury when she attempted to enter the northbound lanes of U. S. 27.

At this time it is unclear why Adams failed to yield the right of way to the bus.

Larry L. Metzer, 69, the bus driver, attempted to avoid the Mercury, but the front right of the car struck the left side of the bus. That blow caused the bus to veer off onto the east shoulder of the highway where it overturned into a ditch.

This resulted in the ejection of several passengers and there were extensive injuries.

Thirty-two people, including the driver, were on the bus at the time of the crash. Only one person was not transported to a hospital.

Two were pronounced dead at the scene, three had critical injuries and the rest had serious to minor injuries. Aeromed and Bay Life were two of the several companies providing helicopter evacuation. At least five helicopters picked up victims.

Becky Rousch, who directs community education for SFCC, was on the bus.

Deborah Bell, spokesperson for SFCC, reports Rousch is resting comfortably and recovering.

Of the 11 victims transported to Florida Hospital in Lake Placid, two were later airlifted to larger hospitals and nine remained hospitalized as of Tuesday morning.

Tiffany Bender, spokes person for Florida Hospital, said Tuesday that Florida Hospital, Heartland Division had been expecting 12 victims at the Sebring emergency room, but half of those victims were airlifted directly from the scene and only six victims were transported to the Sebring campus. Of that number two remain hospitalized locally and four were later flown to Orlando.

Highlands Regional Medical Center received seven victims.

John Dunn, spokesperson for Tampa General Hospital, said Tuesday morning that six victims were airlifted to the hospital, three directly from the scene and three from Highlands County hospitals.

Hospitals in Orlando also took in the injured, and Lee Memorial Hospital in Ft. Myers took in one.

Early reports indicated the bus passengers were all from Boston, Mass.

Exploritas, an independent company which SFCC uses in its community education program, is based in Boston, but the tourists on the bus came from many different states, including Indiana and Virginia. Bell said the day of the crash was the first day of a week-long program.

The bus had been on its way to deliver the tourists to their hotel.

“Right now we are focusing on the individuals and their families,” Bell said. “We are working closely with local authorities and Exploritas.”

Saturday, December 12, 2009

By Katherine Sayre, www.al.com

 A Mobile County jury awarded $20 million this week to the family of a woman who plaintiffs’ lawyers said died after receiving improper anesthesia care.

The jury returned the wrongful death verdict against medical group Coastal Anesthesia, Dr. Randall Boudreaux and Don Ortego, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, court records show.

Paulett Pettaway Hall, a 32-year-old wife and mother of two, died Jan. 16, 2006, after receiving anesthesia prior to exploratory surgery, according to Cunningham Bounds, the law firm that represented Hall’s estate.

Hall, who had been suffering from severe abdominal pain, breathed bile from her stomach into her lungs, the lawyers stated in a news release. She died at Springhill Medical Center.

Coastal Anesthesia, Boudreaux and Ortego denied the claims in the lawsuit, according to court records.

Defense lawyer Wesley Pipes, speaking on behalf of his clients, said, “We were disappointed in the jury’s verdict, and we’re disappointed that they did not seem to understand the evidence we tried to present.”

Pipes declined further comment.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Boudreaux and Ortego did not examine Hall’s abdomen or look at her medical records prior to the exploratory surgery, which would have identified her risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs, according to the Cunningham Bounds news release.

Posted November 13, 2009

By Jessie-Lynne Kerr, jacksonville.com

A Circuit Court jury in Flagler County Thursday returned a $5.1 million verdict in a wrongful death case stemming from a 2006 fatal collision between a fully loaded tractor-trailer and a Honda minivan.

Ingrid Falkenstein, 67, who had just retired to Palm Coast with her husband, David Falkenstein, was killed instantly in the wreck. Her husband suffered a pelvic fracture among other injuries.

Falkenstein’s attorney, Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville, presented evidence that showed trucker Christopher Angland of Palatka, driving for McMaster Sod LLC of Bunnell, ran a stop sign at Cody’s Corner. The accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. May 18 at the well-known but isolated intersection in the southwest part of the county.

The defendants argued that the county was at fault because of poor signage at the intersection and a failure to replace worn rumble strips approaching the stop sign.

But the jury placed 60 percent of the blame on the driver, 40 percent on McMaster and none on the county. Pajcic said some of his most compelling evidence was a Valentine’s card that Falkenstein gave his wife in the first year of their 33-year marriage that pledged, “Our happiness is our wealth.”

Pajcic urged the jury to place the same value on their long marriage as the couple had themselves. He argued that reckless driving by a tired trucker had robbed the couple of their golden years of retirement.

Posted on October 22, 2009

By Greg Tuttle, Billings Gazette

The family of a Billings nurse killed by a drunken teenager who was fleeing from police has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit, claiming city officers and county deputies violated their own pursuit policies.

The lawsuit also claims that after the crash that killed 27-year-old Lillian Stahl, city and county law enforcement agencies lied to the public by stating that the sheriff’s deputy leading the pursuit called off the chase several blocks before the fatal collision.

Arnie Stahl, a brother of Lillian Stahl, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Yellowstone County District Court as the personal representative of the Stahl family. The suit, filed on behalf of the family by the Billings law firm of Edwards, Frickle & Culver, seeks unspecified damages from Yellowstone County and the city of Billings.

“We recognize the Billings Police Department and Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office have a difficult job,” said Chris Edwards, a lawyer representing the Stahls. “That is precisely why they have policies and procedures in place that are designed to protect the public while they carry out that job. Unfortunately, on the day that Lilly Stahl was killed, those policies and procedures were violated numerous times, resulting in a completely preventable loss of life.”

Allegations against the law enforcement agencies in the lawsuit include: the first city officer involved in the incident was driving an unmarked police car; the chase was unwarranted because the driver was suspected of committing only misdemeanor offenses and had been partially identified; that numerous patrol cars from both agencies converged on the area and joined in the chase; and that a city officer’s written report and patrol car video “don’t match up.”

Sheriff Jay Bell and Police Chief Rich St. John declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday. Bell referred questions to Deputy County Attorney Kevin Gillen, who also declined to comment. City Administrator Tina Volek and City Attorney Brent Brooks did not return messages.

Stahl died shortly before 7 a.m. on April 18, 2008, when her car was hit broadside by a GMC Jimmy driven by 17-year-old Brian Houston. The collision happened when the Jimmy went through a stop sign on Sixth Street West and hit Stahl’s car headed east on Grand Avenue.

Stahl was on her way to work as an operating-room nurse at Billings Clinic. Houston was fleeing from city and county officers after a night of drinking. Stahl died at the scene from internal injuries. Houston and another teenager in the Jimmy survived the crash with minor injuries.

Houston was charged as an adult with negligent vehicular homicide and other felonies. He eventually pleaded guilty to the charges, and in October 2008 Judge Susan Watters sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The lawsuit filed this week alleges that the chase that ended Stahl’s life and sent Houston to prison should never have taken place. It also alleges that the two law enforcement agencies recognized the policy violations and provided a “blatantly false” account of the events to the public.

A different picture of the chase surfaced through a review of patrol car audio and video recordings and interviews and statements by the officers involved in the fatal incident, according to the lawsuit.

“Based on the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and Billings Police Department’s repeated attempts to change the facts of this horrific event, it is clear they knew the chase should have never occurred,” the lawsuit states.

The 27-page complaint details several alleged violations of both the Sheriff’s Office and Police Department policies on pursuits. The first officer to encounter Houston, and the first officer to violate department policy, was police Sgt. Mark Kirkpatrick, according to the lawsuit.

Kirkpatrick was in an unmarked patrol car when he saw what he believed to be an accident caused when an SUV hit a pickup truck or a garbage can, which then hit the pickup truck. Kirkpatrick pulled up to the scene of the accident and saw the SUV driving away down an alley. Kirkpatrick followed the SUV.

The Police Department’s policy prohibits unmarked cars from “engaging in pursuits because of the high possibility that people will flee when an unknown vehicle is chasing them,” the lawsuit states. The policy also states that an unmarked patrol car is not authorized to chase a suspect “except in extreme circumstances when there is immediate danger to life.”

Kirkpatrick also violated department policy by “failing to consider risks created by initiating a pursuit” and that a pursuit should not “needlessly endanger other persons.”

The fleeing vehicle was involved in only misdemeanor offenses, the lawsuit continues. Later, when the SUV stopped, Kirkpatrick radioed in the vehicle license number and a description of the driver, which could have been used to locate him later without a chase, according to the lawsuit.

Instead, Kirkpatrick “pursued a suspected misdemeanor traffic offender, which he had already identified, in an unmarked car, when there was no immediate danger to life,” the lawsuit states.

Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Michaelis was in the first marked patrol car to join the pursuit. He overheard Kirkpatrick’s radio reports, and joined the chase as the SUV was passing Central High on Broadwater Avenue, the lawsuit states.

As the chase evolved, officers and deputies began to “swarm” to the area, some from several miles away and traveling at high speeds through morning traffic. Pursuit policies state that only two patrol cars will be involved in a chase at any time. When the crash happened, seven city and county patrol cars had converged in the area, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit contends that after the crash, the Police Department issued a press release that “materially misrepresented the facts and circumstances leading up to the death of Lilly Stahl.” Specifically, the press release “was particularly misleading in regard to when the deputies and officers called off the chase.”

Houston was fleeing north on Sixth Street West until his SUV entered Grand Avenue and hit Stahl’s car. Michaelis said he reported to a dispatcher that he stopped the pursuit several blocks before the crash. The lawsuit contends that he told the dispatcher that he was “backing off” the pursuit at about the same time Houston’s SUV slammed into Stahl’s car.

The press release from the Police Department stated that “it became evident that the suspect was not going to stop and the deputies called off the pursuit, shut off their emergency equipment, and pulled over at Sixth and Clark.”

The lawsuit alleges the press release was “blatantly false” because the deputies and officers continued to chase Houston’s SUV into the intersection of Sixth Street West and Grand Avenue.

“As a result, they chased (the fleeing SUV) into its deadly intersect with Lilly Stahl,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also seeks unspecified damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress on Stahl’s surviving family members, who have suffered “shame, humiliation, degradation, embarrassment, anger, disappointment and worry,” the lawsuit states.

District Judge Ingrid Gustafson has been assigned to preside over the civil lawsuit.

Published October 21, 2009 by newsinferno.com

A patient who received a radiation overdose from a CT brain scan at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has filed a class action lawsuit against the hospital. The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also names GE Healthcare as a defendant.

Last week, we reported that officials at Cedars-Sinai confirmed that 206 patients mistakenly received eight times the regular dose of radiation during CT brain scans, which are used to diagnose strokes. The machine at Cedars-Sinai had been set at the higher level since February 2008,, but the mistake had not been detected for 18 months. According to the Medical Center, the overdoses were discovered in August, when a patient reported hair loss.

It is not yet known what led to the overdoses at Cedars-Sinai. They may have been the result a device malfunction, or appropriate procedures may not have been followed. In an alert posted on its Web site, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) said it was concerned that the radiation overdosing may reflect more widespread problems with CT quality assurance programs, and that the problem could go undetected and unreported, putting patients at increased risk for long-term radiation effects. The agency advised every facility performing CT imaging to review its CT protocols and be aware of the dose indices normally displayed on the control panel.

The Cedars-Sinai radiation overdose class action lawsuit includes all individuals who received a CT brain perfusion scan at Cedars Sinai Medical Center from February 2008 through August 2009. It also includes anyone who received such a scan that utilized CT image machines manufactured by GE Healthcare, Inc. and GE Healthcare Technologies at any medical facility during the two year period preceding the suit.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Trevor Rees, one of the 206 patients subjected to a radiation overdose at Cedars-Sinai. Rees received his CT scan in December 2008, and experienced hair loss in the weeks following the procedure, as well as red and flaky skin on his face and scalp. However, the lawsuit claims he only heard of the botched CT scans at Cedars-Sinai through media reports. Rees did receive a phone call from hospital officials last month, but says he was only asked if he had experienced any side effects following his scan. Rees claims he was not told the real reason for the call.

The lawsuit claims Cedars-Sinai staff and the scanner’s manufacturer, General Electric Healthcare, were negligent in performing the scans. The suit also alleges medical malpractice, product liability and breach of warranty. It seeks general and economic damages.

          We’ve all heard the horror stories.  A man goes into the hospital for amputation of his right leg.  The surgeon operates on the left leg.   The man wants to know how this could happen.  What is he going to do now?  Or, how many of us know a person who received the wrong diagnosis from their doctor and didn’t receive the proper care for their condition?  Sometimes these victims are lucky, they live.  Many times they don’t.  They leave behind grieving family members who want and deserve answers.  Medical malpractice comes in many different forms but it is always painful for its victims. 

            If you, or a family member, have been the victim of malpractice, do you know if you can make a claim?  Do you know the time limits involved?  Don’t feel bad if you don’t know.  Most people don’t and the requirements and time limits vary from state to state.  Some states even put caps on the amount you can receive if you are the victim of medical malpractice. 

            If you think that you were a victim of malpractice, check out my website at www.dreamlegalteam.com.  Feel free to fill out an online consultation form or engage in an online webchat.  You need to act now.  You need an experienced attorney to answer your questions and navigate you through this legal maze.  Again, the website is www.dreamlegalteam.com.  Don’t wait. 

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