Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Traveling carnival rides are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commision ("CPSC"), but this federal agency has not required safety improvements from any ride manufacturers during the last eight years. The agency, which is responsible for overseeing the safety of 15,000 products in addition to the safety of amusement rides, has no employees devoted to ride safety. Frequently, CPSC employees don't even arrive at a carnival where an injury has occurred until after the ride has been taken apart, making the task of determining what went wrong with the ride virtually impossible.

While the regulation of traveling carnival rides is poorly enforced and often subject to voluntary standards set by the amusement industry, fixed theme parks are worse off because they are not subject to any regulations at a national level. Rather, all laws regarding theme park safety are governed by the state in which the park is located.

To understand the dangers caused by this lack of regulation, one can look to the popular ride known as "The Sizzler." In the last decade, there have been at least 5 deaths from the Sizzler and dozens of injuries. In July, 2007, a 6 year old boy was thrown from a Sizzler in Kentucky and hit in the head by the moving equipment of the ride. This prompted the manufacturer of the ride to recommend to operators that seat belts be added, but because this was not a requirement, it is unknown haw many rides of the approximately 200 Sizzlers in use in the U.S. actually have seatbelts (which are now common on grocery carts throughout the country). The July incident was not the first incident of a child being thrown from the ride. In 2005, a 9 year old girl died in Texas after she slipped under the lap bar and was thrown to the machine's platform, where her head was crushed by a metal arm. The similarities between these 2 accidents and many others led a group of state ride inspection chiefs from approximately 25 states to call for the Sizzler manufacturer to take action to reduce "an unacceptable level of ejection risk," but the only action was the recommendation that operators voluntarily install seatbelts.

Deaths and injuries are, unfortuantely, not limited to traveling carnival rides. In 2007, 2 deaths resulted from 4 years drowning in wave pools at theme parks and one 13 year old girl had both feet severed from her legs when a cable broke on a Tower of Power ride at a Kentucky theme park. Although any product can be dangerous when it is defectively manufactured, maintained or used, thrill rides present a greater risk than most products because they often move at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Parents and riders should take caution and follow all rider guidelines on height, weight and security measures, but if an injury should occur, take steps to protect your legal rights. For instance, someone at the scene should immediately take photographs of the ride and the position of the rider before he or she is removed from the machine (so long as doing so will not delay treatment to the victim or interfere with medical providers and emergency personnel). Also, it is wise to request that the ride not be taken apart before officials can arrive to inspect it.

Posted by Leon Aussprung | Permalink | Email This Post

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A 51 year old construction worker using a Stanley Works nail gun, which was sold to him by Home Depot, suffered seizures and paralysis after a nail from the gun ended up embedded in his brain. The manufacturer said that the nail gun, known as a Model N79 or "contact trip gun," met industry standards and is very popular with customers. The jury found the man 55% responsible for his injury because he had been using the gun to put nails into metal, rather than wood as was intended, but held the manufacturer 45% responsible for his injuries. The accident occurred when the a 3" nail the gun fired bounced back at the man and entered his brain after going through his cheek. The jury ordered the manufacturer, Stanley Works, to pay $3.4 million to the man in damages to compensate for their responsibility in causing the injury.

Testimony showed that the man, who was married and the father of four, had worked for 20 years as a construction worker before his injury. At the time of the accident, he was working in a church and was standing 25 feet in the air on a lift putting nails into metal. He had 6 hours of surgery after the accident, but was still paralyzed on his left side and would never be able to work or drive a car again. The jury considered the case for 8 hours before reaching its verdict.

Evidence at trial showed that 129 injuries had been reported from the use of the gun since the 1970's and that 26 of these resulted in brain injuries. According to the man's attorneys, newer models of the gun are safer.

Posted by Leon Aussprung | Permalink | Email This Post

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A July 2006 verdict awarding the parents of a one-year who allegedly died from liver failure caused by an overdose of Infant Tylenol was upheld by a Philadelphia appeals Court this month. At trial, the parents alleged that their son died after an overdose of acetaminophen resulted in liver failure. The parents argued that the warnings on the medicine were defective in not stating that liver damage or death could result from the medicine. In response, the manufacturer had argued that the child's death was not due to an overdose of the medicine; that the parents had not followed the instructions and warnings on the medicine; and that if the child did suffer from an overdose of acetaminophen, it was because the parents combined the Infant Tylenol with other cold medicines that contianed acetaminophen. In upholding the verdict, the appeal's judge held that the manufacturer's appeal of 29 different legal rulings was excessive and not consistent with a litigant's obligation to act in good faith and fair dealing with the court.

The verdict and unsuccessful appeal in the Philadephia case may be a sign of things to come as more of these cases are filed around the Nation, not only against the manufacturers, but also against the drug stores that sell the medicines. In mid-November, a Chicago mother filed suit against the manufacturer of Tylenol and also Walgreens, alleging that the death of her 4 month-old son was caused by the combination of Infant Tylenol Cold Decongestant Plus Cough and Walgreen's Pediatric Drops-Cough Plus Cold. She argues that the defendants should have known the dangers of the key ingredient of the drugs and warned purchasers of the dangers. In response to allegations that she misused the medications, the mother asserts that she gave her son the two medications back-to-back and in the indicated doses over the course of 4 days and denied that she gave the child both drugs at the same time. An autopsy showed that the infant died of an overdose of dextromethorphan, which built up in his body over the 4 days of use. The mother argues that the defendants were aware of the dangers of dextromethorphan for years, but had not warned purchasers prior to the October, 2007 FDA hearings that resulted in manufacturers removing the products from stores.

Claims against pharmaceutical companies (drug manufacturers) are becoming more common. Also in the news recently, drug manufacturuer Merck has agreed to settle over 30,000 claims concerning the durg Vioxx for $4.85 billion. There have been similar claims concerning many other types and brands of defective medications. If you believe that you have been seriously injured as a result of a defective drug, you should immediately consult with a skilled trial lawyer concerning your rights.

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A $7 safety device on a truck's dump-bed kit made by Heil Co. would have prevented a man's death, but the company didn't include it on the product and failed to warn of the dangers of the product despite the fact that the safety device had been in use on similar products for 60 years. These facts led a jury to conclude that the widow of an Ohio man killed by the product should receive $6 Million. The accident occurred when the man accidentally hit a control valve on the outside of his 1978 Ford truck, causing the dump-bed to silently lower and trap him against the frame of the truck within 4 seconds.

Heil Company alleged that the dead man was at fault for the accident because he failed to brace the bed while performing maintenance on the truck. After the jury verdict was received, Heil Co. appealed the case arguing that the evidence in the case didn't support the verdict. The appeals court rejected the appeal and upheld the verdict, in part because the company waived many of the objections raised in the appeal by not making them at trial.

This case is consistent with many cases involving defective products in that too often a very cheap addition to the product would have prevented serious injury and even death. Moreover, it is frequently learned during the litigation that companies were aware of the risks, but failed to pass that knowledge on to consumers so that they could protect themselves. While time-consuming and expensive, product liability lawsuits can prevent future injuries and deaths.

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Medtronic, the nation's largest electronic heart device maker, has agreed to pay $75 million in settlement of 2,000 claims that it hid defects in its defibrillators. A defibrillator is a medical device that is surgically implanted in the chest and, after sensing an abnormal heart rhythm, will send an electrical jolt to correct the abnormal heart beats, which can be life threatening. Defects in the medical device, including battery defects and other glitches, cause the defibrillator to fail and can result in death. There remains time for potential claimants to recover under this settlement and if you have an implanted defibrillatror you should immediately contact an attorney to protect your rights.

Approximately one million Americans have heart conditions that place them at risk for fatal heart rhythms and sudden death. Several studies have concluded that using an implantable defibrillator can reduce the chance of sudden death by around 7%. Medtronic has already recalled around 87,000 defibrilators and surgery was done to replace approximately 19,000 more. There are claims that Medtronic attempted to hide the defects in its product, which it became aware of as early as September 2003. Another company, Guidant, has also recalled over 100,000 defibrillators and documents indicate that Guidant also knew of the problems in 2002. Guidant previously settled its claims for $195 million.

If you know someone who died while they had a implantable defibrillator in place, it is critical that you immediely contact an attorney because your time to file a lawsuit is very limited. Additionally, if you currently have an implanted Medtronic defibrillator, you should contact an attorney to learn if you are eligible to participate in this recent settlement.

Posted by Leon Aussprung | Permalink | Email This Post

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A defective Sesame Beginnings Travel Play Yard caused the death of a 10 month old boy, leading manufacturer Kolcraft Enterprises, Inc. to recall more than 400,000 playpens (often called a "pack and play" by modern parents). Each year, dangerous products cause injury and death to hundreds of thousands of Americans. For instance, in 2005, toys alone caused injury to more than 200,000 children and led to the death of 20 children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a government agency that monitors dangerous products and recalls products when necessary. Unfortunately, by the time the Commission is aware of the dangerousness of a product and issues a recall, the product has already caused injury or death to one or more people.

For instance, the Kolcraft playpens were recalled after a 10 month old baby died from being strangled by a strap that hangs from a changing table that fits on top of the play yard. In this instance, the recall applies not only to the Sesame Beginnings model in which the baby died, but to 12 other playpen models sold in the United States between January 2001 and September, 2007 at a cost of $50 - $130. One of the recalled models, the Contours 3-in-1 Play Yard, poses a risk of suffocation in that a raised rocking cradel in the device can trap a baby if the cradle rolls over.

About 2500 products are recalled each year. If you want to receive warnings about products and recall notices, you can subscribe to receive emails from the Commission when a recall is placed on a product. In my opinion, one of the best features of the subscription service is that you can specify what types of product recalls you want to be notified about. I, for instance, only receive recalls that involve infant and children's products, but there are about a half-dozen categories from which you can choose.

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