Pennsylvania Injury Lawyer Blog

According to a report from KYW 1060 News Radio, a total of six people sustained minor injuries when a trolley collided with a passenger car in West Philadelphia. The accident occurred near South 36th Street and Market, and involved five adults and one child. The injured adults were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, while the lone child was taken to Children’s Hospital. None of the involved individuals sustained major injuries, and the cause of the crash is still being investigated.

Traffic accidents in Pennsylvania always need to be carefully examined to ensure that the negligent party deemed responsible for the accident is held accountable for his or her actions. Furthermore, it needs to be investigated as to whether or not some other entity played a contributing role in the accident as well. That is, if a faulty auto part leads to an accident, then the manufacturer of that part can be declared negligent in their ability to provide the consumer with a supposedly safe product.

Continue reading " West Philly Trolley and Car Collide Injuring Six " »

Energy conservation is becoming more and more commonplace amongst not only private citizens, but businesses and other entities who are seeking to be more eco-friendly. However, not all ideas are as effective as they are in theory when put into action. According to an ajc.com article, energy-efficient traffic lights are doing more than just cutting down on energy usage. They’re also cutting down on how safe motorists are while traversing city streets equipped with the LED-powered lights.

Reportedly, the traffic lights outfitted with the energy-efficient light bulbs are not creating enough heat during their usage, which makes traveling in freezing temperatures rather difficult. The reason for this is that frost can now easily build up over the traffic light lens, making it impossible for a motorist to be completely sure as to which traffic law must be obeyed. The issue has already led to dozens of traffic accidents, one of which included a motorist fatality. While governing authorities cite monetary savings as a significant factor in installing the efficient bulbs, opponents of the move can cite several cases where individuals were involved in car accidents as a result of the low heat-producing light bulbs that contributed towards the obstruction of a traffic signal.

Municipalities have a responsibility to provide and maintain safe road conditions for city residents and visitors alike. In the event that a governing body fails to provide such conditions, then that government entity may be held liable for damages resulting from said instance of improperly maintained conditions. Ultimately, if a city fails to provide safe conditions and does not address and correct known problems in a timely manner, then the city is exercising negligent behavior that needs to be addressed in a court of law.

Continue reading " Energy Efficient Traffic Lights Prone to Frost Buildup, Pose Danger to Motorists " »

As consumers, we assume that the products we use are safe. This is never more applicable than in our consumption of food. According to a nj.com article, a long-awaited bill proposed by the Senate to overhaul the food safety system set forth by the Food and Drug Administration has been unanimously approved. However, it still needs to go for a floor vote, which is speculated to not take place until sometime in 2010. The bill will allow the FDA to recall tainted food rather than simply make a request to the manufacturer of the food to do so, and will also require food manufacturing plants, especially high-risk facilities, to be regularly inspected.

Currently, the FDA is responsible for safeguarding nearly 80% of the food supply in the U.S. However, safeguarding against food-borne illness does not always prevent the public from falling ill due to tainted food. Currently, it is estimated that nearly 76 million Americans are affected each year by food-borne pathogens. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 5,000 people die annually due to such illness.

Continue reading " FDA Bill Seeks to Safeguard Against Food Borne Illness " »

Unilever, the maker of the popular weight loss drink Slim-Fast, has recalled 10 million cans of its canned diet drinks because they may be tainted by bacterial contamination. According to a yahoo.com report, Unilever believes that the dietary aid may be tainted by Bacillus cereus, a bacteria that can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The recall only affects ready-to-drink Slim-Fast products, and not the brand’s powdered shakes or snack bars.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became aware of the problem and notified Unilever of the possible contamination on December 2, 2009. The FDA is currently investigating the matter, paying particular attention to a production facility in Covington, Tennessee. Customers who have in their possession such canned drinks should immediately discard those drinks and may contact Unilever at 1-800-896-9479 for a full refund.

Continue reading " Slim-Fast Consumers Beware: Possible Bacillus Contamination Poses Risk " »

The H1N1 vaccine is doing more, and less, than it’s supposed to. According to reports from both ABC News and MSNBC.com, the swine flu vaccine is not always providing the necessary safeguard against the swine flu, and is even ladling some users with unwanted side effects in the form of allergic reactions.

An ABCNews.com report has revealed that a batch of the H1N1 vaccine has been recalled in Canada. Its maker, U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline, has recalled the vaccine because it has caused at least six known cases of severe allergic reaction in its users. So far, 170,000 doses of the vaccine have been recalled in Canada. Although reports claim that this side effect is limited to the vaccine distributed in Canada, it has yet to be seen whether or not other users in different locations are also affected by this defect. A total of 7.5 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed in Canada thus far.

MSNBC.com reports a completely different issue, this time one that has affected children. According to the article, over 800,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been recalled by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine’s division of France-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis Group. It has been determined that these particular doses of the vaccine are ineffective in preventing the onset of swine flu, thus putting children inoculated with the vaccine at risk of contracting the illness. The doses in question have minimal to no potency, and were distributed amongst children.

Continue reading " H1N1 Vaccine Recall Reveals Vaccine Doesn't Always Deliver as Promised " »

A recent article from gazette.net reported that a Giant Food Store was evacuated after multiple customers and employees (approximately 14 all together) complained about feeling sick and having trouble breathing after smelling gas within the building. Six of the sick individuals, two Giant customers and four employees, were taken to local hospitals in Maryland for evaluation. According to the article, no gas leak was discovered on the premises and officials are still not sure what made the individuals sick.

After evacuating the building shortly after the several reports of people feeling ill, a hazardous materials team responded and investigated the possibility of a gas or Freon leak. However, these possibilities were cancelled out, with no other explanation discovered or provided. As a safety precaution for people within close distance to the area in question, police temporarily closed off certain access points to the shopping center where the Giant Food Store is located. Many other surrounding businesses were also evacuated and others were left to make their own determinations whether or not to evacuate.

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The Food and Drug Administration has declared its plans to begin a study of the negative side effects following Lasik eye surgery, which include dry eyes, blurred/double vision, and halos around objects at night. According to a recent report, the FDA will coordinate with the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute to establish the percentage of patients who have been negatively affected by the eye-correcting procedure.

Although it is encouraging that such action is finally being initiated, a clinical trial tracking of patients who undergo the surgery will not conclude until 2012. To start things off, an online questionnaire will help patients gauge their quality of life after Lasik surgery. The head of the FDA’s medical device division stated, “This study will enhance our understanding of the risks of Lasik and could lead to a reduction in patients who experience adverse effects.”

Considering that approximately 6 million Americans have had Lasik surgery, an extremely sensitive procedure that everlastingly reshapes the cornea (a clear layer covering the eye), it is of the utmost importance that the FDA administers this study. Although 95% of Lasik patients are apparently satisfied with the results of their surgery, last summer the FDA received 140 reports of Lasik-related problems of eye damage between 1998 and 2006.

Continue reading " FDA Initiates Study of Lasik Eye Surgery's Negative Effects " »

A recent latimes.com article has left patients and citizens throughout the United States horrified and concerned about the quality of care provided during CT scans and other hospital services. According to the report, over 200 brain scans for potential stroke patients on a CT scan machine at Cedars-Sinai in California were conducted at eight times the normal level of radiation. Apparently many cases of radiation overdoses at the Los Angeles based medical center have been connected to a mistake the hospital made when resetting a CT scanner to accommodate new protocol for a specific kind of scan used to identify and diagnose strokes.

What is even more shocking is that this serious hospital error went unnoticed for 18 months. The problem was brought to the attention of the hospital in August 2009 when a stroke patient told the hospital that he had begun to lose his hair after a CT stroke scan. A hospital spokesman told reports that the CT machine was used for other kinds of scans, but that the re-set error only affected the potential stroke patients. However, each patient who received the CT brain perfusion scan procedure for stroke diagnosis was exposed to the radiation overdose. The hospital has found and gotten in touch with 206 patients who were subjected to the overdoses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. After doing so, the hospital discovered that approximately forty-percent of the patients had endured sporadic hair loss and many of the individuals also showed signs of reddening of the skin.

Continue reading " Radiation Overdoses Linked to Hospital's Mistake " »

A recent article from thepittsburghchannel.com reported that a fatal head-on auto collision between a passenger car and a UPS truck in Pennsylvania took the life of the passenger car driver. The UPS truck driver’s condition was not provided but the article stated that he was taken to a local hospital. According to police, the car swerved out of control after skidding on some oil that was on the road. Although the article does not mention at what speeds the vehicles collided, considered the catastrophic consequences of the head-on crash, it is fair to say that speed may have been a factor.

When auto accidents are caused by foreign substances on the road, such as excessive oil, or by poor road conditions, these factors are unfortunately enough to cause vehicles to lose control, taking an automobile in unexpected directions and resulting in a collision with other vehicles. Head-on collisions in Pennsylvania are some of the most serious auto accidents to take place due to the vulnerability of drivers and front-seat passengers, especially for individuals in small passenger cars who are involved in accidents with larger vehicles like delivery trucks and SUVs.

Continue reading " Robinson Township Auto Collision Kills 1 " »