Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Recent Push in Florida to Raise Age for Watercraft Use - Friday, July 20, 2007

As summer's heat is squarely upon us, more and more families head to our nation's lakes, rivers, and oceans to enjoy boating, jet skiing, and other water sports. What many people don't realize is that there are children operating many of those watercraft with very little operating experience and training.

In Florida, one of the nation's most popular places for watercraft and water sports, children 14 and older can legally operate a personal watercraft and ride through the water at speeds greater than 60 mph.

In March 2007, 14-year-old high school freshman Tyler Goldberg slammed the Sea-Doo he was driving into a dock, suffered massive chest, neck and head injuries, and died two weeks later. Tyler's mother, Lee Nossen, is now pushing Florida lawmakers to raise the minimum watercraft operating age to 16; Mrs. Nossen's efforts are supported by national boating groups and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Soon after Tyler's funeral, Nossen, along with several local prominent attorneys and doctors, formed the Tyler Scott Goldberg Foundation, which is lobbying to raise the minimum age to 16. The Foundation also wants anyone under 21 to be required to take a training class on personal watercraft use.

Trucker Dies After Lumber Falls From Forklift -

The survivors of a truck driver, Michael Ryckman, who died after he was crushed by a load of plywood at a Connecticut pier in 2003, have received a $1.35 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit. The tragedy occurred when Ryckman was picking up a load of plywood for a Washington state trucking company in January 2003. He was to retrieve the load at Logistec's New London, CT facility and deliver it to New Jersey.

The internal scale on Ryckman's truck indicated the load exceeded the maximum allowable weight by 7,500 pounds. Logistec management disputed the weight but had no scale of their own to weigh the load. Ryckman then drove to a moving company in Waterford that certified that the weight was 7,500 over the allowed weight. Ryckman then drove his truck back to Logistec and told them to unload the extra weight.

Ryckman family attorney, Robert Reardon, Jr., said that it was 4:00 on a Friday and everyone at Logistec's was anxious to finish their day, so an employee grabbed the nearest forklift, which was much too small for the job, and it caused the accident.

Logistec employee Scott Barlow, ordered to remove some of the plywood bundles, lifted two of the bundles with the small forklift and began to back away from the truck. He attempted to lower the two bundles, and the rear of the forklift lifted off the ground, causing the plywood to slide forward. When the rear of the forklift slammed back down, the bundles fell off the forklift's prongs into Ryckman. Ryckman was alive at the scene but later died at a hospital from cardiac pulmonary arrest and blunt trauma to the chest and abdomen.

High Schools Paying More Attention to Sports-Related Concussions - Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Head injuries such as concussions are very common in high school sports, especially contact sports like football. Players often do not display typical symptoms of a brain injury in the days immediately following the injury, but now there is technology available that allows a closer look at brain function following a traumatic injury.

In Colorado, high school officials are not in agreement about how best to treat brain injuries among young athletes, prompting debate in a state that has seen three high school student-athletes die from on-the-field brain-related trauma in 16 years. Experts estimate that between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur each year in the United States.

However, there may be a solution in the midst. A computerized test, called ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), was developed in 1998 by University of Pittsburgh doctors to assist trainers and physicians in determining when athletes suffering from brain injuries can safely return to play. The program is a 20- to 25-minute computer test that measures a variety of brain functions, including memorization.

Already a majority of NFL teams use ImPACT, as do several teams in the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. At this time, more than 40 Colorado public schools use the computerized program for brain testing.

Bikers Upset with Increase in Registration Fee - Tuesday, July 17, 2007

In Indiana, some motorcycle owners are angry they have been singled out to pay an extra $10 registration fee to help fund new efforts to research spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. This fee is estimated to generate approximately $1.6 million annually for the research efforts, but many motorcyclists are not happy.

Jay Jackson, executive director of ABATE of Indiana, a group that advocates motorcycling safety, says motorcyclists have nothing against medical research but don't want to be the ones solely responsible for funding it. He said if it were a fair tax assessed to everyone, then there'd be no problem.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a motorcyclist himself, is against the fee and says it was "slipped" into the budget in the late stages of the budgetary process. The fee and the fund had been in the budget in the early stages but had both been removed. Daniels asserts the fee was put back in during the last days of the budgetary approval process. Daniels states that he and other cyclists are not against spinal cord research but contends motorcycle accidents cause less than 1 percent of spinal cord injuries. Daniels stated, "It seems a little unfair to hit that particular segment of society to pay for that particular purpose."

Accutane-related IBD Victim Awarded Over $2.6 Million - Monday, July 16, 2007

A New Jersey jury has awarded over $2.6 million to a man who claimed the acne drug Accutane, manufactured by Hoffman-LaRoche, caused his inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The man's lawsuit claimed that Hoffman-LaRoche failed to warn consumers of the serious side effects that caused him to require multiple surgeries including the removal of his colon. Accutane (generic Isotretinoin), is a powerful medication used to treat a very severe form of acne called resistant nodular cystic acne. This type of acne does not respond to other treatments such as topical applications and antibiotics.

Accutane users have been known to develop many serious side effects including but not limited to:

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Stroke
Depression
Aggression
Pancreatitis
Hepatitis
Hearing impairment
Birth defects (if mothers took the drug while pregnant)

IBD, the most frequently reported of Accutane's side effects, refers to chronic diseases that cause inflammation in the form of painful swelling and diarrhea. Other common symptoms of IBD are abdominal cramps, blocked bowels, bloody stool, fever, dehydration, and extreme weight loss. IBD is also considered to be a major risk factor for developing colorectal cancer. Once you have IBD, symptoms can flare up without warning leaving sufferers constantly worried about when the next episode of pain and diarrhea will strike.

Accutane, which went on the market in 1982, has been prescribed to over 13 million people worldwide for the treatment of acne. Accutane has been a controversial drug for years not only due to the risk of IBD involved with taking the drug but because depression and suicide have also been attributed to the powerful drug. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned physicians prescribing the drug to be aware of any signs of depression in their patients, but Hoffman-LaRoche did not warn consumers or healthcare professionals of the potential serious adverse effects associated with the drug until after the FDA made its announcement.

The potential devastating side effects of Accutane became widely known when the son of a prominent United States Congressman committed suicide at the age of seventeen in May 2000. Representative Bart Stupak has attributed his son's suicide Accutane. The boy was a star football player, very popular in school, and shot himself in the head after a prom-night party.

After Stupak's suicide, newspapers and other media quickly spread the word about the possible deadly effects of Accutane. The revelation of these side effects spawned a large number of lawsuits, and there were wrongful death lawsuits filed by the loved ones of people who suffered Accutane-related deaths. Hoffman-LaRoche was accused of touting Accutane as a miracle pill and failing to mention the possible deadly adverse effects of the drug. The drug manufacturer was accused of continuing to make and distribute the drug knowing full well the dangerous and possibly deadly effects associated with it.

If you or a loved one has taken Accutane and suffered any of the dangerous side effects attributed to the drug such as IBD, depression, or suicidal behavior, we urge you to contact an experienced Accutane lawyer in your area today to find out if you may be entitled to monetary compensation.

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