Mountain Home Personal Injury Lawyer - All Topics

Toyota Sudden Acceleration Danger

Frank Bailey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:30:53 GMT

Sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles presents a present danger to the American public. In a recent series of sudden acceleration cases it has become apparent that floor mats have caused a number of unintended accelerations accidents.

Toyota has recalled the floor mats. In announcing the recall Toyota stated, “Recent events have prompted Toyota to take a closer look at the potential for an accelerator pedal to get stuck in the full open position…A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death.”

But, there may be an even more insidious danger…the electronic throttle control in the Camry, Camry Solara, Lexus ES 300 and ES 330s, Sienna, Tacoma and RAV4 vehicles beginning in the 2002 model year. When Toyota installed a new electronic throttle control for these vehicles, the number of unintended accelerations reported has increased.

NHTSA has received over 100 reports of incidents where the accelerator in Toyota vehicles has become stuck.

If you have one of these vehicles, it is critical you observe the recall of the floor mats. If you experience a sudden unintended acceleration, what can you do to avoid a crash? I welcome input from those of you who know more about what to do than I do. It seems to me that fast clear thinking without panic while applying the foot brakes, taking the vehicle out of drive and putting it into neutral, and finally turning off the ignition might prevent injury or death in these types of cases…

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Swine Flu Shots...Are The Shots Dangerous?

Frank Bailey — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:25:41 GMT

Rush Limbaugh says he is not taking a swine flu shot. He is a smart man. In today’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette Mike Masterson wrote an excellent article about the dangers of the shot. Should we trust our government about this? I’m not sure…

Apparently there are concerns about the mercury, aluminum and squalene contained in the shots. Are these compatible with good health? We should ask, who is making money from the shots? Are they willing to put our health at risk?

As Mr. Masterson writes, “[I]t’s hard to know what is best for us and ours. Do we risk a three day bout in bed with influenza or take this vaccine that may or may not have dire health implications now or in the future?”

If our government is willing to put caps on damages for medical malpractice to appease the insurance industry, and grant immunity to corporations if the swine flu shots cause injury, why should we trust our government about the safety of this vaccine?

I urge everyone to research this issue and not just follow the herd.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

The Negligent Doctor Protection Act

Frank Bailey — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:57:11 GMT

New efforts by the insurance industry to transfer the cost of caring for catastrophically injured Americans to taxpayers have surfaced. If the insurance industry is successful in its efforts to limit jury verdicts, it will no longer have to worry about insuring negligent doctors. Why? Because the taxpayers will pick up the tab for the doctor’s negligence. How will this work? Suppose a child suffers a brain injury due to the negligence of a physician. Who is going to pay for the cost of caring for that child for life with caps on damages…the taxpayers. Why? Because with a cap on the amount of money that child can receive for the human damages, there will not be enough money to provide for the care and assistance that child will need over a lifetime…The cap will only hurt catastrophically injured children and adults, but it will be devastating for them. I always though America took care of its sick and injured, but the insurance industry is trying to change that so it can make even higher profits…

Let’s look at what the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. A cap on pain and suffering damages would result in $4.1 billion a year saved out of a $2.5 trillion a year expenditure. I may be wrong in my division, but I believe that is less than one tenth of one percent savings. Is that worth transferring the care of the sick and injured away from the wrongdoer to the taxpayers. I think not.

We have to put a stop to this charade before someone in our community or family is caught up in the greed of the insurance industry. Contact your Senators and Congressmen and tell them to vote no to caps on jury verdicts.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Never Events

Frank Bailey — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:39:50 GMT

Did you know that Medicare and Medicaid are no longer reimbursing for “never events” that happen in hospitals?

What are never events?

1. Vascular catheter-associated bloodstream infections
2. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
3. Mediastintis after coronary artery bypass surgery
4. Surgical site infections after bariatric surgery
5. Surgical site infections following spine, neck, shoulder, or elbow surgery
6. Deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism following hip or knee replacement
7. Foreign body retained after surgery
8. Air embolism
9. Blood incompatibility
10. Stage III and IV pressure ulcers
11. Manifestations of poor glycemic control

What does this mean to a consumer of medical services? We at the Bailey and Oliver law firm are watching this as it develops.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Medical Malpractice and Caps

Frank Bailey — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:48:48 GMT

Caps on malpractice verdicts hurt a few severely injured people. Example: A twenty five year old patient loses her good leg because the surgeon amputates the wrong leg first and then has to amputate the correct leg. Is $250,000 sufficient to compensate that person for losing both legs for the rest of her life? Would you accept that amount? I think not. Juries should not be deprived of their ability to look at the case and judge reasonable compensation for the harms caused by the negligent physician without arbitrary caps on damages.

For most cases, caps will not apply, as the damages do not reach the cap. Only those cases of severely injured patients will be affected. Why punish a few in the name of tort reform?

If President Obama really wants to reform medical care in our country, the bill should not include caps on the money to compensate for the harm done to severely injured patients.

We all need to contact our representatives and say, "NO CAPS."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Medication Errors

Frank Bailey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:37:56 GMT

Medication errors injure over a million patients a year. Medication errors are by far the most common medical error. A report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, found than in any given week, 80% of U.S. adults take at least one medication. Almost one third take at least five different medications. The committee found at least one medication error per day occurred with each hospital patient.

The committee also found at least 25% of medication related injuries are preventable. The cost of these errors occurring in hospitals alone is estimated to amount to $3.5 billion a year. This does not take into account the human loss of life or the pain associated with these errors.

If President Obama wants to overhaul the medical system, he should start with preventing medication errors, in hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

5 Killed in Tragic Crash Near Jonesboro

Ryan Scott — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:18:46 GMT

Just outside the small town of Bay, Arkansas a bus carrying 10 developmentally disabled people collided with a PT cruiser that was traveling the wrong way. The crash occurred on Highway 63, just south of Jonesboro, Arkansas on Wednesday. Five people, including the driver of the PT cruiser were killed.

According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the bus was owned and operated by a non-profit day center in Truman, Arkansas that serves disabled adults in Northeast Arkansas. Many responders, including the Craighead County Sheriff and Coroner, described the wreck to reporters as the worst they had ever seen.

Apparently, the PT cruiser was traveling south in the northbound lane at a high rate of speed when it collided with the bus. When it was struck, the bus flipped over and landed on an incline on the north side of Highway 63.

Two passengers in the nonprofit's bus, owned by the nonprofit organization Focus, Inc., died at the scene, along with the bus driver. Two passengers were flown by medical helicopter to Memphis; one passenger died during the flight.

Focus, Inc. has been in business since 1979 and helps those who suffer from developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and autism. According the organization's director, the passengers had just finished a class that teaches skills such as housekeeping, cleaning, and balancing a checkbook, and were going home.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ryan Scott

Swine Flu...Is It Worth $1.5 Billion Dollars?

Frank Bailey — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:59:25 GMT

Last night President Obama went out of his way to change the name of this virus to the more scientific H1N1 and pledged $1.5 billion dollars to fight a possible pandemic.

I am thinking, how about $1.5 billion dollars dedicated to the prevention of hospital acquired infections, especially MRSA, a known killer that takes over 18,000 American lives a year. And that is according to the latest figures from the CDC. This MRSA bacteria infects an estimated 94,000 patients according to 2005 figures from the CDC, and what are we doing about it?

Where are our priorities? We spend $300,000 for a photo op of Air Force One over the Statute of Liberty, $1.5 billion to fight Swine Flu, but how much to wipe out MRSA, a terrible tragic killer that has been proved over and over again???

I think it is time we all contact our representatives and demand laws to force hospitals to clean up their act and implement the 2003 SHEA Guidelines for Preventing Nosocomial Transmission of MRSA.

Please comment with updated evidence based information and ideas to stop MRSA infections.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Swine Flu and MRSA ST398

Frank Bailey — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:57:59 GMT

What if the reason young people are dying in Mexico and not in the US is because in Mexico it is Swine flu plus a bacteria known as MRSA ST398—piggy MRSA?

Tara C. Smith, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, deputy director of the University of Iowa Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, founder of Iowa Citizens for Science, and posts regularly to her science blog, “Aetiology”

Dr. Smith’s pilot study, published January 23, 2009, found MRSA ST398 in 49% of the swine tested and 45% of the swine workers tested. Although the sample was small, other studies have found similar or higher amounts in the Netherlands and Canada. These results show that colonization of swine by MRSA was very common in one of two swine production systems in the Midwestern U.S. Dr. Smith concluded that MRSA strain ST398 could become an important reservoir for this bacterium.

Although the research is ongoing, we don’t know at this point if the swine in Mexico were also contaminated with MRSA ST398.

I think this is a possible hypothesis: Swine flu virus enters the lungs and allows MRSA ST398 to multiply and give off toxins resulting in death. This is not a case of one, but two microbes working together to cause death in the Mexican workers.

I invite your evidence based comments on my hypothesis.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Are MRSA and VRE More Serious Threats Than Swine Flu

Frank Bailey — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:11:22 GMT

Michael Bennett, a frequent contributor to my blogs submitted written testimony to the Maryland State Legislature Senate Finance Committee in 2008 supporting Senate Bill 102. In his testimony, Mr. Bennett cited a 2007 study published by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) that found over a million patients are infected with MRSA every year. A shocking 86% of these infections occurred in healthcare facilities. The mortality rate connected with these infections neared 10%. Simple math tells us that is 100,000 deaths a year from MRSA vs. 140 deaths from Swine Flu.

Another study in 2007 by theResources for the Future, cited by Mr. Bennett showed a two fold increase in MRSA infections of the 5-year period 1999-204.

Also in 2007 the CDC published a study in JAMA which showed that deaths from invasive MRSA sterile site infections alone now surpass deaths from AIDS.

According to Mr. Bennett, “Healthcare leadership has known for decades that isolating the entire reservoir of spread of these pathogens (MRSA and VRE) is an essential component of infection control, yet many healthcare leaders have chosen not to recommend such an approach.” I can't help but wonder why. Aren't we supposed to get better in hospitals...

Here in Arkansas we have a watered down bill (Acts 2007, No.845 codified as 20-9-1203) for reporting infections that is supposed to come into effect this year. Will it help stop the death and suffering…probably not. What we need is public outcry to implement the SHEA 2003 Guidelines in all our health care facilities. Ask your hospital if it follows the SHEA 2003 Guidelines.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey