Miami Injury Lawyer Blawg

According to a study published Monday in the pediatrics journal, 502,000 children and teens visited emergency departments for concussions between 2001 and 2005. Roughly half of those visits were for concussions related to sports and other recreational activities. This figure represents a greater than 100% increase for the 5 year period leading up to 2005.

In light of the fact that Children, like athletes in general are bigger, stronger, and faster than a decade ago and the increased awareness placed on concussions, this figure is not that surprising.

What is surprising is that much of the increase came from from middle-schoolers and even elementary school students who have flocked to play on elite travel teams and in competitive youth leagues across the country. The study found that 40% of the sports-related pediatric concussion patients seen in ERs were between the ages of 8 and 13. All this while participation in organized sports was declining.

So why are concussions soaring? The American Academy of Pediatrics updated "clinical report" underscores growing evidence that younger children's brains are not only more susceptible to injury, but those injuries may take longer to heal and can be more damaging than concussions in adolescents or adults.

A 2007 estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested children and adults sustain as many as 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions a year in the United States. But "data are significantly lacking about concussions in grade-school and middle-school athletes, which highlights the need for more research," wrote Drs. Mark E. Halstead and Kevin E. Walter on behalf of the academy's Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness.

Giza said Pediatrics' review of clinical findings on concussions will help forge consensus among coaches, parents and physicians about what to do when a child is dazed after a rough tackle or knocks heads hard with a teammate in a lunge for the ball.

"There's sort of an old-school notion that a kid gets his or her bell rung and toughs it out and keeps participating and bounces back," Giza said. But with evidence piling up that concussions are especially dangerous for younger kids, coaches should take "a more conservative approach," he said.

The Rhode Island researchers added that parents, coaches and physicians need better guidelines for recognizing brain trauma in younger kids, determining when and how long to sideline them and finding ways to protect them from long-term harm.

In May 2009, the state of Washington was the first to pass legislation requiring that any student-athlete suspected of having a concussion be removed from the game and not return to play until cleared by a licensed medical professional. Several states, including California, have since adopted similar laws.

Continue reading "Concussions In Child Athletes Are Soaring" »

A Brawl involving Juveniles outside of the AMC 24 Theaters in the Aventura Mall resulted in a evacuation of the Mall, 16 arrests, and the early closure of the theater and nearby restaurants.

The fighting began outside the movie theater and then spread inside before continuing to the parking lot near the Cheesecake Factory and an area outside of Bloomingdale's.

Several police and mall security officers were struck by suspects who were resisting arrest, and a few officers reported minor injuries, according to Aventura Police spokesperson Chris Goranitis.

Aventura police evacuated the area outside the theater shortly after they arrived at 10:09 p.m. Police directed the crowd outside the theater to exit the building, but initially did not let anyone leave the area by the parking lot outside the mall. Niouseline St. Jean, 17, of Miami, was part of the crowd that was kept outside the mall for about forty-five minutes.

"All these middle and high school kids were fighting," she wrote from her cell phone. "Everything is on lockdown."

Aventura police received assistance from several departments, including those from North Miami Beach, Golden Beach, Sunny Isles Beach and Miami-Dade County.

Goranitis said that the police have had problems with crowds at the AMC 24 Theaters in the past, but nothing on this scale.

Continue reading "Negligent Security At Aventura Mall Results In Brawl" »

A Wisconsin amusement park employee was arrested and charged with first degree reckless injury in the case of the Parkland girl injured after a 100 foot fall at the park.

12-year-old Teagan Marti was on vacation with her family when she went on the free-fall tower ride called Terminal Velocity. The Suspended Catch Air Devices, commonly referred to as SCAD towers, lift riders to the top, then a ride operator unhooks the rider's harness for a 10-story, back-first, free fall. The rider lands in a net suspended 40 feet above the ground that, from there, is slowly lowered to the ground so that the rider simply walks off the net. However, In this case, Marti was wounded because the ride operator failed to confirm that safety nets on the free-fall tower ride were ready to catch her after the 10-story fall.

The incident left Marti comatose for four days. Marti, who is set to enter the sixth grade at Westglades Middle School in Parkland, is being treated at The American Family Children's Hospital at the University of Wisconsin, where she was in critical condition Wednesday.

Continue reading "Ride Operator Arrested In Case of Parkland Girl Injured in Fall From Amusement Park Ride " »

Another day another cyclist is hit in Miami.

This accident occurred Thursday August 12, 2010 around 7pm at the entrance to the Key when a woman in her 40s was struck from behind by a white F-150 XL driven by Jose Ravelo, president of A-1 Landscaping Service.

The injured cyclist was hurt in the lower back and was unable to get off the ground after the accident. She was taken to hospital and her condition is not known.

"To tell the truth I really didn't see her," said Ravelo, explaining he was leaving the key and was driving on the right hand lane. "I guess it must have been my fault, but it was one of those things. I just can't explain. I don't know what happened."
Ravelo's front right headlight was broken with pieces lying in the roadside. Ravelo pointed out that the white bike lane marking at the scene of the accident are virtually non-existent making the right of way unclear.

Continue reading "Cyclist Hit on Key Biscayne" »

A man working on the Palmetto expressway was struck by a pickup truck at 8:15 A.M. on August 11, 2010.

The man, who was a subcontractor for the Florida Department of Transportation, was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries.

Continue reading "Miami Gardens Accident Injures Man Cleaning Road" »

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010, aimed at strengthening safety and reporting standards, was signed by President Obama last week.

The new law requires the cruise industry to install video surveillance systems in common areas, as well as door viewers and security latches on cabin doors.

Each ship must carry equipment and materials to perform sexual assault medical exams and to collect forensic evidence. Ships also need to have drugs to prevent sexually transmitted diseases after an assault.

Another provision requires cruise ships to log and report all deaths, missing persons, alleged crimes and complaints involving some thefts, sexual attacks and assaults involving U.S. citizens.

Those records will be available to the FBI and the Coast Guard electronically and to all law enforcement officers upon request. The Department of Homeland Security will make cruise line crime statistics available to the public.

Crimes in the United States are generally investigated without regard to the citizenship of the victim or suspect. At sea, citizenship is a factor that can lead to confusion and dropped investigations. To that end, a 17-year-old Canadian boy said a fellow passenger on the Caribbean Princess grabbed the boy's crotch in an elevator. The day before, the same man touched himself inappropriately in front of the teenager at the spa, the incident report said.

The ship sailed from Port Everglades, and the case was referred to the FBI by the Broward County Sheriff's Office and Princess Cruises. The FBI said the incident did not rise to the level of federal prosecution.

Nothing further was done to investigate the accused man, a Mexican citizen living in Pinecrest and working at a recreational park for children, according to the incident report filed with the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Continue reading "Crime on Cruise Ships Addressed in New Law" »

A Hollywood woman, not wearing a helmet, was killed in a Motorcycle crash on Interstate 95.

Cheryl Aletta Adams, 38, of Hollywood, was the passenger on a motorcycle being driven by Mustafa Filiz, 39, of Miami.

The motorcycle was traveling north on Interstate 95 at Hallandale Beach Boulevard at about 11:45 p.m., when it slammed into the rear of a road maintenance vehicle. Both Adams and Filiz, who were not wearing helmets, were ejected from the motorcycle. Adams died at the scene and Filiz was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he is recovering from serious injuries.

Continue reading "I-95 Motorcycle Accident Kills Woman Who Was Not Wearing A Helmet" »

Bicycle Accidents usually occur when a cyclist is hit by a vehicle. However, a large number of accidents are caused by faulty equipment. In a recent blog I wrote about Trek Steer Tubes and a number of riders that had problems with broken steer tubes. How a company goes about acknowledging a problem and preventing future problems can go a long way in both preventing injuries and gaining goodwill.

The debate has been around since the days of the Ford Pinto, and the leaking gas Tank. A company will decide whether it is more cost effective to recall and replace all of the defective parts on the market or simply sit back and wait for the injuries to occur and pay the lawsuits as they come.

I recently had my own experience in dealing with two popular companies.. The first was with TREK. A company everyone knows because of Lance Armstrong. A large company, with a long history of producing bicycles. A client requested I call Trek for a warranty issue because his frame was clearly cracked. Despite the obvious signs of a cracked frame Trek refused to honor the claim, and refused to warranty the bike. Trek insisted the problem was cosmetic. My client, rightfully so, is scared to ride his bicycle. Similar to the reaction with the broken Steer Tubes, TREK refused to accept responsibility.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was my dealings with EDGE composites, a small wheel and component manufacturer in Utah. I purchased a set of Edge wheels and rode them in a race in North Carolina. The heat from the braking caused the wheels to warp. This was a known problem with clincher wheels, but this particular set was a tubular.I contacted Edge and sent the wheels to them for inspection. Edge immediately acknowledged the problem, and offered to refund my money, send me another set of tubulars , or even better-Acknowledged a potential defect and said they were testing out a new set of carbon Tubulars, and they would send me a pair of carbon clinchers to ride until the new tubulars were out on the market.

Edge created Goodwill and avoided a potential injury by taking a defective product off the market.

Continue reading "How Bicycle Manufacturers Can Prevent Bad Accidents" »

On July 15, 2010, Mike Lasche Legislative Chairman Florida Bicycle Association met with Aaron Nevins, the aide to Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, whose district 91 includes coastal areas of Palm Beach and Broward County. He explained to Lasche that they are interested in removing the bike lanes from approximately a mile of A1A, where it runs in front of Birch State Park, from Sunrise Boulevard north to where the beach high-rises begin again. The purpose of this would be to reduce the roadway width by 10 feet and add 10 feet to the sidewalk which will become the future Barrier Island Greenway. Nevins said that this would benefit sidewalk cyclists whom they feel exist in larger numbers at that location.

During the conversation, Lasche asked Nevins about the recently passed HB 971, the bill which requires cyclists to mandatorily stay in the bike lane if one is provided. Nevins stated that Rep. Bogdanoff had been the legislator who inserted this language in HB 971, a bill whose language was kept secret from public view until the final days of the Legislature. Nevins said that Bogdanoff had inserted this language because a local safety activist, Jim Smith, had asked for it. Also, because the Sun-Sentinel had run two editorials against bike lanes on A1A. Also, because there had been some problems and incidents with pack cyclists on A1A impeding motorists. He also explained that another motive for HB 971 was that "it's a chess game to see if bicyclists will still want to keep the bike lanes on A1A." Cyclists have to decide "if they like bike lanes or not."

During this conversation, Nevins said that he thought that bike lanes would arise in next year's legislature. In a prior conversation, he suggested that Rep. Bogdanoff would work to change the state's laws that require bicycle facilities within one mile of an urban area so that they could have "flexibility with bike lanes on A1A."

So, in a nutshell, Bogdanoff wants a wider sidewalk on a 1 mile stretch of A1A. In order to do that, she would like to remove the bike lanes. To make that happen, she introduced the mandatory lane language in HB 971 so that cyclists would hate the bike lane and go along with removing them. And, they are considering an attack on the state law which requires bicycle facilities on roads throughout the whole state of Florida.......all for one mile of wide sidewalk. Decades of progress and Florida's bicycle future may be harmed, just to get one mile of wider sidewalk in Ft. Lauderdale.

What should be noted is that the original plans for the reconstruction of A1A included wide sidewalks on both sides but some local businesspeople objected to that, demanded that parking be placed on both sides of the road, not just the ocean side. In order to make this happen, the sidewalk widths were sacrificed. It should also be mentioned that the simple answer to widening the sidewalk is simply to widen it. The land to the east is publicly owned and some of the current sidewalk, around the shower facilities, already extends to a wider width.

All of this trouble stems from the idea that the bike lanes should be removed on A1A, in front of Birch State Park. If that was not an option, Bogdanoff would not have brought us HB 971 and would not want to change existing law which requires bicycle facilities on urban roads. So, we need to nip all of this in the bud. We need to make it clear that removal of the bike lanes is not an option.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale Legislator threatens Bike Lanes on A1A and throughout State of Florida" »

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of a 16-year-old boy died after the ATV he was on collided with a wooden utility pole.

Enrique Rodriguez, 16, of Southwest Ranches, was driving the ATV, and Daniel Perez, of Pembroke Pines, was a passenger when the accident occurred in the 5400 block of Southwest 172nd Avenue just before 5 p.m. Monday, July 12, 2010. He was taken by helicopter to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where he died.

While Sheriff's traffic homicide unit investigators are looking into the cause of the accident, what is known is that neither teen was wearing a helmet.

All-terrain vehicles, which can go up to 100 mph, are not legal on public roads in Florida. To legally operate an ATV, a Florida resident must either drive on their private land or gain permission from a private land owner.

Continue reading "Southwest Ranches Teen Dies in ATV Crash" »

A small group of road racers have recently broken the carbon steerers on their 2010 Trek Madone 6-Series bikes. Of all things to fail on a bike, nothing can be more fatal than a steer tube. So the question becomes, is it incorrect stem installation, incorrect stem choice,
or the fact that Trek 6-Series Madone steerers are prone to breakage even when all of Trek's instructions are followed?

As you would expect, Trek says installation and compatibility problems are at fault and notes that the same concerns apply to carbon steerers from other manufacturers. The company is working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on a consumer alert, and has made a running change to add material to 6-Series Madone steerers. All owners of forks with carbon steerers should pay attention to the concerns raised and installation instructions when installing or buying aftermarket stems.

If as Trek alleges the problems lie with improper installation or incompatible stems, then the onus is on the Bicycle shop and mechanic to be aware of these issues. To that end, I have dealt with shops that are truly aware of problems and take safety very seriously, and also had the misfortune of shops that are just concerned with a sale, and do nothing in terms of education about safety issues.

On Saturday May 15, 2010, Bryan Vaughn was on lap 4 of the Poolesville Road Race when he pulled up on the bars of his 2010 Trek 6 series Madone,and felt the handlebars come off in his hands as he crashed to the ground. One can't help but imagine the feeling of horror Bryan felt with the bars in his hand and no control over his bike as steerer had sheared off just below his FSA stem.

Continue reading "Bicycle Accidents caused by broken carbon steer tubes" »

Yet another Florida Cyclist died when he was involved in a collision with a bus. The accident which occurred June 17, 2010 comes on the heels of a cyclist that was struck and killed in Coral Gables, Florida the previous week.

The latest accident happened when the cyclist was exiting the parking lot of a Walmart store. The bicyclist exited the store's parking lot and struck the side of a Broward County bus at about 8:30 p.m.

The bicyclist struck the bus near its rear door, fell underneath the bus, and then the bus ran him over. Based upon the fact that the cyclist struck the rear of the bus, the police indicated that the bicyclist appeared to be responsible for the collision.

Continue reading "Hallandale Cyclist Dies in Accident With Bus" »

Bicycle Accidents in Miami are a frequent occurence. The most dangerous state to cycle in is Florida with 119 bicycle related fatalities in 2007. I have been riding and practing law for the past 15 years, and have taken a big interst in cycling and cycling cases. In my years of practice I have handled a number of bicycle related cases from Mountain bikers whost forks broke while landing a jump to an elderly woman who was hit while riding her bicycle on the sidewalk.

I have also had the unique opportunity to ride and compete in cycling races in a number of Cities, States and Countries, and there is little doubt that Miami, Florida is to me, the most dangerous city to ride in. While the Transportation For America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership lists Orlando, Florida as the most dangerous U.S. city to ride a bicycle in, I would have to disagree.

Why is Miami so dangerous? I would have to list a combination of factors. First and foremost Miami offers very few bike lanes. Second the lack of education by Florida Motorist, in that they do not understand the responsibility that comes with driving a vehicle. As a specialist in Miami Bicycle accidents, I am currently representing a Gentleman that was struck by a county bus while riding his bicycle on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, Fl.

Continue reading "Bicycle Accidents in Miami, Florida" »

David Lubetkin, a Boca Raton Gynecologist failed to tell his patient she had Cervical Cancer. The punishment for Dr. Lubetkin a $20,000.00 fine. The cost for Charlene Hutchens, his patient, it robbed her of peace of mind and the ability to have children, she told the Florida Board of Medicine on Saturday.

"I don't want this to happen to any other person," said Hutchens, now 27. "It's destroyed my life."

Hutchens noted that her condition could have easily been treated in 2002, or even 2003 if Lubetkin had checked the records. "It's the failure of the doctor to not have established (proper) office procedures," she said.

To further add insult to injury, Dr. Lubetkin did not carry medical malpractice Insurance. Florida does not require physicians to carry medical malpractice insurance.

Continue reading "Boca Raton, Florida Gynecologist Makes Big Mistake, Pays Small Fine" »

A 20-year-old Wellington woman was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Florida's Turnpike early this morning. The young woman who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown out of the vehicle, FHP said.

According to FHP, the woman was a passenger in a Lexus SUV driven by Emmylee A. Rousseau, 20, of Pembroke Pines.

Rousseau was driving south on the Turnpike when she lost control of the vehicle at a curve about 2:50 a.m.

She veered into the median, overcorrected, spun out of control and struck a guardrail in the median.

The SUV rolled over the guardrail into northbound lanes and overturned twice.

Rousseau suffered serious injuries, as did a 17-year-old also riding in the vehicle.

There were three additional people in the car, who suffered minor or no injuries.

The crash is not alcohol related, FHP said.

Although this accident was not alcohol related, The Memorial holiday weekend is generally one of the most dangerous weekends on Florida's highways.

Most importantly this unfortunate accident underscores the importance of wearing seat belts.

Continue reading "Florida Turnpike car accident kills woman" »