Miami Injury Lawyer Blawg

A 3-1/2 inch-long bolt may have broken off a dump truck, and flew through the windshield of a car on Interstate 95. The bolt killed Sara Betancourt as she was riding in the right front passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle going south on the highway in Greenwich, Connecticut.

We at the Law Offices of Mark A. Kaire, extend our deepest condolences to the Betancourt family.

Continue reading "Woman Dies In Car Accident After Object Flies Through Windshield" »

Juan Mauricio Soler, a professional cyclist was hospitalized with severe brain injuries and multiple fractures following a crash during the Tour of Switzerland. Soler crashed in the sixth stage at the Swiss tour last week after he lost control of his bike and crashed into a wall. Thankfully he is now out of immediate danger, but the risk of developing a pneumothorax remains. Soler was placed into an induced coma, and now the team doctor, Dr. Alfredo Zuniga said Soler is showing encouraging signs of improvement.

"It can be said that the life-threat has disappeared. He has begun to make light movements and tests seem to rule out spinal injury, although we should be aware of further studies," Zuniga said in a Movistar communiqué.

"Now we have to see the evolution of a possible neurological damage, a process in which we must be patient," he continued. "The cerebral edema is subsiding, the intracranial pressure is declining and the development of pneumothorax is also positive. Mauricio is still in the intensive care unit and he will stay there for several days".

Continue reading "Cyclist Who Sustained Severe Head Injury, Still Runs Risk OF Developing A Pneumothorax" »

Breast augmentation is the most popular cosmetic surgery in the U.S., with nearly 300,000 women receiving saline or silicone breast implants last year.

Federal health officials say silicone breast implants are relatively safe, despite frequent complications that lead about one in five women to have the implants removed within ten years. The most common side effect remains scar tissue which hardens around the implant, warping the shape of the breast. Other problems include implant rupture, wrinkling, and lopsided appearance. Implant ruptures from car accidents are not uncommon.

The FDA says 20 to 40 percent of patients who have implants for cosmetic reasons will need another operation to modify or remove them within eight to 10 years. For women with implants for breast reconstruction, the number is even higher, at 40 to 70 percent.

As reported by the Associated Press, a Food and Drug Administration report issued Wednesday is the agency's first safety assessment of the implants since regulators returned them to the market in 2006. That followed a 14-year ban when only saline-filled implants were widely available.

The FDA pulled silicone implants off the market in 1992, saying manufacturers had not provided medical data showing their safety and effectiveness. At the time, there were worries about a connection to a variety of diseases, including cancer and lupus.
However, the agency returned the implants to the market five years ago after most studies failed to find a link between silicone breast implants and those diseases. Patients and plastic surgeons say the silicone-filled implants look and feel more real than saline versions.

The approval came with conditions, including a requirement that the companies complete studies on women who have received the implants.

The FDA's safety endorsement is primarily based on those studies, conducted by the two U.S. manufacturers of the products, Allergan Inc. and Johnson & Johnson's Mentor unit.
But industry critics point out that most of the studies are incomplete, and many women have already dropped out.

For example, only 58 percent of women enrolled in a 1,000-patient study of Mentor's implants are still accounted for after eight years. Two larger studies of 40,000 women, conducted by both Allergan and Mentor respectively, have each lost a significant number of patients after just two to three years.

Dr. Diana Zuckerman of the National Research Center for Women and Families said most medical journals would not publish the studies cited by FDA because of the missing data.
"Once a medical product is approved, the manufacturers have no incentive to do these required studies properly," Zuckerman said. "So, we end up with useless information, which is what has happened with the largest, most important studies of silicone gel breast implants."

The FDA commented that "both manufacturers have communicated to the FDA the difficulties in following women who have received silicone gel-filled breast implants." The agency said it is working with Allergan and Mentor to increase participation and follow-up.

Continue reading "Are Silicone Breast Implants Safe?" »

Complications from Gastric Bypass surgery include death, bleeding, Pulmonary Embolism, and battling addictions. The latter may form the basis for a Medical Malpractice Claim, If a doctor fails to evaluate a patient's addictive tendencies, and fails to provide the patient with an informed consent of the risks and complications of Gastric Bypass Surgery.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, swapping one addiction for another is common among gastric-bypass patients, who struggle more than the general population with issues of addiction.

Patients who undergo gastric-bypass surgery are four times more likely to require inpatient care for alcohol abuse than the general population, according to a study presented last month at the Digestive Disease conference in Chicago.

The study, which followed 12,277 bariatric surgery patients over 25 years, also found that gastric-bypass patients were more at risk for abusing alcohol than those who had restrictive procedures, such as banding

Marty Lerner, a psychologist and clinical director of Milestones in Recovery, a residential-eating-disorders program in Fort Lauderdale, sees many patients who've transferred their food addictions to other substances or behaviors.

"Alcohol and drug dependencies are the most common," he said, "followed by compulsive shopping and sex addiction." In every case, people are substituting one form of self-medication for another.

"All addictions are about fixing how one feels," said Lerner. "Changing the nature of the addiction does not change the nature of the person."

So far the most-studied of these transferred addictions is alcoholism.

The reasons for the addiction transference are both psychological and physical, say experts.

Because gastric-bypass surgery causes food and drink to move past the stomach and directly into the small intestine, alcohol hits patients faster, said Magdalena Plecka Ostlund, lead researcher on the study conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

"The alcohol enters the small intestine rapidly, which results in a high and quick peak of alcohol in the blood," she said.

The other driver is mental. "When you take away someone's primary addiction, in this case food, they often need to build their world around something else," said Dr. James Mitchell, chairman of neuropsychiatry at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine.

For Sue Jacobsen of Long Island, N.Y., that something else was alcohol.

Jacobsen, a 47-year-old, 5-foot-8-inch, public-relations consultant who quickly went from 275 pounds to 167, had her first cocktail three months after her surgery. That was the brink of a slippery slope.

She started drinking more, and within a year was drinking often with friends. "When I did, I would get blitzed."

Soon she couldn't go a day without drinking. Blackouts were common. "I'd wake up and have mud on my clothes and calls on my cellphone I didn't remember making."

She went to her first 12-step program in September 2006, and has been sober and attending meetings ever since.

For Andrew Kahn, post-surgical depression played a role in his turning to alcohol. Within a year of his 2003 surgery, he went from 367 pounds to 180 on his 5-foot-7-inch frame. He joined a gym, and in 2005 ran a marathon.

But the excess skin that sagged from his belly like an apron depressed him. Like many patients who lose a lot of weight, Kahn's skin didn't shrink with the rest of him. "It just hangs there. I hate looking at it," he said.

Though his insurance covered his weight-loss surgery, in 2008 the company declined to pay for the skin-reduction surgery, which is considered cosmetic. And Kahn couldn't afford the $10,000.

That's when he started drinking. "My finances were bad, I couldn't do anything about the extra skin, which depressed me, and vodka would tell me everything was OK."

Though he wasn't much of a drinker before his surgery, and he hadn't had any alcohol for five years since the procedure, that changed.

"If I had one to two drinks, I could get very stoned very quickly." Soon one to two drinks became five to seven miniature bottles of vodka. He started drinking in the morning, and often woke up shaking. "Drinking made me boisterous and destructive," he said. "My wife was furious with me."

Last August, he checked himself into a detox clinic.

Weighing the risks

Still, experts agree, the benefits of the gastric procedure -- eliminating diabetes, reducing high blood pressure and heart disease and curing sleep apnea -- greatly outweigh the risks.

"The increased risk for alcoholism after gastric bypass should be balanced against the many positive health effects of the surgery and weight loss," said Ostlund. "Surgeons have to advise patients to consume alcohol with care."

Before he operates, Dr. Raul Rosenthal, a bariatric surgeon in Fort Lauderdale, says he puts patients through a psychological exam to be sure they can withstand the adjustment.

"We look at their alcohol and tobacco use, and other addictive behaviors," he said. "It's important for patients considering the procedure to be told that the risk exists, and that if they had a tendency to drink before, they will need to be very careful."

Continue reading "Complications From Gastric Bypass Surgery Include Alcoholism" »

Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, died on Saturday at a hospital in Palm Beach, Fla. from complications of a stroke he suffered last Sunday at his home in Singer Island, Fla. He was 69.

On average, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke.

A stroke is a sudden interruption in the blood supply of the brain. Most strokes are caused by an abrupt blockage of arteries leading to the brain (ischemic stroke). Other strokes are caused by bleeding into brain tissue when a blood vessel bursts (hemorrhagic stroke).

1. Ischemic Stroke- In everyday life, blood clotting is beneficial. When you are bleeding from a wound, blood clots work to slow and eventually stop the bleeding. In the case of stroke, however, blood clots are dangerous because they can block arteries and cut off blood flow, a process called ischemia. An ischemic stroke can occur in two ways: embolic and thrombotic strokes

a. Embolic Stroke In an embolic stroke, a blood clot forms somewhere in the body (usually the heart) and travels through the bloodstream to your brain. Once in your brain, the clot eventually travels to a blood vessel small enough to block its passage. The clot lodges there, blocking the blood vessel and causing a stroke. The medical word for this type of blood clot is embolus.

b. Thrombotic Stroke In the second type of blood-clot stroke, blood flow is impaired because of a blockage to one or more of the arteries supplying blood to the brain. The process leading to this blockage is known as thrombosis. Strokes caused in this way are called thrombotic strokes. That's because the medical word for a clot that forms on a blood-vessel deposit is thrombus.

Blood-clot strokes can also happen as the result of unhealthy blood vessels clogged with a buildup of fatty deposits and cholesterol. Your body regards these buildups as multiple, tiny and repeated injuries to the blood vessel wall. So your body reacts to these injuries just as it would if you were bleeding from a wound;it responds by forming clots. Two types of thrombosis can cause stroke: large vessel thrombosis and small vessel disease (or lacunar infarction.)

Thrombotic stroke occurs most often in the large arteries, so large vessel thrombosis is the most common and best understood type of thrombotic stroke. Most large vessel thrombosis is caused by a combination of long-term atherosclerosis followed by rapid blood clot formation. Thrombotic stroke patients are also likely to have coronary artery disease, and heart attack is a frequent cause of death in patients who have suffered this type of brain attack.

Small vessel disease, or lacunar infarction, occurs when blood flow is blocked to a very small arterial vessel. The term's origin is from the Latin word lacuna which means hole, and describes the small cavity remaining after the products of deep infarct have been removed by other cells in the body. Little is known about the causes of small vessel disease, but it is closely linked to hypertension (high blood pressure).

2. Hemorrhagic Stroke

Strokes caused by the breakage or "blowout" of a blood vessel in the brain are called hemorrhagic strokes. The medical word for this type of breakage is hemorrhage. Hemorrhages can be caused by a number of disorders which affect the blood vessels, including long-standing high blood pressure and cerebral aneurysms. An aneurysm is a weak or thin spot on a blood vessel wall. These weak spots are usually present at birth. Aneurisms develop over a number of years and usually don't cause detectable problems until they break. There are two types of hemorrhagic stroke subarachnoid and intracerebral.

a. intracerbral hemmorrhage- bleeding occurs from vessels within the brain itself. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is the primary cause of this type of hemorrhage.

b. subarachnoid hemmorrhage(SAH)- an aneurism bursts in a large artery on or near the thin, delicate membrane surrounding the brain. Blood spills into the area around the brain which is filled with a protective fluid,causing the brain to be surrounded by blood-contaminated fluid.

Continue reading "Clarence Clemons Dies From Stroke At Age 69" »

Winning a football game is difficult. Winning a Medical Malpractice trial can be more difficult; just ask Al wilson, the former Denver Bronco.

Al Wilson brought a Medical Malpractice case against Dr. Chad Prusmack, a neurosurgeon for the Denver Broncos. Wilson alleged Dr. Chad Prusmack failed to provide him with good medical advice regarding a neck injury. Wilson claimed the advice cost him a $25 million NFL contract.

As reported by the Denver Post, a Denver District Court jury determined Dr. Chad Prusmack, still a neurosurgical consultant for the Broncos, was not negligent in the advice he provided Wilson about his injury.

The lawsuit began in 2008 when Wilson sued Prusmack and alleged Dr. Prusmack didn't tell him he should get surgery to correct an injury he suffered during a game with the Seattle Seahawks in December 2006.

"He did not think that the surgery that Mr. Wilson claims should have been performed was indicated in any way," said Prusmack's attorney, Craig Adams. "Mr. Wilson's signs and symptoms went away rapidly."

Prusmack cleared Wilson to play three more games for the Broncos that season and didn't recommend a one-level spinal-fusion surgery.

When the season with the Broncos ended, the team tried to arrange a trade to the New York Giants, which Wilson believes could have led to a new $25 million, five-year contract, but he failed the physical when a Giants physician told him he would need to have surgery before he could be cleared to play. The trade was off, and the Broncos cut him from their roster.

Despite what the Giants' doctors told Wilson, the jury believed Prusmack's advice was not negligent, Adams said. Prusmack's diagnosis was supported by testimony from some of the most well-respected spine surgeons in the world, Adams said.

"I think he prevailed because he was right," Adams said. "Mr. Wilson never did have the surgery and still has not and was cleared to play football again by several different physicians."

Continue reading "Al Wilson Loses Medical Malpractice Case" »

A car accident in West Palm Beach, FL claimed the life of a 46-year-old man. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the crash occurred just before 8 a.m. Thursday when Valeria M. Soto De Fazio, 25, was changing lanes in her 2005 Toyota Corolla on northbound Military Trail at Wallis Road near West Palm Beach.

The deceased was also proceeding northbound on Military Trail at a high rate of speed when he swerved to avoid the Toyota, but instead drove into the path of an oncoming 1992 Lexus SC400 driven by Alain Naranjo-Garcia, 27.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, the deceased driver lost control and was ejected by the crash. He was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The victim's identity was being withheld until his family could be notified.

Continue reading "Driver Killed In Head on Collision" »

This Medical Malpractice case illustrates the old saying that there is no such thing as minor surgery. To that end, Susan Kalitan was supposed to have surgery on her hand at Broward General Medical Center in 2007 for carpal tunnel syndrome. However, complications with the anesthesia she was given resulted in emergency surgery and a lawsuit.

Kalitan's attorneys claimed the instruments used on their client during general anesthesia perforated Kalitan's esophagus, and punched a hole in the tube that runs down to her tummy where food goes.

As reported by NBC Miami, Kalitan was discharged from the hospital inappropriately and went home. Her attorney said. "Everything she swallowed ended up going through the hole in her esophagus and into her chest cavity."

The following day, Kalitan was rushed to West Side Regional where she had emergency surgery and was in intensive care for weeks. She needed a feeding tube and couldn't swallow for months.

Kalitan says she still has some trouble swallowing. Her attorneys claim she was unaware a student nurse would be part of the anesthesia team.

On Thursday, June 16, 2011, a Broward County Jury returned a $4.7 million verdict.

Continue reading "Anesthesia Error During Carpal Tunnel Surgery Results in $4.7 Million Verdict" »

A driver plowed into a group of bicyclists on a midnight ride Thursday in a suspected drunken driving crash that injured 11 riders, at least one critically.

The riders were taking part in a weekly midnight ride starting in Koreatown, near downtown Los Angeles. The group consisted of about 100 cyclists who were on a ride about 8 miles south of downtown Los Angeles when they were struck by a Honda Civic shortly before 2 a.m.

Some bicyclists told KTTV a woman driving the car appeared to be using a cell phone before the crash. They said she slowed down then sped up and slammed into the group, sending some riders flying into the air and dragging at least one under her car.

As reported by the Associated Press, the car turned from a blind corner and hit riders who had stopped in a traffic lane to wait for others to catch up, said Sgt. David Krumer, the LAPD's bicycle liaison. There were no skid marks so it was difficult to determine how fast the car was moving, Krumer said. In addition, He could not confirm reports that a streetlight in the area was out.

"It appears that they were stopped in traffic" and some who had dismounted to chat with friends technically were pedestrians, Krumer said.
Bicyclists have a legal right to use the right traffic lane unless they impede traffic, and pedestrians are barred from traffic lanes, Krumer said. Violators potentially could be cited, he added.
However, drivers have a legal responsibility to exercise caution regardless of the circumstances, Krumer said.

Night rides have become increasingly popular in congested areas. For example, a group from Aventura, Fl. rides at 5:00 a.m. and routinely meets up with other groups that are riding on Key Biscayne near downtown Miami.

"There's no traffic so you can more easily get a group of 50 to 60 riders together and stay together as a group," Krumer said.

However, it is not necessarily safer than daytime rides.

"If you're driving at 2 in the morning, that's when all the DUI drivers are likely to be out," he said.

Continue reading "Drunk Driver Crashes Into Pack of Bicyclists" »

A 2005 Accident that killed a 14 year old girl and left a 15 year old with severe injuries concluded with a $35 million verdict.

This horrific story of negligence, failure to warn, and negligent design began Easter weekend 2005 when Jaysell Perez, 14, and her best friend, Samantha Archer, 15, borrowed a Yamaha WaveRunner water scooter from a family friend, retired neurosurgeon Dr. Eugene Holly.

Archer approached a boat in the Intracoastal Waterway near Currie Park in West Palm Beach and took her hand off the throttle to begin a turn. Instead of turning, the WaveRunner collided with the 30-foot boat.

Perez died in the collision, and Archer suffered severe injuries. The families filed separate lawsuits, and the cases were combined for a single trial.

Attorneys for the families claimed Yamaha knew of a steering problem but failed to provide a proper warning or redesign.

As reported in The Daily Business Review, Edward Karnes, an expert on human factors -- a field that studies how humans interact with technology -- explained that when a person sees a potential collision, the normal instinct is to restrain the energy source.

A novice operator like Archer would let go of the throttle to slow the watercraft. Keeping a hand on the throttle, which was required to maintain control, is counter intuitive.

From 1986-2000, owner's manuals warned beginners were likely to release the throttle when headed toward an obstacle. In 2001, the warning was removed. The girls rode a 2001 model, but Yamaha did not redesign its water scooter to address the steering issue until 2003.

The jury was asked two design defect questions -- whether the design is unreasonably dangerous to the ordinary consumer and whether the defect was the direct cause of the accident.

Mark Speaks, president of Yamaha's watercraft division, denied knowing of any other complaint about throttle steering, despite having knowledge of four prior claims in which he actually testified.

Perez's parents asked for $21 million in damages, and Archer requested $7 million to $76 million.

Yamaha witnesses looked at accident statistics to make the argument that the frequency of water scooter accidents was due to their popularity and proliferation, and not because of anything inherently dangerous in the design.

Jurors apportioned 88 percent liability to Yamaha and 10 percent liability to Nicolette Archer, Samantha's mother, for giving the girls permission to use the WaveRunner. Samantha Archer and Holly were each apportioned 1 percent liability, reducing the $39.8 million award.

Continue reading "Jury returns $35 Million Verdict In WaveRunner Accident" »

Plastic Surgery is not only expensive, but can also be fatal.

Maria Shortall, a 38 year old Davie woman died following a procedure at The Alyne Center for Cosmetic Surgery in Weston, FL.

Ms Shortfall stopped breathing around 3:10 p.m. Saturday, and employees at the center called for an ambulance. Shortall was rushed to the Cleveland Clinic, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 4 p.m.

The type of procedure that Shortfall underwent was not specified.

The Broward Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy Monday, but did not release a cause of death.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel,"Detectives do not plan to release any details regarding the procedure until further investigation is done," Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said in a statement.

Continue reading "Plastic Surgery Often Leads to Death; Not Beauty" »

Juan Herrera, a 37 year old pedestrian was killed in a weekend crash on West Broward Boulevard.

Mr. Herrera was struck by a 1999 Lexus driven by Jaime Valderrama, 44, of Miami Beach at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1100 block of West Broward Boulevard, said Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Detective Travis Mandell.

As is typical in South Florida, Valderrama tried to leave the scene but was stopped a few blocks away, in the 1400 block of West Broward Boulevard, police said.

Continue reading "Pedestrian Struck and Killed In Fort Lauderdale" »

In what sounds like a clear case of Medical Malpractice, Dr. Jeffrey Zipper was fined $10,000.00 by state regulators for using expired morphine that had been prepared for another patient on a woman who later died. In addition to the morphine being expired, the concentration was 12 times stronger than the label indicated. Dr. Zipper has blamed the pharmacy that prepared the vial for that error- the pharmacy has denied it.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, Dr. Zipper injected an unidentified 88 year old woman with morphine for her chronic back pain. Later that evening, she became dizzy, nauseous and could not be fully awakened at home. She was treated at the hospital and sent home, but the same thing happened the next day, causing her to be hospitalized for a week. She later fell into a coma and died two months later in a rehabilitation facility.

In a letter to The Florida Board of Medicine, Dr. Jeffrey Zipper, chief executive at the National Pain Institute, admitted using the wrong drugs on the unidentified woman, but also said in the letter that he had no blame for the death.

The medical board did not discipline Zipper in the death, but fined him for using the wrong drugs, ordered him to perform 50 hours of community services and issued him a letter of concern.

Continue reading "Pain Doctor Fined for Using Expired Morphine" »

For those of you that are involved in Florida car accidents, beware of the Progressive Insurance Company adjuster. Progressive adjusters will try to contact you before you speak with a personal injury lawyer, will take a recorded statement from you, and will try to get you to sign a full release for a nominal amount.

I am currently representing a man who sustained a significant shoulder injury in a car accident. My client speaks minimal english, and does not read English. Within 4 days of the accident the Progressive adjuster met my client at the body shop and had him sign a release of all claims for $500.00. My client thought it was for his medical bills.

If you are involved in a car accident make sure you read all documents before signing, and if you have any questions contact a Florida Personal Injury Attorney in Miami.

I think we can all agree that cell phones increase the risk of getting into a car accident. Accordingly, schools say that parents on cellphones pose a hazard. Parents are distracted and driving off before students are completely out of the car.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel,"We're seen an increase in incidents in the parent driveways because parents are busy on the cellphone," said Jerry Graziose, Broward County School District's safety director and chief fire official. "We've had them hit their own children. We never had accidents in the parent driveways until recently."

Over the past few years, the district has been posting signs at schools where parents drop off and pick up their children, warning them not to talk on their phones.

Recently, officials have begun adding others signs warning people not to text while driving.

While at least 32 states have some form of law that restricts cellphone use, including texting, while driving, Florida has repeatedly failed to adopt such legislation. I wonder why????$$$$

Texas, Illinois and Arkansas specifically ban driving and using cellphones in school zones. Florida does not. $$$$$$$$

It has become enough of an issue that the Palm Beach County Safe Routes to Schools Coalition, which focuses on making sure students can walk and bike to school safely, plans to address it, said Angela Usher, a school district planner and coalition member.

Graziose is hoping the state bans cellphone use in school zones and uses the revenue from fines to pay for crossing guards.

Only the force of law, he believes, will make some parents finally hang up their phones.

Continue reading "Parent's Should Get Off Their Cellphones" »