Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

September 3, 2016

Woman Killed in Zip Line Accident

While many people still think of zip line riding as a dangerous activity best left for spies in the movies, it has become a fairly common sport. These days, many state parks and other recreation centers feature zip line courses, with a single private company overseeing operations. They are supposed to be safe so that while it appears to be quite a thrill, one should not get hurt while using a zip line. The manner in which they are made safe is through the use of redundant safety harnesses and safety straps designed to prevent a rider from falling and being injured.

However, according to a recent news feature from ABC News, things do not always go as planned, as evidenced by the death of a 59-year-old woman using the zip line attraction at a state park in Delaware. Authorities say the woman was standing on a zip line platform while waiting to start her decent. She was about 35 feet high when she fell off the platform and died as result of the tremendous impact. Continue reading

August 31, 2016

Using Ice after Suffering a Personal Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For several decades, healthcare providers and patient educators have recommended putting ice on an injury as soon as possible. The acronym RICE is commonly used, as it stands for “Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.” A medical doctor created RICE as a term in 1978, and everyone else just ran with it. It is now taken as gospel.

However, a recent news feature from Soccer America takes a new look at RICE and whether it is actually a good practice or a faulty concept. The reason for skepticism is because the body will cause the site of trauma to swell as part of the body’s natural healing process. This is similar to how a person who gets a fever is experiencing a higher body temperature because that is the body’s natural way of killing germs that cause illness. If you take a fever suppressant, it might make you feel better, but it might actually take the body longer to fight the virus. However, it should be noted that if a fever is very high, medical intervention might be necessary. Continue reading

August 29, 2016

Bixenmann v. Dickenson Land Surveyors, Inc. – Standard of Care in Personal Injury Cases

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When someone is going to subdivide a parcel of real property, often before it can be sold as a build-able lot, the land owner will have to get a survey performed. While surveying has changed a great deal over the past 10 years as we moved from using chains similar to how a First Down in football is marked to sophisticated laser devices, surveying still relies heavily on the use of landmarks.

A landmark can be a natural thing such as large tree, or it can be an item placed in the ground by the surveyor. The purpose of the survey is to mark off where one property ends and the adjacent one begins and then create a map or survey of that land to record in the records office. This way, there is no question as to where the property line is situated. One of the common methods for marking these lines is for a surveyor to place a wooden stake in the ground and then put a safety flag on it to make it visible. After the perimeter has been marked, the surveyor will then replace the stake with a piece of metal rebar known as an iron and sink it into the ground so it can be found on a metal detector. Continue reading

August 26, 2016

Boy, 3, Critically Injured in Roller Coaster Fall

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the last several weeks, there have been numerous reports of severe and even fatal amusement park accidents involving roller coaster riders. Of course, people have been trying to squeeze in their last-minute summer kicks, but they should be able to do so confident in the safety of the rides they board.

According to a recent news feature from People, this latest incident involved a 3-year-old boy who was riding on an attraction at Idlewild and SplashZone amusement park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Authorities say the boy is still in critical condition at a local level-one pediatric trauma hospital and has undergone at least one major surgical procedure and may need additional surgery. Continue reading

August 24, 2016

In Re: Aramack Sports: Boating Accidents and Jurisdiction

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In re: Aramack Sports, a case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, involved a recreational boating accident in which four people were killed. All of the victims were adults who had rented a boat from defendant for use on Lake Powell. The question on appeal was whether this case fell within the federal admiralty jurisdiction.

While we generally think of a lake as an isolated body of water, in some cases, the lake is considered navigable, and if waters are considered navigable, then any causes of action that arise on there may fall under the jurisdiction of federal admiralty court. In this case, defendant rented boats from a marina on the lake, which is situated near the border of two states. Three married couples had gone on a joint vacation to the lake and rented a boat from defendant. Continue reading

August 21, 2016

Nursing Home Negligence Cited in Scathing State Review of Brockton Facility

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The aides and nurses at the Braemoor Health Center lacked the fundamental knowledge necessary to save the life of a dementia patient suffering a heart attack in their care. The facility also neglected to inform state officials of the death, initially saying it was because the man had no family. Later, it was revealed administrators feared “bad press,” as their parent company was already under scrutiny for two other deaths in Wilmington.

State health officials released the 70-page report on their investigation more than a month after barring the facility from accepting new patients, fining it $200,000 and freezing its payments from Medicare – the bread-and-butter of any nursing home.

The report offers a scary glimpse into the day-to-day operations at Braemoor, owned by Synergy Health Centers in New Jersey. The report followed two surprise inspections earlier this summer following a tip-off regarding the two deaths, in March and in April. Those inspections revealed a host of problems. For starters, the staff in charge of caring for these elderly, frail patients had little-to-no staff training in basic life support care. Meanwhile, the machines staffers relied upon to provide emergency oxygen to patients suffering medical emergencies – those were empty. The emergency medical devices used to restore a regular heart rhythm to someone experience an active heart attack – those devices were defective. The alarms in place at each window and exit of the building to prevent dementia patients from wandering off-site – many of those were missing or not working. Continue reading

August 18, 2016

Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Head Trauma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Following the death of boxing legend Mohammad Ali earlier this summer, there has been a lot of news coverage about Parkinson’s disease in recent weeks. There has also been a lot of head injury and concussion news as result of the recent movie starring Will Smith, and the injuries we are seeing in professional sports such as in the NFL.

According to a recent news feature from Time, doctors now have more evidence that there is link between victims of a serious head injury and those who develop Parkinson’s disease and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading

August 16, 2016

A Look at Three Common Burn Injuries We See in Summer

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent news feature form Care2.com looks at three types of burn injuries we tend to see more often during the summer months than we do in other months, and it is is important to understand that all three of these types of burn injuries are preventable if the adequate level of care is taken.

As one might expect, we tend to see a lot more fireworks injuries during summer months than we do the rest of year. While fireworks are also used during New Year’s Eve celebrations and other festivities throughout the year, during non-summer months it is often professionals that are providing the fireworks displays. This is not to say that even professional shows can’t result in serious personal injury or death, but the chances are much greater that there will be a preventable accident when amateurs are the ones lighting off the fireworks displays. Continue reading

August 14, 2016

Hot Air Balloon Crash Kills 16

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news release from CNN, a hot air balloon crashed in Texas and cost the lives of 16 people. The deadly balloon crash occurred around 30 miles from Austin, Texas, according to authorities.

While the cause of the accident is still under investigation, witnesses and investigation authorities believe the balloon crashed into power lines causing it to burst into flames before hitting the ground. The company that owned the balloon involved in the deadly accident regularly offers customers hot air balloon rides. The balloon can go to numerous destinations in the area and, according to their website, charges customers around $400 each for a ride on the balloon. Continue reading

August 12, 2016

Morrison v. St. Luke’s RMC – Medical Malpractice Litigation

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In Morrison v. St. Luke’s RMC, plaintiff was taken to defendant’s emergency department the day after Christmas in 2011. He was there after complaining of chest pain. The doctor who examined plaintiff conducted a thorough physical examination after taking the patient’s relevant medical history.

After completing his examination, treating doctor made a determination that plaintiff was not suffering from a heart attack and was stable enough to be discharged from the hospital. The doctor did tell him that he should see a cardiologist the following morning for a follow up consultation. He also gave plaintiff the contact information for a cardiologist that he should see if he did not have one already. Continue reading