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Toyota Still Can't Fix the Problem

Paul Thomson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:16:58 GMT

The Detroit Free Press reported in this article that Toyota is still trying to figure out the problem behind their runaway vehicles. Toyota continues to mention properly securing or removing floor mats to avoid having the gas pedal get stuck, but a lawsuit involving a Toyota Camry suddenly accelerating with no driver's side mat in place questions the validity of the floor mat fix.

The unexpected acceleration has been blamed on the electronic throttle control system. Supposedly, radio waves and other electronic signals can interfere with the cruise control, causing it to lock down. In this situation, the brakes are unable to override. Toyota claims to have tested the electronics thoroughly and does not believe this is the problem. They say they are still searching for a "vehicle-based remedy". Hopefully, Toyota will come up with something soon and solve this extremely dangerous problem!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Database of Medical Malpractice Unavailable to the Public

Paul Thomson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:13:24 GMT

Tulsa World reported that there is a national database of medical malpractice data that the public is unable to fully access. The database is maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and includes about 460,000 records of malpractice lawsuits. However, the public can only view the lawsuit's allegations and the patient's health, while the remaining information is only open to hospitals, managed care organizations, and state licensing agencies.

The American Medical Association believes the information should remain private because it is unreliable. Supposedly, data is often submitted late and some of the information is untrue or misleading. The AMA argues that it is a flawed program. However, many individuals believe that this is just a way to protect doctors. The information should be available to the public because people have a right to know if their physician has been involved in a medical malpractice claim. Medical professionals need to be held accountable and potential patients should not be kept in the dark. If the patient is able to obtain this information he or she can then question their doctor about it and make an informed decision as to whether they wish to remain under the doctor’s care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Toyota Recalling 110,000 Tundra's in 20 States

Greg Webb — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:04:02 GMT

Toyota, in yet another in what seems to be a stream of recent recalls, is recalling 110,000 Tundra pick-up trucks from the model years 2000-2003. The recall is attempting to address excessive rust on the trucks' frames, and the government (NHTSA) is urging owners to remove the spare tire from the vehicle because it is concerned the tire could drop into the roadway, which could cause hazards for motorists.

The corrosion can also cause problems with the rear brake lines, leading to brake system failures, according to NHTSA. This is, of course, a potential safety issue for motorists as well.

The recall is for 20 "cold weather" states, including Virginia and the District of Columbia. Other states include: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Owners are asked to take their trucks to a local dealer who will repair the damaged portion of the frame, or apply a rust resistant compound to the affected area, depending upon the severity of the corrosion.

This is the second major recall by Toyota in the past several months, with the other affecting Toyota and Lexus models because of safety issues concerning floor mats.

I am afraid Toyota is slipping some. I own a Toyota that has 70,000 miles on it, and I have had to have more work done to it than other Toyotas I have owned. I also think Toyota got caught up in the big truck, SUV, craze that overcame many other manufacturers, and got away some from what it did best: building high quality, high value, economical cars. I suspect, however, that Toyota will right the ship and get back on track at some point in the near future.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

VA Supreme Court Rules On Wrongful-Death Case

Greg Webb — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:00:00 GMT

In a split decision, the Virginia Supreme Court decided to reinstate and send back to Henrico County Circuit Court (the trial court) a wrongful-death case in which a fourteen-year-old girl died in an automobile wreck. Jaimee Kellermann died while visiting a former school friend in Henrico County, Virginia in December 2004 after Paul and Paula McDonough, the parents of the friend, according to the suit, failed to maintain a promise that Jaimee would not be allowed to ride in a car driven by a juvenile. According to the suit, Jaimee’s father warned, "No boys with cars." The McDonoughs allowed their daughter and Jaimee to ride in the car with a seventeen-year-old boy who had a reputation for recklessness. The carload of teenagers subsequently crashed into a tree while traveling at a high rate of speed, which killed Jaimee.

The Henrico judge previously dismissed the suit seeking $15 million in damages, ruling that the responsibility of the parents overseeing the guest did not extend to the circumstances alleged in the suit. The state Supreme Court, however, stated parents have the broad duty to ensure the safety of a juvenile guest, even when harm comes to that guest from a third party outside the home. The decision argues that ignoring a broader duty diminishes liabilities and may lead to “absurd results”; if the supervisory responsibility of parents is not broad enough to cover guests, parents would have no liability even in instances in which children play in the street and are injured, or in which a death results from children playing with a loaded gun. The trial is expected to go to court sometime next year.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

New FDA Initiative Seeks To Decrease Drug Dosage Errors

Greg Webb — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:52:53 GMT

In an attempt to curb the number of serious deaths and illnesses caused by misuse of medication, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is attempting to identify the most serious threats and find ways to avoid them through their Safe Use Initiative. The FDA called on doctors, other healthcare professionals and consumers in order to gain information about which drugs and circumstances may be particular problems; they will also be calling public hearings as well.

One of the main issues the FDA has identified is the overuse of acetaminophen, a pain reliever that can cause liver damage if taken in excess; because the drug is used in so many different medications, it is hard for the consumer to know how much he or she is taking. The FDA will also investigate information given to patients, such as labels, package inserts and directions that pharmacists use when distributing prescriptions. Such an investigation is long overdue since about 99.5% of pamphlets contain unregulated information that is missing critical information.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the Institute of Medicine, about 1.5 million preventable “drug accident events” occur annually in the United States; aside from the toll on health, this costs an estimated $4 billion each year as well. FDA officials acknowledged they do not have these hard figures since the term "preventable harm" encompasses a range of poorly tracked activities including accidental overdoses, distributing the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, abuse of medication and drug-quality defects; medication errors do not contain common side-effects.

This writer thinks this is a good initiative. One wonders how many incidents there are per year of unintended “misuse” of medications, through lack of education or information about the particular drug at issue. Many people overuse over-the-counter pain medications because they cannot afford prescription strength drugs.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Misleading Toyota Recall Sparks Criticism From NHTSA

Greg Webb — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:33:15 GMT

Federal safety regulators have reprimanded Toyota Motor Corp. for issuing misleading and inaccurate statements that no defect exists in the 3.8 million automobiles it voluntarily recalled on September 29 after a 2009 Lexus ES 350 sedan accelerated out of control in San Diego County, California, killing four people. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a statement that the Lexus and Toyota vehicles do, in fact, have an “underlying defect” that involves the design of the accelerator pedal and the driver's foot well. Toyota officials, however, blame the accident and other uncontrolled acceleration incidents nationwide on the gas pedal becoming entrapped by an improperly installed floor mat.

In its recall, Toyota claims there is no problem with the accelerator itself but asks consumers to instead remove driver’s-side mats if the mat is incompatible with the vehicle and not properly secured; the automaker also posted a video statement which disputed news reports that the "unintended acceleration" could be linked to other factors, such as the electronic throttle control systems. NHTSA officials were thus prompted to issue a clarification and stated the matter will not be closed until Toyota addresses the defect and suggests a solution.

This incident may affect Toyota’s credibility because the automaker was alleging it had a clean record with the NHTSA when it actually did not. Toyota claims it never intentionally mislead the American public and is still developing vehicle-based remedies to ensure unintended acceleration events do not happen again; these remedies may include changes in the placement of pedals, or a change to the engine control software in the vehicles' onboard computers. Since 2003, the NHTSA has investigated eight cases of unwanted acceleration in Toyota vehicles; two of these probes led to small recalls while the other six were closed by the agency due to no finding of a defect. In all of these investigations, the NHTSA did find that the Toyota braking system could lose most of its efficiency and power when the throttle is fully opened and that other aspects of vehicle design, such as using push-button ignitions, could add risk in sudden-acceleration events. In the San Diego County incident, officials found the pedal’s design may have had an enhanced risk of being obstructed by the floor mat.

The recall affects the 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, the 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, the 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, the 2005-2010 Tacoma, the 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, the 2007-2010 Lexus ES 350 and the 2006-2010 Lexus IS 250 and IS 350.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Maclaren Failed to Report Finger-Chopping Danger

Paul Thomson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Maclaren recently recalled strollers made as far back as 1999 because the stroller hinge can cause a child's finger to be amputated when placed in the hinge upon opening or closing the stroller. Twelve children have had their fingers amputated! The New York Post reported that Maclaren knew about the defect as early as 2004, when the first finger amputation was reported.

Maclaren now faces fines up to one million dollars for failing to report the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Companies are required to report dangers to the CPSC immediately. The fact that Maclaren failed to do so is absurd! Twelve children have lost their fingers--that's ridiculous! Customers are encouraged to take advantage of the recall and Maclaren needs to be held accountable for their lack of responsibility!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Validity of Pfizer Neurontin Drug Study Questioned

Paul Thomson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Studies on the Pfizer Inc. drug Neurontin may have been skewed in order to have favorable results, reports Bloomberg. The drug is intended to treat epilepsy, however the studies focused on uses for Neurontin that had not yet been approved by the FDA. Researchers found that data from the studies on Neurontin that made its way into medical journals was inconsistent with the actual findings from the trials. Unfortunately, medical professionals assume these publications contain accurate information. What this points to is that Pfizer may have attempted to mislead the medical community about the effectiveness of Neurontin for certain off label uses. Pfizer denies this.

"Physicians are allowed to prescribe drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, and drugmakers are allowed to provide publications about off-label uses," the article states. When they are prescribing drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, studies such as the Neurontin study are doctors only source of information. Drugmakers need to provide accurate information in order to promote the best interests of doctors and patients. Our health depends on drugmakers' reliability!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Aluminum Bat Manufacturer Found Liable For Player’s Death

Greg Webb — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:58:24 GMT

After twelve hours of deliberation, a jury in Lewis and Clark County, Montana recently sided with the parents of former Miles City American Legion baseball pitcher Brandon Patch, who died after being struck in the temple by a batted ball in a 2003 baseball game against the Helena Senators. Hillerich & Bradsby Co., an aluminum bat manufacturer best known for their Louisville Slugger bats, was found liable for Patch’s death because it failed to provide adequate warning as to the dangers of the bat used by a Helena Senators batter. Hillerich & Bradsby Co.’s attorneys argued any other bat would not have hit the ball any differently; in fact, they claimed most bats on the market would have stuck the ball even harder and that Patch’s death was a tragic accident. The Patch family’s attorneys, however, argued Brandon only had 378 milliseconds to respond to the batted ball, whereas most bats on average give 400 milliseconds to respond. The bat manufacturer was ordered to pay $792,000 to Patch’s estate. The funds were allocated to cover the earnings Patch would have made had he lived, and the pain he suffered for four hours after the injury before ultimately dying. Another $58,000 was awarded to Patch’s parents for funeral expenses and their mental grief.

Aluminum bats have faced a lot of scrutiny due to their internal wall structure and because their weight is more evenly distributed than wooden ones, making them easier to swing harder and faster. A third decision made in the suit was that the bat was not defective, therefore making it more dangerous like the Patch family attorneys claimed. The Patch family said the suit was never about the money but was to get adequate warning about the dangers of these bats so something like this will not happen again. They have also started to advocate for the use of wooden bats. Brandon Patch’s baseball team reverted to wooden bats after his death.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

DOJ Indicts Stryker Biotech On Charge Of Fraud

Greg Webb — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:45:31 GMT

The Justice Department has reported that Stryker Biotech LLC, the medical device manufacturing division of Stryker Corp., and its top management have been indicted on federal charges of fraud due to a marketing scheme for bone-growth products OP-1 implant and OP-1 putty. These two products were promoted for use in a manner different from the use approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although Stryker did have a federal exemption that authorized it to sell the products for "humanitarian" reasons to treat a rare condition, it instead promoted a combination of the devices with a bone void filler called Calstrux and provided "recipes" on how to combine Calstrux with OP-1 in ways never approved by the FDA.

The indictment charged Stryker Biotech, its former president, and three current sales managers with a scheme that involved devices used during invasive long bone and spinal surgeries; the former president and the company were also charged with making false statement to the FDA. If the company is convicted, it could face serious fines and possible exclusion from participating in federal and state healthcare programs. The former president and the three sales managers could also face jail time if convicted of wire fraud conspiracy and misbranding charges.

Because of the potentially negative ramifications of a conviction, Stryker is expected to aggressively pursue a settlement.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb