South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

The death rate from falling has risen dramatically - about 55 percent - for elderly people in the United States since the 1990s, said federal health officials, speculating that it is because people are living longer with chronic conditions like cancer and heart disease.”Since people are not dying as much from chronic diseases, they’re more likely to die from a fall,” said Judy Stevens, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead author of the study reported Thursday in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Falling is the 14th leading cause of death among the elderly. The CDC research gives the newest federal data on elderly deaths from falls since 1996.

Like young people, sometimes older people trip on something, said Dr. Jeff Lesesne, a geriatrics specialist at Atlanta’s Emory University. But he said many falls are associated with aging, including vision loss; deterioration of the inner ear and other changes that affect balance; and loss of strength that prevents seniors from recovering from a stumble.

Many fall when they first stand up, Lesesne observed. Some incontinent patients slip on their own urine, he added.

CDC researchers looked at death certificate data from 1993-2003 and counted cases in which falls were listed as a primary or underlying cause of death.

They found more than 13,700 older adults died from falls in 2003. That translated to about 37 deaths per 100,000 people 65 and older. The rate in 1993 was about 24 per 100,000 - meaning such deaths increased by 55 percent in the 10-year span.

The rate for men rose by about 45 percent in that time, from about 32 to 46 per 100,000. The rate for women rose 60 percent, from 19.5 to 31 per 100,000.

“I think it comes back to the issue of longevity. Women are living longer. There are even more frail women living to older ages than frail men,” Stevens said.

A federal judge has ruled that a couple can proceed with a negligence lawsuit against their insurance company and an agent they claim allowed their flood insurance policy to lapse only days before Hurricane Katrina wrecked their home.Michael and Lucille Catchot sued Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and their agent, Michael Felsher, for refusing to cover more than $79,000 in damage to their Ocean Springs, Mississippi, home, most of which the company blamed on Katrina’s storm surge.

The couple claims they paid the premium on their flood policy two or three days before it was set to lapse, on Aug. 14, 2005, by dropping off a check for $319 in the mail slot at Felsher’s office.

Nationwide, however, claims the Catchots missed the deadline for renewing their flood policy by one day. Felsher wrote the couple a new flood policy that did not take effect until Sept. 14.

In the interim, Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 and severely damaged the Catchots’ home. The couple did not find out that their flood policy had lapsed until after the storm, when Nationwide rejected their claim.

The couple’s lawsuit differs from hundreds of other cases brought against insurers by homeowners without flood insurance who claim their regular policies should have covered damage from Katrina’s storm surge.

The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld a $13 million jury verdict awarded to the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who died from frostbite after accidentally being locked in a freezer for more than four hours at the nursing home where she resided.

The unanimous high court ruled that the trial judge properly denied the defendants’ request for separate trials on the survival claim by the resident’s estate, the estate’s punitive damages claim and the family’s wrongful-death claims.

The judge also did not err by allowing the jury to consider evidence of the family’s emotional distress.

According to the high court’s opinion, Julie H. Bailey, 60, suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease, causing her to function at the intellectual level of a 2-year-old. On Dec. 28, 2002, she was admitted to the Lewes Convalescent Center, a nursing home owned and operated by Beebe Medical Center.

Five hours after her admission Bailey wandered from her room. Staff found her about four hours later locked in the freezer room of the facility’s kitchen and frozen to the floor by her urine, according to the opinion.

Bailey suffered frostbite to her hands, feet and nose. However, the staff did not provide her with pain medication before administering frostbite treatments, the family alleged. She suffered a pulmonary embolism Jan. 21, 2003, and died a short time later.

Her estate and family sued the nursing home and Beebe Medical in the Sussex County Superior Court.

The plaintiffs asserted claims for Bailey’s pain and suffering and punitive damages for the nursing home’s grossly negligent treatment. The family also sought wrongful-death damages for themselves.

Prior to trial Beebe filed a motion to have separate trials on the estate’s survival action, the punitive damages claim and the family’s wrongful-death claims. The trial judge denied the motion but offered to consider any jury instructions to clarify what evidence the jurors may consider.

Six days into the March 2005 trial the parties settled the punitive damages claim, reportedly for $5 million. The trial then continued on the remaining claims.

The trial judge, during his instructions to the jury, specifically told the jurors three separate times that the punitive damages claim was no longer at issue in the case and should not be considered by the jury.

The jury returned a $4 million verdict on the estate’s survival claim. On the wrongful-death claims, the jury awarded $3 million to Bailey’s husband, Anthony, and $2 million to each of her sons.

The judge denied Beebe’s motion for a new trial, and the company appealed.

Beebe asserted that the trial judge erred by not ordering separate trials. It argued that the jury’s anger and passion in response to the evidence presented on the punitive damages claim wrongfully inflated the compensatory damages award.

Beebe also argued that the trial judge erred by permitting the family members to recover damages for mental anguish on their wrongful-death claims.

Recovery for emotional distress for mere negligence is barred by Delaware law. Since the punitive damages claim based on higher culpability was settled, the jury should not have heard the mental-anguish evidence, Beebe said.

The Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by denying the motion for separate trials.

The high court said the evidence on each claim was too intertwined and could not be “neatly segregated” because much of it would be repeated and witnesses would have to testify multiple times.

The high court also found that Beebe’s counsel waived the mental-anguish issue by never objecting to the plaintiffs’ evidence on the matter or requesting jury instructions limiting the evidence for wrongful-death damages.

Despite the waiver, the high court went on to address whether the jury had been properly instructed.

Pointing out the trial judge’s three admonitions to the jury to disregard evidence on punitive damages, the Supreme Court said the judge’s instructions sufficiently enabled jurors to make a well informed decision and award appropriate damages.

A truck hit a bus carrying senior citizens Thursday, killing one person and injuring 11, authorities said.  

The bus, operated by a Jewish community center, was traveling in West Palm Beach when it was struck by a septic tanker at about 9:30 a.m., officials said.  

Five bus passengers were taken to a hospital, said Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue spokesman Don DeLucia. One, Lillian Starkman, 92, died.  

Seven other passengers were taken to hospitals with less serious injuries. The bus driver and another passenger were uninjured, DeLucia said.  

The truck driver, who was unhurt, may have run a red light, said Ted White, a police spokesman.  

A popular antibiotic that has been linked to rare cases of severe live damage including several deaths faces more scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a panel of outside medical experts will thoroughly evaluate the risks and benefits of Ketek.

This announcement comes hand in hand with an investigation of fraud allegations connected with Ketek clinical trials, as well how officials at the FDA handled safety problems linked to the drug.

The panel review of Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Ketek could result in stronger label warnings and other actions to ensure the safety of millions of patients who use the antibiotic.

Ketek Dangers

In April 2006, the FDA received more than a dozen reports of severe liver failure, in addition to four deaths, in patients treated with Ketek. The agency is also aware of nearly two dozen cases in which people suffered serious injuries of the liver after taking the drug.

According to FDA documents, the rate of injuries with the use of Ketek seemed higher compared with similar antibiotics.

Currently, Ketek carries a bold warning about the possible risks of acute liver failure, serious injury, and even death among patients taking the antibiotic.

A former steelworker has won a $1.5 million malpractice award against a surgeon who operated on his stomach.Micheal Castro, 54, lost his stomach during a 2000 surgery to repair problems with gastroesophageal reflux, said his attorney, Harold Harper, of Valparaiso.

A Lake County Superior Court jury determined that because of malpractice by his surgeon, Dr. Teoman Demir, Castro was hospitalized for two months and lost his entire stomach, Harper said.

“As a result, he is considered a permanent gastric cripple,” Harper said.

Demir performed the surgery at The Community Hospital in Munster, where he remains on staff, said his attorney, Jon Schmoll.

“The undisputed medical evidence in this case showed significant complications following surgery — not as a result of any malpractice on the part of Dr. Demir,” Schmoll said.

A nonbinding medical review determined Demir did not commit malpractice, Schmoll said.

Evidence brought out the trial in 11th case alleging that Merck & Co. covered up dangers of its painkiller Vioxx shows just why the company wants to try each of the thousands of lawsuits on its own, company attorneys say.

“Each involves specific facts. It’s hard to support generalizations,” attorney Phil Beck says.

A federal jury on Wednesday cleared Merck in the July 2003 heart attack suffered by a Utah bank credit manager who had taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx for 10 1/2 months.

It was Merck’s third win out of four federal cases _ and its sixth overall. It has lost one federal case and three in various state district courts. The 11th case was originally a Merck victory, but the judge overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial.

“Our strategy has now resulted in seven favorable jury verdicts, including four of the last five cases, and more than 3,000 case dismissals,” Kenneth C. Frazier, the company’s general counsel and an executive vice president, said in a press release.

In this case, Charles Laron “Ron” Mason, 64, a retired bank credit manager from Salt Lake County, blamed the drug for the heart attack which he suffered in July 2003. He had taken Vioxx after years of taking other anti-inflammatory drugs because of back pain.

Beck said he and co-counsel Tarek Ismail made two crucial points during trial. One was Mason’s acknowledgment under cross-examination that he had stopped taking Vioxx four days before the heart attack. The other was that film taken during the operation to open his blocked artery showed that the blockage was almost all plaque, rather than a big blood clot.

Plaintiffs around the country have argued that Vioxx keeps the body from making an anti-clotting enzyme, thus increasing the chance that clots in blood vessels will cause strokes and heart attacks.

Beck said he and Ismail had suspected that Mason had stopped taking Vioxx the Monday before his heart attack, when his chest pains began, and that Mason had simply forgotten that fact.

Ismail designed his questions to point this out, Beck said. “When the evidence was in front of him, he was the one who said, `I did not take Vioxx on any of those days.’”

During his closing argument, Beck focused on those four days without Vioxx.

“Vioxx cannot cause a heart attack if it is not in the system,” he told the jury. “Vioxx is out of the system in a few days. Once it’s out of the system, it cannot have any effect.”

The angioplasty film “showed there was no big blood clot that he would have had to have under the plaintiffs’ theory,” Beck said.

And, he told jurors in his closing argument, the New Orleans doctor who had testified that he believed Vioxx caused the heart attack also testified that he had never seen that film and was not qualified to evaluate it. Nor was he brought back to the stand to explain how the drug’s effect might have continued.

Ed Blizzard, Mason’s attorney, countered that in scientific studies, heart attacks within two weeks after stopping a drug are counted among its side effects.

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes. None of the five men and two women would comment.

Mason, who was seeking about $690,000 in lost wages and other damages, also had no comment about the verdict. “We thought we had proved the case. Obviously the jury didn’t agree,” Blizzard said. He said they had not decided whether to appeal.

Merck has appealed all of its losses.

Beck noted that the plaintiffs’ steering committee had chosen Mason’s case as one they wanted to try early.

“It’s gratifying that we were able to defend against a case that the plaintiffs considered one of their strongest and against topflight lawyers,” Beck said.

In his closing argument, Blizzard had said that the drug had lasting effects that didn’t go away between the Monday that Mason began taking a different painkiller for chest pains and the Friday of his heart attack.

A physician brought as a witness for Mason testified that the plaque in Mason’s arteries had been forming for decades, and that Vioxx had nothing to do with either its formation or the break that brought on the blood clot which caused the heart attack, Beck said.

The realization that Mason hadn’t taken Vioxx immediately preceding the heart attack “was a surprise to us. It was a surprise to Mr. Mason. But it is not what this case is about,” Blizzard countered. “This is not about four days. It is about ten months that he took the drug.”

Blizzard said Merck withheld crucial safety information from doctors and patients, and from Karen Olson, the nurse-practitioner who prescribed it for him during a checkup in September 2002. Mason had taken anti-inflammatory drugs for years because of chronic back pain.

Olson testified that she had asked Merck representatives specifically whether Vioxx was safe for the heart, and was reassured that it was indeed safe, Blizzard said in his closing argument Wednesday.

Mason’s case is among more than 24,000 filed since Merck withdrew the drug from the market two years ago because of evidence that Vioxx doubled patients’ risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Another 15,000 potential plaintiffs have agreements temporarily suspending the time to sue, and Merck disclosed last week that a Canadian judge has approved a class action suit for residents of Quebec.

In June 1996, plaintiff Patrick Simpson, a 22-month-old boy who was undergoing treatment of anemia, underwent a test that revealed that his blood’s lead concentration measured 27 micrograms per deciliter. Several days later, a follow-up test revealed that his blood’s lead concentration measured 37 mcg/dL. The latter concentration was more than three times greater than the generally accepted toxicity threshold of 10 mcg/dL. The New York City Department of Health subsequently inspected Patrick’s family’s apartment, which was located on Hill Street, in Brooklyn. The inspection revealed the presence of dangerous amounts of lead-based paint.Patrick’s mother, Trina Richardson, acting as Patrick’s parent and natural guardian, sued her apartment’s owner, MKR Realty Corp.; her landlord, Monieram Rathibhan, who was MKR Realty’s principal; and Patrick’s treating doctor’s practice, Central Brooklyn Medical Group, P.C. Richardson alleged that Rathibhan and MKR Realty were negligent in their maintenance of her apartment and that their negligence created a dangerous condition. She further alleged that Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s staff failed to properly assess and disclose Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning and that the staff’s failures constituted medical malpractice.Plaintiff’s counsel noted that Patrick was born in August 1994 and that his mother already resided in the Hill Street apartment. Thus, she contended that Patrick was immediately exposed to lead-based paint. She claimed that Rathibhan was aware that the apartment contained lead-based paint, but that the condition was not addressed.

Plaintiff’s counsel also noted that Patrick’s anemia was diagnosed during Patrick’s eighth month of life, but that a contemporaneous test revealed that his blood’s lead concentration merely measured 3 mcg/dL. She further noted that anemia accelerates the blood’s absorption of lead. She claimed that Patrick’s anemia was treated via the administration of iron supplements, but that the treatment did not include proper anticipatory guidance that addressed Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning. She contended that such guidance should have been rendered during Patrick’s routine checkups and that it should have included an explanation of lead poisoning’s major causes and methods of prevention.

Plaintiff’s counsel also claimed that Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s staff failed to perform a proper assessment of Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning. She contended that Patrick’s doctor should have asked questions that assessed the condition of Patrick’s home environment. She claimed that the questions would have revealed that Patrick’s family’s apartment was constructed in 1926, and she noted that lead-based paint is assumed to be present in any apartment that was constructed prior to 1960. Thus, she argued that proper assessment and anticipatory guidance would have revealed Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning and would have identified measures that would have prevented Patrick’s poisoning.

Rathibhan contended that he was not aware that Patrick’s family’s apartment contained lead-based paint.

Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s counsel contended that Patrick was timely and appropriately tested, and he noted that the test revealed that Patrick was suffering mild anemia and that the boy’s blood’s lead concentration measured an innocuous 3 mcg/dL. He also contended that the medical group’s staff properly determined that Patrick suffered a great susceptibility to lead poisoning and that Patrick was properly treated via the administration of iron supplements. He claimed that Patrick’s mother was told that the boy had to be retested after six months had passed, but that his mother failed to schedule the test. He also claimed that the medical group’s staff adequately explained the measures that would have prevented Patrick’s poisoning. He noted that the medical group previously treated Patrick’s older brother, who also suffered anemia, and that Patrick’s mother acknowledged that the earlier treatment was accompanied by appropriate assessment, counseling and guidance.

Patrick’s mother claimed that Patrick suffered lead poisoning that produced brain damage. She contended that he suffers residual cognitive deficits, impairment of his ability to learn and behavioral disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She claimed that he had to repeat his third-grade education, though she acknowledged that he subsequently returned to his appropriate level of education. However, she contended that he barely achieves passing grades and that his improper behavior has been the subject of school-imposed disciplinary measures.

Patrick’s mother also claimed that Patrick’s condition must be treated via rehabilitative therapy, and she contended that he might have to attend a special school. She sought recovery of about $200,000 for special damages and a total of $1.5 million for Patrick’s past and future pain and suffering.

Defense counsel contended that Patrick’s anemia stemmed from a sickle-cell trait, that his anemia was not exacerbated by his exposure to lead-based paint, and that he does not appear to suffer any ill effects of his exposure to lead-based paint. They also contended that Patrick’s academic performance does not reflect any impairment of his learning ability. They noted that Patrick’s alleged cognitive deficits were not supported by testimony from experts such as guidance counselors, psychologists or teachers. They also noted that he recently changed schools and that the change was accompanied by an advance to sixth grade, from fifth grade.

After the conclusion of summations, Patrick’s mother and Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s insurer established a $650,000/$100,000 high/low agreement. The remaining defendants were not included in the agreement.

The jury rendered a mixed verdict. It found that MKR Realty and Rathibhan were 100% liable for Patrick’s injuries. It also found that Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s staff failed to provide anticipatory guidance that addressed Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning, but it held that the failure was not a substantial cause of Patrick’s lead poisoning. It further found that Central Brooklyn Medical Group’s staff did not fail to timely test Patrick’s blood lead concentration, that it did not fail to treat Patrick’s anemia and that it did not fail to perform a proper assessment of Patrick’s susceptibility to lead poisoning. Thus, the medical group was not assigned liability. The jury found that Patrick’s damages totaled $500,000, but Patrick will also recover the high/low agreement’s $100,000 minimum.