South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with North American Breaker Company Incorporated (NABCO) of Burbank, California, today announced a voluntary recall of Counterfeit Circuit Breakers labeled as “Square D”.

Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. The name of the product is Counterfeit Circuit Breakers labeled as “Square D”. The quantity of the recalled product is about 50,000.

The name of the Distributor/Retailer is North American Breaker Company Incorporated (NABCO), of Burbank, California.

The hazard associated with the recall product is that the recalled circuit breakers labeled “Square D” have been determined by Square D to be counterfeit and can fail to trip when they are overloaded, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

The counterfeit circuit breakers are black and are labeled as Square D QO-series models 110, 115, 120, 130, 210, 215, 220, 225, 230, 235, 240, 250, 260, 280, 1515, 1520, 2020, 2125, 315, 340, 350, 360, and 3100.

Actual Square D circuit breakers have (a) the amp rating written on the handle in white paint on the front of the breaker; (b) the Square D insignia molded onto the breaker side, and; (c) a yellow chromate mounting clip with half of the top of the clip visible. If your breaker, labeled as Square D, does not match this description, it could be counterfeit.

The product was sold by NABCO, electrical distributors, and retailers nationwide from March 2003 through April 2006 for between $3 and $85.

The product was manufactured in China.

Consumers should contact NABCO to determine if the breaker they have is counterfeit and to arrange for a free inspection and replacement or refund if necessary.

Consumer, for more information, should contact NABCO at (866) 505-5851 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT.

On Jan. 15, 2000, plaintiff Darian Brown was born with severe brain damage to mother Denise Brown. The mother had been at a routine checkup five days earlier on Jan. 10 when her physician noticed that the fetus had an unusually fast heart rate. The fetal monitoring strips were showing fetal tachycardia (a heart rate greater than 60). She was admitted to Broward General Medical Center for close monitoring and observation. She was noted to be at risk for pre-term labor. She was administered Celestone for fetal lung maturity in the event that delivery became necessary.

The mother experienced pre-term labor issues for the next three days, but the baby’s heart rate and the contractions were stable. On Jan. 13, the monitor demonstrated sustained fetal tachycardia. On Jan. 14, at 10 p.m., Darian’s condition was noted to change, with fetal tachycardia, late decelerations and loss of variability. Darian’s heart rate had accelerated to 175 to 185 beats per minute. Despite the change in heart rate, hospital nurses didn’t contact Dr. Vasanti Puranik until approximately 5:15 a.m. on Jan. 15. Puranik delayed performance of a C-section until 7:29 a.m. Darian’s Apgars were 5 and 8 at birth.

Mrs. Brown and her husband, David Brown, sued Broward General Medical Center and its nurses and doctors, including Drs. Puranik and Amy Sonnenblick, for medical malpractice. The couple alleged that they failed to deliver the baby in a timely manner. The Browns alleged that the hospital’s nurses were negligent for failing to inform the doctors of significant changes in fetal monitoring. The family also sued Perinatal Research and Consulting P.A. and its perinatologist, L. Laurie Scott. The Browns reached a confidential settlement with those parties prior to trial.

The Browns had two other children prior to Darian, both of whom were born prematurely. According to medical records, Mrs. Brown’s pregnancy with Darian was considered high risk. These doctors were allegedly fully aware of Mrs. Brown’s history of pre-term labor.

Plaintiff’s counsel maintained that delivery ideally occurs 48 hours after Celestone is administered.

The plaintiffs alleged that the failure to make a timely delivery caused Darian to sustain partial prolonged hypoxia, resulting in severe, profound hypoxic ischemic brain damage. The plaintiffs’ expert neuroradiologist timed the injury to the brain between 24 and 48 hours prior to delivery, based on ultrasounds and MRIs. The expert deferred to clinicians to correlate the events with Darian’s clinical condition. Based on the fetal monitoring strips, the placental pathology, the imaging and the post-birth lab studies, experts opined that Darian’s injury occurred more likely than not during the last 24 hours of his gestation. The plaintiffs’ experts opined that had Darian been delivered on Jan. 13, his injury could have been avoided.

Defense counsel denied the allegations. According to the defense, no cord blood gas showed acidosis (an arterial blood pH of 7.0 or less), and the Apgars were 5 and 8 and there was no multi-system injury.

The defense argued Darian did not meet the ACOG 163 criteria for intrapartum brain injury. Additionally, the defense experts opined that Darian may have had an unidentified genetic defect, some intrauterine viral or bacterial infection of unknown etiology or a short umbilical cord which could have caused a brain injury due to decreased fetal movement.

Darian sustained partial prolonged hypoxia, resulting in severe, profound hypoxic ischemic brain damage. He suffers from quadriparesis. His parents sought damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost of parental consortium. Darian will require a lifetime of care. The Browns’ experts estimated that it will take $15 million to care for Darian for the rest of his life.

The jury found in favor of the Brown family and awarded them $35,206,000.

Darian Lavar Brown

$206,000 Personal Injury: Past Medical Cost

$15,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Medical Cost

$4,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain And Suffering

$8,000,000 Personal Injury: Future Pain And Suffering

David A. Brown

$2,500,000 Personal Injury: Past Loss Of Consortium

$1,500,000 Personal Injury: Future Loss Of Consortium

Denise G. Brown

$2,500,000 Personal Injury: Past Loss Of Consortium

$1,500,000 Personal Injury: Future Loss Of Consortium

The defendant’s motions for new trial and renewed directed verdict were denied. The hospital’s motions for a collateral source setoff, a collateral source set off based on a settlement and a motion to limit the judgment and/or execution on the judgment are set for hearing in September.

The family of a woman killed in a collision with a Miami police cruiser said Monday they will consider legal action against the city.

Tony Brown, whose 52-year-old aunt, Bessie Sanchez, died in Sunday evening’s collision, said his family would file a legal complaint.

Miami police said a marked patrol car was responding to another officer’s request for assistance when the collision occurred at about 9:30 p.m. at the intersection of Northwest Third Avenue and Eighth Street.

Five family members traveling in the Ford Escort were hospitalized. Sanchez died at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Sanchez’ 16-year-old daughter, Betty Rawls, was critically injured and, according to family members, was five-and-a-half-months pregnant but lost the child as a result of the collision.

“She’s not out of the woods yet,” said Brown.

According to Brown, family members inside the car insist they did not see flashing lights or hear sirens before the collision. They also insist that a Miami police officer who responded to the scene was insensitive and rude to family members.

Police told a different story Monday.

“We have confirmed that this other vehicle did not yield the right of way to an emergency vehicle,” said Detective Willie Moreno.

“We’ll determine that in court,” responded Brown.

Police said their investigation is ongoing. The two officers in the patrol car received minor injuries, were treated and released from the hospital. They have not been identified.

According to recent reports, patients who had surgery for dislocated shoulderss are saying the product they used to control the pain caused more harm than good.

Many patients have reported that in trying to ease their pain using the shoulder pain pump, they were actually caused more pain.

Patients Experience More Pain

Erika Creech, 28, was told that she had no cartilage left in here left shoulder joint after she had an operation to fix her dislocated shoulder.

George Limantzakis, 31, endured the same surgery and got the same results.

When both patients were x-rayed they were told that they were among a dozen patients who had also lost shoulder cartilage after surgery.

“The use of a post-operative pain pump catheter is the only common link,” explains Dr. Charles Beck.

How Does a Pain Pump Work?

The pain pump reportedly feeds medicine into the body to help reduce the amount of pain to the patient after surgery.

In the 16 patients that Beck says he used the pain pumps on, 13 supposedly lost shoulder cartilage as a result.

“To our knowledge, these pain pump companies are not notifying physicians to specifically not use this pump in the shoulder joint,” says attorney, Charlie Thronson.

President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)n 1990, which stipulated that employers and other organizations could not discriminate based on disability – generally defined as a mental or physical impairment. The act was good news for millions, including those suffering from burns.

One of the biggest challenges to burn victims is to convince the ADA their injury falls under the definition of disability. A person may have a burn injury that is very unsightly or perhaps somewhat limiting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is covered under the ADA. The ADA has lost some of its influence in recent years, due to certain legal decisions. The act also has come to have an increasingly narrow definition of disability and has been most effective for only the most severe and long lasting burn injuries.

Burn victims need extensive treatment

 Many burn victims find it difficult to get a job. Their appearance may be off-putting and they may need extensive time off from work for treatment or therapy. It isn’t uncommon for a person suffering from serious burns to undergo treatment or counseling for many years.

Employers are encouraged to take steps to make the work environment easier not only for burn victims, but for other employees. Such steps might include educating employees on how to treat a co-worker who has burn injuries, making specialized equipment or resources available or even transferring the employee to another position or location.

Two Miami police officers and a pregnant woman are among a total of seven people injured in a collision between a police cruiser and a station wagon.

The cruiser collided with a Ford Escort station wagon at Northwest Eighth Street and Third Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. A witness said the police cruiser had itA Miami Police Department spokeswoman said the two police officers were inside a cruiser and responding to a call at the time of the crash.

A total of seven people were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. One of the police officers suffered a broken leg.

A pregnant woman in the station wagon was knocked into its cargo area, NBC 6 reported. Another woman was responsive at first and then passed out, authorities said.

“Right now, her condition is considered extremely critical,” said Lt. Ignatius Carroll of Miami Fire-Rescue. “She was transported by rescue while they were doing CPR on her. We don’t know if that’s related to the accident at hand or anything else.”

Investigators said two people are in critical condition, and that the woman who passed out might have gone into cardiac arrest.

Police said there would be an investigation into the crash to determine if the police officers were following proper procedures on the road.

There was no word on how the crash happened or who caused it’s lights on.

California on Friday became the first state to ban trans fats from restaurant food, following several cities and major fast-food chains in erasing the notorious artery-clogger from menus.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that will ban restaurants and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine and shortening containing trans fats.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger noted that consuming trans fat is linked to coronary heart disease.

“Today we are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California,” he said.

Violations could result in fines of $25 to $1,000. Food items sold in their manufacturers’ sealed packaging would be exempt.

New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle and Montgomery County, Md., have ordinances banning trans fats, but California is the first state to adopt such a law covering restaurants, said Amy Winterfeld, a health policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

California and Oregon already had laws banning trans fats in meals served at schools, she added.

The legislation signed by Schwarzenegger will take effect Jan. 1, 2010, for oil, shortening and margarine used in spreads or for frying. Restaurants could continue using trans fats to deep-fry yeast dough and in cake batter until Jan. 1, 2011.

Trans fats occur naturally in small amounts in meat and dairy products. Most trans fats are created when vegetable oil is treated with hydrogen to create baked and fried goods with a longer shelf life.

An attorney who was a consultant to New York City in developing its ban, said trans fat is a larger health risk than saturated fat because it reduces so-called good cholesterol.

A 2006 review of trans fat studies by the New England Journal of Medicine concluded there was a strong connection between consumption of trans fats and heart disease. Studies also have linked trans fats to diabetes, obesity, infertility in women and some types of cancer.

The California Restaurant Association opposed the bill. Spokesman Daniel Conway said the federal Food and Drug Administration rather than individual states should be developing regulations on trans fat use.

He said, however, that the association has no plans to challenge the law, in part because restaurants already are phasing out trans fats to satisfy customers. Several major fast-food chains have announced that they have eliminated trans fats from their menus or intend to so do in the near future.

A lawsuit was recently filed in Fresno, California, for the wrongful death of a beloved teacher who was a patient at St. Agnes Medical Center.

The suit claims the staff at the hospital is responsible for her untimely death and says medical negligence is the reason she is no longer able to be with the children she taught and served as an inspiration to.

Surgery Leads to Infection

Carole Brammer went to St. Agnes Medical Center to undergo a hernia operation last October, and according to reports, everything went well.

However, in her recovery process, Brammer developed a “super bug” known as MRSA, an infection which a month later took her life.

Family Blames Hospital Staff for Negligence

Brammer had served as a teacher at Fresno Unified for over 30 years and her family filed the suit against the medical center for cutting her life short.

The court papers say the staff at St. Agnes was negligent in caring for Brammer and as a result she became susceptible to the infection, which took over her body and her health.

Hospital with History of Outbreaks

According to reports, the hospital has a history of infection outbreaks in May the state health department delayed all cardiac surgeries due to the increasing number of post operation infections that were occurring.

“When you have the state public health department suspending their right to conduct surgeries because of infections, I think the inference is there already, that the hospital was negligent,” says legal analyst, Tony Capozzi.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a jury verdict that found a Norwood doctor liable for negligence in a specific type of medical malpractice case known as “loss of chance.”

Loss of chance cases involve instances of negligence that further reduce a patient’s odds of survival, particularly if that patient’s odds are already less than 50 percent.

The court ruling stated that physicians can be held liable for damages where “negligence reduces or eliminates the patient’s prospects for achieving a more favorable medical outcome.”

The Medical Negligence Case

In the case at issue, the jury had awarded $1 million to the family of a man who died of gastric cancer in 1999. Kimiyoshi Matsuyama, 46, had complained about stomach pains to his doctor for several years before the doctor ordered diagnostic testing that revealed the cancer.

Within months of the diagnosis, Matsuyama died.

“The SJC has finally recognized for the rights of victims of medical malpractice to be compensated for…the loss of that person’s chance to survive a horrible medical condition that should have been properly diagnosed in the first place,” said attorney David Angueira.

 A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400’s fuselage, officials and passengers said.

There were no injuries, but some of the 345 passengers vomited after disembarking, said Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations Octavio Lina.