Consumer Safety

A ‘minor’ accident can cause a major pain in the neck (or back, or joints…)

Jeff Dobbelmann was a big, likable stockbroker – he stood 6′5″ and was 270 pounds. And he seemed to be completely unharmed when another car rear-ended him. He had no apparent injuries, and the damage to his car was nothing more than a dented bumper.

But in the weeks and months that followed, Dobbelmann began experiencing pain – neck pain, back pain, and frequent headaches. Could this pain possibly be the result of his “minor” fender-bender?

Yes, it could. Dobbelmann suffered what’s known as a “soft tissue” injury. A soft tissue injury means damage to a muscle, ligament or tendon in the body.

These injuries are not always easy to see or diagnose. There is often no obvious bleeding or bruising. And unlike damage to bones or organs, soft tissue injuries usually don’t show up clearly on an x-ray or an MRI.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t serious. They can cause persistent pain in the neck, back, shoulders, or joints, as well as headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, irritability, and difficulty in concentrating or swallowing.

Many people don’t realize that these symptoms are the result of a car crash or other accident. For one thing, the symptoms often don’t develop until some time has passed after the crash. Because the symptoms don’t show up right away, people don’t necessarily make the connection.

Many people also find it hard to believe that a “minor” rear-ender can cause serious pain. But just because there was little or no damage to your car doesn’t mean there was little or no damage to your body. Your metal bumper is specifically designed to absorb sudden, jolting movements, but your joints and tendons don’t have the same kind of protection.

Even a low-speed “bump” can potentially cause muscle strains and tears, ligament sprains, tendonitis, bursitis, deep muscle bruises or contusions, joint dislocations, or nerve damage.

Car accidents are not the only causes of soft-tissue injury. These injuries can also happen as the result of slipping and falling, a sports injury, an assault, a work accident, or even just repetitive motions at work over time.

If you have this type of pain, it’s good to talk with an attorney. An attorney – perhaps working with an orthopedist, neurologist, or physical therapist – may be able to pinpoint the cause of the problem, and seek compensation if appropriate.

In Jeff Dobbelmann’s case, a Minnesota jury found in his favor and awarded him compensation for all his medical expenses, plus a substantial award for his pain and suffering.

Care facilities are held liable for bedsores

When residents in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities aren’t turned regularly in their beds, they can develop bedsores. And if these bedsores aren’t noticed and promptly treated, they can cause serious complications – and even death.

In fact, a Georgia jury recently found a private-care home responsible after Charlotte Dean, a 51-year-old patient, died after developing bedsores. The agency that sent nurses to the home to care for Dean was also held liable.

Dean, who suffered from cerebral palsy and couldn’t speak, had lived in the home for more than four years. In late 2006, she developed a bedsore on her tailbone, but it was treated.

However, several months later she was rushed to the emergency room and died the next day. The emergency room doctor reported – and the autopsy confirmed – multiple severe bedsores, including particularly severe ones on her ears. The care facility’s records, however, indicated only the single bedsore that had been treated.

Family members testified at trial that when they visited Dean, her ears were either bandaged or covered by a toboggan cap.

Dean’s family claimed the facility was understaffed, provided too little supervision, and had a high turnover of employees, leading to the terrible care that Dean received.

Bedsores are not just an issue in long-term care facilities. A Nevada man recently received a significant jury award after developing bedsores at a hospital during a week-long stay following hip surgery.

Don’t assume that you can’t be compensated because ‘it’s your fault’

When an injury occurs, many people blame themselves or assume that their injured family member was at fault. This is natural…and sometimes you or a loved one really is partly at fault. But you should never assume that this means you can’t be compensated for your loss. Only an attorney can thoroughly investigate a case and determine if the person who appears to be at fault is entirely to blame.

For instance, some years ago a student in Boston died after he fell down a set of stairs at a bar. The student had been drinking heavily, and after his death his alcohol level was found to be more than twice the legal limit.

No one saw how the student fell. But you might naturally assume that the accident was his fault.

Sometimes the person who appears to be to blame for an accident actually isn’t at fault.

However, attorneys investigated and found that the accident might very well not have been his fault. It turned out that the stairway violated the building code. It was narrow and steep, wasn’t properly lit, and didn’t have railings. What’s more, it was hidden at the top by dark vinyl strips rather than a proper door, so it wasn’t obvious that there were stairs there at all. The student could easily have leaned against the strips and fallen.

A kitchen manager at the bar was interviewed and revealed that she had fallen down the steps herself in exactly the same way, and had seen a liquor company representative fall down them as well.

A judge determined that the bar owners hadn’t obtained a building permit for the stairs, and had avoided having them checked by a building inspector for many years.

As a result, the judge found that the bar was responsible for the student’s death, and awarded compensation to his family.

Restaurant responsible for shooting on premises

We all know that a business can be held responsible when dangerous conditions on the premises – such as icy sidewalks or slippery floors – cause a customer to get hurt.

But a business can also sometimes be held responsible when the danger is a fellow customer.

For example, a jury recently awarded money to three people who were injured by a fellow patron at a 24-hour Denny’s restaurant near Seattle.

The man had been tossed from a nearby bar for arguing with customers. He came into the Denny’s, where he insulted customers, threw dishes on the floor, picked a fight, threatened to “smoke someone” and briefly left before returning with a handgun.

When he returned, he fired the gun, seriously wounding one customer and causing minor injuries to two others.

Denny’s argued that it wasn’t responsible for the attack because it was a random act on the part of the shooter that nobody could have predicted.

But the jury found that violence at the location was foreseeable, given the history of rowdy late-night crowds there. Police reports detailed numerous violent incidents at the restaurant around the time that the local bars closed. Denny’s employees testified that they were scared to come to work at that hour, and that there was no security plan in place despite the frequent dangerous incidents.

As a result, the jury decided that the restaurant should be held responsible for the injuries because it failed to provide a reasonable level of security for its customers.

Migraine drug Topamax could lead to birth defects

Topamax is a drug that has been effective in treating people for epilepsy and migraine headaches. But the FDA recently warned that women who take Topamax during pregnancy have an increased risk of having a child born with a cleft lip and/or a cleft palate.

The news comes less than a year after Johnson & Johnson, which owns the maker of Topamax, paid a $6.14 million fine for promoting the drug’s use for purposes that hadn’t been approved by the FDA, such as weight loss, alcohol dependence, eating disorders and anxiety.

It’s hard to predict how many people could be affected by the birth-defect problem,

because so many people used Topamax and its generic versions for unapproved uses in addition to migraines and epilepsy.

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Landlord is sued for injury caused by tenant’s pit bull

Dog owners can be held responsible for injuries caused by their dangerous pets…and in some instances, their landlords can be held accountable as well.

For example, in Maryland, a 10-year-old boy was attacked and severely injured by a pit bull that escaped from a nearby duplex.

The tenants who owned the dog declared bankruptcy, so the boy’s parents sued the landlord who owned the duplex, claiming that she shouldn’t have allowed the dangerous dog on the property.

The landlord claimed she wasn’t responsible because she didn’t know about the dog’s vicious nature.

But a court found that she did know the dog was dangerous. Specifically, the court pointed to a provision in the tenants’ lease stating that the landlord wasn’t responsible for any harm caused by the dog – which the landlord presumably wouldn’t have added if she didn’t think the dog might be a problem.

(Although the lease said the landlord wasn’t responsible, she could still be sued by the boy’s parents because they never signed the lease.)

Hospital errors are 10 times more common than was previously thought

Medical errors in hospitals happen much more frequently than most of us thought.

A new study published in the journal Health Affairs found that the previous methods of determining hospital error rates undercounted actual mistakes by as much as 90 percent.

Overall, the study suggested that as many as one out of three hospital visits results in an “adverse” medical error.

Of course, some of these mistakes are minor, and only a relatively small number lead to a serious injury. But the findings are nonetheless surprising and disturbing.

If you or a loved one is being treated in a hospital, it’s important to pay attention to the care that’s being provided, ask plenty of questions, and follow up on anything that just doesn’t seem right.

Injured person didn’t have to repay Medicaid in full

When a person is injured in an accident, Medicaid will sometimes cover the medical expenses. If the person later receives compensation in a lawsuit or a settlement, he or she is generally expected to pay Medicaid back.

But depending on the circumstances, the injured person might not have to pay Medicaid back in full.

For instance, an Arizona woman who settled a personal injury lawsuit for $843,000 didn’t have to reimburse Medicaid for the entire $268,000 in medical expenses it had paid, the Arizona Court of Appeals recently decided.

The reason? The woman’s total damages in her accident were $4 million. Because the settlement only covered a fraction of her damages, it would be unfair to make her pay Medicaid back in full out of the settlement proceeds.

However, you should be aware that Medicaid reimbursement law is very complicated, and can vary a great deal from state to state.