Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: Mar-2020
Dead Construction Worker's Family Receives $2M Settlement
In 2016, a construction worker from Elizabeth was killed after falling from a forklift at a banquet hall construction site in Morris County. His family recently received a wrongful death lawsuit settlement of $2 million from the court.
According to the victim's family attorney and the Occupational Safety Health Administration(OSHA), he wasn't wearing any safety gear while working on the construction site. He was standing on a pallet on the forklift when the ladder of the forklift was lowering. The forks broke off the forklift while lowering the ladder, which caused him to fall 20 feet.
The lawsuit further states that the victim was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. It also stated that neither the driver of the forklift, nor any of the workers received the safety training on the day of the incident, and before the fall they both were working 50 feet above the ground level.
Employers, ABN Realty, the owner and developer of the Legacy Castle, and subcontractor GK Brothers, the Belleville non-union roofing company, both paid $1 million each to Montero. OSHA also fined GK Brothers $38,025, for committing three serious safety violations, penalizing each at $12,675.
A similar incident happened at Kean University on May 13, 2016, where a worker fell from an elevator shaft. The fall resulted in serious injuries for the man that included multiple fractures and damaged skull and wrist. As per the court documents, the victim was misinformed by the site superintendent that the floor has plastic foam. The worker had to announce his retirement post the incident due to cognitive problems. He received a settlement of $3 million after four years of the accident.
The 21 years old plaintiff working in a banquet hall construction site was rushed to an area hospital and pronounced dead minutes later, as per Clark Law Firm, which represented Montero’s family.
The subcontractor and the contractor in charge of building the Legacy Castle in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock agreed to the settlement in late 2019, according to the New Jersey Law Journal which was the first to report on the settlement.
Neither the driver of the forklift nor any of the workers had received safety training on Nov. 18, 2016, the law firm said. Earlier in the day, Montero and a co-worker were on the forklift about 50 feet off the ground without safety gear to install copper finial ornaments.
The owner of ABN Realty watched on with the approval of this dangerous method, the law firm stated in a statement. All workers exposed to fall hazards six feet or more have to be protected from falls with a harness and lanyard or other protection. Directing workers on a platform on a forklift is dangerous and against basic safety rules, the law firm representing the plaintiff further added.
Massachusetts Girl Gets $11.5M In Medical Malpractice
A jury awarded $11.5 million in medical malpractice to an 18-month-old girl in Massachusetts. In April 2009, the girl, now 11, was brought to Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts by her father after she started vomiting and showed signs of dehydration.
According to the reports of a chest X-ray of the girl, the radiologist discovered that she had bronchiolitis v. atypical pneumonia. As the radiologist failed to diagnose her enlarged heart, it resulted in the delay of the treatment of myocarditis resulting in cardiac arrest and permanent brain damage.
The girl's attorneys said that the radiologist's medical negligence toward the patient resulted in the mishap causing lifetime ailments to the girl. If the radiologist had identified the enlarged heart, the standard of care would have involved an echocardiogram for diagnosing myocarditis, and even the physician would have proceeded accordingly.
The attorney further claimed that the mishap has permanently affected the girl's life as she is 11-years-old, but in terms of development and brain function, it is similar to a four-year-old.
In a similar incident at an Oak Park, Illinois, Hospital, a Cook County jury awarded a $101 million medical malpractice verdict for the family of a baby born with a damaged brain. As per the court papers, the nurses were ignorant of the infant's external fetal monitoring strips for six hours before and during his delivery, which led to abnormalities. The baby won't be able to take care of itself or speak for a lifetime due to the doctors' negligence in performing unnecessary C-section surgery.
The case was tried before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Senechalle, Jr., at the Daley Center before a six-man-six-woman jury that deliberated six hours. The previous record in Illinois was $53 million for a baby born with brain damage in 2016.
“The jury was attentive throughout the entire trial and understood some very complicated medical concepts to achieve justice for little Gerald,” the representative from the plaintiff's family said following the trial. We are appreciative that the boy will now get the lifelong, 24/7 care that he needs for the rest of his life.”
Plaintiffs’ experts testified that the boy is expected to live a normal life span. He cannot speak or take care of himself in any way. The delivery occurred on August 9, 2014.
Tenet Healthcare To Pay $1.4M To Settle Cardiac Lawsuit
Attorneys have ordered Tenet Healthcare Corporation and its Southern California hospital Desert Regional Medical Center to pay $1.41 million for the allegations of implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors in patients.
According to the lawsuit filed by the former hospital employee, Tenet and Desert Regional violated the federal False Claims Act.
The lawsuit claimed that the medical center unnecessarily implanted cardiac monitors known as loop recorders in patients between 2014 and 2017 at the hospital in Palm Springs. The hospital even charged fees for the use of the recorders.
The employee will receive about $240,000 as his share of the government’s recovery.
The lawsuit alleged the medical center charged Medicare after cardiologists unnecessarily implanted cardiac monitors commonly known as loop recorders in patients between 2014 and 2017 at the hospital in Palm Springs. Medicare only reimburses services and treatments that are reasonable and medically necessary.
“Invasive medical procedures, such as implanting heart monitors, are not without risk,” said a representative from the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Therefore, when these procedures are medically unnecessary, as contended in this case, people in government health programs are put at needless peril, and taxpayers end up with the bill.
The claims resolved by the agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability, the Justice Department statement said.
Tenet acknowledged it settled the lawsuit “related to a portion of cardiac loop recorder devices implanted from 2014 to 2017” at Desert Regional Medical Center.
Kaiser Permanente Faces $25M Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
A man has sued Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare company, whose neurosurgeon performed brain surgery on Zimmer, which resulted in permanent brain damage to him.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was suffering from headaches, confusion, and agitation when he entered the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center in February 2018. A CT scan reported a large mass in his brain, which the neurosurgeon identified it, as hemangioblastoma. The surgeon advised the plaintiff to get the tumor removed by surgery. After the surgery, the plaintiff was not able to communicate as the nurses stated his speech as "word salad."
Another CT scan performed on the plaintiff indicated that the surgery was performed on the wrong part of the brain by the neurosurgeon, and instead of a tumor, the healthy tissue of his brain has been removed. The lawsuit alleged that the removal of the tissue resulted in difficulty for the plaintiff to read and write as the tissue helped in language development.
A Portland attorney who represented the plaintiff said that the plaintiff is seeking $100,000 for medical expenses, $725,000 for lifetime medical care, lifetime living expenses of $6.1 million, and economic damages of $18 million.
The slow-growing, benign tumor was obstructing the plaintiff's brain, the suit says, leading to a decision to perform surgery to remove it.After his morning surgery, the plaintiff couldn’t communicate with recovery nurses, who described his speech as “word salad,” the lawsuit says.
The tissue had come from a part of the plaintiff's cerebrum that helps with language development instead of from his cerebellum, his lawsuit alleges. Wrobel performed another surgery on the plaintiff that evening, with the assistance of another doctor, the suit says, successfully removing the mass.
The plaintiff who had suffered a brain injury at 19, had been able to care for himself and live independently before the surgeries, his suit says, the result of extensive rehab. But after the surgery, the suit says he could not read three-letter words out loud and wrote words like “cat” and “dog” as “cath” and “doag.”
The plaintiff is represented by Portland attorney Robert Beatty-Walters. The suit seeks $100,000 for medical expenses, $725,000 for lifetime medical care, lifetime living expenses of $6.1 million, and economic damages of $18 million.
Quadriplegic Victim’s $9.5M Settlement Approved
On February 12, 2020, a district judge issued an order in response to the evidence provided by an attorney that he had negotiated over a $9,500,000.00 settlement on a semi-truck accident.
The victim suffered from quadriplegia due to the accident. The court's order also dismissed a Lanham Act case against the attorney and his law firm, which was filed by a former employee-attorney.
The Court found and ruled that the attorney provided adequate proof that a $9 million or $9.5 million settlement occurred.
U.S. Federal District Judge Eric F. Melgren confirmed the 9.5 million dollar settlement accurate dismissing the lawsuit against the attorney and his firm.
According to the Foundation for Spinal Cord Injury and Prevention (FSCIP), 42% of all spinal cord injuries since 2005 have been caused by motor vehicle accidents.
Among reported spinal cord injury cases, 50.5% are quadriplegic. In the U.S., 12,000 new spinal cord injury cases are reported every year.
The extent of disability from quadriplegic injuries depends on how severe the damage is to the spinal cord, the level of the injury, and the precise area of the spinal cord affected by the injury.
Quadriplegia can be complete or incomplete. According to the Mayo Clinic, when almost all feeling and motor function are lost below the level of the spinal cord injury, it is complete quadriplegia. If some ability to control movement and sensation remains below the injured area, it is incomplete quadriplegia.
Pennsylvania Nursing Home Chain To Pay $15.5M Penalty
United States Attorney announced that Guardian Elder Care Holdings, Inc. and its related companies have to pay $15,466,278 as a settlement for the unnecessary rehabilitation therapy to patients for meeting the financial targets rather than clinical needs.
The whistleblowers alleged Guardian Elder Care that their main focus is always on making a profit rather than focusing on clinical need, as the rehabilitation therapists were regularly pressured to achieve the financial targets over clinical need. They informed that the patients were unnecessarily forced to undergo rehabilitation therapy even if it is not needed.
The settlement will help in resolving allegations of the whistleblower complaint filed by former employers of Guardian Elder Care in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.
Both former employees will share approximately $2.8 million of the recovery between them. The settlement agreement resolves the allegations arising from Guardian Elder Care’s facilities management practices from January 2011 through December 2017.
Rehabilitation therapists were pressured by Brockway, Pennsylvania-based Guardian, and its related companies for financial reasons to provide services to some dementia patients and those dying and receiving hospice care even though they did not want or need the “intensive” treatment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
During the government’s investigation, Guardian also revealed it employed two people who were excluded from working in federal health care programs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The settlement includes the company “inappropriately” getting paid for services provided by those two people, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain stated in a news release that, “Too much rehabilitation therapy can harm patients, just like giving them too many pills or too much medicine,”. Furthermore, it also harms taxpayers who foot the bill for unnecessary treatment. The attorney also stated that they commend Guardian Elder Care for telling them about its employment of the excluded providers. It is in their best interest for companies to make voluntary disclosures and emphasize compliance going forward.
School Settles Lawsuit Filed By The Family Of A Drowned Boy
The family of a 15-year old pupil of San Ramon Valley High School who drowned in the school’s swimming pool in Danville in May 2018, received an $8 million settlement.
Parents of the boy who drowned in the pool filed a lawsuit six months after the incident, against the school and physical education teacher, alleging that they neglected the safety of their kid.
According to the lawsuit, on May 8, 2018, during a PE class at the high school's pool, the kid and other students were asked to tread water for three minutes, which was extended by 30 seconds. The kid went under the water after the initial three minutes, following which he was pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital.
The school district made a public apology to the community, and the parents. The school district’s attorney informed that the school suspended the use of the pool post the kid's drowning.
The attorney even notified that the teacher is not facing any legal sanctions further and is still a teacher in the high school. Plaintiffs' attorney said the parents are in deep pain, which is worsening even after the settlement.
The Contra Costa County Coroner's Office ruled the cause of the boy's death to be asphyxia due to drowning and the manner of death was accidental. No criminal charges were filed, but the plaintiff's family sued the PE teacher and school district in November 2018.
The lawsuit claimed the PE teacher had a lifeguard certification that expired two months before the incident, as per the reports of the San Francisco Chronicle. The boy's family also alleged that surveillance video showed that the PE teacher was on his phone when the drowning happened, though the district attorney said he was not texting or talking on the phone at the time.
A similar incident took place in 2019 when a boy almost got drowned in a wave pool at the Cowabunga Bay. The jury awarded $49 million as the boy suffered lifelong injuries. The drowning resulted in severe brain damage to the boy as he was submerged underwater for a longer time. Currently, he requires 24-hour care due to hypoxic and anoxic brain injury that disrupts the oxygen flow around the body.
The civil lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court alleged that Cowabunga Bay did not have enough lifeguards on staff when the boy was underwater.
Attorneys in the case agreed that investigations through the past four years uncovered facts that showed liability against Henderson Water Park LLC for negligence. Medical experts believe that the boy could live anywhere from 64 to 81 years old and incur medical costs between $40 million and $59 million.