North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

A Mocksville men was injured on Sunday evening in a North Carolina dog attack when he was bitten three boxers. David Potts was jogging when the animals surrounded him. They didn’t stop biting him until their owner, Ralph Kinary, called them off.

Potts had to undergo surgery to repair his arm tendon. He also needed 30 stitches for his arms and legs.

The dogs were in the owner’s backyard and weren’t leashed because the owner’s wife was outside at the time. Kinary told WXII that the dogs had never been vicious until now and he doesn’t know why they chose to attack Potts.

North Carolina Dog Bites
Under state law, dog owners are not allowed to let dogs older than six months run at large at night unless they are accompanied by the owner, the owner’s relative, or someone else in charge of supervising the animals. Our Charlotte, North Carolina dog bite lawyers want to remind you of the importance of exploring your legal options soon after the incident.

Because the state has laws regarding contributory negligence, you will need experienced North Carolina injury representation to prove that you didn’t contribute to causing your dog bite injuries. This is not the kind of North Carolina personal injury case that you want to handle on your own.

Recent Dog Bite Facts from the Insurance Information Institute:
• $412 million was spent on dog-bite insurance claims in 2009—up from the $387.2 million in homeowners' insurance liability that was paid the year before.
• On average, a dog bite claim costs $24,840.
• The increase in dog-bite related costs can be credited to to dog bite injury verdicts and judgment and injury-related medical costs that have gone above the inflation rate.

Jogger Encircled, Attacked By Dogs, WXII12, August 30, 2010

Dog-Bite Claims Exceeded $400 Million in 2009 on Higher Medical Costs, InsuranceNewsNet, August 23, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Dog Bite Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dog Bites: When Is an Owner Liable?, Nolo

The American Medical Association says that an average of 95 medical malpractice claims are filed for every 100 doctors. The AMA reveals this and other key findings in its report, which includes data based on a 2008 survey of 5,825 doctors from 42 specialties.

Other findings from the study:
• Almost 61% of doctors in the 55 and older age group have been sued.
• 90% of general surgeons in this age group will have been sued.
• The number of claims for every 100 doctors was over 5 times more for obstetricians-gynecologists and general surgeons than for psychiatrists and pediatricians.
• Over 50% of OB/GYNs will have been sued before they turn 40.

Our Charlotte, North Carolina medical malpractice lawyers are dedicated to helping our clients and their families recover injury compensation from negligent hospitals, surgeons, OB/GYNs, nurses, pediatricians, dentists, oncologists, radiologists, ophthalmologists, and other medical professionals. Contact us to request your free case evaluation if you believe that you or your loved one was the victim of medical malpractice in this state.

Interestingly enough, according to a study on the University of Michigan Health System’s disclosure-with-offer program, telling patients and their families about medical mistakes and offering them compensation in a timely manner—this is exactly what the program does—does not increase the likelihood of a medical liability lawsuit. Instead, the results include less medical malpractice complaints, faster resolution of cases, and lower liability expenses.

Regardless of whether or not a medical provider is willing to offer you compensation for the medical-related injuries that you have suffered, it is still important that you explore your legal options with an experienced North Carolina medical malpractice law firm.

Medical error disclosure not linked to more lawsuits, American Medical News, August 23, 2010

New AMA Report Finds 95 Medical Liability Claims Filed for Every 100 Physicians, American Medical Association, August 3, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Medical Liability Claim Frequency: A 2007-2008 Snapshot of Physicians (PDF)

Medical Malpractice, Insurance Information Institute

A 23-year-old man who is now a quadriplegic has filed a dangerous drug lawsuit against the makers of Rituxan. The defendants of this products liability complaint are Biogen Idec. and Genentech Inc.

Jesse Peetz started taking the immunosuppressant in 2003 to treat thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura, an autoimmune disorder that he had been suffering from since he was 11. He contends that he was unaware that the drug would make him susceptible to developing untreatable infections. He developed a near-deadly infection in 2005 that resulted in his loss of motor function.

In his dangerous drug complaint, Peetz is accusing the defendants of failing until 2007 to warn users about the risks associated with taking the immunosuppressant. He contends that in 2003, defendants began marketing Rituxan for off-label use to treat the condition that Peetz was suffering from. Off-label means that the Food and Drug Administration had not approved this particular use for the suppressant. In 2007, BIogen Idec and Genentech finally put out a warning that use of the drug could lead to untreatable viral infections, catastrophic injury, and death.

Rituxan is FDA-approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The powerful drug gets rid of mature circulating B-cells for close to nine months, which can allow for the deadly viruses. Rituxan has also been linked to several cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a deadly brain and nervous system viral infection.

Peetz took Rituxan for two years before he developed the dangerous viral inflection. Now, he depends heavily on a ventilator.

Charlotte, North Carolina Dangerous Drug Lawsuit
Just because you or your loved one took a drug prescribed by a doctor and made by a pharmaceutical company doesn’t mean that the medication is good for you. Unfortunately, dangerous drugs continue to make it out into the marketplace, posing a serious danger to people. Drug manufacturers must be held accountable for their negligence in making and designing a drug that can hurt or kill you.

Neb. man sues makers of Rituxan after infection, WTOP/AP, August 11, 2010

Lawsuit Says Rituxan Left Man A Quadriplegic, Drug Discovery and Development, August 12, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Rituxan

Genentech Inc.

Biogen Idec.

North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services is recommending that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fine the Britthaven of Chapel Hill nursing home $20,000 in penalties. This amount is the federal maximum allowed for violations, which investigators say took place in February.

Following investigations of the Chapel Hill nursing home by the Nursing Home Licensure and Certification Section on February 18, June 15, 16, 17, 29, July 1and 27 of this year, the state found evidence supporting 8 of 25 complaints that were filed, including those involving:

• Failure to protect 14 Alzheimer’s patients from becoming victims of abuse.
• Failure to ensure protect patients from being administered unnecessary drugs.
• Failure to prevent medical mistakes.

The violations stem from incidents connected to Angela Almore, a former registered nurse who has been charged with North Carolina nursing home abuse and second-degree murder for the death of resident Rachel Holliday. The 84-year-old patient had morphine levels in her system that likely contributed to her death from pneumonia and asphyxiation. Almore is also blamed for the morphine-related injuries of six other residents. None of them had morphine prescriptions as part of their treatment.

It was just last year that CMS fined Britthaven of Chapel Hill $216,400 for not being in compliance with certain requirements. Resident Mary Lou Barzon, 95, broke both thigh bones when a nursing home worker dropped her while transferring the patient to her bed. The nursing assistant did not use a mechanical lift, even though the patient’s care plan called for it. No one reported the North Carolina fall accident, which left Barzon’s injuries untreated for two weeks. The elderly resident passed away soon after. Now, her family is suing the assisted living facility for her Chapel Hill wrongful death.

In another Chapel Hill nursing home negligence lawsuit against Britthaven of Chapel Hill, Marian Orlowski’s widow is seeking damages. Orlowski, who had dementia, was injured in a fall accident. Jadwiga Orlowski claims the assisted living facility did not provide her husband with the proper nursing care.

Nursing home may be fined, NewsObserver.com, August 12, 2010

Report calls for Britthaven fines, The Herald Sun, August 11, 2010

North Carolina Nursing Home Negligence: Britthaven of Chapel Hill Sued for Inadequate Care, North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog, July 10, 2010

Related Web Resources:
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services

Nursing Home Licensure and Certification Section

Michael A. DeMayo, a Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury lawyer, is now a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the country. Members must have won multi-million dollar verdicts, settlements, and awards for their clients. Attorney DeMayo, who is founder and president of the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, is also a Life Member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Less than 1% of US attorneys belong to this group, known for its excellence in advocacy and for having obtained for at least one client an award, settlement, or verdict of $1 million or greater.

Charlotte, Personal Injury Attorney DeMayo leads a team of dedicated professionals with over 100 years of combined legal experience. They are committed to obtaining the financial recovery that their clients and families are owed by negligent parties. Our North Carolina law firm represents victims and surviving family members with all types of injury cases, including those involving medical malpractice, automobile accidents, truck accidents, slip and fall, products liability, defective medical devices, dangerous drugs, nursing home neglect and abuse, motorcycle accidents, dog bites, pedestrian accidents, and workers’ compensation. The Law Offices of Michael DeMayo is located in Charlotte, Monroe, Hickory, and Lumberton, North Carolina. We also represent clients with South Carolina personal injury cases in the counties of Marlboro, Chesterfield, York and Lancaster.

Charlotte, North Carolina Car Accident Lawyer Michael A. DeMayo is also an active member of the community. Each year, his law firm awards college scholarships to a number of high school seniors for their innovative and creative ideas on ways to stop teens from driving drunk.

Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum & Million Dollar Advocates Forum

Michael A. DeMayo, Esq.

Verdicts & Settlements, Law Office of Michael A. DeMayo

Continue reading "Charlotte, North Carolina Injury Attorney Michael A. DeMayo Now a Member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum" »

Edward Karkoska’s dangerous drug lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Levaquin, will go to trial, ruled a federal judge—despite efforts by the manufacturer and subsidiary Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. to have the case dismissed. Karkoska maintains that if there had been more information available about the side effects linked to the antibiotic, his doctor would have prescribed a different medication.

Karkoska is not the only person to sue Johnson & Johnson over claims of injuries sustained from taking Levaquin. He is also not the first to claim that he ruptured his tendon because of the drug. The plaintiffs have contended that if the drug manufacturer had taken greater pains to let people know about the dangerous side effects that could result from taking Levaquin, their injuries would not have happened.

Levaquin
Levaquin was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1996. The drug is used to prevent bacterial infections of the kidneys, skin, bladder, sinuses, prostate, as well as infections related to pneumonia and bronchitis. Over the years, evidence has mounted that the medication can also damage the body’s tendons. A black box warning was issued for the antibiotic in 2008, yet many doctors are still not aware that ruptured tendons is a possible side effect.

Other serious Levaquin side effects:
• Diarrhea
• Seizures
• Dizziness
• Joint pain or swelling
• Dark urine
• Yellow or pale skin
• Easy bleeding or bruising
• Skin rash
• Fever

Our Charlotte, North Carolina dangerous drug lawyers are committed to fighting for our clients’ right to injury recovery from a negligent drug manufacturer. Unfortunately, even medications that have been FDA-approved can be dangerous to ingest.

Levaquin Lawsuit Proceeds To Trial Over Ruptured Tendons, DrugAlert.org, August 6, 2010

Levaquin, Drugs.com

Related Web Resources:
Read Pretrial Order #4 (PDF)

US Food and Drug Administration

Continue reading "Dangerous Drug Lawsuit Involving Levaquin and Ruptured Tendons Will Go to Trial" »

According to Disability Rights North Carolina, the state has violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by neglecting to give mentally ill patients the correct type of housing, as well as not properly overseeing the sometimes hazardous and poor conditions at these state-licensed and inspected facilities. The advocacy group filed its complaint with the U.S. Justice Department earlier this week.

It was almost 10 years ago that the state of North Carolina closed thousands of beds in psychiatric facilities that were run by the government. A state study reports says that last year, there were over 6,400 patients suffering from serious mental illnesses that were living in North Carolina assisted living facilities and adult care residences. Unfortunately, in the last two years alone, at least four North Carolina nursing home residents have died at the hands of mentally ill and violent residents. Per TheSunNews.com:

• In December 2008, Levi Montgomery , 69, was allegedly killed by his roommate, Muncie Grimes, 60, at a Fayetteville nursing home. Grimes, suffers dementia and schizophrenia.

• Roland Simmons, 70, was beaten to death with a stick at a Hickory, nursing home last July. Dennis Scherzer, 43, is a paranoid schizophrenic.

• In October 2009 in Asheville, Kenneth Hayward, a 43-year-old mentally ill resident, allegedly beat 66-year-old Walter Davis to death during a disagreement over $4.25.

• Also last year, 27-year-old Jeremiah Love was beaten with a cane at a Surry County rest home by another patient. According to residents at the facility, no rest home workers were around during the altercation, which lasted several minutes. Love was later given a bag of ice for the bump on his head. He died from blood pooling in his brain.

According to the Associated Press, in 2009 there were close to 125,000 seriously mentally ill middle-aged and young adults living in US assisted living facilities—a 41% jump from 2002. The issue of whether it makes sense to house seriously mentally ill nursing home residents with the general population is not a unique one, and there have been incidents in other US states involving patient violence that have resulted in resident fatalities and deaths.

Allowing seriously mentally ill nursing home patients to live with other residents can be detrimental for everyone involved. If your loved one was the victim of a violent crime committed by another patient, you may have grounds for filing a North Carolina nursing home neglect and abuse case.

At Least Four North Carolina Nursing Home Residents Killed by Mentally Ill and Violent Patients in the Last Two Years, WakeMyNYC.com, July 28, 2010

Four killed in N.C. rest homes, TheSunNews, July 30, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Americans With Disabilities Act

Disability Rights North Carolina

Continue reading "At Least Four North Carolina Nursing Home Residents Killed by Mentally Ill and Violent Patients in the Last Two Years" »

According to a new study, more than 70,000 teenagers and children end up in the emergency room every year because of medical device complications. Other findings by the US Food and Drug Administration researchers:

• Approximately ¼ of the issues involve contact lenses use, which can lead to eye abrasions and infections.
• Hypodermic needles that break off in the skin is another common cause of medical-device-related child injuries.
• Ear tubes can cause infections.
• Illegal drug use involving hypodermic needles that break can also lead to injuries.
• Pelvic devices used to conduct gynecological exams on teenagers can cause skin tears.
• The most serious medical device-related issues involved chest catheters for cancer patient, implanted devices, and insulin pumps.

Two of the most common reasons for medical device-related to injuries to minors are misuse and malfunction. Also many medical devices used on kids were made for adults.

Our Charlotte, North Carolina defective medical devices attorneys want to remind you that you may be able to hold the manufacturer of a malfunctioning or a defective medical device liable for North Carolina products liability. Inadequate warnings or incomplete instructions can also be grounds for a case.

We know how horrible it can be to discover that the medical device your child is using is harming rather than helping him/her. In some cases, the medical professional that determined that your son or daughter should use the medical device must be held liable for North Carolina medical malpractice.

Medical Device Problems Hurt 70,000+ Kids Annually, NPR, July 26, 2010

Medical device problems hurt 70,000+ kids annually, BusinessWeek, July 26, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Injuries Among Children and Adolescents, CDC

Journal of Pediatrics

Continue reading "Medical Device-Related Complications Send Over 70,000 Children to the ER Every Year" »

The Robeson County Department of Social Services has found new assisted living facilities for the 43 people who had been living at St. Mary's Assisted Living. The North Carolina nursing home was shut down by the state last week after it received a series of poor performance reviews.

Violations against the Robeson County, North Carolina assisted living facility included problems involving nursing home’s staffing levels and qualifications, evacuation plan, fire alarms, health care practices, and personal care practices. The shutting down of the facility comes just days after a July 11 electrical fire that was cause by wiring issues. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the blaze and the damage was contained to one room.

Running an assisted living facility is hard work and requires more than merely providing housing, food, and nursing care for residents. There must be adequate staffing consisting of qualified, skilled, and properly trained nursing home workers. Safety plans must be put in place and safety regulations met to eliminate health hazards and protect the workers from unsanitary conditions. There must be procedures and practices implemented to make sure that the patients are getting the nursing care, medical care, and personal care that they need. Each patient should have a customized care and feeding plan. Security must also be at such a level that robberies, violent crimes, sexual assault, financial elder abuse, and North Carolina nursing home abuse and neglect don’t happen.

It is the nursing home residents and their families that suffer when North Carolina nursing home negligence occurs.

State shuts down Robeson County nursing home, FayObserver, July 21, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Robeson County Department of Social Services

Licensed Facilities, NC Division of Health Service Regulation

Continue reading "Robeson County Nursing Home Negligence?: North Carolina Regulators Shuts Down Facility Following Series of Bad Performance Evaluations " »

According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, pilot error may have been a factor in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina aviation accident on July 12. Per the report, a Cirrus SR20 touched down on the runway at Horace Williams Airport so hard that the plane bounced several times before crashing into a fence and trees.

Killed in the North Carolina plane crash was pilot Thomas Pitts, 66. The two passengers riding with him were injured. Kyle Henn has since been released from the hospital, while Jim Donohue was still in critical condition as of last Friday.

According to witnesses, the private plane appeared to be operating out of control as it arrived at the airport, which belongs to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While it is not uncommon to add a power climb when attempting to re-land an aircraft, “pilot-induced oscillations” are not, and, per the report, excessive speed may have been a factor in this particular case.

One witness says the plane may have been traveling speeds of 60 to 70 mph as it went off the runway, while another witness has said that the nose of the plane was at a 45-degree upward angle during landing. No mechanical problems have been discovered.

North Carolina Plane Accidents
Unfortunately, plane crashes usually result in fatalities and serious injuries for those involved. Aviation accidents are different from other types of injury accidents, and it is important that you work with a Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury law firm that knows how to determine who should be held responsible for your plane crash injuries or your loved one’s wrongful death.

Crash may be pilot's fault, News Observer, July 20, 2010

Friends grieve for pilot killed in crash, The Chapel Hill News, July 18, 2010

Related Web Resources:
NTSB

Plane Accidents Overview, Justia

Lumberton resident Floyd Baldwin is suing Brunswick County officials for North Carolina personal injury. The plaintiff, a former inmate, claims that negligence contributed to the tuberculosis outbreak that occurred in jail last summer. The defendants include Brunswick County’s sheriff, health department, commissioners, and Southern Health Partners Inc., the county’s insurer.

Baldwin says that he spent nine months on the same cellblock were inmate Omar Morales was living. Baldwin, who is taking medicine for the non-contagious form of the disease, contends that Morales, who started the outbreak, was not tested for TB before being admitted to the jail in October 2008. He also says that not only did the defendants disregard the seriousness of Morales’s condition and symptoms, but also, he is accusing the sheriff’s office of failing to have the required jail health plan.

Baldwin claims that the jail ignored the inmates requests that Morales be given medical help and that it was only after Morales’s cellmate also developed TB that the medical care the latter needed was provided.

Since August, 42 people have tested positive for TB, but only two have the active type that is contagious. Baldwin wants damages over $10,000 for emotional trauma, mental anguish and pain, permanent physical injury, physical injury, future medical bills, and other injuries. His North Carolina personal injury attorney says more civil complaints from other inmates who contracted TB are expected.

North Carolina Personal Injury
Officials in charge of prisons and jails are responsible for making sure that suspects and inmates do not become victims of police brutality, violent crimes by other inmates, medical neglect, or other types of negligence. Unfortunately, inmates have been known to suffer North Carolina injury, illness, and death because officials failed to abide by regulations, protect them from physical harm, or make sure they received the necessary medical care.

TB is a contagious bacterial infection that can attack the lungs, kidney, brain, or spine. Failure to treat tuberculosis properly and in a timely manner can prove fatal.

Inmate sues sheriff’s office, health department, county commissioners for TB exposure, Brunswickbeackon.com, July 13, 2010

Former inmate suing Brunswick County after contracting tuberculosis in jail, Star News Online, June 29, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Tuberculosis (TB), CDC

Brunswick County, North Carolina

The widow of Marian Orlowski is suing Britthaven of Chapel Hill for North Carolina nursing home neglect. Marian, who suffered from dementia, died from pneumonia at age 86.

His wife, Jadwiga Orlowski, had him admitted to the Chapel Hill nursing home two years prior to his death after he underwent surgery. She contends that on his first day there, he fell from his bed and suffered North Carolina personal injuries, including a fractured hip.

Jadwiga is accusing Britthaven of North Carolina nursing home negligence. She claims that the nursing home staff did not properly monitor her husband and neglected to provide him with a bed that had side rails.

Britthaven is considered a “special focus facility,” meaning that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have singled the assisted living facility out as a home that has a pattern of providing substandard nursing care. For example, one of its nurses, Angela Almore, is scheduled to appear in court this week on second-degree murder and nursing home abuse charges over the morphine death of Rachel Holliday, 84, and the morphine-related injuries of six other patients.

In 2009, CMS ordered Britthaven of Chapel Hill to pay $216,400 for failing to comply with Medicare requirements in a nursing home case involving 95-year-old Mary Lou Barthazon. A federal judge says that the elderly patient likely broke both thigh bones close to her knees in September 2007 when she was dropped by a nursing home assisted who was attempting to transfer her from a chair to her bed. Per Barthazon’s care plan, the nursing assistant was supposed to use a mechanical lift.

Because the North Carolina fall accident was not reported, Barthazon’s fractures went untreated for two weeks. Her daughter Anne Blanchard is the one who demanded that she be taken to an emergency room. Four days later, Barthazon passed away. Blanchard is suing Britthaven for Chapel Hill, North Carolina nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

Other North Carolina assisted living facilities that have made the Special Focus Facilities list are the Brian Centers in Goldsboro and Gastonia and Chapel Hill Health and Rehabilitation.

Nursing home faces lawsuits, NewsObserver.com, July 10, 2010

Prosecutor: Nurse charged in patient death acted alone, WRAL, June 8, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services

Britthaven Inc.