Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer

Four Dead in Pickup Truck Accident Carrying Illegal Immigrants

Jenny Albano — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:22:35 GMT

A pickup truck crashed Sunday morning, April 27, killing four of its passengers. The vehicle was carrying as many as 60 people when it rolled over in a remote part of Arizona.

Investigators believe that the people in the pickup truck were illegal immigrants. The truck was driving from 50 to 60 people and 20 to 30 people fled the scene of the accident into the desert. So far none of the passengers who fled have been found.

So far there have not been any arrests made, but police officers are looking for the driver of the vehicle who fled the scene as well.

Helicopters flew 18 injured passengers to area hospitals in Phoenix and Tucson and nine were ground transported to Phoenix and Tucson hospitals, White said. The four who died were all males. The investigation is on going, but it is believed that speed was the ultimate factor in the rollover and alcohol could have been a factor.

The accident occurred at around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning near Arizona city, which is 60 miles south of Phoenix.

FDA Warns of Salmonella Risk in Cantaloupes

Jenny Albano — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:38:19 GMT

The FDA has put an import alert on cantaloupes from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a Honduran grower and packer, because the fruit may be associated with a Salmonella Litchfield outbreak in the United States and Canada. Cantaloupes shipped to the United States from this company are to be detained. Also, grocers and food providers are to remove the cantaloupes from this company from their stock.

Consumers who have recently purchased cantaloupes should check to see who the grower and packer are. if the cantaloupes are from Agropecuaria Montelibano then they should be thrown away.

So far there have been 50 reports of illness in 16 different states and 9 confirmed illnesses in Canada that have been linked to the consumption of cantaloupes. There have not been any deaths but 14 people have had to be hospitalized.

The FDA is taking this preventive measure while the agency continues to investigate this outbreak in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state partners. Such intervention is a key component of FDA's Food Protection Plan.

To learn more about Salmonella and its symptoms click here.

FDA Sued for Stronger Warnings on Certain Antibiotics

Jenny Albano — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:36:04 GMT

On Thursday, December 3, a consumer group called Public Citizen sued the FDA, saying that the agency has ignored pleas for stronger warnings on antibiotics that can cause tendon injuries.

The labels on drugs such as Cipro and Levaquin, drugs in the fluoroquinolone family of antibiotics, do have warnings for tendon injuries, but they are listed among many other side effects are not emphasized. Public Citizen wants the tendon injury warnings to be upgraded to a black-box warning, the FDA's most severe warning. Also the consumer group wants patients who take this drug to recieve a pamphlet with their medication that explains the risks.

Public Citizen thinks that not very many patients who take this family of antibiotics knows they are supposed to discontinue use of their the medication if they experience pain or inflammation, before the tendon actually ruptures.

Public Citizen filed a petition seeking the stronger warning in August 2006. The state of Illinois had filed a similar petition the previous year. The FDA is violating its own statutes and putting patients at risk in taking so long to settle the issue, Public Citizen said in the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

When Public Citizen first filed this petition there were 262 reported incidents of ruptured tendons from November 1997 to December 2005, and there were a few hundred reports of other tendon problems in patients who took these kind of antibiotics. Since the end of 2005 the FDA has recieved 74 more reports of tendon ruptures. These numbers probably do not account for most of the tendon problems because only a fraction of drug side effects are typically reported to the FDA.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on FDA and Prescription Drugs.

Collins International Co. Recalls Oscillating Ceramic Heaters Sold at Menards Retail Stores

Jenny Albano — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:20:30 GMT

Collins International Co., in conjunction with the CPSC, is recalling about 20,000 oscillating ceramic heaters because the heaters can overheat, smoke, or may ignite which poses a fire hazard to consumers.

This recall involves 1500 watt oscillating ceramic heaters model EB38005. The heater has a white plastic housing with the name "Heat-Wave" in black on its top. A label on the bottom of the product contains the model and the control number "ETL 3090262."

So far the company has not received any reports of injury, but they have received seven reports of the heaters overheating, smoking, or igniting, which includes four reports of property damage to consumer's carpets and floors.

The product was available Menards' stores across the country from September 2006 to March 2007. The heaters were manufactured in China.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Mother is Charged With Homicide After Son Dies in Car

Jenny Albano — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:24:57 GMT

A mother of a 17 year-old month boy went in to work at Hooters Tuesday morning and when she returned to her car when her shift was over she realized she had forgotten her son was still in the vehicle. Unfortunately the toddler died because of the temperatures in the car.

Ashly Duchene was booked with a felony count of negligent homicide. She normally dropped her son off at daycare before work, but for some unknown reason she did not drop her son off Tuesday morning. Instead she left her son in the car from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Efforts to revive the boy by witnesses, officers and firefighters were unsuccessful. Temperatures hit nearly 90 degrees Tuesday, but it would have been more than 100 degrees inside the car, said Sgt. Joel Tranter.

Officials think that the reason no one reported that the boy was left in the car was because their view was obstructed by tinted windows. Police requested an interview with Duchene Wednesday morning but were did not receive an immediate response.

Walgreens Pharmacy Held Accountable for Prescription Error

Staff Writer — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:33:58 GMT

A Coconino County jury awarded one of the largest wrongful death verdicts to the family of a high school coach who died after taking a lethal combination of medications which should never have been dispensed together. The jury found that Walgreens pharmacy should have warned the patient and his physician about the lethal and toxic effects that the pain medications Tramadol and Methadone have when taken together. Presumably, the jury believed that the pharmacy had the last known opportunity to prevent a lethal combination of drugs from getting into the hands of a patient who did not have any idea about the toxic effects of these drugs when administered together. The jury likely concluded that Walgreens pharmacy should have discovered the extreme lethal dangers when technicians first input both prescriptions into the pharmacy computer system. Unfortunately, I do not believe that this prescription error was an isolated occurrence in pharmacies throughout the nation. Pharmacy prescription errors are a leading cause of death and injury in our country. Additionally, medical errors in general affect one in ten patients worldwide.

In this Arizona case, the jury awarded six million dollars to the plaintiffs who alleged pharmacy malpractice arguing that the:

Walgreens pharmacist who filled his prescriptions should have warned Warren and his doctor that the drugs shouldn't be used together. Technicians should have received a computer warning of the interactions, they argued.
Walgreen countered that Warren was negligent and caused his own death or that his doctor was negligent in prescribing the medication.

When you receive a prescription, do you believe that the pharmacist will dispense the right medication and not some similarly sounding drug? Do you believe the pharmacist will explain the proper dosage, administration and usage to you? Do you believe the pharmacist will warn you about any drug interactions you may face? Do you believe the pharmacist will give you an opportunity to ask questions? I believe safe administration of medication should be a priority in all pharmacies. I also believe that the wrong medication should never leave a pharmacy if the pharmacist and staff prioritize patient safety when dispensing controlled substances. I guess the Coconino County jury agreed.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Jury to Begin Deliberations in Unfair Settlement Practices Lawsuit Against Allstate

Staff Writer — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:50:18 GMT

A Kentucky jury will begin deliberations Wednesday deciding whether Allstate Insurance Company violated the Kentucky Unfair Settlement Practices Act by systematically lowering valuation of minor injury claims and bullying claimants into accepting artificially low settlements. The Plaintiffs alleged that Allstate systematically undervalued claims relying upon a consultant who, according to the on-line publication Bloomberg:

developed methods for the company to become more profitable by paying out less in claims, according to videotaped evidence presented in Fayette Circuit Court in Lexington, Kentucky, in a civil case involving a 1997 car accident.

The Plaintiff Geneva Hager, who filed the bad faith suit against Allstate,

[S]uffered neck and back injuries in July 1997 after the vehicle she was riding in was rear-ended by a truck hauling firewood on Man o' War Boulevard. The truck's driver, Thomas LaPointe Jr., was insured by Allstate.
Hager's injury claim did not settle until December 1999, four days after her lawsuit was scheduled for trial.

The jury will now consider whether the insurance company intentionally delayed resolution of the claim relying upon the consultant recommendations to become profitable by getting ""boxing gloves" and describing claims handling as a "zero sum economic game" in which "Allstate gains" and "others must lose.""

Allstate routinely relied upon a computer program known as Colossus to evaluate claims based upon data entered into this computer system. The Plaintiff alleged that Allstate claims representatives regularly manipulated data input into the Colossus program to lower payouts and then delayed and even harassed claimants into accepting artificially low settlements. Allstate argued that it simply used consultant recommendations to root out claimant fraud and identify inflated claims. The jury will now decide whether Allstate's practices were appropriate.

I have previously written about insurance bad faith practices which may raise profits at the expense of policy-holders. Carriers engaging in systematic behavior to maximize profits betray contractual promises made to policy-holders should be held accountable to policy-holders for broken contractual promises. The Kentucky jury will decide whether Allstate's business practices were simple tactics to root out claimant fraud or bad faith conduct by a powerful insurance carrier with unequal bargaining power.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Phoenix Bans Texting While Driving

Staff Writer — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:41:16 GMT

Last week, Phoenix became the first city in the nation to ban text messaging while driving. Based on dangers associated with distracted driving, city officials concluded that the dangers of text messaging while driving outweigh any possible public benefits. For the next thirty days, police officers and other public officials will notify and educate drivers about the dangers of texting while driving and the civil penalty imposed of up to $100 if you are caught texting and driving.

Other cities have been quick to follow with similar proposals to ban texting. In fact, the City of Scottsdale Transportation Committee may recommend to the Scottsdale City Council that it enact a similar ban based on a goal of reducing driver distractions which can lead to collisions.

How will police enforce such a ban? While we can appreciate the goal of reducing collisions caused by driver distractions, will the ban actually accomplish this goal? Perhaps it might. However, I am not sure drivers will change texting behavior as a result of the recent City Council action. I would guess that younger drivers use text messaging features on their wireless phones more than any other class of drivers in our state. Perhaps other oversight actions such as raising the legal driving age to eighteen may accomplish similar objectives backed by easier enforcement. What do you think? Do you believe this ban will affect driver behavior? Will it discourage you from getting into your vehicle and typing a text message on your phone while you are driving down Central Avenue in Phoenix? Let me know your thoughts.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

The Number of Uninsured Continues to Rise

Staff Writer — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:04:40 GMT

According to a recent article in the physician publication American Medical News, the number of Americans without health insurance has increased to forty-seven million people last year. By comparison, approximately thirty-eight million four hundred thousand Americans had no health insurance insurance in 2000. The American Medical News suggests that one of the reasons for such a large increase in the ranks of the uninsured concern employer benefit cutbacks:

"Overall, the picture is one of continual erosion of employer coverage that is now starting to squeeze the middle class," said Karen Davis, PhD, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation dedicated to improving health care. "It's very troubling to see this dramatic increase."

Several reform suggestions advocated by the American Medical Association to use tax credits and vouchers to faciliate the purchase of health insurance sound promising. However, I cannot understand how uninsured or even insured consumers will benefit by other tort reform aspects of the American Medical Association advocacy agenda. I simply fail to see a coorelation between limitations on accountability for medical errors and access to health insurance and quality medical care.

Presidential Candidate Romney Victim of Laptop Theft

Staff Writer — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:00:00 GMT

Those who do not learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat them. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has apparently learned some of the lessons from recent high profile laptop thefts involving government agencies such as the Veterans Administration and private business such as Stevens Hospital in Washington.

Over the weekend, burglars broke into Candidate Romney's campaign headquarters and stole several laptop computers and other electronic equipment. According to a Romney campaign spokesman, the laptop computers were password protected and encrypted and

"The only thing they're good for is parts," campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told the Associated Press.

Password protection and disk drive encryption provide essential security tools to protect against data and identity theft. The Romney campaign apparently did things correctly. The only possible problem would have been if campaign staff members placed passwords on or nearby the stolen laptop computers. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, since 2005, over 165,000,000 personal confidential records have been compromised exposing personal information to risks of identity theft. In today's world, laptop password protection and data encryption are no longer an option. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to go to work for a presidential candidate.