The troubled Florida A&M marching band is being suspended for at least another school year as university officials try to sort out the mess left in the wake of the hazing death of a drum major in November of 2011.
Investigations into the famed marching band revealed a program that tolerated — and in some cases, encouraged — a long-standing tradition of hazing. Eleven band members face felony charges in the FAMU hazing death of the drum major and the long-time band director retired after it was revealed that nearly 100 band members were not even students at the university when the hazing death occurred — including three members who have been charged with felony hazing in relation to the death.
FAMU president James Ammon told Associated Press, “There is no question the band must be restructured, there are measures we feel we must take.”
A lawyer for the family of the hazing victim said that they were “relieved” when school officials decided to keep the suspension intact for another year. The mother of the victim has gone on record saying that she thinks the band should be completely disbanded. The family has already indicated it is going to sue the university for wrongful death.
The attorney told AP that although the family is somewhat relieved that the university is taking steps to address problems with the program, “They are disappointed that all of this could have been avoided if FAMU had paid attention to what was going on in that band for the last few years.”
If you have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another person or institution, Farah & Farah’s wrongful death attorneys in Orlando will determinedly work to see that they are held accountable. Call us at (800) 533-3555 to talk about your case. We’re here to help your family through a difficult transition.
It’s been a long journey home for one boy who was critically injured after the school bus he was riding in was struck by a semi truck on Okeechobee Road in western Fort Pierce on March 26. Ten students were taken to the hospital in serious or critical condition after the tragic school bus accident, and one student died in the impact.
This is the first time the honor roll student has been home since he was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center. According to wptv.com, the 11-year-old was nearly brain dead after the Fl bus accident. Doctors had to remove part of his skull and he was placed in a medically-induced coma for three weeks while they worked to save his life.
A large group of parents, well-wishers, and classmates came out for the boy’s Port St. Lucie homecoming and some in the crowd couldn’t help but be amazed that he was retuning home at all.
One youngster, marveling at his classmate’s recovery, said, “It’s a very big miracle he’s okay … that he can walk, talk, eat.”
Although the injured boy has come a long way, he still has to have surgery to replace the front sides of his skull and he will require many hours of intense therapy before he can return to school.
The bus crash attorneys in Florida at Farah & Farah are happy to see this boy returned home to his family. If a loved one has been injured in a crash, medical bills and other expenses can pile up quickly. Call our experienced team at (800) 533-3555 to see if we can help your family.
A woman who crashed her car into a Fort Lauderdale pool cabana last March, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child, has been charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter.
As reported in a previous blog, the 34-year-old driver smashed into the poolside cabana at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale after losing control of her car. The victim was a tourist from Boston and was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident. She had won the trip to Fort Lauderdale through her church and was attending a marriage conference.
According to the search warrant, the accused told investigators that she had ordered a “martini and appetizers” at a local restaurant the day of the accident. She then reportedly got into an argument with her husband, left the restaurant, and sped out of the parking lot in her Audi.
She traveled a block-and-a-half before crashing.
According to recently released blood alcohol test results, the driver had a level of .24% — three times over the legal limit. She claims she didn’t remember crashing into the building.
Along with the two DUI manslaughter charges, she has also been charged with two counts of DUI property damage. Under current Florida law, she cannot be charged in connection with the death of the unborn child.
The driver was arrested and was later released on bail.
The death of a loved one is one of life’s most painful experiences — especially if that death is due to negligence or the wrongful act of another. The Florida wrongful death attorneys at Farah & Farah are here to help your family hold those responsible for an avoidable death accountable for their actions. If you believe you have a case, call us at (800) 533-3555.
Costa Cruises has announced that it is adopting new safety rules for its fleet — this, in the wake of the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster in January that left the vessel capsized off the coast of Italy and claimed the lives of 32 people.
Under the new rules, guests will receive emergency training before the ship leaves port and officers in uniform must be in attendance during that training to answer any of the passenger’s questions or concerns. Guests will be issued electronic cards that will track whether they have attended the safety drills.
Also, the new rules allow officers to be more hands-on during an emergency. While maintaining the power to intervene, the Captain will no longer be the only person who can issue orders in an emergency situation. Passengers aboard the doomed Costa Concordia had complained that confusion among the officers, as well as an absentee captain, led to deadly mistakes during the evacuation of the ship.
Among other policy changes, Costa will also be implementing a real-time route monitoring system, which will allow the company to monitor and control the course of all of its ships when they are out at sea.
More Costa Concordia News
Costa Cruises has paid more than 2 million euros ($2.6 million USD) to French survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck. The agreement was reached with 235 of the 456 French citizens who were onboard. The lawyer representing the 235 survivors said that the settlement does not preclude any further legal action.
While it is good that these safety measures are being implemented now, it’s tragic that lessons learned came too late for those who were injured or died aboard the Costa Concordia. The experienced cruise ship accident attorneys at Farah & Farah know what it takes to fight for your rights if you have been injured on a cruise ship. Call (800) 533-3555 to consult with us today.
Safe Streets Miami, fellow cyclists, and family members rode slowly through Kendall to remember a popular cyclist who was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Southwest Miami-Dade. The memorial ride was also used as a platform to urge authorities to make road safety a high priority in the Miami area.
According to the sole-witness of the early morning hit-and-run accident in Florida on March 31, the motorist who hit the cyclist at the corner of Eureka Drive and Southwest 137th Avenue, got out of his car, looked down at the bleeding and injured man he had just struck, and coldly got back into his vehicle and left the scene.
The 51-year-old cyclist was taken to Kendall Regional Trauma Center, where he was treated for multiple fractures and other injuries and was sent home five days later. However, after complaining of leg pain and disorientation at home, he was rushed to Baptist Hospital in Homestead, where he died. An autopsy revealed he had died of a pulmonary embolism related to his injuries.
Safe Streets Miami — a coalition of concerned citizens campaigning for safer streets and roads in Miami — was formed after a local Miami businessman and triathlete was struck and killed on his bike earlier this year. A spokesman for the group said it’s not only cyclists who have to worry about Miami’s dangerous roads:
“There’s lots of pedestrian hit-and-runs, too,” he told The Miami Herald. “Even if you’re in your car, the streets are getting worse all the time. We can’t just keep on looking the other way.”
Police have not found the hit-and-run-driver and have few leads.
Hit-and-run driving is reprehensible and irresponsible. The Florida personal injury law firm of Farah & Farah urges anybody who has information concerning any hit and run accident to call the We Tip hotline at (800) 6-HIT-N-RUN. It’s the right thing to do.
Statistically, kids may be safer when they drive with their grandparents — but not in the case of two Sarasota grandparents who decided it would be fun to drink, drive and tow their seven-year-old granddaughter behind their SUV in her toy car.
Sarasota County Sheriff’s Deputies were traveling eastbound on Clark Road when they spotted the girl being towed up a parallel access road by her grandfather while her grandmother cheered her on from the cargo area of the truck, according to The Herald Tribune. The plastic Hot Wheels car was attached to the trailer hitch by two dog leashes that had been strung together. The child was wearing a bathing suit and was not wearing a helmet.
Deputies reported that the girl was unhurt.
According to the arrest report, both the grandparents admitted that they had been drinking. One deputy reported he smelled alcohol coming from the grandfather, whose license had been revoked after three DUI convictions. His wife told the deputies that she knew dragging the child behind the SUV was dangerous, but stated, “they were just having fun and had been doing this all day.”
The girl’s father, who picked up his daughter at the scene, was not having fun. According to the deputies, he became verbally upset with his mother before taking the child away.
The grandfather was arrested and charged with DUI and child endangerment. The grandmother was also arrested and charged with child endangerment.
It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Luckily, this child wasn’t hurt, but irresponsible, negligent behavior results in injury far too often. If you have been injured due to another person’s careless behavior, you can seek compensation for medical bills and other damages. Call a Sarasota personal injury attorney at Farah & Farah today to discuss your case. We’re at (800) 533-3555.
After a three year investigation, the Broward Sheriff’s Office has announced that it is making arrests in connection with a 2009 hyperbaric chamber explosion and fire that killed a 4-year-old boy and his 62-year-old grandmother.
BSO officials indicated that the 51 year-old safety director and the 81-year-old doctor who runs the clinic would be charged with manslaughter.
The accident occurred on May 1, 2009. The youth had been brought to the clinic from Italy by his grandmother for a cerebral palsy treatment. They had been in the chamber for about 20 minutes when a spark ignited the pure oxygen in the chamber. It is estimated that the flames burned for five minutes before the chamber was depressurized and opened.
The investigation into the accident revealed a litany of equipment and procedural failures too numerous to list.
After the fire, investigators discovered that the chamber had not been ground properly and that other chambers at the jam-packed facility had burnt and exposed wires. Extension cords had been taped together near oxygen lines.
Even more disturbing was the finding that the two victims were not wearing grounding bracelets to prevent static electricity and were wearing flammable clothing. The investigation also revealed that no operator had been present when the chamber went up in flames and that the chamber’s internal intercom system was not functioning, so the victims couldn’t call out for help.
A Florida State Fire Marshall detective concluded that the fire was the result of “gross negligence.”
After the 2009 accident, the doctor re-opened the clinic under a new name.
If you have lost a loved one due to negligence, you should hold the liable parties responsible for their actions. A Farah & Farah Fort Lauderdale wrongful death attorney can guide you through this often complex process. Call us at (800) 533-3555 so we can discuss your case today.
Was Pradaxa behind the recent death of an 83-year-old Utah man who fell at home? A case study published in the May Journal of Neurosurgery (JNS) suggests that Pradaxa use may have led to irreversible bleeding in his brain, resulting in his death.
According to JNS, after falling at home, the man was admitted to the University of Utah hospital where physicians on staff discovered that he had been diagnosed with new-onset atrial fibrillation the month before and had been prescribed a 150 mg dose of Pradaxa twice a day by his primary doctor. There was slight intracranial bleeding, but the patient was alert and there was no immediate cause for concern at the time.
Some six hours after being admitted to the hospital with relatively minor brain trauma, the patient was dead. Apparently, the bleeding in his brain couldn’t be stopped, even after emergency measures were taken. Currently, there is no known reversal agent for Pradaxa.
The JNS article stated that the approval of dabigatran presents a dilemma for neurosurgeons. Since the drug is often given to elderly patients who are usually more likely to have imbalance issues and to suffer from falls, “intracranial hemorrhage resulting even from minor trauma may occur with increasing frequency as use of this drug becomes more widespread.”
Pradaxa: Know the Facts
In December of 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated a safety review of Pradaxa after receiving so many reports of adverse effects associated with the medicine. High incidents of internal hemorrhaging and cardiovascular problems, especially among the elderly, have been the primary complaints reported. It has been reported that Pradaxa might be responsible for up to 260 patient deaths since its introduction a year-and-a-half ago.
If you suspect that you or a loved one has been harmed due to Pradaxa use, the Florida Pradaxa internal bleeding attorneys at Farah & Farah are here to answer your questions and to help you understand your legal options. Give us a call at (800) 533-3555 to discuss your concerns today.
By Eddie Farah on April 26, 2012 -
While the Florida Legislature can’t seem to make up its mind about the dangers of texting and driving, two juniors from Spanish River High School in Boca Raton have decided to step up and become the adults in the room.
“National Day of Awareness to Not Text and Drive” started as a school leadership project organized by two Boca Raton teens to emphasize the dangers of texting and driving to their peers on the high school grounds. What started as a high school assignment has expanded to become a grass roots movement and a full-blown music festival on the Florida Atlantic University campus.
The Rock2Live Music Festival scheduled for April 28 will feature music acts, celebrity endorsements, and driving simulators all in the hope of making teens more aware of the dangers of texting and driving. The two youthful organizers have also contacted schools from across the nation to participate via a live simulcast of the festival. All participants will receive a free cellphone app that prevents texting or receiving texts while a car is moving.
One of the students who created the event stated that the motivation for establishing the campaign was partly rooted in both of their personal driving experiences. “We both got our licenses recently and have both had close calls,” he said. “We see so many people not paying attention.”
Distracted driving was responsible for 3,000 crashes among 15- to19-year olds in Florida last year and the student/creator hopes that the teen-centered awareness campaign will help bring those numbers down.
“This problem is getting worse, no matter who you talk to, all over the world,” he told the Sun Sentinel.
Personal injury attorney Eddie Farah applauds the initiative these two young men have taken to raise teen awareness of the dangers of distracted driving on Florida’s roads and highways. If you need more information concerning the Rock2Live Music Festival, you can go to Rock2LiveFest.com.
Having a child in a hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) can be a frightening enough ordeal, but now an investigation by Consumer Reports has found there is even more reason to be worried. According to the report from the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, pediatric ICU’s often have higher infection rates than adult ICU’s — on average 20 percent higher.
The investigation focused on 92 pediatric ICU’s in 31 states. What it found was that the deadliest of infections were introduced through central line catheters, which deliver nutrition, medication, and fluids to critically ill patients. If doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff don’t insert the catheters using absolutely sterile techniques or if the catheters aren’t kept scrupulously clean, infections can be introduced and can quickly spread throughout the body.
What the investigation also showed was that if due diligence is paid by health care professionals, these infections are entirely preventable. Five pediatric ICU’s received Consumer Reports’ highest rating because they reported zero bloodstream infections in 2010, whereas, the two worst rated hospitals in the study reported rates that were more than twice the national average.
The investigation concluded that hospitals could be doing a much better job at preventing infections. The ultimate goal of zero infections is especially important for pediatric ICU’s because young children have less-developed immune systems and are much more susceptible to bacterial infections.
Of the three hospitals rated in Florida, one received an above average rating and two received below average ratings.
If proper procedures are followed, hospital-acquired infections are entirely preventable. This is especially important when it comes to children. The Florida hospital negligence attorneys at Farah & Farah want you to know that if your child has been harmed due to medical negligence, we will see that the responsible parties are held liable. Call us at (800) 533-3555 for a free consultation today.
