2008 July Archive

A passenger in a car that went the wrong way on U.S. 1 in Georgia and collided head-on with a tractor-trailer Wednesday night has died.  

The accident killed 33-year-old Charles Allen Music of Lyons, Georgia.  He was thrown from the Ford Mustang at the Ware-Charlton County line.

The driver of the Mustang was identified as Joshua Grantham. He was in Shands Hospital reported to be in good condition this morning.

The trucker was taken to Satilla Regional Medical Center in Waycross and was reported to be injured, as was his passenger. No more information is available on their condition because of privacy laws.

For some unknown reason, the Mustang was heading south in the northbound lanes of the highway.  

The collision with the northbound Freightliner truck is under investigation but a contributor to the article says that they likely got on the wrong side of the road somewhere through Waycross. 

No word on whether seat belts were used, but it is somewhat unusual for a driver to survive a passenger unless one was buckled in and one was not. 

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Be on the lookout for a product called Total Body Formula and Total Body Mega Formula. Some people who have taken the “diet aid”, which was sold in health foods stores, have muscle cramps, hair loss, joint pain, diarrhea and fatigue.

The products are supposed to have been pulled from store shelves, but you might still have some at home.   

An FDA analysis of Total Body Formula and Mega Formula found they contain hazardous amount of the trace minerals, chromium and selenium. The samples contained up to 17 times the recommended intake.

A couple in Athens, Georgia tells the news paper that they took the supplement to be healthy. Now they are anything but.

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When you go to the doctor you make a few assumptions. You assume the doctor is a professional who has a license to practice medicine and went to medical school.  You assume they know what they are doing, and care about your welfare. Maybe you assume they have malpractice insurance, just in case something goes wrong. 

After all doctors do make mistakes and they should rightly cover you for any error they make on your body. 

However as the old adage goes -  never assume.  

The Sun-Sentinel newspaper examined a physician database that operates in Florida to find that one-third of the physicians in Miami do not have insurance, and nearly one out of four doctors in Broward and Palm Beach counties are going without. 

Here in North Florida and around the state,about one-eighth of doctors have no medical malpractice insurance.  

A state law allows doctors to opt out of coverage. Essentially you are walking a tight-rope without a safety net if you choose one of these doctors.

Let’s say the doctor cuts off the wrong leg, or leaves a sponge in you during surgery.  Perhaps he doesn’t read the latest on a controversial drug that’s about to be taken off the market.

The damage is bad enough, but without coverage, you are essentially being harmed twice. You can lose the ability to work and have mounting medical bills that you must cover if the doctor elects to go uncovered.  Most lawyers will tell you to forget filing a lawsuit, there is no insurance from which to collect.

For decades doctors in Florida have been able to go without medical malpractice coverage. 

Doctors must alert customers by posting a sign in their office. And they must promise to pay up to $250,000 if a patient receives a malpractice award. Facing that, a doctor could opt to go bankrupt to avoid a large judgment, leaving you with no options. 

One can very quickly surpass medical bills of $250,000, following a serious medical error.  

Chiropractor and Florida State Senator Dennis Jones, R- Seminole is trying to require doctors to have coverage. 

“You have to have insurance to drive a cab, but you don’t have to have insurance to do brain surgery?” Jones said. “Patients basically are at risk.”

The state allowed doctors to opt out years ago to combat the high cost of malpractice premiums that can easily run into the mid-five and even six-figure range for a specialty.  Chiropractors, midwives, some nurses and optometrists still are required to carry coverage.

Yet nobody asks why insurance companies enjoyed 20 percent profits in 2006?   Perhaps they could lower the cost of premiums for doctors who can then be adequately covered. 

Consumers are the losers here. 

If you are the unfortunate victim of medical malpractice, an experienced attorney can help you navigate the system. 

Farah and Farah has been helping victims of medical malpractice for 25 years.  Visit the medical malpractice section of our Web site to have your questions answered.

Call us, but first, please ask your doctor if he or she has medical malpractice insurance. Never assume.

Expect to see motorcyclists in bright chartreuse jeans riding down the highway.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Florida Rider Training Program have launched a statewide “Motorcycle Conspicuity Campaign” to promote motorcycle visibility.

The departments are encouraging risers to “Ride Proud/ Dress Loud.“    The ad material shows a biker with chartreuse chaps on that match his motorcycle. Another has a bright yellow slicker and a corresponding canary yellow Harley.  

The state will put on a presentation in Orlando and one in Tampa at the end of August.  

Bikers are encouraged to wear brightly colored upper-torso apparel and reflective gear on their clothing, along with vibrant-color decals on the motorcycle.     Typically riders wear black, grey beige or other nondescript color, which are difficult to see. 

That’s the number one complaint of motorists who hit and kill motorcyclists every year - they didn’t see them. 

This move is designed to make motorcyclist more visible or conspicuous so they are less likely to have their right-of-way violated.

According to the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, in 2007 there were 550 motorcycle fatalities in the state and nearly 9,000 injuries involving motorcycles.

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A jury decided last night to convict a Ponte Vedra trucker in the fatal accident on I-95 that resulted in the deaths of two Flagler College students. Miguel Leon was convicted of causing the crash that killed the girls nearly three years ago. He was convicted of vehicular homicide and two counts of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.

November 19, 2005, students Jessica Kaufmann, 18 and 20-year-old Lindsay Chain were riding in the back of a 2003 Volkswagen, returning to St. Augustine, Florida after their car broke down on the way to Orlando. A friend came and picked them up.

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We’re all feeling the squeeze at the pump, but there is a little good news to report about that gloomy picture. Rising prices have apparently reduced traffic deaths around the country.

Here in Jacksonville, the Florida Highway Patrol reported that so far in the four of five metro counties there were 103 traffic fatalities, compared to 155 for the same time last year. That is a 34 percent drop.

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A government safety study is revealing just who is behind the wheel of that big-rig and bus next to you on the highway. 

The 30-page General Accounting Office (GAO) study, to be released Thursday, shows that more than a half-million commercial tractor-trailer and bus drivers with commercial licenses are also eligible for full disability benefits. 

These are not people sitting at home waiting for benefits. They are still driving 40-ton vehicles, next to you on the highway!

When these drivers have seizures, heart attacks or pass out, hundreds of deaths and injuries have occured.

The Transportation Department reports there were  5,300 people who died in crashes with commercial trucks or busses in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available.  Another 126,000 people were injured.

The GAO reports that sometimes drivers ”doctor shop” to find a doctor who will either overlook their pre-existing health problem. Or the driver will simply fail to mention it in a medical checkup.

Some of the violations mentioned in the report include: a Florida bus driver who used three daily inhalers to fight his lung disease. He told investigators that he “occasionally blacks out and forgets things.”  And that he “gets winded” when he walks to his mailbox.  He had no medical certificate, but does have a commercial driver’s license until 2010.

Big-rig and bus drivers need to make a living too, and we all are living well because of products and food transported across the country. But this situation is out of control.  

Back in 2001, the  federal agency in charge of truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was charged with completing  eight safety recommendations. So far none has been accomplished - items such as stopping doctor shopping, and setting a minimum health standard before a driver can obtain a commercial license.

It seems reasonable. 

We hope you are never involved in an accident with a bus or tractor-trailer. But if you are you’ll need to contact an experienced attorney who knows about the black box onboard a truck and the information it contains that can help your case. An accident attorney knows the number of hours a trucker can legally drive and when he is in violation.  And an experienced  attorney knows how to find witnesses and contact them for information while it is still available.  Visit the Trucking Question & Answer section of our Web site, or call us.

You never want to be involved in a trucking accident. If you are, you never want to go it alone.   Farah and Farah is here to help.

A few stories ago we reported on the young teenage girl who drank herself unconscious and could not be awakened. 

This week she was released from the hospital. If it had not been for the conscious decision by other teens, she might have never woken up.  

There were 60 kids at a party in St. Augustine according to St. Johns County deputies.  Kevin Lovelace, 18 tells Channel 4 that he knew something was wrong when he saw the 14-year-old girl.

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Expect Allergan, the maker of Botox Cosmetic, to fight the lawsuit filed by users who claim they were injured or by survivors of Botox victims. 

The suit claims that Allergan failed to warn of the dangers of the drug, used to relax wrinkles both for aging skin and for some medical uses it’s not recommended for as well.

While Botox has been used successfully by millions around the world, there have been exceptions.

In Orange County Superior Court, the suit links Botox to three deaths; last March a 69-year old Texas nurse who received injections for pain in her neck and shoulder and died; a 7-year-old with cerebral palsy who died in 2004; and a third death that occurred just last week in Arizona of a 71-year old who was unable to swallow, speak, breathe or eat before she died.

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Driving south in the northbound lane of I-95 at 3 a.m., a St. Augustine woman was killed when she collided head-on with an SUV carrying a South Carolina family.

Rachel Higgins, 33, was pronounced dead at the scene.  

She leaves behind a 13-year old daughter. Family members tell First Coast News  she was the light of Higgins’ life.

Higgins worked as an optician in St. Augustine. Her daughter and parents were out of town at the time of the crash.

It happened early Thursday morning on I-95 between International Golf Parkway and StateRoad 16. 

The other fatality was a woman in the SUV, passenger Debra Baughman, 45. The SUV driver, Scott Baughman, 44 and 19-year-old Lindsey Baughman were injured but in fair condition at Shands-Jacksonville Hospital.  13-year-old Aaron Baughman was in critical condition at Shands. 

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