Florida officials want to remind the public that Florida beaches are still open for business and that the Florida waters in the Gulf remain open to commercial and recreational fishing. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is in the process of identifying the most vulnerable fish and wildlife habitats to focus protective measures while they establish a baseline for measuring any damage later on. Gulf spill losses are already affecting the livelihoods of the tourism related business as well as commercial fishermen, guides and charter boat operators.
The latest worry concerns the chemical dispersant being used in the Gulf and questions whether it will lead to long-lasting environmental disaster. Based on a St. Petersburg Times report, shrimpers believe that a series of dead zones could be created by the chemical dispersants, contaminating and killing marine life. One group in particular, the Tarpon Springs based Southern Shrimper Alliance has written their concerns to the federal officials. The dispersant in question is called Corexit 9500 made by Nalco Energy Services. BP has been spraying it on the slick and airplanes have sprayed 315,000 gallons on the gulf’s surface. The dispersant breaks up the oil into finely dispersed oil droplets taking it to the Gulf floor, being eaten by fish, oil-eating bacteria or coating fish and birds.
The shrimpers are concerned that the oil could end up on the Gulf floor where shrimp larvae would be affected. And there have been no toxicity studies on the product or studies on how it could affect wetlands, marine life, the coast or people. Corexit 9500 has been approved by the EPA, but so have many other chemicals that undergo no safety tests. There are indicators that the chemical can be stored in tissues. It really comes down to a question of saving the beach at the expense of the ocean, says the National Academy of Sciences. A consortium of attorneys concludes that there is no way of knowing now what the long-term effects will be for sea life and humans. If you have experienced economic loss due to the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, you may want to contact an oil spill disaster Florida lawyer for more information about your legal rights.
He supposedly was a fan of golf who came to see the second round of the Players at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida at TPC Sawgrass. Instead Travis Parmelee, 36, received a shock from a Taser gun and spent Saturday afternoon, May 8 in jail. Parmalee was charged with disorderly conduct and intoxication, and resisting arrest without violence. Deputies said he became belligerent, refused to leave the scene and was heckling golfers near the 11th hole when the PGA called deputies. When he resisted being taken into custody, deputies admit they “dry stunned” Parmalee one time. News4Jax reported that he did not require medical attention. The Taser gun delivers an electrical current to get someone under control by disrupting the voluntary control of muscles. The maker of the gun, Taser International, calls it neuromuscular incapacitation.
Tasers have been controversial. Named for “Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle” a Taser gun can deliver a jolt up to 50,000 volts which in some cases has resulted in death and serious injury. Amnesty International finds that between 2001 and 2008, 334 Americans died after receiving Taser shocks. Because of the shocks, the guns were found to have contributed to or caused at least 50 of those deaths. Often the person is shocked repeatedly to get them under control. In June 2008, Taser International lost a civil suit and was ordered to pay more than $6 million in the death of a 40-year-old man who was zapped three times. The jury found that the company had failed to warn law enforcement that repeated shocks could result in a heart attack. Dry tasing, also called a drive stun, results in localized pain in the area touched by the Taser when it is held against the person without firing the projectiles or probes. The United Nations, American Civil Liberties Union, and Amnesty International have condemned the use of tasers by law enforcement because of the possibility of death and injury. Amnesty International believes the use of stun guns amounts to a form of legally justified torture.
Maybe it has something to do with the economy. As a number of con artists try to bilk insurance companies for accidents that they cause, the National Insurance Crime Bureau reports that these types of accidents are on the rise. Staged accidents usually involve a group of people that draw innocent motorists into a collision. According to he group can either fake an accident or put an unsuspecting motorist in an unwinnable situation by blocking her car and then T-boning it, in some cases causing death and injury. The insurance group reports that claims from fake accidents increased 46% over a two-year period ending last year.
Florida leads the nation in these staged accidents with 3,006; New York had 1,689; California had 1,619; and Texas 792. Lastly, Illinois reported 433 staged crashes. The worst cities for staged car accidents include four cities in Florida – Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando, along with New York City, and Houston. Only New York City had 1,304 staged accidents and topped Tampa, at 562, Miami at, 511, Orlando, 422, and Houston, 376. Since staged accidents are becoming increasingly aggressive in the tactics to defraud insurers of millions of dollars, a Florida accident attorney and investigator may be the best bet to determine if your accident was part of a staged incident and who might have been involved. Many of these accidents go undetected unless they are brought to light and the criminals are revealed for the scams they are perpetrating on the driving public.
There is an incredibly sad story to report from Bradenton.The Florida Highway Patrol reports that a 14-year-old, Courtney Starling, was killed Sunday afternoon, May 2, in a Florida auto accident on I-75 that involved an SUV rollover. Courtney was riding in the back seat of a 1995 Ford Explorer with her mother in the front passenger seat, her step-father driving, and her step-sister in the rear seat next to her. Based on a www.bradenton.com report, everyone was wearing their seat belts. When the left rear tire of the SUV split at the tread line, the driver lost control and the vehicle spun around into the grassy median and overturned into the southbound lanes of the I-275 on-ramp with the Explorer coming to rest on its roof. Courtney was partially ejected and died from her injuries. Her step father and sister had minor injuries and Courtney’s mother, was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg with serious injuries.
The school had to undergo grief counseling after the loss of Courtney who was known for her bright green clothing and even brighter personality. Our condolences go out to the family and friends of this much-loved young teen. Let’s keep her family members in our prayers.
Florida SUV Rollover Crash Statistics
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, SUV’s have the highest rollover rates of any kind of vehicle with more than 90 % of rollovers happening when the vehicle leaves the pavement and hits the dirt. SUVs are two-and-a-half times more likely than other vehicles to roll. More than 10,000 people died in rollovers accidents in the U.S. in 2002 reports NHTSA, largely because of the high center of gravity of sport utility vehicles. Rollover accidents account for nearly one-third of all deaths from passenger vehicle crashes.
Weak Roofs, Bad Tires
Often it is a weak roof and the collapse on the vehicle occupants that cause the most deadly injuries in Florida. The roof is supposed to provide a “survival space” around the vehicle occupant in case of a crash or a rollover. But often the roof strength is not adequate and crushes in on the vehicle occupants causing neck and traumatic brain injuries which are almost impossible to survive. In May 2009, after much delay, NHTSA finally upgraded the roof resistance standard. Vehicles weighing 6,000 pounds or less must be able to withstand a roof crush equal to three times the weight of the vehicle applied to the roof. Vehicles over 6,000 pounds only have to withstand 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle on the roof. A Florida accident attorney would want to investigate this crash further to determine if a defective product case could be made against the automaker.
Tire Wear
Tires can wear even when they are not being used. It is recommended you replace a tire every six years depending on the date. The age of the tires can be checked by looking at the tire ID number on the side of the tire. It begins with the letters DOT. The last four digits represent the week and year the tire was made. The heat of Florida is known to contribute to the aging of tires. This tragic SUV fatality accident highlights the inadequacies of all systems that are supposed to keep us safe, tires, roof, and vehicle stability. If an outdated tire was sold to the family and misrepresented to be new, the family may have an action against the tire dealer. Many questions remain to be answered. Again, our condolences to all who were involved.
Parents should be aware that there have been two recent deaths of Florida children in the dental chair after receiving “conscious sedation.” That is a semi-awake condition that the child is put into with the help of drugs or gas. According to Health News Florida, in one case, Tampa dentist R. Andrew Powless sedated Cory Moore Jr. who died February 19, 2009. The family of Moore has filed a lawsuit against Powless, who does business as Florida Special Care Dentistry.
The parents charge that Powless should have known that Moore had eaten before the procedure, which is strictly prohibited because of the dangers of aspirating your food. That is exactly what happened to the 9-year-old boy. Not only did he choke on his food but the staff delayed in recognizing that the boy was choking. Moore’s mother says she told the staff the boy had eaten before the appointment, according to the lawsuit, which also says that the staff failed to provide “appropriate instructions” to the boy’s mother.
The other death involved a 5-year-old from Cedar Key, Dylan Shane Stewart, who died in the chair of a Gainesville dentist, Ronnie Grundset about two weeks ago. He too received conscious sedation. That death is under investigation. The boy was reportedly sedated with a substance chloral hydrate, which is an older drug that is commonly used.
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry says that sedatives are used in children when there are a large number of cavities, the child is special needs, or they or their parents are just nervous and anxious. Pediatric Dental Health reports that conscious sedation is sometimes used when insurance companies refuse to pay for general anesthesia. It is essential that youngsters who undergo conscious sedation be monitored for any complications so they can be treated quickly and appropriately with emergency drugs and equipment.
Known complications of conscious sedation include oxygen desaturation, airway obstruction, apnea, vomiting, and cardiac arrest, among other reactions. A published study in Pediatrics in 2000 finds that inadequate skills of the resuscitator are a key to injury and death during a non-hospital conscious sedation, along with the effects of the medication on the child’s respiration. If you or a family member has suffered an adverse reaction to conscious sedation, let an experienced Florida injury attorney investigator uncover what went wrong so that you can hold the at-fault party responsible.
A man accelerated his vehicle into his fiancé as she stood on a sidewalk in a parking lot. The 65-year-old man from St. Petersburg is reported to have hit the accelerator rather than the brake while waiting for his unnamed fiancé who was applying for a job inside the building. Police believe that the man was drunk and charges are pending. According to www.wtsp.com, the fiancé died at St. Petersburg Northside Hospital.
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the woman for this tragic accident.
Accident Statistics
In Pinellas County, there were 13,685 crashes in 2008, according to the Florida Highway Patrol with 1,390 of the crashes alcohol-related. There were 114 fatalities that resulted from crashes that year and 10,135 injuries. The FHP reports there were 39.5% of traffic fatalities were alcohol-related and 9.1% of traffic crashes were alcohol-related that year.
DUI Liability
It is illegal in Florida for anyone to operate a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 and above. If that person is apprehended and they were found to be DUI they could be held liable for any damage they caused to property or other persons. It is when there are many questions that an experienced Florida drunk driving accident attorney and investigator can be brought in to help answer them. If alcohol was involved, were others witnesses to the person being served at a bar or party? There are also other possibilities here such as the driver suffering from a medical condition that caused the accident. The family of the fiancé would be well advised to obtain legal help to make sure that a Florida Highway Patrol investigation is conducted thoroughly and fairly.
Disney has been cleared of charges filed by an 80-year-old man who said the Tower of Terror ride in Orlando led to his debilitating stroke.
Marvin Cohen, now 80, filed the suit in 2002 after he boarded the ride in 1998 with his granddaughter. The sudden drops caused a tear in an artery leading to his brain, and he had a debilitating stroke a few weeks later, he charged.
The three-woman, three-man jury deliberated about three hours before delivering the verdict, Monday, May 3.
Cohen’s lawyer says the suit was about whether the public is adequately warned or misled prior to boarding the ride, but those issues were not allowed to come up in the trial due to the judge’s rulings before and during the trial.
Cohen says he plans to appeal.
What was unusual about this lawsuit is that it was allowed to be heard by a jury since more often than not, Disney settles before trial. When the Orlando Sentinel reviewed hundreds of lawsuits against theme parks, the Cohen case stood out because it did not argue that there was a malfunction with a ride, but rather that the warnings were not adequate and the public is misled when boarding the Tower of Terror.
Injuries sustained on roller roaster rides and other amusement park devices occur far more often than the public would like to admit. Florida injury law firms stay up-to-date on these types of accidents, which may result from a form of negligence on the part of the company running the amusement park. If you and your family plan on visiting a theme park, always be safe and make sure to research and be fully aware of a ride’s warnings before hopping on.
Helen Haskell founded the patient advocacy group, Mothers Against Medical Error, after her son died from a preventable hospital failure.
Lewis Haskell was 15 and entered the hospital in 2000 for routine surgery. His doctor, a first-year medical resident had been on duty for more than 30 hours when the teen died. She had failed to rescue or respond to signs of decline in the patient’s health. His mother knows that fatigue played a role. Medical residents must work 30 hour shift as often as three times a month and that leads to errors.
A Harvard study from 2006 finds that 20 percent of first-year-residents say they’ve made a fatigue-related mistake. In some cases it has led to patient’s death. What can be done?
Haskell’s group along with Public Citizen is advocating lowering the number of hours a doctor works in one shift. It makes sense? How many pilots worth 25 to 30 hours at a time? The group has a Web site www.WakeUpDoctor.org where the public can share stories and get more information. The main resistance comes from the organization that sets standards for the training of physicians, The Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In the past, it has convinced the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA to leave the shift lengths alone. By this July, the ACGME will make a decision about limiting work hours for residents working at member hospitals.
Researchers warn that nicotine-laced candies, designed to get smokers to quit, may be purchased by youngsters and pose a health risk.
The candies, called Orbs, resemble Tic Tac candies and they contain about one milligram of nicotine. They are also flavored with mint or cinnamon, resemble candy and can be purchased in a grocery or convenience store.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in an article published in Pediatrics say that the candies can lure a child to the addictive habit of smoking. Some children have already been harmed.
In a few cases around the country, small children have ingested the candies who experienced symptoms of nicotine poisoning which include nausea and vomiting. Tobacco Giant, R. J. Reynolds says it has made the nicotine pellets child-resistant, but they haven’t stopped them from access.
Jacksonville tobacco lawyers have seen first-hand the devastating consequences that cigarettes and other tobacco products impose upon consumers. The rights of Florida residents who have been victims of decades of dishonesty and deception regarding the dangers of smoking deserve to be protected. Children should not be subjected to falling into this demographic.
Lee County in Southwest Florida is on the lookout for oil from an oil spill in the Gulf that is approaching our coast. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill which occurred last week is currently about 300 miles to the north north-west of Lee County and Gov. Charlie Crist declared a State of Emergency Friday for the Panhandle. Counties affected are Escambia, Santa Rose, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf. According to a news-press.com article, with 200 gallons gushing in to the Gulf every day, the current trajectory could impact Southwest Florida beaches. Lee Co. Emergency Management says it wants to be proactive and is planning meeting with federal, state and local agencies to coordinate a response and clean-up. The local economy, environment, property and health of residents potentially could all be impacted.
The spill is casting doubt that any Floridians will be behind off-shore drilling in Florida. Tourism revenue generates about $57 billion for the state and an oil spill in the Gulf permanently impacts wetlands and wildlife. President Obama has said he wants a moratorium on off-shore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf and that any new leases to drill must include safeguards to prevent a similar spill. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking the president that further exploration be halted into an investigation uncovers why the rig exploded, killing 11. Nelson wants to stop the Interior Department from exploratory operations in the Gulf.
Weather conditions and ocean currents dictate that the Loop Current, which is water flowing north into the Gulf that loops southeast through the Florida Keys and back up the east coast, is about 100 miles west of Southwest Florida. Capping the oil source still has not been accomplished and it is spewing about 210,000 gallons of oil a day. Since the well head is about 5,000 feet below the surface it could take three month to establish a relief drill that would help plug the leak. Currently about 600 square miles of Gulf waters are covered.
