Wrongful Death

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.

Most people have heard by now about the horrible and tragic accident at SeaWorld in Orlando that led to the death of a trainer. The incident took place on Wednesday, February 24, when a killer whale named Tilikum, attacked a trainer during a show at the Orlando attraction. The 40 year-old trainer was known to be experienced at her job; however, she was dragged around by the whale in front of the horrified visitors and died in front of them.

A former animal trainer who has turned into an animal advocate, says he wrote a letter to SeaWorld three years ago warning them that there would be an accident with the show mammals. “Happy animals don’t kill their trainers,” he said. Deeply intelligent and highly social, Tilikum, a 23-foot, 6-ton male, was involved in two previous fatalities.

Elsewhere in the captive mammal world, a part-time trainer was grabbed and drowned in 1991 at Sealand in British Columbia. The same whale was shipped to SeaWorld in Orlando where a naked dead man was found laying on the orca’s back. He had slipped into the facility at night and died of hypothermia.

It is indeed tragic and shocking that the SeaWorld trainer in the aforementioned accident was the third person who died at the hands of this specific killer whale. The autopsy report was released the first week of April. According to reports, the trainer suffered blunt force trauma and drowning in addition to other very severe injuries.

It would be advisable for establishments that put on similar animal shows to revaluate the condition in which their subjects are being handled to ensure that accidents like these stop now. Wrongful death incidents that could have been prevented are some of the most tragic. Our hearts and deepest sympathy go out to this woman’s family and anyone else who has lost a loved one due to an animal attack.

Source:http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerdc/article_272631151.shtml

The investigation has concluded into the deadly September 12, 2008 collision of a commuter train with a freight train in Chatsworth, California that killed 25 and injured 135. As previously thought, the engineer was texting a message to young engineer fans from his phone as he passed a stop signal.

The engineer was killed in the head-on crash of two trains traveling at 40 mph. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that all of the mechanical systems appeared to be working properly.

The 16-month investigation also concluded that the collision could have been avoided had an automated system that stops trains when humans fail, been installed.

Lawsuits filed against Metrolink, Veolia Transportation, Inc. and Connex Railroad LLC hope to show that authorities were aware that the engineer had engaged in this behavior previously, but was never disciplined or fired him.

The crash and subsequent investigation has renewed calls for an automated technology that can stop trains in the event of human error. Metrolink has plans to install a $201 million positive train control system by 2012. The NTSB recommends that all commuter trains install cameras and audio recorders to monitor train operators. And the 15-hour work day that is occasionally required of engineers and conductors, has raised concerns with NTSB board members.

In October, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law legislation that bans texting while driving. Florida texting ban legislation to be introduced this year may mean that our state joins California, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington State, which have all banned text messaging while driving motor vehicles.

Source:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-metrolink22-2010jan22,0,5862623.story

The mother of a monorail driver at Disney World who died last July in a crash, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the theme park. The woman says that Disney did not follow its own monorail-safety procedures and that is what killed her 21-year-old son. Her son was in the front of a monorail, moving the car in reverse through track switches that were supposed to move it eventually onto the system’s maintenance bay. But another monorail was backing up over a track switch at the same time and the track switch was never realigned. The train went into reverse and into the resort’s Epcot line and into the young man’s vehicle.

His mother contends it would be safer to have twin controls in the rear cab giving the operator a clear view when he backs up.

While no litigation can bring back her son, it is pointing out some safety violations of the theme park, perhaps preventing it from happening to someone else. Her lawyer says that Disney’s own policy of having drivers stay in the front cab during a track switch is in violation of the parks own training manual that calls for drivers to switch cockpits. The driver of the trail that hit the 21-year-old worker stayed in the front cab of his train during the track switch. To switch cabins involves powering down the front cab and powering up the rear cab which takes several minutes and if passengers are present can slow the unloading process.

OSHA has cited Disney for one “serious” safety violation - Disney failed to use spotters to keep an eye on the back end of any train that is reversing.

Changes have been made. After the wrongful death accident, Disney required monorail operators to switch cockpits before transferring off the Epcot loop, and now an operator cannot move a train without the use of spotters. Our condolences go out to his mother and other family members for their loss, which it appears was a preventable accident that safety guidelines were written to prevent.

If you ever carry a child in a car seat in the back seat of your car you must read this article.

Fatal Distraction, an article published in the Washington Post on March 8, tells us that all kinds of adults have forgotten their child in the car, from rocket scientists, to doctors, to postal workers. If you have forgotten your cell phone at home, you are capable of doing this too.

It’s a tough read but please take the time to do so and pass it on to everyone you know who has a child they carry in the back seat.

Already this year, two little ones have been left to die in the sweltering heat of cars by inattentive adults. In Florida, heat stroke or hyperthermia can happen in a matter of minutes. Please let’s not let any more cases of wrongful death in Florida happen to another child.

Kids and Cars, the advocacy organization says you can prevent this with a few no-cost reminders.

• If you carry a child, put something you’ll need like a handbag, a lunch, an employee badge on the floor board of the back seat. Always open the back door of your vehicle every time you reach your destination – make it a habit. It’s called the Look before you Lock campaign.
• It may sound ridiculous, but put a reminder of the child in the back seat with you. A large stuffed toy that you normally keep in the child seat, replace in the front seat when you drive. It’s a visual reminder that you have a little passenger, sometimes a silent one, in the back seat.
• Another good tip is to arrange to have your day care provider call you if the child does not arrive as scheduled. Many children’s lives could have been saved with a simple phone call.

Always get involved by looking inside cars in a parking lot. Pets can inadvertently be left there too. I challenge you to read this article and not recognize yourself in it. Truly this can happen to anyone who just had their mind elsewhere that day. Pass this important article onto everyone you know who carries children – it could save a life.

If you have any questions regarding child safety or if your child has been invovled in an auto accident, please contact Jacksonville’s top personal injury lawyers at Farah and Farah.

You certainly have been passed by fast driving teens on the road. A teenage driver with less that one year experience can be the most reckless driver on the road. Speeding up to your tail, passing on the right side of your car, tailing you, aggressive driving and speeding are just some of the problems. I’ve often said I wish their parents could see them driving so they could provide a consequence – like taking away the car and keeping all of us safer from being in an auto accident.

Technology has heard your concerns and has responded. A GPS tracking system will tell you exactly what your child is doing behind the wheel of your car.

A number of these items are able to monitor speed, location, time, where they went, and how long they stayed. Fitting inside your car discretely, the GPS device works by receiving signals from 24 satellites orbiting the earth. Every second you get a reading and are able to access the tracking data.

GPS Teen Tracking has one for $229 and you can order online.

Now you can get one to monitor your teen’s speed and location. LandAirSea has a GPS device that allows you to monitor your teens speed and location at a cost of about $600. Learn more about it on their Web site.

Almost four thousand teens are killed every year in traffic accidents and hundreds of thousands of teens are injured, some critically and permanently. Add other teen passengers, traveling at night, and distractions such as cell phones, CDs, texting AND the youth and inexperience of the driver, one of these devices might just deliver a little piece of mind.

With auto accidents as the number one cause of teen deaths, this small investment and a slight invasion of privacy should be weighed against the cost of doing nothing. Farah and Farah is always there when you do need someone to help you through the maze of tragedy following a Florida auto accident. Call our Jacksonville offices if you need to talk to someone who is on your side.

The tragic death of a five-year-old boy who suffered an asthma attack at the beginning of school last year has resulted in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Trenton Stokes died in August 2007. It was his fourth day of kindergarten at Orange Park Elementary School.

His mother, Rita Stokes had met with school officials to talk about her son’s condition including the principal, her son’s teacher, the school nurse and PE coach. They were told how to recognize Trenton’s asthma attacks and to keep medication with the teacher with the boy at all times.

Unfortunately when Trenton had an attack on the playground August 24th, his teacher didn’t have the medication with her, even after he asked for it. He collapsed and died.

An asthma attack has to be addressed immediately and it is not predictable. Even prepared with that information, the school failed to take care of the little boy. A spokeswoman for Clay County schools says the school acted responsibly but the child did not make it.

Both sides cannot be telling the truth. No doubt the facts will be sorted out at trail. The lawsuit was filed in the 7th Judicial Circuit court. We are sorry for the tragic passing of this little boy.

An 8-month-old child has died after becoming entrapped and suffocating in a Delta Enterprise Co. drop side crib, so nearly 1.6 million cribs are being recalled.

The death was due to a safety peg that was not installed. This allowed the crib locks to become disengaged and detach creating a hazardous gap. That apparently led to the entrapment and suffocation of the baby. And there was another baby reported to have died, but there are no details.

The Delta Enterprise Corp. of New York cribs are manufactured in Taiwan or Indonesia and have the drop side hardware design. The model numbers are listed on the Consumer Product Safety Commission web site.

Unfortunately many cribs are never recalled, but remain in people’s homes, in day care centers or are resold in second-hand stores. Read the rest »

In order to reduce aggressive driving as part of the teen web site, recently mentioned in another blog Take The Wheel, Florida is defining aggressive driving.

Aggressive driving is responsible for 2/3rds of all fatalities on the road each year, or 27,000 deaths. That number is four times the number of deaths resulting from DUI or drunk under the influence.

Aggressive driving is driving under the influence of “impaired emotions” which then leads to high-risk decisions. It is a choice and can be modified with attitude and behavior modification.

Aggressive driving can precede Road Rage when others react on the roads from aggressive and careless drivers.

In order to crack down on teens who take out their aggression, the state is defining “aggressive driving” (Florida Statute 316.1923) as committing two or more of the following acts simultaneously or in succession:

1) Exceeding the posted speed limit by 15 mph or more
2) Unsafely or improperly changing lanes
3) Following another vehicle too closely
4) Failing to yield the right-of-way
5) Improperly passing
6) Violating traffic control and signal devices

Unfortunately this statute is not a charging statute. The office can mark the ticket that the driver was an aggressive driver. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee then takes this data to provide statistical information on aggressive driving in the state which is used to make new laws.

Road Rage is a felony and a criminal assault using an automobile on another driver/passenger of an automobile. There are at least 200 deaths a year in Florida attributed to road rage. #

This story found its way on the front page of our paper complete with a picture of a smiling, friendly looking elderly couple.

James and Blanch Whiddon had been married for 65 years. They told relatives recently they could never live without each other. After a car accident, they died three days apart last week.

James, 85, and his wife who was 79, were on their way home from the grocery store September 30th. They had gone to dispute a bill, and did many things together.

Just before noon on U.S. 1 a tractor-trailer ran a red light and James, traveling on a green light, drove his pickup under the trailer.

James died at the scene. His wife was hospitalized in a coma. Both had their seat belts on. Blanch died in three days.

She leaves behind her daughter, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. “They wouldn’t have been able to survive without each other,” their daughter, Marie Copeland tells Jacksonville.com. “It’s just a tragedy.”
Read the rest »