Little Rock Personal Injury Lawyer - All Topics - Most Commented

Bicycle Safety Tips

Drew Dixon — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:05:09 GMT

When most people think of bicycle safety they think that wearing a helmet is sufficient. However, bike riders must also consider the danger of riding on roads prone to cars and trucks. With more and more people turning to bikes as the cost of gas increases, many cities like Little Rock continue to construct bike trails. However, there are places without crosswalks where people are expected to cross multiple lanes of traffic to continue on the trails. Therefore, it is important to follow these safety tips to ensure a safe ride.

• Try to keep your bike in good shape.

• Always let cars and people go first.
• Slow down and check traffic at all corners.
• Keep both hands on the handle bars except when doing turn signals.
• Walk across busy streets.
• Stay off busy streets.
And always remember to wear a helmet because most bike crashes result in injuries to the head. For more information on bicycle safety check out http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/out/bike_safety.html.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Drew Dixon

Red Tomatoes May Contain Salmonella

Drew Dixon — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:01:19 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration released an alert earlier this week warning consumers in New Mexico (thanks, Mike) and Texas that a Salmonella outbreak may be related to the consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria, Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, is an uncommon type of Salmonella.

Although the FDA will continue to investigate the specific type and source of the tomatoes, preliminary data suggests that raw red plum, red Roma, or round red tomatoes may be the cause of the outbreak. Tomatoes which have not been implicated and continue to be ok to eat are cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with vines still attached, and tomatoes grown at home.

Salmonellae are frequent causes of food borne illness, especially from poultry and raw eggs and more generally from food that has been cooked or frozen and not eaten straight away. Although most non-typhoidal strains associated with food-borne infection are self-limiting and do not require antibiotics, complicated or systemic infection and infection with specific serovars are indications for antibiotic treatment and often hospitalization.

More Information on safe handling of produce can be found at w.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/prodsafe.html.

IMAGE SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Drew Dixon

Tractor-trailer Rig Causes Death

Frank Bailey — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:01:41 GMT

Just when I think Mountain Home, Arkansas is a safe place to live, reality strikes. Yesterday on Highway 62-412 about twenty five miles west of Mountain Home near the small town of Viola a man was suddenly faced with an emergency situation. An 18 Wheeler overturned in front of him. Caleb Lard of Mountain Home did everything he could in the emergency situation to avoid hitting the three large rolls of rubber from the 18 Wheeler that blocked his path.
A utility pole on the side of the highway took the life of Caleb's passenger through no fault of Caleb according to the news reports.

Who is to blame? According to news reports, charges are pending against Roy Choate of Harrison, the driver of the Kenworth tractor that went out of control in a curve.

Living in Mountain Home, I drive on these curvy roads every day. But, do I expect a semi to lose control and overturn in front of me? Of course not.

We all need to take responsibility and drive cautiously, but sometimes there is nothing that can be done, as in a situation such as this when a semi rolls in front of you.

Also reported injured were 26 year old Chasity D Lawing of Mountain Home and two year old Ethan Pucket also of Mountain Home. It is not clear from the early reports how they were injured.

Developing…

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Confusing Allergy Warnings May Do More Harm Than Good

Ryan Scott — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:13:01 GMT

Do the phrases "may contain traces of" or "made in the same factory as" help you decide if the food is safe for your allergy?

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) these warnings may be hurting consumers more than they are helping. Starting in 2006, a U.S. law required that foods disclose in plain language when they intentionally contain highly allergenic ingredients such as peanuts or dairy. However, left out of the law are accidental-allergy warnings -- for foods that might become contaminated because they were made in the same factory, or on the same machines, as allergen-containing products.

The FDA's own surveys found the allergic pay more attention to warnings that a food "may contain" an allergen than those "made in the same factory" labels. Yet when University of Nebraska researchers tested nearly 200 products with various accidental-peanut warnings, they found that peanuts were more likely to have sneaked into products labeled "made in the same facility."

The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, an influential consumer group, counts at least 30 different ways that the warnings are worded — and consumers too often falsely assume that one food is riskier than another because its label sounds scarier.

It seems as though many manufacturers would rather attempt to avoid liability using broad and vague labeling, than implement and stand behind procedures that would make such labeling unnecessary.

So, what to do?

In Canada, health officials have recommended foods bear one of two labels: "May contain X allergen" or "Not suitable for consumption by persons with an allergy to X." By limiting the manufacturer's options to one of the two, at least, the company will be forced to take responsibility for ensuring their product does not contain any allergen, or label the product and face the consequences at the cash register.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ryan Scott

Basic Head Injury Information

Frank Bailey — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:42:06 GMT

In my experience brain injuries are the most undiagnosed injuries Americans suffer. Car wrecks, motorcycle wrecks, and bicycle wrecks account for at least half of all TBIs and the largest portion of TBI in people under age 75. For those people aged 75 and older falls cause the majority of TBIs.

Why are brain injuries so undiagnosed in emergency rooms? Emergency rooms are concerned with saving lives and treating obvious injuries. Brain injuries are not always apparent when a person has just been in a wreck. Physicians are focused on broken bones, and more obvious injuries. Unless emergency room physicians are looking for brain injury, the brain injury may slip through the cracks.

People should have a basic understanding of the most common symptoms. If there is a change in the way you think, I call it fuzzy thinking, or if you have trouble finding words when you talk, these are common symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. Other symptoms are dizziness, headaches, and changes in temperament.

Traumatic brain injury is a frequent cause of major long-term disability unless treated. Outcome for patients with head injury depends heavily on the cause. For example, in the US, patients with TBIs from falls have an 89% survival rate, while only 9% of patients with firearm-related TBIs survive.

Car manufacturers have helped reduce the number of brain injuries by making cars safer, but they still have a long way to go to become completely safe. Motorcycle helmets help, but if a rider lands on his head, the helmet may not prevent a brain injury even though it may have saved the rider’s life.

If you or a family member have been in a serious wreck, I suggest you be examined by a trained medical care provider to rule out brain injury, or to get treatment.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

Are SUV Rollovers Preventable?

Frank Bailey — Mon, 26 May 2008 06:44:53 GMT

Did the tragic accident in Florida on Wednesday which killed several Arkansas residents result from a problem with steerability? Did the Nissan Armada SUV have the design engineering to prevent this tragic accident? Those are questions that remain to be answered.

According to the article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the SUV went sideways and flipped three times after going into the median. Current engineering capabilities have the ability to prevent this tragic type of accident. Some vehicles are equipped with computers which sense when a driver is overcorrecting. These computers prevent skids and the resulting rollovers.

We may never know what happened to cause this tragic accident unless a thorough investigation is undertaken. First and foremost the vehicle needs to be secured so a team of experts can investigate the cause of the crash. Law firms that specialize in automobile safety have the ability to do this type of investigation, usually at no cost to those injured, to see if all current safety standards were met.

Sometimes crashes like this are not entirely the fault of the driver. With modern technology, vehicles, if properly equipped, can prevent this tragic type of accident. More needs to be done to require automobile manufacturers to comply with current safety technology. The NHTSA should investigate this accident throughly to see what really happened...

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Frank Bailey

New Rule to Prevent Unneeded Insurance For Elderly and Disabled

Drew Dixon — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:28:59 GMT

A new Federal Rule proposed last week would limit the contact private health insurance companies could have with Medicare beneficiaries. Under the proposed Rule, agents of private health insurance companies would be barred from cold-calling, door-to-door solicitations, and from setting up tables used for pitching their policies outside hospital waiting rooms and pharmacies.

The Rule is intended to make it harder for private health insurance companies to pressure Medicare beneficiaries into insurance policies that don't want or need. The underlying reason a Rule like this is required is because it is much harder for someone to say "NO" to the solicitor face-to-face resulting in undue influence or pressure which ultimately causes the person being solicited to make a decision they might not otherwise make.

Advocacy groups see the proposed Rule as a step in the right direction. However, they continue to want more asking the states to regulate the insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans. Currently the states only regulate the activities of the agents selling the plans.

It is a shame that the Federal Government must step in and create a rule that would prevent this type of solicitation. In my opinion, if the Health Insurance Companies were truly worried about their beneficiaries and not just making more money, then they would provide opportunities for informed choices.

For more information check out the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Drew Dixon

Unsafe At Any Speed

Bailey Bailey — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:59:39 GMT

The recent grounding of American Airlines’ planes is yet another reminder to me of how large corporations will cut corners for profit. Recently, my law partner, Sach Oliver, and I attended a conference sponsored by InjuryBoard. Some of the presentations at the conference traced the history of how our laws to protect consumers got started. I didn’t realize that Ralph Nadar’s book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” was partly responsible for our current National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA).

The FAA certainly got egg on its face as a result of this week’s cancelations. Maybe that is what we need for the NHTSA to get into gear and require safety measures on cars for those forgotten children who are too big for a child safety seat and too small for the regular seatbelts which are sized to an average male.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Bailey Bailey

Very Large Settlement for Birth Injury

Staff Writer — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:02:41 GMT

The Law Offices of Peter Miller, working in concert with Attorney Robert Bodoin in Fort Worth, Texas, settled a birth injury case for a very significant undisclosed amount. Although the settlement agreement required the non-disclosure of the parties and the specifics of the case, the basic information is as follows:

During the delivery process, the infant started regestering distress. The OB/GYN failed to initiate a C-Section procedure which resulted in the infant's being deprived of oxygen for a period long enough to effectuate brain damage resulting in profound retardation and developmental disability.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Texting Driver Causes Accident In Little Rock

Chrissie Cole — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Robert Biggerstaff was on his way home from work like every other day when his vehicle was T-boned by a 21-year-old driver that admitted to police he was sending texts while driving.

The accident happened last month when the young driver ran a red light on Fort Smith Road. Biggerstafff was left pinned in his truck. He suffered several broken bones, a head injury and a tear in his spleen.

“My uncle was very lucky to walk away from this accident,” said Charly Wesley, Biggerstaff’s niece.

The insurance company is allowing Biggerstaff to keep his vehicle, which his niece said she hopes can be used as a learning tool.

Wesley hopes to partner with a local nonprofit to put together an awareness program to go to schools.

The man responsible for the accident that injured Biggerstaff faces several charges including failure to yield and careless driving.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole