Connecticut Injury Attorney Blog

A police officer in West Haven was injured shortly after midnight on Saturday, November 13 by an alleged drunk driver, reports the New Haven Register. The officer was on patrol when a car turning onto Boston Post Road struck his vehicle at about 2:15 a.m. The officer was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. He was treated and released. His name has not been released to the media.

The Register notes that several officers in the West Haven Police Department have suffered injuries in automobile accidents in recent months. Last week, an officer was struck by a CT Transit Bus as he was exiting his vehicle and had to be hospitalized. In September, a car hit an off-duty officer on his motorcycle, breaking his leg. A sergeant was injured in July when someone deliberately rammed his cruiser. The West Haven police chief commented that the department is having staffing difficulties due to recent injuries.

In the Saturday incident, the 27 year-old driver who hit the police officer's vehicle allegedly had, at the time of the crash, a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit. He also allegedly ran a blinking red light, the equivalent of a stop sign. The driver has been charged with driving under the influence and several other offenses, including failure to grant the right of way at an intersection. The driver could face up to six months in jail if this is his first driving under the influence offense.

From the perspective of a personal injury attorney, the question is whether the driver can be held liable for the officer's injuries. If the driver acted negligently, then he can be liable for damages, which may include the officer's medical expenses related to his injuries, lost wages for time missed from work, costs of rehabilitation from his injuries, future lost wages because of rehabilitation or diminished work capacity, and compensation for "pain and suffering" resulting from the injuries. In this particular case, the officer was released from the hospital the same day, so the amount of damages may be small, but some injuries in automobile accidents do not manifest right away.

Continue reading "Alleged Drunk Driver Hits Connecticut Police Officer" »

A construction worker died from injuries sustained in a fall at a Stamford work site on October 25, 2011. The man was reportedly installing a roof at the new Chelsea Piers sports complex. In gusty wind conditions, and without wearing a safety harness, he fell 50 feet to his death around 1:00 p.m. Two of the man's brothers were present at the worksite when he fell. Emergency responders said that he was unresponsive when they arrived at the scene.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has shut down the site pending an investigation into the accident. The roofing project at Chelsea Piers is being overseen by contracting firm American Building Group. The Stamford Advocate notes that American Building Group has a history of OSHA investigations over the past several years, including violations related to scaffolding in 1999 and 2005. An August 1999 inspection led OSHA to cite the company for problems with scaffolding, electrical systems, and a shortage of personal protective equipment. It fined the company $5,400 for six violations. In 2005, OSHA fined the company $7,050 for scaffolding and heavy equipment problems. The most serious violation came in 2006, when OSHA found that the company had not adequately protected workers at an excavation site and fined the company $20,000.

Since the investigation by OSHA is still underway, it is premature to do any more than speculate on how liability may ultimately be apportioned in this case. Key questions involve the employment relationship between the worker and the general contractor, the involvement of other subcontractors in any conditions leading to the accident, and negligence on the part of the worker that might offset a contractor's liability. The answers to most of these questions are not known, either because investigations are underway or information is not available from the media. Still, they are worth exploring.

Continue reading "Connecticut Worker Dies in Construction Accident" »

Department of Transportation worker who lost part of her leg in the back of a dump truck while getting it ready for winter snow operations received a 3.6 million dollar verdict in Waterbury Superior Court on November 1, 2011. Her boot was entrained in the moving conveyor chain during a maintenance operation. The defense was primarily that she disregarded a "Danger" decal affixed to the side of the truck advising her not to stand in the body of the dump because of the moving chain which could cause injury. While that was true, the decal had been serially disregarded as the back of the dump bed was often used to store tools and for various other purposes and ther was a ladder affixed to the side of the dump body placed there by the Manufacturer and Dealer to enable access. The dealer who sold and assembled the dump body knew that and in fact their own mechanics would inspect the chain's operation on occasion from inside the dump body as well while the chain was in motion. The State of Connecticut's contract with the DOT required mandatory training on the proper operation and maintenance of the dump body which implicitly included how to clean and maintain the unit in a safe and recommended manner.It also required compliance with OSHA regulations and Industry safety standards. The Dealer maintained that it did so comply and that physical guarding of the chain during operation was implausible as any such guard would necessarily tend to interfere with its intended purpose. Accordingly, administrative controls which included proper training and clear operating instructions were essential and the Dealer maintained that it provided proper training and that the DOT which had operated a fleet of hundreds of similar trucks before the instant purchase should have known how to train their own employees in the first place. After the incident, Conn OSHA did cite the DOT which employed the injured worker for allowing exposure to unguarded nip points and in consequence thereof the DOT implemented a series of heightened administrative controls.

The case was brought under Connecticut's Product Liability Act and was plead under legal theories including Strict liability for Defective design, Breach of the Statutory Duty to provide warnings and instructions, Breach of warranty and negligence. The manufacturer of the Dump bed had settled with the Plaintiff weeks before Trial and was a settled and released party whose fault was considered by the jury for purposes of allocating fault between the Plaintiff, the manufacturer and the remaining Defendant which was the dealer who sold the dump beds to the State under a procurement contract. The Jury allocated slightly less fault to the Manufacturer than to the Dealer who had the contract and primary relationship with the DOT and assigned 38% fault to the injured DOT worker as well resulting in a net verdict of slightly more than 1.3 million dollars to the worker in addition to a confidential sum obtained from the manufacturer shortly before Trial.

The Connecticut State Medical Examining Board recently reprimanded two surgeons, one in Norwich, and one in New Haven, for medical errors during surgeries.

In January 2008, at William W. Backus Hospital, Dr. Gregory Criscuolo of Norwich performed spinal surgery intended to alleviate an impinged nerve in a patient's spine. Dr. Criscuolo removed the wrong lamina, part of the vertebra. After realizing his mistake, he operated on the correct site.

Continue reading "Connecticut Surgeons Reprimanded for Medical Errors During Spinal and Hernia Surgeries" »

On Monday, the FDA initiated a recall of various chocolate products manufactured by Chocolate Decadence after a Connecticut consumer became ill from eating the chocolate.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the chocolate had been manufactured on production lines that had previously been used to process milk chocolate. It was thus determined that the products contain an undeclared milk allergen. Consumers who are allergic to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening reaction if they consume these products.

According to the FDA release, the recalled products were distributed nationwide via the Internet and physical retail locations.

Continue reading "Connecticut Consumer's Allergic Reaction Prompts Recall of Chocolate Products" »

While showering with her two young female children on July 23, 2011, in a bathroom facility at Hammonassett State Park, a Young Woman noticed that they were being watched from behind the shower through holes. Subsequently, two men, state workers, were arrested and admitted their conduct. This conduct was invasive and insulting to my Client and also outraged her husband who witnessed the impact that this had upon his wife. The conduct appears legally actionable as it did subject the victims who were enjoying their family vacation time to extreme emotional and mental distress stemming from this invasion of their privacy.

Continue reading " Hammonassett CT State Park Maintenance workers Watching Unsuspecting Female Beach Visitors " »

We recently blogged about cases of neglect at Connecticut nursing homes.

The New Haven Independent reported last Tuesday of yet another instance of poor medical care at a Connecticut nursing home. In this case, a nursing home was fined $3,000 by the State Department of Public Health after investigators determined that multiple nurses at the facility had withheld from patients medications prescribed by their physicians.

Continue reading "Another Connecticut Nursing Home Fined for Inadequate Medical Care" »

Connecticut patients being treated for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with eye injections should be aware that, last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a release alerting health care professionals to a cluster of serious eye infections suffered by patients in Florida and Tennessee who received eye injections of repackaged Avastin (bevacizumab). Avastin is approved for treatment of various cancers, but used off-label in smaller doses by many ophthalmologists to treat wet AMD due to its substantially lower cost than alternatives ($50/dose vs. $2,000/dose for Lucentis). Tragically, some of the patients were blinded.

As explained on EyeDocNews (a blog covering new treatments for eye conditions), in order to convert Avastin from a cancer drug to a wet AMD drug, pharmacies must repackage the vials into much smaller doses. If that repackagaging process is not handled with proper aseptic techniques, product sterility can be compromised, which puts patients at risk for microbial infections.

Continue reading "Contaminated Avastin Causing Eye Infections and Blindness in Patients" »

Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest of the year in terms of auto travel, resulting in a heavier police presence on Connecticut roads, and increased speeding and other traffic citations.

Unfortunately, the increased traffic volume also results in a larger number of Connecticut auto accidents.

One particularly tragic case reported today in the media involved two fatalities in a car accident early Saturday morning on the Merritt Parkway in Norwalk.

Continue reading "Fatal Norwalk Connecticut Auto Accident Mars Labor Day Weekend" »

A bicyclist from Fairfield Connecticut suffered traumatic head injuries after being thrown from her bike following a collision with a truck. She is currently in critical condition at a Bridgeport, Connecticut hospital.

The media reported that the victim was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. The accident thus highlights the need for stressing helmet safety for all bicyclists.

Continue reading "Connecticut Woman Severely Injured by Truck in Bicycle Accident" »

Recently, the Connecticut Department of Public Health fined several Connecticut nursing homes for medical care lapses that led to patients' falls.

West Hartford Health & Rehabilitation was fined for failing to prevent a resident with dementia from falling. The staff neglected to provide the patient with a "lap chair" that would have prevented her from falling from her wheelchair.

Continue reading "Connecticut Nursing Homes Cited and Fined for Medical Care Lapses" »

As reported today in the Hartford Courant, leading meat processor Cargill announced that it is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has killed one person in California and sickened individuals in at least 26 states so far across the country.

The recall covers fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company's Springdale, Arkansas plant between February 20, 2011 through August 2, 2011.

Continue reading "No Illnesses Reported Yet in Connecticut in Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak" »

Last weekend, a woman from Yonkers water skiing in a lake near Newton, Connecticut, was killed when her line got tangled in the propeller of the boat towing her.

The victim was taken to a hospital in Danbury Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

While the full details of how this accident unfolded were not reported, the tragedy reinforces the importance of following important safety precautions while water skiing - a popular sporting activity during the summer.

Continue reading "Water Skier Killed in Connecticut Boating Accident Last Weekend" »

It was announced last week in the media that the Department of Veterans Affairs will pay nearly $1 million to Jose Goncalves in settlement of his medical malpractice claim arising out of a botched cataract surgery performed on the Hartford, Connecticut resident.

Goncalves was blinded in his right eye when a third-year resident at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut, incorrectly injected too much anesthetic into his eye during a cataract surgical procedure, causing Goncalves' eye to explode.

Goncalves' lawsuit was filed in 2009 in the United States District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A few years ago, my office brought suit against a Hartford CT, ophthalmologist and neurologist as well as an emergency room physician, all of whom ignored and evidently tinkered while an overweight uninsured woman lost substantial visual function. The case settled for two million dollars. Since then, I have launched a dedicated website for those with visual loss issues related to medical negligence or significant personal injury.

Continue reading "Hartford Connecticut Medical Malpractice Victim Wins Nearly $1 Million Settlement" »

Consumers in Connecticut and other States who purchase generic drugs instead of brand name prescriptions have had an important legal remedy taken away as a result of a ruling just issued by the United States Supreme Court A divided Court has ruled that those injured or killed by generic brand prescription drugs because the product warnings were inadequate to explain and articulate the risks of taking the medicine can no longer sue the manufacture for damages. A wrongful death or Personal injury claim could still be brought it would appear if the drug were manufactured defectively or designed improperly in a situation where either of which circumstance caused harm. However, if there was simply inadequate information disclosed within the product literature to somebody who went into a CVS pharmacy store in Hartford, for example, resulting in their consuming the drug and suffering harm, their legal remedy now has disappeared against the manufacturer and likely the seller of the generic drugs. Since almost 75% of all prescriptions sold are generic( and cheaper than brand name equivalents) this is a big deal to the consumers.

Continue reading "Generic Drug Manufacturers shielded from Product Warnings Liability" »