Kansas City Injury Lawyer Blog

Shaniah Rolle needed surgery for some serious intestinal problems. In 1998, doctors at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine had to remove the young girl's spleen and several other organs. This addressed her intestinal problems but compromised her ability to fight off infections. The spleen acts as a filter to screen out bacteria and viruses, so without it she needed medication to prevent illness.

Her mother took her to the hospital's pediatrics unit for a follow-up appointment in October 1998. A medical assistant administered an injection of a vaccine specifically designed to help people without spleens avoid infection. The assistant did not realize, apparently, that the vaccine was about five months out of date. As such, the vaccine was not medically effective.

Rolle's mother rushed her to a different hospital eight months later when she fell seriously ill. She had developed a MRSA infection (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) that the vaccine should have prevented. By the time she got treatment, she had blot clots in all four limbs, and the extremities had become gangrenous. Doctors had no choice but to amputate her arms and legs above the joints.

Rolle's mother filed suit against the medical school and several of the physicians who treated her, alleging that they were negligent in failing to provide an effective vaccine to guard against infection. The case went to trial in late 2011. After a five-week trial, the jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict finding mostly for the plaintiff.

The jury found the hospital and at least one of the doctors liable for Rolle's injuries and awarded $12.6 million in damages. They also found, however, that Rolle's mother was partly at fault for her injuries. Defense lawyers argued at trial that Rolle would have gotten sick whether she had the vaccine or not because her mother did not properly administer her medication. The jury concluded that the mother was forty percent responsible for her daughter's injuries for failing to give her enough medicine to enable her to fight off the infection. This means that Rolle cannot collect the entire amount of the award, but rather sixty percent of it, or $7.56 million. Any recovery may be delayed, as the hospital is expected to file an appeal.

Continue reading "Teen Who Lost All Four Limbs Due to a Medication Error Wins $12 Million Jury Verdict" »

A tragic auto accident that took the lives of a mother and daughter the morning of July 4, 2011 finally has some closure. The driver accused of causing the accident, 19 year-old Mexican immigrant Felix Solano-Gallardo, pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter on January 4. He also admitted to driving while intoxicated, with a blood alcohol content over twice the legal limit. Solano-Gallardo had given conflicting accounts to police since the accident, even refusing to confirm his real name. He is allegedly an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. He claimed several different names and ages while the criminal case progressed, be he testified in court the day of his plea that Solano-Gallardo is his real name, and that he is in fact 19 years old.

The crash occurred at about 8:30 a.m. on Monday, July 4 on Interstate 435 in Kansas City. 911 operators had already received calls about a vehicle traveling the wrong way on the highway. Solano-Gallardo had been driving south in the northbound lanes for several minutes when his white Mountaineer collided head-on with a black Impala driven by a 44 year-old woman and carrying her 11 year-old daughter. No skid marks were found at the scene, leading investigators to suspect both cars were traveling at highway speeds, around 65 miles per hour. The mother and child reportedly died instantly, and Solano-Gallardo was severely injured. The mother and daughter had been driving from their home in Belton to a Fourth of July parade in Sugar Creek.

Solano-Gallardo was taken to an area hospital. At 10:30 a.m., nearly two hours after the crash, his blood-alcohol content was reportedly .185 percent, more than double Missouri's legal limit of .08 percent. Police reported that he was "evasive" about identifying himself. He invoked his right to an attorney and remained at the hospital in serious condition. Because he was hospitalized, he did not appear before a judge until later. Prosecutors requested a $500,000 cash-only bond.

Solano-Gallardo appeared in court for his plea in a wheelchair, still recovering from his injuries. His sentencing is scheduled for March 9, when the judge could impose as much as thirty years' imprisonment. Given his suspected immigration status, federal immigration authorities will likely place a detainer on Solano-Gallardo, if they have not done so already. This is a request to local law enforcement to hold an inmate past the release date until immigration authorities can take custody of the inmate. This is done when they suspect an inmate of immigration violations. If Solano-Gallardo receives a prison sentence, he may face deportation proceedings once he is released.

Continue reading "Man Pleads Guilty to Drunk Driving in Fatal 4th of July Crash in Kansas City" »

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2010 data shows an increase in trucking accident-related fatalities last year. U.S. traveling related deaths increased by 8.7% in 2010, reversing a trend that had been set into motion a couple of years ago.

A total of 3,675 people were killed in trucking-related accidents across the country in 2010. That was an increase from 3,380 fatalities in 2009. Approximately 64% of trucking accident fatalities were single vehicle accidents.

There was also an increase in the number of people injured in large truck accidents. These injuries increased by 12% in 2010, to a total of 19,000 injuries. In contrast, injuries in passenger car accidents increased by only 2.5%.

The national statistics have great relevance to Douglas R. Horn, a Missouri truck accident lawyer. Missouri has several major truck routes, including I-70 and I-44. Both highways are highly congested, which is a significant factor in causing truck accidents.

The American Trucking Association has responded to this increase in trucking accident fatalities, and is calling for more research and analysis of the statistics to understand the reasons for this increase. The group has constantly boasted about the improving trucking safety record of the industry, and has used the lower trucking accident fatality rates over the past couple of years to support its opposition to reducing trucking work hour rules. According to the trucking industry, the 11-hour rule is working fine and has actually helped reduce trucking accident fatalities.

The family of a Florida man who died after receiving the wrong medication at a Florida hospital has filed a lawsuit against the hospital. In July 2010, 79 year-old Richard Smith went to North Shore Medical Center with shortness of breath and was admitted to the ICU. A doctor prescribed the antacid Pepcid, but the nurse administered Pancuronium by mistake. Pancuronium is a muscle relaxant used while intubating hospital patients, but is also used as part of a mixture of drugs in lethal injections.

The nurse had to get the Pancuronium from a locked drug cart in the ICU, while Pepcid is available over-the-counter. News reports do not indicate if the hospital keeps Pepcid in the same area. The nurse apparently injected the Pancuronium into Smith's IV and left. According to University of Miami anesthesiologist Dr. Keith Candiotti, the drug would not cause a patient to lose consciousness but would render them unable to move or breathe in a large enough dose. Smith lay unattended for half an hour, according to hospital records, before staff noticed that he was unresponsive. Smith's son arrived at the hospital shortly afterwards to find his father unconscious. Although Smith was resuscitated, he never regained consciousness and died almost a month later.

According to news reports by Miami's WPLG, the nurse who administered the incorrect medication to Smith still works at the same hospital. He was reprimanded, paid a $2,800 fine, and had to attend "remediation courses." The hospital reported that he had been "appropriately counseled and re-trained." It has reportedly removed Pancuronium from most areas except the operating rooms themselves, and upgraded the medication's packaging to include additional warnings.

Smith's family filed suit in a Miami court in November against North Shore, claiming damages for wrongful death and the loss of Smith's income and support. They particularly note that, in addition to making a mistake, the hospital did not notice their error for thirty minutes, leaving Smith alone that whole time. Smith's family does not feel the punishment meted out so far is enough. Smith and his wife, Lula, had four children of their own and adopted and raised ten other children. She still has care of two children, ages 2 and 10, that they had taken in when the children's mother died.

Continue reading "Man Dies After Accidentally Receiving Drug Used in Executions" »

According to new statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic accident fatality numbers for the year 2010 fell to record lows, ending at a total of 32,885 fatalities. That was a drop of 2.9% from the previous year, and also the lowest traffic accident fatality numbers on record since 1949. Last year, there was a decline in traffic accident deaths even though Americans drove approximately 46 billion more miles.

Missouri car accident lawyers credit this decline in accident fatalities with a number factors. Many states now have strong anti-drunk driving enforcement campaigns in place, and the numbers of alcohol-related car crashes has been dropping steadily. Additionally, safety campaigns, such as Horn Law's Drive By Example Safety Organization in Kansas City, have helped to increase seat belt use and curb distracted driving.

However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also finds that more than 3,000 people were killed last year in accidents related to cell phone use while driving. Overall, 3,092 people were killed in accidents caused when someone was dialing a cell phone, sending or receiving a text message or performing any other activity related to the use of electronic communication devices while driving. The agency used a new measure to tabulate these deaths last year, so there's no way to compare those numbers with those in previous years.

Deaths caused by intoxicated drivers dropped by 4.9% in 2010. However, the number of people being killed in pedestrian accidents, and the number of motorcycle riders killed in accidents increased last year. The decline in pedestrian accidents is especially shocking, since it comes after 4 straight years of declining pedestrian accident death rates.

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=20016

A Missouri poultry company has been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for a number of violations after a worker was killed in a trucking accident inside the facility. According to the agency, this tragedy occurred because the company failed to identify and eliminate hazards in the workplace.

The company, Marshall Durbin Companies in Hattiesburg was the site of a worker death in December 2010. Close to 1,000 people work in the Hattiesburg facility. The victim was working at the entrance of the facility, when he was struck by a tractor-trailer.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began an investigation into the accident. The agency has now cited the company, for at least 12 violations. These include

• Exposing workers to pedestrian accident hazards by not requiring them to
wear brightly colored clothing
• Failure to implement traffic control measures
• Lack of illumination for stairs and exits
• Missing rails on stairs
• Lack of machine guarding
• Failure to label electric circuit breaker panels
• Exposing workers to corrosive materials without providing them protection for
their eyes
• Failure to provide clean bathrooms, and failing to label hazardous chemicals.
The Occupational Safety And Health Administration has proposed total penalties of $120,000.

It shouldn't be so hard to provide a safe workplace for American workers. Unfortunately, every year, dozens of people are killed or seriously injured in accidents in Missouri that can be traced to employer's negligence. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration lays down strict standards for safety and health for almost every industry. Missouri work accident lawyers know that meeting these standards and improving safety conditions in the workplace require investments in time, effort and money. Employers often scrimp on safety measures, resulting in injuries and fatalities.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-05-26-swimming-pool-drain-recall_n.htm

Commercial pool owners around Missouri must begin inspecting their drain covers as quickly as possible to prevent the risk of entrapment accidents. Last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a massive recall of drain covers from around the country. The CPSC recall is linked to shoddy laboratory tests that do not confirm the safety of the drain covers. Missouri premises liability lawyers have been outraged at the poor implementation of a law that is meant to protect children from horrific entrapment accidents.

The law requiring drain covers for all pools, hot tubs and spas in the country is contained in the Virginia Graham Baker Spa Safety Act. The Act is named for Virginia Baker, the granddaughter of former secretary of state James Baker. Virginia died at age 7 in a horrific pool accident in which she was sucked down by the drain of the spa, and pinned to the bottom. Her family spearheaded efforts to prevent repeats of Virginia's death, and their efforts resulted in the passing of the Act which was signed into law by President Bush in 2008. Among other things, the law required the installation of drain covers that would prevent suction entrapment accidents.

However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission now says that many of the drain covers that were installed after the law was passed, were tested by labs that used faulty procedures. Therefore, the agency has announced a recall of the new drain covers.
Entrapment accidents involving pools and spas are rare, but when these occur, they end in serious injuries or death. A young child who is being sucked down by the tremendous power exerted by a pool drain can be pinned to the bottom of the pool, and drowned. Even in those cases where children have survived such horrific entrapment accidents, they have suffered excruciating injuries that have left them disabled.

This summer, across Missouri and Kansas, children will be using commercial pools including those at hotels, vacation facilities and vacation rentals. Owners of these pools and spas must be aware of the CPSC action, and take steps to ensure that pool drains are safe from entrapment hazards. A property owner who fails to ensure the safety of the pool could be held liable in a premises liability lawsuit.

Eight people were taken to area hospitals earlier this week after two Kansas City car accidents happened just minutes apart from each other at the same site, according to LJ World. Both of the accidents happened on Interstate 35 near Ottawa.

Summer months lure drivers from across the country to our roadways. The increased amount of traffic comes with a higher risk for serious car accidents. Our Kansas City car accident attorneys ask that all motorists practice safe and cautious driving habits to help prevent these potentially fatal accidents.

The first accident, according to an Ottawa police spokesman, happened at 2:40 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The driver of a southbound pickup truck reportedly lost control of his vehicle and rolled off the right side of the shoulder near Eisenhower Road.

The pickup truck carried four people - a male driver, a male passenger, a female passenger and a 3-year-old passenger. The female and the child, who were in the backseat, were ejected from the vehicle. The driver had to be extricated from the vehicle after the accident. Officers report that the child was in a booster seat. Officers are still investigating the cause of that crash.

The 3-year-old passenger was taken to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and the two adults were taken to Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Just minutes after this accident, a second accident occurred. In this accident, a teen driver crashed into a parked vehicle that was attempting to assist the victims of the first accident. In the teen driver's vehicle was a 9-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old. All vehicle occupants were taken to area hospitals.

"It would not appear at this point that there were life-threatening injuries," said Lt. Adam Weingartner, an Ottawa police spokesman.

Investigators do not believe alcohol contributed to either accident, but officials are still investigating other factors.

Follow these safety tips to help keep you and your passengers safe in the event of a disabled vehicle:

-Make sure that you always pull completely off the roadway. Stay as far on the side as possible.

-Activate your emergency flashers to warn other vehicles and law enforcement of your location.

-Call 911, a friend, a family member or a motor club for assistance.

-Remember to be patient for assistance as they may be forced to wait through traffic delays that your vehicle has caused.

-Vehicle occupants are to step out of the vehicle during the day and move away from the roadway and the vehicle until help arrives.

-Be prepared for these types of incidents. Keep a stash of nonperishable snacks, flashlights, emergency flares, blankets and jackets in your vehicle.

-Never accept a ride from a stranger, or even an emergency responder, without asking for identification beforehand.

Continue reading "Eight People Injured in Two Kansas City Car Accidents Just Minutes Apart" »

In spite of the federal administration's recent moves towards bus safety, Missouri personal injury lawyers continue to find far too many accidents caused by unsafe operators. A bus driver involved in a tour bus accident in Virginia last week that killed four people is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. In the aftermath of the deadly accident, it has emerged that the bus had been cited several times by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for safety violations.

In fact, the bus company Sky Express should have been ordered to park its vehicles for the safety violations, but the federal agency decided to grant it an extension to appeal. During this extension period, a tour bus belonging to Sky Express flipped over on Interstate 95 in Virginia, killing four people and injuring at least 50 passengers. The driver of the bus has confirmed that he had been driving while tired.

Over the past two years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has cited the Sky Express for speeding, driving in excess of 10 hours without a break and other violations. In over 100 roadside inspections over a two-year period, the company had performed worse than more than 99.7% of bus operators. The company has failed time and again on driver fitness standards and work hour rule violations.

On April 12, the agency announced that it would order the company's buses off the road, giving the company a 45-day waiting period. The agency gave the company 10 more days to analyze evidence and appeal. That decision proved deadly with one tour bus belonging to Sky Express crashing in Virginia. Soon after that accident, the FMCSA finally took the decision to order Sky Express to cease operations.

The federal agency is now being rebuked for its decision to allow an extension of Sky Express' operations, instead of simply ordering those buses off the roads. Four innocent lives have been lost while the agency procrastinated. Hopefully lessons have been learned here, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will get tougher on unsafe bus companies.

This week, the Governors' Highway Safety Association released its projected motorcycle accident fatalities for 2010. Overall, the news has been quite bleak, especially as far as Missouri is concerned.

The report projects an overall national decline of motorcycle accident fatalities in 2010. However, according to the report, this decline is too inconsequential to make a difference. In 2009, the drop in motorcycle accident fatalities had been a staggering 16%. Clearly, we are in danger of losing whatever ground we had covered in 2009 in motorcycle safety.

When I analyzed Missouri's motorcycle accident fatality numbers last year, I found that there was a drop of just one fatality in the first nine months of 2010, compared to 2009. In the first nine months of 2009, there had been 76 motorcycle accident fatalities in Missouri, and in the first nine months of 2010, that number declined to 75.

Even worse, the report indicates that the use of Department of Transportation-approved helmets has actually declined by 16%. That means a lot of motorcyclists are out there riding without wearing approved helmets. Whether this is the result of a false sense of security because of the sharp drop in motorcycle accidents in 2009, remains to be seen. However, Kansas City, Missouri motorcycle accident attorneys would encourage motorcyclists to ignore any data that indicates a drop in fatalities. Motorcyclists continue to be at a high risk of injuries in accidents. A helmet could be a motorcyclist's only chance of preventing serious and debilitating injury, or even death.

Missouri should also be investing more in educating drivers about the need to share the roads with motorcyclists. Too many accidents are caused because drivers failed to look out for motorcyclists, even though there are more and more numbers of motorcyclists on our roads now.

Douglas Horn, Principal Partner of Horn Law, is a highway safety advocate and a member of the Governor's Highway Safety Association.

According to a new report by the NHTSA and the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, there has been a spike in the number of accident fatalities in the US linked to drugged driving or driving under the influence of drugs.

The researchers looked at the number of fatalities in 2009, and found that a whopping 33% of the fatalities had some traces of drugs in their system at the time of the accident. There was actually an increase of 5% in the number of such drugged driving fatalities over the past few years. Interestingly enough, the increase in fatalities linked to drugged driving coincided with a decline in the number of overall accident fatalities in the country.

Drugged driving has been an underestimated issue, but has emerged as a serious safety threat over the past few years. The risks from persons driving under the influence of narcotics, like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines are well-documented. However, it is the number of people driving under the influence of prescription drugs that is of serious concern to Kansas City car accident lawyers.

Many adult Americans, and almost all elderly motorists, are on at least one medication, and many are on more than one medication. Combining drugs can cause not just known side effects like drowsiness and fatigue, but also less obvious ones like disorientation, confusion and blurred vision. Some of these side effects may not even be obvious to your doctor. These can severely increase your risk of an accident.

What makes it worse is that federal transportation agencies have failed to recognize the magnitude and scope of this problem. We have no strong policies in place to raise awareness about the dangers of driving under the influence of certain medications, and preventing people from doing so.

Mason Adams, a model 16 year-old boy with a promising future, was killed when he was hit by a school bus as he was crossing the street on his way to school. This tragic accident follows a Clay County, Missouri school bus accident last week when at least a dozen students were injured in a school buss accident in Clay County, Missouri last week.

My heart goes out to Mason's family. From all accounts, he was a great kid & a joy to coach as a baseball player.

Although the accident investigations are on-going, school bus accidents raise a high level of concern in regards to the policies, procedures, and protocols that govern school bus drivers. There is little doubt that the legal process will concentrate on school bus driver education and training, and other issues that directly relate to driver safety.

Our law firm concentrates in Missouri motor vehicle accidents. Two years ago our law firm represented the family of a 16 year-old boy who lost his life in a motorcycle accident. Although the parent's case was settled for a substantial amount, I have continued to dedicate myself to highway safety advocacy as a memorial to his family. Please visit www.highwaysafetyattorney.com for more information.

On my end, I am going to expand my highway safety advocacy efforts into school bus safety concentrating on driver safety. While the facts surrounding this accident will be developed through the legal process, I know that "First Student" and other school bus operators have a high obligation to bus driver safety, especially as the roads become more congested and drivers are more distracted.

Gail Rehme has waited 26 years for this moment - to be able to see a memorial sign in honor of her brother on Interstate 270 in Florissant where he was killed by a drunk driver.

David Poenicke was 19 years old, when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Since his death, Gail has lobbied to have legislation enact would allow families of DUI accident victims to install highway signs memorializing their loved ones. The law is called David's Law, and it allows families to pay for a blue highway sign with the initials of the crash victim and the date of their death. Fittingly enough, the first sign to be installed under the new law was one memorializing David Poenicke.

Families who want to keep their loved ones memory alive in the form of a highway sign have to pay up to $600. However, Gail has now founded a group called Who's Next. The group plans to raise money to help families bear the cost of installing the signs.

Obviously, families of these accident victims will be comforted to know that seeing a sign featuring the name of their loved one, could possibly prevent a motorist from getting into his car in an intoxicated state. As a Kansas City car accident lawyer who frequently represents individuals and families of a Missouri DUI accident, I hope that this new initiative by the Missouri Department of Transportation will encourage motorists to evaluate their own driving behaviors and reconsider a decision to drive while intoxicated.

While drunk driving continues to be a significant highway safety concern in Missouri, we are making progress. According to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 310 people were killed in drunk driving accidents on Missouri roads in 2008. In 2007, 333 people were killed in drunk driving accidents.

Based on 2009 preliminary data, motorcycle deaths in the State of Missouri have significantly decreased. This data, reported by the Governors Highway Safety Organization, is consistent with a national trend of reduced motorcycle fatalities across the United States. Although the data is incomplete because it only covered the first 8 months of 2009, the decline comes after 11 years of steady increases in motorcycle accident deaths. The data also supports that there has been a decrease in motorcycle accidents across the board.

While I do believe there are other factors responsible for the decrease in motorcycle accidents in 2009, the primary reason is that there were less motorcycles on the road last year. This is not surprising given the troubling economy. A substantial amount of motorcycle travel is recreational and many people are cutting back on recreation, especially with high gas prices and extra insurance premiums that go along with motorcycle ownership.

However, just because the recent data is favorable, it is not a time to let down on motorcycle safety efforts. Missouri should ramp up motorcycle safety campaigns that have been successful in increasing motorist awareness. One idea would be to utilize billboard advertising on the side of delivery trucks that remind motorists that motorcycles are often difficult to see. This type of campaign is cost-effective and would increase the repetition of the motorcycle awareness message.

Every year, more than 1.5 million people fall ill because of medication errors. The healthcare reforms approved earlier this year pushed medication mistakes into the spotlight, but the rates of these errors continue to remain high, with few improvements in sight.

Most medication errors occur in pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities. At the Horn Law Firm, approximately 85% of the pharmacy error cases we take on involve mistakes made by one of the large retail pharmacy chains, like Walgreens, Wal-Mart and CVS.

Among these prescription errors, 53% involved the wrong drug, while 34% involved the wrong dosage of the drug, and 13% involved wrong administration of the drug.

Here are 7 of the most common prescription errors.

1. Wrong medications due to similar names – These can occur because the pharmacist misreads the doctor's handwritten prescription, or a technician pulls out the wrong drug from the shelf.


2. Wrong dosage – These errors occur frequently in hospitals when IV drugs are administered, but they can also occur when handwritten prescriptions or labels are misread. Misplaced decimal points are a common source of dosage error.


3. Misinterpreting drug interactions – These can occur when you are on more than two medications. These drugs can interact with each other, which is why it's so important that pharmacists and doctors take the time to explain side effects and drug interactions.


4. Combinations of medications with similar ingredients – When you're on more than one medication that contains the same ingredients or compounds, there is the danger of an accumulation of the compound that can lead to a possible overdose.


5. Combining brand-name drugs and generic versions – Generic drugs contain the exact same ingredient that is contained in brand-name drugs. However, patients may not be aware of this. Therefore, they may combine drugs with similar compounds – one, a brand-name version and the other, a generic version – in their homes, and not even know it. Taking both medications could cause an overdose.


6. Mixing over-the-counter drugs with prescription drugs – Patients tend to think anything they buy over the counter, is safe to use. However, these over-the-counter drugs can interact with any prescription medications that you're on, leading to serious injuries.


7. Mixing alcohol with prescription drugs – Not every patient may be aware of the kind of effect alcohol can have on the medications their taking. That's why it's so important that doctors and pharmacists take time to ask the patient about lifestyle and other habits, such as alcohol use, while prescribing medications.