Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Choking Is Still a Real Hazard for Children

In spite of concerted efforts by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make children’s toys safer and choking-hazard free, thousands of children suffer a choking injury every year. Many of these choking incidents will be serious enough to require treatment in the hospital. According to a study, death is a very real possibility for those children who are admitted to a hospital for choking on a toy part or food.

The study looked at child hospital discharge data in 2003, and specifically noted 2,800 admissions for choking. Researchers found that approximately one in about every 30 kids hospitalized for choking, actually died in the hospital. The study also had one very interesting fact for Atlanta personal injury lawyers– about 25% of all choking-related hospital admissions were caused by toys or other products that were in compliance with Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations for these products.

Macon Police Investigating Series of Dog Bites

Macon police have been investigating two separate dog bite incidents this week.

Both incidents occurred in South Macon. The first incident involved a man who was attacked by a pack of pit bulls. According to the man, he was walking along when the group of dogs attacked him with no provocation. Residents in the area were able to hear his cries for help, and respond. There is no information about the owner of the dog. By the time officers arrived at the scene, the dogs had disappeared, and officers were unable to trace them.

Children More Likely to Be Injured by Routine Things During Holidays

It’s no secret that children run a much higher risk of being injured during a major holiday like Christmas, than other days. However, contrary to what many parents believe, the risks to children are not so much from performing holiday-specific tasks, as from doing routine everyday things, or so, a new study says.

Researchers compared the five-day period around eight major American holidays – Labor Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween and New Year’s. The study which used data between 1997 and 2006, revealed that most holiday injuries involve sports and recreation activities.That’s not any different from the rest of the year when children hurt themselves the most while playing.

Bicycle Safety Tips for Children

A tragic bicycle accident last week in south Fulton County killed a nine-year-old boy. The tragedy is a reminder of the risks to Atlanta’s children as summer creeps up on us.

More children can be expected to take to their bicycles as the weather gets warmer, and as Atlanta bicycle accident lawyers, we are concerned at the possibility of accidents involving kids on bicycles. There is much that parents can do to encourage safe bicycling habits in their children.

Georgia House Passes Ban on Texting While Driving

The Georgia House last week passed a bill that will ban texting while driving for all motorists, and cell phone use for motorists below the age of 18. The bill will now go to the Senate, and Atlanta injury lawyers are hoping for the passing of a long-awaited legislation that will reduce the risk of distracted driving on our streets.

Bill 938 was approved by a 134-31 vote. It now goes to the Georgia Senate, and if the Senate does what Atlanta accident lawyers hope it will, then the bill will go to Gov. Sonny Perdue, and finally become law. The sponsor of the bill Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, says the bill is a no-brainer, given the widely recognized risks of texting while driving.

Support Grows for Georgia Bicycle Safety Bill

More than 1,000 bicyclists converged in Atlanta yesterday in a show of support for a pending piece of legislation that would create a safety zone around bicycles, preventing the risk of injuries and accidents.

The bill is similar to other legislation already in effect in 16 other states around the country. It has been widely supported by bicycle safety groups and Atlanta bicycle accident lawyers. The bill, HB988 will establish a 3-foot safety zone around a bicyclist. Motorists will be required to maintain the 3-foot zone while passing a bicyclist. This will greatly increase safety for these bikers, who often find themselves run off roads and frightened by honking cars that get too close to them.

Georgia SC Throws Out $350,000 Cap on Noneconomic Damages in Medical Malpractice Claims

It’s been a while coming, but the much-awaited judgment that trial lawyers in Atlanta and victims of medical malpractice have been waiting for, is finally here. The Georgia Supreme Court yesterday threw out the $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice claims.. The ruling nullifies a key provision of tort reform laws passed by Georgia’s legislators in 2005.

The 7-0 Supreme Court decision involves the case of Betty Nestlehutt, who suffered severe disfigurement after a botched plastic surgery procedure. Nestlehutt had visited Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery to correct bags around her eyes. The resulting procedure left wounds on her cheeks, which have since resulted in permanent scarring.

Last week, Google rolled out its new Google bike maps feature that does for bicyclists what it already does for motorists. The feature provides bicyclists quick and safe routes to get to their destination.

Bikers have been calling for adding biking directions to Google Maps for a while now. A petition containing more than 50,000 signatures from bicyclists was sent to Google, asking the search engine giant to develop a map feature exclusively for bicyclists. That moment is here, and bicyclists couldn’t be happier about it. As bicycle accident lawyers in Atlanta, we couldn’t be more pleased at the way Google has stepped in to make biking not just quicker and more convenient for bicyclists, but also safer.

According to Google, the bike routes have been developed taking into consideration the safest way for a biker to get to his destination. The routes avoid crowded and congested streets, streets with no bike lanes, streets with a high volume of traffic, busy intersections, narrow streets and hills.

An eight-year-old girl has suffered critical injuries in an attack involving two dogs outside her home in DeKalb County.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Erin Ingraham was playing outside her home on Tuesday afternoon when she was approached by two Staffordshire Terriers. The dogs attacked her, and officers who responded to the scene had to use batons to pry the animals off the little child. The two dogs then attacked the officer, upon which the dog was shot and killed. The second dog ran away from the scene and was later captured by animal control officers.

The owner of the dog has been located and is likely to face charges. Erin suffered serious injuries that required vascular and plastic surgery. This has been a horrific attack by any standards, and we wish Erin a speedy and complete recovery. Unfortunately, it looks like Erin has a long recuperation period ahead of her. The next few weeks, or even months, are not going to be easy.

Wildlife lovers have been citing last week’s fatal orca attack at SeaWorld in Orlando as a prime example of the fact that wild animals deserve to be free, and not forced to be performing monkeys. However, as Atlanta injury lawyers who represent victims of dog bites, we have been more concerned about the fact that the killer whale in the attack here had been cited in at least two previous deaths

If you’ve missed the story, here’s the background.Tilikum, a killer whale at Orlando’s SeaWorld, dragged its trainer Dawn Brancheau into the water, killing her. The 40- year-old trainer was rubbing the whale down after the show when it apparently grabbed her in its mouth, and thrashed her from side to side. Brancheau was dead before anyone else could get into the water. It’s not clear if she drowned or died from the thrashing.

Tilikum had been involved in at least two previous deaths at water parks.The first death occurred at a facility in British Columbia, when a trainer fell into the tank and was attacked by three whales, including Tilikum.The other tragedy involved a man who was found dead and draped around the whale’s back in the tank.He had either sneaked into the tank or fallen in.