California Injury Attorney Blog

California Health & Safety Code 1279.1 requires reporting of adverse events, to the California Department of Health, no later than five (5) days after the event was detected, or if that event is an ongoing urgent or emergent threat to the welfare, health, or safety of patients, personnel, or visitors, not later than 24 hours after the adverse event has been detected. An adverse event does include:
(1)(D) Retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or other procedure, excluding objects intentionally implanted as part of a planned intervention and objects present prior to surgery that are intentionally retained.

AORN Recommendation II: Sharps and other miscellaneous items should be counted on all procedures.
1. Sharps and miscellaneous items (eg, vessel clip bars, vessel loops, umbilical and hernia tapes, vascular inserts, cautery scratch pads, trocar sealing caps) should be counted
• before the procedure to establish a baseline,
• before closure of a cavity within a cavity,
• before wound closure begins,
• at skin closure or end of procedure, and
• at the time of permanent relief of the scrub person and/or circulating nurse (although direct visualization of all items may not be possible).

2. Initial sharps counts should be performed and recorded on all procedures. Performing counts constitutes a primary and proactive injury-prevention strategy. Counting sharps and miscellaneous items is not only important in preventing foreign body retention; the continuous accounting for these items can lessen injuries to those scrubbed in the sterile field.

3. Sharps and miscellaneous items should be counted audibly and viewed concurrently by two individuals, one of whom should be a registered nurse circulator. Concurrent verification of counts by two individuals lessens the risk for count discrepancies.

4. Sharps counts should be conducted in the same sequence each time as defined by the facility. This assists in achieving accuracy, efficiency, and continuity among perioperative team members. Studies in human error have shown that all errors involve some kind of deviation from routine practice.

5. Members of the surgical team should account for sharps or other miscellaneous items that may have been broken or become separated within the confines of the surgical site in their entirety. Breakage and/or separation of parts can occur during open as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures. Verification that all broken parts are present or accounted for helps prevent unintentional retention of a foreign body within the patient.

Continue reading "Adverse Events In California Health Facilities Must be Reported Within Five Days After They Are Detected Says Personal Injury Lawyer Steven Peck" »

Slip and fall accidents cause serious and sometimes catastrophic injury says California Personal Injury Lawyer Steven Peck.

According to the laws in most states, premises liability law places a duty upon property owners to maintain their property in a reasonably safe manner and to guard against unsafe conditions that could cause an accident. .

Most slip and fall cases involve injuries resulting from unmarked/uneven stairs or step-offs, slippery floors, and unstable stair railings. Common injuries associated with slip and fall cases include broken bones and necks, severe bruising, concussions, all causing serious personal injury.

Premises liability law usually requires that an injured individual prove that a property owner disregarded an unsafe condition, was negligent in repairing a dangerous situation, and/or failed to warn of foreseeable dangers. As with any personal injury action, documents and information relating to the scene of the accident may help an injured individual prove his or her case. Thus, contacting a Peck Law Group personal injury lawyer quickly may allow you to recover information about the unsafe condition before changes are made.

Continue reading "Slip and Fall Accidents Cause Serious and Catastrophic Injury says California Personal Injury Attorney Steven Peck" »

The Peck Law Group lawyers know that a thorough and prompt investigation is essential to a good settlement or jury verdict in a truck accident case. Under California law, our client, the plaintiff, has the burden of proving how and why the accident happened. To the contrary, the negligent person who caused the accident can remain silent having no obligation to put on evidence of any kind at trial about who caused the accident.

This may not seem fair, but it is a fact our lawyers and clients must live with every day. Consequently, in a serious and catastrophic injury trucking case, where the stakes may be high because injuries and other damages are serious, our The Peck Law Group understand it is critical that an investigation begin immediately. Otherwise, evidence crucial to the outcome of our client's case may be lost forever.

The Insurance Company Investigation
Remember, you've got competition. Early accident investigation is important in most cases, but in crashes involving large trucks it can be decisive and insurance companies know this. It is standard practice for a trucking company's insurer to act within minutes or hours after a bad accident to secure evidence that may help its truck driver avoid accountability for his negligence.

Sometimes an insurance company acts so quickly its investigators arrive at the scene while the police are still there. Their purpose is to find all evidence that might exonerate their truck driver. They won't bother to document evidence that may help your case!

Of course, an innocent person injured through the negligence of a trucker cannot field a team of investigators as quickly as a trucking company can. However, by engaging an Peck Law Group lawyer to investigate your case as quickly as possible, you may be able to preserve crucial evidence that will help you win your case.

Eyewitness Accounts
Sometimes the most important testimony regarding causation in a truck accident case comes from independent eyewitnesses who saw the accident take place and recognize it was the defendant's fault. This type of evidence, especially when it comes from someone who is not acquainted with the plaintiff, usually makes a positive impression on jurors and is very important.

Finding these witnesses early-on and documenting their recollection of the accident while it is still fresh in their minds, is imperative. Nothing is more discouraging for an attorney than to track down a witness a year or two after an accident only to have that witness tell him the accident happened so long ago he really doesn't remember much about it.

Police Investigation
You want your Peck Law Group lawyer or a member of his staff to interview the law enforcement officers who investigated your case as soon as possible. It is rare for a police officer, sheriff, or state trooper to see an accident happen. However, the evidence they gather at an accident scene may play a critical role in the success of your case and reinforce eyewitness accounts. Where no independent eyewitnesses exist, a police investigation may provide most of the first hand evidence a jury will rely on to determine how your accident happened and who was at fault.

Law enforcement officers usually respond to serious truck accidents within minutes. They photograph the scene and the damaged vehicles. They measure skid marks and tire tracks. They examine vehicle debris and scan the area for radiator and brake fluid. When they investigate accidents involving death or severe injuries, they may also ask a special crash team to perform an accident reconstruction. Your lawyer wants to secure all this information early in your case so he can engage experts to help piece together what happened during your accident.

Although police officers ordinarily write up their findings in formal investigation reports, sometimes they don't include everything they know or remember. By interviewing these officers promptly, your lawyer can document what they remember but didn't write down. Like other eyewitnesses, a police officer's independent memory of an accident is likely to fade with time.

Many officers keep personal notebooks in their squad cars and make handwritten notes identifying eyewitnesses and quoting their exact words. They may not copy these notes, word for word, in their official accident reports. Worse, they sometimes throw away their personal notebook when it is full, when they change employers, or when they move. For all these reasons, a personal interview with an investigating officer in the early days of your case can reward you and your Peck Law Group lawyer with useful information that may not be available at a later time.

Continue reading "Serious and Catastrophic Truck Injury Cases Need Prompt Investigation" »

When it comes to truck accidents, there is a web of players who may be responsible for a victim's injuries, including:

•the truck's driver
•the owner of the truck or trailer
•the person or company that leased the truck or trailer from the owner
•the manufacturer of the vehicle, tires, or other parts that may have contributed to the cause or severity of the accident, and
•the shipper or loader of the truck's cargo (in cases involving improper loading).
The trucking, hauling, and leasing companies often argue among themselves over whose insurance will compensate the victim. For example, the truck company might claim that the accident was caused by defective brakes. In turn, the brake company might then point the finger at the leasing company, claiming that it failed to maintain the brakes in good working order.

Can Trucking Companies Avoid Liability?
In the past, trucking companies often tried to avoid liability for trucking accidents by creating distance between themselves and the driver, the vehicle, and the equipment. Here's how they did this says California Personal Injury Lawyer Steven Peck:

The trucking company obtains the necessary permits to operate the truck. However, the company often does not own the tractor, trailer, or equipment used to haul the goods. Instead it leases (rents) the equipment, tractors, and trailers from the "owner/operator." The trucking company also does not directly employee the drivers. Instead, it hires them as independent contractors from the owner/operator.

The trucking company gives the owner/operator a "placard," which includes the name of the trucking company and its permit numbers. The placard is then affixed to the door of the tractor -- which makes it seem like the truck is owned by the named trucking company and the driver is an employee of the named trucking company.

If the truck is in an accident, and the trucking company is sued, it would argue that:

•the driver was not the trucking company's employee, so the trucking company is not liable for driver error, or
•the trucking company does not own the equipment, so it is not responsible for the operation, maintenance, repair, and inspections of the equipment.
Luckily, federal laws and regulations have put an end to these arguments. Under current federal law, any company owning a trucking permit is responsible for all accidents involving a truck that has its placard or name displayed on the vehicle. It doesn't matter what the lease says with the owner/operator or whether the driver is an employee or independent contractor

Continue reading "Who Is Responsible When It Comes To Truck Accidents Causing Serious Personal Injury?" »

Driver Fatigue leads truck drivers to fall asleep, be inattentive, misjudge gaps, ignore the signs of impending dangers, panic, freeze, and under- or overreact to a situation. Even though fatigue is a common cause of truck accidents, it is also the most preventable.

The Federal Hours of Service Rules Federal regulations (called the "hours of service rules") set forth rules to ensure that truck drivers obtain the necessary rest and restorative sleep in order to drive safely. Under these rules, truck drivers can work a maximum of 14 hours per day, during which time they can only drive for a maximum of 11 hours. The driver must be off-duty for 10 consecutive hours prior to the start of a shift. The driver also cannot drive after being on duty for 60 hours in seven consecutive days or 70 hours in eight consecutive days.

If you are in an accident where you suspect that the driver fell asleep or failed to react properly, you should determine whether there was a violation of the hours of service rules.

Proving an Hours of Service Violation In order to determine, and prove, that a trucking company violated an hours of service rule, get a copy of the truck driver's logs. Federal law requires drivers to record their driving information in structured driver's logs.

If the driver's logs are missing or are obviously inaccurate, there are other ways to discover how many hours the driver logged behind the wheel. Review the "trip tickets" or "bills of lading" for each delivery by the driver made in the few days leading up to the accident. Trip tickets and bills of lading include time stamps and entries by third parties that disclose the time that a load was picked up and when it was delivered. You can use these to calculate the amount of time that a truck driver was on the road.

Likewise, the trucking company can and should be monitoring the actual hours of service of its drivers and should not be able to hide behind the inaccurate logs of its drivers. Trucking companies who allow a driver to repeatedly "mislog" his or her hours of service expose themselves to liability for a lawsuit.

Continue reading "Driver Fatigue Is a Major Cause of Trucking Accidents says Personal Injury Lawyer Steven Peck" »

To many plaintiffs, it often feels like by bringing a lawsuit, they are suddenly put on trial. The defendant's insurance company--whether for a slip and fall, a car crash, or some other personal injury--is usually very adept at shifting attention away from the defendant and onto the plaintiff. This certainly does not seem very fair. Why does the injured party have to account in excruciating detail for every single doctor's or therapist's appointment? Why is it that the injured party has to be interrogated about bills, appointments, and medications? Shouldn't the case be about what the defendant did, about the defendant property owner's unsafe decisions ?

The answer to this question is closely related to the issue of "causation". Basically, if you are seeking recovery for a personal injury under negligence, then you have to prove that the defendant is actually responsible for your injuries and the medical expenses that follow. A plaintiff has to be able to demonstrate that all of those medical bills, therapist appointments and prescriptions can actually be traced back to the accident itself.

In other words is your knee bothering you because you slipped and fell on the defendant's property or because an old sports injury is acting up? Do you have headaches because of a car accident or have you always suffered from migraines? Or maybe it's even more complicated--maybe that sports injury or those migraines were always there, but now they're a lot worse because of the accident.

The trick here is when it comes down to dollars and cents and the amount the defendant is going to pay, the courts want to be certain that the defendant only pays for what he or she caused. So, that explains why those defense attorneys are so tedious--and often relentless--in their questions about medical history and bills. It can seem pretty intrusive to a plaintiff, but at the end of the day, it is about ensuring that both parties are treated fairly.

So, the defendant, through her lawyers, has the right to question whether bills and treatment can be fairly traced back to their own negligent actions, but that right is not without limits. A good attorney will stick up for their client when the questions become unnecessarily intrusive or stop having anything to do with the accident itself. A good, experienced personal injury trial lawyer will prepare a plaintiff for questions that will naturally come from defense counsel..

Continue reading "Plaintiffs In Personal Injury Matters Must Prove That the Defendants Actions Caused Their Personal Injury" »

While Jesse Bravo was being treated for schizophrenia at White Memorial Medical Center last year, his wife, Laura, called the hospital daily and visited him several times.

But when hospital officials decided to discharge him, Laura Bravo said, they didn't notify her and instead left him outside a rehabilitation center in South Los Angeles. She said her husband, who is not homeless, never went inside and spent days on the streets before being found.

"Not knowing where he was was very scary," she said. "I just had this feeling that something was wrong."

Public Counsel, a pro-bono law firm in Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit Friday against the hospital on behalf of Jesse Bravo, alleging elder abuse, false imprisonment and hospital negligence. The firm also turned the information over to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which is reviewing it.

"White Memorial has set a new low for hospital dumping," said Hernan D. Vera, president and chief executive of Public Counsel. "They took someone who was not homeless and made him a homeless man."

White Memorial Medical Center spokeswoman Alicia Gonzalez said she couldn't go into details but said that patient safety is the hospital's "No. 1 priority" and that Bravo was competent and alert and agreed to go to the center.

"We investigated this matter and determined that we followed all policies and procedures appropriately," she said. "We don't believe this was patient-dumping. It was a patient drop-off."

In the last several years, law enforcement authorities in Los Angeles have cracked down on hospitals accused of dumping people on the streets. Several high-profile cases led to prosecutions, financial settlements, hospital policy changes and increased vigilance by homeless shelters.

"The message was sent in the city of Los Angeles that this kind of activity would not be tolerated and would closely be watched," said Chief Deputy City Atty. William Carter. There are fewer cases in Los Angeles, Carter said, but he added that dumping continues outside of the city limits.

Jesse Bravo, 50, a former machinist, said he began hearing voices and feeling paranoid about nine years ago. That led to a mental illness diagnosis, a host of medications and several hospital stays, he said.

In January 2011, while his wife was at their home in Upland recuperating from surgery, Bravo went to stay with his mother in East Los Angeles. He started drinking and the paranoia returned. His wife went to his mother's house but said she couldn't calm him down, so she called an ambulance and he spent about two weeks at the hospital.

Jesse Bravo said he remembered being placed in plastic handcuffs and into a van last Feb. 11, even though he asked to be taken to his wife. Witnesses said they saw him get out of the van, attempt to give his medications to a dog and wander away, according to the lawsuit. The next few days were a blur, he said.

Laura Bravo said she panicked when she learned he had been discharged. When she couldn't find him at the center, Bravo said, she filed a missing persons report with police and searched throughout the city.

He was picked up by police a few days later. Now, Laura Bravo said, she never wants to take him to a hospital again. "I'm afraid to let him out of my sight," she said.
By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Los Angeles Hospital Accused of Patient Dumping" »

Serious injury and Catastrophic Injury is defined as "a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person's usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.

Continue reading "Serious Personal Injury May Result in Death and Significant Loss says Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Steven Peck" »

A $4.35 million settlement has been reached in the case of a woman who tripped and fell over a garden hose in a newly-opened Lowe's store, reports the Visalia Times-Delta. The woman, a 71-year-old California resident, was a well-respected children's advocate who served as director for the Tulare County Office of Education Child Care Program. While browsing the flower department at Lowe's, she tripped over the hose, breaking her arm and hitting her head. She then suffered a stroke. She is paralyzed now on one side of her body, and lives in an assisted-care facility. According to the Visalia Times-Delta, the accident took place just 24 days after the Lowe's store opened.

Continue reading "$4.35 Million Dollar Settlement for Personal Injury Trip and Fall" »

A catastrophic injury can necessitate a lifetime of medical care, or repeated reconstructive surgeries. A severely burned child may require repeated surgeries to accommodate growth, in addition to various cosmetic surgeries. A child with a bone fracture that affects a growth plate may face difficult bone-stretching procedures, and may never have normal use of an affected limb.

When a person suffers a spinal cord injury, the person may face a life of disability and dependency. An active person can suddenly become an invalid, with injuries that cannot be treated by even the most advanced medical treatments. While there is always hope of a future medical advance which will ameliorate or even cure spinal cord injuries, at present medical science is limited. A parent whose child suffers a brain or spinal cord injury may suddenly find that the child requires full-time care. A brain injury may cause a personality change, causing a spouse, parent or child to suddenly seem like a different person.

Continue reading "We Can Help You Receive The Monetary Compensation You Deserve For Your Catastrophic and Serious Personal Injuries Says Personal Injury Lawyer Steven Peck" »

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as "infections caused by a wide variety of common and unusual bacteria, fungi, and viruses during the course of receiving medical care," were first observed in the acute hospital setting says California Elder Abuse Attorney Steven Peck.

As a result, these infections are commonly referred to as nosocomial infections, hospital-acquired infections, and hospital-onset infections throughout the medical literature; however, healthcare-associated infections is now the preferred term because these infections can occur in any healthcare setting. In the United States, there are approximately 1.7 million HAIs annually, resulting in over 100,000 deaths. These grim statistics highlight the seriousness of this issue.

Requirements for infection transmission include the presence of an infectious agent, a susceptible host, and a means of transmission. All of these requirements are met in nursing homes (NHs), and because the NH population is largely made up of elders, this population is at especially high risk of contracting HAIs and experiencing considerable morbidity and mortality following an infection.

The CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) acknowledge that exposure to environmental opportunistic pathogens or airborne pathogens in these settings can have serious consequences for healthcare workers and residents, especially those with compromised immune systems, such as frail elders. With an increasing number of individuals--many of whom have preexisting comorbidities that make them susceptible to infections--entering US long-term care (LTC) facilities each year, reducing this population's exposure to environmental pathogens is imperative, especially because many pathogens are becoming increasingly resistant to available treatments. In the NH setting, environmental disinfection is a key component of the infection prevention and control process.

Continue reading "Healthcare Associated Infections Kill over 100,000 Elders and Frail Adults Each Year" »

Catastrophic accidents can call for any life long medical care and constant surgeries. For instance, an individual who suffers a traumatic brain injury may need constant surgical procedures.

The Peck Law Group is aware of the long-term effects of catastrophic and serious personal injury accidents. We will negotiate for fair and just compensation for your personal injuries, including pain and suffering and lost earnings.

A catastrophic personal injury case needs instant professional action Each and every person is entitled to just compensation for their personal injuries.

Continue reading "The Peck Law Group Personal Injury Lawyers Shall Get You the Just Compensation That You Deserve" »

A new study questions why nursing homes sent many people with advanced dementia to hospitals for problems that could be treated in the home. The study focused on the care of 475,000 people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. These are terminal illnesses. The study looked people's care in their last months of life. It found that nearly 1 out of 5 nursing home residents had such questionable hospital stays.

People were sent to hospitals for treatment of urinary tract infections, pneumonia and dehydration, among other problems. These usually can be treated in a nursing home. The study does not address why the hospital stays occurred. But researchers said money could be one reason. Medicaid is the main payer for nursing home care. But Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly, will pay for skilled nursing home care right after a hospital stay. The Medicare payment is about 3 times as high as the Medicaid payment.

Continue reading "Elder Abuse In The Questionable Transfers From Nursing Homes To Hospitals" »

The general consensus indicates that nutrition is an important aspect of a comprehensive care plan for prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers, and it is essential to address nutrition in every individual with pressure ulcers. Adequate calories, protein, fluids, vitamins and minerals are required by the body for maintaining tissue integrity and preventing tissue breakdown.

Pressure ulcer incidence may be higher with increased age, frailty or severity of illness, pressure ulcer history or significant weight loss and eating difficulties . Compromised nutritional status such as unintentional weight loss, undernutrition, protein energy malnutrition (PEM), and dehydration deficits are known risk factors for pressure ulcer
development . Other nutrition-related risk factors associated with increased risk of
pressure ulcers include low body mass index (BMI), reduced food intake, and impaired ability to eat independently.

Continue reading "Poor Nutrition Effects The Development of Bed Sores, Pressure Sores and Decubitus Ulcers" »

Bed sores are commonly called as pressure ulcers which are caused primarily by unrelieved pressure. It may affect any part of the body like knees, elbows and sacrum, which is kept under constant pressure. When individuals are bed ridden for several months there will be no movement of various parts of body causing continuous pressure inside. It is difficult to treat bed sores in elderly patients and patients who are terminally ill. Many cases of bed sore patients have died even though they are in constant medical care.

Symptoms by stages:

Patients who stay in bed for continuous hours without any physical movement are prone to bed sores, irrespective of age. It is necessary to change the position of the patients for every 2-3 hours to remove the pressure. In the first stage the disease is only superficial which is seen as red coloration in the skin. Even if the patient is shifted on turns, for relieving the pressure, the redness of the skin does not disappear. This type of pressure ulcers (bed sores) can be identified easily in fair complexioned people. In stage two, the pressure ulcer will destroy the epidermis layer of the skin and may extend till dermis. In stage three, the skin become very thick and ulcer may enter the subcutaneous layer. In final stages, the ulcer may affect and damage the muscles and even bones and is mostly fatal.

The patients will develop deep purple or maroon colored skin with blisters on account of damage caused to the thin layer of cells. It becomes difficult to detect bed sores in dark skin persons. Depending on the stages of development the time of healing may extend.

Continue reading "Bed Sores, Pressure Sores and Decubitus Ulcers Will Cause Pain and Death" »