Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: How to Get help, How to Help Others, How to Heal Our Communities
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on November 2nd, 2012
Hurricane Sandy smashed through the Caribbean and into the East Coast of the United States Oct. 28 through 30, killing several hundred people in its path and causing widespread destruction of homes, businesses and public facilities that is expected to total more than $50 billion. Our neighbors in New Jersey and New York were particularly hard hit, especially along the coastline, as were residents in states stretching from North Carolina north to Maine. Our hearts...
Surgical Items Left inside Patients 4,000 times Each Year: What You Need to Know When Having Surgery
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on October 28th, 2012
Each year, some 4,000 surgical patients in the United States are seriously injured when items used during their procedures, from sponges to medical instruments, are accidentally left inside their bodies when their medical teams sew them back up. The problem of retained surgical items has been an issue for years and has led surgeons and medical facilities to look for new methods to prevent such items being left behind inside patients in the first place,...
Meningitis Death Toll from Contamination Steroid Injections Hits 21, New Cases Continue to Surface
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on October 20th, 2012
After getting routine steroid shots to treat various aches and pains, 21 patients from across the United States have died from fungal meningitis connected to contaminated steroid medications provided by a Boston-area pharmacy. So far, 268 cases of the fungal meningitis from the contaminated injectable medications have been reported with more continuing to come in, according to a story from Reuters, while ongoing investigations into the outbreak continue. Now a lawsuit has been filed on...
How A Mom Who Lost Two Daughters in a Tragic, Fatal Crash of a Rental Car Fought To Change Laws and Make Rental Cars Safer
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on October 14th, 2012
When you rent a car, truck or SUV for a vacation, business trip or other need, you expect that the vehicle is well-maintained and safe to drive. It’s just a common sense expectation. But until recently, that expectation could have been very, very wrong. In the United States, there are presently no laws that forbid rental-car companies from sending vehicles out with customers if the vehicles are facing federal recalls for safety problems. So rental...
York County Jury Awards $6 Million in Wrongful Death Case
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on October 4th, 2012
The family of a 53-year-old woman who died after surgery won a $6 million jury verdict in York County in a recent wrongful death case against the medical team that treated her. In what is believed to be the largest York County jury award in several years, the jury ruled in favor of the family of the victim, 53-year-old Sherrie Ann Burkhardt, who died Dec. 19, 2007, two days after she underwent emergency surgery at...
After Liposuction Surgeries in Maryland, 1 Patient Dies, 2 Fall Ill, Leaving Legal Questions
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 27th, 2012
Serious infections after liposuction surgery have caused the death of one patient and sickened two others, forcing the closing of a Timonium, Md., medical facility while authorities work to determine how the death and illnesses could have occurred. Officials at the Monarch Medspa surgery center "are cooperating as Maryland and Baltimore County health officials investigate the source of the infections, which involve the same bacteria that causes strep throat," according to a story in The...
Family Sues for Wrongful Death after Man Treated in Hospital, Then Later Dies in Lobby Waiting for Ride
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 21st, 2012
When 38-year-old Melvin A. Dillard Jr. felt chest pains June 26, he was rushed to a hospital in Lewes, Del., where he was checked out by medical personnel in the emergency room and then later released. But while Dillard was sitting in the ER lobby waiting for a ride home at Beebe Medical Center, he apparently suffered a heart attack and died, then his body was not discovered by hospital personnel until the next morning,...
Soccer Injury Lawsuit Could Have Huge Implications: Maryland Residents Could Finally Gain Rights to Sue for Damages
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 19th, 2012
After a 20-year-old man suffered serious facial injuries while warming up for a league soccer game in Maryland in 2008, he was not able to recover damages for his injuries. That's because he lived in Maryland, one of only four states and the District of Columbia, where a plaintiff cannot recover any monetary damages at all if a judge or jury finds that they have contributed to their accident by as little as 1 percent....
Teen Killed in Tragic “Party Bus” Accident: Legal Questions Remain
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 13th, 2012
On his way to a Sweet 16 party with a large group of friends on a double-decker "party bus," a 16-year-old boy decided to open a rooftop hatch door to stick his head into a cool breeze. Instead, tragically, the boy met a horrific death when he stuck his head through the roof door and was struck by a concrete overpass. The terrible accident occurred Aug. 31 as the bus headed from New York City...