New York Personal Injury Blog

Thousands of New Yorkers were struck by trucks during the 10-year period from 1998 to 2008. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these truck accidents injured more than 2,700 pedestrians in New York City and killed another 161 individuals.

And one of the largest contributing factors to these serious pedestrian accidents: a lack of front-end mirrors.

Earlier this year, a New York law requiring trucks in New York City to install front-end mirrors went into effect. This law is intended to prevent accidents involving victims who are hit while in truck drivers' blind spots. Children and other individuals of short stature are especially vulnerable to such accidents.

Life is getting busier and busier, as New Yorkers know all too well. Many have come to understand that there is a price to staying in touch while driving. Using a handheld cellular device while driving can have devastating consequences, and in many cases, it is even deadly.

Distracted driving is a problem that has spanned across demographics, from the old to the young, from the college student to the professional. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explains that any given time during the day, 13.5 million drivers are using hand-held phones.

In an effort to bring further awareness to how distracted driving is causing an increasing number of car accidents, April has been deemed National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. According to statistics provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), nationwide more than 3,000 people are killed each year in distracted driving accidents, and another estimated half a million are injured.

Last year saw what some referred as an epidemic of tour bus crashes in New York, with crashes just outside the city, near the capital and upstate injuring dozens of passengers. Due to the increasing number of bus accidents, the tour bus industry was suddenly pushed into the spotlight. New York authorities suddenly began cracking down with a number of surprise inspections focusing on the equipment and drivers.

Safety advocates have continued to focus on bus safety across the nation. Most recently, federal regulators began investigating buses manufactured by Motor Coach Industries. Looking at buses made in the last 20 years, regulators believe that the drive shafts are manufactured defects responsible for a number of bus crashes.

According to regulators, the drive shaft on some models (4,000 MCI D-Series) the simply falls out, causing serious control problems for drivers and resulting in fatal bus accidents. This defect has, in fact, been traced back to busses in New York.

A whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former medical reviewer for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, claims the company gave false reports to regulators concerning the safety of diabetes drug Actos.

The lawsuit alleges Takeda gave inaccurate information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Adverse Event Reporting System about the number of congestive heart failure cases associated with Actos. According to the whistleblower, the culture at Takeda is fraught with fraud and deceit. Takeda also allegedly hid information about a link between Actos and bladder cancer.

According to papers filed in federal court, the pharmaceutical giant told medical reviewers to change their professional opinion when recording adverse event classifications. The lawsuit also claims that Takeda falsified the reports to make Actos appear safer than GSK's diabetes drug, Avandia, and to increase sales.

Putting profit ahead of safety has landed one New York crane owner in court - on criminal charges.

In May 2008, a crane collapsed on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, killing two construction workers. When workers die in a construction accident, it is not uncommon for employers to have negligence and wrongful death claims filed against them. But it is not as common for employers to be charged with manslaughter.

According to prosecutors, the owner of New York Crane and Equipment Corporation hired a Chinese company to do a repair on the crane - a company that was unqualified to make such critical repairs and was a deviation from industry standards. Prosecutors allege that the owner's greed was driven by the low price and rapid turnaround offered by the Chinese company. But the repair was not adequately completed, leading to the crane line to snap and the unbalanced crane to tip over, killing two workers.

To say that New Yorkers do a lot of walking would be an understatement. For those living or working in Manhattan, walking to and from the subway or bus stops is all part of the average day. And in the winter, a lot of this walking is done on slippery sidewalks and parking lot surfaces. It is not surprising then, that winter 'tis the season for snow and ice slip-and-fall accidents.

Falling down on a slippery surface can be embarrassing. And it can be even worse when an injury occurs because of it. But according to nationwide statistics, injuries from slipping, tripping and falling are more common than most people realize. The National Safety Council says that business owners spend over $70 billion dollars every year in workers' compensation and medical claims that come from slips, trips and falls.

With winter in New York bringing snow, winds and frigid temperatures, it is essential to seal up your home and turn on the heat. Unfortunately, both of these normal activities can increase the chance of carbon monoxide poisoning in your home.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced when certain fuels are not completely burned and by equipment with internal combustion engines. CO cannot be detected by scent or sight and if a person is exposed to CO for too long, it can result in flu-like symptoms that if not immediately treated can be fatal.

In 2008, the number of CO-related deaths associated with consumer products increased to 190. Eighty-six of these deaths were due to the use of portable generators. To put that in perspective, in 1999, there were seven CO-related deaths related to the use of portable generators. Essentially, in about 10 years, there was a 1,000 percent increase in carbon monoxide deaths because of portable generators.

As part of the new health care law, the federal government will require drug companies to disclose payments made to physicians. According to the New York Times, about 25 percent of doctors receive money from large pharmaceutical or medical device companies. While a monetary exchange between pharmaceutical companies and doctors is very common, such relationships have the potential to create grave conflicts of interest.