Domnick & Shevin

A New York woman was awarded $15 million in damages after filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor she claimed missed early signs and symptoms of her developing breast cancer.

In 2002, the then-40-year-old woman conducted a self-exam and felt a small lump. The radiologist who analyzed her mammogram images told her she had a clogged milk duct and had nothing to worry about. He was very wrong.

After 16 months, the mother of three went back to the doctor because the lump had grown. She received a breast cancer diagnosis at that time, meaning she had gone more than a year without being treated. The cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, and a mastectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy treatments failed to prevent the disease from also spreading to her bloodstream and bones. Her long-term survival is questionable.

During her medical malpractice trial, the victim’s attorney stress the fact that she had done what she was supposed to do, but the doctor was negligent in his duties. Although no one will ever know for sure, it is possible that the cancer would not have spread and she would have a better prognosis if the radiologist had made the initial diagnosis correctly.

Source.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice, make a call for justice and contact our attorneys at Domnick & Shevin today.

Admitting a loved one to a nursing home is not always the easiest decision and with cases of elder abuse rising the decision of where to place your loved one is becoming even more of a challenge. The article below discusses the different types of abuse and how to recognize the warning signs.

“Nursing home abuse can take many forms, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Other forms include general neglect and financial fraud.

Physical abuse in nursing homes can range from physical injury to the improper use of medications and restraints. It is probably the easiest form of nursing home abuse to spot because there re usually obvious signs of injury present such as broken bones, bruising, and cuts.

Emotional abuse in a nursing home can be either in the form of verbal abuse or passive abuse. Verbal abuse includes speaking to an elderly person in a way that causes fear, anxiety, and distress. This can take the form of insults, taunting, or threats. A more passive form of emotional abuse includes caregivers who ignore the patient or subject the patient to long periods of isolation. Even though it’s more difficult to detect, emotional abuse an be extremely damaging and may leave long lasting emotional scars.

General neglect is a major form of nursing home abuse. In some cases, staff may withhold food or water. In others, the nursing home fails to change bed linens or provide residents with clean clothing. Nursing homes may fail to monitor patients for preventable illnesses and injuries like bedsores and viruses. Some withhold medication from their patients and fail to administer it at the prescribed intervals.

Financial abuse ranges from slowly stealing small amounts over time to complex operations designed to take entire life savings. Many advocates argue that financial abuse is perhaps the most common form of elder abuse today, but in many cases is the most difficult to detect and rectify.

There are many signs to look for if you suspect your loved one may be a victim of nursing home abuse:

• unusual bleeding, bruising, or weight loss
• wounds, cuts, or sores
• hair loss
• decline in personal hygiene 
• burns and abrasions
• soiled and torn bedding
• unresponsiveness, loss of interest
• emotional or physical withdrawal
• infantile or aggressive behavior towards friends and family
• hurting another resident
• loss of personal belongings
• unusual financial transactions
• bickering with staff
• staff refuses access to patient during regular visiting hours
• staff does not leave the room during visit

Source

Goodyear is recalling about 41,000 tires, which can be identified by:

• the words “Goodyear Wrangler” and “Silent Armor on the side of the tire
• the DOT code on the sidewall of the tire, which begins with the letters PJ as the first two digits of the code
• the sizes of the Wrangler Silent Armor tires: LT 325/6018, LT 235/80R17, LT 245/75R17, LT 275/70R17, and LT 285/70R17

After the family of a young women, who was killed in a car accident after a Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tire fell apart on a Texas highway, filed suit, Goodyear announced the recall of these tires.

This recall is considered unusual because these defective tires are not bottom-of-the-market tires that are typically the common subject of a recall. The recalled Wrangler Silent Armor tires are expensive, top of the line tires that people would buy if they were seeking out safe and durable tires. In fact, Goodyear’s advertisement for them include very specific promises about the quality of the tires such as:

• “You never have to worry about your safety or the durability of the tires!’
• “Of the highest quality and deserves to be trusted every time you put your vehicle on the road.”
• “You can feel better about your purchase if you know that you are buying tires that are as durable as possible and will also provide you with the safety and performance features that you want and need.”

Obviously something is seriously wrong here because tires of this top-of-the-market design should not be failing like this.

All of the recalled tires were made at the same plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and preliminary investigation has discovered that the tire builders working at this plant were running a drug ring out of there. Shortly after the recalled tires were made, undercover narcotics agents shut down the opium-cocaine-Ecstasy-marijuana trafficking operation being conducted from inside Goodyear’s Fayetteville tire plant.

John Gsanger is the attorney working on this case and is currently trying to gather evidence about as many Wrangler Silent Armor tire failure incidents as possible. This information is critical to understanding the magnitude of the problem.

If you or someone you know has had a tire failure involving a Wrangler Silent Armor tire please contact John Gsanger or the attorneys at Domnick & Shevin and we will let him know. Even if the tire failure did not result in a tragedy, any information documenting the failure is of significant importance.