Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Following two days of deliberations, a Broward County jury awarded Pakohee truck driver Derry Brown, Jr. $14.6 million for catastrophic injuries he sustained during a Florida truck accident on May 31, 2007. Brown has been called a hero for acting in a manner that saved another driver’s life while he sustained a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed.

The Broward County truck crash occurred after a motorist in a vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign and cut off Brown’s large truck, a 1998 Freightliner truck. To avoid hitting the vehicle, Brown swerved his 18-wheeler truck off the road, which overturned. Brown is now a quadriplegic.

National Casualty Company, Brown’s insurer, wouldn’t pay his benefits, so Brown sued the company for uninsured motorist benefits. Prior to the civil trial, Circuit Judge Cheryl Aleman ruled that under the National Casualty Policy, Brown was entitled to uninsured motorist benefits.

Uninsured Motorist Benefits
Uninsured motorist benefits provide coverage to an injured person when the person that caused the motor vehicle accident does not have any or enough insurance to cover the claim being made. Uninsured motorist benefits may also be applied in Florida motor vehicle crashes involving hit-and-run drivers. If your insurer is refusing to pay your uninsured motorist benefits following a Broward County motor vehicle accident, an experienced South Florida personal injury lawyer can help you obtain the benefits that you are owed.

While Florida’ Personal Injury Protection coverage mandates that motorists carry a minimum $10,000 in coverage so that drivers have some coverage regardless of who is at fault, this may not be enough.

Catastrophic injuries, such as spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries may require a lifetime of costly medical care, services, and procedures. The victim may also no longer be able to earn a living. For example:

Quadriplegia
Quadriplegia involves paralysis from the shoulders down. This is the most serious kind of spinal cord injury (SCI). Not only must a person with quadriplegia receive medical attention as soon as possible, but physical and occupational therapy, drug therapy, respiratory therapy, surgery, and certain assistive devices may be required.

Paralyzed former Pahokee trucker wins $14.6 million judgment, Sun-Sentinel, June 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

According to the latest state figures, in the year ending June 30, 2008 Florida ranked #2 in the nation for the most cesarean deliveries. According to some obstetricians, these figures are a little high, especially considering that C-sections are more likely than natural births to lead to medical side effects and complications.

In South Florida alone, C-sections made up 41% of the births in Palm Beach County and 43% of the births in Broward County. Yet some South Florida doctors deliver 75% of their babies by C-section. At Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale and Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, 50% of deliveries are by cesarean.

One reason for the rise in C-section births is that hospitals and obstetricians in South Florida are worried that they could be sued for medical malpractice if anything goes wrong during delivery. Most doctors won’t allow a woman to deliver a baby naturally if she’s already had a C-section. Mothers that are obese or that are suffering from diabetes or other health issues are normally urged to undergo C-sections. Multiple births and breech births are often performed via cesarean. Doctors and parents may even opt to have a C-section delivery in order to accommodate their busy schedules—picking out the most convenient date for the baby’s birth.

Yet while cesarean births may prevent certain immediate risks, other side effects could come into play. Babies delivered by C-section may end up in intensive care, and anesthesia reactions and infections from the surgery can occur. Moms that deliver by C-section more than once risk abnormal placental growth that could lead to complications.

According to Boston University School of Public Health researcher Eugene Declercq, some doctors that perform C-section deliveries would be hard pressed to offer medical reasons for why they did not deliver the babies naturally. Some insurance companies are even calling on doctors to ease up on the number of C-section births because of the expense and the possibility of future complications.

Obstetricians and gynecologists, like other medical providers, can be held liable for medical malpractice if error or negligence led to a baby getting hurt or suffering from health problems. Examples of complications that can lead to a birthing malpractice claim include:

• C-section complications
• Preeclampsia
• A ruptured uterine
• Toxemia
• Forceps injury
• Failure to properly monitor the fetal heart rate
• Failure to perform C-section as soon as it is needed
• Errors involving vacuum extraction

Florida is second in nation for C-sections, Sun-Sentinel, June 8, 2009

South Florida C-section rates too high, Examiner.com, June 9, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Understanding C-Sections, Parents.com

Repeat Cesareans May Put Babies At Risk, EmaxHealth.com, June 10, 2009

A new survey commissioned by Vlingo, a mobile application vendor, reports that 26% of cell phone users admit to text messaging while driving. While several US states have laws banning the habit completely and a number of other states have imposed a partial ban on driving while texting, Florida does not have any laws restricting talking texting while operating a motor vehicle. However, Florida Representative Doug Holder is proposing a bill that would ban texting while driving. Texting is fast becoming a cause of many US motor vehicle crashes.

4,816 people took the survey. Results show that nearly 60% of teens and 49% of adults in their 20’s say they text while driving. 13% of older adults—drivers in their 50’s—say also practice this dangerous habit.

The American Medical Association calls texting while driving a “public health risk." Not only does text messaging reportedly increase the time a motorist spends not focusing on the road by 400%, but in many cases, a driver that responds to or downloads a text message may have to take one if not both hands off the steering wheel, as well as both eyes off the road—increasing the chances of becoming involved in or causing a deadly Florida car crash.

The National Safety Council wants all US states and the District of Columbia to impose a total ban on texting and talking on a cell phone while driving. The Harvard Center of Risk Analysis estimates that 636,000 auto crash, 2,600 fatalities, 330,000 injuries—12,000 of them catastrophic ones—can be attributed to use of the cell phone while driving. These figures rank cell phone talking and texting up there with the kinds of behavior that are considered common forms of distracted driving. Florida also currently does not have any laws restricting or banning the habit of talking on a cell phone while driving.

Distracted driving is a leading cause of South Florida motor vehicle accidents. It is a form of negligent driving that can be grounds for a personal injury lawsuit if you or someone you love was seriously injured because a motorist was texting, talking on a cell phone, reading, doing their nails, putting on makeup, eating, or otherwise distracted while operating a vehicle.

Survey: 26 percent admit to texting while driving, CNET News, May 20, 2009

New Florida Bill Aims to Ban Texting While Driving, The National Safety Commission, February 18, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association

National Safety Council Calls for Nationwide Ban on Cell Phone Use, National Safety Council, January 12, 2009

Continue reading " Cause of Some South Florida Car Accidents: 26% of Mobile Phone Users Say They Text While Driving, Per Survey " »

In Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Martha Quesada is suing Rainbow Ranch group home and psychiatrist Dr. Steven L. Kaplan for Florida medical malpractice and wrongful death. She says that her son, 12-year-old Denis Maltez, died in 2007 because he was overmedicated and the defendants neglected to properly monitor him while he was under their supervision.

Autopsy results from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office indicate that Denis, who has autism, died of serotonin syndrome—a life-threatening condition that can occur when a mix of drugs causes the brain to make too much serotonin, which regulates a person’s mood.

Serotonin Syndrome Symptoms can include:

• Nausea
• Hallucinations
• Rapid heart beat
• Poor coordination
• Blood pressure fluctuation
• Overactive reflexes
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

If not treated quickly, this condition may become fatal.

On May 23, 2007, Denis and a number of other people from the group home traveled by van to get a haircut. While in the parking lot, he started kicking and biting staff members. They restrained him and soon after he became unresponsive.

Quesada’s Florida wrongful death lawsuit contends that Rainbow Ranch owner David Glatt stopped taking Denis to Jackson Memorial Hospital after the boy was admitted to the group home in 2006. Instead, Kaplan began treating him. She says that Glatt switched her son’s medical care without her consent.

Kaplan prescribed and refilled four drugs for her son: anti-psychotic drugs Zyprexa and Seroquel, anti-seizure drug Depakote, and tranquilizer Clonazepam. Even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved all of the drugs for use on kids and some of the medications are accompanied by strong warnings, Quesada’s medical malpractice lawsuit contends that Kaplan failed to make sure that her son did not experience any side effects from taking the drug.

Her complaint also contends that the psychiatrist only examined Denise once between May 26, 2006 and May 23, 2007 even though there were warning signs that he may have been experiencing medication side effects. Teachers at his school found the boy sleeping through class. in 2006, he had to be taken to the emergency room twice. The Rainbow Ranch group home is no longer in operation.

Currently, the Department of Children & Families is examining the way psychiatric drugs are used on foster children. This probe comes one month after the death of 7-year-old Gabriel Myers, a foster child that committed suicide.

Mother Claims Drug Cocktail Killed Her Son, CBS4, May 20, 2009
Lawsuit says too many psychiatric drugs killed boy, Miami Herald, May 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Serotonin Syndrome, Psychcentral.com

More Florida foster kids than thought are given mental-health drugs, Miami-Dade, May 28, 2009

Florida Department of Children and Families