- Missouri Wrongful Death Cases - First Considerations
Posted November 20, 2008, 9:20 pm by Douglas R. Horn
ï»௿rom personal experience, I know the overwhelming grief and sorrow associated with losing a family member as a result of a tragic accidental death. I understand that the family of the deceased needs various forms of comfort and assistance to help them through this trying time. As well, in the wrongful death cases I have handled, I am always concerned with sparing the family the agonizing process related to the official investigations, reports, and the legal process as a whole. This is why...
- Alzheimer's Patient Killed by Train
Posted November 20, 2008, 4:31 pm by David W. Terry
George King, Sr. was a resident of Heartland of Charleston Nursing Home in Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. King, 73, as an Alzheimer's patient suffering from dementia and required assistance daily. He was reported missing on October 25, 2008. Police found his body on October 26, 2008 near train tracks. He had been hit and killed by a CSX train. His family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that Heartland of Charleston failed to properly monitor Mr. King. The suit alleges that "George...
- St. Clair County Truck Accident Puts Driver and Employer on Defense
Posted November 20, 2008, 12:00 pm by John J. Page
A Missouri woman filed a personal injury claim after sustaining severe injuries in a St. Clair County car accident. The woman alleges injuries to her neck, back, shoulder, hip, and wrist. She is suing for injury against the driver of the vehicle, as well as his employer. This Missouri car accident lawsuit alleges the Plaintiff was driving west on State Street, and the employee (defendant) was driving his truck in the same direction on the same street when he hit her. Allegedly, the driver of...
- Missouri Child Support Guidelines and Case Law - Part 2 - Imputed Income
Posted November 20, 2008, 2:55 am
What happens when a parent tries to avoid a child support obligation because they are not working or only have a small amount of income? Well, in the eyes of the Court, that parent will be treated as if they did have income sufficient to pay the child support. The most common situation is when it is apparent that a parent is not working specifically to avoid child support, but there are many factors that the Court can consider when making this decision. This can happen in a divorce, paternity,...
- Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Files Suit Against Multiple Defendants in Drunk Driving Accident Severly Injuring Four Teenage Passangers
Posted November 20, 2008, 12:38 am by Benjamin J. Sansone
In August 2007 I posted an article about a new personal injury case wherein I was retained to represent several victims of a drunk driving car accident near Quincey Illinois. See Prior Entry Pertaining to this Illinois Drunk Driving (DUI) Car Accident and Injury Recently, I (along with another Illinois personal injury attorney) filed a lawsuit against the intoxicated teenage drivers of two vehicles as well as the car dealership that loaned the vehicle to one of the drivers. The Illinois drunk...
- Oklahoma Nursing Home Cited After Resident Assault
Posted November 19, 2008, 4:20 pm by David W. Terry
Whispering Pines Nursing Center has been in the public eye lately. You might recall that we previously blogged about this facility when resident Carol Crow was assaulted. On July 11, 2008, Carol Crow was found with two black eyes and covered with bruises on her face, neck, and shoulders. Nursing home staff told Mrs. Crow's family that she had fallen in her room, but Mrs. Crow told her family an entirely different story. Mrs. Crow reported that a man knocked her down, got on top of her, and beat...
- Substandard Care at New York Facility Results in Amputation
Posted November 19, 2008, 3:33 pm by David W. Terry
Ruby Meyers, 93, became a resident of Blossom South Nursing Home and Rehabilitation in 2005, when she fractured her right leg and was placed in a leg brace. Pressure sores developed under the leg brace that were not properly treated by the facility and became infected. Ruby Myers' leg was amputated in December 2007. Ms. Myers died on November 15, 2008 at Protestant Episcopal Church Home. Her family has filed a lawsuit against Blossom South alleging improper treatment of the fracture. Now,...
- New York Nursing Home Fined in Death of Elderly Resident
Posted November 19, 2008, 2:32 pm by David W. Terry
The Crossings, a nursing home facility located in Minoa, New York, was hit with a $13,300 fine from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for substandard quality of care. On October 15, 2007, an elderly 89 year old resident was served blueberry pancakes and sausage for dinner. A nurse's aide cut the meal into bite-sized pieces for the resident. Shortly thereafter, the aide noticed the woman's mouth was open, she was not breathing, and her lips were blue. The aide failed to call a "code blue",...
- Can I Change My Missouri Work Comp Doctor?
Posted November 18, 2008, 4:51 pm by Josh Myers
This was the question I was just asked by a new client, and one I get asked repeatedly. In this case, the client was seeing Dr. Nogalski, a frequently seen Missouri workers compensation doctor in St. Louis. She claims that Dr. Nogalski has been less than courteous and has even yelled at her when she wanted to know if there were any other options beside the surgery he was recommended. The unfortunate fact is you are often stuck with the employer provided workers compensation doctor under...
- Illinois Nursing Home Owner Pleads Guilty to Neglect
Posted November 18, 2008, 4:04 pm by David W. Terry
On September 11, 2002, at patient from Pavilion of Forest Park was transported via ambulance to the emergency room, where hospital staff discovered a large area of decubitus ulcers. The patient, Shirley Massey, 48, subsequently died from her wounds. In September 2005, a Cook County Grand Jury indicted companies, Forest Park, L.L.C. and Care Centers, Inc., doing business as The Pavilion of Forest Park and Jason Garti, the facility's former medical director and wound care doctor with multiple...
- Wisconsin Nursing Home Worker Charged Sexual Assault Charges
Posted November 18, 2008, 3:50 pm by David W. Terry
Kurt Johnson, 49, faces three counts of second-degree sexual assault for fondling three patients. Johnson worked at Golden Living Center - Wisconsin Dells as a nursing home worker. In 2007, three co-workers reported seeing him fondle three patients' breasts between September and December 2007. Two of the assaulted patients were patients in the Alzheimer's unit. Johnson faces up to 120 years in prison and a $300,000 fine.
- Wrongful Death Lawsuit Follows Fatal Truck Accident
Posted November 18, 2008, 12:00 pm by John J. Page
The wife of a tractor trailer truck driver killed in an Alabama highway accident brought a wrongful death lawsuit against another truck driver. The truck accident was caused by the second truck hitting the decedent's truck after it was laying idle on a roadway after rolling over. In this case, the decedent allegedly lost control of his tractor-trailer and his large truck swerved into the median, struck a road sign, went into a drainage ditch, and then traveled back up onto the highway while...
- Ohio Nursing Home Residents in "Immediate Jeopardy"
Posted November 17, 2008, 7:57 pm by David W. Terry
Liberty Nursing Center in Toledo, Ohio was cited in an April 2008 state report as placing its residents in an "immediate jeopardy" situation. Ralph Kasczmerak was a resident of Liberty Nursing Center for two years following a stroke. He went there for rehab but says he "spent two years of hell dealing with Liberty Nursing Center". Every time he asked for something, the staff made him feel as though he was creating problems for them. Worse yet, when an employee stole his pain medication. The...
- 5-car crash sends five Missourians to the hospital
Posted November 17, 2008, 7:20 pm
A Missouri teen lost control of his vehicle Monday afternoon on I-270 and started a chain reaction crash that involved five separate vehicles and sent five people to the hospital. Lenard Booker, 19, was northbound on I-270 in a 1993 Toyota Camry when he lost control of his car and crashed into the inside median wall. Diana Kahney, 65, was following behind Booker in a 2005 Ford Fusion and swerved to avoid hitting Booker's vehicle. In swerving to avoid a collision, Kahney's car struck a 2008 Ford...
- Motorcycle Accident Kills 2, Injures 3
Posted November 17, 2008, 12:00 pm by John J. Page
Five Seriously Injured in Fatal Motorcycle Crash A recent motorcycle accident killed two motorcyclists and seriously injured three others. In this motorcycle accident, a group of motorcyclists were riding together and were traveling southbound when a northbound automobile swerved on the road. The driver of the swerving vehicle was a 16-year-old girl. She overcorrected towards the left and into the group of motorcycles. The young girl hit one motorcycle, which caused the motorcycles following...
- Iowa Nursing Home Hit With Massive Fine
Posted November 16, 2008, 8:22 pm by David W. Terry
Friendship Manor, a nursing home facility in Grinnell, Iowa, was hit recently with one of the largest fines ever imposed against an Iowa nursing home - $112,650.00. The history of events leading up to the levy of the fine is tragic. Ruth Louden was an active 89 year old woman, who lived alone in an apartment in Grinnell, Iowa. She still drove herself and had recently returned from a trip to California, where she traveled by herself to visit with her daughter. Unfortunately, on February 16,...
- Accidents on the rise in St. Louis since Highway 40 closure
Posted November 16, 2008, 6:45 pm
A recent St. Louis Post Dispatch report, which analyzed data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, shows that Missouri car accidents are on the rise on Interstate 44 in the St. Louis area since the construction on Highway 40 began. The report suggests that the narrowing of lanes on I-44 to accommodate the extra traffic has caused a 27 percent jump in injury accidents over the first half of 2008 as compared to the first half of 2007. While injury accidents were rising, the number of fatal...
- Allegations of Abuse and Neglect at Florida Convalescent Center
Posted November 15, 2008, 8:04 pm by David W. Terry
Key West Convalescent Center faces possible closure after recent investigations from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) resulted in Medicare and Medicaid pulling the facility's funding, effective December 11, 2008. The investigative team had nine inspectors from Tallahassee, Miami, and Fort Myers. One incident of abuse involved a 39 year old HIV patient, who reported to surveyors that he had been hurt by two nursing...
- Franklin County crash sends two Missouri women to hospital
Posted November 15, 2008, 2:04 pm
Connie Lutz, 59, and Melanie Trentmann, 38, were hospitalized Friday afternoon after a two vehicle crash on Missouri 100 in Franklin County. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Lutz and Trentmann were traveling eastbound in a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan when they were forced to stop because of traffic. Samuel Bartlett, 33, who was behind the women in a 2004 Freightliner van, failed to notice that traffic had stopped and rear ended the Grand Caravan. Lutz and Trentmann were taken to St....
- Granite City man killed by hit-and-run driver, baby seriously injured
Posted November 14, 2008, 10:27 pm
Photo from KMOV-TV Donald Legens, 34 was killed and his infant son was critically injured after a hit-and-run driver crashed into Legens' car early Friday morning, according to a St. Louis Post Dispatch report. According to witnesses cited in the report, a tow truck smashed into the car, which was stalled in the road, and then fled the scene. The crash occurred on West Pontoon Road in Granite City, Illinois. Legens' car had apparently run out of gas and the truck hit the car as Legens' stood...