Maryland Accident Law Blog

NHTSA Reports That 22 Children, Age 14 and Under, Died in Maryland Traffic Fatalities in 2007

October 24, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1,670 of the 41,059 traffic fatalities that occurred in the United States in 2007 were child victims, age 14 and younger. 22 of those fatalities occurred in Maryland. 3 of the child traffic deaths occurred in Washington DC.

The National Center for Health Statistics says that auto crashes are the number one cause of death for children ages 8 to 14 and 3 to 6. Last year, 385 child vehicle occupants, age 4 and under, died in motor vehicle crashes.

More 2007 NHTSA Traffic Accident Statistics About Children, Age 14 and Under:

• 245 of the 1,670 child motor vehicle deaths involved at least one drunk driver.
• 130 of the 245 children that died in drunk driving accidents were riding with a drunk driver.
• Children, age 14 and under, made up 306 of the 4,654 pedestrian deaths last year.
• Drunk drivers killed 29 of these child pedestrians.
• 14,000 child pedestrians sustained injuries in traffic accidents.
• Young pedestrians were most likely to sustain fatal injuries between 4 and 8pm and noon and 4pm.
• 80% of pedestrian deaths involving this age group took place at non-intersections.
• 91 child pedalcyclists died last year.
• 10,000 child pedalcyclists were injured in motor vehicle crashes.

• Each day last year, 5 children in this age group were killed in traffic accidents, with 548 others injured.

Children are prone to catastrophic injuries anytime they are involved in a serious auto collision. While there are steps that parents can take to protect their young children from the impact of colliding with a motor vehicle—whether as an auto occupant, a pedestrian, or a pedalcyclist—accidents caused by negligent drivers or because an auto manufacturer designed a defective car or motor vehicle part do happen.

Children, 2007 Data Traffic Safety Facts, NHTSA

Related Web Resources:

Preventing Injuries to Children in Motor Vehicle Crashes, Safe Kids Worldwide
Kids and Cars.org

Baltimore Sun’s Review of 26 Deadly Medevac Crashes Indicates that Not All Victims Needed Air Transport

October 23, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The Baltimore Sun recently looked through crash records and other key documents related to 26 deadly medevac crashes that have occurred In the US since 2003. The newspaper’s findings indicate that many of the cases involved victims that were being transported by air even though they weren’t “minutes-from-death.”

The Baltimore Sun chose to review the medical helicopter crash findings after last month’s medevac crash that killed four people in Prince George’s County, Maryland raised questions about whether medical helicopter travel was necessary to save two auto crash victim’s lives. The Maryland chopper used to transport the two victims lacked the terrain-awareness system that could have allowed the pilot to detect that he was flying too close to trees. One of the teen victims died in the aviation crash.

While there are many instances where air travel saves the lives of victims who are very sick or seriously injured in accidents, not all of the 26 medevac helicopters that crashed appeared to have been carrying victims whose lives could only be saved if they were transported by air.

Findings include:

• In eight cases, patients actually waited longer for a helicopter than they would have waited if an ambulance drove them to a hospital.
• In six cases, patients were discharged soon after the chopper left them at hospitals or they were transported in long ambulance rides after the helicopter dropped them off.
• 13 of the 26 medevac crashes happened while patients were being flown to hospitals.
• Many of the patients had to wait for hours for a helicopter to arrive and while it was readied for take off.

• One patient was transported by air just 10 miles to a hospital.

Since last month’s accident, the state of Maryland has defended its approximately 4,500 medevac flights a year, saying that they are needed to save lives. It also has implemented a change that will limit the number of flights that are not medically necessary. While patients with serious injuries will be flown by helicopter when air travel will help save their lives by reducing travel time, doctors will have to be consulted before patients with less severe injuries can be transported by medical helicopter.

Meantime, doctors are calling for a review of medevac flights from a medical perspective and whether new guidelines need to be put in place to make sure that a person’s injuries or illness warrants the urgency of air travel.

Unnecessary flight risks?, BaltimoreSun.com, October 23, 2008
Doctors question use of medevac helicopter, UPI.com, October 23, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Copter lacked equipment, BaltimoreSun.com, October 24, 2008
Medevac helicopters under scrutiny, USA Today, September 29, 2008

Former Patient Files $77 Million Maryland Personal Injury Lawsuit Against Sinai Hospital and Security Guard for Assault

October 21, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, a man who previously sought medical treatment at Sinai Hospital for depression is suing the hospital and security guard Timothy Hough for $77 million. The former patient, Gerrod Lewis, says that Hough assaulted him in the hospital emergency room on Labor Day.

Sinai Hospital acknowledges that an unfortunate altercation happened but maintains that Hough was “defending himself” against Louis, who they accuse of being “violent and out-of-control.” Hough continues to work at the hospital.

According to Lewis’s Maryland personal injury lawsuit, Hough started beating him on the head after he refused to remove his earring. Lewis maintains that the assault occurred in an exam room after an emergency technician left him alone with Hough. Lewis, who sustained head and eye injuries from the incident that occurred on September 1, alleges that Hough struck him about 20 times until he was on the ground in “puddles of blood.”

Maryland Judge Refuses to Dismiss Entire Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Former Howard County Teacher

October 13, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Howard County Circuit Court, Judge Joseph Manck dismissed two out of five civil claims against former teacher Kirsten Kinley in the Maryland sexual abuse lawsuit against her. Kinley, a former teacher at Hammond Middle School, had asked that the entire lawsuit be dismissed.

Kinley pleaded guilty to a third-degree sex offense for having a sexual relationship with the plaintiff in 2004 when he was 15. She is serving her 18-month sentence in the Howard County Detention Center.

The student, now 18, who never studied directly under Kinley, sued the former teacher for sexual abuse in February. The plaintiff’s lawsuit alleges negligence, battery, and emotional distress.

Maryland Attorney Sues Baltimore For Burn Injuries Caused By Fall Accident into Construction Hole

October 10, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, a North Baltimore attorney that sustained serious personal injuries after falling into a construction hole is suing the city, a number of Trigen-Baltimore Energy Corp. entities, Ligon & Ligon Inc., and Johnson Controls Inc. Arianne Spaccarelli sustained serious burn injuries to nearly half her body in the fall accident that occurred in 2005.

In her Maryland personal injury lawsuit filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, Spaccarelli and her husband Robert Galassi blame the party’s negligence for her fall into the steam pit. The accident occurred at the intersection of Saratoga Street and Guilford Avenue when the couple was walking back to her car after dinner.

Spaccarelli had been walking next to a fenced off construction area, when she fell into the pit. The lawsuit maintains that the construction hole existed beyond the fence. Her husband pulled her out of the hole, but not before she sustained second-and third-degree burns on more than 43% her of her body.

Mother Files $10 Million Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Security Guard Company that Employed Her Daughter’s Boyfriend

October 8, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The mother of Latasha Harris, a 31-year-old Baltimore City woman that was murdered in her apartment, is suing the security guard company for wrongful death. The lawsuit, filed in a Maryland court against US Protect Services, is seeking $10 million dollars and accuses the company of not doing enough to stop one of its employees—who happened to be Harris’s live-in boyfriend—from shooting her.

The deadly shooting took place in March in Southwest Baltimore when Harris’s boyfriend, Jerry Bennett, shot her before shooting himself. Bennett had a gun because he was a security guard employed by US Protect Services.

According to the Maryland wrongful death lawsuit, the security guard company should have taken the company-issued weapon away from Bennett after he became violent at work and attacked a coworker.

NTSB Says Maryland Helicopter Involved in Weekend Crash That Killed Four Victims Did Not Have Terrain-Awareness System Equipment

September 30, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The National Transportation Board Says that the Maryland State Medical Rescue Helicopter that crashed into Prince George’s County Park on Saturday night was not carrying the terrain-awareness system that could have notified the pilot that he was hovering precariously close to trees. Four people died in the aviation accident, including a teenager who was being transported from a Southern Maryland car crash to a hospital.

The crash is considered the “deadliest medavac helicopter accident” in the state’s history and is the 8th crash of this kind in the US over the past 12 months. Victims from Saturday’s aviation accident included 17-year-old car crash victim Ashley J. Younger, onboard paramedic Tonya Mallard, Trooper Mickey C. Lippy, and retired state trooper Steven J. Bunker, who was piloting the helicopter.

Officials say that the injuries of the two car crash victims, including neck, chest, and side pains, warranted the use of the helicopter. The fact that the vehicle involved in the Charles County crash was crushed was another reason for the decision to transport the victims by air. One of the motor vehicle crash victims, 18-year-old Jordan Wells, survived the copter crash.

It took rescuers a little over two hours from the time the helicopter disappeared from the radar to find the crash site. When searchers were unable to track the chopper’s emergency locator transmitter, they used Verizon to track the cell phones of helicopter crewmembers. On Monday, Maryland medical examiners in Baltimore were examining the victims’ bodies to determine whether they were killed by the impact of the crash or if any of them could have been saved if rescuers had found them sooner.

According to NTSB findings regarding 55 EMS aviation crashes between January 2002 and January 2005, 29 of these accidents could have been prevented. One of the recurring safety issues identified was that safety technologies, such as terrain warning systems, are recommended but not required. Following this weekend’s crash, 12 rescue helicopters in Maryland were grounded. Only three of these aviation vehicles are equipped with terrain-warning systems.

Md. Copter Crash Scrutinized, Washington Post, September 30, 2008
Copter lacked equipment, Baltimore Sun, September 30, 2008
4 Killed in Medevac Copter Crash in Maryland, NYTimes.com, September 28, 2008
Board: Lives lost ‘needlessly’ in medical helicopter crashes, CNN.com, September 30, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Medivac Helicopters Under Scrutiny, USA Today, September 30, 2008
National Transportation Safety Board

US Coast Guard’s 2007 Recreational Boating Statistics Reports 10 Deaths in Maryland

September 25, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, 10 people died and 120 people were injured in boating accidents last year. These latest figures were released this year by the US Coast Guard and indicate a slight increase from the 8 Maryland boating fatalities that occurred in 2006.

Nationally, the US Coast Guard is reporting a total drop in boating deaths, with 688 fatalities in 2007 compared to 710 deaths since 2006. The report, however, also found that the number of accidents, injuries, and property that was damaged increased dramatically.

3,686 people were injured in boating accidents in 2007, compared to the 3,476 injuries in 2006. Total recreational boating accidents rose from 4,967 in 2006 to 5,233 in 2007. Property damage costs reached a record $53,288,858 last year, up from $43,670,424, which was already considered a record figure in 2006.

Leading causes of boating accidents included:

• Careless operation
• Reckless operation
• Operating a vessel at excessive speeds
• Drunk driving
• Passenger conduct
• Skier conduct

Vessels that were most commonly involved in boating accidents included:

• Motorboats
• Cabin motorboats
• Personal watercrafts
U.S. Coast Guard Reports A Decrease Of Deaths On the Water, May 15, 2008
Boating Accidents, US Coast Guard
Related Web Resource:
Maryland Natural Resources Police

US Department of Transportation Releases 2007 DUI Death Statistics

September 22, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced the latest national drunk driving-related death statistics. Peters noted that while the number of total DUI deaths has dropped significantly in 32 US states, half of the states experienced an increase in drunk driving-related motorcycle fatalities.

Overall, almost 13,000 people died in accidents involving motorists with a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or more—a drop from the almost 13,500 DUI victims that died in 2006. Peters noted that 1,621 motorcyclists that died in alcohol-related collisions last year—a 7.5% increase from the year prior.

Of the 12,998 drunk driver-related deaths that occurred last year:

• 7,283 of the victims where drunk drivers.
• 2,067 victims were riding with the drunk driver.
• 1,361 fatalities were motorcyclists that were intoxicated.
• 81 of the deaths were passengers of intoxicated motorcyclists.

• 1,431 victims were occupants of other motor vehicles.

The state that experienced the greatest drop in alcohol-related deaths was California, with 1,155 alcohol-impaired deaths in 2007 compared to the 1,272 fatalities in 2006.

States that experienced an increase in drunk driver-related deaths in 2007 included North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Alabama, Maine, Montana, Alaska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Delaware, North Dakota, West Virginia, Minnesota, Virginia, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

The number of drunk-driving deaths in Maryland for 2007 was 179.

DUI Fatalities Down Nationwide and in 32 States, Says U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, NHTSA, August 28, 2008
2007 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment – Alcohol Impaired Driving Fatalities (PDF)

Maryland Parents Sue Peninsula Medical Center and Salisbury OB/GYN for Wrongful Death After Baby Dies in Womb

September 15, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The parents of a baby that died in her mother’s womb are suing the Peninsula Regional Medical Center and Salisbury obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. John M. Woods for physician negligence resulting in wrongful death. In the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Jennifer Sheller and her companion John Bealefeld last February, Sheller, who sought medical help at the PRMC’s emergency department after experiencing vaginal bleeding and severe pain, was discharged by Woods without an examination.

By the time she returned to the hospital following increased pain and bleeding several hours later, Sheller’s unborn baby Kirra Faith was dead in the womb. Sheller was later diagnosed with a placental abruption—a condition that could potentially cause a fetus’s death.

If Kirra Faith hadn’t died, she would have been delivered by cesarean section 13 days later on March 5. Her parents, Sheller and Bealefeld, are seeking financial compensation from PRMC and Woods for over $30,000.

This is not the first medical malpractice case filed against Woods this year. In April, Woods and Dr. Michele Urban, a former partner, were found liable for the permanent injuries suffered by a Bridgeville woman because her bladder was accidentally stitched in 2004. The medical mistake killed organ tissue and she now suffers from permanent urine leakage.

OBGYN Malpractice Mistakes May Include:

• Birthing Injuries
• Surgical mistakes
• Failure to diagnose placental abruption, ovarian cancer, and other serious conditions
• Failure to evaluate mammogram tests
• Failure to conduct pap smears and properly analyze results
• Performing a pap smear incorrectly
• Failure to test for birth defects
Parents sue doctor after baby died in the womb, DelMarVaNow.com, August 26, 2008
Related Web Resources:

Peninsula Regional Medical Center

Placental Abruption