Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog

Our Washington DC brain injury lawyers represent clients throughout the District and Maryland that have suffered head trauma in accidents caused by another party’s negligence, and we have seen the toll that living with a brain injury can have on the victim and his/her family. We join others this month, which is Brain Injury Awareness Month, to offer you more information about this potentially devastating injury.

Common causes of Washington DC TBI including fall accidents, traffic crashes, getting hit or striking a hard object or surface, and assaults. A person can also sustain a brain injury as a result of medical malpractice, lead poisoning, near drowning, an explosion, near suffocation or strangulation, or other accidents involving the head getting hit or the brain not receiving enough oxygen for way too long.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that for traumatic brain injuries alone, medical costs and indirect costs totaled about $60 billion in 200 in the US. At least 5.3 billion Americans will need extended or lifelong help performing daily tasks because of a TBI. In addition to physical impairments and health complications that can result, a brain injury can affect a person’s emotions, personality, and behavior, irrevocably altering that person’s life and the lives of their loved ones.

If you suspect that you or your loved one have a brain injury—even if it appears to a be a mild one, you should seek medical attention right away. The sooner you get treatment, the better—especially as sometimes, the symptoms for a serious head trauma may not show up immediately.

Related Web Resources:
Signs and Symptoms of Brain Injury (PDF)

Traumatic Brain Injury, CDC

Brain Injury Awareness Month March 2011, Brain Injury Association of America

More Blog Posts:
Many Brain Injury Patients Suffer from Pseudobulbar Affect, Says Survey, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, January 6, 2011

$10 Million Washington DC Injuries to a Minor Settlement to Go to Boy Who Sustained Catastrophic Brain Damage During Foster Care Beating, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, November 9, 2010

Maryland TBI: Call a Concussion a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Says Researchers, Maryland Accident Law Blog, January 23, 2010

Continue reading " DC Personal Injury Accidents are a Common Cause of Brain Injury " »

DC officials are kicking off their Street Smart campaign this spring to combat last year’s increase in pedestrian and bicycle crashes. Last year there were 83 cyclist and pedestrian fatalities in the Washington region—a 9% rise from the year before. This year, at least four people have died in DC pedestrian accidents.

More DC pedestrian and cyclists facts as reported in The Washington Post:

• There were 436 DC bicycle accidents in 2010.
• The number of bicyclists and pedestrians hit last year was 25% higher than in 2009.
• Ambulances answered 1,299 pedestrian collisions calls in 2010.
• 16 of the DC traffic fatalities were bicyclists or pedestrians.
• The intersection of Howard Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE saw the most number of DC pedestrian accidents—13—with 1 of the victims dying.
• The intersection of New York Avenue and North Capitol Street saw 12 Washington DC pedestrian accidents.
• 11 Washington DC pedestrian injuries were sustained at the Seventh and H streets NW intersection and the H and North Capitol streets N.

Most DC pedestrian accidents take place at intersections when an auto is turning and a person is crossing the street while the “walk” sign is activated. Unfortunately, even if a pedestrian has the right of way, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the driver has seen him/her.

Pedestrians and bicyclists have little in the way of protection during a DC traffic crash, and the injuries are usually catastrophic. Spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, head trauma, severed limbs, and organ damage can be costly to treat and recover from. Some injuries are permanent.

Our Washington DC pedestrian and bicycle crash lawyers are familiar with the serious injuries can result. For years, we have helped many victims and their families prove liability and obtain the financial recovery that they are owed.

Hopefully, the Street Smart campaign will bring the DC cyclist and pedestrian injury toll down. In addition to new ads, the campaign will include heightened efforts by police to ticket drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians who don’t follow traffic laws.

Campaign to protect pedestrians, cyclists as number of crashes in the District rises, The Washington Post, March 30, 2011

Related Web Resources:
District Department of Transportation

Street Smart

More Blog Posts:
71-Year-Old Dies in Hit-and-Run Washington DC Pedestrian Accident, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, November 18, 2010

Washington DC Pedestrian Accidents At Higher Risk of Occurring After Daylight Saving Time Ends, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, November 5, 2010

68-Year-old Mount Pleasant Woman Killed in Bicycle Accident with DC Guard Truck, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, April 20, 2010

Continue reading " Street Smart Program Aims to Prevent Washington DC Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents " »

A worker is dead following a DC construction accident on Thursday. The man suffered fatal injuries when a large quantity of clay dirt fell on him, trapping him in a trench where utility work was being done. The site where the incident happened is a house under construction.

75 rescue and fire workers spent three hours trying to save him. Heavy, wet dirt had fallen around the worker. Although there was a space left around his upper torso and rescuers could see the top of his head, it wasn’t until a medic hooked him to a heart-monitoring device that it was confirmed that the construction worker had died.

The trench the construction worker was trapped in was about 20 feet long and 12 to 15 feet deep. His body was finally extricated nearly seven hours after the DC work accident. His cause of death appears to be fatal “compression” injuries.

DC Construction Accidents
Injuries in many construction accidents can be so severe that many workers who sustained catastrophic injuries may not be able to work again or find themselves disabled for life. There are also those workers who are not fortunate enough to survive their injuries.

Although you likely cannot sue an employer over work accident, there may be third parties involved in the project who can and should be held liable. It is important that you explore your legal options as soon as possible with an experienced Washington DC personal injury law firm.

Common Construction Accidents:
• Falls from roofs
• Scaffolding fools
• Elevator shaft falls
• Crane collapse
• Falling objects
• Machinery accidents
• Falls through floors
• Machinery or equipment defects
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Electrical accidents
• Explosions
• Trench collapses
• Fires
• Gas blasts
• Welding accidents
• Ladder-related accidents

Serious Construction Accident Injuries:
• Head injury
• Traumatic brain injury
• Cumulative trauma disorder
• Spinal cord injuries
• Nerve damage
• Severed limbs
• Paralysis
• Burn injuries
• Limb loss
• Hearing loss
• Broken bones
• Blindness
• Suffocation
• Amputations
• Infected wounds
• Dislocated shoulder
• Fractures
• White finger syndrome

Construction worker dies at D.C. work site, The Washington Times, March 25, 2011

Worker trapped in trench dies, The Washington Post, March 24, 2011

Related Web Resources:
OSHA Construction, US Department of Labor

OSHA Construction Accidents, Workplace Safety Tips

More Blog Posts:
Maryland Crane Accident Leaves One Worker with Serious Injuries, Maryland Accident
Law Blog, February 9, 2009

Maryland Attorney Sues Baltimore For Burn Injuries Caused By Fall Accident into Construction Hole, Maryland Accident Law Blog, October 10, 2008

Two Construction Workers are Seriously Injured in D.C. Construction Accident, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, August 22, 2007

Continue reading " Washington DC Construction Accident: Worker Nearly Buried in Trench Dies " »

The National Transportation Safety Board is trying to determine what caused a bus and tractor-trailer to collide on Saturday, killing 15 people in New York. The 56-seat bus then drove through a guardrail, skidded some 480 feet, before turning on its side. A highway sign cut off most of the bus’s roof. Our Washington DC bus accident law firm is continuing to monitor this story and its latest developments.

According to the medical examiner’s office, the victims died from blunt-force trauma as the impact of the crash left passengers bloodied and jumbled over debris, each other, and shattered glass. Most of those who died were of Chinese descent. The latest victim to die is a man in his 70’s. Several others are still in the hospital—six of them in critical condition.

The bus, driving back from the Mohegan Sun casino, is one of a number of buses that travel back and forth between the casinos in Connecticut and New York’s Chinatown. While bus driver Ophadell Williams has said that the tractor-trailer struck the bus, witnesses and survivors says that even prior to the deadly crash, the bus was swerving to the right. Some have speculated that Williams, who has a history of vehicular offenses and served time behind bars for grand larceny and manslaughter, was tired. Meantime, officials are saying that he may have been speeding.

Now, lawmakers are calling on the NTSB to examine the safety regulations for discount tour buses. According to NY Senator Charles Schumer, low-cost tour buses companies have a poor safety record. He believes that numerous traffic crashes that have occurred involving these buses is evidence that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is not doing enough to regulate them.

If, indeed, drowsy driving contributed to causing the deadly semi-bus truck crash, the victims or their families may have grounds for a personal injury case or a wrongful death claim against the bus company and the driver. Commercial drivers owe an extra duty of care to motorists than do other motorists. In the event of a DC bus crash, serious injuries can result for both those in the bus, who likely weren't using seat belts, and those involved that were pedestrians or the occupants of other vehicles.

With so many discount buses operating in and going in and out of Washington DC, it is important that bus companies and their drivers ensure that passengers are transported safely to and from their destination. If you were involved in a Washington DC bus crash, contact our DC injury law firm today.

Sen. Chuck Schumer demands NTSB oversight of discount buses after fatal Bronx crash, New York Daily News, March 14, 2011

Fatal Bus Crash Driver Had Criminal Record, ABC News, March 14, 2011

15th victim dies from injuries in N.Y. bus crash, The Washington Times, March 14, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Washington DC: Discount Buses, Trip Advisor

NTSB

FMCSA

More Blog Posts:
Maryland Car Accident News: Bus Passengers Injured after Baltimore Traffic Collision, Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog, January 11, 2010

Maryland Family Settles WMATA Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Tragic Valentine’s Day Pedestrian-Bus Accident, Maryland Accident Law Blog, June 30, 2008

Over Two Dozen People Injured In Kensington, Maryland As Two Buses Collide, Maryland Accident Law Blog, March 14, 2007

More than a year after the family of Edward Givens filed a $17 million DC wrongful death case against the District and Emergency Medical Services medical director Dr. James Augustine, a judge says that their lawsuit can proceed under a new statute.

Givens, 39, died on December 2, 2008 after paramedics, responding to call that he was having problems breathing and experiencing chest pains, didn’t take him to the hospital and instead told him that he had acid reflux and he should take Pepto Bismo. He died six hours after receiving the wrong diagnosis. In 2009, his family sued for DC paramedic malpractice and wrongful death.

The District has been combating the lawsuit, claiming that case law doesn’t allow someone hurt by an emergency worker to sue. However, after paramedics didn’t immediately treat New York Times journalist David Rosenbaum because they thought he was drunk (in fact, he was beaten during a robbery), the District settled his family’s paramedic malpractice case. The city council has since passed a statute allowing victims to hold paramedics liable for negligence.

In the Givens’ family’s wrongful death lawsuit, the plaintiff say that the medical worker who treated him lacked the knowledge to provide the standard of care required to treat someone who was suffering from his symptoms. They claim that Augustine should have realized that the paramedic did not have skills to do the job right. In fact, the Washington Times reported in 2009 that numerous DC paramedics did not meet the national standard in tests about basic lifesaving procedures and their medical knowledge.

Just as a good paramedic can save lives, a paramedic who lacks the training and skills to do a proper job can cause serious health complications and even death. Patients are owed a certain standard of care. When failure to provide that duty of causes serious injuries, the negligent medical provider can be held liable.

Family Files Wrongful Death Suit Against DC, MyFox, February 28, 2011

Rosenbaum Lawsuit Settled, The Washington Post, December 21, 2007

Related Web Resources:
$17 Million Washington DC Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against District and FEMS Medical Director Over Botched Response to Fatal Heart Attack, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, December 9, 2009

Washington DC Man Dies After Paramedics Diagnose Acid Reflux, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, December 8, 2008

Washington DC Paramedics Under Investigation in Death of 2-Year-Old Girl, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, March 4, 2010

Washington D.C. And Howard University Hospital Are Sued By Family Of New York Times Journalist For Wrongful Death, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, November 28, 2006

Police are investigating a fatal Washington DC traffic crash in the Third Street Tunnel involving a Department of Public Works truck. The victim, 23-year-old Haja Seymore-Wilson, died on Tuesday after the vehicle she was riding crashed into the truck, which was stopped. Also injured in the DC truck crash were three city workers.

If the city workers were negligent in where they parked their truck or could/should have act in a way that would have prevented Seymore-Wilson’s car from crashing into the truck, her family may find that they have grounds for a DC wrongful death case. However, if it was Seymore-Wilson who was at fault, then it is the city workers who may have grounds for a DC injury case.

During such a stressful time, settling immediately may seem like the best solution. Unfortunately, you may be also be giving away your legal right to receive the maximum recovery possible. There is no need to make your healing process more challenging by trying to pursue your injury recovery without legal help.

Also, figuring out who caused a Washington DC car accident can be difficult, which is another reason why you need to have a DC injury law firm that is working for you. Your attorney can make sure that all evidence is explored and a solid case is built on your behalf. In addition to physical evidence and your actual injuries, your lawyer can look at driving records, witness testimony, auto repair/maintenance records, the history of traffic accidents on that road, and other key data.

Woman killed in D.C. tunnel crash, The Washington Post, March 1, 2011

Candlelight vigil for woman killed in Third Street Tunnel, The Examiner, March 4, 2011

Related Web Resource:
Department of Public Works, The District of Columbia

More Blog Posts:
Maryland Car Accident News: Baltimore Trucker Survives Head-on Crash when Minivan Crosses Centerline on Rte 9, Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog, March 3, 2011

Baltimore Car Accident News: Driver Dies in Fatal Beltsville, Maryland, Automobile Traffic Wreck, Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog, February 28, 2011

Baltimore Auto Injury News: Three Hurt when Train Hits Minivan in Wicomico, Maryland, Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog, February 24, 2011

Continue reading " Washington DC Car Accident in Third Street Tunnel Claims 23-Year-Old’s Life " »