Louisville Injury Law Blog

Automobile manufacturers seem to have been almost engaged in a spirited competition involving product recalls of their vehicles the past couple years, owing to various design and other defects that increase the risk of car accidents.

Toyota's massive recalls concerning its "sudden acceleration" problems resulted in a voluminous number of product callbacks and major headaches for company executives. General Motors has issued multiple recalls over the past several years and recently offered to buy back from purchasers one of its vehicles that has shown a propensity to catch fire following a crash.

Insurance industry leaders have taken notice that thousands of returning war veterans have experienced increased stress, with a growing percentage at fault after being involved in a car accident. Erratic driving by veterans has been recently identified as a symptom of traumatic brain injury.

According to a recent review, car accidents in which veterans were involved increased by 13 percent for those deployed in an overseas tour of duty from 2007 to 2010. The insurance industry and the armed services are working to create educational groups and conduct further research. Statistics show that 48 soldiers died in car accidents last year, the highest number in the past three years.

A state medical malpractice law passed in Connecticut in 2005 that its proponents stated was a necessary tort reform to drive down medical premiums and costs is now facing a backlash from a growing number of critics in that state.

The dialogue that has resulted is of relevance in Kentucky and elsewhere throughout the country, as it speaks to the window of opportunity available for plaintiffs to bring lawsuits, as well as the need for medical professionals to be held accountable for mistakes that cause death and injuries to patients.

Emergency room overcrowding is a problem hospitals have struggled to solve. In a 2010 survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians, 91 percent of hospitals said their ERs were overcrowded at least one day a week, and Kentucky hospitals are no exception.

In the ER, crowded conditions can have life-threatening implications and lead to outcomes of medical malpractice. Doctors, nurses and technicians feel pressured to keep patients moving. They can unduly rush examinations, misdiagnose problems, fail to detect important signs of serious illness, and make medical errors when ordering care and prescribing medication.

Kentucky has recently joined up with several other states for going big and dramatic when it comes to car accidents. A 41-vehicle chain collision last week most decidedly saw to that.

Such multiple and massive crash scenarios have been playing out repeatedly in recent days. Despite the sheer amount of bent and tangled metal featuring in each instance, fatalities have been few. No driver or passenger died in the Kentucky crash or in a recent pileup that occurred in Texas. A Louisiana collision resulted in two fatalities and scores of people being sent to local hospitals.

For commercial drivers in Kentucky, 2012 brings new restrictions on cell phone use while driving. Traffic safety advocates hope that the new measure will reduce the truck accident rate. The rule, effective January 3, 2012, prohibits use of a cell phone without a hands-free device.

The National Transportation Safety Board promotes a complete ban on cell phone use by all commercial drivers. Even with a hands-free device in use, the NTSB says that cell phones are responsible for serious truck accidents, such as a 2010 Munfordville, Kentucky, crash that killed 11 people. An investigation revealed that the truck driver had received multiple text messages in the moments prior to the crash.

The fallout from body organs and tissue coming from a middle-age Kentucky male who died from a head injury sustained in a vehicle accident last year has been dramatic and decidedly unfortunate for several donee recipients of his body parts.

In a stark case of failure to diagnose a disease, a positive hepatitis C test that was obtained prior to transplantation of organs and tissue was incorrectly misread as negative.

Failure to catch the infection resulted in nearly 20 implants from the donor, with several dire consequences being realized.

Cell phone use among motor vehicle drivers remained at five percent in 2010, and texting among motor vehicle operators is on the rise, according to a federal study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Car accident experts note that the study observed drivers on the road and counted those who were visibly holding a cell phone up to their ear while driving. They also kept track of drivers clearly using a mobile electronic device to compose a text message while operating a motor vehicle.