San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

Technology Tackles the Danger of Bicycle Accidents

October 18, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Statistics compiled by the National Highway Safety Traffic Safety Administration tell us that 677 bicycle riders were killed in the U.S. during 2011, 114 of them in California. These tragedies have led to many to consider how we can keep cyclists safer on the road. Some efforts come from municipal leaders, such as the move by the Davis city council that we wrote about earlier this week to enforce laws aimed at keeping cyclists and other travelers safe. Other efforts come from individuals, such as the work of a young woman in England to use technology to help prevent bicycle accidents. While television advertisements often focus on automotive safety technology, less attention has been paid to using technology to improve bicycle safety and our San Francisco bicycle accident law firm applauds this effort to do so.

Vehicles Turning, Colliding with Bicycle Riders

According to CNN, Emily Brooke knew the problem she hoped to tackle as a physics student at the U.K.’s Brighton University. Brooke knew that the number of bicycle riders was on the rise in Europe, much like it is in the United States, with an increasing number of people using bicycles for their regular commuting needs. In an interview, she cites the fact that more than 3,000 cyclists had been killed or seriously injured in Britain last year with more than one hundred rider fatalities in London alone. More specifically, Brooke learned that 79% of accidents involving a rider hit by a driver occurred when the bicycle was travelling straight and the driver made a turn and collided with the bicyclist, with the driver usually reporting that he had not seen the rider.

Victims of Redwood City Blaze, as in Many Fires, Caught by Surprise

October 17, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

California is a land of great beauty and opportunity, but it is also a state renowned in a less-flattering way for its earthquakes and seasonal brush fires. While seasonal brush fires, often preceded by dry, relatively hot and tinderbox conditions, tend to be more predictable than earthquakes, fires that strike residential communities are much more prone to erupt without any warning and are by no means limited to the Golden State. And when fires rip through homes to destroy possessions or cause serious injuries or even death, San Francisco Bay Area attorney Gregory J. Brod stands ready to help the victims of fires in Northern California.

One extensive building fire early Thursday gave residents of a 75-unit apartment complex in Redwood City one of the most frightening early-morning rude awakenings possible at about 5:15 a.m., according to a report from the San Jose Mercury News. The six-alarm fire, which caused the roof of the four-story building to collapse with flames bursting skyward from the top floor, led to a mass exodus of residents as firefighters arrived on the scene. Many of the residents fled to safety by climbing down balconies or even rappelling to the ground from the fourth floor. Four people were injured, and four others are unaccounted for, but they were believed to be away on vacation. Twenty fire engines and more than 100 firefighters were required to subdue the blaze, which was largely extinguished by 9 a.m.

While the apartment building had smoke alarms it wasn’t fitted with a sprinkler system because, according to Redwood City Fire Marshal Jim Palisi, the structure was built in 1988 before a state law requiring sprinkler systems was enacted.

“I guarantee if this building had been sprinklered this wouldn’t have happened,” Parisi told the Mercury News.

The basis for Parisi’s assertion that the presence of sprinkler systems helps prevent building fires is rooted in some convincing statistics from the National Fire Protection Association, including these findings from a report issued in June 2013:

Of all reported structure fires in the United States from 2007 through 2011, only 10 percent involved buildings with installed sprinkler systems.
Sprinkler systems were present in 47 percent of all high-rise apartment buildings where 2007-11 fires were reported in the United States.
Sprinklers operated in 91 percent off all 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States.
When sprinklers operated in 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States, they were effective 96 percent of the time.
There was a combined effectiveness of 87 percent when sprinklers were present and fires were large enough to activate them during all 2007-11 reported structure fires in the United States.

The much lower figure for the presence of sprinklers in all buildings across the nation overall is due to the fact that they are still rare in many categories of buildings, including educational properties (36 percent of fires), stores and offices (24 percent of fires), public assembly properties (23 percent of fires) and most notably homes (six percent of fires), where most fire-caused fatalities occur. Indeed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 85 percent of all fire deaths in the United States in 2009 occurred in homes. The CDC also reminds us that most victims of fires die from smoke or toxic gas inhalation, not from burns. The CDC also makes it clear that while smoking is the leading cause of fire-related deaths, cooking is the primary cause of residential fires.
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Davis Looks to Crack Down on Bicyclists Violating Traffic Laws

October 16, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

There seems to be a constant tension between travelers who choose different modes of transportation. Pedestrians complain about bicycles, bicyclists rant about drivers, drivers criticize pedestrians. In order to quell tensions, it is important to remember that every traveler is responsible for following applicable rules of the road and keeping everyone safe. When we talk about bicycle accidents, we are often dealing with a driver who injured a cyclist. However, bicyclists have responsibilities too and they can be the ones who caused an injury such as when a rider hits a pedestrian or when a cyclist’s actions cause a driver to swerve into another car. Our Sacramento injury lawyer believes in efforts to improve bicycle safety and also believes in holding all travelers, regardless of mode of travel, responsible when their actions leave someone else injured.

A “Bike Mecca”

In the course of a Sacramento Bee piece, the reporter refers to “the bike mecca of Davis,” cites the statistic that Davis has the most bicycles per capita of any city in the United States, and notes that the UC Davis campus alone is home to an estimated 20,000 bicycles. These details give weight to the article’s discussion of safety efforts and the fact that cyclists in Davis have a reputation for ignoring safety laws and regulations. City police officers have been described, by the police office itself, as hesitant to cite cyclists for violations out of fear of animosity from the community and those who see the fines as excessive. Students at UC Davis have been particularly vocal about finding fines too severe, although getting fined requires being caught first. The Davis community has had a lax attitude when it comes to bicycle laws, with cyclists often adopting a “they can’t catch all of us” mentality.

High School Sports Injuries: A Closer Look

October 16, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

As high school sports become increasingly competitve, life altering injuries are becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately, some serious injuries can come across as benign to the untrained eye. When a high school basketball player bumped heads with another player in the middle of a game, it was not readily obvious until months later that he had experienced a concussion. Elsewhere, a high school football player experienced a series of headaches over several days before collapsing on the field, later learning that the headaches were signs of a serious brain injury. Because of these dangers, it is critical that schools promote a safe environment for sports. At the same time, players need to be educated about safety in sports, and how to advocate for themselves when they have an injury.

In some schools, there are certified athletic trainers who are trained to assess injuries to determine whether or not they are benign. However these trained professionals are not required to be certified in California, Hawaii and Alaska . In California, only two fifths of the athletic trainers are certified. As a result, the role of the athletic staff-the coaches and trainers-are all the more important as supervisors of student athletes. Of course, all the supervision in the world cannot perfectly prevent the unavoidable-instead, supervision is a means to enforce rules that promote safety.

Since not everyone involved in sports programs is a trained medical professional, It can be difficult to connect initial symptoms to a serious injury. As a parent, coach or athlete, it is important to be aware of some general signs that may suggest a possibly serious injury. For example, some common injuries are concussions and spinal cord injuries. Although such injuries range in severity and how they present themselves, there are some general signs to keep an eye out for. Concussions are often associated with loss of concentration, memory, headaches or impaired judgment. Some possible signs of a spinal injury include extreme back or neck pain and difficulty breathing or walking. Of course, these are look-out signs, and not definitive on their own. Knowing to look for possible signs of a serious injury can help athletes, parents and coaches seek medical attention to verify whether the player is healthy, and if not, to find out what can be done to help.

Just this month, the California legislature passed a law requiring private schools to disallow students who have concussions from playing in their respective sports until they are cleared by a health professional. In some area schools, there is a discussion about requiring players to have medical examinations done as a baseline for any future injury. This would give doctors a reference point to see if there are cognitive changes for the individual (rather than average) baseline. This has become a policy of the National Football League, where at the beginning of each season,professional football players are examined by doctors to establish a baseline.

The NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) and NIAAA (National Interscholastic Athletic Administrator Association) have put together a useful guide that outlines some safety guidelines that coaches can implement. The guide explains that there is a benefit to matching players with other players who are comparable in size, age, speed, and experience so that players can be challenged without being in danger. Another element considered by the guide is that of conditioning-it is helpful to train the student athletes gradually to adjust their bodies to rigorous exercise. A final item on the guide is the coach’s to assessment of athletes’ ability to reasonably accomplish tasks without hurting themselves. Along those lines, student athletes experiencing discomfort can advocate for their own safety by expressing any injury or discomfort that is not readily visible so that athletic staff can make more informed decisions about the safety of the players.
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Concerns About BPA Now Include Potentially Elevated Miscarriage Risk

October 16, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

We come into contact with countless man-made chemicals every day. There is often a delicate balance between a chemical’s usefulness and the potential danger the substance poses to our health or environment. There has been much debate in recent years about certain chemicals, such as those used in nonstick cookware and those used in flame-retardant children’s sleepwear. A new study from a major university is raising a new concern regarding a chemical that has drawn much scrutiny in recent years – bisphenol-A or BPA. This study and others like it are of major concern to our Oakland toxic chemicals attorney, Gregory Brod, who works with people made ill by the ever-increasing presence of toxic chemicals in our modern lives.

An Overview of the Study and BPA

A Stanford University study, covered in an Associated Press article carried by The Oakland Tribune, suggests high levels of BPA may raise the chance of a miscarriage among women who are already prone to miscarriages or had difficulty conceiving. Importantly, scientists suggest the study cannot be considered conclusive at this time. However, Dr. Linda Giudice, the president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and a California biochemist, said the study adds to “the biological plausibility” that BPA may impact on fertility and other health issues. Nonetheless, a group of obstetricians called for further study of potential fertility hazards due to environmental chemicals.

Construction at 49ers Stadium Claims Life of Second Worker

October 14, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Accidents are not uncommon at construction sites, and the resulting injuries construction workers sustain call for competent legal representation from an experienced construction accident attorney such as Gregory J. Brod to secure rightful compensation for medical bills, loss of earnings and other related expenses. In extreme cases, workers even lose their lives while performing their jobs at a construction site, and the San Francisco Bay Area saw an example of the latter unfortunate event Monday when a truck driver died at the San Francisco 49ers new stadium under construction in Santa Clara.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Lake II, 60, died when steel rebar he was unloading from a delivery truck he had driven tumbled upon him and crushed him. State and local agencies have already begun the process of investigating the death of Lake, who was employed by Gerdau, a multinational steel company. The Chronicle found that a division of Gerdau, Gerdau Reinforcing Steel West of San Diego, was cited for an unspecified violation involving a job site in Rohnert Park this year by regulators.
The tragic death of Lake was the second time a worker has died in the last four months at the new facility under construction of the reigning NFC champion 49ers. On June 11, Donald White, 63, was struck and killed by an elevator counterweight while on a ladder at the bottom of a shaft. The death of Lake came just three days after state regulators concluded that White’s fatality was an unexplained accident and that the companies involved did not merit sanctions.

While California regulators may have concluded that White’s death may have been as the result of an inexplicable accident, White’s son, Cody White, has stated that his father told him that the blue-collar employees at the new Levi’s Stadium were working hard to meet construction deadlines. The younger White suggested that the push to get the new facility ready for its 2014 season unveiling may have been been a factor in his father’s death.

“When you are trying to rush a stadium so quick, accidents will happen,” Cody White told the Chronicle. “When you rush out there, of course, somebody is going to get hurt.”

Unfortunately, the workplace deaths of Lake and White are not particularly isolated incidents in the United States, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 4,609 workers were killed on the job in 2011. In addition, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that in the same year, of the 4,188 worker fatalities in private industry, 738 were in construction.

OSHA has pointed to four leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites it has dubbed the “Fatal Four” that have been responsible for 419, or 56 percent, of 738 construction worker deaths in 2011 and carry the following specific grim statistics:

Falls – 259, or 35 percent, of the total.
Electrocutions – 69, or 9 percent, of the total.
Struck by object – 73, or 10 percent, of the total.
Caught in or between objects – 18, or 2 percent, of the total.

Drunken Driving by the Numbers: a Sobering Set of Statistics

October 11, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

The warning not to drive a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is probably one of the highest-profile messages that we hear from law enforcement and other government agencies, public officials, and interest groups concerned with the problem. Our San Francisco automobile accident law firm often finds that the foregoing message has not been heeded by one or more of the parties in many of the cases it handles. And repeated news accounts of deadly DUI accidents as well as statistics show that this simple bit of sound advice is still lost on far too many people.

Because the advice of not driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol has become almost like a mantra, one would expect that this message should resonate most emphatically with the law enforcement officials who often promulgate it. However, public officials or even the peace officers who are entrusted with enforcing DUI laws can find themselves arrested for drunken driving. A unsettling example of this problem was detailed in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, when the newspaper reported that an off-duty San Francisco Police Department sergeant was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and hit and run after he allegedly slammed his own vehicle into a parked car in San Francisco’s Sunset district Tuesday night. The police officer who was arrested, Sgt. Thomas Haymond, 52, is a 22-year veteran with the SFPD. A witness reported the collision, and police tracked a trail of of debris from the crash scene to Haymond’s home.

The statistics on drunken driving in the United States, unfortunately, continues to be a messy trail of facts, including these compiled by the national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving:

Almost every 90 seconds, a person is injured in a drunken driving crash.
In 2011, 9,878 people died in drunken driving crashes, or one every 53 minutes.
Every day in the United States another 27 people die as a result of drunken driving crashes.
The typical drunken driver has driven while under the influence of alcohol 80 times before getting arrested for the first time.
Fifty to 75 percent of convicted drunken drivers continue to drive on a suspended license.
Drunken driving costs the United States $132 billion a year.

The impact of drunken driving isn’t limited to the motorists involved in automobile crashes, but also pedestrians and bicyclists. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2010 alcohol was a factor in 2,020 – or 47.2 percent – of pedestrian fatalities and 209 – or 33.8 percent – of pedal cyclist fatalities. However, the statistics on DUI-linked accidents are not all grim, as the BTS suggests that the application of so-called Zero Tolerance Laws may have been a factor in causing the number of alcohol-related fatalities in the United States to drop from 50.6 percent in 1990 to 42 percent in 2009.
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Financial Scams Against the Elderly: From Basic Theft to Complex Fraud

October 11, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Today, we call attention to a scam aimed at the elderly in our region and remind our readers of the need to be vigilant and exercise caution when dealing with home improvements. Further, remember that a basic con or “simple” financial scam may be used to create a doorway to allow more extensive financial abuse that can target an individual’s life savings.

Scam Targets Older Homeowners in Newark, CA

According to The Oakland Tribune, police are warning of a scam targeting elderly homeowners in Newark. In one instance, a female suspect called an elderly target and attempted to arrange an appointment to inspect his home’s furnace and air conditioning systems. The caller suggested they would be in the area and were offering a “half price” deal of $60 for the services. During the call, the suspect attempted to gain the man’s trust, making small talk while trying to elicit the man’s address (despite a prior comment about being in the area!) and pressuring him to sign up for the purported deal.

Aviation Safety: An Update on Asiana Flight 214

October 10, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

As the investigation into July’s crash of Asiana Flight 214 continues, the pilots and airline are laying blame on the plane’s auto-throttle, suggesting a malfunction in the device caused the Boeing 777 to crash. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, an anonymous aviation expert revealed that the carrier and pilots are focusing on the possibility that the device disengaged on its own. In contrast, Deborah Hersman, Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”), said investigators are looking at whether the automated throttle was engaged at all and whether the pilots used it correctly. It is a debate that our San Francisco plane crash team continues to monitor and will follow as we approach a planned November date for an NTSB hearing. Attorney Brod continues to be available to talk to those injured in this or other aviation accidents.

Despite Asiana Crash, Trend Shows Greater Risk Tied to Small Planes

July’s crash at San Francisco International Airport is notable because it involved a large, commercial airliner. Approximately thirteen months prior, Bloomberg published and distributed an article examining the realities of fatal crashes. At that juncture, there had not been a fatal crash involving a major commercial airplane since the February 2009 when 50 people died after a Colgan Air flight crashed near Buffalo, New York. In contrast, between the Colgan Air disaster and the Bloomberg inquiry, 30 times as many people. Looking at this issue another way, while the number of commercial jetliner accidents fell by 85% since 2000, the private plane/general aviation rose 20% in the same time frame.

Questions Raised After Missing Patient Is Found Dead at S.F. General Hospital

October 9, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

One doesn’t normally expect to sustain personal injury when checking into a hospital or other medical facility, but unfortunately a significant number of patients are wrongly harmed or die every year while receiving medical care in the United States. And the perplexing death of one San Francisco hospital patient has left questions unanswered, including whether medical malpractice was involved.

Medical Examiner Investigating Cause of Death
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the body of Lynne Spalding, 57, was found by a San Francisco General Hospital employee in a stairwell about 10 a.m. Tuesday. As shocking as the discovery of the body of the mother of two and native of England was, the fact that Spalding was reported missing from the hospital more than two weeks before adds to the bizarre nature of this story. Spalding was last seen at SFGH on the morning of Sept. 21, two days after she was admitted to the hospital for complications resulting from an infection, and she disappeared from her room during a scheduled check by hospital staff on that day. Spalding’s friends have speculated that she may have been disoriented as a result of medication for her condition, and the San Francisco medical examiner’s office is attempting to determine the cause of her death.

While the exact cause of Spalding’s death remains to be determined, one thing that is certain is that SFGH had a duty of care for her and would be responsible for any incompetence on the part of hospital staff that led to her injury or death and that any such negligence would be the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Typically one of the questions involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital is whether the attending physician or physicians of the harmed patient is or are considered hospital employees or contractors, a factor that may impact the hospital’s liability.

Medical Errors Growing Problem in United States
The tragic death of Spalding stands out as grim example of when things go wrong at a hospital and may very well have been avoidable, but preventable errors at medical facilities include a wide range of never-should-have-happened phenomena, such as sponges left inside surgical patients, administration of improper medications, use of contaminated equipment and other types of mistakes. And it may come as a surprise to many, but medical errors are an increasingly deadly occurrence in the United States.
According to a recent report in Forbes magazine, 1999 statistics showed that 98,000 people were dying every year from preventable errors in American hospitals. However, the magazine goes on to say that a new study reveals that as many as 440,000 – or four times as many – people die from preventable medical errors in the United States. Putting the new numbers in perspective would mean that medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States, more deadly than auto accidents or diabetes but in line behind notorious killers such as cancer and heart disease.

Another disturbing fact that came to light this year concerns the record of hospital care in the San Francisco Bay Area. While Bay Area hospitals generally get high marks for keeping patients alive, at least half of all the region’s medical institutions posted worse-than-average death rates in one or more medical procedure or patient condition in 2010 and 2011, according to a recent report in the San Jose Mercury News. SFGH was among the many regional hospitals that registered worse-than-average death rates in some categories compared with the state average.
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