Georgia Personal Injury Blog

May is National Stroke Awareness Month

By Grant Law Office on May 6, 2013

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush designated May as National Stroke Awareness Month. It is a unique time of year when healthcare providers band together to raise awareness about the danger of strokes. This is important because strokes are extremely common. The National Stroke Association reports that strokes are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than133,000 people annually. It is also the leading cause of serious, long-term adult disabilities.

A stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery or blood vessel, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. Shortly after this happens, brain cells may begin to die and permanent brain damage can occur.Read more…

Three Injured after Car Crashes into Atlanta Nightclub

By Grant Law Office on April 24, 2013

Three pedestrians were struck by a car outside an Atlanta nightclub involving a driver who may have been under the influence. CBS Atlanta reports that the driving under the influence (DUI) accident occurred outside the Asylum nightclub on Flat Shoals Avenue in Atlanta. Officials say the car left the roadway and crashed into the nightclub. One of the pedestrians was pinned against the building and two of the three victims were hospitalized after the crash. The driver fled the scene of the accident on foot and was arrested about a block away. He faces DUI and hit-and-run charges.

Drugs and alcohol can impair your motor functions and delay your reaction time. Motorists who are impaired are much more likely to leave the roadway, drift from their lane of traffic, or make a reckless decision. Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is also illegal.Read more…

FDA Reports Numerous Safety Problems with Compounding Pharmacies

By Grant Law Office on April 15, 2013

Filthy conditions at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) led to a fungal meningitis outbreak that resulted in 53 fatalities and 680 illnesses. This outbreak spurred inspections at specialized pharmacies nationwide by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials. According to a news report in The Washington Post, federal inspectors discovered dozens of safety issues at 30 specialized pharmacies.

At a Florida company, for example, inspectors discovered unknown black particles in seven vials of an injectable medicine. During other facility visits, they found mold and rust in rooms that are supposed to be clean. They also found tears in gloves worn by technicians. The FDA has stated that while many of these facilities have adequate standards and oversight, other specialized drug manufacturers have been able to slip through the cracks. The FDA is now asking Congress for more authority over compounders of high-risk sterile products to ensure that patients are not put in harm’s way.Read more…

Child Killed in Atlanta Drunk Driving Accident

By Grant Law Office on April 8, 2013

A 12-year-old boy was killed in an Atlanta car accident, which officials say involved an alleged drunk driver. According to an Associated Press news report, the fatal DUI crash occurred in southwest Atlanta. Officials say the boy was crossing the street when the car struck him. The 43-year-old driver has been accused of striking the boy and fleeing the scene of the crash. The driver has been arrested and charged with vehicular homicide, DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to yield, failure to maintain lane, driving on a suspended license, and reckless driving.

According to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, there were 1,493 fatalities suffered in Georgia car accidents in the year 2008 and 416 of those fatalities were alcohol-related. Of the 1,021 drivers killed in Georgia car accidents during that same year, 331 had a recorded blood alcohol content (BAC) level of 0.00, 31 had a BAC less than .08, and 207 had a BAC greater than .08. These numbers may not reflect the total number of fatally injured drunk drivers because 43 percent of all drivers killed were not tested for alcohol consumption.Read more…

Driver Killed in Georgia Highway 196 Car – Dump Truck Collision

By Grant Law Office on April 1, 2013

The driver of a minivan was killed in a Georgia car accident after colliding with a dump truck. The Fort Stewart Patch reports that the fatal truck accident occurred on Highway 196 in Fleming. Officials say the minivan was headed west when it collided with the dump truck, but details regarding how the crash occurred have not been released. The driver was killed and the young daughter of the victim was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment with unknown injuries.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, six million people were involved in motor vehicle crashes between the years 2000 and 2006. After that seven-year period, 2,394 people were involved in an accident every day and more than 2,500 injuries were reported every week. In the year 2006, 270 people were killed in Georgia car accidents. One out of six of those fatalities involved a large truck.Read more…

Harmful Diagnostic Errors Made by Doctors

By Grant Law Office on March 29, 2013

When a patient is given an incorrect diagnosis, he or she may suffer serious consequences from taking the wrong medication or from not receiving the proper care. When this occurs, there is the potential for serious harm. A recent study published online in Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine issue reviewed how and why primary care physicians make diagnostic errors. According to their study, almost 80 percent of diagnostic errors resulted from breakdowns in the patient-practitioner clinical encounter.

Breakdowns during the clinical encounter of the primary care physicians studied the most common occurrence, includes:

• taking down a patient’s history (56.3 percent) or during the physical examination (47.4 percent);
• ordering further diagnostic tests (57.4 percent);Read more…

Doctors Receiving Millions from Drug Companies

By Grant Law Office on March 28, 2013

A recent review of how doctors in Louisiana receive compensation from drug companies should be a warning to patients throughout the country. ProPublica reports that over $23 million was given to these physicians for a myriad of reasons, including speaking engagements, trials and consultations, and 36,000 payments were made to Louisiana doctors between 2009 and 2012. The data from 15 companies show that over $2 billion was paid to doctors nationwide. In some cases, doctors are prescribing and recommending the products made by companies from whom they are receiving compensation.

According to a recent article in The Shreveport Times, the level of transparency regarding which doctors are receiving payments from corporations is about to change. When the Physician Payment Sunshine Act goes into effect in 2014, all drug and medical device companies will have to report how much they are paying to doctors. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, patients will be able to determine for themselves if his or her doctor is acting in their best interests, or in the interests of a drug company.Read more…

Deadly Crash on Interstate 285 Caused by Fallen Ladder

By Grant Law Office on March 19, 2013

One person was killed and two others were injured in a Georgia car accident that occurred after a ladder fell onto a busy interstate. According to a report by The Associated Press, the fatal crash occurred on Interstate 285 in East Point south of Atlanta the afternoon of March 12.

Officials say a car struck a ladder that fell from another vehicle and became disabled. Other vehicles including a semi then crashed into the disabled vehicle. Investigators are hoping to use a bar code on the ladder to track down its owner and hold him or her accountable for the multi-vehicle crash.Read more…

Traffic Fatalities Involving Teenagers Increased in 2012

By Grant Law Office on March 8, 2013

The Atlanta fatal car accident lawyers at The Law Offices of Wayne Grant, P.C., have seen the number of teenage driver deaths decrease for eight years in a row. But all that changed in 2011 when the nation experienced an increase in traffic fatalities among teen drivers. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that deaths of 16- and 17-year-old drivers increased by 19 percent during the first six months of 2012. The preliminary numbers from the second half of last year indicate that teenage driver deaths continued to rise as the year progressed.

Nationwide, 202 16- and 17-year-old drivers were killed between January and June of 2011. Over that same period in 2012, 240 young drivers were killed. There were 25 states that saw an increase in fatalities, 17 that actually saw a decrease in deaths, and eight states plus Washington D.C. that stayed the same.Read more…

Omontys Anemia Drug Recalled for Causing Severe Allergic Reactions

By Grant Law Office on March 6, 2013

A new anemia treatment drug for people going through kidney dialysis has been officially recalled. As reported by The New York Times, Affymax and Takeda Pharmaceutical have recalled all lots of Omontys, or peginesatide, because of the severe allergic reactions it can cause.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that there have been 19 reports of anaphylaxis, a very serious allergic reaction. Three of those victims died and the remaining 16 required prompt medical intervention or hospitalization. The companies say that two out of every 1,000 patients had a hypersensitivity reaction.Read more…