Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers

Archive for the ‘ Wrongful Death ’ Category

May

Railroad Crossing Crash Leads To Fatality In North-Central Pennsylvania

May 15, 2012 – Pennsylvania is known for having many railroad crossings. It is important to remember that you should stop, look and listen BEFORE crossing any railroad tracks. Also, it is important to remember that the operators of trains have duties as well which they need to follow or they may be responsible for any injuries which may have been caused. Yesterday, May 14, 2012, a person was killed in an accident after a car in which she was a passenger was hit by a train at a railroad crossing.

According to news report, a Milton girl was killed Monday afternoon when the car she was riding in collided with the locomotive of a southbound North Shore freight train in a driving rainstorm at the Center Street railroad crossing. Maxine Eschbach was killed in the crash. The car, driven by a 16-year-old girl whose name was not released by police, was traveling west on Center Street at about 4:30 p.m. when it was hit by the train. Eschbach was wearing a seat belt

The driver of the car was taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where she was listed in serious, but stable condition Monday evening.

According to police, after the impact, the train engineer tried to brake, but the car was pushed about two blocks, before it became dislodged from the engine, just south of Mahoning Street.

For more on the accident see the Sunbury Daily Item at:

http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x41012193/Girl-16-dies-in-car-train-crash

A Car Accident that results in injuries can occur when you least expect it. That is why the Pennsylvania Injury Lawyers with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers suggest calling the authorities and an attorney if another driver causes a crash and you or a loved one sustain injuries as a result.

Scott Cooper

Scott B. Cooper
Schmidt Kramer PC
209 State Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 232-6300 – Telephone
(717) 232-6467 – Facsimile
scooper@schmidtkramer.com
Facebook.com/SchmidtKramer
Twitter.com/TalkToALawyer

May

Rockland County Woman Killed In Pennsylvania Accident On I-80

May 7, 2012 – The Scranton Time Tribune reports today that a New York resident from Rockland County is dead after a one-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 in Monroe County on Saturday night, May 5, 2012.

Antonia D. Luhers, 38, Nyack, N.Y., died at the scene from “extensive injuries” after she was thrown from the vehicle, according to state police. The crash occurred at 9 p.m. near mile marker 302 when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it went off the road before rolling over. The driver, Edward F. Swann, 34, also of Nyack, was taken to Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg after suffering moderate injuries, police said.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact state police at 570-839-7701

Read more on the investigation by going to the Scranton Time Tribune at:

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/n-y-woman-killed-in-crash-on-i-80-1.1311595#ixzz1uBMeCoHF

Scott Cooper

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May

Pennsylvania Supreme Court To Hear Case On Collecting Only For Emotional Distress

May 3, 2012 – Below is a copy of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Order from April 24, 2012 granting State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company’s Petition for Allowance of Appeal in Lipsky v. State Farm. This case was appealed from the Pennsylvania Superior Court after the lower court in an unpublished opinion held that the insureds were properly granted Summary Judgment on a claim for “bystander” emotional distress after witnessing the vehicular homicide of a family member. The trial court found that emotional distress was not clearly excluded from the definition of a compensable “bodily injury” as provided in the automobile policy issued by State Farm.” State Farm argued that the trial court erred not only in finding the definition of “bodily injury” ambiguous so as to admit within its ambit a negligent infliction of emotional distress (“NIED”) claim but also in ruling that the emotional distress of each plaintiff constituted an original bodily injury not derivative of the main injury.

State Farm appealed and the Court has granted the appeal to hear the following issue:

ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 24th day of April, 2012, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is hereby GRANTED. The issues, as phrased by petitioner, are:

a. Whether a claim for emotional distress without physical injury is covered by a liability insurance policy which provides coverage for “bodily injury” defined as “bodily injury to a person and sickness, disease or death which results from it.”

b. Assuming, arguendo, that such claims do constitute bodily injury, whether plaintiffs’ claims for emotional distress are subject to the “each accident” liability limits of the State Farm insurance policy, rather than the “each person” liability limits, despite the fact that plaintiffs’ emotional distress resulted from the bodily injury suffered by Benjamin Lipsky, and the policy includes within its “each person” limits “all injury and damages to others resulting from this bodily injury.”

No briefing schedule or argument date has been set yet.

The Pennsylvania car accident and insurance law attorneys with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers in Harrisburg can answer any questions you may have if you are injured in a car accident in Harrisburg, Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth, and if you have questions about insurance coverage issues after being injured in an accident.

May

PENNDOT Manual Teaches Amish And Drivers How To Share The Road

May 1, 2012 – WHP-TV 21 from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is reporting that Pennsylvania state police are investigating a hit and run crash that involved an Amish buggy over the weekend. Nobody was hurt in the crash which happened Sunday evening, April 29, 2012.

Although accidents involving horse and buggies are rare, they do happen occasionally and when they do often someone either inside the buggy or the horse is killed. As a result the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) came up with the Horse and Buggy Driver’s Manual. It’s the only one of its kind and it’s saving lives. About six years ago, the Amish community came to PennDOT asking for help and the Horse and Buggy Driver’s Manual, was the answer.

The manual, which now has nearly 40,000 copies in distribution in PA, Ohio, Kentucky, Canada and even Germany, is the only one known to exist. It teaches Amish buggy drivers how to read street signs and signal for a turn. It demonstrates how to utilize reflectors at night and maintain safe driving distances to avoid collisions. It’s just like the manual for motor vehicle drivers, just a little smaller, but just as affective.

For more on the manual go to the PENNDOT website at http://www.dot.state.pa.us/ .

For more on the new article go to the WHP-TV 21 website at the following link:

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/One-of-a-kind-manual-teaches-Amish-drivers-how-to/gKgEr5aNGUyFE1kkeNrDqg.cspx

The Pennsylvania car accident attorneys with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers can answer any questions you may have if you are injured in a car accident in Harrisburg, Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth, especially if you or a loved one have been seriously injured due to negligence or recklessness of another driver.

Apr

Inspector General: Nine Out Of Ten Nursing Homes Employ A Convict

The New York Times recently reported that the inspector general of the federal government issued findings that 90% of nursing homes have an employee who has been convicted of at least one crime. (See the link below.) Worse yet, almost half of nursing homes employed five or more people who had at least one criminal conviction. For 16% of the employees with convictions, the most recent conviction was while they were employed by the nursing facility.

One quote from the article is especially concerning. It quotes a doctor who is a professor of nursing at U.C. San Francisco to say, “Even some of the better nursing homes have problems with theft, rampant theft of residents’ clothing and personal possessions, including jewelry. People convicted of crimes are often left alone with nursing home residents because the supervision of care is, in many homes, very inadequate.”

Schmidt Kramer lawyers help families who feel their loved ones have fallen prey to inadequate supervision by nursing homes. This article was especially concerning when people going into nursing homes are in a fragile state, or they would go home. Families trust their loved ones to nursing homes, and when the care and supervision is substandard, people get hurt. Nursing homes should live up to the promises they make when they give someone a home where they are supposed to be safe and well cared for.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/us/03nursing.html?_r=1#

Joe Chapman
SCHMIDT KRAMER PC
209 State Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 232-6300

http://blog.schmidtkramer.com/ for all things injury law.

Facebook.com/SchmidtKramer

Twitter.com/TalkToALawyer

Apr

Newspaper Study: 78 Killed In Highway Crashes In North-Central Pennsylvania Nine-County Region In 2011

April 16, 2012 – According to the third article from the Shamokin News Item in a series of articles studying crashes in Central Pennsylvania, drivers in North-Central Pennsylvania should “Buckle up, don’t drink and drive and pay attention to the road.”

The study in today’s paper reports that’s the advice given to motorists by Rick Mason, community relations director for PennDOT District 3 in Montoursville.

PennDOT officials recently revealed statistics involving fatalities on state and municipal roads in District 3 in 2011.

Mason said the most common causes of highway-related fatalities are aggressive driving, failure to wear seat belts and driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance.

He said there were a total of 73 fatal crashes resulting in 78 fatalities in 2011. Five of the crashes were double fatalities.

Twenty-eight of the fatal crashes involved a vehicle hitting a fixed object. Fifteen were head-on collisions and 18 were intersection/angle crashes. Four pedestrians were killed, while two motorists died when their vehicles hit a train. One motorist died when his vehicle hit a deer. Two of the fatalities were rollovers, two others involved rear-end collisions, and one involved a vehicle being sideswiped.

Mason said 18 of the 73 (25 percent) fatal crashes involved DUI, resulting in 19 deaths. Eleven drivers killed were DUI, while other controlled substances were detected on another victim.

Six people were killed by someone else who was DUI, and one pedestrian who died had alcohol in his or her system.

In Northumberland County, there were 11 people killed on state roads and two on municipal roads. One of the deaths was DUI-related.

Lycoming County had the most fatalities with 19, with 18 occurring on state roads and seven being DUI-related.

Mason said 66 people were killed in passenger vehicles, with 32 of the victims (48 percent) not wearing seat belts. Twenty-seven of the victims were wearing seat belts. It couldn’t be determined if the remaining seven victims were wearing seat belts.

Twelve people were killed in non-passenger vehicles. Six of the victims were killed on motorcycles, with five wearing helmets. Four people killed were pedestrians and two of the victims were killed on all-terrain vehicles, neither of which was wearing a helmet.

During the past five years, Mason said the district average for fatalities was 81, with the lowest being 66 in 2009 and the highest being 105 in 2010. For more on today’s article and more on the series of articles go to the Shamokin News Item website at the folliwing link:

http://newsitem.com/news/78-killed-in-highway-crashes-in-nine-county-region-in-2011-1.1300633#axzz1sCdpwekO

The Pennsylvania car accident attorneys with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers can answer any questions you may have if you are injured or sustain a loss in a car accident in Harrisburg, North-Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth.

Apr

Maximize Driving Safety By Maximizing Your Health

April 9, 2012 – Driving safe can start right by staying healthy. Here are some tips to stay healthy and maximize your driving ability.

1. Regular check-ups.
2. Have your eyes checked regularly, as you get older probably every year.
3. Have your hearing checked more often as you age.
4. Speak to your doctor about how any ailments may impact your driving ability.
5. Sleep well.

Do you have any other health tips?

The Pennsylvania car accident attorneys with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers can answer any questions you may have if you are injured in a car accident in Harrisburg, North Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth, especially if you or a loved one have been seriously injured due to negligence or recklessness of a person driving a car.

Apr

Brachial Plexus Injury Medical Malpractice Crippler of Children

Permanent severe crippling damage to the nerves in a infant’s shoulder known as Brachial Plexus injury is a totally avoidable injury which is caused by medical malpractice. The Brachial Plexus is a bundle of nerves in each shoulder which control the movements and other functions in each arm. The Brachial Plexus injury occurs when the baby’s shoulder’s are to large too pass through the narrowest part of the mother’s pelvis during the last stage of delivery. As a result the baby’s head will get into the birth canal but the shoulders get stuck. This should be anticipated by the doctor before delivery by comparing the baby’s shoulder width to the mother’s pelvic dimensions. More importantly even if the shoulders do get stuck during delivery, a condition called Shoulder Dystocia, there are tried and true methods to free the baby’s shoulders and complete delivery without causing any harm to he baby. The doctor can use his fingers to push the shoulder together, or he can free up one arm and “corkscrew” the baby out by rotating one shoulder under the pubic bone, than continuing to rotate allowing the second shoulder to pass under the pelvic bone. The one think the doctor cannot do is pull on the babies head or turn its head, If that is done all of the nerves in the neck get stretched and broken. The baby, at its first moment of life loses the use of one his arms, which can also shrink and make the child look “freakish” to his family and peers.

Recently the Appellate Court of the State of New York in the case of Muhammad v. Fitzpatrick, 91 A.D.3rd 1353, 937 N.Y.S. 519 (2012) specifically held that there is not credible medical explanation a Brachial plexus injury can ever occur if the doctor uses accepted methods for correcting the Shoulder Dystocia. The trial Court in Muhammad called the defendant doctor’s claim that the nerves can be damaged by just the birth process, even where the proper maneuvers are used “Junk science” unsupported by any recognized and generally accepted medical evidence.e

Schmidt Kramer is familiar with the medicine and the law. If a member your family or anyone you know has suffered paralysis of the arm, Erb’s palsy, or any loss of use of the hand or arm at the time of birth,contact us immediately The statue of limitations for cases of this type is until the child’s 20th birthday. You may still have the right to recover for this devistating and avoidable medical error.

Apr

Federal Inspection: Central Pennsylvania Hospital Put Patients “At Risk”

April 5, 2012 – WNEP in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is reporting on an Action 16 Investigation into a troubled hospital in Schuylkill County which continues.

The station has obtained a copy of a federal inspection that appears to show workers at St. Catherine Medical Center were cheated, and patients may have been put at risk!

On March 23, 2012 a Division of the US department of Health and Human Services conducted a surprise inspection of the hospital near Ashland.

Its conclusion: that there is, “Immediate jeopardy to the health and safety of patients.”

There are no patients at St. Catherine, and after state action last week, it cannot take in new patients.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health also forced St. Catherine to shut down its Emergency Room, and end Outpatient Services.

The 51 page summary of that unannounced inspection spells out the reasons why patient safety may have been at risk.

The March inspection found a lack of critical hospital supplies including, “Zero boxes of surgical gloves.” “Zero medicated soap.”

The report claims that in late February, St. Catherine`s Intensive Care Unit was completely out of syringes and needles, and that the “(Emergency Department) Physician indicated the (Emergency Department) was not safe.

Dawn Walsh is a nurse at a nearby medical clinic not associated with St. Catherine’s. She says these shortages worried her friends who did work at St. Catherine, and their ability to protect themselves.

“The people that are coming in, of course are sick,” said Walsh. “You have to have some protection for yourself and for your family.”

The report also found flaws with the way key medical equipment was used at St. Catherine: Equipment that could be vital to a patient`s health and safety.

The inspection claims the hospital failed to do mandatory routine maintenance on time, on equipment like electrocardiograms (EKGs) that measure heart rates, defibrillators used for heart attacks, and ventilators.

The report claims says all of this equipment was in use.

The report cites faulty X-ray equipment.

It quotes a worker saying there was an “uncertainty of x-ray clarity and reliability, and that repairing the machine was not a priority because of the money it would cost.”

The report also digs into St. Catherine`s finances and it shows the facility owes a lot of businesses, a lot of money.

According to the inspection, 76 vendors from food suppliers, to professional companies that sell and maintain equipment claim they were owed a total of $2.3 million dollars.

That debt may be why St. Catherine`s workers may have taken a hit.

According to the federal inspection, from August to December of last year, the hospital stopped paying short-term and long-term disability insurance, 401-k payments, and union dues. In most cases, these items were deducted from workers paychecks.

And during a pay period last month, the report claims the hospital failed to pay federal income tax and social security that were deducted from the paychecks of its workers.

“They (the hospital) had tapped into their 401-k plan, that they had not had insurance. We all need insurance.”

The federal report concludes the hospital will no longer qualify for federal medicare payments unless it fixes the problems mentioned in the report.

Late this afternoon St. Catherine e-mailed a statement from CEO Merlyn Knapp. “We recently received a copy of the US Department of Health report, with which we do not agree. Currently, all options for the future of the hospital are being reviewed, including seeking a buyer. We especially would like to thank our employees and physicians for providing our patients with excellent clinical care and the community for their continued support over the years. ”

Meantime, all but the hospital’s Long-term care unit has been shut down, 150 workers remain laid off. Many are looking for new jobs and filing to receive unemployment benefits. To watch the television report go to the link below:

http://wnep.com/2012/04/04/federal-inspection-local-hospital-put-patients-at-risk/

The Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers at Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers can answer any questions you may have if you or a loved one are injured due to medical malpractice in Harrisburg, North Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth, especially if you or a loved one have been seriously injured by negligence or recklessness.

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Apr

New Pennsylvania Bicycle Safety Law Goes Into Effect Today

April 2, 2012 – As of today, it will no longer be legal for a vehicle in Pennsylvania to speed past a bicyclist just inches away or make a sharp right turn directly in the path of a bicycle rider. A state law that took effect at 12:01 a.m. requires motorists who pass bicyclists to give them at least 4 feet of buffer space. If they cannot do so safely, they must wait to pass. The measure also prohibits the “right hook” turn by a driver — a vehicle making a sudden right turn directly in the path of a cyclist.

The law requires cyclists traveling at below the normal speed of traffic to use the right lane or to stay “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway” except when passing another vehicle or preparing for a left turn. It allows them to move away from the curb to avoid hazards like potholes or debris.

A key section for motorists states: “The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a pedalcycle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left of the pedalcycle within not less than four feet at a careful and prudent reduced speed.” Violations are summary offenses that carry a $25 fine.

The law allows drivers on two-lane roads to cross the center line in overtaking a bicycle if there is no oncoming traffic.

Pennsylvania is the 19th state to enact a law requiring a buffer zone when motor vehicles pass bicyclists.

The Pennsylvania car accident attorneys with Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers can answer any questions you may have if you are injured in a bicycle accident in Harrisburg, North Central Pennsylvania and around the Commonwealth, especially if you or a loved one have been seriously injured while riding a bike due to negligence or recklessness of a person driving a car.

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