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MCFARLAND, GOULD, LYONS, SULLIVAN & HOGAN, P.A.,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Serving the Tampa Bay Area For Over 45 Years
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Injury Law Alert
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Summer 2005
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BEWARE OF LEAD POISONING
Lead is a highly toxic metal that can be found in many products and materials in our homes and businesses. The primary source of lead in the human environment is lead-based paint, but lead can also be found in the dust and soil where lead-based paints have peeled off or have been disturbed, as well as in some types of plumbing materials. Although Congress passed laws prohibiting the manufacture and use of lead-based paint in 1978, many buildings and homes built before this ban still contain significant amounts of lead-based paint.
Lead poisoning occurs when lead is absorbed by the body, primarily through breathing or swallowing airborne lead dust or lead paint chips. Children are particularly susceptible because they play on the floor or ground, and they are constantly putting their fingers or various objects into their mouths. Although lead poisoning occurs gradually, after repeated exposure young children will absorb about 50% of the lead that they ingest. Adults, because of physiological differences, will absorb only about 10%. Obviously, children are at much greater risk from lead poisoning than are adults.
If left untreated, lead poisoning has serious effects on the human body, depending on the length and level of exposure. Low levels of lead poisoning can cause developmental, learning, and behavioral problems, which are especially troublesome for children. High levels of lead poisoning can cause brain damage, mental retardation, anemia, liver and kidney damage, and hearing loss. The most severe cases of lead poisoning can result in brain swelling, convulsions, coma, and even death.
If you are unsure or just need peace of mind, have your home checked for lead by a qualified inspector. When renovating older homes or attempting to remove lead-based paint, hire a trained, experienced contractor who will take necessary precautions and properly clean up the area. Keep children away from areas that you suspect may be contaminated by lead, keep dust down by cleaning with lead-specific products, and wash your hands frequently. Finally, if you suspect that a loved one has suffered a lead-related injury, please call us so we can help you determine your legal rights. Depending on your circumstances, you may have a case against a manufacturer, contractor, landlord, or seller, and you may be entitled to recover money for your injuries.
SYMPTOMS OF LEAD POISONING
Common symptoms of lead poisoning in children are decreased appetite, stomachaches, sleeplessness, learning problems, constipation, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, lowered IQ, and anemia.
Common symptoms of lead poisoning in adults are fatigue, depression, heart failure, abdominal pain, gout, kidney failure, high-blood pressure, wrist or foot weakness, reproductive problems, and anemia.
If you live or work in a home or building constructed prior to 1978 or if you feel you may have been exposed to lead, you should have a simple blood test performed by a medical doctor. If it turns out that you have been exposed to lead, the main treatment for lead poisoning is to stop the exposure, but there are also medications available that will lower the lead levels in the blood.
CONSTRUCTION SITES = CONSTRUCTION INJURIES
Construction is one of the largest industries in the United States, employing over six million people nationwide, and is a vital part of our economy. However, being a construction worker is also one of the most dangerous occupations, with over 8,000 people killed on jobsites every year and thousands more injured.
The reason construction is such a dangerous occupation is obvious: Sites where buildings are under construction can be very dangerous. Although state and federal regulators have passed rules intended to make construction sites safer, there are any number of ways for construction workers to be killed or injured:
* Excavations can cave in;
* Workers can fall off scaffolding and ladders;
* Tools can be used improperly or can fail;
* Cranes can drop loads on workers' heads; and
* Exposure to loud machinery can result in hearing loss.
Unfortunately, suits involving injured construction workers are often more difficult to handle than other kinds of injury cases. An injury or death at a construction site involves the acts of many workers employed by different companies, each of whom is pointing at someone else as the party responsible. The question of liability can turn on whether a party is the property owner, the general contractor, the subcontractor, or someone else. Because of these complexities, it is vital to have a lawyer involved in a construction injury case as early as possible.
A PICTURE IS WORTH . . .
If you are injured in an accident, photograph or videotape your injuries as soon as possible. A graphic picture can be very helpful when talking to an insurance adjustor or a jury.
CASE BY CASE
Deadly Medication Error
Anyone who has ever been sick knows it is very important to get the right medication. But it is equally important to insure that a correctly prescribed medication is administered correctly.
In this case, a nursing home resident suffered from severe arthritis and was prescribed a powerful pain medicine that was given to her through a patch. However, the untrained staff of the nursing home--apparently not realizing how powerful the patches were--did not remove the old patch when applying a new one.
The patient unwittingly overdosed on her pain medicine and died of heart failure. The resident's family argued that the failure to administer the medicine properly was not quality care, and the jury agreed, returning a verdict against the nursing home for $1 million.
AGGRESSIVE DRIVING
As roads become more congested and people's lives become more hectic, aggressive driving and the dangers associated with it increase. Aggressive driving is the combination of unsafe and unlawful driving actions that show a disregard for safety. An aggressive driver is one who operates his or her vehicle in a selfish, bold, or pushy manner, without regard for the rights or safety of others.
Aggressive driving is often triggered by trivial disputes and includes such things as refusing to allow a motorist to pass, obscene gestures, horn-blowing, tailgating, and failure to obey traffic laws. Aggressive driving is different from "road rage." Road rage usually involves a driver breaking a criminal law, such as by shooting a gun at another driver who cut him off. However, aggressive driving can be just as dangerous, to both the aggressive driver and those with whom he shares the road.
Don't be an aggressive driver. Allow yourself extra travel time to arrive at your destination so you do not have to hurry, and remain calm in traffic. The best way to avoid being the target of an aggressive driver is to practice basic traffic courtesy. Think the best of other drivers and assume that if they make a mistake, it is not personal. Avoid conflict if possible (even if you are in the right) and carefully consider the possible consequences before you react.
Call 911 to report unsafe or aggressive drivers. The risks and consequences of aggressive driving are great, and you should take care to be neither a perpetrator nor a victim.
MINIMIZE YOUR RISK OF IDENTITY THEFT
Whether we like it or not, identity thieves are resourceful. Their methods are as varied as the ways in which consumers need to use some form of identification to initiate and complete transactions. It can all be confusing and intimidating, but consumers need not feel helpless against the expanding threat of identity theft. For most of the tactics used by the bad guys, there are countermeasures for consumers. These measures cannot completely insure that a consumer's identity is safe, but the odds of becoming a victim decline with each protective step taken.
The following is a collection of safeguards you can put in place to lower the chances that a stranger will do you harm, even as he adds the insult of pretending to be you.
In the Short Term
* Obtain, review, and insure the accuracy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. These reports have information on where you work and live, your credit accounts, how you pay your bills, and whether you have been sued or arrested or have filed for bankruptcy.
* Use random passwords on your credit card, bank, and telephone accounts rather than birthdays, initials, or other obvious passwords.
* Make sure that the personal information in your home is secure, especially when you have roommates, employ outside workers, or have service and repair work done in your home.
* Look into security procedures for personal information at work. You should be able to find out who can access your information, how your records are kept secure, and what the employer's procedures are for the disposal of records.
Good Habits to Acquire
* Unless you initiated the contact or you know to a certainty with whom you are communicating, do not give out personal information over the telephone, through the mail, or over the Internet. Before sharing information with an organization, use a website or telephone directory to check on its legitimacy.
* Remove your regular mail as promptly as possible from your mailbox before a would-be identity thief beats you to it. For outgoing mail, put it into a collection box rather than leaving it to be picked up from your mailbox. Let the Postal Service hold your mail if you are going to be away.
* Yes, it may sound like overkill at home, but it still makes sense to shred or tear up all those discarded charge receipts and similar papers with personal information. There are people out there more than willing to go through your garbage if it means they get to use your credit cards.
* Travel light, financially speaking. Carry only such identifying information, or credit and debit cards, as you will actually need.
* Stay on top of the timing of your credit card bills. A late or missing bill may be a sign that a thief already has taken over your account.
* Approach promotional contacts with a healthy skepticism. Phony offers are too often successful in getting personal information straight from the victim himself.
* Secure your Social Security number. Keep the card itself in a safe place, not on your person. Ask questions and be satisfied by the answers if any person or business asks for your number. There are some legitimate reasons for giving out your number, but it is not a good enough reason when a business simply wants your number as part of its standard recordkeeping.
Cyber Danger
Computers have their own unique set of threats to the security of your identity, but there is good advice for the wary here, too. Update virus protection software regularly. Do not download files or click on hyperlinks coming from strangers. Use a secure browser and a firewall program, especially if you use a high-speed Internet connection. Avoid storing financial information on a laptop but, if you must, use a strong, random password, do not use an automatic log-in feature, and always log off when you are finished.
THANKS
Thank you for trusting our firm with your legal needs. If you or someone you know has been injured due to somebody else's carelessness, please call us. We want to help.
NATIONAL "DO NOT CALL" REGISTRY
The Federal Trade Commission will register your telephone numbers for a national "do not call" list. This list creates a central, national registry of telephone numbers whose owners do not want to receive calls from telemarketers.
Registration is easy. You may either call the FTC at 1-888-382-1222 or visit its website at www.ftc.gov/donotcall. You can register up to three personal telephone numbers (including cell-phone numbers but not including business numbers) at one time, and the numbers stay registered for five years. The day after you register, the numbers are made available to telemarketers, who then have 90 days to remove your numbers from their call list.
Not all people who might call you are affected by this list. For example, political organizations, charities, and pollsters are all exempt from complying with the "do not call" list. Additionally, companies from which you have bought goods or services within the past 18 months may call you and try to sell you something else, unless you ask them to stop.
Enforcement of these no-call provisions will be done by the FTC. If you receive a call from a telemarketer more than 90 days after you have registered your telephone number, get either the name of the company or its telephone number and note the date of the call. With this information, you can file a complaint with the FTC, either by telephone or through its website. Companies that call restricted numbers can be fined by the FTC up to $11,000 per call for violations.
Finally, we can eat dinner in peace.