The Injury Lawyer Blog

An 18-month-old girl was killed July 29, 2007 when her own father backed over her in front of the family's home. The child wandered out of her home in Ohio and walked behind her father's Chevrolet Suburban as he was backing out of the driveway to go to church. The car struck his daughter, pulling her beneath the sport utility vehicle; she was pronounced dead at a local children's hospital. The man and his family were devout Catholics, and he was on his way to Mass when he ran over his daughter. The child was the youngest of eight in the family.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 2,000 children are treated for injuries suffered when they are struck by a vehicle driving in reverse; two children die each week as a result of these types of car accidents. Most of the victims are between 1-2 years of age. Sadly, the majority of accidents involve a truck or SUV driven by a parent or other close relative.

To avoid this tragic type of car accident, you should:

Walk all the way around your vehicle before driving it
Know where your children are; make sure they're in full view
Explain to children that parked cars might move
Teach children to never play around or behind any vehicle
Always set your emergency brake
Keep toys and bikes off the driveway and away from vehicles
Never leave children alone around cars
Keep keys away from a child's reach
Keep vehicles locked at all times
Never leave children unattended in or around vehicles

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious personal injury or died in a car accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, you should contact an experienced Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer immediately. Please call or email one of our Pennsylvania Auto Accident Attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your personal consultation.

A 24-year-old woman who was taken by ambulance to a Denver area hospital and was then sent to jail for drunk driving bled to death in her jail cell just 20 hours after she was booked. Emily Rae Rice cried for help for hours in the Denver City Jail before she died, but deputies and nurses said she did not appear to be in grave condition. The young woman was booked on February 18, 2006 after a car crash. She was taken to the medical center where she was examined and then released to be taken to jail.

A woman who shared a cell with Rice, Nicole Casada, told investigators that Rice was making strange noises and said that she could not move her legs. Her cries for help were ignored by jail officials, and she bled to death internally 20 hours after she was booked. Her autopsy revealed that she had a ruptured spleen and a lacerated liver.

A nurse at the jail, Kelly Costin, reported that "the patient had no complaints about any injuries and repeated to me that she just did not want to go through the rest of the intake process." Sheriff's Deputy Juliana Barron reported that "Miss Rice was in the process of having her picture taken at the book desk and I recall looking over and seeing her lying on the floor. Nurse Kelly was standing over her and telling her repeatedly to get up and that nothing was wrong, that she was just being dramatic."

The woman's family has filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court seeking damages from the city and count of Denver and Denver Health Medical Center.

If you or a loved one has suffered or die as a result of medical malpractice in Philadelphia or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Pennsylvania Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis.

After having their sliding ripped off by Hurricane Katrina, Russell and Amy Gils' insurance company, Allstate, agreed to replace a portion of the house's siding. However, when the couple later submitted their $16,500 claim, Allstate denied that claim.

The couple has since filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the Allstate Texas Lloyds Company. The Gils claim that when an adjustor inspected the damage in October 2005, he "failed to conduct a proper investigation and inspection and prepared an inadequate estimate for the cost to repair the dwelling and roof of the home."

In February 2006, the Gils received a proposal from Weston Construction to remove and replace the siding with new siding in the amount of $16,500 since the old siding could not be matched. The Gils provided this information to Allstate, and four days later they received a letter from an Allstate adjuster denying their claim to replace all the siding to their home and garage. The suit alleges that Allstate in bad faith misrepresented the replacement cost coverage that plaintiffs had purchased.

To date, Allstate has failed and refused to pay the Gils for the proper repair and replacement of the siding to their garage and home. The couple alleges Allstate is guilty of breach of contract, violating sections of the Texas Insurance Code, violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and breach of good faith and fair dealing.

The Gils are demanding a trial by jury.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of bad faith insurance companies in Denver or anywhere in Colorado, please contact the Insurance Bad Faith Attorneys at Andrew T. Brake, P.C.

A Kentucky woman, Verona Beasley, has filed a lawsuit against 10 defendants claiming her husband died from pancreatic cancer after being exposed to benzene and butadiene. Beasley claims her husband, Donald, was diagnosed with cancer in early 2006 and was told by doctors that his cancer was related to exposure to benzene and butadiene. Donald Beasley was a tire builder at General Tire and Rubber Company in Mayfield, KY for 26 years.

Mrs. Beasley claims that during the course of her husband's employment there, he was exposed to and inhaled, ingested or otherwise absorbed benzene and butadiene, which were designed, manufactured, sold or distributed by the defendants. Those defendants include BP Amoco, Chevron, Continental Tire, Shell Oil and ConocoPhillips.

Benzene is a hydrocarbon that is produced by the burning of natural products, is found in gasoline and other fuels, and is used to make some types of dyes, rubbers, lubricants, drugs, detergents and pesticides.

Butadiene is an industrial chemical used in the production of synthetic rubber.

The suit claims the defendants had a duty to exercise reasonable care and caution for the safety, health and welfare of her husband but failed by including those chemicals in their products even though they would have a toxic and dangerous effect on the health of anyone handling them.

The suit further claims the defendants failed to provide adequate warning and instructions, failed to recommend use of protective equipments, and failed to recall or cease using benzene and butadiene.

Mrs. Beasley claims that her husband's cancer disfigured and disabled him, caused pain and suffering, medical expenses and lost wages. She is seeking damages in excess of $150,000.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to exposure to a toxic substance in Colorado or Wyoming, please visit the website of the experienced Environmental Pollutants Attorneys BurgSimpson Attorneys & Counselors at Law.

On July 21, 2007 a Georgia meat processor expanded its recall of canned meat products that may be connected to a botulism outbreak. Castleberry's Food Company of Augusta, Georgia recalled more than 80 types of canned beef stew, chili, corned beef hash, and other meat products in addition to the ten brands it had recalled the previous Thursday.

Cans of Castleberry's chili sauce were found in the homes of an Indiana couple and two children in Texas who had been hospitalized with botulism; all four are expected to live.

Botulism is a muscle-paralyzing disease caused by the bacterium, Clostridium botulinum, commonly found in soil. The Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service said that an equipment malfunction may have caused the contamination.

The following is a list of all recalled Castleberry's brand name products:

Austex, Best Yet, Big Y, Black Rock, Bloom, Bryan, Bunker Hill, Castleberry's, Cattle Drive, Firefighters, Food Club, Food Lion, Goldstar, Great Value, Kroger, Lowes, Meijer, Morton House, Paramount, Piggly Wiggly, Prudence, Southern Home, Steak N Shake, Thrifty Maid, Triple Bar and Value Time.

The recall also includes four varieties of Natural Balance dog food.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to a defective or recalled product in Jacksonville, please contact the Florida Product Liability Attorneys at Hardesty Tyde Green & Ashton, P.A.

A woman died of a brain aneurysm after a magnetic resonance imaging test (MRI) was done on her brain to find the cause of a severe headache that brought her to a naval hospital in an ambulance. The woman's MRI was not read until five days after the test was taken; the test did confirm that she did have an aneurysm but it was too late. Rosario Caoile, 58, died at her home before the test was even read.

The commanding officer of the hospital, Captain Raquel Bono, apologized to Caoile's husband the day she died, but she offered no explanation to Archibal Caolie, a retired sailor. The couple had been married for 30 years. Mr. Caoile did not want an autopsy to be performed on his wife, but several doctors in the hospital who studied his wife's file agreed she died of a brain aneurysm. The doctors also agreed that the aneurysm was repairable with surgery, and Rosario should be alive today.

The family has sued the hospital and is seeking $17 million in damages; this is not the first lawsuit against Naval Hospital Jacksonville.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Pennysylvania Medical Malpractice Attorneys Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis.

The United States Army is launching a new education program to teach 1 million soldiers how to recognize symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the two signature injuries of the war in Iraq. The program also hopes to erase the stigma of getting treatment for these serious medical/emotional problems.

In late July 2007, the Army will start a program to educate the entire Army within 90 days. Everyone is to receive a one-hour briefing on brain injuries and stress. Teachers will be equipped with videos, slides and list of anticipated questions and answers. The topics will be taught through a "chain teach" program in the which the subject is taught to leaders, who then teach it to soldiers, continuing down through the Army's chain of command.

This program is one of many designed to help the Army and Department of Defense keep up with the injured from the war in Iraq, a war that has gone on longer than expected. The rising number of injured has overwhelmed the system.

The insurgent tactic of using roadside bombs is the top killer in Iraq and also responsible for brain injuries from concussions to severe brain trauma. The long exposure to combat, especially for very long and repeated tours, has caused increasing mental health problems among soldiers.

If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in Philadelphia or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the Pennsylvania Brain Injury Attorneys at Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis.

A Boston man, who lost the use of his arms and legs after being hit by a car while he was crossing a street two years ago, has been awarded over $16 million. The verdict was one of the largest awards by a jury for a personal injury case in Massachusetts this year and was more than double the largest amount awarded by a jury last year for a personal injury case. The victim of the car accident, William Dodge, 42, was a former executive chef and manager for a Boston law firm.

During the 8-day trial, lawyers for Dodge argued that Arda Tezel was speeding when he hit Dodge, who was crossing a crosswalk in April 2005. Dodge's injuries included a fractured spine, which left him a quadriplegic; following the crash, Dodge spent three weeks at Brigham and Women's Hospital and was in rehabilitation all of the following year.

Police officials have filed a criminal complaint against Tezel for speeding and driving to endanger, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued because he has not appeared in court.

According to his lawyers, Dodge now requires assistance to do just about everything in his life, and his medical expenses, so far, are more than three-quarters of a million dollars.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident in Philadelphia anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis LLP.

In mid-July 2007, Boston Scientific Corporation announced it has reached an agreement to pay $195 million to settle claims related to faulty defibrillators and pacemakers manufactured by Guidant, the company it acquired in 2006. Guidant had to recall over 100,000 cardiac-assist devices in 2005 after a defibrillator malfunctioned. The settlement dealt with approximately 4,000 individual claims. Currently, there are still almost 2,000 pending cases.

On June 17, 2005 Guidant Corporation announced the first recall of Guidant defibrillator heart devices based on information that the devices had failed on at least 45 occasions. Guidant extended that recall a week later to cover additional defective defibrillators. One month later, the company warned doctors that a defect in some 28,000 pacemakers still in use by patients may necessitate replacement of the devices. On September 22, 2005, Guidant announced that the Insignia and Nexus devices can experience a sudden loss of pacing.

By January 2006, Guidant faced 145 individual lawsuits involving its defective defibrillator and pacemaker devices and an additional 60 class action lawsuits.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a defective medical device in Maryland, Pennsylvania or Delaware, please call the Medical Device Liability Lawyers at the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos.

The side effect most often associated with the antibiotic drug Ketek is liver failure; however, at least one person has had a different, life-threatening reaction to Ketek. Now people who have taken the drug are investigating the possibility of filing lawsuits against the manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis for the side effect toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

Ketek is an antibiotic that has been under scrutiny for years due to its link to liver failure in patients taking the drug. But now, TEN is a much more serious side effect linked to Ketek. Most recently, a young woman in Canada spent four weeks in a burn unit after taking Ketek for a sinus infection. The woman allegedly had a serious reaction to the drug, which resulted in burn-like blisters all over her body.

The condition was diagnosed as TEN; TEN often leaves patients with permanent scars and other serious health problems. The woman's skin peeled over her entire body, inside her mouth, and she lost her eyelashes. She was treated with intravenous antibiotics to prevent infection, and lotions were applied to keep her skin lubricated.

In the United States, Ketek has been linked to 53 cases of liver damage and four deaths; the FDA reports that Ketek has been linked to nine deaths worldwide.

The FDA voted to keep Ketek on the market to treat mild to moderate pneumonia last year. However, the FDA warned that Ketek should only be used as a secondary alternative to other medications. The FDA panel also recommended that Ketek should have a black box warning about its serious side effects.

Many wonder why Ketek has not been taken off the market yet and point out that there are other drugs available that can treat infections without the risk of liver failure.

If you or a loved one has taken Ketek and suffered serious adverse side effects in Coloroado, Wyoming, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, or Washington DC, please contact the experienced Ketek Attorneys at BurgSimpson, Attorneys & Counselors at Law.

The parents of a severely disabled man who choked to death while eating a hot dog at a day shelter are suing the facility's operator, claiming negligence. Gregory and Betty Jo Payne filed the lawsuit in Kanawha County, West Virginia Circuit Court against Deaf Education and Advocacy Focus, Inc., a non-profit group based in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Craig Payne, the 22-year-old son of the Paynes who had cerebral palsy, died in February 2007 at DEAF's West Sattes Adult Day Treatment Center in Nitro. A worker assigned to Payne that day wasn't trained to work with him and didn't know he couldn't eat solid food, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also alleges that no workers attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver when Payne began choking; no one immediately called for an ambulance either. The plaintiff's attorney, Bill Forbes said the workers' improper training and improper application of protocols caused his clients' son's death.

Under pressure from the state, DEAF closed its West Sattes site and another one of its programs in another county in West Virginia. Eighty disabled adults had to be transferred to other programs.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died as a result of someone else's negligence in Washington DC, Maryland or Virginia, please visit the website of the experienced Wrongful Death Attorneys at Chaikin & Sherman, P.C.

In the month following reports that the Type 2 diabetes drug, Avandia, is associated with serious cardiac risks, reports of cardiovascular side effects have tripled. This is most likely due to doctors being unaware of the drug's possible role in their patients' heart problems. Doctors would not have reported the cardiovascular side effects in their Avandia patients if they had not known about the cardiac risks associated with the drug.

Avandia (generic rosiglitazone) was approved in 1999 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and it is estimated that approximately 6 million people worldwide have taken the drug to treat their diabetes. Avandia is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and is the world's top-selling type 2 diabetes drug. Sales of the drug exceeded $3 billion in 2006.

Since the May 21, 2007 New England Journal of Medicine report about the seriousness of the cardiac risks involved with Avandia, reports of heart problems in Avandia patients have spiked. Before the study was printed, only 5 heart attacks in Avandia patients were reported; since the study was published, 90 heart attacks in Avandia patients have been reported. Heart-related hospitalizations went from 11 prior to the report to 126 following the report.

GlaxoSmithKline executives continue to insist the drug is safe.

New Jersey engineering and construction firm Foster Wheeler Corp. has been ordered to pay $5.2 million to the survivors of an employee who died in 2006 after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer related to asbestos exposure. Richard Walmach was a career naval machinist who died after filing the suit, which claimed the company failed to disclose asbestos risks. Foster Wheeler Corp. is a supplier of boilers, steam generators and other power equipment for the U.S. Navy.

Foster Wheeler has faced many other asbestos-related suits and has paid over $100 million in damages, but this is the first time the company has been ordered to pay punitive damages. Of Walmach's $5.2 million, $2 million was for punitive damages. Walmach worked at the company for 37 years and used jackhammers to remove asbestos-packed insulation from boilers. He also worked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard when asbestos was being removed there in the 1960's.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to mesothelioma, please visit the website of Texas' experienced mesothelioma lawyers Heard Robins Cloud & Lubel, LLP.

A woman in Rockford, Illinois has filed a lawsuit against McDonalds for the way they treated her on November 3rd, 2006.

Dawn Larson was born with Holt-Oram Syndrome, a genetic disorder causing abnormalities in the hands, limbs and heart. Dawn's small hands are only six inches from her shoulders; throughout her life she has done most things with her feet. She is a perfectly normal woman despite this disability, and a working mother. "I do everyday things like everyday people."

On that day in early November, Dawn pulled up to the McDonalds window and ordered food for her and her sons. She paid the cashier at the first window, handing her credit card to the woman using her foot. She then pulled up to get her food. "The first girl said, 'Girl, you ain't got no arms' and the manager said she couldn't hand me her food and she just kept sticking to the fact that I didn't have no arms and she was disgusted by it. I had the right to eat my dinner and feed my kids and they took that away from me." The manager at that particular McDonalds did eventually agree to hand the food over to Dawn's son. Three and a half months later, a different McDonalds would not give her the food because of her disability. "I paid to be discriminated against and I paid to be disrespected and I paid to not even have the right to eat my food." Dawn had officially had enough. She filed a complaint to McDonalds, who only sent her a $10 gift card in return. She is now filing a lawsuit against the entire corporation so that no one else will have to suffer the way she did.

If you or someone you know has suffered from unfair discrimination the way Dawn Larson did, click here to contact a personal injury attorney in your area.

*Picture of Dawn Larson from "The Consumerist".

Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company, currently in the midst of a legal battle fighting criminal and civil charges against them stemming from an alleged drug experiment in Nigeria that resulted in deaths and disabilities in Nigerian children, recently appealed to a Nigerian court to dismiss the civil case against them.

The suit stems from alleged offenses the drug giant committed against nearly 200 Nigerian children when the company administered an experimental antibiotic, Trovan, to the children in 1996. The Nigerian government is alleging that approximately 200 children either died or suffered deformities following trials of the drug to combat an epidemic of meningitis, measles and cholera. Of the 200 children affected, 11 died and 181 have suffered disabilities including deafness, paralysis, blindness, and brain damage.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Trovan for use in adults in 1997, but later it was associated with liver damage and death, prompting the FDA to restrict its use in 1999 to only very serious adult cases. Later that same year, the drug was eventually pulled from the market altogether.

The Nigerian government claims that Pfizer had no authorization or parental consent to carry out the trial in Africa's most populous country; Pfizer still insists they did have full approval for use of the drug on the Nigerian children.

The Nigerian government is seeking $7 billion in damages. The government is seeking $500 million for compensation for the victims and their families; another $450 million is being reserved for the outraged Nigerians who suffered loss due to the drug experiment. The federal government is seeking $5 billion for general damages and $1 billion for health programs for the affected Nigerians. Pfizer vehemently denies the charges against them. On July 30, 2007, a Nigerian judge will issue a ruling.

If you or a loved one has suffered adverse side effects after taking a dangerous drug in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale or anywhere in Florida, please visit the website of the Dangerous Drugs Attorneys at The Glick Law Firm.

For more than two years now, the efficacy of the birth control patch, Ortho-Evra, has been in question after research indicated 23 deaths related to the. About 17 of those deaths appeared to be blood clot related. Dozens more women in their teens and twenties suffered strokes and other blood clot related events.

Due to the many adverse side effects associated with Ortho-Evra, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that changes be made to the patch's label. In November 2005, a new warning stated that women who use the patch are exposed to approximately 60% more total estrogen in their blood than if they were taking a birth control pill containing about 35 micrograms of estrogen. Because the patch had been marketed with claims stating that it was just as safe as the pill, the FDA required the manufacturer, Ortho McNeil Pharmaceuticals, to add another warning about the increased risk of injury due to high levels of estrogen released from the patch.

Smoking cigarettes while wearing the patch increases the risk of serious adverse effects on the heart and blood vessels. This risk increases with age. Simply put, women who take hormonal birth control medication should not smoke.

Ortho-Evra should not be taken by women with a history of:

High blood pressure
Heart attack or stroke
Blood clots in the legs, lungs, or eyes
Diabetes with complications
Chest pain
Blood clots
Cancer
Vaginal bleeding

If you live around the Oklahoma City area or anywhere in Oklahoma, have taken the Ortho-Evra birth control patch and have suffered adverse side effects, please visit the website of the experienced Drug and Pharmaceutical Claims Attorneys at Stipe Injury Law.

The family of a woman who died two weeks after gastric bypass surgery has filed a lawsuit against her doctors and a Houston, Texas hospital. Freda Brantley, 48, was discharged from the hospital after vertical-banded gastroplasty on June 6, 2005. The suit alleges that Ms. Brantley was discharged to go home without the appropriate treatment. She died from kidney failure on June 21, 2005, just fifteen days after the surgery. She had vomited for those two weeks and was malnourished.

The suit seeks unspecified damages against Dr. Nisar Ahmed, Dr. Beryl Harberg and Park Plaza Hospital. Hospital officials who were contacted for comment stated, "While patient privacy laws prohibit us from speaking directly to this case, we will vigorously defend the integrity of our care, quality and services."

In March 2007, the mother of a Houston woman who died one year after undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2004 filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Houston surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzaradan and Houston Community Hospital. Prior to that, an Austin woman died from a heart attack also just two weeks following gastric bypass surgery.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice or negligence, please visit the Personal Injury Lawyer Directory to find an experienced Gastric Bypass Malpractice Attorney in your area.

The family of a five-year-old Chicago boy was awarded $14 million after he suffered a severe brain injury during birth that resulted in him having cerebral palsy. Staff members at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago allegedly mixed up the boy's heart rate with his mother's pulse rate.

The baby boy was not breathing when he was born, and the staff was not prepared to resuscitate him because of the monitoring error. The obstetrician and the nurse both misinterpreted the boy's heart rate before delivery and did not even realize the baby was in fetal distress.

The boy went without oxygen for seven minutes which, in turn, caused him to have cerebral palsy with total paralysis of his arms and legs. A neonatal resuscitation team was not called until the baby was delivered, and as soon as a breathing tube was placed in his airway, his heart rate increased. But it was too late; the damage to the brain had already been done, and the boy will never walk or talk.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury during birth such as cerebral palsy, please visit the website of Chicago, Illinois birth injury attorney Harvey L. Walner & Associates, LTD.

The parents of three children who were thrown out of a ride and injured at the Florida Citrus Festival three years ago have sued the ride's operators. Young siblings Natashia Odom, Kenson Joseph and Nyeshia Odom were on a ride called the Cliff Hanger at the Winter Haven Carnival when the accident occurred in January 2004. The parents of the children, Moniquie and Wilner Joseph, sued W.G. Wade Shows, Inc. seeking damages in excess of $15,000.

The lawsuit states the children were placed into the ride (placed on their stomach inside a cage-like structure), and then the ride began. As the ride spun in the air, the compartment in which the children were lying became dislodged from the ride, and the children were thrown more than 30 feet. The three children crashed on top of a bumper car ride and suffered numerous injuries. Natashia suffered a dislocated shoulder, broken arm and wrist and back pain; Nyeshia had a broken leg and fractured skull; and Kenson broke several teeth and needed stitches in his chin.

The lawsuit alleges that the operator of the Cliff Hanger failed to operate the ride safely and failed to reasonably inspect and maintain the ride. According to Robert H. Jacobs, chief of the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection, a state inspection concluded the carrier separated from the structure because of a combination of design and operational factors. The Bureau is responsible for inspecting rides at temporary events (fairs and carnivals) and permanent amusement parks for structural and operational integrity. The Bureau has statewide responsibility to inspect all amusement rides in the state, except for certain large parks that have more than 1,000 employees and have their own full-time inspectors on staff.

The company that made the Cliff Hanger ride, Dartron Manufacturing, has since developed a program that included installation of new devices on the ride, and the state verified that the company's corrective actions were implemented by the owners and operators of the Cliff Hanger.

If you or a loved one has been injured at a theme park in Orlando or anywhere in Florida, please visit the website of experienced Theme Park Accident Attorneys Wooten, Honeywell, Kimbrough, Gibson, Doherty & Normand, P.A.

Fireworks, though exciting and fun to watch, can also be very dangerous, especially in the hands of untrained users and children. In 2005, approximately 10,800 people were treated in emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries, and 60% of those injuries took place in the in the days surrounding the July 4th holiday.

Fireworks-related injuries most often involve hands and fingers, eyes and the head and face. More than half of all reported fireworks injuries are burns, and burns are the most common injury to all body parts except the eyes. In the eyes, contusions, foreign bodies, and lacerations occur most frequently. These injures are often caused by user error, but many times, defective fireworks cause serious injuries, also.

The time around July 4 is a particularly dangerous time. From June 18, 2005-July 18, 2005, firecrackers, sparklers and bottle rockets accounted for most of those injuries seen in emergency rooms in the United States, and about 45% of those injuries were in children age 14 or younger. Males were injured more than twice as often as females. Also in 2005, four people died as a result of fireworks-related injuries, and 5% of the injuries seen in ER's required hospitalization. Bottle rockets often fly into the user's face, sparkler's can ignite clothing, and firecrackers can injure one's hands or face if they explode at close range. Not surprisingly, people actively participating in fireworks-related activities are more frequently injured and sustain more severe injuries than people just watching a fireworks display.

There are many federal regulations in place regarding the sale and use of fireworks, some states are even prohibited from selling fireworks. However, many different types of fireworks are still accessible to the public. Some fireworks distributors set up shop right at state borders, where residents of states with strict fireworks regulations can take advantage of more lenient state laws. Under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission prohibits the sale of most dangerous types of fireworks and the stuff used to make them. However, despite these efforts, fireworks are acquired by inexperienced and young users, and serious accidents do happen.

To avoid or reduce the chance of injury, do not allow children or untrained users to set of fireworks, even smaller ones such as sparklers, bottle rockets, and firecrackers. Always stand far away from the person setting off the fireworks, and never allow young children to wander off during a fireworks display.

Fireworks can be a fun activity for the whole family if they are used properly by trained professionals. Keep your family safe this holiday week by enjoying fireworks displays at community events hosted by licensed operators.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a fireworks-related accident (or any accident), please visit the website of Denver, Colorado's experienced Accident Lawyer, Andrew T. Brake, P.C.