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The bay region’s highways are increasingly more crowded with motorists, and the dangers increase along with them. The more motorist crammed on the roads, the bigger the risk of an accident. More and more, cyclists and pedestrians are traveling the roads along with motorists and facing the same risks. Newly released data from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission showed the number of fatal automobile, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian crashes in the Bay Area jumped 43% from 2010 to 2016.

Researchers usually point to two major factors as a cause for this uptick. More drivers and longer commutes. The sharp rise in population and the increasingly long and mind-numbing commutes account for only a portion of the increase. There was a total of 455 fatal crashes in the area in 2016. Compare this statistic with 318 in 2010. Five out of the six years showed increases in the death toll. This followed four previous years of decline. But 2016 was not the highest point. In 2003, there were 509 fatal crashes. The highest number in the 16-year span studied. Experts have some other theories for the rise including distracted driving and a slow-down in advancements in safety features like seatbelts, anti-lock brakes, and shatter-proof windshields.

Ultimately, the real problem is simply human error. Data analysts have pointed out three major factors that continually top the charts of accident causes: unsafe turns, DUI, and speeding. Unsafe driver behavior is the cause of most vehicle accidents on the bay area roads. It isn’t only the Bay Area, either. There has been a steady uptick in deadly car wrecks all across the United States since the Great Recession, which officially ended in 2009. Between 2010 and 2016, deadly accidents rose 33% in California.

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Which common healthcare mistakes are behind the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits?

A medical malpractice case can arise from any situation where a patient is harmed. Be that from a doctor, nurse, specialist, or any situation which does not provide proper healthcare treatment. Great care and caution go into making sure healthcare professionals make no mistakes and thankfully, only a small number of cases occur each year. Within that number of cases that occur each year, a few errors show up more often than all the others. One thing people are often misguided about concerning medical malpractice is that just because a mistake was made, or a patient is unhappy with the outcome of a course of treatment does not imply malpractice has occurred. To be a case of medical malpractice, a healthcare professional must have acted below the standard of care.

The most frequent medical mistakes that lead to malpractice cases are delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis, childbirth injuries, medication errors, surgery errors, and anesthesia errors. These types of errors happen over and over in healthcare facilities all over the country. Often, they are preventable. When one of these accidents is caused by a provider’s negligence, they can be sued for medical malpractice.

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Today, I would like to speak to you about how details are important when it comes to the practice of law. Sometimes, all it takes is one tiny little thing that can change the outcome of an entire claim.

For those who don’t know, an Oxford comma is what we also refer to as the serial comma. It is a stylistic recommendation that a comma should be used before coordinate conjunctions (usually and or or) in a series of three or more terms. This advocation exists to try and avoid ambiguity. But the world of writing seems to keep fighting a constant battle on whether this comma should be taken as a mere recommendation or something more.

The latest story comes from Maine, where a local dairy product company is facing a lawsuit for over $10 Million due in overtime hours to truck drivers, and at the heart of the dispute is the lack of this comma in a state law. In essence, the clause states that the following tasks are not eligible for overtime:

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California is in the forefront of the self-driving car movement. Only a few U.S. cities have these little modern wonders tooling around their streets and it will take more than the recent accident to keep them off the roads despite being suspended for a few days.

An Uber self-driving Volvo moving around Tempe, Arizona was involved in a three-vehicle wreck in March of 2017 when a driver made a left turn without being able to clearly see all lanes of oncoming traffic. The Uber approached her in the one lane she could not see and the driver crashed into it. The driver, Alexandra Cole, cited that she saw the Uber coming too late to break and struck it, sending it into a light pole, bumping into two other cars and landing on its side. The Uber was in autonomous mode but did carry two Uber employees. The company has estimated the Uber’s speed was approximately 38 mph in a 40 mph zone. No one was hurt in the accident. Uber has been operating self-driving cars in the Tempe area since December of 2016 although they have been developing the technology for a shorter time than other companies.

In response to the accident, Uber shut down its self-driving car services in Tempe, Pittsburgh and San Francisco for the whole weekend. They reopened Monday after Uber execs investigated the wreck to make sure the car was in proper working order when it was hit. The accident was determined to be Cole’s fault and she was cited.

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When clients come to a personal injury lawyer, they expect to be treated fairly and trust in their attorney to handle the case with care and dignity. For most people, it’s usually safe to assume that when someone tells you that he or she is an attorney, you can trust them. That, however, is exactly what led to trouble in California.

accident-lawyer-in-sacramentoOliver Ortega, a Guatemalan immigrant, learned this lesson the hard way five years ago. Ortega sought out a personal injury lawyer to aid him in his legal battle with a former employer who he was planning to sue for a wage claim. That’s when Ortega met Jesus Lozano, and his troubles really began.

On the surface, Lozano seemed to be a qualified, respected personal injury attorney. On his business card, he stated that he offered a wide range of different legal services. According to Ortega, Lozano had two complete sets of the California Penal Code on his bookshelves. So to get his case stated, Ortega paid Lozano $400 and was promised that he would begin working.

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The Amtrak passenger train crash of September 2008 was devastating for crash victims and their families. Emergency vehicles that were the first on the scene described at as both despairing and devastating, and victims of that crash are still recovering and fighting lawsuits to this day.

Their next challenge will be up against damage caps. According to Congress, there will be a limit on the total amount of damages that can be paid to passengers. The limit is $200 million, which may seem like a lot, but victims of that horrific crash don’t agree. So far, that number has not come close to compensating the number of people who were injured in that wreck.

The crash itself was one of the worst in the state of California. On September 12, 2008, an Amtrak train was heading north of the downtown area of Los Angeles when the driver, who was texting at the time, ran a red light. By running the light, the passenger train ran directly into a Union Pacific freight train. The collision resulted in 25 death and another 100 injured passengers. To this day, this wreck was one of the worst in U.S. history.

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After years of trying to fix the healthcare system with the Californian prisons, it seems that things may finally be looking up, at least for state prisons. According to reports from “PolitiCal,” a section of the Los Angeles Times, contract prisons, which are known for taking on the overflow of inmates, have not seen the same improvements in the healthcare system just yet. J. Clark Kelso, the federal receiver who was appointed by the courts, has filed his most recent report, and though they show some optimism, it’s clear that there’s a long way to go.

The problems of the prison healthcare system first came to light back in 2006. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson insisted that prison healthcare reform was greatly needed after it was officially determined that one inmate per week was dying because of medical malpractice. Henderson put together a comprehensive plan that would work towards ending these oversights, pointing out improvements that had occurred over nine years.

Kelso also concluded that improvements had been made. For example, the state had doubled the annual budget for prison health, and the population of prisons has decreased by about 40,000 inmates. His report also showed that the prisons had a solid medical staff on hand, and the processes that led to patients being diagnosed and treated were running smoothly. The prisons had also instated a process that would catch oversights in the prison healthcare system especially when inmates received poor care,

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Almost every person who works a 9-5 job or similar craves the thrill of a Saturday night. Whether you’re going out with friends to a restaurant or night club or hanging out at home with your pet and spouse, Saturday night is usually one of enjoyment, rest, and relaxation. For most people at least.

sonoma car accident lawyerOn Saturday June 8, 2015, one group of motorists did not get to enjoy their Saturday nights as much as they would have liked to. A major car crash on Arnold Drive, located just southwest of Sonoma, California, resulted in two people going to the hospital and one going to jail at the Sonoma County Jail. The California Highway Patrol responded to the incident and reported on what happened.

Just before 8:30 p.m. on that Saturday night, Eladio R. Castro Naal, a 22-year-old resident of Petaluma, drove a 2000 Dodge Neon along Arnold Drive heading north. The vehicle was said to be weaving erratically back and forth, and witnesses suspected that the driver was drunk. As the Dodge came close to the intersection at Orange, close to where Brocco’s Old Barn is located, it continued to swerve.

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The latest story from a San Diego-area health center has patients all over California worried about their privacy when they visit hospitals and clinics. The state medical board investigators turned over detailed court documents on October 23, 2014, revealing their findings regarding a volunteer doctor who they suspect has snapped over 1,300 sexually explicit photos of female patients with his camera phone.

It’s a bad day for privacy, that’s for sure.

California-Doctor-Took-Nude-Patient-PhotosThe doctor, endocrinologist Jeffrey J. Abrams, is now suspended from that clinic, but at the time of this writing, he still holds his state medical license and hasn’t been arrested.

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An Arroyo Grande nursing home, Casa Rosa Elder Care, is being sued after a 91 year old patient, Claire Trubo, fell and called for help for nearly three hours as she lay battered, bruised and bleeding, before the nursing home attendant woke from a nap and came to her assistance. The suit claims the nursing home is understaffed due to their placing money above patient care in their priority list.

Arroyo Grande-California-Nursing-Home-SuedThe trouble started in October of 2013 when Ms. Trubo was first admitted to the elder care facility. The staff was made aware at that time of the patients need to be assisted to and from the bathroom. In an instance prior to the fall, the nursing home neglect lawsuit cites she was escorted to the bathroom, only to be left for over 20 minutes before being escorted back. When she brought the matter to the attention of authority, she was told to use the bathroom, i.e. defecate and urinate, in her bed and wait to be cleaned up.  Administration was involved at that point and Ms. Rosa’s family was assured the behavior was unacceptable and would not happen again.

On a separate occasion, two days later, Ms. Trubo rang her buzzer but received no assistance. She waited an additional 20 minutes before walking to the bathroom alone, making it without incident. She used the bathroom and then pulled the assistance chain next to the toilet. Again, she waited 20 minutes without assistance or recognition. She attempted to walk back to her bed without assistance when she fell. With no handrail to grasp and too far from the assistance chain, she yelled for assistance. It was three hours before assistance arrived.

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