In Carter v. Reese, a truck driver was pulling this semi tractor-trailer into a loading dock at a contractor’s location.  He was supposed to drop off his empty trailer and pick up a new trailer.  He had attached the new trailer to his truck and was then trying to jump onto the loading dock so he could close the door on the trailer.  He could not do this until he pulled the truck way from the loading dock, as the door was open and the trailer was flush to the distribution center.

wheelchair5When he was trying to get on the loading dock to close the trailer door, he slipped and his leg fell between the trailer and the loading dock.  He was not in any pain, according to his testimony, but he was trapped between the truck and the loading dock, and he began to bang on the trailer and yell for help.  It took about ten minutes for someone to hear him. Continue reading

Benda v. Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, a case from the Supreme Court of Utah, involves a 14-year-old student who was injured while working as part of the set crew on a play performed by the school’s drama department. The drama teacher told the student to climb a lift so that a light bulb could be changed.

machine-1517155Once the student was in the lift, the teacher raised to into position, which was about 30 feet in the air. After the first bulb was changed, the teacher instructed other students on the ground to move the lift so the student on top could change another light bulb. At this point, the lift fell over and the student suffered serious and life-threatening injuries as a result of the fall from a serious height. Continue reading

No matter how well the visit to a prospective daycare facility goes, or how well trained the staff members seem to be, there is still some degree of anxiety experienced by most parents when they drop their child those first few times.

266401_taking_a_strollAccording to a recent news feature from NBC, a mother is questioning how her 2-year-old child was injured after an alleged fall accident at his daycare facility.  She is claiming that her child suffered a serous personal injury to his mouth as a result as result of this fall.
Continue reading

Burns are among the most serious types of personal injury a person can experience.  There are various reasons for this.  One reason is that burns are often extremely painful, but they can destroy skin, tissue and even bone.  They can leave scarring and cause permanent disfigurement.

fuego-1178889-300x225Aside from the pain and scarring, when a person has extensive damage or loss of skin, he or she is at significant risk of developing a serious infection, because the skin is the body’s best mechanism to keep germs out. Continue reading

While it may seem strange to think of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as being mild, neurologists routinely distinguish between the different degrees of brain damage a person can experience.  One of the reasons doctors are now doing this is because they know a lot more about the human brain and how it is affected by injury that in years past.  There are a few major reasons for this newly acquired knowledge about the human brain.

457973__1One of the reasons is that technology allows better scans and imaging than ever before, so doctors are able to see more of how the human brain functions by using this equipment.  A second reason is that there are a lot more studies being done on sports-related head injuries than ever before.  Whether we are talking about traditional concussions or the more nuanced form of brain injury discussed in the recent movie starring Will Smith, the problem is given more attention these days. Continue reading

It seems like people are more interested in doing outdoor adventure type activities these days than they have been in recent decades. One of the more popular activities that allows people to get outside, see some beautiful scenery and get some exercise at the same time is hiking.   While some people will just go for local hikes, others will travel to famous recreation areas to engage in more challenging hikes.

stump-1538702According to a recent news feature from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a man was just killed after falling while hiking at Red Rock Canyon.  He is said to have fallen off the trail when he was more than 160 off the ground.  He was 31 years old at the time of his death.  As soon as he fell of the cliff, search and rescue workers were called to the scene, but there was nothing they could after he fell around 16 stories, but they were able to locate his body using the assistance of a police helicopter, and his body was in fact recovered.   The police do not suspect foul play was involved as of this time, but they are conducting a full investigation to see if they can determine why he fell off the elevated hiking trial. Continue reading

While many people still think of zip line riding as a dangerous activity best left for spies in the movies, it has become a fairly common sport.  These days, many state parks and other recreation centers feature zip line courses, with a single private company overseeing operations.  They are supposed to be safe so that while it appears to be quite a thrill, one should not get hurt while using a zip line.  The manner in which they are made safe is through the use of redundant safety harnesses and safety straps designed to prevent a rider from falling and being injured.

zip-line-1563291However, according to a recent news feature from ABC News, things do not always go as planned, as evidenced by the death of a 59-year-old woman using the zip line attraction at a state park in Delaware.   Authorities say the woman was standing on a zip line platform while waiting to start her decent.  She was about 35 feet high when she fell off the platform and died as result of the tremendous impact. Continue reading

For several decades, healthcare providers and patient educators have recommended putting ice on an injury as soon as possible. The acronym RICE is commonly used, as it stands for “Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.”  A medical doctor created RICE as a term in 1978, and everyone else just ran with it.  It is now taken as gospel.

ace-bandage-1516314However, a recent news feature from Soccer America takes a new look at RICE and whether it is actually a good practice or a faulty concept. The reason for skepticism is because the body will cause the site of trauma to swell as part of the body’s natural healing process.  This is similar to how a person who gets a fever is experiencing a higher body temperature because that is the body’s natural way of killing germs that cause illness. If you take a fever suppressant, it might make you feel better, but it might actually take the body longer to fight the virus.  However, it should be noted that if a fever is very high, medical intervention might be necessary. Continue reading

When someone is going to subdivide a parcel of real property, often before it can be sold as a build-able lot, the land owner will have to get a survey performed. While surveying has changed a great deal over the past 10 years as we moved from using chains similar to how a First Down in football is marked to sophisticated laser devices, surveying still relies heavily on the use of landmarks.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A landmark can be a natural thing such as large tree, or it can be an item placed in the ground by the surveyor.  The purpose of the survey is to mark off where one property ends and the adjacent one begins and then create a map or survey of that land to record in the records office. This way, there is no question as to where the property line is situated.  One of the common methods for marking these lines is for a surveyor to place a wooden stake in the ground and then put a safety flag on it to make it visible. After the perimeter has been marked, the surveyor will then replace the stake with a piece of metal rebar known as an iron and sink it into the ground so it can be found on a metal detector.  Continue reading

In the last several weeks, there have been numerous reports of severe and even fatal amusement park accidents involving roller coaster riders. Of course, people have been trying to squeeze in their last-minute summer kicks, but they should be able to do so confident in the safety of the rides they board.

rollercoaster-1567480According to a recent news feature from People, this latest incident involved a 3-year-old boy who was riding on an attraction at Idlewild and SplashZone amusement park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.  Authorities say the boy is still in critical condition at a local level-one pediatric trauma hospital and has undergone at least one major surgical procedure and may need additional surgery. Continue reading

Contact Information