New York Personal Injury Laws

Causation of Peripheral Neuropathy

Antibiotics. They are among the most important discoveries of the twentieth century. They have saved millions of lives, but the rampant over-prescription of certain antibiotics is leaving many patients disabled for months, even years with an affliction called peripheral neuropathy (learn details at neuropathyreliefguide.com/nerve-renew-review/). These antibiotics are fluoroquinolones. They include drugs like Avelox, Cipro, and Levaquin, some of the most powerful medications on the market.

Many professionals consider quinolones the last line of defense against major infections. However, instead of being reserved for serious or life-threatening bacterial infections, such as hospital-acquired pneumonia, these antibiotics are frequently prescribed for lesser problems like sinus infections, bronchitis, ear infections, and other ailments that can be treated with less potent drugs.

Doctor David Flockheart Research

Doctor David Flockheart, a leading fluoroquinolone expert at the Indiana University School of Medicine explains, “You don’t use these big guns for killing mosquitoes. You should use them appropriately for big infections. A few doses can leave the patient disabled with peripheral neuropathy for months, even years.” One young woman shared, “I was prescribed Levaquin for a sinus infection. On the fifth day I couldn’t get out of bed. I was 16. I wanted to be an animation artist. I couldn’t even pick up a pencil. I ended up in a wheelchair for six-and-a-half years.”

Peripheral neuropathy happens with the nerves that carry information from the brain to the central nervous system are damaged resulting in weakness, numbness, lack of coordination, sharp burning or stabbing pain, and many other side effects.

Doctor Jay Cohen Research

Researcher, Doctor Jay Cohen, said in 2001 that the side effects are, “devastating.” He went on to say, “Many of the people in my study were healthy before their reactions. Some were high-intensity athletes. Suddenly, they were disabled, in terrible pain, unable to work, walk, or sleep.” But it wasn’t until 2013 did the FDA require drug makers to list peripheral neuropathy as a side effect. This came 12 years after the connection had already been made. To make matters worse, studies have shown that as many as 40% of prescriptions for these antibiotics are unnecessary.

Have the Risks of Antibiotics Affected You or Loved Ones?

Share this video with your friends and family to raise awareness. While fluoroquinolones play an important medical role, everyone should be made aware of the risks associated with them. One victim shared, “I used to love to dance. Now I can hardly make it through one song on the dance floor.” Share this video to protect your loved ones so they can dance if they want to.

If you believe you or a loved one has suffered peripheral neuropathy as a result of Avelox, Cipro, or Levaquin call and speak with a legal representative immediately. The manufacturers of these drugs may be required to compensate victims, and it won’t cost you a dime to find out if you qualify. Call today at 888-LAW-8500. That’s 888-529-8500 or visit us online at lawyersusa.com/antibiotics.

By: Steven Gacovino

Carpenters Exposed to Asbestos

You’re a carpenter, you’ve been exposed to asbestos and now you have mesothelioma. You’re trying to figure out what caused your mesothelioma. Hi, I’m Joe Williams and I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney and I can answer your questions about how carpenters who are exposed to asbestos. Now as a carpenter you worked with many things on large commercial job sites and also smaller residential job sites. But what we know about carpenters is they’re exposed to everything on those jobs. So a carpenter might be installing some cabinetry, might be working on some woodworking in one section of a room while another trade is putting up sheet rock and using asbestos containing joint compound. A carpenter might be doing some mill work in one portion of a room while another trade is starting the installation of asbestos containing floor tile 10 or 15 feet away. All of these are real exposures to asbestos dust for both the carpenter as a by stander and the floor tile mechanic or the dry wall taper who’s working with that asbestos containing joint compound. In addition, many carpenters over the years have told me that they also did these other types of construction work that put up walls with sheet rock and asbestos containing joint compound. That they installed asbestos containing ceiling tiles and drop ceiling. That they worked with asbestos containing floor tiles themselves. That that was all part of the work that they did as a carpenter. As a carpenter it’s not just the work that you did it’s certainly the work you did as well as the work that others did around you. All of this work created asbestos dust from working with various asbestos products which you breathe and that is one for the reasons why you have mesothelioma. I’m sure you have many more questions about mesothelioma and we can answer your questions. I’m Joe Williams, we represent victims of mesothelioma everyday. I invite you to call my office at the number below and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Protecting Your Rights

When you’re injured on the railroad, the railroad will do everything they can to minimize your wage loss claim. They’ll try to interfere with your medical treatment. They’ll harass you. They may fail to offer you overtime you’re entitled to receive under the contract. They can penalize you in many different ways but the Federal Railroad Safety Act says they can’t do that to you as an interstate railroad employee. You can file a claim with OSHA and if OSHA doesn’t decide the claim within seven months, you can bring a lawsuit in the federal district court. At the Maurer Law Firm, we know how to protect your rights under the Federal Railroad Safety Act.

Cases Involving Transvaginal Mesh

When you go to a doctor, you usually assume the solutions they recommend won’t hurt you, and if there are risks you expect them to tell you so. But no matter how well-intentioned medical professionals are, the safety of their recommendations depends on the source of their information. Consider cases involving the transvaginal mesh patch.

When this medical implant came on the market it was celebrated as a solution to pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence in women. As with all such products, much of the marketing targeted doctors. Manufacturers showed the research they conducted and recommended this new device as a quality solution for the doctors’ patients. Doctors studied the information they were given and did their best to understand the risks and benefits, but when a device is first put on the market little is actually known about it. Going off of what information they’ve been given, doctors concluded whether they believe this product would be good for their patients.

What Manufactures Do Not Tell Consumers

Manufacturers of such products are expected to disclose the related risks, but sometimes manufacturers haven’t conducted enough research to know all the risks and other times they simply hide some of what they do know leaving doctors and patients with only part of the story. The transvaginal mesh patch turned out to be a product with many problems. Six women have already taken these companies to court and the juries have found in favor of the women.

In fact, juries have been so disgusted that they have ordered these big corporations to pay penalties. Because of this implant women have suffered the following problems: mesh erosion; when the mesh erodes and protrudes through the vaginal wall, organ perforation; when the mesh erodes and cuts other organs such as the bladder, extreme pain, POP or SCOI recurrence, urinary problems, scarring of the vagina, infection, bleeding, nerve damage, and pain associated with sex. Many women have undergone multiple surgeries, sometimes more than a dozen follow-up surgeries because of the pain and damage caused by the implants.

Endo & Ethicon Litigation

One manufacturer, Endo, has already begun the settlement process with many thousands of patients. Another manufacturer, Ethicon, has already settled a case of their own. All cases like this have a limited timeline for filing complaints so victims can be compensated. We don’t know the exact timeline, but with Endo wrapping things up with victims of their implant we can only recommend that you move quickly to ensure that your case is positioned for the best possible result. We know this is a personal topic and can be difficult to talk about.

If you’ve been injured by the transvaginal mesh patch, we invite you to call us. Our team is here for you. We do care about you and we want to help you determine whether you can be compensated for your losses, and you don’t need to worry about any fees. If we take a case on your behalf we will only get paid if and when you do. Call today for a free consultation at 888-LAW-8500. That’s 888-529-8500.

By: Steven Gacovino

 Car Accident Attorney

When you’re in a car accident, there are many parties involved sometimes. There is the insurance company to deal with, the police department, your doctors. You need to have an experienced lawyer to help you work through your case who has your best interests in mind. Hire the Moore Law Firm. We have the experience and the resources to guide you through the process, and enable you to have piece of mind.

Mesothelioma Diagnosis

How is mesothelioma diagnosed? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City and I can tell you that there’s generally two ways that physicians – doctors – diagnose mesothelioma.

Clinical Diagnosis

The first way of diagnosing mesothelioma is a clinical diagnosis. That means that a doctor is evaluating a patient’s presenting symptoms to draw a picture as to what this patient could be suffering from. So the things that are evaluated are things like shortness of breath. Often with mesothelioma victims fluid builds up – it’s called a pleural effusion – but it’s basically just a build up of fluid between the bony rib cage and the lungs and when the fluid builds up it pushes on both the ribs and the lungs. The ribs don’t move, they’re made of bone, so it pushes in and impacts the lungs, makes it harder for the patient to breathe. Shortness of breath is a known symptom of mesothelioma. General fatigue and weakness, weight loss – substantial weight loss, unexplained, in a short period of time – is another factor, another symptom that physicians will use to clinically diagnose or be suspicious of mesothelioma.

Definitive Diagnosis

For mesothelioma victims, the definitive diagnosis comes in the form of a biopsy, and for pleural mesothelioma it’s a biopsy of the pleura. The pleura is the lining on the outside of the lung sometimes referred to as a saran wrap like substance that lines the exterior – the outside – of the lung and doctors will take a biopsy of that surface to determine if a patient has mesothelioma. And how is that biopsy taken? Well, it’s usually taken through a surgical technique and I’d say the most common one would be a video-assisted thoracostomy sometimes known as a vat, V-A-T, a video-assisted thoracostomy. The doctors go in with several instruments, one of which has a camera on it, and the surgeon – the doctor – can visualize the area in the chest where the mesothelioma could be, and with other instruments – and again this is a minimally invasive technique – the physicians can take a biopsy, a piece of flesh.

That biopsy material is then taken and sent to a pathology lab within the hospital. And the pathologist, they’re a specialized doctor who deals with diagnosing disease from looking at a slide. The flesh is put onto a slide and for mesothelioma victims the slides are often stained in certain ways so that different cell types can be visualized when the pathologist looks under a microscope at the slide. That pathologist then writes out a report – it’s called a pathology report – and the pathology report is a very important piece of paper that becomes part of that patient’s medical case because it definitively diagnoses their disease, and it becomes a very important part of their legal case because it definitively diagnoses them as having been a victim of pleural mesothelioma.

I’m sure you have many other questions about how mesothelioma is diagnosed. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm we handle cases every day for mesothelioma victims. This is what we do every day and we can answer your questions. I encourage you to call our office at the number below and we’d be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

Iron Workers Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

You worked as an iron worker, and you’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you’re asking yourself, “How did I get this disease?” Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I want to talk to you about the types of exposures that iron workers had to asbestos. In order to do that, I want to talk to you about a former client of mine who was a union iron worker. He dealt with structural steel which he installed and worked on, which was also being sprayed with asbestos containing fire proofing spray. Now, he would be on one area of a floor while the sprayers were following his working and spraying the structural steel with fire proofing. That entailed mixing the dry fire proofing product with water, putting it into a gun, and the fire proof sprayers would spray the I-beams and the structural steel with this asbestos containing substance. While that was being sprayed onto the I-beams and into the air, my client was in the work space breathing in any asbestos dust created by that. In addition, after the fire proofing spray dried, and the ceiling had to be put in, hangers had to be attached – metal hangers had to be attached to the structural steel so that the drop ceiling could be installed. In order to do that, the fire proofing spray had to be scraped off of the structural steel. It was dry by that point, and the scraping of the fire proofing which contained asbestos caused dust in the air which the iron workers breathed – including my client. He also worked doing some ornamental iron work, and that meant that he was present at job sites when the job was more in the finishing process; when the internal walls were being put up, when the floors were being put in, because he would be putting in such things as railings and other steel fixtures, in perhaps tenant spaces or common areas. He was exposed to the work of other trades men who worked with joint compound or floor tile or ceiling tiles. Things that contained asbestos, and working with those products caused dust in the air that all the workers on the job site would breathe in. All of them being susceptible to later being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Now, decades later, years and years after his work with asbestos and work around asbestos, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His doctors, after taking an occupational history, told him that his exposures to asbestos back on the work sites was the cause of his mesothelioma diagnosis. Now, I am telling you all this because you have questions about mesothelioma and about the types of exposures to asbestos that cause mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams, and at our office we deal with these issues every day. We represent victims of mesothelioma and their families as they pursue justice for exposures to asbestos. If you have questions, contact our office. We’ll answer your questions. Thanks for listening.

How Do Trucking Accidents Happen

Trucking accidents are typically a result of negligent driving, manufacturing defects, or improper maintenance of a truck. Injury form truck accidents can be catastrophic and sometimes deadly. You need an attorney that knows the rules and manufacturing standards when it comes to the trucking industry to ensure that you collect the damages you’re entitled to.

Being seriously injured in a trucking accident can be a very overwhelming process. Contact me

Asbestos Exposure in Nassau County

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you worked in Nassau County, New York, and you’re wondering, “How did I get this disease?”. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney here in New York, and I can give you some information about asbestos exposures in Nassau County. We know that in Nassau County, LILCO – now it’s known as National Grid – had a powerhouse in Roslyn. We know that at these types of powerhouses, asbestos components were used by the workers during the construction of the powerhouse, and also during the repair and renovation work that’s done on an ongoing basis at a powerhouse like the one that existed in Roslyn, New York. We also know that in Nassau County, the population moved eastward from the city and the boroughs into Nassau and Suffolk Counties. And as that happened, there was a housing boom, and homes – residential homes – apartment buildings were built by union tradesmen, by workers, building Nassau County with their hands. When they did that, they used all manner of building materials, many of which, contained asbestos. The joint compound and sheetrock used to build walls in houses, the floor tile on the floors, the roofs of these homes, and other components as well, exposed these workers to asbestos dust.

Now, you have questions about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we help mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give us a call and we’ll answer your questions. Thanks.