New York Personal Injury Laws

Railroad Retirement Benefits

If you’re disabled and worked long enough for the railroad, you may be entitled to benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board. Applying for railroad retirement disability benefits can be difficult, long, and drawn out but it doesn’t have to be.

Disability Benefits Law FIrm

At Insler & Hermann, we navigate the process for you. We make it as easy as possible for you and your family. Call us today. The sooner you meet with us, the sooner we can help you receive the benefits you deserve. We don’t get paid unless you win. Be our next success story.

By: Lew Insler

Staten Island Asbestos Exposure

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you worked on Staten Island, and you’re wondering, “How did you get this disease?” Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I could give you some information about how workers were exposed to asbestos on Staten Island. We know that on Staten Island there’s a major Con Edison powerhouse – the Arthur Kill Powerhouse – wherein, electrical power is generated, and steam lines are coded and covered with asbestos, and there’s asbestos products that was used throughout this powerhouse, which exposed the workers – who worked at the powerhouse – to asbestos. At the mouth of Newark Bay, was the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, where large ships were built and repaired. That work involved the use of asbestos products by all the tradesman who worked on those ships.

 Housing Boom Increased Exposure

During the course of the last century, there was a housing boom, and Staten Island was built up to become a very populated borough. In order to do that, homes, apartment buildings, and even government housing projects were built on Staten Island. All of that work was done by tradesmen – the union tradesmen, non-union tradesmen – and it involved the use of asbestos products in the building of all of those residential structures.

Now, you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and I’m sure you have questions about asbestos and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we answer questions from mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give our office a call, and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Medical Malpractice in Sayville

Today on You Be The Judge. With hospitals being administered by fallible human beings, mistakes are inevitable. While hospitals have full disclosure agreements with their patients, you might be surprised to find out what happens after mistakes are made. The Center for Disease Control says tens of millions of people receive hospital services each year.

Examples of Malpractice

Over the decades the hospital industry has evolved and made necessary changes to protect patients. Nevertheless, hospitals are run by humans, and the unfortunate truth is that they make mistakes that put patients lives at risk. Researchers have long investigated medication errors. These errors show up in a variety of forms, including improper compounding the process of tailoring-made drugs for an individual, incorrectly writing out prescriptions, failing to monitor effects on patients, giving the wrong kind of medication, and administering too high or too low of a dosage.

Reporting Mistakes

A study led by Doctor Daniel Nussbaum showed that hospital employees are more likely to report mistakes under the protection of Blame-free anonymity. By giving these employees a safe environment to report mistakes, hospitals are then able to assess the reports and make appropriate changes. Before, they had very little information to work with. This progress is a good sign for both hospitals and patients.

Medication Errors Study

A recent study led by Doctor Assad Latif, examine medication errors and what happens afterward. Doctor Latif shared that, for the most part our findings were in keeping with what the existing literature tells us about the where and how of medication errors in a hospital. The most surprising finding was what we do about them.

Latif said about 98% of mistakes did not result in harming patients. However the patient and or their family is immediately informed when an error occurs barely 2% of the time despite literature supporting full disclosure and their desire to be promptly informed. Letting patients know about medication errors only 2% of the time sounds pretty scaring, doesn’t it?

Hospitals Make Mistakes

We should not assume that all medication errors threaten anyone’s well-being, or that the information would always be of importance to the patient. However, harmful mistakes do occur without patients knowing it. What do you think hospitals should do to ensure that the promised full disclosure is being fulfilled?

By: Edward Lake

 Steps Specialists Take While Treating Mesothelioma

If you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma. So what types of doctors treat patients with mesothelioma? Hi, I’m Joe Williams I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney. I want to talk to you about some of the doctors that see mesothelioma victims. Initially, when a mesothelioma patient first presents with the signs or the symptoms of mesothelioma they see their family doctor, their intrest, their primary care doctor. That’s when a patient is talking about general weakness, malaise, maybe they’ve lost weight, maybe they’ve lost a lot of weight, they have shortness of breath. They walked up two flights of stairs and boy they’re huffing and puffing. They normally walk down the block a couple of blocks to get the newspaper every morning but now that’s a little but more difficult than usual. They go in to see their primary care doctor and explain. The doctor says let’s take an X-ray, let’s do some test. Let me send you on to a specialist. Now, usually after the primary care doctor the next doctor that a mesothelioma patient will see is a lung doctor, a pulmonologist. The pulmonologist is a specialist who deals with issues related to the lungs. So the pulmonologist is a doctor who’s probably seen mesothelioma patients before and can understand those signs and symptoms with a little bit more detail and can order some different tests. Things like a PET scan or perhaps based on the presentation of the tumor in the chest from PET scans or CAT scans or even from X-Rays the pulmonologist will refer the patient on to a surgeon. This surgeon is tasked with the job of finding out definitively what this is that is in this patient’s chest. They do that usually through a biopsy, a tissue biopsy that’s either done through a needle biopsy or through a surgical biopsy intraoperatively, often done with either a minimally invasive procedure called a video assisted thoracoscopy sometimes referred to as a VATS. Or if there’s difficulty locating the tumor there’s another procedure which is a more open procedure and that procedure is called a thoracotomy. But either way the area where the tumor is visualized is biopsied by the surgeon and that tissue is sent to a pathology lab to get a definitive diagnosis of what it is that’s growing in this patient’s chest. Now, once a diagnosis is made pathologically by a pathologist looking through a microscope at a slide at the cells and determining based upon different standing that can be done. That this is in fact malignant mesothelioma that it’s in this patient’s chest. Once that’s decided and determined then the decisions are, “What are we going to do for this patient?” There’s surgical options and that’s where the surgeon continues to play a role. There’s chemotherapy and radiation options. Now, chemotherapy is administered by an oncologist. So that surgeon would refer the patient to a caner specialist. An oncologist who would then consult with and evaluate the patient and their medical records and all their signs and symptoms and make decisions as to what type of drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, chemotherapy drugs can be administered to this patient to reduce the size of the tumor. Or perhaps to debulk it or reduce the size of the tumor in anticipation of a future surgery. Or if the tumor is advanced to just control or reduce the size of the tumor for palliative care, to reduce the symptoms or the pain response that a patient’s having. All of these doctors work together and coordinate with each other to assist a mesothelioma patient as they go through a diagnosis of mesothelioma. Now why am I telling you call this? I’m telling you because you have questions about mesothelioma. I’m Joe Williams, I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney and we deal with issues related to mesothelioma each and everyday. We represent patients and their families as they struggle through a diagnosis of mesothelioma. If you have questions I invite you to call our office and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Dangers of Distracted Driving

You’re driving down the road, and you see that guy, the one holding-up traffic because his attention is one his cellphone. You shout at him, “Really?” You think to your self, “That idiot is going to hurt somebody.” Some people just don’t mixed their phone and driving as well as you do. Well, at least you think you mixed them well.

Let’s consider this thing called: distracted driving. Let’s call it any activity that can divert a person’s attention from the primary task of driving, such distraction include: grooming, texting, eating, changing the radio station, talking on a cellphone and so forth.

Humans have long claimed the ability to multitask, and with our current culture, technology saturation at an all time high, people believe more than ever that they are good multitaskers. While it’s possible to do more than one thing at a time, the human brain is incapable of devoting sufficient attention across multiple tasks, when just one of them require much attention.

Earl Miller Distracted Driving Research

MIT, neuroscientist, Earl Miller, puts it bluntly. You’re not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously. He says, “You’re actually switching between them very rapidly.” Even the things we do very well, with little conscious thought, can be a big bite out of the mental capacity which has strict limits by nature. Talking on the phone is easy, but it uses up mental capacity, and depending on the conversation, it can eat up most or all of our attention.

Dr. Miller says, “We’re mistaken when we believe we’re paying attention to everything around us when we multitask.” Psychologist say we’re also prone to inattentional blindness, that’s the failure to notice something even when we’re looking right at it. One of the most famous study to show this phenomenon involved an invisible gorilla. Participants watched a video of six people passing basketballs, and counted how many times the players wearing white passed the ball. In the middle of the video, a woman in a gorilla suit walks into the middle of the screen, thump her chest, and then leaves. About 50% of the participants didn’t even notice the gorilla – they were demonstrating inattentional blindness.

Consider the Following Factors that Can Affect Inattentional Blindness.

One: Obviousness

This has to do with the object’s ability to catch our attention. For example, especially on a rainy day, a gray car pulling out in front of your car would not be as conspicuous as a bright red car.

Two: Expectation

When we expect certain things to happen, we might overlook or blackout to what actually is happening. For example, if we expect the car up the road to be moving, when it’s really stalled, we may not realize we’re approaching the stalled vehicle at high speed. Three: capacity. As stated earlier, we can spread our attention around only so far. Even when we are expert at something, the activity consumes a certain amount of attention. Talking on the phone, texting, dialing: each demands part of our mental capacity, and can easily compete for the same resources we need for staying aware of our surroundings.

Distracted Driving Risk

Distractions can blind the mind the things around us, and driving is one of the most dangerous activity the average american engages in, with approximately 33,000 traffic fatalities annually. So we have a choice, will I pretend to be an expert at multitasking while driving, and put my mind at greater risk for inattentional blindness, increasing the possibility that I will harm other, and myself too, or will I choose to drive cell free with myself off as many distractions as possible and devote my mind to safer driving?

Take the pledge to drive cell free at www.drivecellfree.net. You can also download our free eBook: Distracted Driving, The Multitasking Myth. It will tell you more about the psychology behind inattentional blindness, bust the myth that talking on the phone is the same as talking to someone in the car, give you interesting and practical facts and statistics surrounding distracted driving, and explain some of the legal ramifications of distracted driving – go to www.drivecellfree.net. Finally, to help make our street safer, we invite you to share this video with your friends and family.

By: Steven Gacovino

Bronx Workers Exposed to Asbestos

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and you work in the Bronx, and you’re wondering, where’d you get this disease from? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I can give you some information about a asbestos exposure that occurred to workers who worked in The Bronx. We know that the Bronx is a heavily populated borrow during the last century. The Bronx was build-up to become one of the most densely populated borrows in the metropolitan area. And that happened through building, union tradesmen and craftsmen building apartment houses and dwellings throughout The Bronx. Building large/multi story apartment buildings, and that involved work a asbestos products, asbestos insulation, joint compound, floor tile, roofing, refractory, bricks, these union tradesmen were exposed to asbestos in hundreds and thousands of buildings as The Bronx was built. We also know that The Bronx is home to at least one Con-Edison Powerhouse Hellgate, and that powerhouse is filled with asbestos components, including asbestos insulation, which expose the workers who worked at that facility. We also know that The Bronx is home to large medical facilities such as Albert Einstein Cancer Center in the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, and Jacobi Medical Center, and perhaps maybe even you were treated at any of these locations. But it’s also important to remember that these buildings were built by craftsmen’s hands, and those men and women were exposed with asbestos during the building of these facilities.

You’ve been diagnose with mesothelioma, and I’m sure you have questions about mesothelioma, and about asbestos exposure, and how you contract to these disease. Well, I’m Joe Williams, in our law firm we answer questions for mesothelioma victims and their families everyday. And we certainly can talk about to you about the Bronx, and about the various ways that workers were exposed to asbestos in The Bronx. I invite you to call the number on your screen bellow and we’ll talk to you about your questions and answer your questions. Thanks.

Laborers Exposed to Asbestos

You worked as a laborer and you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you are wondering, how did you get this disease? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney and I’d like to talk to you a little bit about the types of exposure to asbestos that laborers faced. Laborers helped all of the trades. Laborers could have been exposed to any asbestos product on a construction site. We know that laborers cleaned up after various individual trades during the course of a workday and at the end of a workday. Laborers also assisted various trades. Perhaps a laborer could assist a plumber, or assist a carpenter, or a laborer could clean up after a plumber’s work or after a carpenter’s work. Now why is that important? It’s because all of the trades at various job sites back in the ’40s, the ’50s, the ’60s, the ’70s, they worked with asbestos products. The plumbers worked with asbestos gaskets and packing. The insulators worked with asbestos insulation on pipes and equipment. The carpenters worked with asbestos. Maybe the put up a Sheetrock. Maybe drywall installers put up Sheetrock and used joint compound in between the seams that contained asbestos. Floor tile was put in by tradesmen that contained asbestos. All of this work would have been cleaned up by laborers. Sweeping of the dust that contained asbestos, exposing themselves to asbestos dust on the job site perhaps everyday. Now it’s not asbestos exposure that a laborer would have on a construction job that could cause them to get mesothelioma. It’s this mesothelioma diagnosis made many decades after the exposure that we see today in clients as we deal with the litigation of mesothelioma cases in court. Why am I telling you all this? It’s because you have questions about mesothelioma, and the type of exposures that laborers would face and different construction workers would face on job sites. I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and we deal with these issues every day. We represent mesothelioma victims and their families everyday. If you have questions call our office, we’ll answer you questions. Thank you

Drywall Installers Exposed to Asbestos

You work as a drywall installer, and you’ve now been diagnosed with mesothelioma. You’re trying to determine all the ways you could have been exposed to asbestos. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I’d like to talk to you about the ways that drywall installers were exposed to asbestos on construction jobs.

Ways Drywall Installers Were Exposed

Now, we know that prior to 1977, joint compound contained asbestos. It was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1977. Drywall installers who put up those boards of sheetrock – usually four foot by eight foot boards – onto studs, we know that those seams between the sheetrock had to be taped and filled with joint compound. The joint compound came in either a pre-mixed form in a bucket – it was already wet – or it came in large bags, it was dry, and had to be mixed with water, and when it was mixed, lots of dust in the air. Either way once the joint compound was wet, it was applied to the seams, smoothed out, and allowed to dry. Once dry, sanded down, creating lots and lots of dust in the workspace. Tradesmen did this process two or three times to sanding, two or three times to make a smooth finished professional wall. Each of those sanding applications created dust that the installers who worked with breathed. These exposures to this asbestos dust on a daily basis over the course of an entire career caused mesothelioma.

 Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

We see in these cases in asbestos litigation the exposures many years ago decades later resulting in a tradesman such as a drywall installer being diagnosed by his doctors with mesothelioma. The doctors, when they review this, they connect the asbestos exposure to the current diagnosis of mesothelioma years later. Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because you have questions about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. I’m Joe Williams. At our office we represent victims of mesothelioma and their families, and we deal with these issues every day. Give us a call at our office and we will answer your questions. Thank you. [music]

Injured At Work

If you’ve been injured as a result of falling from a location at work or having something fall and strike you at work, you may have the right to bring a lawsuit under the New York State Labor Law. In order to determine whether or not you have a proper claim under that law, it’s necessary to access all the circumstances of your accident. For more information about a possible claim under the New York Labor Law, call the Maurer Law Firm or visit our website for more information on what you may be entitled.