New York Personal Injury Laws

The Dangers of Tylenol

One culprit. And each year, 450 deaths. 26,000 hospitalizations. 56,000 emergency room visits. 100,000 calls to poison control centers. The suspect? A very common everyday drug.

On a weekend in February of 1993, 37-year-old Antonio Benedi felt a case of the flu coming on. As many people have done, he reached for a common over-the-counter pain medication. “I was taking Tylenol like I was supposed to by the label,” Benedi said. Within a few days, he was in a comma and desperately needed a liver transplant.

Benedi said that while he did take the medicine on a mostly empty stomach, he did not take the drug irresponsibly, which is what many people think must happen in order to be harmed by Tylenol. “I never misused anything,” he said, “I took Tylenol as recommended for three days. By Monday night, my liver was failing. By the time I reached the hospital, I was near death.”

Usage & Dosage Amounts

Not everyone is harmed by Tylenol. The issue here is that so many are, and that the manufacturer’s warnings seem inadequate. Tylenol was originally approved by the FDA in 1955 and has enjoyed the public’s and medical communities’ trust for decades. Many have touted Tylenol as the safest drug on the market. The medication world assumes that consumers tend to exceed the recommended dosage of over-the-counter drugs for various reasons.

For example, they may not realize they are taking other medications that also contain the same ingredients. Others may not remember exactly when they last took a dosage. Also, many people view over-the-counter drugs as extremely safe and think that taking one or two extra pills won’t cause any harm. A typical over-the-counter drug has a maximum safe dosage of roughly ten times the recommended dosage on the bottle. However, Tylenol’s manufacturer recommends a dosage that is equal to the maximum safe dosage, leaving no room for error. Acetaminophen, that is Tylenol, bears a warning about liver damage, but no warning about liver failure or death. In fact, acetaminophen is the number one cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

Alcohol Effects

Let’s take a look at two groups of pain sufferers who may have a strong probability of being harmed by the drug. Users who have ingested alcohol and users who are fasting. Small print on the labels do warn against taking the drug if you’re having three drinks of alcohol daily. This is not the clearest explanation of how much is too much if for example, you had several drinks last night and none today. Headaches are common during fasting and during hangovers. Acetaminophen is often used for relief at these times. The human liver is normally capable of neutralizing the chemicals in Tylenol’s manufacturer’s recommended dosage. However, for people with alcohol in their bloodstream or who are fasting, their liver is already functioning at a higher capacity and is therefore unable to process the toxins found in acetaminophen.

Hunger Effects

People fast for many reasons and for different lengths of time. Even breakfast follows a fast. It is breaking a fast if you refrain from eating between supper and breakfast. Low-income children and adults may skip one or two meals. Many other people fast to lose weight and for religious purposes.

Do you think that Tylenol and other acetaminophen manufacturers should warn of the dangers such as liver failure and death when taken at the recommended dosage? Next time on You Be The Judge. Does evidence show that dosages equal to or less than Tylenol’s recommendation are deadly?

By: Edward Lake

What to on Scene After a Car Accident

If you’ve been in a car accident, you need to exchange information with the other party at the scene, give a detailed accurate statement to the police, and notify your insurance company right away. It’s important that you document the accident clearly and concisely.

Contact the Morrow Law Firm on more information on what to do if you’ve been involved in an auto accident.

Pleural Mesothelioma

How does a person get pleural mesothelioma? Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney in New York City and in order to explain to you the general ways in which mesothelioma forms in the human body, I need to talk to you a little bit about the process of how those fibers get into the system.

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

Auto Mechanic Asbestos Exposure

You were a professional auto mechanic, and you worked with asbestos-containing brakes your entire life. Now you’ve been diagnosed with Mesothelioma. Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a Mesothelioma trial attorney here in New City, and I can answer your questions.

 How One Auto Mechanic Was Exposed

I can do that by talking to you about some clients I’ve represented in the past. One client in particular, who was a former auto mechanic, and changed thousands of brakes on automobiles. In his deposition, he testified about the work that he did. He talked about using both OEM, Original Equipment Manufactured brake linings, which are brake linings manufactured by the same company that made the car.

He also used after market brake linings, which are manufactured by companies who didn’t manufacture the car. They just manufactured brake linings. What he would do, this former client of mine, he would take off the four wheels of the car after the car was put on a lift. He would remove the brakes. He would blow out the drum with an air compressor, causing a lot of dust in the air.

He would then take the new metal shoe with the attached brake lining out of the box, and install it into the vehicle, wheel by wheel. This process of removing the old brake, blowing out the drum, handling the asbestos-containing brake lining, the new one, and installing them into the vehicle, exposed him to asbestos dust. He did this work every day, and he did it for many decades, and was exposed to asbestos dust thousands of times from working on asbestos-containing brake linings in automobiles.

Now, if you’re an auto mechanic, you’ve probably had some very similar exposures. I’m sure you have questions about Mesothelioma and how auto mechanics were exposed to asbestos. I’m Joe Williams, and in our firm we handle cases every day for Mesothelioma victims. We can answer your questions. I invite you to call our office at the number below, and we’ll answer your questions. Thank you.

Suffolk County Asbestos Exposure

You’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you worked in Suffolk County, New York, and you’re wondering how did you get this disease.

Hi, I’m Joe Williams. I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney, and I can give you information about asbestos exposures that occurred to workers in Suffolk County.

 Where Exactly Did This Exposure Occur

Now we know that in Suffolk County, New York, there were three major powerhouses, LILCO powerhouses. It’s now National Grid, but back when the workers were exposed to asbestos, they were LILCO powerhouses. The powerhouses were located in Port Jefferson, Northport, and Shoreham, and at these powerhouses, asbestos products were used. And workers – union tradesmen who built the powerhouses, who repaired and renovated these powerhouses over time – were exposed to asbesto during the course of their work.

We also know in Suffolk County, in both Bethpage and Farmingdale, there’s Grumman Aerospace, where military planes were built for the United States government using all manner of asbestos products, from asbestos gaskets in the machining of engines, to asbestos insulation products used throughout equipment and on the planes themselves. And also, during the course of the past century as the population migrated eastward to Suffolk County, there was a housing boom in Suffolk County. Houses were constructed, apartment buildings, which required the use of building products, many of which had asbestos-containing components, which exposed the workers – the builders who built Suffolk County – to asbestos.

Now you have questions about asbestos exposure and how you could have been exposed to asbestos in Suffolk County. I’m Joe Williams, and at our firm, we answer questions for mesothelioma victims and their families every day. I invite you to give us a call, and we’ll answer your questions.

Thanks.

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.

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.

Railroad Workers Exposed to Asbestos

How were railroad workers exposed to asbestos, and what can they do about it if they get mesothelioma? Hi, I’m Joe Williams, I’m a mesothelioma trial attorney and I want to talk to you about the types of exposures that workers on the railroad would have confronted during the course of their working career.

Protection With FELA statute

The first thing you need to know is that railroad employees are protected under the FELA statute. It’s a federal statute, the Federal Employers Liability Act, which requires the railroad to provide a safe working environment for their railroad employees. So if the railroad was negligent and not providing a safe working atmosphere, and if the employee gets sick and gets mesothelioma as a result, the railroad can be held legally responsible for that.

 A Former Client

Let me illustrate this by talking to you about a former client of my office who was a railroad worker. Now, this railroad worker worked on locomotives and trains as well as the cars themselves and he was exposed to asbestos from the insulation on the exhaust system of the locomotives, to asbestos from the controls and switches in the electrical components of the cars themselves, and he was exposed to asbestos from the work that others did around him with asbestos containing brakes that existed on the cars. There was also iron brakes, but some of them were made of asbestos. All of these exposures contributed during the course of a working lifetime to, unfortunately, give this client mesothelioma, and when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma he wanted to know what he could do about it. After an understanding that the FELA statute was designed to protect him, he was able to bring a claim against the railroad under the FELA statute.

Now why am I telling you this? It’s because you have questions about mesothelioma and the types of exposures that railroad workers would confront on the job. I’m Joe Williams, at my law firm we represent mesothelioma victims each and every day, and we deal with issues like this every day. If you have questions I invite you to contact our office. We are here to answer your questions. Thank you for listening.