Wichita Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Over the last couple of years, there has been quite a bit of news reported about the long-term effects of concussions, especially when talking about professional athletes. Several well-known professional baseball players have missed weeks or even months of the most recent season because of concussions, and with football season right around the corner, we are likely to hear even more about the serious consequences of concussions and similar brain injuries.

However, a recent study indicates that concussions may be far more common among young people than previously believed, especially for those involved in athletics. According to the study, there were an estimated 502,000 concussion-related emergency department visits for children age 8 to 19 between the years of 2001 and 2005. Of those half million visits, about half were thought to be sports-related.

It has been a difficult year for Toyota. Various problems have resulted in the recall of more than 10 million of their vehicles. The most recent recall was announced earlier this week when Toyota announced that 1.33 million of their Corolla sedans and Matrix hatchbacks might require the replacement of a certain circuit board. According to the company, the defect may result in engine stalls and may be responsible for three car accidents so far.

The newest recall covers vehicles with model years 2005 to 2008 sold in the United States and in Canada. It also covers 200,000 Pontiac Vibes that were produced as part of a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. Sometime next month, owners should be provided notice if their vehicle is affected by the recall.

An accident involving an SUV and a motorcycle last Friday resulted in the death of the 30-year-old motorcyclist. At this time, police believe speed may have been a contributing factor in the motorcycle crash occurring near the intersection of Oliver and 11th in Wichita.

According to early reports, Cornelius Scales was riding his motorcycle along Oliver with two other acquaintances. A witness described the men as traveling at a high rate of speed. Scales apparently accelerated ahead of the other two cyclists, but then collided with an SUV driven by an unidentified 78-year-old man.

A recent report produced by the Kansas Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that nonfatal workplace accidents for private businesses and serious injuries that resulted in days away from work made significant drops since 2007.

The report was based on information collected from 3,500 randomly selected employers, including both public and private employers throughout the state. Overall, the research showed an estimated 43,400 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private Kansas businesses in 2008. Of those, just under 10,000 required employees to miss time at work. The average number of days missed due to these injuries or illnesses came out to approximately seven.

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has begun a traffic and safety study to investigate a number of recent crashes along K-254 at its intersections with Greenwich, Webb, and Rock roads. Three separate accidents occurring since last Saturday have resulted in the deaths of three people and the critical injuries of a man involved in a motorcycle crash.

The first accident occurred Saturday when two men from El Dorado, Michael A. Turner and Lance P. Smith, were killed when their car allegedly ran a stop sign at the Greenwich intersection and collided with a pickup truck. The second accident occurred Monday morning when Shenai Richert, of Bel Aire, apparently failed to stop at stop sign on Webb and was struck and killed in a collision with an SUV.

When we are in need of medical treatment, we rely on doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to help us treat our needs. The same can be said for pharmaceuticals. We rely on drug companies to provide drugs that are safe and effective for their stated purpose. However, it is not uncommon for drugs to cause side effects resulting in serious or life-threatening injuries.

According to a recent lawsuit filed by a 23-year-old Omaha man, the immunosuppressant drug Rituxan was responsible for turning him into a quadriplegic after he contracted a near-fatal viral infection. Jesse Peetz claims that the drug makers, Genetech Inc. and Biogen Idec, knew that the drug could make individuals more susceptible to developing serious infections, but did not provide sufficient warning of that fact.

When we go to a hospital, we depend on that institution to provide us with a safe place and the opportunity to recover from whatever medical condition brought us there. Of course, there are times when seeking medical treatment leads to further injuries, but medical malpractice committed by a doctor or nurse is not the only type of injury suffered in hospitals. Many people are injured every year by falls occurring in a hospital or clinic.

An interesting example of just this situation occurred earlier this year in a St. Paul, Minnesota, hospital. While many hospital-related falls are the result of people falling while trying to get out of their hospital bed, or falling while using crutches or a wheelchair, this particular incident involved a man that fell off an examination table.

A chain reaction of crashes occurring on Interstate 44, about 40 miles from St. Louis, resulted in the deaths of two people and serious injuries for dozens of others. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is reportedly looking into the crash to determine the cause and see what, if anything, could be done to prevent similar crashes in the future.

From what we know so far, the crash seems to have occurred when a semi cab without a trailer had slowed down for some road construction when it was struck from behind by a pickup truck. Two school buses then crashed into the wreck in succession. A 15-year-old student on the first school bus eventually died as a result of the crash. The crash of the second bus caused the first bus to be heaved atop the pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck, Daniel Schatz, was also killed in the collision.