Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

A Florida judge has issued a key ruling in a closely watched wrongful death case that may have implications for student athletes here in Oregon and elsewhere.

The case concerns the death of Ereck Plancher, a 19-year-old student and football player at the University of Central Florida. Plancher died in March 2008 after collapsing during a spring workout that was being supervised by the university football coach. According to the Orlando Sentinel “an autopsy found that the stress of the workout triggered Plancher’s sickle cell trait, causing misshapen blood cells to damage his organs and shut down his body.”

Though the university “contends it did everything possible to save his life,” Plancher’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the school, its trustees and the UCF Athletics Association. Last week’s ruling allowed the parents to seek punitive damages in the case, but instructed the jury only to award such damages if the jurors “specifically find that no water and no athletic trainers were present for the final portion of Palncher’s workout.”

This case is worth watching, even from across the continent, because of the increased attention that safety among student athletes has been receiving, especially here in Oregon. Much of this attention has focused on Oregon traumatic brain injuries and Oregon spinal cord injuries. Still, wrongful death stemming from an overly intense workout, or inadequate precautions on the part of a school or its coaching staff, have emerged as issues in several cases in different parts of the country, and it is worth paying attention to how different courts resolve these issues.

The attorney representing the victim’s family put it well, telling the Sentinel: “It’s not about compensating the Plancher family, it’s about stopping football programs from disregarding the safety of student athletes.” Here in Portland, any Oregon wrongful death and traumatic brain injury attorney would agree with that sentiment.

Orlando Sentinel: Ereck Plancher family can seek punitive damages from UCF Athletic Association, judge rules

In terms of violence and physical contact baseball is a far cry from football or hockey, but today’s news brought word that the National Pastime is following in the footsteps of higher-impact competitions in seeking to address concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.

According to an analysis published by Bloomberg News, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has announced new procedures for dealing with head injuries in baseball. The measures, which take effect on Thursday when the 2011 season officially begins, include changes to the manner in which “concussions are diagnosed and the determination on when players or umpires can return to the field.”

The news agency notes that each team will be required to designate a brain injury specialist as part of the medical team based in its home city. It also establishes a new, head-injury-specific seven day disabled list and establishes consistent “protocols for evaluating players for a possible concussion after high-risk incidents, such as being hit in the head by a pitched, batted or thrown ball, or colliding with another player or fixed object.”

Though baseball clearly has fewer serious traumatic brain and spinal cord injury problems than some other sports, it is gratifying to see the sport move in a direction pioneered by other leagues, notably the NHL, which has wrestled with rule changes several times over the last few years as it looks for ways to minimize head injuries.

Responsible conduct at the professional level is important not least because of the example it sets for colleges, schools and youth sports programs. Here in Oregon, concern over traumatic brain injuries is rising, just as it is in the rest of the nation. From the perspective of a Portland brain and spinal cord injury attorney, increased awareness is an important first step both toward preventing future accidents and in the fight to obtain justice for those who are already suffering.

Bloomberg: Major League Baseball Institutes Seven-Day Disabled List for Concussions

A trial now underway in Washington is raising serious questions about railway safety. According to TV station KGW, the Longview, Washington trial focuses not only on safety policies at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, but on how carefully those policies are enforced.

The Washington rail crash trial stems from “a collision between a train and a shuttle van in which three people were killed and a forth was critically injured,” the station reports. At issue is a BNSF policy of parking all stationary trains at least 250 feet from a rail crossing. The victims in this particular case died after being struck by a train that apparently could not see their van as it crossed the tracks because another train was parked only 50 feet from the crossing, blocking the engineer’s view.

One complication facing the victims’ families, however, is the fact that the incident took place on the railway company’s property, where laws designed to protect the public at public crossings do not have effect. Private crossings, such as those on company property, have “no requirements for lights or a crossing arm,” the paper reports.

The court heard testimony that many employees had complained in the past about safety policies related to crossings and how they are enforced on the railway’s property.

Families of victims in situations such as this need to know that the mere fact that an incident took place on private property does not exempt the railroad from legal requirements to operate safely. Though the company says it is studying this Washington motor vehicle accident from every possible angle, the fact remains that victims often find they have little recourse in dealing directly with the company. A Washington personal injury lawyer – particularly one licensed to practice throughout the Pacific Northwest – can offer families invaluable advice on the avenues open to them as they strive to achieve justice following a fatal Washington or Oregon train accident.

KGW.com: Atty: Railroad violated policy before crash

A Portland man faces the serious charge of second-degree assault after an alleged attack on a Portland bike rider that resulted in an Oregon bicycle accident, according to The Oregonian.

The incident took place early Tuesday morning as Joe Santos, a Portland police sergeant, was riding his bike to work along Northwest Cornell Road. Santos told investigating officers after the incident that an SUV nearly hit him, then, inexplicably, “about a block later, the driver stopped so suddenly that Santos had to veer into oncoming traffic.” Santos “slapped” the SUV to try to alert it to his presence, and was rewarded with the car abruptly stopping, going into reverse and trying to hit him. When Santos tried go grab his bike and flee to the safety of the sidewalk the SUV allegedly went after him yet again – hitting the bike, but missing the rider.

Fortunately Santos, though shaken, was able to get the license plate of the SUV. Later that day police took a suspect into custody, the newspaper reports, citing police sources.

In Portland, of all places, we should not need to remind drivers that bicycles are vehicles and have as much right as a car to be on most roadways (there are few exceptions – interstate highways, for example). The fact that, in this case, the alleged victim, was a policeman on his way to work ought to make no difference: assaulting a cyclist with a car is dangerous, wrong and against the law, no matter who the bike rider is. Oregon fatal bike accidents can result from this sort of behavior. Even non-fatal accidents can result in serious, sometimes permanent, Portland bike accident injuries.

A Portland bike accident lawyer can be an injured rider’s most important ally in the wake of an incident such as the one that allegedly came close to killing Officer Santos. Our reputation as one of America’s most bike-friendly cities will mean little if we are not willing to make it clear to drivers that certain types of behavior are simply unacceptable.

The Oregonian: Driver messes with the wrong bicyclist: Portland man faces charges in run-in with officer

The state department of transportation plans to address issues raised by the death of a cyclist in a Portland bicycle accident last December on a notoriously dangerous stretch of SW Barbur in Southwest Portland.

As I noted in a post last December, the issue most recently came to public attention with the death of 26-year-old Angela Burke. Burke was struck by an allegedly drunk and stoned driver as she rode along a section of SW Barbur that is notorious among local cyclists as one of the scarier stretches of road in Greater Portland. According to media reports at the time the driver who hit Burke was traveling at approximately 75 mph in a 35 mph zone.

According to Bike Portland, the ODOT plans to install four beacons along the most dangerous stretch of road: the crossing points near the Rasmussen apartments where a crosswalk straddles the road very close to a potentially dangerous bend. The website quotes an ODOT spokesman who notes that “the speed of the vehicles and the curve” make the crossing “a real challenge.”

Soon, there will be two beacons facing in each direction – one each at the crosswalk itself and one on each of the approaches to it. Bike Portland reports that the upgrades will cost about $100,000 and will be ready this summer.

We can all applaud the activism that has brought about this change in the local traffic pattern, even as we mourn the human loss that seems to have provided the final impetus for government action. Activists and other cyclists who have been injured in an Oregon bicycle and car crash also need to be aware of the important role that a Portland bicycle accident attorney can play in the wake of any crash that leads to property damage, injuries or even death. Portland is proud to be one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country. Lets all do our best to keep it that way.

Bike Portland: Fatality spurs action from ODOT on SW Barbur

An Oregon truck accident on Interstate 84 closed the road for several hours last week and sent two people to the hospital, though its most notable feature may have been that it was not even worse than accident reports indicate.

According to the Associated Press the Oregon semi-truck accident began when a driver fell asleep at the wheel around 1 am while traveling west on I-84. The news agency reports that the truck then “rear-ended a tow truck with a car in tow” on the dark road.

The truck driver and the owner of the car (who was riding in the tow truck) required hospitalization following the accident. The driver of the tow truck was not injured. According to the AP, the driver of the semi received a citation for “careless driving.”

Accidents like these remind us of the overwhelming importance of highway safety, especially where large vehicles such as commercial trucks are concerned. A driver nodding off in a huge, speeding vehicle on an interstate highway has the potential to do far more damage than happened in this case, and we can only be thankful that the toll in human suffering was not far greater.

Regardless of whether a driver is reckless or merely overworked and pushed past the point of exhaustion by unreasonable driving schedules, holding semi-truck drivers and their employers to account is one of the most important services an Oregon truck accident lawyer can offer to accident victims and their families. Oregon truck crashes can lead to permanent injuries and even result in wrongful death. Consulting with an attorney as soon as possible after a collision is an important first step in achieving a just settlement.

The Columbian: OSP says sleeping truck driver caused I-84 crash

Associated Press via KGW.com: Semi-truck driver falls asleep on I-84, crashes

A report released this week by the consumer watchdog organization Public Citizen raises serious questions about the conduct of state medical boards, according to an analysis published by the Los Angeles Times. The charges, in turn, raise broader questions about the conduct of hospitals and doctors and the prevalence in our health care system of doctors who are problematic at best. Here in Oregon it must make conscientious citizens wonder whether instances of medical malpractice or even wrongful deaths have been allowed to occur as a result of insufficient professional oversight.

As outlined by Public Citizen on the group’s website (see link below) the study examined 20 years of data (1990-2009) regarding doctors who have had “one or more clinical privilege actions,” meaning that they have had some or all of their hospital or emergency privileges withdrawn because of misconduct, incompetence or some other professional infraction. It then compared these numbers with the numbers of physicians sanctioned over the same period by state medical boards. The analysis yields a shocking result: nationwide, 55% of doctors disciplined by their hospitals suffered no further punishment from their state licensing board.

When thinking about the possible implications of this information for Oregon medical malpractice we can take some comfort from the fact that our state had one of the better records on this score. In Oregon, 41.48% of doctors who had some or all of their hospital privileges revoked over the study period suffered no state-imposed sanction. That number is obviously far too high, though it is better than what one finds in most other states (for comparative purposes: Colorado had the lowest rate of unsanctioned doctors at 31.63%; Hawaii was worst with a truly shocking 77.08%).

Some will argue that the gap between hospital-punished and state-punished doctors is proof that individual hospitals hold their doctors to higher standards than the minimum prescribed by state medical boards, and, in fairness, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the discrepancy can be accounted for in this manner. It is, however, equally reasonable to assume that a good proportion of the difference can be attributed to state medical boards being slow to act or, perhaps, applying standards that are too lax. That, in turn, raises the question: who is protecting patients from doctors who, after being disciplined at one hospital, simply move on to another?

The ideal, of course, is for all physicians to be properly supervised and, when necessary, disciplined. It is difficult for individual patients to assess a doctor’s credentials – that is why we have state medical boards in the first place. When patient are injured because regulatory bodies failed to act properly, it is time for our courts to get involved and to act as a final line of defense – and accountability – between doctors and the public. A Portland medical malpractice and wrongful death attorney can offer invaluable advice and assistance to families who believe a doctor who should not have been practicing has damaged their lives.

Los Angeles Times: Report: States fail to discipline rogue doctors

Washington Post: Report: State boards don’t punish all doctors sanctioned by hospitals

Public Citizen’s News Release on the Study (this page includes a link to the full report)

An important article published in the New York Times last week indicates that the manufacturers of football helmets are moving to address problems in the way their products are used – a move that could benefit many young athletes in a time when traumatic brain injuries stemming from football and other rough sports are an issue of increasing concern.

According to the newspaper, “the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association (Naera) announced (last) Thursday that is would no longer accept helmets more than 10 years old.” As the paper notes, many schools regularly send football helmets in for reconditioning, but concerns have been rising that as the products age it can become difficult if not impossible to bring the gear back to a point where it meets appropriate safety standards. Under current standards, the paper notes, so long as the equipment met applicable safety standards when it was new “helmets of any age and condition can be worn, despite concerns over how the stiffening of foam and the degrading of the polycarbonate shell can leave a player more susceptible to concussions.”

Though the article does not say this, it appears that football helmet manufacturers and reconditioners may be taking a cue from the ski industry. For several decades the manufacturers of ski bindings have indemnified their products for a finite period of years (usually 10 or 12). Once that period expires, skiers quickly discover that few ski techs will agree to make even minor adjustments to the bindings. A cynic might say the companies are forcing skiers to purchase new equipment on a regular basis, but the policy also ensures that the vast majority of skiers are using relatively up-to-date equipment – an important consideration in such a potentially dangerous sport.

The new football helmet standards have the potential to offer significant peace of mind to Portland-area parents who fear concussions and other Oregon traumatic brain injuries when their children participate in contact sports.

Oregon personal injury attorneys are likely to keep a close eye on the new standards. We must all ensure that schools and others running youth sports are paying attention and using the tools the industry is giving them to help fight the battle against Oregon brain injuries.

The New York Times: Group to phase out old football helmets

A truck driver from California died last week in an Oregon truck accident on I-84 near Rufus, east of Portland, according to The Oregonian.

The victim, identified by police as Lino Domingo Lopez-Hernandez, died as a result of an unusual chain of events that began with a blowout on his own vehicle. Sorting out any resulting Oregon personal injury or wrongful death claims that may eventually arise from the accident is likely to be a complex business.

According to the newspaper, the accident began to unfold shortly after midnight last Thursday as Lopez-Hernandez was driving his big-rig west on I-84. The truck lost two tires and an axel for reasons that remain unclear. Lopez-Hernandez immediately pulled over. He was walking along the side of the road looking for the missing pieces of his truck when a pick-up, also traveling in the westbound lane, hit the truck debris, hurling it into Lopez-Hernandez. “The flying debris sent him over a guardrail and about 200 feet down an embankment, where authorities found his body,” The Oregonian reports.

The potential legal issues raised by this tragedy are legion. Could the driver of the pick-up reasonably have avoided the debris? Was Lopez-Hernandez searching for the lost pieces of his truck in a reasonably safe way? Was the truck itself defective or improperly maintained – a fact that, if it were proven to be true, could leave the truck’s manufacturer or owner subject to an Oregon industrial accident claim (exactly who might be liable would depend on who owned and serviced the truck and their legal relationship to the victim).

In cases like this, it is the role of a Portland truck crash lawyer to sort through exactly these sort of complex issues, helping victims and their families achieve the justice they deserve. Our legal system can be confusing for outsiders, but that does not mean that victims should surrender their rights. An Oregon personal injury attorney can act as both our advocate and your guide through every level of our court system.

The Oregonian: Police identify California trucker killed on I-84 near Rufus

Salem Statesman-Journal: 1 dead in early morning crash on I-84

As reported by The Oregonian, the circumstances surrounding a recent two-car Coastal Oregon car accident on Highway 101 raise a number of potential legal issues, including whether the victims may be in a position to press an Oregon dram shop case.

The newspaper, quoting police sources, reports that the accident took place when an Oldsmobile traveling north on US-101 crossed the center line and hit a southbound pick-up truck. “The impact of the crash tore the Oldsmobile in half, with the two sections coming to rest on opposite sides of the highway,” the paper notes. All three people involved in the crash – the driver of the Oldsmobile and the driver and a passenger in the pick-up – were seriously injured.

Police told The Oregonian that alcohol was a factor in the crash, though the exact nature of its involvement is still under investigation.

If the driver of the Oldsmobile is shown to have been coming from a restaurant, bar or liquor store the other victims of this Central Oregon car crash may be able to make the Oregon dram shop law a key part of their fight for a just settlement in the wake of the accident. That law extends liability for a drunk driver’s actions to businesses that sold him or her alcohol despite the person’s already being intoxicated.

Portland drunk driving and dram shop cases can be an especially complex area of Oregon law. If you have been the victim of an Oregon drunk driver and believe that responsibility for the accident may extend to a business that should not have sold alcohol to the perpetrator in the first place prompt consultation with an Oregon drunk driving victim’s attorney is your best initial course of action.

The Oregonian: Alcohol believed to be factor in Highway 101 crash that injured 3

A Central Point boy is hospitalized with dire injuries following an Oregon dog attack late last month, according to an area newspaper and television station. The Columbian reports that the nine year old “was attacked by three large pit bulls at his father’s home in Central Point.” He is reported to be in “fair” condition at the Rogue Valley Medical Center.

The exact circumstances of the attack are unclear from the available media accounts. Area TV station KPTV reports, however, that the animals were captured in the wake of the Oregon dog attack and “will be held in quarantine by animal control officers… to check for rabies and other problems that might have led to the attack.”

Because the incident involves a serious Oregon child injury the authorities are expected to take special care with their investigation. According to KPTV the “pit bulls appeared to have torn off a large chunk of the nine year old boy’s scalp.”

Serious Oregon dog attacks, such as this one, are of special concern when children are involved. Dog owners have a responsibility to maintain control of their pets – an especially grave responsibility in the case of owners of species generally understood to be violent and potentially dangerous, such as pit bulls.

If you or a member of your family have been the victim of an attack like this one, prompt consultation with a Portland dog attack attorney is one of the best actions you can take to ensure your and your family’s rights are protected. As we see from this incident, dog attacks can cause serious injuries including permanent disfigurement and even death. To obtain justice and make your family whole again expert legal assistance is essential.

The Columbian: Pit Bulls maul, seriously injure S. Oregon boy, 9

Fox 12 Oregon: Oregon boy recovering after dog mauling

A Central Point boy is hospitalized with dire injuries following an Oregon dog attack late last month, according to an area newspaper and television station. The Columbian reports that the nine year old “was attacked by three large pit bulls at his father’s home in Central Point.” He is reported to be in “fair” condition at the Rogue Valley Medical Center.

The exact circumstances of the attack are unclear from the available media accounts. Area TV station KPTV reports, however, that the animals were captured in the wake of the Oregon dog attack and “will be held in quarantine by animal control officers… to check for rabies and other problems that might have led to the attack.”

Because the incident involves a serious Oregon child injury the authorities are expected to take special care with their investigation. According to KPTV the “pit bulls appeared to have torn off a large chunk of the nine year old boy’s scalp.”

Serious Oregon dog attacks, such as this one, are of special concern when children are involved. Dog owners have a responsibility to maintain control of their pets – an especially grave responsibility in the case of owners of species generally understood to be violent and potentially dangerous, such as pit bulls.

If you or a member of your family have been the victim of an attack like this one, prompt consultation with a Portland dog attack attorney is one of the best actions you can take to ensure your and your family’s rights are protected. As we see from this incident, dog attacks can cause serious injuries including permanent disfigurement and even death. To obtain justice and make your family whole again expert legal assistance is essential.

The Columbian: Pit Bulls maul, seriously injure S. Oregon boy, 9

Fox 12 Oregon: Oregon boy recovering after dog mauling

Schools in Wallowa, in the far east of Oregon, are targeting distracted driving by going directly to the source: placing students in a car equipped with virtual reality technology to convince them of exactly how real the danger is.

According to the Wallowa County Chieftain roughly 50 of the people put through the simulator on a single day at an area high school wound up being ‘victims’ of Oregon distracted driving or Oregon drunk driving accidents. The paper quotes the “impaired driving awareness instructor” who ran the event saying that in the real world “eighty percent of accidents are due to driver distraction” (a statistic which obviously goes far beyond cellphones to encompass ‘legal’ distractions – such as the radio or CD player or dealing with kids in the back seat).

The project, the paper reports, is organized by “UNITE, a Michigan-based organization that sends three teams around the nation for similar demonstrations at high schools and colleges.” The set-up involves placing students in a stationary car while wearing virtual reality goggles. Both the car and the goggles are connected to a computer. To simulate phone-related distractions and texting students use their own cellphones. Drunk driving is simulated by having the computer acknowledge a students’ actions in the car with the appropriate delay for varying levels of intoxication.

As I have written on previous occasions, a core issue when it comes to distracted driving is the widespread belief that ‘I’m very careful – the problem is with all those other people who aren’t.’ Systems like the one UNITE is taking to schools here in Oregon are an especially useful way to demonstrate to individuals that their ability to multi-task is not necessarily as uniquely high as they believe.

In the wake of distracted driving accidents an Oregon distracted driving attorney can be an essential ally of victims and their families as they struggle to put their lives back together. Drunk driving has been a problem for decades. Distracted driving, at least as it relates to cellphones, is relatively new. In both cases, however, education and justice go hand-in-hand: demanding personal responsibility before accidents happen, and enforcing it once they do.

Wallowa.com: How to text yourself to death

A California nursing home has been ordered to pay the largest fines allowed under state law following the death of a patient. For us here in Oregon this nursing home neglect and abuse case, though it comes from out-of-state, serves as a powerful reminder of the important role courts and regulators play in keeping watch over those charged with helping vulnerable seniors.

According to a report in the Orange County Register the case stems from the death of 93-year-old Donald Bodkin, who, the paper reports, “died in September from an undetected ruptured intestinal ulcer and infection.” Bodkin was not a long-time resident of the home but, rather, had checked in only a few weeks earlier for a temporary stay while recovering from hip surgery.

The paper reports that the state believes the home did not assess Bodkin’s condition properly, failed to tell his doctor once the symptoms became obvious and ignored warnings from both family members and an occupational therapist “that he was lethargic and in pain.” The nursing home has expressed regret for Bodkin’s death but said in a statement that it does not believe the actions of any of its staff “caused or contributed to this unfortunate event.”

This tragedy is a reminder of how important it is for state governments to supervise nursing homes and for our courts to enforce the rules and regulations government puts in place to protect our seniors. When Oregon nursing home neglect or abuse take place and the people charged with helping our loved ones through their final years fail to perform their jobs, an Oregon nursing home abuse attorney can help families and other loved ones win justice.

Orange County Register: Nursing Home fined in Patient Death