New York City Personal Injury Blog

New York is a city that is always rebuilding itself - literally. There is construction going on in all of the boroughs year-round. The construction industry offers many New York City residents an opportunity to make good money - but at a price.

Everyone knows that construction work can be dangerous, especially in a densely-populated city full of skyscrapers. However, the total number of deaths and injuries at New York City construction sites has been significantly increasing for the past five years.

In 2016, 4,300 Americans were killed in car accidents involving semis and other large trucks, which is a 28 percent increase compared to 2009. Despite this, commercial trucks in New York and across the U.S. aren't required to have collision avoidance technology.

According to a report by The Kansas City Star, the National Transportation Safety Board has repeatedly requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandate collision avoidance technology in commercial trucks. However, the agency has failed to do so. As a result, only a small portion of large trucks currently traveling U.S. roads have advanced safety technology systems on board.

New York residents may be interesting in learning the disposition of a legal case involving a popular chef from an Ithaca restaurant. On March 3, the 53-year-old chef was reportedly driving under the influence when his actions caused a collision that killed a young Auburn man.

The defendant was named the 2014 Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation's Syracuse Chapter. After leaving his job in Ithaca, he was traveling north on State Route 34 at approximately 9:30 p.m. when he drove his 2016 Honda Accord across the centerline near the Fleming and Scipio town line. As a result of the man's impaired driving, he reportedly caused a head-on collision with a vehicle driven by a 25-year-old Auburn man with three passengers. The Auburn driver died at the scene from injuries sustained in the collision. The brother of the deceased was one of three passengers in the vehicle, and he suffered serious injuries that continue to cause him problems. The fiancé of the deceased was also passenger in the vehicle, and prosecutors described her injuries as 'less serious." A minor child was the final passenger and sustained no injuries.

The practice of medicine has changed and evolved so much throughout the centuries that the last thing anyone expects to learn/hear about is the use of dirty and unclean surgical tools and medical equipment. Though it can take months for doctors/hospitals to notify at-risk patients, many people never find out at all.

In health care settings, medical workers and their employers must follow national, local and institutional guidelines to ensure their surgical instruments and medical equipment are adequately cleaned and sanitized. When there are issues with the cleaning and sterilization process, the risk of infection, injury and adverse outcomes increases significantly for patients. The exposure of patients to dangerous pathogens, staph germs and infectious contaminants can cause them to develop life-threatening illnesses like HIV and Hepatitis B or C that require continuous medical care. They could also develop other hospital-acquired infections from medical negligence that lead to difficulties with underlying and preexisting health concerns.