Category Archives: Bay Area legal updates
San Francisco Mechanic’s Death Prompts Cal-OSHA Investigation
A mechanic working on a bus at a maintenance yard in the Bayview district suffered fatal injuries the morning of December 15, 2011, when the bus rolled over him. Fifty-eight year-old Walter Pietilla was working under the bus’ hood when it apparently rolled off the support ramp and pinned him underneath, crushing him to… Read More »
Airplane Accidents Avoided: Intoxicated Pilots Removed From Cockpits
There were two stories in the news recently about pilots who had been drinking, and were removed from their planes before takoff. The most recent such story of an airplane accident avoided involved a Delta Airlines flight from London to Boston, where the pilot was flagged after telling the tower that he was headed… Read More »
Alameda Jury Pools Don’t Reflect The Ethnic Balance of the Population According to ACLU Study
In any personal injury case, the composition of the jury is extremely important. Even if the case can be settled, that settlement will be largely based on what the lawyers think a jury might decide, if the case went to trial. For Oakland injury accident cases, any jury trial will likely be in Alameda… Read More »
Kaiser Malpractice Injury: Nursing Negligence Causes Death
Oakland Nurse’s Error is Determined Cause of Death The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that a patient at Kaiser hospital in Oakland died due to a nurse’s error in administering intravenous medication. Although the Chronicle’s initial story about this malpractice incident did not describe the error, later news reports said that the nurse, a… Read More »
Muni Accident Rate Down Due To Cameras Aboard Vehicles
A story in The San Francisco Examiner reports that San Francisco Muni accidents are down 50% with the installation of DriveCam surveillance systems in all of the Muni buses, according to a Muni study. Cameras Capture San Francisco Bus Drivers On Video The cameras are activated by sudden changes in velocity, such a sharp… Read More »
New Scan Helps Disclose TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury
A new MRI scanning technique, called diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI, can disclose abnormalities in patients with traumatic brain injury, whose injuries could not be seen on any diagnostic imaging, according to a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and reported by the National Library of Medicine. As an attorney… Read More »
New Testing For Traumatic Brain Injury
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the U.S. army is using a new imaging test to look for objective signs of TBI, or traumatic brain injury. The testing, called SPECT, or single-photon emission computerized tomography, shows the level of blood flow throughout the brain. Typcial MRI Scans Don’t Typically Show MTBI Many traumatic brain injuries… Read More »
Bike Accident Lawyer on Golden Gate Bridge Speed Limits
Recently the Golden Gate Bridge District considered, and tabled, a proposal to set a 10 MPH speed limit for bicycles on the bridge. This became the subject of an episode of the Forum radio show on KQED, which posted listener comments online. Could Speed Limits Make Riding Across the Golden Gate Bridge Safer? In… Read More »
Reforming Medical Malpractice Lawsuits May Not Lead to Lower Healthcare Costs
Blaming Medical Malpractice Lawsuits for High Healthcare Costs Many of us have been led to believe that medical malpractice tort reform would be an effective way to address the cost problem. Unfortunately, blaming medical malpractice suits as part of health care reform isn’t necessarily the answer to lowering healthcare costs. Two reasons: a strong… Read More »
Avoiding San Francisco Bicycle Accidents: Bikes and Stop Signs
Even very careful riders, who want to do everything the can to avoid an injury bike accident, can find it hard to convince themselves to stop when it is obvious that there is no cross traffic. Although California law is the same in for cars and bikes at stop signs, most cyclists I see… Read More »
