Miami Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Approximately 11,000 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur in the United States each year. SCIs are devastating: Of those who have suffered an SCI, 52 percent are considered to be paraplegic and 47 percent are considered to be quadriplegic.

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

An SCI is any injury to the spinal cord that causes a loss of function or a loss of mobility. Contrary to popular belief, a loss of function can occur even if the spinal cord is not severed. In fact, the spinal cords of most people who suffer SCIs remain intact, but damaged. It is also possible for someone to break the bones in his or her neck or back and not suffer any loss of function.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of prescriptions are filled at pharmacies across the country. The busier a pharmacist gets, the more likely it is an error will be made. Prescription errors occur every day, with serious injuries and even death being the possible result.

Why Do Pharmacy Errors Happen?

A recent FDA panel identified several common factors contributing to medication errors in both hospitals and consumer pharmacies, such as inadequate differentiation between different drugs and strengths, confusing or distracting container and carton labeling, and inadequate or excessive drug information. Compounding the problem, many consumer pharmacies rely on improperly trained or inadequately supervised technicians to fill prescriptions, leading to even more mistakes.

Insufficient training and confusion behind the pharmacy counter can cause patients to receive the incorrect medication, the wrong dose of medication or a drug that interacts dangerously with other prescriptions. These mistakes can cause serious injury or even death.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a serious problem in the United States. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.7 million people in the U.S. suffer a TBI each year.

What Are TBIs and How Do They Occur?

A traumatic brain injury is any kind of physical force injury to the head that damages the nerve cells in the brain so that they are unable to relay messages from one part of the brain to another. TBIs can occur in a variety of situations, but are often the result of car and motorcycle accidents.

Serious brain damage can result when a person's head strikes an object -- such as a windshield or pavement -- or when an object strikes the individual's head. In some circumstances, a TBI can occur without an external blow to the head. Whiplash or similar violent shaking of the head can cause the brain to strike the inside of the cranium, damaging delicate nerve cells.

Florida is home to eight of the nation's top 12 amusement parks -- Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando and SeaWorld, for example -- as well as dozens of others that do not make national rankings. Even during the tough economic times of 2009, Florida's theme parks drew approximately 64 million visitors from around the state, the country and the world.

Unfortunately, any time people gather in such vast numbers -- and particularly when they do so for the purpose of thrill-seeking -- injuries are likely to occur. The following provides an overview of some of the most common injuries sustained by amusement park visitors.

Contrary to popular belief, low-speed car accidents that cause little or no vehicle damage often result in serious injuries for drivers and occupants.

In fact, in a study of low-impact collisions, the Society of Automotive Engineers found that 29 percent of people suffered neck injuries after their cars were hit from behind at a speed of just 2.5 miles per hour. The injury rate rose to 38 percent for collisions at five miles per hour. Notably, none of the crashes resulted in vehicle damage.

Each year, tens of thousands of accidents involving tractor trailers and 18-wheelers occur in the United States. When one of these large commercial trucks hits a car, the occupants of the smaller vehicle are at a distinct disadvantage.

While federal law imposes obligations on truck drivers and trucking companies to assure that drivers are safe on the road, there are some steps all of us can take to avoid a serious or fatal accident with a semi.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, nearly 100,000 motorcyclists were injured and 5,290 were killed in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.

Because motorcycles offer little protection in a crash, motorcycle accidents often result in catastrophic injuries and death. Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcycle riders are about 37 times more likely to die in an accident than passenger car occupants. As the number of motorcycles on the road increases, it is important for motorcycle riders to have a good understanding of how to protect themselves. 

An average of 646 car accidents occurred each day on Florida roads last year, and more than half of those resulted in injury or death. If these numbers seem high, that's because they are: Florida's rate of traffic fatalities per capita has hovered around 30 percent above the national average for years. While careful driving can go a long way toward keeping you safe on the road, there is always a chance that another driver's recklessness may cause you to crash. Listed below are some basic steps to follow if that happens.