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While methadone is prescribed by doctors, nurse practitioners, and osteopaths as a painkiller to treat conditions resulting in severe pain, the drug is implicated in two times as many painkiller-related fatalities as the drugs Vicodin and OxyContin. According to Dr. Howard Heit, a pain medication specialist, many patients that take the drug as prescribed can suffer adverse side effects, including death.

Federal regulators admit that it took them awhile to recognize physician ignorance related to the drug and the dangers that could arise when doctors prescribe methadone as a painkiller. The government cites “imperfect” systems as a cause for the oversight. As late as 2006, the Food and Drug Administration-approved package insert was still recommending a dangerously high dosage.

The number of deaths citing methadone as a contributing cause between 1999 and 2005 was 4,462, which federal officials say may be an underestimation. In 2007, the state of Florida alone reported 785 deaths caused by methadone. Between 1998 and 2006, the number of methadone prescriptions grew by 700%, says the DEA.

One main problem is that many doctors don’t fully comprehend the way methadone metabolizes and how patients can have different responses.

Causes for error include:

• Prescribing too much methadone too quickly.
• Failing to warn patients that it is dangerous to mix methadone with sedatives or alcohol.
• Failing to follow up during the first week a patient is taking the drug.

The FDA is considering mandating that doctors take classes that focus on prescribing narcotics.

Federal regulators and drug manufacturers are supposed to make sure that any medications that are recommended, manufactured, and placed out in the market are safe for use. Allowing a dangerous drug into the marketplace or failing to warn of a drug’s potential side effects can be grounds for a drug litigation lawsuit if someone gets sick or dies as a result. A doctor may be subject to a medical malpractice lawsuit if he or she prescribes a drug to a patient but fails to warn of dangers or doesn’t prescribe the correct dosage.

Methadone is successful as painkiller, but can be deadly, Boston.com, August 17, 2008
Painkiller more available for abuse, USA Today, July 13, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Methadone, Drugs.com
Methadone, NIH Continue reading

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Earlier this year, the Orange County Health Department in Florida cited 100 neighborhood hotels and apartments for having deficient pool drains. A list of the properties cited can be found below this article in the Related Web Resources section of the page.

Pool Drains
Pool drains can pose a hazard to swimmers, especially to children, if the drains are not properly covered and do not have the proper shut-off valves. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been numerous accidents in which people have become trapped by the drain at the bottom of a pool or a spa tub. Many of these victims have been children.

A pool drain can create suction that a person can easily get caught in if it is too strong. This can prevent him or her from being able to resurface from the water and may lead to drowning accidents and other serious injuries. Drowning deaths can result when a person’s hair gets stuck in a hot tub drain. Earlier this year, a 6-year-old girl died from injuries she sustained when a swimming pool drain sucked out her intestines.

In December, the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act will go into effect. This new law will make it mandatory for all public pools to install the proper drain safety covers and shut-off valves that will prevent people from getting trapped underwater by the suction of a powerful pool or hot tub drain.

The legislation is named after former Secretary of State James Baker’s 7-year-old granddaughter who drowned after getting trapped by the drain of a friend’s hot tub. The suction of the drain was so powerful that efforts to pull her out of the water before she died proved impossible.

Despite the dangers that deficient pool drains pose, an ABC News undercover team reported in July that they discovered that many public pools and hotels across the US have failed to take action to remedy this unsafe condition.

Injuries or death caused by a defective pool drain can be grounds for a products liability or wrongful death lawsuit.

Dangerous Pool Drains Could Trap And Kill Children, WFTV.com, July 28, 2008
ABC News Investigation Finds Dangerous Drains Across the Country, ABC News, July 23, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Disemboweled In Pool, Minn. Girl Dies, Local10.com, March 21, 2008
List of Florida Properties (PDF)
Continue reading

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Following reports that the number of red-light running traffic violations have decreased significantly in the Florida cities of Apopka and Gulf Breeze since red-light cameras were installed on certain busy roads, more Florida cities (including Sunrise, Ft. Lauderdale, and Hollywood) are considering installing the devices on their own roads. Pembroke Pines and Hallandale Beach have said that they will install the cameras, which photograph a motorist as he or she drives through a red traffic light.
Not only does getting caught running a red light lead to a traffic violation and an expensive fine for the owner of the vehicle, but the cameras are intended to prevent people from running a red light and striking a pedestrian or another motor vehicle.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 22% of all US motor vehicle accidents are a result of drivers running red lights, with at least 800 traffic fatalities occurring as a result each year. In the Broward County city of Ft. Lauderdale alone, there were 3,201 auto crashes caused by drivers running red lights last year that lead to 23 fatalities. Between 1998 and 2006 in Florida, 110 of the traffic deaths that occurred in the state happened because motorists ran red lights.

There are, of course, reports that argue that red-light cameras also increase the number of auto accidents, such as when a driver slam on the brakes in an effort to avoid running a red light and causes an auto crash instead. This is more likely to happen when other motorists are following too closely behind the vehicles in front of them.

According to a seven-year Virginia Transportation Research Council study, the number of motor vehicle accidents increased at intersections after red-light cameras were installed by 29%. Meanwhile, an Urban Transit Institute at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University study found that the number of auto accidents at intersections with red-light cameras grew by 40%, with injury crashes increasing by 40-50%.

Success with red-light cameras should earn green light from state, Sun-Sentinel.com
How Red-light Cameras Work, HowStuffWorks
Red-Light Cameras Increase Accidents, USF Study Says, 2.Tbo.com, March 12, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
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In Palm Beach County, the rate of woman delivering their babies by cesarean section is now over 40%–almost twice as many women as the number of women giving birth by C-section 10 years ago. This figure is also a lot higher than the national figure of 31%. Now public health officials are wondering whether all of these women needed to give birth by C-section, a costly procedure that also comes with some risk.

Some local doctors say that the surgery is a safer option for them than the risk of a botched delivery that could lead to a Florida medical malpractice lawsuit. The majority of obstetricians in the county no longer have liability coverage because it is too expensive.

Other obstetricians said the reasons they might opt to perform a C-section birth rather than go with natural delivery included:

• Decreasing the risks of a complicated pregnancy.
• The increase in fertility treatments usually results in twin (or more) pregnancies; this usually requires a C-section delivery.
• More older women are getting pregnant.
• Often, doctors will perform a C-section on a woman if her previous birth(s) required this procedure.
• Teen pregnancies may require a C-section delivery.
• Pregnant women that are obese may require a C-section delivery.
• More women want to avoid labor and/or schedule the date of birth.

Some doctors worry that denying a request by a pregnant woman to perform a C-section could lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit if the baby is injured during natural delivery. In Martin County, where the majority of obstetricians are covered for malpractice, 15% less C-section procedures are performed than in Palm Beach County, Florida.

According to court information, the number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed against Palm Beach County obstetricians has dropped as the number of C-section procedures has increased. Although C-sections are now easier to recover from than they were two decades ago and they are generally designed to lower the risk of injury to the baby and mother, anesthesia and infection risks still exist. Having an earlier delivery by C-section can also affect the development of the baby and lead to feeding, breathing, and neurological problems for the infant.

Rise in C-sections stirs health worry, Palm Beach Post, August 23, 2008
Cesarean Fact Sheet, Childbirth.org

Related Web Resource:

Birthing Defensive Mechanism: Medical Malpractice and Cesarean Sections in the United States, AllAcademic.com Continue reading

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Presidents from about 100 colleges and universities across the United States are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the legal drinking age. They believe the current drinking laws actually encourage rather than discourage college students from drinking heavily. The current legal drinking age is 21.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

• There were 3,490 teen driving deaths (ages 15-20) in 2006.
• 31% of the teen drivers killed that year had been drinking.
• Auto accidents are a main cause of teen deaths.

• Nationally, 12,998 people died in alcohol-impaired motor vehicle collisions in 2007.
• 890 of those fatalities took place in Florida.

The college presidents are part of the Amethyst Initiative. Members of the movement believe that college students are more likely to drink if alcohol consumption is illegal for them.

Statistics Regarding College Drinking:

• Over 40% of college students exhibit at least one sign of alcohol dependence or abuse.
• Over 500,000 college students a year are involved in alcohol-related accidents.
• Some 1,700 students a year die in accidents where drinking was a factor.
• Many college students drink heavily on their 21st birthdays-with men drinking an average of 12 drinks and women consuming 9 drinks to mark the occasion.

Not everyone is in agreement that lowering the legal drinking age will save more lives and prevent injuries. Mothers Against Drunk Driving say decreasing the legal drinking age will lead to more deadly motor vehicle crashes.

Drunk driving accidents can lead to catastrophic injuries for the driver, passengers, and others on the road. Drunk driving is a crime and it is also negligent driving.

College Presidents Want Lower Drinking Age, NYSun.com, August 19, 2008
Students mark 21st birthdays with ‘extreme’ drinking binges, USA Today.com, August 27, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Amethyst Initiative

2007 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment-Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities (PDF)
Continue reading

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Boating is a popular activity in the sunny state of Florida for both vacationers and locals. Yachts, motorboats, sailboats, rowboats, personal watercraft, and other vessels can be found throughout the state’s numerous waterways and other bodies of water.

Unfortunately, boating accidents do happen, resulting in injuries and deaths to operators, boat passengers, and swimmers in the water. In 2007, the US Coast Guard says that there were 75 boating deaths in Florida, which is an increase from the 68 deaths in 2006. Overall, there were 663 boating accents in the state last year.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, common causes of boating accidents have included:
• Drunk driving
• Operator inattention
• Reckless operation
• Speeding
• Operator inexperience
• Drug use
• Equipment failure
• Passenger or skier behavior

Examples of boating accidents:
• Boat collisions
• Crashing into a fixed object
• Falling overboard
• Capsized vessels
• Sinking
• Explosions and fires

Boating accidents can lead to broken bones, drowning-related injuries, traumatic brain injuries, other serious injuries, and death.
U.S. Coast Guard Reports A Decrease Of Deaths On the Water, US Coast Guard, May 15, 2008
Boating Accident Statistics, US Coast Guard
2007 Boating Accident Statistics, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Continue reading

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According to results from the inspection conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation following the deadly Burhap, Walton County truck accident that left one man dead and a young girl seriously injured, the tractor-trailer driven by former Walton County Commissioner Herman Walker was overloaded with cattle feed by about 1,000 pounds( over the 80,000 limit). DOT inspectors also found that two breaks on the truck were out of adjustment and that the truck had not undergone its latest inspections.

The deadly crash, which happened on July 11, killed Eric S. Burhap, injured his wife Shannon and two children, and left family friend Katie Johnson, 9, with catastrophic injuries. The tractor-trailer collision occurred on State Road 2A north of DeFuniak Springs when Walker lost control of his truck on a curve and struck Burhap’s SUV. While blood alcohol test results show no proof Walker had alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, toxicology results are still pending.

In August, Shannon and Johnson filed a lawsuit against Walker for wrongful death and personal injury caused by the deadly Florida truck crash. The lawsuit also notes that Walker and his wife filed and finalized their divorce soon after the collision and that over $7 million in assets were transferred to his wife as part of their settlement. The lawsuit contends that Walker filed for divorce to avoid paying the money as compensation to the injury victims. Johnson and Shannon are seeking unspecified damages.

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A federal lawsuit filed by a former inmate against the Broward County Sheriff’s Office is set to go to trial in Miami on Tuesday. Dana Jones is suing the Sheriff’s Office and Armor Correctional Health Services for medical costs and unspecified damages following a severe beating he received by other inmates while he was detained at the jail in December 2006.

Jones’s brain injuries were so severe that he went into a coma. The 46-year-old now resides at a nursing home in Pompano Beach. According to Jones, the Sheriff’s Office and the jail’s medical provider neglected to protect him from other inmates, ignored his prior mental condition, and botched an investigation into whether deputies at the jail were involved in the altercation that lead to his beating.

Other inmates that were at the jail when the beating happened said Jones had made a racist remark to two of the detention deputies, who happened to be black. He was found on the floor of the jail and was gurgling his own blood. Jones’s family members were not told for six days that he was in the hospital. They were initially informed that he hurt himself in a fall accident.

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A Boynton Beach plastic surgeon has been sentenced to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to four counts of practicing without a license. In Palm Beach Circuit Court on Tuesday, Dr. Mark Schreiber issued an apology, telling the judge that he believed he was “doing the right thing.”

Schreiber’s license has been suspended three times since 1999, and several complaints about him had been filed with the state of Florida. According to his defense lawyer, Schreiber never performed any surgeries during the periods of suspension, but he did see patients for follow up visits and informed them that his license was suspended. Schreiber’s plea agreement will allow patients to obtain restitution.

One of Schreiber’s patient, Cara Hart, says she went to the Boynton Beach plastic surgeon for a breast lift three years ago and that the procedure was botched. Hart continued to visit Schreiber daily after the surgery so he could try to repair the damage. She says he treated her while his license was suspended.

Another patient, 51-year-old Sherri DiLorenzo, says that she suffered permanent disfigurement after Schreiber gave her breast implants. 49-year-old Sue Danciu says she also became permanently disfigured after the plastic surgeon performed an eye lift and a face lift. Danciu says she did not know that Schreiber didn’t have a license.
In 2005, a Boca Raton woman says that she went to Schreiber for treatment and he touched her breast and inner thigh.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation says at least six medical malpractice settlements totaling over $1 million have been paid to patients on Schreiber’s behalf. According to Florida records, injuries that led to the settlements included burns, damaged organs, surgical materials left in a patient, limb loss, deafness, finger loss, kidney loss, lung loss, and eye loss.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons:
• There were 11.8 million cosmetic procedures in 2007.
• 20% of these procedures took place in hospitals.
• 59% of these procedures occurred in an office-based space.
• 21% of these procedures occurred in a free-standing ambulatory surgical location.

Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice
Plastic surgery malpractice can occur if the surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurse, or another practitioner makes a mistake during a procedure. Examples of cosmetic surgery injuries: facial paralysis, dangerous breast implant leaks, and scarring.

Boynton Beach plastic surgeon sent to prison for practicing without a license, Sun-Sentinel.com, August 27, 2008
Former Plastic Surgeon Headed to Prison, CBS12.com, August 26, 2008
New documentary exposes horrors of botched plastic surgery, NYDailyNews.com, July 31, 2008

Related Web Resources:

General Risks and Complications, SmartPlasticSurgery.com,

American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Continue reading

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Police say that the taxi driver that drove into a group of bicyclists in Miami Beach on Sunday fell asleep while driving. The traffic accident, which happened around 8am in the morning on the MacArthur Causeway, knocked many cyclists onto the ground.

Six of the bicycle accident victims were transported to the hospital. Five riders sustained serious road burns that were treated at the crash scene.

The taxi driver was Checker Cab company driver Herbert Morais, who admitted to falling asleep while on the road. He did not have any passengers riding in his cab when he hit the riders from behind.

Traffic records show that Morais has received several tickets for traffic violations in Miami-Dade County over the last five years. Just last month, he was ticketed for failing to halt at a stop sign. He also has received tickets for speeding and not obeying HOV lane requirements.

Common crash scenarios that can lead to accidents between bicyclists and motorists:

• A driver merges into a bicyclist’s lane.
• The bicyclist rides into a motorcyclist’s path.
• The driver tries to ride past the bicyclist.
• The driver or bicyclist does not yield the right of way.

Sleepy Drivers
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says over 1/3rd of drivers have fallen asleep or nodded off while driving at least once in their lives. The National Sleep Foundation says 32% of adults say they’ve driven while sleepy at least once a month.

Most fatigue and sleep-related auto crashes occur between 12am and 6am, but 1pm to 4pm is also a time when there are drowsy drivers on the road.

Driver Fell Asleep At Wheel Before Hitting Cyclists, Police Say, Local10.com, August 25, 2008
Cab barrels into bicyclists in Miami Beach crash, PalmBeachPost.com, August 24, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Florida Traffic and Bicycle Safety Education Program

Bicycles, NHTSA Continue reading

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