If you suffered a head or brain injury in an accident that was not your fault, you may be entitled to compensation to pay for your current and future medical expenses. You may also be entitled to additional compensation known as non-economic damages.
When a car, truck or motorcycle hits a pedestrian, the accident is almost always the fault of the driver of the vehicle. By law, pedestrians in Massachusetts practically always have the right of way regardless of the circumstances of the accident.
A driver might be responsible for a pedestrian accident even if the pedestrian did not use an available crosswalk and crossed the street at a point between crosswalks. That is because a pedestrian has a right to travel anywhere on a highway or street and not merely on the crosswalk.
It should be noted that from the pedestrian’s point of view, a violation of the jaywalking statute (M.G.L. c. 90, § 18A) cannot be used as evidence in court to prove the pedestrian was negligent and therefore responsible for the accident.
There is no law in Massachusetts requiring a pedestrian, when lawfully using the road, to be continuously looking or listening to determine if cars or trucks are approaching.
The majority of backover accidents involving young children occur in residential driveways. Sadly, a parent or close relative is behind the wheel in most driveway backup accidents, which account for nearly half of fatal car accidents involving children.
Joggers are pedestrians, and in Massachusetts, pedestrians almost always have the right of way and cars and trucks have a duty to yield the right of way to the pedestrian. Pedestrian joggers are among the most vulnerable people using the roads and sidewalks in and around Massachusetts.
A pedestrian is 4 times more likely to be struck by a left turning vehicle at an intersection than a vehicle taking a right turn at an intersection. So what is it about left turns that makes them so dangerous?
Many pedestrian accidents in Massachusetts occur at or near designated crosswalks. A pedestrian crosswalk accident occurs every two hours in this country. In 2006 alone over 500 pedestrians died when they were struck by a vehicle while walking in a crosswalk. These crosswalks are located at every intersection and in between intersections on busy roads.
A semi-public pool is a swimming pool that is used in connection with a hotel, motel, trailer court, apartment house, condominium, country club, youth club, school, camp, or similar establishment where the primary purpose of the establishment is not to operate swimming facilities. Semi-public pools have some of their own rules.
When a child is injured in a camp drowning accident, one of the most important things that needs to be done is to determine whether or not the camp failed to take precautions to prevent the drowning accident. Any camp that offers swimming activities at a beach, pond or lake must follow certain laws. These laws were written to protect children from preventable drowning accidents. The following section details some of the recreational swimming safety laws camps must following.
Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) has an obligation to protect public pool swimmers. Here is information about public pool safety laws enacted by the Massachusetts state legislature.
The DCR is responsible for hiring and supervising lifeguards during beach season. All lifeguards must be at least 18 years old. It’s the responsibility of the authorities, via the lifeguards on duty, to warn swimmers whenever there are dangerous conditions like “rip tides,” undertows or even (as rare as they are) shark sightings. While it may not be possible to recover damages from an ineffective or improperly trained lifeguard—who is often barely a teenager himself—you may have a case against that lifeguard’s employer if you are injured (or if a loved one drowns) while swimming along the shore.
Iron workers face a serious risk of life altering injuries everyday. Burn injuries from welding accidents and catastrophic fall injuries are only a few of construction work accidents they face. Workers compensation benefits are available for ironworkers that are injured on the job.
If you or a loved one was was injured in a carpentry accident call our workers compensation attorneys today. Carpenters often sustained neck, back and knee injuries. These injuries can result in lost wages and permanent disability. Hand and finger amputation injuries caused by defective power tools, like saws are also a common occurrence.
Auto Mechanics work in a dangerous environment. There are various daily risks that can seriously injury and even kill mechanics. In a large number of cases, parties other than the mechanic are responsible for the accident.
Landscape workers face a variety of dangers including adverse weather conditions, equipment, machinery, and physical work that can result in accidents. In many situations, there are third parties that are liable for these accidents. To obtain fair workers compensation benefits it is often vital to obtain the assistance of a skilled work injury attorney.
Roofers face serious risk of on-the-job injury including ladder falls, roof falls and nail gun injuries. The roofing industry is so dangerous that according to Roofing Contractor Magazine, roofing contractors pay more for workers’ comp than nearly any other contractor.
Healthcare workers provide perform important job functions and help provide much-needed assistance in home care institutions, hospitals, medical clinics, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. Healthcare workers face a variety of risks that can result in serious and long lasting injuries.
Many people fail to appreciate how much stress and strain a career in nursing puts on the body. Nurses typically spend their entire shift on their feet. Oftentimes nurses need to help patients in and out of bed, wheelchairs and the shower. Lifting patients and helping them re-position their bodies puts a tremendous toll on the neck and back. Most nurses develop chronic cervical and lumbar spines conditions over the course of their careers.
Common delivery trucks include food delivery trucks, furniture delivery, and postal delivery services like UPS, FedEx, and DHL. Delivery drivers are always on the move and are forced to meet tight delivery deadlines. However, delivery drivers drive for a living and in many cases they are injured in an accident that is not their fault.
Laryngeal fractures can occur as the result of accidents involving direct trauma to the neck, most commonly as a result of car accidents. The injury can lead to an instant, serious airway obstruction that is life-threatening, thus all larynx fractures must be treated as serious emergencies. They can also be associated with open neck, esophageal, and intracranial injuries, as well as cervical spine fractures.
Those suffering from renal injuries typically complain of abdominal or flank pain. It is critical that medical professionals undertake a urinalysis and, based on those results, further investigation undertaken. The use of CT scans has also contributed to the decreased reliance on surgical explorations of renal injuries. While the presence of urinary extravasation itself does not necessarily indicate that surgical exploration is necessary, it does confirm the presence of a major renal injury.
Diaphragmatic trauma typically results from penetrating or blunt trauma, where 80 to 90% of blunt diaphragmatic ruptures are due to car accidents. Lateral impact from a motor vehicle crash can sometimes distort the chest wall and cut the ipsilateral diaphragm. The incidence of diaphragmatic injury in blunt trauma increases in accordance with the occurrence of high-speed car accidents.
Upper limb amputations are most commonly caused by accidents, infections, burns, tumors, disease, and/or birth conditions, with trauma and cancer being the lead causes. With a wrist disarticulation, the limb is amputated at the wrist, whereas with a forearm amputation (transradial), the amputation runs from the elbow to the wrist. These types of injuries can result from trying to block impact during a car accident or fall, or as the result of working with heavy machinery or under other dangerous conditions. Sometimes they result from infection or from other medical procedures.
Elbow dislocations and transhumeral amputations tend to result from catastrophic injuries, whereby the bones of the arm (humerus) or forearm (radius and ulna, forming the lower parts of the elbow) are dislocated. Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 people undergo amputations every year for one reason or another, and they can be complete or partial.
A calcaneus fracture occurs when there is a break to the heel bone. Although somewhat uncommon, they can occur as the result of a high-impact event—such as a car accident or a fall—or a twisting injury to the ankle. As a result, the heel typically becomes deformed, and surgery is required in order to reconstruct the normal shape of the heel and provide mobility.
The talus (or ankle) bone connects the back of the foot with the leg, joining with the tibia and fibula to form the ankle joint, and allowing for motion within the ankle. Fracturing the talus is thus equal to breaking the ankle bone, and typically involves severe ankle pain, bruising, and swelling, with an inability to walk due to these symptoms.
Facial Nerve Damage Injuries, Symptoms and Treatment The facial nerves run along the sides of the face and control the facial muscles that allow us to demonstrate expressions, such as smiling. They also travel through the parotid gland, providing motor functions for the muscles and glands of the neck and head. Symptoms and Diagnosing Facial nerve damage depends upon the severity of the injury or damage to the nerve, and can range from mild twitching, to serious facial muscle weakness, and even paralysis. Thus, facial nerve damage can range from a mild issue to life-altering, depending upon the cause and … Read more…
Although it is phrased in the singular, the “cheekbone” is actually comprised of several bones. When a fracture occurs, these individual bones are fractured in different combinations, depending upon the circumstances of the injury.
The maxilla connects the dental occlusal plane inferiority and cranial base superiorly, ultimately joining with the nasal cavity, oral cavity, and various other important bodily structures. When these bones are fractured, the injury can be life-threatening and disfiguring. These types of fractures often result from car accidents, as well as falls and altercations and as the result of high-energy blunt force.
