Three People Killed by Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Hotel Room

Over a period of just weeks, three people, including an elderly couple and a young boy, were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning after they stayed at a Best Western facility in North Carolina. 

What’s disturbing is that the elderly couple died in April of carbon monoxide poisoning, but local medical examiners failed to identify carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause of death back then.   As a result, the hotel continued to rent the room to others.  However, last week, an 11-year-old boy died after he was staying with his mother in the same motel room.  His mother suffered serious injuries, and was hospitalized.  In this case, the cause of death has been detected as carbon monoxide poisoning.

Investigators are now looking at the source of the carbon monoxide.  The room is situated right above the mechanical room of the motel, and investigators believe that the poisonous gas leaked into the room either through the gas fireplace vents or air conditioner.  There is also some speculation that the fumes came from the pool heater.

When the elderly couple was found unconscious in their room in April, the cause of death was mistakenly assumed to be simultaneous heart attacks.  They were both in good health at the time. There was also plenty of negligence after the first death back in April.  The medical examiner’s office did not send any representatives to the scene of the deaths, and even local emergency personnel who responded to the scene did not have any carbon monoxide detection equipment.

Now, police are asking people who may have stayed at #225 at the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza in Boone to contact police immediately.

In North Carolina, new houses are required to install carbon monoxide detectors, but motels are excluded from this requirement.  As a result, there were no detectors in this particular motel. 

Marijuana Can Help Block Effects of Brain Injury

According to new research, THC which is the active ingredient in marijuana can have a protective effect both before and after a brain injury.

The findings were announced by scientists at Tel Aviv University’s Adbelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases.  According to the scientists, they found that marijuana has neuroprotective qualities.  They believe that small quantities of THC, which is the psychoactive component in marijuana, helps protect the brain from long-term cognitive damage that has resulted due to lack of oxygen, or hypoxia.  They also believe that THC can benefit a person who has suffered brain damage due to the use of toxic drugs.

The use of medical marijuana for its therapeutic properties is not exactly unknown.  While millions of Americans use pot recreationally, its therapeutic benefits have also been well documented.  In fact, marijuana is currently being used by people who suffer from cancer, and post traumatic stress disorder.  It is being used as an effective pain management agent, as well as to treat other disorders, like insomnia and lack of appetite.

Earlier studies have also focused on the effect of THC when delivered just before or after an injury.  The new research confirms that even small doses of THC, which amount to approximately 1,000 to 10,000 times less than that in a marijuana cigarette, can help kick start a neuroprotective process that can protect brain cells.  This can help preserve cognitive function.  However, for these marijuana treatments to be effective, the drug must be administered within a very short period of time, preferably within 30 minutes before or after the injury.

Highest Risk of Teen Accidents during Summer

Summer is the deadliest time of the year for teenage drivers, and the biggest reason why so many teenagers are involved in serious or fatal accidents during summer is distracted driving.

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the American Auto Association, seven out of the 10 most deadly days for American teenage drivers fall between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays.  In 2011 alone, approximately 10% of injuries or accidents were linked to driver distraction.  Data also indicates that as many as 11% of all teenage drivers below 20 who were involved in a fatal accident were distracted at the time of the crash.

The National Traffic Safety Administration has extensively studied the distracted driving problem, and believes that motorists are up to three times more likely to be involved in a car accident, while they are reaching out for something in the car.  However, the biggest risks from distractions involve drivers who are texting while driving.  These drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident.

Teenage drivers are at a severe risk of texting while driving, because of societal factors, peer pressure, and the constant urge to stay in touch with friends while they’re driving.  Friends and social circles play a huge part in impacting a teens’ psyche, and not surprisingly, many teenagers continue to stay in touch with their friends, via Whatsapp Facebook and Twitter even while driving.

This summer, parents and teenagers can expect to be bombarded with a number of anti-distracted driving campaigns that are specifically focused towards these drivers.  San Jose personal injury lawyers, as well as California transportation safety agencies and cell phone companies have determined that teenage drivers are at a heightened risk of distracted driving accidents, and therefore, many campaigns now specifically target this demographic.

Drowsy Driving Is a High Risk Factor for New Mothers

New mothers who are dealing with the stress of caring for a newborn baby may be much more likely to suffer from sleep deprivation, increasing their risks of being involved in a drowsy driving-related accident.  According to new research conducted in Australia recently, many new mothers report that they find it difficult to concentrate on the task of driving.

The preliminary investigation was conducted by the QUT Center for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland.  Many of the new mothers in the survey admitted that they suffered symptoms of postpartum sleepiness and drowsiness.  They also admitted that this drowsiness had led them to make simple mistakes while driving.  Many of these errors were serious enough to cause accidents.  Some new mothers also admitted that they had difficulty staying awake, and concentrating while driving.

According to the study, on an average, these new mothers reported that drowsiness impairs their ability to perform their daily routines at least a few days a week.

Although sleep deprivation after the birth of a baby is the subject of much jokes, and many pregnant women do get friendly warnings about the lack of sleep that they are likely to experience in the year after the baby’s birth, Los Angeles personal injury lawyers find a lack of research into how sleepiness affect a mother’s safety, especially behind the wheel. 

There is also a misconception that postpartum sleepiness is only experienced a few weeks after birth.  Many mothers will inform you that they continue to suffer from lack of sleep for months and even more than a year after the child is born.  The researchers actually found that many of these mothers experienced postpartum sleepiness not just at six weeks but also at 12, 18 weeks and 24 weeks after the birth. 

 

NTSB Urges States to Lower DUI Blood-Alcohol Level

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a new recommendation that is already being criticized by the restaurant and beverage lobbies.  The Board recommended a lowering of the legally-allowed blood alcohol content limit from the current .08% followed in all 50 states, to .05%.

The National Transportation Safety Board based its recommendation on the fact that drunk driving continues to be a major killer on our roads, even though the number of fatalities linked to people drinking and driving had been dropping in recent years.  The fact is that more than 30% of traffic accident fatalities every year are linked to intoxicated driving.  Alcohol kills more people every year on our roads than any other factor, except speeding.

The National Transportation Safety Board estimates that as many as 800 lives can be saved every year if all states adopt the .05% alcohol level standard.  The Board estimates that more than 10,000 people are killed in these accidents every year, and more than 170,000 people are injured in such accidents.  Every year, about 4 million people admit to driving under the influence at some point.

The National Transportation Safety Board estimates that a person’s risk of having an accident increases by 39% when he has a BAC of .05% and increases by 100% when he has a BAC of .08%.

Many countries in Europe have much lower alcohol limits of .05%.  Phoenix car accident lawyers don’t find it surprising that these countries also have much lower rates of drunk driving accident fatalities compared to the United States.  Most of South America and Australia also has BAC standards of .05% that have been established to reduce the risk of drunk driving accidents. 

Not surprisingly, the beverage industry and the restaurant industry have jumped to criticize any proposal to reduce the legally allowed blood alcohol content. 

 

New Statistics Find People in Danger of Losing Homes Have Higher Head Injury Rate

Earlier research has indicated a link between homelessness and traumatic brain injury.  New statistics also indicate an equally disturbing link between homelessness or being in danger of losing your home, and higher rates of injury.  According to the statistics that were published recently in the Emergency Medicine Journal, men who drink heavily, and have been homeless for long periods of time, have a head injury rate that is as much as 400 times that of the general population.

The researchers are shocked by the findings of their analysis.  The study finds that men, who drink heavily and have been homeless, have 120 times as many severe head injuries, compared to the general population.  They also have 300 times as many injuries that end with bleeding in the brain.

The study indicates that several categories of people are at a higher risk of brain injuries.  For instance, people who lived in unsafe or unaffordable housing, or were in danger of becoming homeless soon had higher injury rates. In both of these groups, the injury rate was approximately 23 times as high as in the general public.  However, these groups had rates that were lower than the head injury rates among the chronically homeless.

The researchers also found that the interval between head injuries seemed to increase with the number of injuries.  The average gap between injuries was approximately 231 days, and this increased by an average of almost 11 days with subsequent injuries.

The study differs from earlier research that has been conducted in this field in that this particular study is based on actual Emergency Department visits made by homeless people.  Earlier studies focused on interviews of homeless people.  A wide variety of injuries were considered as part of this analysis, ranging all the way from concussions to hemorrhages. 

 

Slow Progress in Reducing Hospital Admission Rates

When a patient has been discharged from hospital, and is readmitted back into the hospital within a period of 30 days, it not only increases inconvenience and risk of injury for the patient, but also increases healthcare costs.  However, those costs are a long way from being reduced, as the results of a new study show.

The study finds that progress in reducing the rates of hospital readmissions every year, is likely to take much longer than experts had earlier believed.

According to Penn State, University of Pennsylvania and Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, as many as one in 5 Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted back to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged from the facility.  These readmissions cost the Medicare program as much as $18 billion every year.  However, it’s the fact that so many of these readmissions are entirely preventable that is really distressing to California medical malpractice lawyers.

For instance, when a patient has been given thorough information about the medications that he needs to take upon discharge, and when staff stress upon patients the need to return to the hospital for follow-up care in order to reduce the risk of infections and other complications, there’s a much lower risk that the patient will be admitted again to the hospital.  However, many of these precautions are clearly not being followed at the country’s facilities.

The research focused on the results of the State Action Unavoidable Rehospitalization initiative, which is targeted at reducing the number of hospital readmissions by 20% to 30%.  The study found that although everyone seems to agree about the need to reduce hospital readmission rates, there needs to be better collaboration between all parties involved in a healthcare setting, for more progress to be made. 

TBI Increases Risk of Divorce

Persons who suffer from a brain injury already suffer from a range of physical, mental and cognitive effects that impair their ability to live normal lives.  These persons may also have a much higher risk of divorce.  According to new estimates, the rate of divorce or separation among persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury is as high as 78%.  California brain injury lawyers believe that one of the primary reasons for this increased divorce rate is the sexual dysfunction that is a frequent consequence of a brain injury. 

Recent research which involved an analysis of earlier studies on the effect of brain injury on a person’s sexuality, has found that issues of sexuality are rarely touched upon by doctors, therapists and others working with a person with a brain injury.  The analysis found that as many as 60% of people who suffered a brain injury also experience sexual difficulties. A person with a brain injury may suffer from failure to achieve an erection or get aroused, failure to orgasm, lower sex drive, pain during sex, difficulty with vaginal lubrication, and other problems.

The sexual problems that begin to emerge after a person has suffered a brain injury are very closely connected to the cognitive, physical, and social problems that also result from a brain injury.  For instance, a person who has suffered a brain injury may struggle with issues like with anxiety, and self-esteem which reduces his or her ability to feel desirable and attractive.  There may be physical problems that interfere with a person’s average to enjoy sex, and cognitive and mental problems like disinterest in sex, forgetfulness, and distractions. 

All of these problems are interconnected, and therefore, a person who suffers a brain injury needs holistic solutions to these sexual problems. 

 

More Efforts Needed to Help Reduce Teen Driver Accidents in Surprise

If you are the parent of a teenage child in Surprise, Arizona, you may need to have that long-postponed discussion about traffic safety with your child immediately.  Arizona recorded a sharp increase in teenage accident fatalities during the first 6 months of 2005, up from the same time in 2011.

According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association which reported the statistics, nationally, there was a 19% increase in the number of teenage accident fatalities in the first 6 months of 2012, over the same time in 2011.  In the state of Arizona, there were only 2 traffic accident fatalities involving teenage drivers in the first 6 months of 2011.  However, in the following year, the state recorded 9 traffic accident fatalities involving teenage drivers.

That is a dramatic increase, and it is enough to concern Surprise car accident lawyers.  Our guess is that much of this increase has to do with an increase in distracted driving among teenagers.  Teenagers are notoriously addicted to texting devices and smart phones, and with the pressure to be constantly updated on Facebook and other social media sites, many teenagers are updating their statuses, interacting with friends, texting and e-mailing even while they are driving.

Arizona could do much more to help reduce the number of accidents involving teenage drivers.  A bill that would prohibit teenagers in Arizona from using their cell phones while they’re behind the wheel is headed to the Senate for a vote.  If the bill is passed, then it would mean that Surprise teenagers can no longer text behind the wheel, until they have had their license for at least 6 months.

When you compare numbers to at least 2 or 3 decades earlier, there’s no doubt that there has been a lot of progress made in helping reduce the number of teenage drivers killed in accidents.  However, more progress needs to be made.

NHTSA Warns of Dangers of 15-Passenger Van Rollovers

It’s that time of the year when more people travel in large groups on their way to picnics, and other spring activities.  Not surprisingly, the use of 15-passenger vans is widespread during spring season.  Over the next few weeks, Los Angeles car accident lawyers expect families and large groups of friends to pile into these passenger vans on their way to a good time.  Unfortunately, these are some of the most dangerous automobiles on the road, as federal agencies have warned numerous times.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is once again warning people about the specific accident hazards involved 15 -passenger vans. 

These vans have a much high center of gravity, and are much less stable than other types of large vehicles.  In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the higher the number of people traveling in a 15-passenger van, the higher the risk of a rollover.  On an average, a van that carries 10 people can have a rollover risk that is nearly 3 times higher than the rollover risk of a van carrying just 5 people.

While there has been tremendous progress made in reducing the number of car accident fatalities involving all the types of vehicles, including SUVs and pickup trucks, which were earlier known for their fatal rollover rates, there has been very little progress made in reducing the number of fatalities in accidents involving 15-passenger vans.  In fact, in 2007, the number of people killed in accidents involving these vehicles actually increased by 20% over the previous year.  When it came to van rollover fatalities, the number actually increased by 73% in 2007.

If a passenger van comes equipped with electronic stability control, there may be a reduced risk of a rollover accident.  However, many vans being used today are the earlier models, which do not come with this technology.