A report by the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality recently determined that Ravenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore City harmed its residents when it failed to take action or alert the state when the air conditioning system failed earlier this month. It was one of two nursing homes in Baltimore City that had to be evacuated this summer because they did not have sufficient air conditioning to keep elderly residents cool.

After air conditioning systems in Ravenwood Nursing Home broke down on July 2, the state had to remove 150 residents from that facility, and it had to take similar actions at Liberty Heights Health and Rehabilitation Center, removing 74 residents from that nursing home.

In the case of Ravenwood, the nursing home management failed to tell the state that their air conditioning failed in a timely manner, leaving residents to swelter in 100-degree heat. Liberty Heights did not even have central air installed, according to state officials, instead using a number of individual units. When state officials evacuated the home, temperatures inside were reportedly 94 degrees.

The state reported that temperatures inside the nursing home’s walk-in refrigerator were up to 60 degrees, an unsafe temperature to store food. The door had been propped open with a food cart, presumably in an effort to cool the rest of the kitchen. The report indicated that administrators at Ravenwood knew for more than a year that the air conditioning system had problems.

The state fined the nursing home $52,500 and ordered it to create a correction plan within 10 days. It has three months to reach substantial compliance with state and federal nursing home regulations.

The elderly are generally considered to be at the highest risk of suffering injury and death during extremely high temperatures, making a lack of sufficient air conditioning an act of nursing home neglect and abuse. The soaring temperatures this summer should be no surprise for Baltimore city nursing homes, since Maryland is often subject to intensely hot and humid summers.

Nancy Grimm, director of Maryland’s Office of Health Care Quality told local media that the only reason the state learned about problems at Ravenwood was because a resident called 911. The facility could be cited for environmental deficiencies, and is currently shut down.

It is not the first time that the Baltimore nursing home, located in downtown, has run into trouble over claims of nursing home abuse and neglect. Previous inspections have found that the facility did not have proper preventative policies for nursing home abuse or theft of nursing home residents’ property. It also been cited for hiring people with a history of abusing and mistreating residents. In addition, the nursing home has failed to keep infections from spreading, and failed to control the use of drugs in the home.

BALTIMORE NURSING HOME NEGLECT LAWYERS

The Maryland nursing home lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. investigate potential claims for abuse and neglect that result in a serious injury for a resident. Family members entrust the care of their loved ones to a nursing home, and when neglect occurs, it can have a devastating impact on the health and quality of life for residents.

To review a potential Baltimore nursing home lawsuit with our lawyers, request a free consultation and claim evaluation.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released numbers in late April for on-the-job injury and death statistics among young workers in the U.S. from 1998 to 2007. According to NIOSH’s analysis, workers under the age of 25 were twice as likely to receive non-fatal injuries while at work, when compared to older workers.

Young workers suffered 7.9 million nonfatal injuries at work over the 10-year period studied, translating to 5 trips to the emergency room for every 100 full-time equivalent workers. Over the same period of time, 5,719 younger workers died from occupational injuries, or about 3.6 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.

By comparison, workers over the age of 25 suffered about half as many non-fatal injuries, but 4.4 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. The numbers are an improvement over previous 10 year periods, with non-fatal injuries for young workers declining 19%, and fatal injuries dropping 14%.

Transportation-related accidents, primarily automobile accidents, were the most frequent cause of death among young workers. These included incidents where workers were struck by as a pedestrian, injuries from car crashes, and losing vehicle control.

Almost half (49%) of all non-fatal injuries suffered by young workers were due to contact with objects or equipment. This means they were struck by, rubbed against, caught in, or were crushed by industrial equipment, machinery, parts or materials.

Younger Hispanic workers were the most at risk of fatalities, and mining, agriculture and construction were the most dangerous fields for young workers of all races.

MARYLAND JOB INJURY LAWYERS

The Maryland work injury lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. represent injured workers in claims for Maryland Workers Compensation Benefits. As a result of an on-the-job injury in Maryland, workers may be entitled to benefits including life-time medical care, lost wages and compensation for any disability caused by the Maryland job injury.

Following a Maryland on the job injury, consult with our workers compensation attorneys to make sure your rights are protected and that you get all of the compensation and benefits you deserve.

This week, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation that places a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would raise the minimum amount in a civil lawsuit from $10,000 to $15,000 in order to qualify for a Maryland jury trial. If passed, this would prevent insurance companies from requesting a jury trial in many Maryland auto accident lawsuits, which they often do to delay resolution of the claim and increase litigation costs for plaintiffs by dragging out the process.

Increasing the minimum amount necessary for a jury trial to $15,000 will allow many personal injury cases involving smaller claims to be resolved before a judge in the District Court, where cases are set for trial much quicker and involve less pre-trial discovery. Being able to have a trial before a Maryland District Court judge also allows a case to be heard within a few hours, instead of dragging the same case out for several days before a jury.

Allowing Maryland auto accident victims with smaller cases to keep their lawsuits in the District Court will also allow them to force insurance companies to pay fair compensation, instead of feeling like they have no choice but to accept a bad settlement offer because they do not want to end up in a long legal battle before a jury.

The amendment will require a 2/3 majority of voters before it can be approved, and the Maryland personal injury lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. encourage individuals to support this measure.

The case stems from the death of a five-year old, who drowned in July 2006 at the Crofton Country Club pool. After hearing all of the evidence presented at trial, including information about the negligence of the pool operators and the impact the death has had on the parents, the jury awarded the family $4 million in compensation. However, under the Maryland damage cap, that jury award was cut to about $1 million.

The Maryland pain and suffering damage cap currently limits a plaintiffs damages to $725,000. However, the cap increases by $15,000 on October 1st of each year, so it was $665,000 at the time of this child’s death in 2006.

For Maryland wrongful death lawsuits where there are two or more claimants (in this case both parents presented claims), the court can award damages equal to 150% of the cap. Therefore, the family’s non-economic damages, including damages other than medical expenses, funeral expenses or other quantifiable financial loss, was capped at $997,500.00.

Caps on damages are imposed for all Maryland personal injury lawsuits, creating an unfair situation that does not provide adequate compensation to those who have suffered the most. Capping damages also results in a situation where corporations are able to act without regard to consumer safety, knowing that their damages will be limited regardless of the catastrophic impact of their negligence.

Plaintiffs argued at a hearing last week that the damage cap is also unconstitutional by interfering with the decision of the jury.

Although it is unlikely the Court of Appeals will strike down the 24 year old law, and reverse prior rulings that have upheld the cap, several courts from other states have recently overturned or limited the use of such jury award caps. This year, the state supreme courts in both Illinois and Georgia have overturned medical malpractice caps in those states, agreeing that they violate individuals’ constitutional right to a trial by jury.

Our Maryland personal injury lawyers have seen first hand the unjust impact that the damage cap can have by limiting the recovery for individuals who have suffered devastating loss and who are often left with a life-time of severe pain and suffering. It is impossible for the legislature to determine the amount of compensation an individual is entitled to as a result of the negligence of another. That decision is best left to the individual jury and judge who sat through the trial and heard all of the evidence presented.

According to researchers at the National Safety Counsel (NSC) there are approximately 1.6 million accidents every year related to use of mobile technology, with 1.4 million due to cell phones and 200,000 crashes caused by text messaging. The new data follows a recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that showed that texting could increase the chances of having a traffic accident by a factor of 8.

As recognition for the dangers of texting while driving has been brought to light by studies like this, it was announced this week that any truck drivers or bus drivers caught using a cell phone or other electronic device to send a text message while driving could face a fine of up to $2,750.

A similar prohibition was also recently enacted for all drivers of federal vehicles, and Congress is currently reviewing legislation that would require all 50 states to put a texting ban in place or risk millions of dollars in federal funding. Last year, a law was enacted here prohibiting text messaging while driving in Maryland, and many states already have similar laws on the books.

According to the National Safety Council, there have been about 30 studies in recent years that showed a direct connection between cell phone use and auto accidents. Drivers who use a cell phone, even those using hands-free systems, are four times more likely to be involved in a crash, according to a 1997 study in the New England Journal of Medicine and a 2005 study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Unfortunately, laws and studies are never going stop all text messaging or distracted driving, but by bringing attention to the issue and enacting legislation, hopefully texting while driving will be recognized for the danger that it is. Similar efforts to bring awareness to the risks associated with driving without a seatbelt have proven effective, even if there are still some ignorant people who fail to buckle up.

A list of various research studies into cell phone use while driving can be found on the NSC’s website.

A new Maryland traffic law will go into effect tomorrow, banning text messaging while driving in an effort to reduce the number of Maryland accidents caused by distracted drivers.

The new law will make it illegal to type or send text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Being caught texting while driving in Maryland will be a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $500. It will also be a primary driving offense, meaning that police will be able to pull people over and fine them if they suspect them of sending text messages.

Going into effect October 1, 2009, the new Maryland law allows sending messages to contact 911, and does not ban talking on the phone while driving. Playing games and using applications are not banned by the law either, and the law does not explicitly address e-mail, using twitter or updating Facebook, but their legality is up for interpretation and engaging in such activities likely carries the same distractions as text messaging.

The law is seen as a victory for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which seeks to have texting-while-driving bans in all 50 states by 2013. The law goes into effect just before AAA’s “Heads Up Driving Week.” from October 5 through October 11, which is designed to bring attention to driving behavior and encouraging distraction-free driving.

A recent study by Virginia Tech has found that truck accidents are 23 times more likely when a commercial driver is sending text messages while driving. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute looked at a number of different potential distractions for drivers of cars and trucks by adding cameras and instruments to the vehicles of drivers. Above any other distraction, text messaging truck drivers were putting themselves and others at the most risk.

The results were compiled from several driving studies conducted by the institute, and the collected data equaled about six million miles of driving. Heavy vehicle and truck drivers were 23.2 times more likely than a non-distracted driver to have a truck accident if they were texting, 6.7 times as likely to crash while reaching for, or using, an electronic device, and 5.9 times as likely to have an accident while dialing on a cell phone.

Drivers of light vehicles and cars were at much less risk of having a car accident, but still faced a 2.8 times greater risk of crashing while dialing a cell phone than a non-distracted driver and were 1.4 times more likely to crash while reaching for an object and 1.3 times as likely to have an auto accident while talking on the cell phone.

Researchers from the institute said that it was the tasks that drew the drivers’ eyes away from the road ahead of them that were the activities with the highest risk. Sending a text message took a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds over a 6-second interval, which equates to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road. The study found that just talking on a cell phone, which does not distract a driver’s eyes from the road, made little difference in the likelihood of an accident.

The new nursing home rating system is designed to provide information about the overall quality of care provided at facilities throughout the United States, as well as individual rankings for staffing, quality and health inspections.

The ratings are based on complaint investigations and inspection records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which inspect and evaluate nursing homes nationwide that receive government benefits. The rankings include information about nursing home staffing levels, nursing home bedsores and other preventable injuries.

Out of the 230 Maryland nursing homes, 47 (20%) were given 1 Star and only 30 (13%) received 5 Stars.

When compared to the nursing home rankings from all states, the quality of care at Maryland nursing homes fell in line with the national averages. Approximately 23% of all nursing homes in the United States received 1 Star, with Louisiana nursing homes accounting for the highest percentage of one-star facilities (39%).

Delaware nursing homes were found to have the highest percentage of top performing facilities, with 29% of their 45 homes receiving 5 Stars.

The complete list of the nursing home rankins are available through the Medicare website at www.medicare.gov/nhcompare, allowing families to search by state, city, zip code or the name of the nursing home.

Providing this additional information will hopefully allow families to better evaluate the quality of care at Maryland nursing homes they are considering for their loved ones.

Our Maryland nursing home attorneys investigate potential cases for serious and life-threatening injuries caused by neglect and abuse throughout the state. To review a potential call our toll free injury hotline at (800) 522-0102 or complete our on-line request form to speak with a Maryland nursing home attorney.

Investigators are looking into a report that a cell phone text message was sent by the commuter train engineer minutes before the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is examining the cell phone records of the engineer and of a teenager who claims to have received the message. The engineer was killed in the accident and his phone was destroyed.

Earlier this year, the Maryland legislator rejected a bill that would have banned text messaging while driving in Maryland. The law was designed to reduce the risk of Maryland auto accidents caused by distracted drivers. Similar bans are in place in Washington State, New Jersey and Phoenix.

The Maryland legislation did not pass, as law makers indicated that text messaging does not involve a distraction of a unique nature and therefore does not necessitate a ban. In their opinion, the distractions caused by text messaging is similar to that caused while talking to people in the care, speaking on a cell phone or changing the radio.