According to the report, the complaint was filed last month in Baltimore City Circuit Court after a doctor who was supposed to remove a cyst on the ovary on the left instead operated on the ovary and fallopian tube on the right. The complaint alleged that the doctor was not supposed to remove any of the woman’s organs, failed to get proper consent and has left her with reduced fertility and the need for additional surgery.

Making matters even worse, the plaintiff alleged that the doctor did not tell her she had removed the wrong ovary, even after she returned days later complaining of pain on her right side. The lawsuit claims that the plaintiff did not discover the mistake until she went to a local emergency room, which discovered that the left ovary, with the cyst, was still in place and the right ovary and fallopian tube were gone.

Wrong site surgery is generally considered a “never event,” or a mistake that is inexcusable and should never occur.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has indicated that wrong site surgery is caused by “poor preoperative planning, lack of institutional controls, failure of the surgeon to exercise due care, or a simple mistake in communication between the patient and the surgeon.” The academy noted that 84% of wrong site surgery lawsuits against orthopaedic surgeons resulted in payments to plaintiffs, as opposed to 30% of other orthopedic surgery claims.

A number of studies have found that wrong site surgery mistakes can be almost entirely prevented when medical staff use extensive checklists, mark operating sites while the patient is still conscious, and confirm those sites with the patient, checklists and other members of the surgery team.

The Maryland malpractice lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. handle potential cases for wrong site surgery and other surgical errors.

There were 531 Maryland children with harmful levels of lead in their blood in 2010, according to figures released by the Maryland Department of the Environment, 22 less children than the year before. The number represents less than .05 percent of the state’s youth.

Most of the cases of lead poisoning were in Baltimore, which also saw its numbers drop by 33 children for a total of 314 in 2010.

However, state officials say that while they are making progress in preventing lead poisoning in old rental units, they are seeing an increase in lead poisoning cases in newer, unregistered rental homes and owner-occupied homes. Neither of those type of dwellings fall under current state or federal lead poisoning prevention laws.

Investigators say 60% of the new cases of childhood lead poisoning in Maryland last year were in homes not covered by state and federal lead poisoning prevention rules. Lead poisoning cases in owner occupied homes rose to 149 in 2010, an increase of 20 cases. The number of cases in unregulated rental units nearly tripled, with 66 new cases last year. There were only 37 total cases in 2009.

Lead-based paint was banned in 1978, but many children living in older urban residences are exposed to old lead paint in poorly maintained apartments. Children can reach dangerously high blood lead levels through exposure to lead paint dust or by eating paint chips. Lead poisoning can cause developmental delays, behavioral difficulties and other health problems.

The Maryland legislature has commissioned a study group to make recommendations on how to prevent lead poisoning in homes not covered by state and federal laws.

MARYLAND LEAD POISONING LAWYERS

The Maryland accident lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. review potential claims for individuals who have experienced damages from lead poisoning throughout the state.

Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Code Ann. §10-1101 to §10-1105 (2011) outline the new requirements for a Maryland accident lawyer or individual injured in an accident to obtain information about the maximum amount an insurance company may be required to pay to satisfy all or part of a claim.

After written documentation is provided about the circumstances surrounding a Maryland accident and the injuries sustained, an insurance company must fully disclose the extent of the insurance policy limits within 30 days so long as the claim involves a death or injuries that resulted in at least $12,500 in bills or lost wages.

According to the requirements of the statute, the lawyer or claimant must provide written documentation including the date of the accident, the name and last known address of the driver or tortfeasore, a copy of any accident report, the insurance company’s claim number, lost wage documentation, medical bills and copies of medical records for injuries caused by the accident. If the accident resulted in death, a copy of the death certificate, letters of administration for the estate and the name and relationship of each beneficiary of the deceased must also be provided.

Previously, a lawyer or claimant was only able to Maryland accident insurance policy limits information once a lawsuit was filed. However, obtaining this information prior to a complaint being filed may provide valuable information to assist individuals injured from an automobile accident in Maryland when deciding how to proceed with their claim and whether to accept a settlement offer.

According to a statement issued on September 13, the NTSB is urging the federal government to enact new regulations that would make it illegal for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers to use handheld electronic devices while driving.

These efforts come on the heels of a NTSB investigation into a Kentucky truck accident that killed 11 people in March 2010. According to the board, a truck driver was making a cell phone call when he crossed over a median and struck a passenger van containing 12 people. The truck’s driver and 10 of the van’s passengers were killed in the accident.

Investigators determined that the truck driver had made 69 calls and texts while driving in the 24 hours leading up to the accident. His last call coincided with the time the truck crashed through southbound I-65′s cable barrier system and across a 60-foot wide median. It was his fourth call within minutes.

There is mounting evidence that links an increased risk of traffic accidents to driving distractions. Commercial drivers pose a particular risk due to the amount of damage that can be caused by large buses, trucks or other vehicles. In addition, these commercial vehicles often require additional reaction time to safely maneuver the vehicles.

According to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study released in the fall of 2009, 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 an 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.

The NTSB does not have the power to promulgate new traffic rules, but it can and does make recommendations to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. If such a ban were enacted, it would affect an estimated 3.7 million commercial drivers, who would not be allowed to use electronic devices while driving except in emergency situations.

The Maryland bus and truck accident lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. urge consumers to support the complete ban on the use of mobile phones or other handheld electronic devices by commercial drivers.

In a study published online in the August edition of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, researchers found that pedestrians using mobile devices tend to distract them from their surroundings, making them 2 to 5 times more likely to get hit while crossing the street.

Most surprising to researchers was the fact that listening to music was the most distracting activity while crossing the street, with those listening to portable music devices having a 33 percent risk of getting hit by a car when crossing a two-lane road. Talking on the cell phone while crossing the street resulted in a 12% chance of being hit, and there was a 25% chance of being run over for pedestrians who texted while crossing the street. There was only a 6% chance of being struck by a car for those who were not using any electronic devices.

The study was conducted by the Youth Safety Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in a virtual environment lab using 125 college students. Researchers said the outcomes showed a stark difference from what caused drivers to be most distracted. Listening to music isn’t considered a major distraction when behind the wheel, but apparently pedestrians rely far more heavily on their ears when crossing the street, they said.

August often sees a spike in auto accident deaths in Maryland, many of which occur at night, making it the deadliest month of the year. Police agencies across the state will use a battery of measures to increase road safety until the last major weekend of the summer.

One area of intense focus by the state police has been the Capitol beltway, which has been the target of an initiative known as Operation Centipede. On the night of August 5 and early morning August 6, state troopers stopped 195 vehicles, issued 91 speeding tickets, 66 tickets for other violations, and arrested 11 people with driving on suspended or revoked licenses.

Other law enforcement agencies across the state will be increasing the number of officers performing road patrols, and state troopers will begin aggressively enforcing HOV lane restrictions.

State police officials say their goal is to target the drivers who represent the most danger to fellow motorists, including speeders, drunk drivers and overly aggressive drivers. Their goal is to achieve a zero fatality August on Maryland roads.

Photo Courtesy of MikeSchinkel via Flickr CC2.0

In a report published on June 20 in the journal Addiction, researchers found that having a blood-alcohol concentration as low as 0.01 percent led to a statistically significant increase in the risk of a serious auto accident injury.

While the legal blood-alcohol limit in Maryland is 0.08 percent, the findings could mean that no amount of alcohol is safe to consume before getting behind the wheel. The limitations in place throughout the United States are extremely high compared to much of the modern world. Japan, for example, has a limit of 0.03, Sweden’s limit is 0.02 and Germany’s legal blood-alcohol content limit is 0.05 percent.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Diego and looked at data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which has information on 1,495,667 people involved in fatal car accidents from 1994 to 2008. The researchers found that even at the minimal detectable levels of 0.01 percent blood alcohol content, accidents were 36.6 percent more severe than those involving drivers with no detectable blood alcohol content. Overall there were 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury for drivers who had consumed alcohol before driving, compared to 3.17 for non-drinking drivers.

Researchers said that drivers who have even just a little to drink were more likely to speed, more likely to be behind the wheel of the vehicle that is the striking vehicle, and more likely to have their seatbelt on improperly. Not surprisingly, the higher the blood-alcohol content of the driver, the higher the chances of a severe injury or death. The researchers are urging lawmakers to look at the findings as evidence for lowering the legal blood-alcohol content limit further, according to press release issued by the university.

The study, conducted by the Governors’ Highway Safety Association (GHSA), found that 15 to 30% of all crashes included reports that the driver was distracted. While true numbers are hard to ascertain, the study determined that cell phone use and typing text messages are likely large contributors to those numbers.

Distracted driving occurs when a driver voluntarily takes his or her attention off of the road. It could involve looking down to read a text message, trying to put on make-up using a rear-view mirror, trying to fit a cup of coffee in a cup holder or even a cognitive distraction, like thinking about a big project at work.

Most of those distractions are hard to measure, but the study was able to come up with some data on electronic device use that is troubling. According to the researchers, drivers are distracted from one-quarter to one-half the time they are on the road. One out of every three drivers regularly uses a cell phone while driving and one-eighth of all drivers admit to having been texting while driving.

Maryland is one of 34 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have texting bans in place, and researchers are encouraging more states to follow suit. However, the bans are difficult to enforce and there is no conclusive evidence yet that the bans reduce the number of crashes.

In an op-ed piece recently published in the Washington Post, Gibson Vance, president of the American Association for Justice, highlighted how product liability lawsuits have forced automobile manufacturers to adopt modern safety standards that are saving lives. Vance suggests that litigation and civil suits have been the most “consistent and powerful forces in heightening safety standards.”

In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that deaths from car accidents have dropped to their lowest level since 1949, despite Americans driving 21 billion miles more in 2010 than they did in 2009.

Safer cars have led to the dropping number of fatalities, and pressure on the auto industry from lawsuits over unsafe vehicles or inadequate safety measures have forced changes that manufacturers otherwise would have resisted.

“Put another way, without the civil justice system, gas tanks would still explode in rear-end collisions,” Vance said, referring to the infamous Ford Pinto, “seat belts and airbags would not be standard, and cars would roll over onto roofs that would be easily crushed.”

Automakers have consistently argued that they only needed to meet the minimum federal safety requirements and have pushed for immunity from product liability lawsuits if they do so. However, exposure to potential liability through a car accident lawsuit is often one of the factors that causes manufacturers to adopt and use new technology that makes cars safer, even when it diminishes their profits.

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The Click It or Ticket campaign, coordinated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will run through June 5, 2011. This year, it will be focused heavily on increasing seat belt use among men ages 18 to 34, which is one of the groups least likely to wear seat belts.

The NHTSA reports that in 2009, 53% of the 23,383 killed in auto accidents were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Among men ages 18 to 34, 66% of those killed in 2009 auto accidents were not wearing seat belts. The highest percentage of fatalities involving vehicle occupants not using seat belts was among 13 to 15 year olds of both genders.

Researchers also identified pick up truck drivers and passengers as another area of concern. They found that 68% of passengers and drivers in pick up trucks who died in accidents in 2009 were not buckled up.

Nationwide, seatbelt use has increased from 2009 to 2010, from 84% to 85%, according to the NHTSA. In an effort to continue this trend, the agency is pushing for more states to adopt primary seat belt laws that allow police to pull over and issue citations for drivers for not wearing a restraint in a motor vehicle. The NHTSA reports that in states that have primary seat belt laws, compliance is 89%.

Currently, 31 states have primary seat belt laws. In states with only secondary enforcement laws, where police have to have another reason to pull a motorist over before issuing a citation for not wearing a seat belt, compliance was only 76% and actually decreased from 77% in 2009.

According to a report released last year, Maryland is among the top 10 states for seatbelt use. Maryland drivers had a seatbelt compliance rate of 89.6% in 2008, which is nearly 5% higher than the national average.