Philadelphia Injury Lawyer Blog

In Chicago, a man driving the wrong way on an expressway west of downtown caused a fiery crash that left five people dead, including himself. Frederick Sy, 29, was driving a Volvo westbound in the eastbound lanes when he collided head-on with a BMW carrying four people. The BMW burst into flames on impact and then was hit by a van that couldn’t stop in time. Luckily, the driver of the van escaped major injury.

Witnesses say the Volvo was traveling at nearly 100 mph but investigators have not yet determine its rate of speed at the time of impact.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an automobile accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the vehicle accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule an initial consultation.

The mother of a 6-year-old Massachusetts boy who was killed by a tractor-trailer earlier this year has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the driver and the Canadian trucking company that employed him.

Brendon Mahoney was killed when the tractor-trailer, driven by Francis Hammond, 41, jackknifed, striking the vehicle that Kimberly Kyle, 27, was driving. The tragic accident happened as the vehicles were approaching a traffic backup caused by a snowstorm that hit the night before. Highway workers were still clearing snow from the road when the accident occurred.

The lawsuit alleges that Kyle was traveling at about 20 mph in a southbound lane of Interstate 93 when Hammond lost control of his tractor-trailer, which contained forty tons of plywood. Hammond was allegedly driving 30-40 mph, too fast for those driving conditions.

According to the lawsuit, “Brendon was deprived the joys, pleasures and accomplishments of life, was caused to suffer the excruciating and humanly unbearable conscious pain and suffering.”

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a truck accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your free, initial consultation.

In Florida, a jury has awarded $25.8 million to the family of a cancer patient who was given a wrong prescription, suffered a stroke, and died. This was one of the largest awards in Florida wrongful death history. Writing and filling prescriptions incorrectly is a very common form of medical malpractice that can lead to serious injury and death.

In 2002, Beth Hippely was prescribed Warfarin, a blood thinner, to treat her breast cancer. However, an inexperienced 19-year-old pharmacy technician filled her prescription incorrectly and gave her ten times the amount of what the doctor ordered for her.

This particular error caused a cerebral hemorrhage resulting in permanent bodily injury, disability and physical pain. Mrs. Hippely, a mother of three, was just 46 years old when she died. Chris Searcy, one of the lawyers for the Hippely family, has said, "Beth Hippely died unnecessarily because this tenfold overdose with Warfarin by the pharmacy she trusted caused her cancer to come back with a vengeance and it interrupted all of her cancer treatments."

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to a prescription error or any other form of medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please visit the website of a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney at Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A 76-year-old woman smashed her car into a hospital entrance killing a doctor and a secretary. Jane Berghold, of Brockton, Massachusetts, recently had the brakes on her car worked on, and they may have failed at the time of the crash. Berghold was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and was going to the Brockton Hospital's Radiation Therapy Unit for a consultation.

The chief of radiation therapy, Dr. Mark Vasa, 58, died at the scene. Witnesses say he was trying to push people out of the way when he was hit. Susan Plante, 60, the center's secretary, died Monday night at a Boston hospital, and two other staff members were injured.

Berghold was not charged in the incident.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a vehicle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the car accident injury attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A woman from Beaumont, Texas is seeking over $5 million in damages from two local doctors and a hospital after an infection resulted in the loss of her left eye. Georgia Black filed a medical malpractice lawsuit recently against Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth, Dr. Shungman Kirby Lee and Dr. Eric Adam Mark. According to the petition, Ms. Black had been under the care of Dr. Lee for several years for chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy and high blood pressure.

In July 2005, she went to the emergency room at the hospital for those pre-existing medical conditions and was admitted. The suit says she consulted with Dr. Lee, who advised her to remain at the hospital and continue treatment with Dr. Mark, the attending physician. According to the petition, Ms. Black "incurred endophthalmitis of her left eye while a patient at Chrustus St. Elizabeth Hospital as a result of a catheter being place din her neck of the instruction of her attending physician, defendant Eric Adam Mark, M.D."

Endophthalmitis is a condition involving inflammation and swelling within the eyeball and is most often caused by infection with bacteria or other micro-organisms. It was the defendant's delay in treatment that caused Ms. Black to lose her left eye.

She is seeking damages for past and future medical expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, impairment, psychological treatment and loss of service.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis, serving clients in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A blinding sandstorm caused a dozen vehicles to crash into each other in the desert north of Los Angeles killing two people and injuring sixteen. Two of the 16 injured were in critical condition after a devastating crash left vehicles scattered across Highway 14. The accident occurred during a sandstorm with winds gusting up to 55 mph. Eight cars and four trucks were involved in the crash.

This accident happened just about 40 miles northeast from the sight of a fiery truck tunnel crash last Friday that is still under investigation.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a vehicle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the car accident injury lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A Missouri firefighter's family has brought a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that an alarm device 40-year-old firefighter Steve Fierro was wearing failed and could have contributed to his death in February 2004. Fierro was helping put out a blaze at a bar near Diamond, Missouri.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of his widow and two children, alleges that Fierro's breathing apparatus was outfitted with an integrated personal alert safety system that was defective. The device sounds a loud alarm when a firefighter who's wearing it becomes motionless for a period of time, usually around 30 seconds.

The lawsuit alleges that the device Fierro was wearing produced a muffled alarm, if any at all, and contained components that did not meet National Fire Protection Association standards. If the device had worked properly, the suit alleges, it would have alerted the other firefighters, and they could have located him. Fierro had disappeared after part of the roof collapsed during the fire at the Bronc Busters bar.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed due to a defective product in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced defective products attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A 15-year-old Colorado high school student has died from injuries she sustained when she tried to climb aboard a homecoming float on a flatbed trailer and fell under the trailer's back wheels. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. All homecoming activities were cancelled, and classes for the following Monday were cancelled, also.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a truck accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the truck accident injury lawyers at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A Georgia man alleges that his iPod Nano caught fire and burned a hole through his pants. The iPod uses a lithium ion battery, the same type of battery under recall for setting laptops on fire.

Danny Williams said that the iPod Nano burst into flames while he was working at a kiosk in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He said Apple wants him to send his iPod back and they have promised to replace it. Apple has refused to say how common this problem is and refused to talk about this incident to local news reporters.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective product in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced product liability attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A terrible car crash that could have been avoided critically injured a mother and her two small children on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Two men were booked for investigation of attempted murder in connection with the crash that happened in the San Fernando Valley of California.

The drivers got into a dispute shortly after 3:00 p.m. in the Van Nuys area and began racing and weaving along city streets at speeds up to 90 mph. The cars were cutting each other off and were jockeying for position, a detective reported. They were tapping on their brakes and trying to cause one vehicle to ram into another one. In Reseda, California the driver of the Camaro slammed on the brakes, and the Nissan tried to avoid it and hit a parked car. Tragically, a 31-year-old woman and her two small children were smashed between two parked cars. The woman lost one leg and the other is crushed; doctors were trying to save it at the time of this writing.

Her 4-year-old son was hospitalized on life support, and his 8-month-old sister was hospitalized in critical condition. Witnesses said the little girl was "launched into the air and slammed into a tree." The boy reportedly has massive brain trauma and is on life support.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a car accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the automobile accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

A Texas woman has filed a lawsuit in a Texas court claiming that CVS Pharmacy gave her the wrong drug when they filled her prescription and that the error caused her child to be born prematurely.

The prescription error happened in 2005 when she went to get a prescription filled for an antibiotic but was given the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin instead. Vytorin should never be taken by pregnant women.

The suit alleges CVS was negligent by "failing to engage in recognized and acceptable practices in the medical profession to limit the likelihood and probability of infection following the treatment provided by the defendant." The pharmacy is also accused of failing to properly fill the correct medication. The plaintiff is seeking $50,000 in damages for herself and her child.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia, please visit the website of Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Attorneys Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis.

A 55-year-old Colorado man, Randolph Turnbull, died after a car crashed into the motorcycle he was riding on a country road in Brighton. Turnbull died on arrival to the Platte Valley Medical Center; his passenger, Bonnie Turnbull, survived but suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to a Denver hospital. Neither Turnbulls was wearing a helmet.

The driver of the Toyota that hit them cyclists, 34-year-old James Hayward, suffered moderate injuries and faces a charge of careless driving causing death.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a motorcycle accident in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced motorcycle accident attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today.

Kentucky officials have announced they are suing the manufacturer of OxyContin, the prescription painkiller dubbed "hillbilly heroin" because of its widespread abuse in Appalachia. The suit demands millions in compensation from drug manufacturer Purdue Pharmaceuticals.

The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for costs incurred in drug abuse programs, law enforcement and prescription payments through Medicaid and the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance program. Purdue states OxyContin's packaging warns against the dangers of abusing the drug and that they should not be held responsible for people who abuse the drug. The suit seeks unspecified damages and the creation of a court-monitored fund financed by Purdue that would pay for a program that would notify users of the potential harms of the drug and spur research on the effects of the drug.

OxyContin is the brand name for oxycodone and has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in the United States in recent years. Its intended slow-release effect can be easily circumvented, and abuse has been especially high in states such Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. Kentucky decided to file the lawsuit after Purdue and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty this year to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction.

If you or a loved one suffered due to a dangerous product in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced product liability attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

Campbell's Soup is voluntarily recalling more than 72,000 cans of Chunky soup because they may contain pieces of plastic that could cause choking. The recalled soup variety is Chunky Baked Potato with Cheddar and Bacon Bits with a can code reading "Jul 08 2009 07097." Consumers should return the cans to the store where they were purchased to receive a refund or exchange. For more information, consumers may call Campbell's Soup at 888.453.3868.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to a recalled product in Philadelphia or anywhere in Pennsylvania, please contact the experienced product liability attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

The family of a 3-year-old boy who suffered massive brain damage while being treated at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii will receive more than $9.4 million under a ruling by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra found that Tripler was negligent in its treatment of Parker Kohl, who is now blind, unable to walk, has to fed through a tube, and has an IQ of less than 30. The judge ruled that the hospital caused the boy to suffer cardiorespiratory arrest which resulted in irreversible brain damage.

According to the March 2006 lawsuit, Parker was born a healthy baby in December 20043 at Tripler but was later diagnosed with a heart defect. The boy developed a respiratory infection that required hospitalization in May 2004. While in the hospital, his condition worsened.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury or has died due to medical malpractice in the Philadelphia area, please call the medical malpractice law offices of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

The family of a woman who died two weeks after gastric bypass surgery has filed a lawsuit against her doctors and a Houston, Texas hospital. Freda Brantley, 48, was discharged from the hospital after vertical-banded gastroplasty on June 6, 2005. The suit alleges that Ms. Brantley was discharged to go home without the appropriate treatment. She died from kidney failure on June 21, 2005, just fifteen days after the surgery. She had vomited for those two weeks and was malnourished.

The suit seeks unspecified damages against Dr. Nisar Ahmed, Dr. Beryl Harberg and Park Plaza Hospital. Hospital officials who were contacted for comment stated, "While patient privacy laws prohibit us from speaking directly to this case, we will vigorously defend the integrity of our care, quality and services."

In March 2007, the mother of a Houston woman who died one year after undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2004 filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Houston surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzaradan and Houston Community Hospital. Prior to that, an Austin woman died from a heart attack also just two weeks following gastric bypass surgery.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Philadelphia or a surrounding area, please contact a Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney at Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

PharmaFab, a distributor of more than 100 different drug products, has entered a legal agreement with the FDA under which they will stop the illegal manufacture and distribution of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. In the past, PharmaFab has sold items not made according to the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP), and many of its products did not have the required FDA approval.

PharmaFab has also been ordered to destroy all their illegal drugs and is barred from distributing all drug products until it fully complies with CGMP and gets the required FDA approval.

Just a few of the drugs distributed by PharmaFab include:

Rhinacon A Tablets
Sudal 12 Chewable Tablets
Atuss HX CIII
Histex PD 12 Suspension
De-Congestine Sustained Release Capsules

If you or a loved one has suffered adverse side effects from a drug or medical device in the Philadelphia area, please call the experienced legal team of Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis, specializing in Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice and Vehicle Accidents, to schedule your initial consultation.

The Supreme Court has made it more difficult for whistleblowers to share in the proceeds from fraud lawsuits against government contractors. The court recently ruled that James Stone, an 81-year-old retired engineer, may not collect a dime for his role in exposing fraud at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant northwest of Denver, Colorado.

Justice Antonni Scalia said Stone was not an original source of the information that resulted in Rockwell International, now part of aerospace giant Boeing, being ordered to pay the government over $4 million for fraud connected with environmental cleanup at the Rocky Flats Plant.

The company wanted the justices to restrict when an individual can collect for suing on the government’s behalf.

If you or someone you know was a whistleblower and needs legal representation to protect your rights and get you the monetary compensation you deserve, please contact a Philadelphia Qui Tam Attorney at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.

The family of a five-year-old Chicago boy was awarded $14 million after he suffered a severe brain injury during birth that resulted in him having cerebral palsy. Staff members at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago allegedly mixed up the boy's heart rate with his mother's pulse rate.

The baby boy was not breathing when he was born, and the staff was not prepared to resuscitate him because of the monitoring error. The obstetrician and the nurse both misinterpreted the boy's heart rate before delivery and did not even realize the baby was in fetal distress.

The boy went without oxygen for seven minutes which, in turn, caused him to have cerebral palsy with total paralysis of his arms and legs. A neonatal resuscitation team was not called until the baby was delivered, and as soon as a breathing tube was placed in his airway, his heart rate increased. But it was too late; the damage to the brain had already been done, and the boy will never walk or talk.

If you or a loved one has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney at Pomerantz, Perlberger & Lewis today to schedule your initial consultation.