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According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs annually, and half of those bitten are children. One in five bitten, or approximately 885,000, need medical attention for their dog bite injuries, and 50% of those are children. Last year, over 27,000 people were required to undergo reconstructive surgery to treat injuries suffered from dog bites. Children ages 5-9 years are most likely to be bitten.

DogsBite.org reports that on a daily basis, 1000 Americans need emergency medical treatment for a dog bite injury. For a 30 year period from 1982 through 2012, a combination of large “molasser” breeds, including pit bulls, Rottweilers, presa canaries, cane corsos, mastiffs, dogo argentinos and fila brasieros accounted for:
• 79% of attacks causing injuries;
• 72% of attacks on children;
• 85% of attacks on adults;
• 69% of fatal attacks; and

• 77% of maimings.

Pit bulls accounted for almost 60% of fatal dog bite injuries (55 of 88) for a three year period from January of 2006 through the end of December 2008, followed by Rottweilers who were responsible for 14% of these injuries. DogsBite.org also determined that pit bulls are responsible for a large majority of off property attacks that result in deaths—pit bulls were responsible for 81% of these attacks. From 2005 through 2012, pit bulls and Rottweilers were responsible for 73% of fatal dog bite cases recorded. A report from Animal People, which included data from the United States and Canada from 1982 through 2012, shows that pit bulls caused 245 and rottweilers 84 of a reported 497 total fatal attacks.

There are at least three reasons that pit bulls are more dangerous that other dog breeds. Unlike other types of dogs, pit bulls often fail to demonstrate their intention to attack; they have a lethal style of attack of “holding and shaking”; and pit bulls attempt to inflict maximum injury, known as “gameness.”
Generally speaking, dogs that bite are 6.6 times more likely to be male than female, 2 ½ more times more likely not be neutered, and almost 3 times as likely to be chained as unchained.

Under New York State law, in order to recover against the owner of a dog (or the property owner where the dog is kept), you must be able to prove that the dog owner or property owner “knew or should have known” of the “vicious propensities” of the dog. This means that you must be able to prove, for example, that the dog had previously bitten someone else, or demonstrated dangerous tendencies previously, such as growling at other people, showing his or her teeth, jumping on people in a menacing fashion, or showing other behavior which would put the dog owner or property owner “on notice” that the dog was dangerous.

The CDC provides basic safety advice to provide to children (which is also applicable to adults, of course) when approaching an unfamiliar dog, including:
• Not petting an unfamiliar dog without allowing it to sniff you first;
• Not disturbing a dog who is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies;
• Avoiding direct eye contact with the dog;
• If knocked over by the dog, roll into a ball and be still; and

• Remaining motionless when approached by an unfamiliar dog.

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Earlier this year, the NFL paid $765 million to settle a multitude a lawsuits by former players and their families alleging that the league failed to disclose its knowledge that multiple blows to the head led to what is known as “CTE”, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that causes loss of memory, disturbance of mental functioning, depression, headaches, vision difficulties, and a host of other permanent injuries. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been hit with a slew of lawsuits in federal courts around the U.S. this year, and in my opinion, the Association faces a much bigger problem than the NFL—here’s why.

When the NCAA was formed in 1906, it was in response to the deaths of 19 young men who had died a year previously, whose deaths were attributed to playing collegiate football. That year, 107 years ago, the mission statement of the Association was: “To protect young people from the dangerous and exploitative athletics practices of the time.” The NCAA’s handbook published in 1933 noted that concussions were dangerous, stating that: “the seriousness of these injuries is often overlooked.” The handbook actually contained references to treating concussions, directing that there should be “Infirmary or hospital treatment until symptom free 48 hours.” Further, there was the following directive: “If symptoms of headache, dizziness, blurred vision, vomiting continue over 48 hours, individuals should not be permitted to compete for 21 days or longer, if at all.”

Sounds very advanced in 1933, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, if we fast forward to the present, somehow the prescience of those Association officials and advisors 80 years ago got derailed by the massive popularity and profits of the sport. Consider these facts. According to the NCAA’s own injury surveillance system, there were more than 29,000 concussions reported in college athletics between 2004 and 2009, over 50% of these injuries in football. The investigation revealed that concussions are increasing by 7% annually. In the last 50 years, more than 500,000 young men have played college football, one of almost 25 varsity sports played in NCAA institutions.

It wasn’t until 2010, a full 104 years after the NCAA came into existence, that a formal concussion policy came into being, despite the knowledge as far back as 1933 that concussions were a distinct possibility from playing football. And what is the NCAA’s present concussion policy? In August of 2010, the NCAA determined that each member school should adopt its own plan for responding to head injuries suffered on the field. The plans had the following four requirements: require that training be provided to the athletes on the signs and symptoms of concussions; require that athletes who demonstrate signs and symptoms of a concussion be evaluated by a member of the school’s medical staff; mandate that athletes who are diagnosed with concussions be kept out of play for the remainder of the day; and require that all players who are diagnosed with a concussion be cleared by a physician before returning to competition.

Without question, the NCAA policy leaves too much discretion and inconsistency in the treatment of these potentially life altering injuries to that of the schools themselves. For example, an athletic trainer is often the school official who determines whether the player has suffered a concussion, rather than a physician. NFL players have the collective bargaining agreement, and agents, looking out for their best interests. College athletes have no agreement, no agents and no one truly looking out for them. It is also harder for NCAA officials to argue, as the NFL attempted to do in fending off litigation by former players, that long term effects of concussions were caused by injuries suffered in high school and college.

The NCAA is now confronted with federal litigation commenced in at least five states, with more to come, no doubt. In a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois, the allegations by the plaintiffs are that the NCAA was negligent in failing to adopt any formal concussion policy until 2010, and did not include minimum standards in that dilatory policy. One of the Illinois plaintiffs, Adrian Arrington, who played for Eastern Illinois from 2006 through 2009, reports that he lost consciousness several times during his playing days and began suffering seizures while still in school. Presently, Arrington continues to be afflicted with seizures and is afraid to be alone with his three young kids. Former Kansas fullback Christopher Powell, who filed suit in U.S. District Court in Western Missouri last week, alleges that he suffered 4 documented concussions during his collegiate career, including one which resulted in 48 hours of memory loss. In a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee on September 3, 2013, by former Tennessee football players Chris Walker and Ben Martin, along with former N.C. State player Dan Ahern, they seek damages for concussions and medical monitoring.

Some of the recent cases filed are being submitted for mediation with retired Judge Layn Phillips, who brokered the NFL settlement involving 4,500 former players in September of this year.

I can guarantee one thing: NCAA president Mark Emmert and other leaders of the Association will never allow one of these lawsuits to be reach a jury—the NCAA makes too much money for too many people, and they will never allow that gravy train to be jeopardized by a substantial jury verdict, with a definitive potential for punitive damages.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had determined that four fatal accidents in the last year were due to a lack of oversight by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Transportation Department agency that regulates bus and truck safety. In the four accidents, a total of 25 passengers were killed, and 83 were injured. In contrast, federal statistics for car travel reveal that fatal accidents and accidents with serious injuries have been steadily decreasing for the last several years. Undoubtedly, this is due in no small part to the inclusion of multiple side and front air bags in new vehicles, improved “crush zones” and enhanced braking systems and traction control.

The most recent accident reviewed by the Transportation Board occurred in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on June 13, 2013. A truck operated by a company called H & O Transport struck eight other vehicles that were stopped due to an accident ahead of them. Weather conditions were not a factor. The truck rear ended an Oldsmobile Alero, which caught on fire, killing two passengers in the car, and injuring six occupants of other vehicles. The truck was speeding, on cruise control, and the truck driver had been driving for 80 hours over an eight day period, exceeding the seventy hour federally regulated mandatory limit. Further investigation revealed that H & O Transport had a history of such “hours of service” violations, with no responsive action taken by the FMCSA.

Another crash involved a Mexican owned bus traveling down a mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest in California. The bus rear ended a car, crossed into the wrong side of the road, struck a barrier, and flipped over, crashing into a pickup truck. Seven passengers on the bus and the driver of the pickup truck were killed, and the bus driver and eleven passengers on the bus suffered serious injuries. A post accident investigation showed that all six brakes on the bus were defective and there were other mechanical problems with the bus as well. One month previously, a spot check by federal investigators determined that the bus line had numerous maintenance problems, yet the FMCSA gave the bus company a satisfactory review.

The FMCSA noted that it has closed down more than 100 unsafe truck and bus companies since 2010, in comparison to only one per year for the previous ten years. One of the main issues is that the FMCSA has approximately 350 investigators to examine 10,000 bus companies, and over 500,000 trucking firms. Clearly, that is woefully inadequate and dangerous to the public.

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The No-Fault Law is an absolute albatross around the necks of injured people and their attorneys in New York State, and has been so since its implementation in 1974. The basic purpose of the law when it was promulgated was twofold: to allow for the expeditious handling of automobile accident claims which were deemed to meet what is known as the “no-fault threshold”, and second, to root out what was perceived to be fraudulent, non meritorious claims. One of the main reasons that this antiquated law needs to be significantly modified in 2013 is that when the law was placed into effect, there were no MRI’s, CAT Scans, and other radiological examinations which could conclusively determine whether the injured driver or passenger had suffered a “soft tissue” (cartilage, ligament, tendon, spinal disc) injury . Thus, the inclusion of a fracture as a “no-fault threshold” injury, (because this injury could be determined by x-rays), but not, for example, a herniated disc of the neck or back, or a torn tendon or ligament.

Thus, as the No-Fault law presently exists, a fractured toe or pinky automatically meets the requirements of a no-fault “threshold” injury, but a person who suffers a torn tendon, ligament, cartilage or other “soft tissue” injury such as a herniated disc, which is in all likelihood, much more serious than a broken toe (for which there is no treatment), may have no case under the No-Fault law!

The No-fault threshold includes several very specific injuries suffered in motor vehicle accidents, as well as three general types of injuries contained in three sections of the statute which are poorly worded, confusing, and constitute a huge percentage of the litigation instituted by the no-fault insurance companies and their lawyers in contesting No-fault claims. The definitive sections are as follows:

Death;
Dismemberment;
Significant disfigurement;
A fracture;
Loss of a fetus;

Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system.

The problems arise in interpreting the following three sections: 1) “permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; 2) “significant limitation of use of a body function or system”; and 3) “a medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.” That last section is a true example of legislators gone amok.

The problems arise in the interpretation of many of the terms—for example, what is “significant limitation of use”? Isn’t that different for each person who is injured in an accident? What is a “consequential limitation”? What are the “material acts which constitute a person’s usual and customary daily activities”? As can be seen, the vague and inconsistent terminology utilized by the drafters of the No-Fault Law was fraught with difficulty from the inception of the statute, almost forty years ago.

Another problem that has arisen, and which brings us to the point of this article, is interpretations of the law by judges (seemingly supportive of the insurance industry) adding in requirements which were never part of the original statute, and which make claims and cases even more difficult to settle or win in Court. The Ramkumar decision is a classic example of this. In this case, the plaintiff was cut off from treatment by his own no-fault insurance company after only five months of treatment, despite the fact that he had suffered a torn meniscus in the accident in question, for which he required surgery. The lower Court dismissed his case, stating that he had not properly offered documentary evidence and a sufficient explanation for why he didn’t continue treatment after his no-fault insurance company had terminated his benefits. Essentially, the lower Court ruled that after the no-fault carrier booted him from coverage, Mr. Ramkumar was required to either continue treatment with his health insurance company, or if no health insurance was available, provide a “reasonable explanation” why he didn’t pay for his treatment out of his own pocket. Of course, nowhere in the antiquated No-Fault law is this requirement included. Fortunately, the majority in the Court of Appeals noted that although a plaintiff is required to have some explanation why he stopped treatment for his injuries after only five months, not having health insurance nor money to pay for medical treatment out of his pocket WAS a reasonable explanation. Further, the Court stated that the case should not have been dismissed because the evidence showed that the treating surgeon found that the meniscus permanently lost stability due to scar tissue, which Mr. Ramkumar will have for the remainder of his life.

The other irony here is that the no-fault carriers send injured victims of car accidents to no fault “IME”S (Independent medical examinations, which are anything but independent) within weeks, and sometimes days, after car accidents, to be conducted by “examiners” who are paid for by the no-fault insurance companies for a specific purpose—to find that there is nothing wrong with the injured person, thus permitting Allstate, State Farm, Geico, Progressive et. al. to stop paying for treatment. Of course, this is exactly what happened with Mr. Ramkumar, although he was fortunate enough to have obtained five months of treatment before thrown off coverage by the insurance carrier he was paying premiums to.

The moral of this story is simple. If you really want to root out fraud, call, fax, email or text your local legislator (if you are fortunate enough to have a cell phone number for the legislator) with a simple message. The No-fault law is unfair. It is outdated. When it was written, there was no means to determine if someone had suffered a “soft tissue” injury, but in case you missed it, now we have MRI’s, CAT Scans, Bone Scans, EMG’s, and numerous other tests for these injuries. The No-Fault law protects the car insurance companies at the expense of innocent victims of automobile accidents. If you want to examine fraud, take a look at no-fault exams by insurance company doctors, who perform dozens of three minute “exams” each week on injured people with the conclusions in their reports written before the person walks into the examiner’s office.

Hopefully, if enough people do this, we will finally get traction with Governor Cuomo, who does not believe this is a problem, apparently.

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After five months of a grueling, hotly contested legal battle, on October 2, 2013, a Los Angeles jury, comprised of six men and six women, found concert promoter AEG not liable in the June, 2009 wrongful death of pop icon Michael Jackson. Katherine Jackson, the late pop singer’s mother, had sued AEG Live in 2010 in a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Her contention was that AEG had hired Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who was convicted in November of 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for infusing Jackson with the surgical anesthetic Propofol, which led to Jackson’s drug overdose on June 25, 2009, just days before Jackson was due to commence a mammoth world tour dubbed “This Is It.” AEG argued that they had no way of knowing of the dangerous Propofol infusions, and that Jackson was addicted to a variety of drugs which was the primary factor in his death.

Jackson’s mother alleged in her legal papers that AEG was negligent in “hiring, retaining, or supervising Murray”, and that this was a substantial factor in the 50 year old pop singer’s untimely death. A significant piece of evidence in the case was the contract between AEG and Dr. Murray in which he was paid a whopping $150,000 per month to keep Jackson healthy enough to perform on an extended tour. There was clearly substantial evidence to show that Jackson had “doctor shopped”, seeking a physician who would supply him with regular doses of Propofol (which he referred to as his “milk”) to combat chronic insomnia and allow him to withstand the rigors of touring.

The jurors deliberated for approximately 13 hours over 3 days before reaching their verdict. Jackson’s attorney, Brian Panish, had suggested to jurors that they award between 1 billion and 2 billion dollars in damages to the Jackson family, to compensate his mother and children for the loss of his potential earnings from the age of 50 until the age of approximately 66 when he would allegedly stop touring. This included a specific request for an award of $85 million to each of Jackson’s three children and $35 million to his mother Katherine. However, it is tough to argue on the one hand that Jackson was in such horrible and frail physical condition, as Jackson’s attorneys did (Even the name of the tour, ‘This Is It”, contradicts the claim that Jackson intended to tour for another 16 years), and also claim that Jackson was now going to tour much more extensively than he had previously until he reached retirement age–the jury must have seen that contradiction. Panish did concede in his closing argument that the King of Pop’s own conduct contributed to his death, but asked that the jury limit Jackson’s culpability to 20%.

Unlike in New York, where a wrongful death trial has a jury of 6, with an agreement of five of six jurors necessary to reach a verdict, in Los Angeles, a civil jury is comprised of 12 jurors, with an agreement among nine required for a verdict. The trial was bifurcated, meaning that in order for the jury to have found that AEG had to pay damages to the plaintiffs, they first had to determine “liability”, or legal fault, against AEG, which they obviously decided was not supported by the evidence. Undoubtedly, the jury rejected Jackson’s claims of being a victim, as exemplified in some post verdict comments by juror Kevin Smith: “Michael Jackson was used to getting his way…he could pretty much get what he wanted…anybody that said no, they were out of the mix and he’d find someone else.”

Jackson’s attorneys have indicated that they plan to appeal the verdict. In my opinion, that appeal has little chance of success, as it was apparent from the inception of this case that it would be very hard to prove that AEG could have known that Dr. Murray was performing infusions of a surgical anesthetic in Jackson’s home on a daily basis, and that they would have supported this tremendously dangerous conduct had they been aware of it.

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This morning, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) was sued by Public Citizen and several consumer advocate groups for a long standing delay in implementing a 5 year old law mandating the revision of rear visibility standards in new vehicles. The lead plaintiff, Greg Gulbransen, claims that if his vehicle had been equipped with a backup camera, this would have saved the life of his infant son, who was killed in 2002 when Mr. Gulbransen backed his vehicle over his son in his driveway.

In 2008, Congress passed a law signed by then President Bush which required the Department of Transportation to revise rear visibility standards by February of 2011. The Public Citizen lawsuit alleges that the DOT has been intentionally delaying implementation of those standards, with tragic results. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a division of the Department of Transportation, estimates that “backover” accidents result in 292 deaths and approximately 18,000 injuries per year. Almost half of the fatal accidents involve children younger than five years, as the infants are in what is known as the “blind zone”, an area behind the vehicle that cannot be viewed by an average driver while seated in the driver’s seat and looking in the rear view mirrors.

NHTSA estimates that if rear view cameras were installed in all new vehicles, the cameras would save 95 lives and prevent more than 7,000 injuries annually. The cost of a backup camera is between $58 and $203 per vehicle. Approximately 70% of all new vehicles are either equipped with the cameras or have them as an option. For an article which describes blind zones, and compares the blind zones for many makes and models of cars, read “The Danger of Blind Zones”, published by Consumer Reports. To give an example, the best blind zone for a small four door sedan (with a driver at an average height of 5’ 8”) is found in a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, at 9 feet, and the worst is in a 2011 Ford Fiesta, which has a blind zone totaling 19 feet.

The DOT has repeatedly postponed the deadline for enforcement of the legislation, from February of 2011, to December of 2011, to February of 2012. Presently, the agency intends to issue a final rule by January of 2015. However, the plaintiffs, which include the nonprofit groups Consumers Union of United States, Kids and Cars, Inc. and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, contend that had the law been implemented as required, countless lives would have been saved and thousands of injuries averted.

The Public Citizen lawsuit requests that the Court direct the USDOT to issue a mandatory rule within 90 days. In researching this story, I found an article published by Consumers Union almost seven years ago (on November 14, 2006) urging Congress to enact federal legislation to “prevent unacceptable death and injury toll or children.” In this instance, unlike the thoroughly ineffectual Congress we have at present, Congress did enact legislation in 2008, and five years later, the Department of Transportation is for some reason delaying full implementation of this legislation, which could lead to a universal requirement for backup cameras in all vehicles. With all the lives that have been lost since ‘08, and with such a cheap cost per vehicle, that is an outrage.

Despite the need for backup cameras, the best advice remains to get out of your vehicle before backing up whenever there is even the remotest possibility that infants (or pets) are behind the car in the “blind zone.”

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On September 15, 2013, there were two fatal motorcycle accidents in the Hudson Valley. On Bear Mountain Parkway in Cortlandt, 43 year old Christopher Ulacco of Wappingers Falls was killed while on a 2008 Suzuki after he apparently crossed the double yellow line and struck a GMC Acadia on Route 6 near Carhart Avenue. Police are seeking information from another rider who was with Mr. Ulacco at the time of the fatal crash. Ulacco was wearing a helmet. There were several other injuries in the accident, with most of the injured taken to Hudson Valley Hospital for treatment.

In the second accident, 76 year old Julio Gamio was driving north at 11:00 AM on September 15th on Route 9W in Haverstraw, followed on another motorcycle by his daughter, when it appears that he lost control of his Harley Davidson Softail Cruiser and struck a 20 foot brick structure adjacent to Low Tor Storage at 120 Route 9W in Haverstraw. Gamio suffered multiple head and internal injuries and was pronounced dead at Nyack Hospital. Witnesses described Gamio driving into the wall, bouncing and hitting the pavement. The cause of the Gamio accident is under investigation.

Bear Mountain Parkway is a well known destination for motorcyclists, with its combination of winding and scenic roads, particularly in the fall when the foliage can be spectacular. On an annual basis, approximately 317 riders are injured in the Hudson Valley, and 11 motorcyclists are killed, according to the New York State DMV. Motorcycle fatalities have increased annually for the last fourteen years, with the exception of 2009, when there was a decrease of 16 percent. Interestingly, according to a study by the Governors Highway Safety Association, motorcycle fatalities are one of the few categories of highway safety in which strides are not being made. One reason is undoubtedly the inconsistent use of helmets by many riders around the country. In fact, on a recent trip I made to take my son to college, I observed a large majority of riders throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio not utilizing helmets. Helmets prevented approximately 1,600 motorcycle deaths in 2011 according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

NHTSA also reports that there were 4,612 motorcyclists killed in accidents on U.S. highways in 2011, which was 2% higher than in 2010. Motorcycle deaths accounted for 14% of all highway deaths in 2011, even though motorcycle registrations comprise only 3% of all vehicles on the road. Motorcyclists are killed 30 times more than occupants of cars, and are five times more likely to be injured.

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The wrongful death trial of Michael Jackson has been an extensive five month battle in an L.A. courtroom between Katherine Jackson, the mother of the late “King of Pop”, and AEG Live, the concert promoter of Jackson’’ ill fated “This is It” tour which had been scheduled to commence in the summer of 2009 days after Jackson died of a Propofol overdose.

In November of 2011, Jackson’s personal physician Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 50 year old pop singer’s death, based on evidence that Dr. Murray had caused Jackson’s fatal overdose from the surgical anesthetic Propofol. Propofol is a commonly used anesthetic, but only in a controlled environment, such as a hospital where the vital signs of the patient can be monitored. In Michael Jackson’s case, Murray was infusing the singer in his home with no staff to assist him, a medical malpractice disaster waiting to happen.

In the lawsuit, the 83 year old Katherine Jackson contends that AEG hired and supervised Dr. Murray (at the very lucrative rate of $150,000 per month) with the sole purpose of assuring that Jackson would be ready to perform when the tour began. Ms. Jackson also claims that AEG knew that Murray was administering Propofol in an unsafe manner, knowing that there was a substantial risk to Jackson’s health and that the risks could potentially be fatal.

Lastly, Ms. Jackson alleges that AEG created a conflict of interest by paying the debt addled doctor a substantial monthly fee with the understanding that he would be fired if Jackson was unable to perform, thus causing Murray to take unnecessary and unsafe medical decisions which adversely affected his judgment. AEG has undoubtedly brought up the well reported claims that prior to Jackson’s death, he had significant drug problems, using a wide variety of narcotics and other medications for insomnia and other medical issues. Further, Jackson was certainly capable of making his own decisions about his own health, and was in a position to fire Murray himself if he believed that Dr. Murray was not acting in his best interests.

AEG attempted to have the case dismissed this past week, arguing that the company’s executives did not know of the dangerous Propofol infusions administered to Jackson by Dr. Murray. However, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos denied the dismissal motion, stating that substantial evidence had been presented during the trial that AEG “knew or should have known” that Dr. Murray presented an “undue risk of harm” to Michael Jackson.

Nonetheless, Judge Palazuelos did dismiss the case against AEG CEO Randy Phillips and co-CEO Paul Gongaware, holding that they were not personally responsible for any actions or inaction the company took in the Jackson matter. Katherine Jackson is suing AEG for millions in her son’s wrongful death when ironically, due to proceeds from the “This Is It” movie, recordings, and profits from his purchase of the Beatles catalogue, the Jackson estate is now worth several times more than Jackson ever earned in his lifetime, as documented in a CBS “60 Minutes” story this past weekend which interviewed his long time agent Tony Branca.

Closing arguments in the case will begin this week, following rebuttal testimony presented by Jackson’s attorneys to contest AEG’s “lack of knowledge” defense. The verdict is truly hard to predict, due to the clear complicity of Conrad Murray, who certainly violated the Hippocratic oath to “do no harm” (but who was convicted in 2011 and is serving his sentence presently), contrasted with the evidence that AEG was undoubtedly exerting enormous pressure on Murray to ensure that Jackson would meet his contractual obligations, combined with the obvious question as to Jackson’s own culpability for his substance abuse and retention of doctors who would do what he requested irrespective of consequences.

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A recent report in the New York Times focuses on the increasing problem of women dying from an overdose of prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. The report highlighted a study that was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and concluded with data from 2010.

The article examined the painkiller abuse in the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, which is located on the edge of Appalachia in Scioto County. Prescription painkiller addiction was originally more of a problem with men, who would be given opoids such as Vicodin for back pain from working in the coal mines and factories. However, the CDC notes that since 1999, the death rate among women from prescription painkiller overdoses has quintupled.

Women are now more likely to dies from overdoses of OxyContin than from homicide or cervical cancer. The study reveals that white women are much more likely to suffer a fatal overdose than African American women, and older women (defined by the CDC as the age group of 45-51) are dying in greater numbers than younger women, even though abuse of these opoids is seen more frequently in younger women.

The CDC analysis noted that Asians and Hispanics had the lowest fatality rates from prescription painkiller overdose. In 2010, 6631 women died from painkiller overdoses. One of the major contributing factors in the increase in female deaths appears to be that women are more likely to also be on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, which can be a lethal combination in conjunction with opoids. Another contributing factor according to the CDC is that chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia are more commonly seen in women than men. Further, the CDC indicates that statistics show that women are more likely to obtain prescriptions of OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet, to get higher doses, and to use these drugs more frequently.

The article also discusses other factors contributing to the problem, such as financial distress, single mothers with little support from the fathers of their children, and a family history of child abuse and alcohol abuse.

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In a story by Terence Corcoran in the May 20, 2013 edition of the Journal News, the family of Evan Lieberman, a 19 year old student at the University of Connecticut who was killed in a motor vehicle crash on June 16, 2011, has taken on the battle against distracted driving. Evan Lieberman was a passenger in a car driven by a high school friend named Michael A. Fiddle along with two other friends from Chappaqua when the fatal accident occurred at 7:50 AM on June 16, 2011. Fiddle was driving on Route 6 in Orange County to their summer employment in Woodbury, New York.

Fiddle claimed to state police investigators that he had fallen asleep at the wheel before veering into oncoming traffic. Mr. Lieberman suffered massive injuries and was hospitalized for one month before dying of his injuries on July 18, 2011, after several surgeries were unsuccessful in saving his life. The case was presented to a grand jury on the theory that Fiddle had been texting and driving or otherwise using his cell phone at time of the accident. Apparently, the grand jury decided not to indict Mr. Fiddle.

Lieberman’s father, Ben Lieberman, was not satisfied with the explanation given by Fiddle that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. Mr. Lieberman pushed investigators to look at the case more closely. Although the state police never charged Mr. Fiddle or cited him for any violations of the New York Vehicle & Traffic Law with regard to the accident, Evan’s father decided to file a civil suit on behalf of his late son so that he could obtain cell phone records. The state police apparently never sought the phone records of Mr. Fiddle, and claimed they could not prove definitively whether Mr. Fiddle was using a cell phone at the time of the accident.

Whenever there is a fatality in a car accident, the Department of Motor Vehicles automatically conducts a hearing to determine if action should be taken against the driver of the car with regard to his or her driving in that fatal accident. Mr. Fiddle, as was his option, (and is usually on the advice of counsel when there is potential criminal responsibility) did not testify at the hearing. The estate’s attorneys introduced statements made by Mr. Fiddle in the civil suits filed by the Lieberman family and other passengers in the car. Lieberman’s attorneys were also able to establish that the browser on Fiddle’s phone was on from 7:00 AM through the moment of the fatal accident.

Mr. Fiddle’s attorney argued that the phone records should not be used during the hearing, contending that the police did not file any charges against his client. He also made the claim that investigators concluded that there was no evidence connecting texting or speaking on a portable device with the accident. However, Judge Marinacci was not persuaded by these claims.

During the hearing, (which is generally recorded only on a cassette tape recorder unless one of the parties pays for a court reporter), Administrative Judge Donna Marinacci determined that Mr. Fiddle had in fact been using a portable device while “driving drowsy”, (unlike the police, Judge Marinacci did obtain the cell phone records). Judge Marinacci ruled that Fiddle’s driving “constituted gross negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle”, and “showed a reckless disregard for life” and “caused or contributed to the accident.” Judge Marinacci ruled that Fiddle violated several sections of the Vehicle & Traffic Law in the fatal accident, and suspended Fiddle’s license for one year.

Evan’s parents have set up an organization to combat distracted driving known as “DORCs”–“Distracted Operators Risk Casualties.” Additionally, the entire Lieberman family has organized a non profit called “Evan’s Team”, to raise funds and awareness for community concerns and issues.

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