According to an investigation conducted by KEPR TV in Tri-Cities, Washington State had the most work-related injuries last year out of any state in the country. Their investigation revealed that 52 people died in a work related incident last year, nearly twice the national average.

This statistic also includes thousands of workers who were personally injured in various accidents from everything ranging from falls to chemical burns. The investigators confirm that many of the accidents occurred in Eastern Washington at jobs involving manual labor.

But, why are these happening and what are state regulators doing about it?

Why Is This Happening?

This is where it gets a little complicated. The reason why there is so much pressure on the L&I over privatization is over the fact that rates for workers compensation has been steadily rising for employers since 2007 as state revenue has begun to dwindle and a mounting number of employers default on their premiums.

In fact, 2012 is the first year that the agency has confirmed that there will be no increases in what employers pay for workers compensation. This suggests that they have finally covered shortfalls in the funding, however, those who work closely with injured workers and workplace safety advocates suggest that this has perhaps come at the cost of employee safety.

Cuts in the number of inspectors has been deep and some suggest that this has caused workplace safety standards to falter. You see, the national standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are generally enforced by OSHA inspectors. Washington is an exception to this, as L&I sends out their own inspectors to sites such as the Tesoro plant explosion that claimed 7 workers.

These kinds of incidents are well publicized and garner a huge reaction, but thousands of injuries at construction sites and farms around the state remain barely investigated. In some cases, when the injury involves an immigrant, they will go unreported.

What Is Being Done?

Unfortunately, the problem with low resources means that much of what is done is reactionary instead of proactive, so many of the new rules implemented by L&I come after the fact. Some of the new rules this year involve:

• Rules regulating the safety of cranes.
• Rules surrounding handling of hazardous material.
• Rules regarding training in hospitals and pharmacies specifically if working with chemotherapy drugs.

Aside from hiring new inspectors, L&I has decided to focus its resources on enforcing dead-beat employers and the care workers receive in order to get worker back to work faster. Thus, this pumps more money into the organization and costs them less in output rather than addressing the problem at the source. However, these policies have resulted in a promising project known as L&I’s Centers of Occupational Health and Education (COHE). COHEs are community-based organizations that work with medical providers to encourage the best ways to treat injured workers.

This whole program sprouted out of research published in the December 2011 issue of the American Public Health Association journal. Dr. Gary Franklin, medical director for the L&I), was one of the researchers involved in the study; Dr Thomas Wickizer, Ohio State University, College of Public Health, was the lead investigator.

L&I teamed up with physicians in Washington and throughout the country, health care researchers at the University of Washington, as well as business and labor leaders to find the “best practices” of helping workers in the first 12 weeks after a work-related injury.

These “best practices” focus on the safe, healthy return of injured workers to full function and full employment. Examples of best practices include:

• Promptly filing the workers’ compensation claim.
• Phoning the employer to talk about the worker’s ability to return to work or a light-duty job.
• Regularly assessing a worker’s ability to do work activities.

The study found that when injured workers are treated using COHE best practices, they had 19.7% fewer disability days than other injured workers receiving treatment, and a reduction in total disability and medical costs of $510 per claim. Workers suffering from back strain had a reduction in disability days of 29.5%.

“We’re especially encouraged that the outcomes for workers with low-back strain were significantly better,” said Dr. Franklin. “Lower-back strain is a costly and common disabling condition in workers’ compensation.”

Currently, four COHE sites serve 2,000 providers and hundreds of employers, treating about one-third of injured workers in Washington. The findings of the study led to new legislation 2011 that will expand access to COHEs to all injured workers in the state by 2015.

Washington Workers Compensation Lawyers

It is clear that the efforts of L&I is successfully bringing in money and turning around some forecasting oversights. However, the new statistics are disheartening. Workplace safety is our priority, but that doesn’t specifically mean that privatization is the answer. L&I has proven to be a very effective and sustainable organization with a good safety enforcement track record in the past. It is only with renewed dedication by legislators that Washington State can have a fully functional public worker’s compensation system.

The law firm of Phillips Webster has a team of legal professionals dedicated to seeking just compensation for workers injured on the job. Our workers compensation attorneys will look at your case for free and give you options on what you need to do to move forward. Call Phillips Webster now for a free consultation.

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• Washington Workers Compensation
• OSHA Safety Regulations
• Industrial Accidents

Washington State is aggressively moving towards eliminating road deaths for good. Governor Chris Gregoire has introduced a program called Target Zero with the aim to eliminate car accident deaths on Washington Roads by 2030. One step in this daunting effort is to touch the most at risk groups.

One of the obstacles is that Washington Tribes may not have rules or laws that mimic the efforts of Target Zero in order for the program to be a 100% success. However, there has been a national call to raise awareness of this disparity in motorist death.

More Research = More Concern

New research from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, in a review of the evidence on risk factors and interventions addressing this disparity published in the January issue of Epidemiologic Reviews, has highlighted the fact that there needs to be more research and programs to address the elevated rate of motor vehicle-related deaths among American Indian and Alaska Native populations.

The research team conducted a systematic review of literature published over the past 20 years and found only peer-reviewed 7 studies across all academic sources and government agencies described the problem in any way and tested interventions.

“The small number of studies in the peer-reviewed literature is surprising given the enormous human and economic impact of motor vehicle-related deaths in this population,” said lead study author Keshia Pollack, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, part of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “If injury disparities are going to be eliminated, support for research and programs targeting those groups disproportionately impacted needs to be made more readily available.”

Researchers identified published studies in peer-reviewed Journals between 1990 and 2011. They also searched websites such as Indian Health Service (IHS), the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and issues of the IHS Primary Care Provider, a journal devoted to IHS articles and tribal and urban Indian health care professional providers.

The study data found that, even though car accident deaths are declining overall in the U.S., deaths are highest among American Indian and Alaska Natives. According to the Center for Disease Control, car accidents are the leading cause of unintentional injury among Native Americans ages one to 44. Adult motor vehicle-related death rates for Native Americans are more than twice that of whites and almost twice that of African Americans and three times the rate for the Asian and Pacific Islander population – the population with the lowest rate.

The existing literature suggests that multiple risk factors involving behavior, policy, and environmental factors are behind the disparity. These include:

Living in rural communities – Statistically rural communities of any demographic have higher death rates over urban areas. This is due to speeding, lack of enforcement, and merging from rural roads to high speed highways.

Road conditions in rural areas and/or reservations – Directly related to availability to services such as road clearing, utility services, and emergency services in the event of an accident.

Availability of alcohol – Many Native American communities have lowered or eliminated the availability of alcohol, however, this does not curb the lowered or less stringent enforcement in some communities, which invariably lead to higher DUI related death rates.

Pedestrian involvement in crashes – Lack of proper sidewalks and crosswalks in many rural communities is a concern regardless of the demographic, but has translated into higher Native American death rates.

Lack traffic control devices – This is also a resource issue as flashing lights and traffic signals in rural areas can be expensive to put up and maintain.

Lack of artificial lighting – Like the lack of traffic devices this is a resource issue. Along state highways, proper lighting can be put up and maintained due to the power of state revenue, which may not be fully available to the reservation at the same level.

Researchers point out that frequency of pedestrian-related deaths is the one factor that is mentioned across all studies that they reviewed. The authors of the study were not able to identify any interventions implemented that specifically sought to improve pedestrian safety, however, there are many studies that suggest multiple affordable solutions.

“Studies like this give a bird’s-eye view on the problem,” said Pollack. “In addition to discovering gaps in the existing research and programs, we’re able to identify promising interventions worthy of replication. Priority should be given to interventions that combine multiple methods and use partnerships to change policy, the environment, and individual behavior.”

Seattle Car Accident Lawyer

One of the big parts of trying to achieve the lofty goals of Target Zero is to establish what is called a Traffic Safety Culture. This is defined as a culture that is aware that one of the biggest causes of death is road deaths and that this wholly preventable as long as a policy is in place to curb it. The Target Zero program has done that by providing a 4 pronged approach:

Education - Give drivers the information to make the best choices.

Enforcement - Use driver behavior data to help law-enforcement officers pinpoint locations with a high number of serious collisions.

Engineering - Use best practices to prevent or reduce the severity of collisions.

Emergency Medical Services - Provide high-quality and rapid emergency and medical response to injury collisions

By bolstering the funding and emphasizing the importance of these factors, Individuals may be safe drivers, but those who take their own lives in their hands by speeding, DUI, drowsy driving, and distracted driving need to recognize that they are putting everyone around them in danger, not just themselves and their passengers.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident anywhere in Washington state, you need a skilled lawyer to deal with the insurance companies to assure you the best settlement. Call the Seattle car accident attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

Learn More About:

• Washington Law and Car Accidents
• Car accidents and insurance coverage
• What to do in a car accident

As Washington personal injury attorneys with a diverse clientele spanning across all income brackets, we are right in the middle of the insurance issue. That’s why we were a little steamed about a study that came out this week regarding the disparity in charges for car insurance to lower income drivers than higher income drivers.

Lower Income Insurance Study

A new and quite extensive report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), an organization that seeks to advance consumer interests through advocacy, research, and education, has shown some major rate disparities by income amongst some of the largest car insurance companies in America.

In the report the authors pointed out that for many poor people, the cost of car insurance can impede car ownership and in cases of lower cost cars, can exceed the cost of the vehicle itself. That has broad economic implications since those without cars have a harder time getting to work, school, day care or the grocery store.

“There is much academic research that clearly shows that if you have ready access to a car, it dramatically improves your economic opportunities,” said Stephen Brobeck, executive director at CFA.

Researchers cited 2006 research that found that those with less education and working in less skilled occupations often pay premiums that were on average 40% higher. Certainly this has many different factors involved in it, but the wider view into the disparity suggests that there may be a larger inequality issue here.

Even though insurers are prohibited from asking for a potential customers income, the authors of the study contend that many of their methods put lower- and moderate-income households with between $20,000 to $40,000 in earnings per year at a disadvantage. The reason for this is that insurers, though not asking directly, have other roundabout questions that are perfectly legal with give them a fairly accurate gauge as to the income of the person they are interviewing.

One of the main reasons for this is that the cheaper the car insurance is on paper, the more the people are paying for the actual coverage. Researchers liken it to going to a store with large items that only wealthy people have access to and getting the item for the same price as a smaller item at another store that poor people frequent. The pricing versus coverage is often wildly disproportionate.

After examining the data and researcher’s coments, the CFA suggests that pricing should be largely influenced by factors that drivers can control, like the cars they drive and how far and safely they drive them.

“Poor people, we know from the data, they spend a lot less on gas, which means they are driving less,” said J. Robert Hunter, co-author of the paper and director of insurance at the group. “So if insurers more fully reflected miles driven in pricing, it would lower the rate for poorer people.”

Determining Rates

Differences in rates are nothing new. If you are a young male who drives a fast car, you know that well. Why? Because males between the ages of 16 and 25 are statistically the most prone to car accidents and most of the accidents are caused by speeding. The numbers ring true regardless of income. These rates come down at a certain point after the driver has proven they are responsible and hit a certain age.

What determines car insurance rates and do they effect the poor disproportionately?

• Age – Generally, the older you are, the fewer accidents you’ll have than less experienced drivers, particularly teenagers. Insurers charge more if teenagers or young people below age 25 drive your car. No effect.
• Credit – Insurance companies use FICO scores as a factor in insurance rates. Credit-based insurance scores are based on information like payment history, bankruptcies, collections, outstanding debt and length of credit history. Regular, on-time credit card and mortgage payments affect a score positively, while late payments affect a score negatively. Yes. Poor people generally have lower credit ratings overall.
• Location – Local statistics influence Insurance rates, such as the number of accidents, car thefts and lawsuits, as well as the cost of medical care and car repair. Yes. Income is a large determining factor as to the crime rate of they area in which they live.
• Make and Model – Automobiles that are expensive, have high theft rates, higher repair cost or have poor safety records cost more to insure. No effect.
• Odometer Reading – If you drive a lot you increase your chance for accidents, the more you’ll pay. If you drive less than 10,000 miles a year, you will pay less. Some companies will give discounts to policyholders who carpool. Yes. As inner cities with more access to public transit become more gentrified, it forces the poor to move farther out, forcing them to put more miles on their odometer to reach their jobs.
• Time Without Insurance – Plus there’s a time lag. You may also pay more if you haven’t been insured for a number of years. Yes. Poor people do not pay for items that they don’t use. If they live near their work, then they may have long periods where they do not drive.
• Safe Driving Record – If you have a lot of accidents and serious traffic violations, the higher your rate of course. No effect.
• Size of Policy – You’ll pay more for a large policy. Generally, insurance companies offer discounts if you have your homeowners and auto insurance policies with them. Yes. Many lower income people do not own their homes, boats, etc and do not have access to bundling discounts.

Seattle Car Accident Lawyer

There is a much larger poor population than there is rich, so it would be unreasonable to say that poor people get into more accidents based purely on population. There is also little to no evidence that, just because a person is poor, they are more prone to accidents.

We’re concerned about this issue because insurance companies will use any excuse to gouge the public and when one of their loyal customers receives a personal injury in a car wreck, they do everything in their power to avoid paying what they agreed to pay in order for the individual to receive proper care and/or just compensation.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident anywhere in Washington state, you need a skilled lawyer to deal with the insurance companies to assure you the best settlement. Call the Seattle car accident attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

Learn More About:

• Washington Law and Car Accidents
• Car accidents and insurance coverage
• What to do in a car accident

Crestor is a member of a category of cholesterol fighting drugs called statins. It’s estimated that about 24 million Americans take statins and that number is growing as the population is seemingly getting unhealthier and the ranks of obese Americans gets larger on a daily basis. However, even the healthiest people can have serious cholesterol problems under the right circumstances with the increased use of transfats in the average American diet.

Statins were initially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for reducing high cholesterol levels in order to prevent repeated heart attacks and strokes in at-risk patients. When used for that purpose, the drugs drive down the risk of another heart attack or stroke by lowering levels of LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol.

This is great news for healthier statin patients, however, Crestor patients also who might be at risk for diabetes may find their chances of catching the deadly disease increased.

Diabetes Study and Statins

According to a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and released in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine as part of the U.S. government’s Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) there is new evidence of a potential new side effect for some women who take statins, type 2 diabetes.

UMMS researchers examined data from WHI’s ambitious national health study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in which 161,808 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 were followed for 15 years, revealing a daunting amount of data, inspiring the UMMS study.

The UMMS study focused on 153,840 of those women who did not have diabetes at enrollment. After adjusting for confounding factors, statin use at baseline was associated with an eye popping 48% increased risk of diabetes. The association was observed for all types of statin medications, not just Crestor, however, Crestor is one of the most proscribed.

“These findings should have a significant impact on current clinical practice, as statin use has soared in recent years,” Senior author Yunsheng Ma, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and an epidemiologist at UMMS said. “With an average of one in four Americans over 45 on these medications, it is imperative that future studies evaluate the risks as well as benefits of statin use among men, women and diverse ethnicities with different risk profiles.”

Doctors don’t know why statins increase diabetes risk but the findings are in line with previous smaller studies.

“We found that this association was true of both low potency and higher potency statins and appeared with shorter term use as well as longer term use,” said Dr. Jo Ann Manson, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Specialists emphasize that, since heart disease is one of the major complications of diabetes, no one should stop taking their medication. But the risk is something to consider and patients should consult their doctors, especially if they are concerned about their risk of diabetes or if it runs in their family.

Crestor and Diabetes

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients have pancreatic problems and though they can both be hereditary, type 1 is usually detected at birth or early in the person’s life, where as type 2 can be caused by serious health concerns such as weight. This weight is generally caused by a high fat or high sugar diet that can throw off the gluten (sugar) levels in the blood and can have a serious toll on the pancreas.

Insulin is produced in the pancreas in order to regulate the amount of sugar released into the body by the foods we eat. Type II diabetes is when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to get the job done, thus, the pancreas is already malfunctioning, even if it’s functioning normally for a generally healthy individual. By a radical change in diet and exercise, this trend can be reversed. There is thus far no cure for type 1 diabetes.

Perhaps the biggest concern is that Crestor patients are generally already at risk of heart attacks and strokes, two of the main symptoms of weight. By increasing patient’s chances of developing diabetes, they could be further putting the patient at risk due to the fact that the main type 2 diabetes drug approved by the FDA, Actos, has shown to increase the patient’s risk of heart attack and stroke. A vicious circle indeed.

It is up to the patient’s physician to monitor and council their patient as to what pharmaceutical regiment is right for them as well as giving advice regarding diet and exercise. It is the drug company’s job to fully inform the doctor of the risks associated with every drug they sell. However, if a drug or combination of drugs has proven to put the patient on a potentially deadly cycle, then the patient’s only recourse is to seek council from an experienced defective drug attorney that can help them seek compensation for their pain and suffering.

Seattle Crestor Lawyers

If you are a current or recent patient who has been taking Crestor by prescription for any reason and have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes since taking the drug, then you most likely have a Crestor Lawsuit. This means that you have been injured or your family member was killed by the serious side effects and may be entitled to compensation.

Phillips Webster is currently consulting patients and their families who have been injured by the side effects of Crestor on their legal rights. If you or someone you know has been hospitalized or killed by a Crestor side effect, it is very important that you procure skilled legal council that is experienced in defective drug litigation so that you can get the compensation you deserve. Call Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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• Crestor
• Defective Drugs
• Defective Drug Litigation

Though there is some satisfaction in finding justice and compensation to help with medical bills, any family dealing with a child suffering from TBI will tell you, that’s far from where the struggle ends. We have written articles about childhood head injuries, how they can effect emotional development, and how they may even lead to violent tendencies later in life.

Now there have been some more comprehensive studies that show childhood TBI victims may suffer even more dire consequences to their ability to learn that may effect how well they achieve throughout their lifetime.

Children and Brain Injuries

Children often suffer mild brain injuries many times throughout their lives resulting from a fall. About 1 in 30 newborns will have a traumatic brain injury by age 16, some researchers have found. Researchers also know that the impairments after these injuries persist until at least five years after the accident. However, experts confirm motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of severe brain injury in kids.

Now, two Australian research studies have been released recently that examined the impact of traumatic brain injury in children as young as 2 years, and found that these injuries affected cognitive function, IQ and even behavior for some time.

One, conducted by the University of Melbourne lead by Dr. Vicki Anderson, evaluated 40 children who had a traumatic brain injury. The accidents happened when they ranged in age from 2 to 7. They divided them into three groups by severity of their injuries.

The categories were:

• Seven had mild injuries.
• Twenty had moderate injuries.
• Thirteen had severe injuries.

Through the course of the 10 year study, researchers compared the children with brain injuries to healthy children. The children were tested on several measures, including their IQ, cognitive skills, and social and behavioral skills. They were also tested on their adaptive ability such as their response to daily demands and any learning difficulties.

Researchers found that recovery from traumatic brain injury can continue for years after the initial injury. The kids with the most severe brain injuries had the most significant results, showing lower IQs of between 18 and 26 points. Children who had moderate-to-severe TBIs scored lower on IQ tests by about seven to 10 points. Mild traumatic brain injuries didn’t seem to significantly affect IQ.

A child’s home environment can positively influence recovery if the child lives in a stable, caring home.

“A quality home environment and access to appropriate rehabilitation is critical to maximize outcomes,” Anderson said.

Long Term Effects Of Minor Accidents

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TBIs occur after a blow or bump to the head. The CDC says that young children under 4 years old are particularly at risk of experiencing a TBI, which can occur from a fall, a car accident, deliberate child abuse, sports or being hit with a moving object. The agency says that about one-third of children who survive a TBI will have lasting damage.

The second study was led by Louise Crowe, a postdoctoral research officer at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. His team followed a group of 53 children who had sustained a TBI before they were 3 years old as well as 27 non-injured children. They followed up with these children when they were between 4 and 6 years old. The average time since the injury occurred was 40 months.

This study found that children who had moderate-to-severe TBIs scored lower on IQ tests by about seven to 10 points. However, though the test subjects with mild and moderate-to-severe TBIs showed no significant decrease in IQ, they were associated with an increased risk of behavior problems.

“Many people think that the soft skull of a baby may give them some advantage because if they fall they are not likely to sustain a skull fracture. Also, because a baby’s brain is growing so quickly, it seems like the brain may be able to fix an injury,” Crowe said. “In reality, the soft skull and growing brain of a baby put them at a greater risk of future problems.”

Researchers in this study also stressed the importance of a strong, stress-free environment with ample support from the parents to increase the chances of a strong, lasting, and balanced recovery.

“Children from cohesive family environments and children whose parents had lower levels of stress showed better recovery,” Crowe said. “Why this is so is unclear, but it may be due to a parent spending more time with their children, and children also growing up in a less stressful environment.

Washington Brain Injury Lawyer

As you can see, the main cause of TBI in kids is car accidents and depending on the severity of the injury, this can be a life altering injury affecting their future potential, employment, and quality of life. It can also lead to antisocial and potentially violent behavior. This is bad for both the child and parents.

Also, researchers confirm that long-term care and a solid, stress-free environment at home with ample support and time spent on recovery is key to returning the child on a positive road for the rest of their lives. This requires compensation far beyond what insurance companies feel as if they are required to pay because it may mean that one or both parents need to quit their jobs to care for the child full time as well as physical therapy, mental therapy, and moving out of the city or other high stress environments.

If you or someone you know has suffered from a traumatic brain injury then some of the best advice they can get is to find experienced legal council that can properly negotiate with insurance companies and medical care providers to assure that you get the compensation you deserve. Call the brain injury attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation on your legal options.

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• Closed Head Injuries
• Depression and Brain Injuries
• Brain Injury Lawsuits
  

Though the details vary by state, they stay under the same general principles of young driver safety and graduated system of licensure over a period of time.

• Learner Stage: supervised driving, cumulating with a driving test
• Intermediate Stage: limiting unsupervised driving in high risk situations
• Full Privilege Stage: a standard driver’s license

These laws have come under attack as some studies have shown that they do not address maturity, which can vary from person to person and can be the difference in some of the most dangerous situations, namely, driving with passenger distractions.

Passenger Distractions

Teenagers can be an excitable lot, particularly when they’re in the car experiencing a freedom they had been previously deprived. As you’ll see, there are lots of reasons for these distractions and they can vary by gender, but what is not under dispute is that passenger distraction is considered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as one of the biggest causes of teen car accidents.

Since car accidents are the leading cause of death for people 16 to 25, this has made passenger distractions a huge concern for traffic safety officials and advocates. This week has also perhaps marked a turning point as two studies came out showing some of the causal factors involved in passenger distraction.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm both published their studies in the Journal of Adolescent Health. They don’t specifically show the danger of distraction, that was already know, instead they help us understand the factors that may predispose teens to drive with multiple friends and how those passengers may contribute to crashes by distracting the driver and promoting risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, tailgating, or weaving.

“Knowing this, we can develop programs that work in tandem with current Graduated Driver Licensing laws,” said study author Allison Curry, PhD, director of epidemiology at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

The first study surveyed 198 teen drivers. For the most part teens in this study generally reported strong perceptions of the risks of driving, low frequencies of driving with multiple passengers, and strong beliefs that their parents monitored their behavior and set rules.

However, the teens who are most likely to drive with multiple passengers shared the following characteristics:

• Considered themselves “thrill-seekers.”
• Perceived their parents as not setting rules or monitoring their whereabouts.
• Possessed a weak perception of the risks associated with driving in general.

Teen Passenger Distraction Risk By Gender

The State Farm study analyzed 677 teen drivers involved in serious crashes and compared the likelihood of driver distraction and risk-taking behaviors just prior to the crash when teens drive with peer passengers as opposed to when they drive alone.

Researchers found that both male and female teen drivers with peer passengers were more likely to be distracted just before a crash as compared to teens who crashed while driving alone. However, 71% of males as compared to 47% of females said they were distracted directly by the actions of their passengers.

The study found males with passengers were nearly 6x more likely to perform an illegal maneuver and 2x more likely to drive aggressively just before a crash, as compared to males driving alone. Females rarely drove aggressively prior to a crash, regardless of whether they had passengers in the car.

“Teen passengers can intentionally and unintentionally encourage unsafe driving,” said Dr. Mirman. “It’s best to keep the number of passengers to a minimum for the first year.”

The study authors also emphasized the important role parents play in supporting safe driving among teens and their passengers.

“Combined with Graduated Driver Licensing laws that limit passengers for the first year of driving, involved parents are an effective strategy to protect teens from a dangerous and preventable crash risk – driving with their friends,” said Chris Mullen, research director at State Farm

They recommend parents set a house rule of no non-sibling teen passengers for the first six months of driving and only one non-sibling passenger for the second six months.

When combined with a study conducted by the University of California, which (amongst a ton of other valuable information) revealed the causal behaviors cited in teen passenger distraction car accidents by gender as you can see in the chart below.

Washington Car Accident Lawyers

The attorneys at Phillips Webster support any effort that keeps teenage drivers and their families safe. We have seen how the terrible grief over the loss of a loved one torn away at the beginning of their lives due to a car accident can rip apart families and send shockwaves through a community.
Phillips Webster represents families of victims who have been injured or died in car accidents in Washington state. We are skilled attorneys in wrongful death lawsuits and personal injury lawsuits with years of experience that they will use to assure that you get the compensation you deserve. Call today for a free consultation.
Learn More About:

• Washington Law and Car Accidents
• Car Accidents and Insurance Coverage
• Legal Questions about Car Accidents

It was only in the last decade that the public has been informed that the most common antidepressants, serotonin reuptake antidepressants (SSRIs) like Zoloft, cause birth defects. In 2006 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent out a warning and later imposed on Zoloft their most stringent warning, the black box warning, regarding the danger of Zoloft and birth defects.

Birth Control Research

Recently, a research paper was published in the British Medical Journal. It reported that taking paroxetine (Paxil) and sertraline (Zoloft) during the second half of a woman’s pregnancy could more than double the risk that babies will develop persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).

PPHN affects about 1 in 1,000 newborns. It has been found that more than double that number of newborns of mothers taking antidepressants in the second half of their pregnancies. It is defined as high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, essentially causing the right ventricle of the heart, which is the main provider of oxygenated blood, to work harder, potentially causing heart failure.

This is a serious ailment and in his article Antidepressants and pregnancy: What to do now, famed psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow gave some recommendations for patients on SSRIs:

1) Women considering pregnancy should try to stop or not to start antidepressants. If the patient requires treatment for depression, they should try psychotherapy or transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

2) Women who find themselves pregnant while already taking antidepressants should talk to should doctor about very slowly stopping them, but only if you can do so safely, without severe symptoms of depression returning.

3) Never stop antidepressants all of a sudden. This can cause serious symptoms that affect the patient and her unborn child.

4) Do not stop antidepressants during pregnancy if the patient has become suicidal while depressed in the past and antidepressants have been necessary to ward off thoughts of suicide.

5) While many obstetricians and many primary care doctors are comfortable treating depression, Dr. Ablow believes it is best to be seen by a psychiatrist if the patient is taking antidepressants and want to have a baby.

Zoloft Birth Defect Lawsuits

Zoloft has been on the market for far longer than 2006 however. It was introduced in 1991 by global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and has enjoyed billion dollar sales since. These new research revelations and warnings by the FDA findings have inspired many parents of PPHN victims who took Zoloft during pregnancy to review the situation that lead to the injury or death of their child.

A growing number of women have found that Zoloft has potentially played a part in the birth defects found in their children either currently alive or deceased. They have done this through the aid of an experienced attorney like those at Phillips Webster, who are able to research and extract the right documents and evidence from the correct sources. This has lead to a move towards a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) class action lawsuit.

On January 18, Pfizer filed a motion to consolidate all federal Zoloft birth defect lawsuits. Pfizer requested that they be centralized before one judge for pretrial litigation as part of a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. Currently there are 59 lawsuits alleging Zoloft birth defects involving common claims and questions of fact.

The company, lawyers, and plaintiffs alike prefer the class action system because it expedites and simplifies the process. Pfizer suggested New York because it’s near their headquarters and allows their economic impact on the area to sway the local jury.  The company asked the U.S. Judicial Panel to create a Zoloft MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. However, the majority of the complaints are in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where at least 48 of lawsuits are pending.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is expected to hear oral arguments on the motion during a hearing scheduled to occur on May 31, 2012, at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Filing a Zoloft Lawsuit In Washington State

Evidence has not yet presented itself, but there is a suspicion by current plaintiffs that Pfizer may have potentially known about this birth defect issue prior to the FDA warning and chosen not to reveal it to physicians, the FDA, and patients. This sort of revelation could be a major deciding factor in this case.

However, the lawsuits focus mostly on the birth defects, which include:

• PPHN
• Heart defects
• Lung defects
• Abdominal defects
• Cranial defects
• Limb malformations

Just because the majority of the lawsuits are based in Pennsylvania does not mean that it is not potentially a national class action. This means that women effected by Zoloft birth defects in Washington State are still eligible to seek justice and compensation for pain and suffering of both them and their child both alive or deceased.

Washington Zoloft Attorneys

If you have found that you or a loved one has had a child with a birth defect and they were taking Zoloft during pregnancy, they may be entitled to compensation. It is important that you contact legal council that has experience in protecting patients from giant pharmaceutical companies. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation on your legal options.

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• Defective Drugs
• Product Liability
• Defective Medical Devices

You’ve probably heard of them being on airplanes, trains, and charter buses, but Electronic Data Recorders (EDRs) also occupy many other commercial vehicles and even some newer consumer vehicles. However, the black box data on many consumer vehicles has been considered proprietary to the car manufacturers and thus, not commonly used as evidence in determining fault, yet, that may soon change.

Legislation and Recalls

Government officials are now in the process of getting through rules that would require every new car sold in the U.S. include a ‘black box’ data recording devices similar to those used on buses and trucks now. The idea was endorsed this week by the U.S. National Research Council, following the closing of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) closing of the 2010-2011 investigation of sudden acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles.

In 2010, Toyota conducted the world’s largest automotive recall, pulling nearly 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles from countries around the world. The car manufacturer insists that the problem was caused by gas pedals getting stuck under floor mats, which forced the car surge forward for miles as the drivers unsuccessfully attempted to brake and shift out of gear to no avail until the car finally decided to stop or they ran into a large object.

Many believe that the problem could have been rooted in errant electronic throttle control systems. In one of first cases, in Washington State, the parents of a young man who died from what was ruled as speeding, worked with Toyota, through their attorney, to obtain and examine data from the black box in his truck. Though Toyota vehemently resisted, they finally provided them with 5 seconds leading up to the crash showing that their son did not or was unable to brake before the accident.

The National Research Council (NRC) concluded that the safety agency was right to close its investigation after the NHTSA (assisted by NASA) was unable to find an electronic cause (or otherwise) of the Toyota sudden acceleration defect. However, the NRC suggested that the NHTSA must become more familiar with today’s sophisticated automotive electronics.

“Failures associated with electronics systems—including those related to software programming, dual and intermittent electronics hardware faults, and electromagnetic disturbances — may not leave physical evidence to aid investigations into observed or reported unsafe vehicle behaviors,” said the National Research Council.

A New Standard

The NHTSA has been working on a standardized system for recording data nearly a decade now. In 2004, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) came out with its first EDR, the IEEE 1616, which showed that it could be produced. In 2010, the organization rolled out their second generation of that model, the IEEE 1616a, and it looks as if that is quickly gaining favor with upper officials and may become the standard amongst the whole vehicle industry for cars driven in the United States.

The engineering group says that the IEEE 1616a aims to preserve the data quality and integrity needed to meet federal collection standards, while protecting consumers’ privacy. Built on more than a decade of MVEDR research and development by organizations including federal agencies, industry trade associations, and global automotive, truck, and bus manufacturers.

New safeguards on the IEEE 1616a are:

• Data tampering – modification, removal, erasure, or otherwise rendering inoperative of any device or element, including MVEDRs;
• VIN theft – duplication and transfer of unique VIN numbers, a process known as “VIN cloning”, enabling stolen cars to be passed off as non-stolen;
• Odometer fraud – rolling back of vehicle odometers, resulting in the appearance of lower mileage values; and
• Privacy – prevention of the misuse of collected data for vehicle owners.

“According to the World Health Organization, someone dies in a motor vehicle crash once every minute, and road crash fatalities have claimed 30 million lives globally since 1896,” said Tom Kowalick, Chair of the IEEE P1616a Working Group. “As millions of drivers today face ongoing automotive recalls for electrical and onboard computer issues, [EDRs] are playing an increasingly critical role in the analysis of the scientific data collected from these vehicles.”

Personal Injury and Black Boxes

In a personal injury case, as mentioned above, the accident investigation is extremely important. The reason for this is, in order to seek personal injury compensation there must be some record of negligence. Driving under the influence (DUI) is traceable through breathalyzer, field sobriety tests, and blood tests, however, other reckless behaviors such as speeding, tailgating, erratic driving, or distraction may need witnesses or only be told by skid marks.

With an EDR, the speed of the vehicle, braking, and immediate electrical history can help determine the cause of the crash and in turn, the person who caused it. This will go a long way in helping determine and expedite your settlement. Certainly, this information could at times work against the victim, as can any data, however, we are confident that the new rules will help get victims the justice and compensation they deserve.

Seattle Car Accident Lawyers

Phillips Webster has helped thousands of Washington residents and their families get the compensation they deserve after a serious car accident. If you or someone you know gets injured in a car accident you need an experienced representative to deal with the insurance companies to assure you the best settlement. Call the Seattle car accident attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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• Washington Law and Car Accidents
• Car Accidents and Insurance Coverage
• Legal Questions about Car Accidents

There are tons of different kinds of injuries that can happen that mitigate receiving L&I benefits in an office setting including carpal tunnel, falling filing cabinets, etc. However, what many workers don’t realize is that they could be injured just by breathing the toxic air around them.

Common Office Toxins

If you are reading this in your office, all you need to do is look around and see the various toxins. You’re sitting in them, typing on them, and all the while breathing them in. Now, this isn’t meant to freak anyone out because it’s something we all have to live with, but they exist. The difference between a safe work environment and an unsafe work environment is the levels of toxins.

Common office toxins are:

• Cleaning Products – According to Copes, custodians and janitors exposed to high levels of some types of cleaning products experience stronger cases of asthma.
• Radon – Basements and rooms under ground level are at risk for this natural radioactive gas. Radon is second only to tobacco as a leading cause of lung cancer.
• Photocopiers – These machines emit low levels of ozone that can cause dizziness, fatigue, and respiratory problems.
• Mold and Mildew – Water and moldy food can also be causes for poor indoor air quality. Water leaks can cause bacteria and mold to grow and old food introduces fungus and spores into the workplace.
• PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) - These are industrial toxic chemicals, used to retard flame in consumer electronic plastics and furniture. Over the past 30 years, PBDES have been found in blood, breastmilk, and umbilical cord blood. Lab animals exposed to these toxins show deficits in learning and memory over time. PBDEs affect thryroid levels in laboratory animals and in wildlife, and may cause birth defects.
• PFCs (polyfluorinated compounds) – This is a group of toxic chemicals released from carpeting, paint, furniture glues, water repellents and coverings, and other sources. It has been found that they build up in the body over time, and can take years for the body to metabolize and eliminate.

Certainly there are different factors such as environmental hypersensitivity and allergies that need to be taken into account, but for overall worker health the reduction in toxic chemicals in the workplace needs to be a conscious effort.

PFCs and PBDEs in the Workplace

In Washington State, the legislature has already addressed PBDEs by ordering a reduction in 2006. This effort, though not culminating quickly enough for workplace safety advocates like those at Phillips Webster and L&I, is currently making an impact. However, these types of moves always lead to other concerns, namely PFCs.

A new study from the journal Environmental Science and Technology reports that researchers found concentrations of a PFCs called fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH) in office air that were 3-5 times higher than those reported in previous studies of household air, suggesting that offices may represent a unique and important exposure environment.

Effects from these compounds in animal studies have shown:

• Reduced lipid metabolism
• Reduced liver health
• Lower rates reproduction
• Weaker immune system
• Lower birth weights
• Higher cholesterol

What can the typical office worker do to limit exposure? Telecommuting when possible, working in outdoor areas, or bringing toxin-sucking plants to the office can all reduce the quantity of exposure to such chemicals.

Toxic Printers

One of the biggest concerns for alert office workers has been printers. There are some workers that have not changed printer cartages, but those who have know that the stuff that makes us able to see our work on paper is a black, powdered, toxic chemical that gets everywhere. They know that if you breath that fine powder, it can seriously effect your health.

Last week, Australian researchers confirmed those fears with a report showing that laser printer emissions are as bad for the lungs as a lit cigarette. Toner particles join the cloud of invisible office toxins that researchers have been identifying in recent years, which is causing office workers to slowly develop compromised immune systems, chronic headaches, and respiratory distress.

Now, researchers are using sensors that pick up particulate smaller than one micron, or about one-50th the diameter of a human hair. In fact, exerts found that when someone has a large job going, the air quality sensors go through the roof.

Workers Compensation Lawyer

As you can see there are some serious air quality and toxic hazards for workers in climate controlled office spaces, particularly for pregnant women as many of these agents can cause birth defects. Many companies have begun testing regularly for radon, asbestos, and other toxins that have been proven extremely hazardous over the past few decades, however, there are also extremely apparent ones such as printer dust that can seriously effect a worker’s overall health. These toxic effects can be extremely hard to prove to Washington State L&I and may require legal help in seeking compensation for injuries and illnesses on the job.

The law firm of Phillips Webster has a team of legal professionals dedicated to seeking just compensation for workers injured on the job. Our workers compensation attorneys will look at your case for free and give you options on what you need to do to move forward. Call Phillips Webster now for a free consultation.

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• Washington Workers Compensation
• OSHA Safety Regulations
• Industrial Accidents

As if this wasn’t bad enough, the recall only came after thousands of people had already had the defective DePuy hip replacements installed in their bodies. They did this because DePuy had convinced medical professionals and the public that “metal on metal,” ball-in-socket construction was sturdier and longer lasting than the standard metal in polyurethane socket. In fact, it turned out to be the opposite.

It was only after an influx of complaints, bad press, and a scandal in Scotland, that the Food and Drug Administration took the issue seriously. J&J on the other hand has done everything it can to avoid taking responsibility. Now it seems, their backhanded tactics have backfired.

FDA Inspection

The FDA inspected DePuy Industries located in Warsaw, Indiana, on May 10, 2011, through June 7, 2011, nearly two years after the complaints started streaming in and a year after a major news story about it. The facility manufactures:

• ASR Acetabular Cup System
• ASR XL Acetabular Cup System
• Pinnacle Acetabular System
• PFC Sigma Knee System
• Agility LP Total Ankle Prosthesis
• Other ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, and wrist replacement devices.

After a painfully long review period of data, on December 8^th of 2011, the FDA issued DePuy warning letter stating what they had discovered. It said inspectors found that many of the devices that were distributed into the market hadn’t been adequately vetted by the agency or in some cases the FDA hadn’t even told of the existence of the medical device on the market at all!

“[The devices] have no premarket clearance or approval, or have been modified in ways that could impact the safety and effectiveness of the devices,” the warning letter said.

The FDA also warned DePuy had failed to establish adequate design procedures to ensure the devices conformed to their intended use. The agency also said the company lacked a proper statistical method for detecting recurring quality problems.

These devices were being sold to the public and installed permanently in people’s bodies. This is exactly one of the tasks that the FDA is there to protect from. It is as if the company was distributing a drug that was not approved and touted benefits that had not be substantiated without determining or revealing any side effects or warnings what so ever.

FDA Action Against J&J and DePuy

Regulators have warned the pharmaceutical giant and it’s sister company against selling joint replacement products without proper approval, prompting the company to stop producing some devices under threat of possible regulatory action, including seizure, injunction and financial penalties. The regulators gave DePuy 15 business days to correct the violations.

A statement released by DePuy on Wednesday said the “company produced the items as custom medical devices for physicians. Custom devices are exempt from the rules the FDA cited in the warning.”

But the agency said the products were too standard in design to qualify for exemption.

“While DePuy believes it had complied with FDA requirements, the company has made the decision at this time not to provide custom devices,” the company statement said. “DePuy has implemented a number of actions to address concerns raised in the inspection, and has responded to all concerns raised in the warning letter.”

Problems With The ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System?

Perhaps the largest problem is surrounding the metal on metal design, which is different from the usual polyethylene cup design. The design itself has caused some serious discomfort, but there are also serious design flaws due to the metal on metal system. This has highlighted the manufacturing, design, and testing process of J&J and DePuy as a harmful profit over patient approach.

Some problems with the products reported by the customers have been:

Loose Parts – The device is a ball and socket system which is attached to both the pelvic bone and the femur bone. It has been known to become loose in the socket, in the shaft, or loose in other parts of the system causing severe pain and lost mobility.

Dislocation – The ball of the unit can completely detach, leading to severe pain, loss of movement, and requiring immediate emergency medical attention.

Femur or Pelvic Bone Fracture – The unit is attached to the pelvic bone and femur bone. Patients have complained the hard metal, though tough, causes bone fractures in these places.

Infection – Infection after a long hip surgery can lead to serious implications for the patient’s overall health. Some of the implications include the ability to fight disease, ongoing pain and fatigue, and the infection getting into the blood system and affecting other organs in the body. Having another replacement surgery may be fatal to some patients.

Genotoxicity – Ware and tear can cause units have metal loss. Microscopic metal shavings cause the chromosomes of bone marrow or white blood cells to breakdown. Genotoxic effects have been known to result in cancer or even heritable defects if toxicity reaches the reproductive organs and reproductive cells are affected. This is easier than one may think since the hip is very close to that area.

Malalignment – At the time of surgery the technicians or surgeons did not notice that the device was not aligned correctly. After the patient had started using the hip, the malalignment led to severe discomfort and pain. It can also lead to malfunction as the patient struggles with the devices malaligned movement and their natural movement.

Seattle DePuy Attorney

Ethical business practices put customer safety first and foremost, with proper and thoughtful design of medical devices and products, adequately extensive testing, and fast recognition of problems once they are realized. If all of these ethical procedures had been practiced, particularly the last one, then 12,000 patient’s wouldn’t be in the painful and crippling situation they are now.

Phillips Webster understands the plight of the patient and addresses each individual client’s needs. We are a group of experienced Defective Medical Device Lawyers that will take the time to listen to the patient and their needs in order to seek the proper justice and compensation they deserve. Call Seattle DePuy Lawyers at Phillips Webster Today for a free consultation.
Learn More About:

• Defective Products
• Medical Malpractice
• DePuy Hip Recall Litigation