Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Heat-related deaths among high school athletes is a serious and growing problem, although one that has only recently begun to receive widespread public attention. A study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina reports that 18 high school athletes suffered from fatal exertional heat stroke between 2005 and 2009, with an additional 19 since 2010. A representative from the Kory Stringer Institute (KSI) a sports safety research and advocacy organization located at the University of Connecticut, stated that, since 2004, the yearly average of high school students suffering from fatal heat stroke is almost twice that of the preceding decades. Although there have been many efforts at the state and local level to combat these traffic deaths, a recent study by KSI and the National Football League (NFL) found that the implementation of policies to prevent heat-related deaths is far from uniform.

The study at issue shows that many individual states are not fully implementing key safety guidelines to protect athletes from potentially life-threatening conditions. The Youth Sports Safety Alliance, an organization representing more than 100 groups, issued the guidelines, which call for access to health care professionals, better-trained coaches, and up-to-date equipment. The state-by-state survey showed that North Carolina had the most comprehensive health and safety practices, adhering to 79% of the guidelines, followed by Kentucky at 71%. At the bottom were Colorado at 23% and California at 26%. Those scores are based on a state meeting the best practice guidelines addressing the four major causes of sudden death in high school athletes: cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat stroke, and exertional sickling occurring in athletes with the sickle cell trait.

Dr. Douglas Casa, of KSI,  says that progress is slow because most states only make changes to their safety guidelines after a tragedy. In his field of expertise (exertional heat stroke), Casa notes that states that have adopted significant changes to their heat acclimatization practices have not suffered any deaths from exertional heat stroke. To prevent death from EHS, best practices come down to three things:

A state appeals court in Illinois has upheld a $21 million judgment for a railroad worker whose foot was crushed on the job. Michael Parsons had been working as a conductor for Norfolk Southern Railway Company in Chicago for a year when his foot was crushed between the rail car on which he was riding and a car he had recently left on an adjacent track on the 51st/55th Street railway in Chicago. He alleged that two months before the accident, the railroad had installed new, wider switches in the yard, which narrowed the space between the tracks from 12 feet and two inches to 10 feet and five inches, and that employees were not notified of this change.

At trial, expert witnesses for Parsons testified that Illinois state law required 13-foot six-inch spaces between the centers of each track. Because he was unaware that the spaces between the tracks had been narrowed, Parsons was struck unaware and struck by a passing train. After the accident, he was transported by ambulance to the emergency room. He sustained a traumatic amputation and degloving of his left heel, with tears to the Achilles and peroneal tendons and nerves and a calcaneus fracture. Parsons was hospitalized for five weeks, during which he underwent six surgical procedures, including multiple skin grafts and removal of his calcaneus. Parsons’ counsel claimed he was unable to use his foot for two years, and when he did, it resulted in an immediate tear to the skin graft, resulting in an infection. Parsons’ medical experts testified that for the rest of Parsons’ life he will experience cycles of skin breakdown on his heel, preventing him from using his foot for three months and requiring antibiotic treatment to prevent infection. Parsons’ orthopedic expert testified the only, permanent solution would be amputation of the leg below the knee. Parsons’ vocational assessment expert testified these issues will reduce his work life by 11.4 years.

As damages, he sought $36,000,000 for future medical expenses, lost income, past and future pain and suffering, loss of normal life and disfigurement. The jury subsequently found Norfolk Southern liable and awarded Parsons $22 million, from which Norfolk Southern appealed. Their primary argument on appeal was that the damages award should have been lower because Parsons was partially at fault for the accident. The appeals panel denied all of Norfolk Southern’s claims. Revisiting testimony from the jury trial, the panel determined that the jury could find Parsons’ conduct was reasonable owing to testimony supporting claims that his conduct leading up to the accident was customary for many rail yard workers. The court also found that reducing Parsons’s award was improper because, at the age of 34, he may need surgery every four or five years for the rest of his life and that his pain and suffering will only increase.

Summer is fireworks season, and that can mean injuries and trips to the hospital for many people. In 2016, there were an estimated 11,000 fireworks-related injuries, 7,600 of which were treated in hospital emergency rooms between June 18, 2016 and July 18, 2016. Most fireworks-related injuries are burns, at 69%. Parts of the body that are most likely to be injured include:

• Hands and fingers: 33% of injuries
• Head, face, and ears: 28% of injuries