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Med Mal Lawsuits and Aortic Dissection – The Deadly Condition Often Missed in the Emergency Department

If left untreated, aortic dissection carries a mortality rate nearing 50% within 48 hours of symptom onset. Alarmingly, fewer than half of all cases are correctly diagnosed in the emergency department at first presentation. This article, written by Bethany R. Nikitenko and published in The Legal Intelligencer, provides a brief overview of the condition, the standard of care for …

Mandatory Safety Standard for Nursing Pillows Is Now in Effect

A new federal safety standard that aims to reduce the risks of suffocation, entrapment and falls associated with nursing pillows is now in effect. Nursing pillows are horseshoe-shaped pillows that are designed to fit around an adult’s torso and lift a baby to a more “ergonomic” position for breast or bottle feeding. They are not an infant sleep product, but their …

Mandatory Safety Standard for Infant Loungers and ‘Support Cushions’ Is Now in Effect

A new federal safety standard that aims to reduce the risks of suffocation, entrapment and falls associated with infant loungers and similar pillow-like products is now in effect. Starting on May 5, 2025, manufacturers of infant loungers and other “infant support cushions” must adhere to a mandatory safety standard which was unanimously approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) …

U.S. Leads High-Income Countries in Traffic Deaths

The United States leads 27 other high-income countries in its number of pedestrian deaths and overall road traffic deaths, according to a report recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report regards preventable pedestrian accident traffic deaths in the U.S. as a “major public health problem.” Between 2013 and 2022, U.S. pedestrian death rates increased 50 percent …

DOJ Launches Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program

In 2024, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division launched the Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to combat corporate crime. The Corporate Whistleblower Pilot Program will run through 2027, before being re-evaluated, and is modeled on other successful whistleblower programs like those administered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Pilot Program is designed …

Tabletop Fire Pits Can Explode, Cause Serious Burn Injuries and Death

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to immediately stop using alcohol-burning or other liquid fuel tabletop fire pits following two deaths and at least 60 injuries in the past five years. Tabletop fire pits — also called fire pots, miniature fireplaces and personal fireplaces — are small, portable fireplaces that can be placed on a tabletop or …

NHTSA Issues Final Rule for Auto Whistleblower Program

On December 12, 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published the final rule formalizing its whistleblower program, as required by the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act. The final rule deviates little from the rule proposed by NHTSA in April 2023, which addressed definitions of key program terms, tip-filing requirements, award applications, how decisions are made on award applications, …

SEC Obtains Orders for a Record $8.2 Billion in Financial Remedies in Fiscal Year 2024

In fiscal year 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed 583 enforcement actions and obtained orders for $8.2 billion in financial remedies—the most ever obtained by the SEC in a single fiscal year. The $8.2 billion consisted of $6.1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $2.1 billion in civil penalties. The SEC also obtained orders barring 124 individuals from serving …

When Fun Toys Kill: The Products Liability Case Against Water Beads

Water beads are sold for children as toys, educational materials, art materials, sensory tools, and as projectiles for “gel blaster” guns. Adults use them as decorative, crafting and gardening supplies. When these small, colorful beads are swallowed by children, they do not simply get digested and pass through a child’s body. Instead, they absorb fluids and expand to many times …

Trucking Accidents

Overworked Truck Drivers — A Menace on America’s Highways

July 10th, 2017

Following his resignation after just one month on the job as an aircraft mechanic in California, Feldman Shepherd client Gary Williams was driving back to his home in Norristown, Pennsylvania. On March 2, 2012 at about 2:00 a.m., Mr. Williams was traveling on Interstate 80 …

June 29th, 2017

At 12:30am on Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, 35-year-old Errol Catchings was fatally struck by two vehicles on Roosevelt Boulevard. The accident occurred near Wyoming Avenue, at the border of the Hunting Park and Olney neighborhoods, when Catchings walked off the curb into traffic, police said. …

Florida Medical Malpractice

Florida Supreme Court Rules Medical Malpractice Caps Unconstitutional

June 20th, 2017

Last week, Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that arbitrary caps on awards to medical malpractice victims are unconstitutional. The court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that the cap enacted in 2003 did not prove to reduce malpractice insurance rates. Instead, this cap unfairly impacted the most …

Jason A. Daria

Pedestrian struck and killed on Roosevelt Boulevard

April 25th, 2017

The Roosevelt Boulevard claimed another victim this year. On Sunday afternoon April 23rd, 69-year-old Melford Pinckney was crossing the roadway around the 4000 block of the Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, when he was struck by an SUV traveling southbound, police said. The driver of the …

Affordable care Act

Malpractice “Reform” should focus on eliminating malpractice, not legal rights of victims

April 24th, 2017

As House Republicans continue to advance their agenda in Washington in efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act, one of their anticipated changes to the civil justice system includes a change to medical malpractice laws. Their proposed bill would impose a limit of $250,000 on …

June 18th, 2016

Everyone who owns a piece of IKEA furniture knows that it can be a real pain to assemble. But, tragically, items from the Scandinavian retailer have proven to be dangerous–and in some instances even deadly. Such is the terrible case of Curren Collas, a two-year-old …

June 11th, 2016

On April 29, the New York Times health blog Well published a post titled, “Why Doctors Are Sued.” In its first sentence, it promises to reveal the answer to the question: “What kind of medical error accounts for most malpractice payments?” The answer, its author tells …

September 16th, 2015

Back in the summer of 2013, this blog wrote about statute of limitations amendment that couldn’t make its way out of the New York state legislature. Lavern’s Law is named after a Brooklyn woman whose curable lung cancer went undiagnosed for years–despite several rounds of …

September 2nd, 2015

Few in our society are as fragile and defenseless as seniors, particularly those in long-term care facilities. This is the reason why a proposed change to Medicare and Medicaid regulations–one that would outlaw forced arbitration as a precondition of entry into such a facility–is so …

High Stakes in PA Supreme Court Race

August 26th, 2015

Whether they know it or not, in November, Pennsylvanians will cast their votes for (among other positions) three seats on the bench of the commonwealth’s Supreme Court. This is the first time three such positions have been vacant at any one time in the Supreme …

August 19th, 2015

Texas–a state that already has on the books some of the toughest and most draconian tort reform measures in the country–was until recently in the process of passing a bill that would have (according to the Texas Tribune) made “it harder for homeowners and companies …

August 12th, 2015

Supporters of so-called tort reform measures would have the American public believe that medical malpractice cases are not only running rampant in the country’s civil justice system, but that they consistently lead to astronomical verdicts (which, in turn, are driving doctors out of business). Not …