Raleigh Personal Injury Law Blog

Construction is dangerous work. Nationally, in 2010, there were nearly 196,000 construction injuries, according to federal statistics. This meant there were about four injuries for every 100 construction workers.

These figures show that the risk of a construction site accident is very real - from construction vehicle accidents to scaffolding collapses to other forms of work injury.

North Carolina construction workers face the same challenges as workers in other states. Construction sites often involve heavy machinery, vehicles coming and going, and the possibility of a platform collapse.

Understandably, then, the recent floor collapse at casino construction site in Cincinnati received national attention.

As workers were pouring concrete on the second floor of a building that will be a casino, the floor buckled - then collapsed entirely.

Antipsychotic drugs are extremely powerful, with potential side effects that can be very harmful.

But many nursing homes are often quick to use such drugs to control residents who are experiencing dementia or other issues. This misuse of powerful medications can be a sign of nursing home abuse or neglect. It has therefore led to concern at the federal level about the overuse of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes and other places that offer care to seniors.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the Health and Human Services Department investigated the use of antipsychotics and found a startlingly high level of errors in related Medicare claims.

The OIG's report documented that, among nursing home residents with Medicare, 14 percent had claims for antipsychotic drugs. Nearly 9 in 10 (88 percent) of the "atypical antipsychotics" used were off-label prescriptions for dementia.

Antipsychotic drugs are meant to be used to treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. They should not become a catch-all response by staff when a nursing home resident appears to exhibit symptoms of dementia. Doing that diminishes the resident's quality of life and can make other injuries more likely.

Fifteen-passenger vans have been around for nearly thirty years. They became popular in the 1990s and there are now about 500,000 on the road in the U.S.

Unfortunately, there are numerous safety issues with this type of vehicle. The fatality rate for passengers is more than for passengers in other types of motor vehicle accidents.

In fact, the death rate for occupants of 15-passenger vans was higher than the combined total for all other types of passenger vehicles. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were 149 deaths per million registered vehicles in 15-pasenger vans from 2005 to 2009. The corresponding figure for all other vehicles was 121.

It's not just that 15-passenger vans are bigger than other passenger vehicles. Fifteen-passenger vans also have high centers of gravity. This makes them less stable than smaller vehicles and therefore a potential challenge to drive, especially for inexperienced drivers.

Awareness of the dangerous effect of brain injuries is finally starting to build. This is reflected in the results of a report released yesterday on the number of children being treated for traumatic brain injuries in emergency rooms.

The Centers for Disease Control reported that the number of children (age 19 and younger) receiving treatment for TBI in the ER increased significantly over the past decade. The number grew from 153,373 in 2001 to 248,418 in 2009. That is a 62 percent increase.

The director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Linda C. Degutis, provided some context for the numbers. "We believe that one reasons for the increase in emergency department visits among children and adolescents may be a result of the growing awareness among parents and coaches, and the public as a whole, about the need for individuals with a suspected TBI to be seen by a health care professional," she said.

The CDC data showed that many more boys than girls are being treated. Boys accounted for more than 7 out of 10 ER visits. Both genders are at risk of bike accidents and motor vehicle accidents. But boys are also often injured playing football.