Kirk Bernard – Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer

A 66-year-old man in Auburn, Washington, sustained severe head injuries after he fell from a business while repairing their roof. According to a report in the News Tribune, the man was hired to repair the roof. He either fell off the ladder or the roof. Bystanders called 911 after they found him on the pavement unconscious. The worker was transported to a Seattle hospital. Emergency personnel were able to stabilize him before he was transported. However, his current condition is not known.

Falls are the leading cause of construction site accidents in Washington and elsewhere in the country. Falls may occur because of loose or incorrectly erected scaffolding, slippery surfaces, defective ladders or improper use of ladders, or because of the lack of safety devices such as harnesses. Whatever the reason, there is potential for severe injuries when construction workers fall from a higher elevation. The most common types of injuries that can result from a fall include brain injury, spinal cord injury, broken bones or even death.

Liability in such cases depends on the person or entity for whom the worker was doing the job. For example, if he was hired by a certain property owner for the job, that person or entity might be held liable. If a construction company or general contractor employed him, he could get worker’s compensation benefits through his employer. If the accident occurred due to the negligence of someone other than the employer, that individual or entity can also be held liable. Examples of third parties include a contractor, sub-contractor or the manufacturer of a defective product.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Seattle construction site accident, please contact the experienced Seattle construction accident lawyers with The Bernard Law Group for a free consultation and comprehensive assessment of your claim. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington construction accident cases, which has useful educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/1033986.html

A 97-year-old woman suffered fatal injuries in a car accident on the Benson Highway. According to a news report, the elderly woman was a passenger in a 1985 Toyota Camry, which collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Southeast 200th Street and the Benson Highway in unincorporated Kent. The Camry was traveling south on Benson Highway when it crashed with a 2004 Kia Sedona headed north in the left turn lane on the highway. The woman was taken to a Seattle hospital where she died. The driver, an 82-year-old woman, was also hospitalized with injuries. Washington State Patrol officials are looking into what caused this fatal accident.

When an accident occurs at an intersection, it is important to look into whether one of the drivers failed to yield right-of-way. The at-fault driver in these cases is usually held liable for the accident and resulting injuries. Where negligence or wrongdoing is involved, families of deceased victims can also file a wrongful death claim seeking compensation for funeral expenses, loss of love and companionship and other related damages.

If you have been injured in a car accident, please contact the Seattle auto accident attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure, which has useful educational information about car accident cases to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ken/news/81026057.html

Pierce County is paying $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit over injuries suffered by a mentally ill patient who hurt himself while escaping from the window of a county-owned mental hospital over five years ago. According to an Associated Press news report, the 27-year-old man was in a seclusion room on the hospital’s fifth floor when he climbed out a window and attempted to jump 15 to 20 feet to a fire escape landing. The man sustained several broken bones as a result of the fall. Family members allege that his injuries occurred because he was not properly monitored by staff at the Puget Sound Hospital.

Hospitals can be held accountable for the negligence caused by the doctors, surgeons, nurses and administrative staff. Hospitals have a standard of care and rules, policies and procedures for staff to follow. If carelessness or negligence on the part of any hospital staff member leads to personal injuries or death, the hospital can be held responsible. Such errors can happen not only in the operation room, but also during post-operative care or as it occurred in this case, with lack of supervision or monitoring.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of hospital negligence in Washington, please contact the experienced Seattle personal injury attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure, which has useful, educational information to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010678149_apwapatientsuit.html?syndication=rss

A construction worker was killed in an Air Force Base after he was struck by a beam. According to a news report, the 38-year-old man was helping with construction of a new Army headquarters and was on an I-beam 20 feet above the ground when another I-beam being lowered by a crane struck him. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating this fatal construction accident.

Accidents involving cranes in construction sites can be devastating and often fatal because of the sheer weight of the equipment that can crush and kill a worker instantly. If a crane accident is caused as a result of negligence on the part of another party, a third party claim may be filed against the negligent party. This is in addition to the worker’s compensation claim. A third party could be a contractor, a sub-contractor or the manufacturer of a defective product.

An experienced personal injury lawyer will be able guide workers and their families through these complicated legal processes and make sure that they receive fair compensation for their injuries and loss. If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington construction accident, please contact the skilled personal injury Seattle lawyers with The Bernard Law Group. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington construction accident cases, which has useful educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20091231/NEWS/91231005/1004/NEWS01

Recently, a Minnesota doctor was indefinitely suspended from performing surgery after he removed the wrong kidney from a cancer patient. The wrong-site surgery occurred in 2008. And, just a few months after that, the doctor performed a biopsy on a patient’s pancreas when it should have been done on the kidney. The doctor’s defense was that he was distracted by his beeper and other patients and did not get around to reading the radiologist’s notes. The cancer patient, who was left with one cancerous kidney, had to go through another operation to save the kidney.

Wrong-site surgery occurs when a surgeon or another caregiver goes into the wrong part of the body during surgery or an invasive procedure. This is a serious problem because it results in people either suffering major, long-term health effects or having to undergo additional surgeries or procedures. We often hear about doctors operating the wrong knee, wrong side of the shoulder or the wrong finger. Sometimes, the mistake is made on internal organs when a surgeon operates on the wrong kidney, ovary or any other internal organ that is on both sides of the body.

Wrong-site surgery usually happens because of communication problems between the surgeon and his or her staff. There may be many other issues, but usually it is caused by a breakdown in communication, which can be easily avoided. If you or a loved one is a victim of wrong-site surgery, then you very likely have a medical malpractice claim against the surgeon and hospital.

If your loved one has been seriously injured by medical negligence as a result of surgical errors, please contact the reputed Seattle personal injury attorneys at The Bernard Law Firm to find out about your legal rights and options. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com to schedule your FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington medical malpractice cases, which has useful, educational information to help you understand your rights. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=48345&catid=60

St. Martin’s Press has issued a defective product recall for more than 200,000 copies of “Big Rex and Friends” books because of a red plastic dot sewn into the book, which contains excessive levels of lead. According to a news report in Consumeraffairs.com, this product defect recall involves cloth books, which have a black and white striped border with a red dinosaur on the cover. The books, manufactured in China, were sold at large retailers including Barnes & Noble, Toys “R” Us, Amazon and Borders for about $9. Those who have these books at home are asked to take them away from their children right away and contact St. Martin’s Press for a full refund.

Toys and other items made with high or excessive levels of lead pose serious dangers for children. Infants and toddlers have the tendency to put things, including books and toys, in their mouths. Lead poisoning presents a serious health hazard to children. When children ingest the lead from toys, they could suffer irreversible brain damage. Some of the other health effects include behavioral problems, reduction in I.Q, abdominal pain, fatigue and irritability.

If you or a loved one has suffered from lead-poisoning as a result of defective toys or recalled products, please contact an experienced Seattle personal injury attorney with The Bernard Law Group for a FREE, comprehensive and completely confidential consultation. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington product defect cases, which has useful, educational information to help you understand your rights. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/recalls04/2010/bigrex.html

A 68-year-old man was struck by a pickup truck as he was walking across the street in a marked crosswalk in the Silverdale area, the Kitsap Sun reports. Washington State Patrol officials say the man was walking across Ridgetop Boulevard when a 26-year-old woman driving a 2002 Ford pickup struck him. The woman will be cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, troopers said. They say drugs or alcohol did not play a part in the crash. The pedestrian accident victim sustained severe head injuries. However, his injuries are not life-threatening.

A number of Seattle pedestrian accidents occur because of drivers who are distracted, inattentive or are simply not following the rules of the road. Washington law requires motorists to yield right-of-way to pedestrians legally walking in crosswalks. The Revised Code of Washington Section 46.61.235 (1) states: “The operator of an approaching vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian or bicycle to cross the roadway within an unmarked or marked crosswalk when the pedestrian or bicycle is upon or within one lane of the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning. For purposes of this section “half of the roadway” means all traffic lanes carrying traffic in one direction of travel, and includes the entire width of a one-way roadway.”

In such cases where negligence is involved, the injured pedestrian can seek compensation to cover medical expenses, lost earnings, cost of hospitalization, rehabilitation, surgeries that may be required and cost of other therapy and treatment.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington pedestrian accident, please contact the experienced Seattle personal injury attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure, which has useful educational information about vehicular accident cases to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jan/04/pedestrian-hit-at-central-kitsap-interchange/?partner=yahoo_feeds

Only 10 percent of construction cranes in Washington State have been certified to new safety standards, which took effect January 1, 2010, the Department of Labor and Industries has announced. According to a news report in the Puget Sound Business Journal, out of the 7,000 cranes used in Washington construction sites, only 700 have been certified. That includes only 20 out of the estimated 100 tower cranes in Washington State. The Department of Labor and Industries is now warning businesses that they should work on getting these cranes certified. Washington State adopted new rules for crane safety after a November 2006 construction accident in Bellevue where a 210-foot crane fell, killing a Microsoft employee in a condominium complex nearby.

Washington State, in April 2007, became the 15th state in the nation to require crane operators to be certified after Governor Chris Gregoire signed HB 2171 into law. Effective January 1, 2010, no employer or contractor shall permit a crane operator engaged in construction work to operate a crane unless the crane operator is qualified. The new law also requires cranes to be certified at least annually by a certified crane inspector. I certainly hope that the state enforces this new law and pushes businesses to comply with this much-needed safety standard.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Seattle crane accident, please contact the skilled personal injury lawyers at The Bernard Law Group. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington construction accident cases, which has useful educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/12/21/daily12.html

Nursing home abuse and negligence are serious problems not only in Washington State, but all over the nation. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in 2002, nursing home abuse has resulted in serious injuries and deaths at several facilities across the nation. The report also revealed that facilities were late in reporting abuse incidents 50 percent of the time.

A nursing home was recently filed $6,500 over accusations that some of its elderly and sick residents were mistreated. The nursing home fired one of its certified nursing aides earlier this year after claims that several residents were mistreated. Six residents were reportedly mentally, verbally and physically abused, and the nursing home did nothing to prevent such abuse. One person was also threatened with having their throat cut, another was denied food, and yet another resident was taunted by one employee while the actions were videotaped. The nursing home also had incidents that involved serious negligence. A 74-year-old resident died in October after choking on food after employees failed to supervise him.

In my opinion, a $6,500 fine is nothing when you think about the lives lost and the serious abuse these nursing home residents had to suffer at the hands of staff members. We have observed that in some cases, nursing home staff turn to negligence and abuse because they are over-worked and underpaid. Large for-profit homes deliberately understaff their facilities to keep their profits high and expenses under control. If you or a loved one has been the victim of nursing home negligence or abuse, please contact an experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer at The Bernard Law Firm to find out more about your legal rights and options.

Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com to schedule your FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure which has educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.

Source:http://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/nursing-24915-home-public.html

Working with heavy equipment and building materials when balancing on the limited space of a scaffold is a challenge and a danger for construction workers. Without fall protection of safe access, it can be extremely dangerous. Falls from such improperly constructed scaffolds can result in injuries ranging from minor sprains to catastrophic injuries and deaths. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that all scaffolds be constructed according to manufacturer’s instructions, that guardrails are installed along all open sides, ends of platforms, and guardrail systems, and that personal fall arrest systems are used.

In fact, OSHA recently proposed a $140,000 fine against a masonry company for workplace safety violations, which contributed to the death of a worker in a scaffolding collapse. A 52-year-old man died in July when scaffolding collapsed as he and two others were laying brick at a construction site. The man fell 37 feet to his death. The company was cited for 11 violations, including improperly modifying the scaffolding, failing to properly install bracing and not ensuring the scaffolding was secured to prevent tipping.

Where construction accident deaths are caused by such serious violations on the part of the employer or a contractor, workers may seek compensation for medical expenses, lost earnings, cost of hospitalization, therapy and other related damages. In case of fatalities, families of deceased workers may file a wrongful death claim.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington construction accident, please contact the skilled Seattle personal injury lawyers with The Bernard Law Group. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington construction accident cases, which has useful educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his experienced legal team today.

Source:http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/12/30/osha-proposes-fine.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101