The southbound Ford box truck was in the right lane when he veered onto the right shoulder of U.S. 27 and struck a sign. The driver then overcorrected and careened over the median of the highway, ending up in the northbound lanes. He struck the passenger side of the 2011 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup, which, upon impact, veered off the road and onto a grassy shoulder where it rolled over and came to rest on its roof.

The victim was pulled out of the pickup by Marion County rescue workers and flown to Shands Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The victim had not been wearing a seatbelt, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The driver of the box truck, who suffered no injuries, admitted that he had been texting before he lost control of his vehicle and caused the Florida cell phone car crash.

Although it wasn’t indicated if FHP had cited the box truck driver, there is one thing that is certain: they didn’t cite him for texting and driving, because there is no Florida law that bans the practice.

According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, 38 states, and the District of Columbia, have laws that prohibit all drivers from texting and driving. An attempt at passing a similar texting ban came to a halt in the Florida State Legislature again this year.

A few moments of distraction can result in serious injury or death on the road. Careless, inattentive, and distracted drivers account for far too many accidents on Florida’s roads and highways. If you’ve been injured by a distracted or careless motorist, you may be entitled to compensation. Call Farah & Farah’s Marion County personal injury attorneys at (800) 533-3555 for a free, no-obligation consultation to talk about your case.

A Miami Beach woman learned that lesson the hard way after she discovered, too late, that the prescription her pharmacy had given her belonged to somebody else.

It all started when the woman, who has asthma, went to her local CVS pharmacy to get her inhaler. After receiving the prescription, she brought the unopened bag back home and placed it next to her bed.

She had an asthma attack the following night and was unpleasantly surprised to discover after opening the prescription bag that she had been given somebody else’s pills instead of her inhaler. She was having a potentially deadly asthma attack and didn’t have any medication to stop it.

“I was like okay, I need to breathe and I don’t have my medication. What do I need to do?” she told CBS Miami News.

Hours later, she and her husband were able to get the inhaler from a different pharmacy location. Luckily the woman was okay, but it could have ended differently due to the pharmacy error.

“That’s pretty scary they make mistakes like that,” the woman told CBS News.

More Prescriptions, More Errors
Overworked pharmacists having to deal with ever-increasing prescription demands are relying more and more on pharmacy technicians to type in prescription data, to count pills, and to fill drug vials. In 2010, Florida joined a roster of 40 other states that require some combination of registration, certification, or training for pharmacy technicians.

It is estimated that medication errors account for at least 7,000 deaths per year in the United States.

Demanding a High Standard of Care
You rely on pharmacy professionals to get it right — and they should. If you or somebody you know has been harmed because of a pharmacy error or medication mistake on the part of medical professionals, the Florida personal injury attorneys at Farah & Farah will work with you to see that you get compensated for medical bills and other damages. Call us at (800) 533-3555 to discuss your plan of action.

The tampering occurred between 2006-2008 at the Mayo Clinic’s interventional radiology unit. As a result of the tampering, at least three Mayo patients contracted Hepatitis C. One patient was a liver transplant patient who battled the disease for nearly four years before he died as a result of complications.

The technician was arrested in August of 2010 in connection with the tampering after a 31/2-year investigation into a mysterious outbreak of Hepatitis C at Mayo revealed him as the source. Thousands of patients were warned of possible exposure. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in November of 2010 by the widow of the man who died as a result of the infection.

According to firstcoastnews.com, the attorney for the widow said that he couldn’t understand how the technologist could have had access to the Fentanyl. He also stated, “It is difficult to believe that this process could go on for so many years without detection.”

In May of 2011, another employee was caught stealing Fentanyl and was fired.

The convicted technician now faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

If you or a loved one has been harmed because a medical facility does not have policies in place to adequately police its personnel and protect its patients, you may be eligible for compensation. The Jacksonville medical malpractice attorneys at Farah & Farah are here to guide you through the complicated medical malpractice environment. Call us at (800) 533-3555 if you believe you have been a victim of negligence.

After going to a neurologist, it was discovered that he had an arachnoid cyst on his brain. The neurologist thought that removing the cyst would eliminate the migraines, so surgery was scheduled and he was operated on.

That’s when things went horribly wrong. According to Nicholas’ 52-year-old mother, “They messed up the surgery and caused a brain lesion. Nick hemorrhaged and had a massive stroke.”

Due to the brain injury, he was paralyzed on one side, he couldn’t walk, and his memory “was pretty much wiped out,” his mother said.

After years of therapy and now 30-years-old, Nicholas can walk and seems outwardly fine, but he still has a brain stent, cognitive challenges, and short-term memory difficulties. During those years, he became a spokesman for opposing medical malpractice caps. His own lawsuit fight lasted ten years.

Ironically, he still suffers from migraine headaches.

Today, he volunteers at an education center where he teaches people with disabilities how to create resumes and become self-sufficient. He was initially a client at the center.

The law firm of Farah & Farah applauds the courage in the face of adversity that Nicholas and others affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI) display every day. Patients with TBI can face years of expensive medical bills and rehabilitation costs. If a loved one’s TBI has resulted from the negligence of a medical professional or facility, our medical malpractice attorneys in Tallahassee can help. Call us at (800) 533-3555 to discuss how we can assist you and your family.

The 37-year-old cyclist, and father of two young children, was riding in the northbound bike lane, when he and a partner were struck from behind. The driver, despite severe damage to the car and a shattered windshield, kept driving until he got to his Key Biscayne condo, where he covered the damaged vehicle with a tarp.

He turned himself in for the Florida hit-and-run crash 18 hours later.

By then, it was too late to determine if he had been driving under the influence. It was revealed that he had been enrolled in a court-ordered drug treatment program at the time of the accident. He was jailed and charged with leaving the scene of an injury accident and driving with a suspended license.

Despite some compelling circumstantial evidence, the hit-and-run driver has escaped DUI manslaughter charges because police were unable to obtain blood alcohol evidence to support the charge. He is currently in jail where he’s awaiting his criminal trial.

The attorney for the family told the Miami Herald that the lawsuit was about more than holding the driver accountable. He stated that the stricken cyclist “would have wanted us to use this to get the message across: let’s learn to live together on the roads.”

Negligent drivers should be held accountable for their actions. If you’ve been injured in a bicycle crash due to another person’s careless or irresponsible behavior, the Florida bike accident injury lawyers at Farah & Farah will work tirelessly to see that justice is done for you and your family. A call to (800) 533-3555 can help you learn more about your legal rights today.

According to the son, the problem wasn’t that the physicians hadn’t ordered the potentially life-saving vitamin K injection for his mother; the problem was that there was none to be found in the hospital.

“It is mind boggling that something as simple as a vitamin wasn’t available in the whole hospital,” he told NBC6 Miami.

The elderly woman had been taking Coumadin (warfarin is the generic) which is a blood thinner taken to prevent blood clots. The use of the anticoagulant has to be carefully monitored because severe internal bleeding can be a complication of the drug.

Unlike Pradaxa, another blood-thinning drug that is currently being investigated by the FDA and has no known antidote to stop severe bleeding, Coumadin has an established, straightforward antidote: vitamin K.

The American Society of Health System Pharmacists states that due to manufacturing delays, there is a nationwide shortage of injectable vitamin K that probably will linger until sometime in May.

When NBC6 contacted another local hospital to see if they were also out of injectable vitamin K, hospital officials stated that they had reserved supplies to ensure that patients continue to receive proper care.

So the question still begs: why was there allegedly no vitamin K at Metropolitan Hospital of Miami when it was needed?

The hospital refused to comment.

A medical malpractice lawyer in Florida at Farah & Farah understands the grief that occurs when you lose a family member due to hospital negligence and/or a medical professional’s negligence. We are committed to helping our clients obtain the compensation that is due to them. Call our experienced and supportive team at (800) 533-3555 for a free consultation.

Police are still investigating why the boy opened the back emergency exit and jumped from the moving bus, but one woman, whose son rides on the bus, told The Florida Times-Union that her son told her that the victim had previously been bullied on the bus and that he had jumped from the bus before.

Allegedly, fighting on that bus is not uncommon, and some parents told the Times-Union that they had told officials about the constant fighting on the bus, but that nothing had been done.

“This is something that never should have happened,” a parent of a student who rides on that bus said.

A DuVal County Public Schools spokeswoman said the district had not received any reports of previous bullying and declined to release any information about trouble on the bus.

Florida’s Tough Anti-bullying Law

In 2008, Florida passed the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, which requires all schools in the state to adopt anti-bullying policies or risk losing state funds.

Recently, parents of an elementary school student filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified monetary damages against the Polk County School District alleging that their child was bullied and the district did nothing to protect him. The family claims they were forced to sell their home so their child could attend a different school in another district.

By law, it’s the responsibility of all Florida school districts to protect kids from bullying by stopping it when they witness it or when it is reported to them. If your child has been harmed mentally or physically due to another’s oversight or negligence, a Polk County personal injury attorney at Farah & Farah may be able to help. Call us at (800) 533-3555 to see what your legal recourse may be.

It started harmlessly enough when six friends got together to play golf to celebrate the May 5 wedding of the groom-to-be. Some of them had just learned to golf and some had imbibed at a local bar before joining the mid-afternoon outing — although they claim that none of them were intoxicated.

An older foursome of golfers — two men and two women — caught behind the partygoers were less than pleased with the progress the younger group was making on the course and complained that they were malingering on the greens and holding up their game.

Words were exchanged and golf balls were thrown and it ended with the 61-year-old golfer allegedly getting into his cart and barreling into the group of young golfers.

“He drove the cart as fast as it could go,” a witness told The Florida Times Union.

According to one of the injury victims, not only was his leg run over by the speeding cart, but the attacker also grabbed a golf club and broke it over his head. The elder golfer was allegedly going back for another club when he was subdued and eventually arrested. One of the bachelor party golfers was taken to the hospital and treated, while another victim was treated on the scene.

If you’ve been injured due to another person’s carelessness, negligence or willful action, you may be able to seek compensation. The Jacksonville personal injury attorneys at Farah & Farah will work tirelessly to see that your legal rights are protected. Call us today at (800) 533-3555 for a free, no-obligation consultation.

While a variety of studies have concluded that as a major form of distracted driving, texting and driving is dangerous, some people have argued that banning the practice might actually make driving more dangerous by forcing texting teens to conceal their cell phones from view while driving to avoid getting ticketed.

One of the new studies found that texting and driving is dangerous no matter where the phone is located. Twenty-two teens using a driving simulator were told to drive under three different conditions: texting and driving with a cell phone hidden from view, texting with a cell phone in a preferred position, and driving without a cell phone at all.

The results indicated that there was no “safe position: that made texting less dangerous. The teen texters were up to eight times more likely to drift into another lane and were twice as likely to be in near misses with other cars and pedestrians (without even realizing it), whether the phone was put away or not.

Even more frightening were the results of the second study that looked into whether the thought or anticipation of cell phone use affected the risk of car crashes among younger Americans.

After questioning University of Washington undergrads about their cell phone usage and looking into their crash records, researchers concluded that younger drivers who frequently anticipated a call or text while driving were more likely to be involved in an auto accident.

Florida still doesn’t ban texting while driving.

Distracted driving is dangerous and it makes the roads and highways of Florida less safe for everybody. If you have been injured in an accident caused by a distracted motorist, the responsible parties should be held liable. Call the Tallahassee cell phone car accident attorneys at Farah & Farah at (800) 533-3555 if you have any questions about your legal rights today.

Witnesses told the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) that the flatbed truck, owned by Palatka Sheet Metal Inc., was heading east when it veered left, crossed over the westbound lanes, and jumped the curb. The truck then struck a man and a woman, dragged them for several yards and came to rest in the parking lot of the Relax Inn Motel, just short of the motel pool.

According to FHP troopers, the man who was driving the truck said that he was coughing so severely that he blacked out just before the Florida fatal pedestrian accident. He suffered minor injuries and was given a blood alcohol test, which is the protocol following an accident involving an injury or death.

Medical Emergencies and Driving

As America ages, the dangers posed by motorists driving with chronic medical conditions will only increase. A study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded that health providers should educate their patients on the early signs of a health crisis, such as the warning signs before a seizure, diabetic comas, and the possible side effects of medications.

Lawyers Who Can Help

Although the rate of accidents involving medical emergencies is still relatively low, the results of those crashes can be devastating for motorists and pedestrians who may happen to be in the path of an out of control vehicle.

If you’ve sustained an injury due to an auto accident that you believe was caused by a negligent driver, you may be eligible for compensation. The car crash lawyers in Florida at Farah & Farah can evaluate your case, find the liable parties, and advise you about your legal options. Call us at (800) 533-3555 for a free consultation.

So far, only ten plaintiffs have received the go ahead to be excluded from the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) and have their trials in state courts. Three are in Nevada, three are in Maryland, one is in Wisconsin, and another in Utah. Two are in Florida.

This is considered a victory for attorneys representing these clients because slow moving MDL’s can be ponderous and tend to work in favor of large corporations.

Over 3,000 cases have been consolidated in the MDL in U.S District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. They were incorporated into the MDL because the cases are considered similar enough to share the discovery process.

There is also a second DePuy trial scheduled to take place in Maryland in January 2013. That trial involves the three plaintiffs from Maryland who also had to have the recalled devices replaced.

Although no Florida trial date has been set for the two Florida plaintiffs, a federal judge did rule in January that they could keep their ASR hip recall cases in Florida State Court instead of in U.S. Federal Court.

If you have had to replace a recalled hip implant or have suffered serious side effects and complications due to a faulty ASR device, you need to call the Florida DePuy hip replacement recall attorneys at Farah & Farah. Our knowledgeable team is here to discuss your legal options and your best strategy to move forward with your case. Call us at (800) 533-3555 today.

The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, based at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, reports that although deaths from football-related brain injuries have decreased substantially over the decades, brain injuries with incomplete recovery have reached the double digits in three of the past four years.

According to the director of the research center, Frederick Mueller, better medical care on the field presents an unenviable two-edged sword. While fewer kids are dying from brain injuries, more kids are living with permanent brain damage as a result.

While Mueller acknowledges that football is a violent sport, he says that the threat of sustaining a catastrophic brain injury on the field can be reduced. To do this, he suggests that coaches need to implement better strengthening regimens and teach proper fundamentals; that parents and students must be informed about concussion symptoms; and that referees have to do a better job of enforcing the safety rules.

Many states, including Florida have rules stating that youth players showing any sign of a concussion must be removed from a game immediately and can’t return unless cleared by a health professional.

A catastrophic brain injury is devastating to victims and their families. It can also mean a lifetime of expensive medical bills. If a loved one has sustained a life altering brain injury, a Florida brain injury attorney at Farah & Farah can explain what your legal options are and how to proceed with your case. Call (800) 533-3555 for a free consultation today.

Public Citizen says that in a crowded field of similar diabetes drugs, the drug Victoza, which is manufactured by the Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk, has risks that far outweigh its benefits.

To back up its claim, the advocacy group cited that reports of pancreatitis were 3.7-times higher in patients who had used Victoza as opposed to other similar diabetes drugs. Public Citizen also claims that medical reviewers for the FDA noted that the drug had caused thyroid tumors in rats and mice. Because lab outcomes with rodents cannot conclusively prove reciprocal outcomes in humans, the FDA warning label for the drug currently states it is “unknown whether Victoza will cause” thyroid cancer in humans.

According to the Huffington Post, Novo Nordisk denies the allegations, claiming that it has worked closely with the FDA and that the agency approved the drug based on studies involving over 4,000 patients.

Public Citizen cited internal FDA documents in which three of the medical reviewers were against the 2010 approval of the drug. One of the reviewers wrote, “The need for new therapies for Type 2 diabetes is not so urgent that one must tolerate a significant degree of uncertainty regarding serious risk concerns.”

A Florida dangerous product injury lawyer at Farah & Farah will be keeping tabs on the risks associated with Victoza and other potentially harmful drugs on the market. If you believe you have been injured due to an adverse drug reaction, you might be eligible for compensation. Call us at (800) 533-3555 for a free and confidential assessment of your case.

According to the FDA, these medical practices are putting their patients at heightened risk for injury or even death by exposing them to medications that may be counterfeit, contaminated, ineffective, improperly stored and transported, and dangerous.

The FDA is urging those in the healthcare community to take a good look at their medication purchasing practices and to make sure that they only purchase from licensed U.S. wholesale drug distributors or directly from the manufacturer. The agency warned against doing business with unknown suppliers who may send out suspicious or unsolicited offers to clinics and doctors.

Unfortunately, simple greed may be the reason many doctors buy from unapproved sources. Often, these suppliers offer physicians steep, “too good to be true”, discounts on drugs that may lower a doctor’s bottom line, but can endanger a patient’s health. One pharmaceutical industry expert likened the practice to buying a $30 Rolex from a New York street vendor. “I hate to break it to you, but those are not genuine Rolex watches,” he stated.

Physicians from 13 states have received the warnings: including two doctors from Florida.

If you suspect that an adulterated or fake drug administered by a doctor has harmed you or a loved one, you may be eligible for compensation. The knowledgeable personal injury lawyers in Tallahassee at Farah & Farah will work tirelessly to see that your legal rights are protected. A free and confidential call to (800) 533-3555 can begin the process today.

According to Bloomberg, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit introduced the Gynecare Prolift device in March of 2005. At the time, the company touted it as an “innovative and effective surgical option” for weakened pelvic muscles. The FDA claims that the first it heard of the product was in 2007 when Johnson & Johnson named it as a predicate for another related product it was seeking approval for.

Johnson & Johnson states that it followed FDA protocol and claims it had the right to market the device without approval because it was so similar to an FDA approved device called Gynecare Gynamesh.

According to an FDA spokeswoman, the agency begs to differ with the corporate giant’s assertion, claiming that distribution began “without appropriate” clearance and that it should have filed a separate 510(K) for this product.

Andrew Sokol, an associate professor of obstetrics/gynecology and urology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, said that he was “absolutely concerned” by the news and if surgeons had known at the time that Prolift was on the market without FDA approval, they probably wouldn’t have used it.

In July of 2011, the FDA reported a fivefold jump in malfunctions, injuries, or deaths tied to vaginal mesh products. In January of 2012, the FDA ordered manufacturers to further study complications and damage done by those products.

The vaginal mesh lawsuit attorneys at Farah & Farah are appalled at the extent to which Johnson & Johnson was willing go to fast track its potentially dangerous vaginal mesh product. If you have been injured by a vaginal mesh implant and don’t know what to do, call our experienced team at (800) 533-3555 to discuss your next move. We may be able to help you hold negligent parties legally responsible.