Personal Injury

Published on: September 22, 2011

Motorcycle Accidents Typically Result in Death

It is a sad statistic that motorcycle accidents usually end in death. If they don’t, the alternative is not always the best result either.

There are normally two outcomes after a motorcycle accident – death or life-altering, catastrophic injuries. For the fortunate few who walk away from a bike crash, they are very lucky. Certainly, there is the odd case where the biker sustains injuries they can and do recover from, but they are never quite the same again. It is hard to imagine any other kind of result when something as unprotected as a motorcycle ends up tangling with another vehicle. For instance, take the case of Johnee B (names have been changed to protect the victims).

Johnee B was cruising on a Friday night when the unthinkable did happen. He slammed into the side of a car in the middle of an intersection. He made it to the hospital alive, but did not leave their care. He died the next day. The two people in the car were rushed to hospital with injuries. It is hard to imagine a biker hitting a car so hard that it injured those inside, but it shows the seriousness of these collisions.

Published on: February 3, 2011

Investigating Whether Helmets Prevent Death in a Motorcycle Crash

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Whether helmets prevent death in a motorcycle crash is an interesting question and one that, statistically speaking, is answered in the negative.

While numerous states have mandatory helmet laws and some do not, the whole argument about wearing or not wearing a noggin protector mostly boils down to whether they prevent death. The interesting answer is not likely. The helmets protect the skull from serious injury, but often the cause of death in a motorcycle versus car accident is due to other reasons. In fact, existing federal data shows that most bikers who die would have been killed even if they had been wearing helmets.

On the other side of the coin, if a biker lives to tell his Atlanta personal injury lawyer about the crash, you can assume they have sustained some fairly serious injuries that would lay them up long-term or permanently. This brings us back to the argument about wearing helmets to prevent death. In reality, the risk a rider takes, whether they wear a helmet or not, is crashing. If you get into a head-on collision while doing 80 mph, your head is not the only part of your body that will take a beating.

Published on: January 15, 2011

18 Wheelers Virtually Own the Road with Deadly Consequences

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Beware the “no zone” that travels with 18-wheelers. Stay out of that area or you may pay a high price – your life.

You know what it is like driving a smaller vehicle near an 18-wheeler. It makes a lot of people pretty squeamish, and with good reason. Even if you haven’t been in an accident with one of these gigantic death traps, you may have seen one or read about one.

It would be hard not to hear about a fatal big rig accident, since just about one in every eight traffic deaths involves a collision with a tractor-trailer. The causes? Typically, they range from trucker negligence to mechanical flaws and from driver distraction to manufacturing defects.

Published on: December 9, 2010

Auto Injury Compensation Greater The Longer The Damage Lasts

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

The worse your injuries are from a car wreck, the greater your compensation happens to be. There’s a cause and effect connection involved.

No matter what way you look at it, if you are injured in a car wreck, and the injuries are severe, this is not good. One thing to remember though is that medically and legally speaking, there are various degrees of suffering. While it may sound cold to base compensation of the severity of the injury, it’s about the only way that makes sense when money is handed out to the victim.

In other words, in accident cases, if the injuries are severe, the amount of money a plaintiff may receive is higher to cover that severity. This is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp. If you are dealing with a severe injury case, have your Atlanta personal injury lawyer explain how damage awards are calculated.

Published on: November 30, 2010

Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Ozcomert Advises Clients to Inspect Recall Lists

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

When products cause serious harm, it’s time to consult an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

“No one expects they’re going to go to the store and come home with a defective product, especially one that will harm you. You go to buy something that you trust will do the job. Say, for instance, a chainsaw. You want to take down some trees in your yard. You didn’t expect that the hand guard on the chain saw was so poorly attached that it could come off by accidentally banging it. That product ‘flaw’ just about cost you your hand,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

Unfortunately, defective products seem to take the lead in the marketplace. Goods made to last a lifetime were replaced by goods made to last for the shortest period of time possible. Thanks to inferior components, cutting corners, altering trustworthy designs and products made with cheap materials, the number of defective product cases in the U.S. is on the rise.

Published on: October 21, 2010

The dangers of riding and enjoying a motorcycle

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Motorcycles are unique vehicles. Nothing else can approximate the thrill of riding in the open air. Unfortunately, they are high-risk rides.

There is no question that riding a motorcycle is one of the greatest thrills on planet Earth. It is a super-charged rush to get on the open road and boot it. While you might be a very safe rider, it’s the people in other vehicles that you have to watch out for, because they often just don’t see you, no matter how big your bike happens to be.

In fact, not seeing you is the most commonly cited cause of motorcycle accidents. Unfortunately, it also means that bikers get hit more often than other vehicles and sustain severe injuries and may ultimately lose their lives. Education is a good start to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes on the road. Improving others’ driving skills and alertness would help. The problem is, some drivers just don’t seem to understand that bikers are smaller vehicles of which they need to be aware. Sadly, just about 70 percent of the wrecks involving bikers are due to the negligence of a motorist.

Published on: June 30, 2010

It’s the Other Guy’s Fault

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

In most accidents, someone is at fault. The hard part is figuring out who that is in some cases.

“It’s one thing to be in an accident but quite another when you then have to argue with someone else over ‘who’ was at fault in the first place. I see this a great deal in auto accidents and motorcycle collisions,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

In some cases, it will be painfully evident who caused the accident; in others, it may take a long time before the facts come to light to apportion blame. And yes, there are certainly some cases where both parties are to blame. No two accidents are ever alike, despite the fact they may look alike on the surface. “There’s something that a lot of people don’t realize about accidents. It’s not the police who determine who is at fault; it’s the insurance company after you file a claim. They use police information to decide who is at fault,” explained Ozcomert.

Published on: June 30, 2010

Falls May Cause More Harm Than Just Bruises

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

A slip and fall may cause far more than just bruises and embarrassment. Falling may cause traumatic brain injury.

We’ve likely all done this: slipped on something and taken what we laughingly refer to as a “prat fall.” We may have gotten up off the floor and been just fine, aside from bruised ego and some cuts and scrapes. Not everyone is that lucky though. Some slip and fall accidents end up with serious consequences, such as traumatic brain injury.

Consider the case of the woman shopping at her local grocery store where they had a garden section just outside the main doors. She wanted some flowers for her garden and as she was walking along one of the outside aisles, covered with linoleum, she slipped in an unseen puddle, fell and struck her head on the floor. The floor under the linoleum is concrete. She was knocked unconscious and by the time she came to in the hospital, she was told she had a serious concussion.

Published on: June 21, 2010

Nursing Malpractice on the Rise

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the number of nursing malpractice cases has been increasing. This is not good news.

Evidently, nursing malpractice statistics have started to increase sharply over the last five years or so. The evidence of this is provided by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, whose figures reveal that registered nurses are now, more than ever, being held accountable for malpractice and negligence. The types of errors they are being held accountable for include medication errors, documentation errors and failure to assess or intervene.

It may be helpful to understand just what negligence actually means on the part of a medical professional from the point of view of an Atlanta personal injury attorney. A medical professional may be a doctor, EMT, RN, LPN, dentist, physiotherapist, radiation technician or anesthetist, etc. Negligence means they fail to perform a medical duty or obligation according to the “normal” standard of care. In many cases, nurses are also present when patients are injured mentally or physically.

Published on: June 18, 2010

Product Safety Issues Prompt Product Recalls

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Generally speaking, products are safety tested before they hit the marketplace. Now and then, something goes wrong.

“While it’s true that most products are safety tested before they are put on the market, there are cases where something goes wrong – either intentionally or unintentionally. When that happens, consumers may be at risk for serious injuries or death. Nowhere is this more critical than when it comes to products for babies and children,” remarked Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

“In many cases of product recalls, you might see the news release saying that there have been no reported injuries at the time of the recall and that the company was voluntarily recalling the product. That ‘may’ happen in rare cases, but frankly, most product recalls are product recalls because someone was hurt, and in reality, a product has to hurt someone before the maker recalls it,” observed Ozcomert.