Archive for May, 2009

The Food and Drug Administration has a valuable warning tool for keeping consumers up to speed with food and drug recalls. Using the web site’s RSS feed, consumers can get up-to-the-minute updates on recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts.

Each time a recall is issued or a warning is made available the message will be sent to your email inbox and will appear in email format. Depending upon how technologically savvy consumers are, updates and recalls can be sent directly to your email, desktop, and/or cell or smart phone.

If you’re interested in subscribing to the FDA’s RSS feed, click on this link.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling faulty product cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

The Food and Drug Administration conducted approximately half the state food safety audits it promised in the two years leading up to the recent peanut salmonella outbreak.

Documents sent to Congress by the FDA show the agency did not perform any of the required audits of state-run food inspections in five states during the 2007 and 2008 budget years. The FDA was also unable to say whether the audits were conducted at all in 11 additional states, including Georgia and Texas, where the salmonella was traced to two peanut plants owned by the Peanut Corporation of America.

The FDA audits are a crucial part of the government’s ability to ensure that food is inspected properly by states that contract with the FDA to perform safety checks.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling faulty product cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Five Assembly members have proposed a comprehensive bill to reform drunk driving laws. The comprehensive bill is a nine-part package that includes making a fourth OWI a felony.

Current Wisconsin law says that someone facing a fifth OWI can be charged with a felony.

Some legislators are concerned the bill would cause an influx of inmates at a time the state is facing a $6.6 billion budget deficit. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, it cost $30,600 to house an adult inmate last year.

The package also includes the use of ignition interlock devices for one year for all repeat offenders and for first offenders with a BAC of 0.15 or higher. The package would also allow judges to put second- and third-time offenders on probation.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

An article from the Chicago Tribune (05/15/09)

An advocacy group is suing University Hospital in Madison alleging doctors should not have withheld treatment from two developmentally disabled patients with apparent pneumonia.

The lawsuit by Disability Rights Wisconsin says the guardian of one patient, who survived, initially went along with the decision to withhold treatment, but later disagreed with it.

The complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court says the parents of the other patient, who died, favored withdrawing treatment.

The group says state law prevents parents and guardians from withholding treatment from patients who can’t make that decision for themselves unless they are in a “persistent vegetative state.” It says that condition didn’t apply to these patients.

Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette says doctors acted in the best interests of both patients and tried to follow the wishes of their families.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home abuse practice. Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents in Wisconsin and Illinois.

According to Milwaukee police, thieves posing as home repair contractors and utility workers are targeting Milwaukee’s older residents. Police believe that the group is made up of 4 males and 2 females, ranging in age from 20-40.

The culprits engage their victims in conversation and enter their homes before making off with money and property. They may be responsible for as many as a dozen burglaries since December.

“They will have stories like, ‘We’re helping your neighbor, pouring cement for your neighbor and we need water from your basement’ to get things started,” said Milwaukee Police Lt. Chad Wagner.

Police have descriptions of two vehicles possibly linked to the crimes. One of the vehicles has been described as a dark gray or black SUV, possibly a Mitsubishi Endeavor. The other vehicle may be a dark green or blue pickup truck. Police say the vehicles may have out-of-state plates.

A recent report published by MetLife Mature Market Institute reveals that elder financial abuse costs older Americans more than $2.6 billion per year and is often committed by family members and caregivers.

The report points out that up to one million older Americans are targeted each year, totaling tens of millions of dollars annually. Those costs include health care, social services, investigations, legal fees, prosecution, lost income, and assets.

The study also found that for every case reported, there are approximately four or more that go unreported. Family members and caregivers are found to be responsible in 55% of cases.

According to the National Adult Protective Services Association, the typical victim of elder financial abuse is between ages 70 and 89, white, female, frail, and cognitively impaired.

As mentioned earlier, family members and caregivers are found to be responsible in 55% of cases. Experts believe that family members who exploit their elders are financially dependent and their actions may be influenced by other problems such as drug and alcohol abuse. In other cases, family members feel a sense of entitlement and believe that they have a right to the money and material goods their parents or older relatives have accumulated.

Elder financial abuse takes many forms, including fraud (coupon, telemarketing, mail); repair and contracting scams, the so-called sweetheart scams; false/fraudulent advice from loan officers, stock brokers, insurance salespersons, and bank officials; undue influence; illegal viatical settlements; abuse of powers of attorney and guardianship; identity theft; Internet “phishing;” failure to fulfill contracted health care services; and Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Elder financial abuse can be prevented by the following: 1) education about one’s rights and about the various types of consumer fraud and scams; 2) financial conservatorship and/or power of attorney for those who are vulnerable; 3) assignment of responsibility to a trusted outside person, if children are a concern; 4) additional media attention for this issue; 5) training financial professionals to properly assist older customers; 6) Assistance from social services, medical/nursing personnel, government agencies; 7) reporting suspected cases of financial abuse to local authorities.

If you have questions about or suspect elder financial abuse, please contact Pitman, Kyle & Sicula.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home abuse practice. Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents in Wisconsin and Illinois.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation published this interesting article on their web site under the May Law of the Month section:

After months of slipping and sliding on roadways, drivers now have the luxury of clear pavement and nice weather. Because of these favorable road conditions, drivers also face the temptation of exceeding speed limits. Giving into this frequent temptation, however, can be disastrous.

A person is killed or injured in a speed-related crash in Wisconsin approximately every 47 minutes, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

“Even exceeding the posted limit by 5 miles per hour puts drivers, their passengers, and every one else on the road at a greater risk of a serious crash,” says Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent David Collins. “Drivers traveling at high speeds for an extended period of time on the open road also tend to not slow down sufficiently when approaching an intersection, construction zone or slower vehicles.”

Speeding can be expensive as well as dangerous. Under Wisconsin law, the costs of speeding citations range from $160.80 all the way up to $879 along with three to six demerit points assessed on the driver’s record. A citation for driving 25 mph or more over the limit in a 55 or 65 mph zone requires a 15-day driver license suspension.

Speeding can be costly at the gas pump, too. At speeds above 60 mph, gas mileage decreases rapidly. Drivers can assume that each 5 mph they drive above 60 mph is about equal to paying an additional 24 cents per gallon for gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Despite the dangers and expense of speeding, too many people willingly exceed posted limits. Speeding is by far the most common traffic conviction in Wisconsin. Last year, there were more than 192,000 speeding convictions statewide, which was more than 26 percent of all traffic convictions.

Many people speed in a futile attempt to get where they’re going a little sooner. But as Superintendent Collins points out, “If you’re stopped for speeding or are involved in a crash, any time saved will be lost and then some.”

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A Brown County Circuit Court Judge sentenced Anrietta Geske to 80 years in prison for killing Ashley Britsch-Knetzger, 18, and Talhia Heroux, 18, in an Ashwaubenon car accident.

Last March, a jury found Geske guilty of two counts of first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and a single count of first-degree reckless endangerment for the crash.

After sentencing Geske, Brown County Circuit Judge Sue Bischel commented, “You were the person, the only person in this room, solely responsible for this devastation and pain and you had no reaction to the faces of the girls you killed – girls similar in age to the daughters you love so much.”

Both girls were killed instantly when Geske’s speeding Porsche ran a red light and broadsided their vehicle. Geske’s BAC was .072 percent two hours after the crash.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling wrongful death cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A federal jury Wednesday convicted an Indiana truck driver of falsifying his log after he was found innocent of criminal charges in a fatal bus crash that killed five people near Osseo, Wisconsin.

Michael Kozlowski, 26, of Schererville, Ind., was found guilty of 20 counts of making false entries in his trucking log. Each conviction carries up to five years in federal prison.

According to prosecutors Kozlowski was driving the semi truck when his log claimed he was sleeping.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation determined that Kozlowski fell asleep behind the wheel and failed to maintain lane position by drifting onto the shoulder. When he swerved back onto the road, the truck overturned, resulting in the bus hitting the truck.

On board the bus were 44 members of the Chippewa Falls High School marching band as well as teachers and chaperones. The band was returning home from a competition in Whitewater. 

Bus driver Paul Rasmus, band director Doug Greenhalgh, his wife Therese, their granddaughter Morgan and student teacher Branden Atherton were all lost in the crash.

State Prosecutors charged Kozlowski with five counts of negligent homicide, claiming he was “excessively fatigued” because he drove on little sleep and should not have been behind the wheel.

Driver fatigue, drowsiness and driver distraction are conditions that result in reckless behavior such as failure to maintain lane position and leaving the roadway. Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration instituted new regulations to combat truckers’ problems with fatigue, the U.S. Transportation Safety Board still faults driver fatigue as a probable factor in 20-40% of truck crashes.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling semi truck accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Yesterday morning authorities were called to the scene of a school bus versus car crash in Bradford Township.

According to police, the school bus, driven by Paul Knaak, 65, of Clinton, was southbound on Kemp Road when he failed to stop at the stop sign at highway 14 and traveled into the path of an eastbound car driven by a Janesville man.

None of the 16 children on the school bus were seriously injured.

The Clinton School District said as long as the drug test is negative, Knaak will be back at work.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.