Lawsuits allege Baylor Plano let 'dangerous' doctor operate

PLANO — A top North Texas hospital is accused of letting a dangerous surgeon operate on patients, causing their paralysis... and even death.

The allegations are laid out in federal lawsuits against Baylor Plano by two patients who say the surgeon should never have been given credentials.

Dr. Christopher Duntsch had billed himself as one of the most accomplished spine surgeons in North Texas. So much so that in July 2011, Baylor Plano agreed to pay him $50,000 a month plus expenses to work exclusively at their hospital.

But according to a lawsuit filed by Dallas attorney Kay Van Wey, Duntsch's previous employer had identified him as "an egomaniac, mentally ill, an alcoholic, drug addict or a combination thereof." Baylor has yet to file a response in the suit, and generally denies the allegation.

Van Wey said Baylor Plano was warned, but hired Duntsch anyway.

"But after that there were multiple, multiple opportunities for them to stop him," Van Wey told News 8.

Duntsch began his practice at Baylor in July 2011.

Kenneth Fennell of Oak Point said he was one of Duntsch's first victims. He underwent two surgeries. Van Wey says both were unnecessary; the second left Fennell permanently disabled.

In December 2011, Duntsch performed back surgery at Baylor Plano on Lee Passmore. Passmore — who said he lives in constant pain with no hope for relief — is also suing Baylor.

"I haven't been able to walk straight, or run, or anything since that surgery," Passmore said.

During his surgery, according to the suit, an assisting surgeon noticed Duntsch allegedly botching Passmore's operation and had to physically intervene.

"He said, 'Stop doing what you are doing,' because Duntsch was going to damage Lee's spinal cord if he continued," said James Girards, Passmore's attorney. "Duntsch refused to stop."

Girards said the altercation was witnessed by hospital staff but never reported, an allegation that Baylor denies.

One month later, according to the suit, other surgeons described Duntsch as "an impaired physician, a sociopath who must be stopped from practicing medicine."

But no one stopped him from operating on his own roommate and best friend Jerry Summers, who could walk the day before the operation at Baylor.

The day after his surgery, he was a quadriplegic.

"It was supposed to be a pretty common surgery, and I was supposed to walk in one day and walk out the next," Summers said.

According to Fennell's suit, Summers admitted to nursing staff that he had witnessed Duntsch using drugs the night before surgery. The lawsuit alleges an attorney representing Summers called Baylor Plano and "reported the allegations concerning Dr. Duntsch's drug use."

Duntsch’s privileges were suspended, but only for a few weeks.

The suit alleges on his second day back from suspension at Baylor Plano, hospital officials let him operate on Kelly Martin of Garland. Duntsch allegedly botched her surgery.

She died from massive blood loss.

"They should have stripped him of his hospital privileges,” Van Wey said. “They should have reported him to the Texas Medical Board. They should have reported him to the National Practitioner Data Bank."

Instead, after leaving Baylor Plano, Duntsch received temporary privileges to operate at Dallas Medical Center. The suit alleges "Baylor Plano sent a letter of recommendation for Duntsch to Dallas Medical Center [...] stating there were no adverse events or adverse issues associated with Duntsch."

"I had no negative reviews or disciplinary actions," Duntsch told News 8 during a phone conversation last summer. "They wrote me a letter saying that I was in good standing the whole time. There was never any discipline, and I was never, ever reviewed."

A Baylor spokesperson told News 8 last year it did not file any formal complaints about Duntsch.

"Generally speaking, since we did not file any complaints against him, he would have been in good standing when he resigned," said Baylor spokesperson Jennifer McDowell.

In a response filed in the Passmore suit, Baylor denies giving Duntsch a letter of recommendation, and denies all of the key allegations being made in the lawsuit.

"The quality of patient care we provide is of paramount importance to us," McDowell said in a prepared statement for the media. "We take all patient care-related claims very seriously."

According to the lawsuit, after Duntsch left Baylor in "good standing," another of his patients — Floella Brown — died of excessive blood loss.

Another patient suing Duntsch, Jeff Glidewell, said the doctor left him partially paralyzed as well.

Victim after victim (or their surviving families) are all making the same or similar claims — that Christopher Duntsch should have been stopped before he was allowed to operate on them.

"They should have suspended his license until they figured out what was going on, but they didn't," Passmore said.

The lawyers suing Baylor say their cases are made difficult by Texas law, which says they can't just prove Baylor was "negligent." Those lawyers have to prove "malice" — essentially having to prove that Baylor meant to harm patients when they let Duntsch operate on them.

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Source: WFAA (Shipp, 2/10)

Teens with passengers at higher risk for fatal crashes, study finds

An interesting study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute has found Texas drivers age 15 to 17 who carry passengers are 12 times more likely to have a fatal crash than adults with passengers.

The report, released today, compared crash data between 2002 and 2011. It found that even as fatalities decreased, the percentage of novice drivers carrying passengers in fatal accidents jumped, indicating the safest practice for new drivers might be to go it alone — and to refrain from fumbling with their phones.

“Total teen fatal crashes per year declined, but the relative risk for young drivers carrying teen passengers actually increased substantially – at this same time, text messaging exploded in American society,” said Russell Henk, the primary author of the study. “We can’t scientifically state that there’s a direct link between those two things yet, but it seems reasonable to suspect a connection.”

What officials can conclusively say is in driving with passengers increases the relative risk for young drivers. Nationwide, drivers age 15-17, with one or more passengers age 13 to 17, are eight times more likely than adults with passengers to have a fatal accident. During the decade studied, the number of fatal teen accidents dropped 60 percent, but more of them happened when other teens were in the car.

“The decline in the number of novice drivers in fatal crashes certainly indicates substantial improvement,” according to the report. “At the same time, however, the increase in the proportion of fatal crashes involving novice drivers that also include multiple teen passengers relative to those crashes with somewhat older and more experienced – but still young – drivers, should at the very least raise cautionary flags with respect to the persistence of fatal crash issues among novice teen drivers that merit continued attention.”

The increased happened as many states, including Texas, enacted strict graduated licencing programs that limit when and with whom teen drivers may hit the road. Texas forbids drivers under 18 from driving with more than one passenger under age 21 during the first year of licensed driving, though exceptions for family members can apply.

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source: Chron (AP, 9/26)

Family sues Six Flags just as ride reopens after fatal accident

As Six Flags Over Texas prepares to reopen the Texas Giant roller coaster after a fatal accident in July, relatives of the woman who died have sued the Arlington amusement park.

In a statement Sept. 10, Six Flags announced that its investigation of the July 19 accident - which included the ride manufacturer, Six Flags engineers and outside experts - had ruled out mechanical failure as an accident cause.

"Due to litigation, the company is not releasing any further information about the outcome of the investigation," the statement said.

Also on Sept. 10, representatives of the estate of Rosa Esparza filed suit against Six Flags Entertainment Corp. in Tarrant County's 342nd State District Court, seeking at least $1 million in damages.

According to the complaint filed by her son, Amado Esparza, and others, inspections after the accident showed that various parts of the giant roller coaster's security system were "experiencing inconsistencies and intermittent failures" on the day Rosa Esparza died.

As noted in the complaint, the roller coaster had one safety bar for each seat but no lap belts or shoulder-harness safety belts.

When the ride was in its first steep descent, Esparza's daughter heard screaming behind her and turned to see her mother upside-down, in the process of being thrown out of the car but struggling to hold onto the safety bar "for dear life," the suit stated.

Esparza, 52, was unable to resist the forces of the ride and was thrown against a support piling, falling many feet to the metal roof of a tunnel, the family claims in its suit.

Six Flags has admitted, the suit claims, that, after the accident, it replaced a restraint "limit switch" in a seat in the same car in which Esparza was riding.

As a result of Six Flags' negligence, the suit claims, Esparza was ejected from the ride and fell to her death "while her daughter and son-in-law rode along in horror and while her grandchildren waited for her at the end of the ride."

Six Flags Over Texas did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Park officials plan to reopen the ride this weekend, the Six Flags announcement said, with new safety measures including redesigned restraint-bar pads from the manufacturer and new seat belts.

Also, the company is providing a "coaster seat" at the ride entrance so guests can test whether they fit in the car before entering the line, the announcement said.

The announcement included the company's condolences for the Esparza family.

"We are heartbroken and will forever feel the pain and sadness of this tragic accident," park president Steve Martindale said in the statement. "The safety of our guests and employees is our company's absolute highest priority and we try to take every reasonable precaution to eliminate the risk of accidents."

According to the company's announcement, the Texas Giant has undergone extensive testing and has received approval from the Texas Department of Insurance to resume operation.

At the time of the accident, the Associated Press reported that the Texas Giant is 14 stories high, has a drop of 79 degrees and a bank of 95 degrees. It first opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster but underwent a $10 million renovation to install steel-hybrid rails and reopened in 2011, the AP said.

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Source: Chron (Christian, 09/11)

Fiery 18-Wheeler Crash Shuts Down North Texas Highway

FORNEY – It’s a Friday evening, rush hour traffic nightmare for drivers trying to get through Forney.

The eastbound side of the US 80 Bridge, just west of FM 460, had to be closed after an 18-wheeler crashed, overturned and caught fire.

Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) spokesman Tony Hartzel said the traffic situation is even worse because the area is so rural. “And there are no frontage roads in that area, so there are no options for travelers to go around in that immediate area,” he said. “So what we’re asking people to do is consider taking I-20 or I-30 as alternate routes.”

The cab of the truck appeared to be on fire as Chopper 11 flew overhead. Officials with the Forney Police Department, from several surrounding cities, and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Deputies all responded to the crash and subsequent traffic tie-up.

Hartzel said bridge inspectors have been called to the scene. “The truck overturned and caught fire just before FM 460 and it is on a bridge over one of the Trinity River relief routes, some of the water crossings for the Trinity.”

Shortly after the crash a CareFlite medical helicopter transported a man to Parkland Medical Center. It isn’t known if that man was the truck driver.

Officials gave no estimate on how long the highway would be closed.

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Source: CBS-DFW (AP, 8/02)

Speed limits going up in many states

Gentlemen, ladies and kids with driver's licenses: Start your engines. Five state legislatures voted this year to raise speed limits on some divided highways in their states.

They're following the lead of Texas, which last year bumped the speed limit on one stretch to 85 mph, the highest in the nation.

Ohio and Utah are going full speed ahead with implementing their higher limits. Maine and Illinois officials are studying when — and whether — to raise their newly approved speeds, while New Hampshire's new law takes effect in January.
Some 36 states have speed limits of 70 mph or above on some roads, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Texas set its 85 mph limit on a 40-mile stretch of divided toll highway between Austin and San Antonio (toll: $6.17, one-way).

Speed limits traditionally were regulated by individual states until the mid-1970s when Congress, to conserve energy, designated a national speed limit of 55 mph and threatened to withhold highway funds from any state that exceeded it. But those rules were loosened in 1987 and repealed in 1995.

Since then, states have steadily increased the speed limits on some stretches of roads. Generally, the higher speed limits are set on rural interstate highways or other limited-access roads, though not always.

Utah's new law expands segments of a road already posted at 80 mph, effective last March. Ohio's law, signed by Gov. John Kasich, increased the maximum speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph on rural interstates, effective July 13.

Further study

The Maine Department of Transportation is studying the issue, after getting the green light to raise speed limits up to 75 mph on interstate highways by the legislature and governor. The department won't make a decision on whether to raise the limit until after Oct. 10 (the statute prohibits implementation before then). A spokesman for the state transportation department said the decision could go either way.

"The bill in the legislature did give the commissioner (David Bernhardt) the purview to raise the limits," Ted Talbot said. "If he saw fit, he could conduct the traffic study, and upon the results of that, he would decide if it's prudent."

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is considering whether to sign a bill that would raise the limit on some interstates from 65 mph to 70 mph. The urban and suburban counties in the Chicago and St. Louis areas — Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Madison, McHenry, St. Clair and Will — would have the option of setting lower limits if the governor agrees to the statewide increase. The legislature overwhelmingly approved the speed limit increase.

Quinn spokesman David Blanchette said the governor has heard from those who are for and against the speed limit increase. The secretary of transportation and the state police oppose it, and businesses and other transportation groups are for it. "He is weighing the feelings of both sides and will make a decision based on his own personal feelings and the input" by mid-August, Blanchette said.

If Quinn agrees, it will take effect Jan. 1.

New Hampshire's legislature and governor raised the maximum speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph on specified stretches of roads, effective in January.

On the flip side of the issue, the North Carolina House rejected a state Senate-approved bill that would have hiked the speed on some roads to 75 mph.

More car crashes?

Not everyone is happy with the trend toward higher speeds. Critics point to the dangers.

"When speed limits go up deaths go up, and when speed limits go down deaths go down," said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety . "It seems as though more states are raising speed limits despite the clear evidence that shows what the safety downside is. Higher speeds mean more crashes and more severe ones."

Speed was a contributing factor in about 30 percent of fatal traffic accidents in 2011 (the last year for which statistics are available), according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That statistic has stayed about the same for a decade, even as speed limits have increased and safety equipment has improved.

Utah did its own research. The Utah Department of Transportation conducted a study beginning in 2008 on a stretch of I-15 where the speed limit was 75 mph. The study found a 20 percent drop in the number of people exceeding the posted speed limit, according to Robert Hull, director of traffic and safety with the Utah DOT. In addition, data from the test area through 2012 found there was an 11 percent to 20 percent reduction in speed-related crashes, depending on which stretch of road was being evaluated.

The study also found that the actual speed maintained by drivers on that stretch was about 82 to 84 mph, whether the posted speed limit was 75 mph or 80 mph.

"People are driving at the speed at which they feel comfortable, and they are doing it safely and prudently," he said.

As the Illinois votes show, raising speed limits is a popular issue for state lawmakers. Ohio state Rep. Ross McGregor, a Republican who sponsored his state's speed limit hike bill, said the law allows the state to keep up with neighboring jurisdictions, which already allow faster speeds.

"When discussing this with my colleagues, we found this is just the reality of what people are driving today," he told Stateline. "I know we have heard from constituents who were very pleased," he said, though he acknowledged some detractors.

State police officials were neutral on the issue, he said, which made it easier for the legislature to support it.

Other states' speed limits also played a role in New Hampshire's decision to up the speed on rural Interstate 93 north of Concord to the Canadian border (with the exception of mountainous Franconia Notch) from 65 mph to 70 mph. Part of the reasoning was that neighboring Maine already has the higher limit on some rural highways.

"The limited nature of the 5 miles-per-hour speed limit increase in a targeted region of the state, along with the overwhelming, bipartisan support for the measure, makes me comfortable with signing this measure into law, bringing the speed limit more in line with the habits of our rural travelers," Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan said in a statement. "For their safety and the safety of others, I encourage all motorists to use the common sense that Granite Staters are known for and respect the new speed limit."

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Source: USAToday (AP, 7/22)

Rusk roads 6 times deadlier than U.S. average

A lonely memorial on Texas 79 outside Henderson serves as a reminder that the first half of 2013 has been deadly on Rusk County roads.

Seventeen people have died in wrecks there since January 1 — almost six times the national average.

So alarming are the numbers that county officials will conduct a summit Thursday, convening local and state officials to determine why it’s happening and what can be done about it.

County Judge Joel Hale said the meeting is unprecedented in his two and a half years in office.

“The purpose of the summit is to identify what has had an impact in causing these accidents,” Hale said. “I think it is going to take time and education to reduce these accidents. People need to take responsibility and realize that you’ve got to pay attention when you’re driving.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety reports the national average for traffic deaths is five per 100,000 people per year. Rusk County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Roberts said 17 traffic fatalities the first half of this year, in a county with a population of 60,000, is alarming.

May was a particularly tragic month. Sandra Jones, 63, and Shari Standard, 62, were killed May 1 in a three-vehicle crash just northeast of Henderson on Texas 43.

Six days later, three Stephen F. Austin State University freshmen were killed in wreck near Mount Enterprise.

Hale said several different groups would attend the summit, including members of the Texas Department of Transportation, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Rusk County law enforcement , Department of Public Safety and several school districts.

Jason Taylor, whose father died in a 2007 wreck on Texas 79 south of Henderson, suggested enhanced technology on cell phones as a reason for more road fatalities everywhere.

“Technology is a good thing, but something is wrong when you can’t disconnect from Facebook or MySpace while you’re driving,” said Taylor, who is pastor of Bar None Cowboy Church in Tatum.

“We as humans are hooked on media. Nobody thinks anything bad is going to happen to them, but it is happening to people.” DPS spokeswoman trooper Jean Dark said there were many variables to consider when analyzing traffic fatalities.

“You’re not going to be able to look at a fatal accident and say it was one thing that caused it,” Dark said. “How many of them are dealing with local people versus non-locals? Was there alcohol involved? Changes in speed limit and road condition are also factors.”

Dark said physics determine whether an accident on the road is deadly, highlighting the amount of energy transferred from one object to another.

The landscape of East Texas adds another element of danger, she said; illustrated by accidents like the one Feb. 5, 2012 when three men died after the car they were in hit a tree on Texas 42.

According to the most recent crash statistics released by the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 751 total crashes in Rusk County in 2011. Of those, 12 were fatalities.

Hale, a long-time friend of Jones and Standard, said the county can’t sit back and not do anything about its growing number of traffic fatalities.

“When it happens in other places, you really don’t think that much about it,” he said. “But when it happens in your community to people you know, it really makes you sad and you know the impact it’s having on those peoples’ families. You just want to try and do something about it.”

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Source: News Journal (Gordon, 7/15)

Parkland Memorial Hospital’s make-or-break survey is underway

The critical government survey that will determine whether Dallas County’s public hospital retains its state and federal funding is currently underway. The surveyors arrived — unannounced — Monday and began combing through Parkland Memorial Hospital, looking for signs of patient-safety problems that were detected in 2011. The county hospital has been operating under federal oversight for more than a year as it retrained its staff of 9,000 and made other significant changes in patient operations.

Hospital spokesman Mike Malaise confirmed Tuesday that the inspectors had arrived. The visit will determine the fate of more than $400 million in annual government funding that Parkland currently receives.

The survey was expected to occur before Aug. 31, although the starting date was not known.

The inspection team, which is working on behalf of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, includes 14 surveyors. Three additional life-safety experts are checking to be certain all hospital exits, entrances and hallways are clear.

“They have told us they will be here 24/7 until the survey is complete,” Malaise said of the survey team.

After failing a series of inspections in 2011, Parkland was forced to make changes in nearly 500 areas of the countywide public health system. They included revamping the hospital’s nursing department, upgrading the staff in the busy emergency room and psychiatric services department, assuring physician oversight of doctors in training and improving better infection control, including a crackdown on basic hand-washing procedures by staffers.

As of April, the county facility had completed 97 percent of the mandated corrective-action plan, said officials overseeing the upgrades. The changes have cost the county hospital an estimated $75 million.

In recent months, Parkland officials have confirmed that the staff was ready for the critical review and the hospital’s top leaders have vowed that it would pass it.

Throughout the 14-month rehabilitation process, many of Parkland’s top leaders resigned and were replaced on an interim basis. The hospital has been operating without a permanent chief operating officer since December, 2011, when Dr. Ron Anderson stepped down after 29 years as CEO.

The survey’s results will be known sometime this summer.

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Source: The Scoop Blog (Jacobson, 6/18)

Ban expanding in North Texas on trucks in left lanes

FORT WORTH — Trucks are being forced out of the left lanes on more North Texas highways.

Beginning this summer, the Texas Transportation Department plans to nearly double the number of highway miles in Dallas-Fort Worth where vehicles with three or more axles are banned from the left lane.

Trucks are already prohibited in the fast lane of Interstates 20, 30 and 45 in the Metroplex. And over several months, state officials plan to expand the ban to include many other freeways, department spokeswoman Michelle Releford said.

Among the places where a new left-lane ban is planned: Interstate 35W in Fort Worth from 28th Street to the Tarrant-Johnson county line; Texas 121 “Airport Freeway” from downtown Fort Worth to East Loop 820 near Richland Hills; Loop 820 from Interstate 30 in west Fort Worth to Blue Mound Road; and Texas 360 from Texas 183 to I-20 in Arlington.

Requiring big rigs to stay on the right side of the road is extremely popular among motorists.

“Trucks have no business in the far left lane,” Richard Kevin Hager of Granbury said. “It’s already working great in the areas that have it, when it is enforced. Not only safer for everybody but definitely improves traffic flow.”

Pending approval from the Texas Transportation Commission in July, signs with messages such as “No trucks, left lane” will be installed on the selected roads. The signs will start going up in the Dallas area in late summer, and in the Fort Worth area in the fall, said Andy Oberlander, a traffic engineering supervisor with the department.

Once the signs are up, the ban will be in place, and trucks caught in the left lane will be subject to a police citation, Oberlander said.

Surveys show that roughly 80 percent of motorists approve of the restriction, state officials say.

“No vehicle should be allowed in the far left lane that is not going the maximum speed limit,” Gary Burris of Arlington said.

In North Texas, regional transportation officials also say they have some data to show that keeping big rigs out of the left lane reduces accidents, improves overall traffic speeds and reduces auto emissions.

Truckers aren’t bad guys.

But some truck drivers question the claims about the benefits of such bans.

“Our great government has made trucks into bad guys,” said Robert Duncan of Terrell, a trucker for 14 years. Duncan noted that trucks’ speeds can vary greatly, with some traveling no more than 62 mph and others hauling at 75 mph — and he said faster trucks need the ability to “get past the rolling road block” of slower traffic.

Texas law does allow trucks to use the left lane temporarily for passing.

Banning trucks from the left lane penalizes some of the most professional, experienced drivers on the road, said John Esparza, president of the Austin-based Texas Motor Transportation Association. Instead, he said, Texas would be better served by going after drivers who are inattentive, overly aggressive or impaired by alcohol.

Trucks were involved in 13 percent of Texas traffic fatalities last year, Esparza said. But he said that in 84 percent of those cases the driver of a two-axle vehicle, not a trucker, was at fault.

Plus, he said, the policy creates congestion on the outside lanes of highways.

“If you limit trucks to the right lane, you are putting folks entering the freeway into more jeopardy,” Esparza said.

History

The effort to keep 18-wheelers out of the fast lane dates from 2005 in the Metroplex. That’s when the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the regional transportation planning agency, enacted temporary restrictions on portions of I-30 in Fort Worth-Arlington and I-20 in Dallas.

During the test period of approximately five months, crashes on I-30 in Tarrant County fell nearly 24 percent, according to the council of governments. With a left-lane ban, wrecks averaged 1.27 wrecks per day, down from 1.67 before.

Also on I-30, average speeds for all traffic improved 0.88 mph in the left lane, 0.56 mph in the center lane and 0.50 in the right lane, according to the research.

After those results were announced in 2006, the temporary bans were made permanent.

In 2009, the state Transportation Commission approved expanding them to include most of I-20, I-30 and I-45 in Dallas-Fort Worth.

It’s part of a statewide trend. Such bans have been approved in many cities in recent years. On I-35, for example, one extends from Georgetown all the way through the Austin area.

In North Texas, roads that meet certain criteria — for example, roads with at least three main lanes in each direction, but not left-lane exits — are considered candidates for the ban.

“Three lanes or more — keep out!” David Benedetto of Grapevine said.

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Source: Star-Telegram (AP, 6/3)

Seven wrecks a day in Odessa

Seven a day.

That’s how many automobile crashes occurred on average throughout the calendar year in Odessa in 2012, according to statistics provided by the Odessa Police Department. Eighteen of those crashes resulted in 19 deaths. (These are just the crashes that the police department investigates.)

This year, so far, the city has had more than 1,000 crashes. Five of those wrecks resulted in five deaths.

But the number of citations has skyrocketed, a comparison from the first few months this year (January to May) to last year: 1,585 citations were given last year compared to 3,474 so far this year according to Sgt. Sherrie Carruth of OPD. Carruth, spokeswoman for the Odessa Police Department, said there have been significant citations written because of increased traffic and targeted enforcement, such as Safe Zones (around schools), Click It or Ticket and Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.

The police department employs just less than 185 officers.

“The Odessa Police Department is budgeted for 182 and of that, 138 are below the rank of sergeant,” said Carruth stated in an email response to questions. “Traffic volume along with calls for service demands and all other demands placed on department resources are managed on a priority basis. To the extent that we possibly can, we engage in traffic enforcement as a general product of patrol and also in targeted efforts to suppress speed. The workload is such that additional resources would be welcomed and would increase our ability to address all demands for service including demands placed on us by increased traffic volume.”

She said there is no one specific day that produces the most wrecks every year, that wrecks occur on any given day. “Memorial Day Weekend is not considered a dangerous weekend for OPD,” Carruth said. “The majority of major accidents occurred on the highways.”

Repeated messages left with a local Texas Department of Public Safety office were not returned. Steve LeSueur, a former patrol officer and the new communications officer for the OPD, has been with the OPD since August 2010 and said a lot of wrecks occur here because of speeding and driver inattention. Running red lights, another safety hazard, has led to wrecks, as well, he said.

He did not see many wrecks happen because of texting or cell phone usage or from people unsafely changing lanes, though.

His advice for motorists? “Pay attention, look both ways, be a defensive driver,” he said.

SIMPLE ARITHMETIC

James Beauchamp, president of the Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance, pointed to a couple of reasons why the area has experienced an uptick in wrecks: more vehicles on the roads and more miles driven.

“From 2011 to 2012, the number of registered vehicles here in the Odessa district — and primarily, the population based here is Midland and Odessa — increased by nearly 33,000,” he said. “The number of miles driven daily increased by over a million. We know there’s a lot more people, there’s a lot more cars, and we’re driving a lot more miles. That puts a strain on the existing infrastructure. There’s been very little out here in added capacity. Really, to be quite frank, we’re even pretty sparse in safety improvements. We’re making some, but not that many.”

Drivers can have a difficult time adjusting to a rapid type of change in the environment, Beauchamp said, and they end up “getting hurried, rushed, agitated, anxious, whatever you want to call it. And they end up making poor decisions.” That’s an explanation — not an excuse — for those decisions, he said. Capacity constraints can play a role, and driver behaviors and attitudes are exacerbated by that situation, creating a perfect storm.

CRASH DATA

Statewide, speed involvement crashes are down from 2008, according to data from the Texas Department of Transportation. In 2008, there were 26,092 crashes in which speed was a factor, including everything from fatality wrecks to noninjury crashes. In 2012, there were 24,189 crashes. In 2012, 679 of those wrecks resulted in fatalities, down from 821 in 2008. In the three years between 2008 and 2012 (2009-2011), deaths in crashes were in the 600s range. For the year to date, there have 212 speed-involvement crashes.

The fatality numbers are fewer for crashes attributed to cell/mobile phone usage and driver inattention and distraction in vehicle. Deaths caused by driver inattention and distraction hit 444 in 2008, with numbers falling into the 300s in the four years after. For the year to date, there have been 138 fatal crashes caused by driver inattention and distraction.

However, the overall number of crashes because of driver inattention and distraction is significantly higher than those involving speed: in 2008, there were 101,509 crashes, with 2012 posting a number of 88,785.

But a look at fatality crash numbers attributed to cell/mobile phone use have remained pretty constant: Twenty-nine fatal crashes occurred in 2008, with 35 reported in 2012, and the three intervening years all had numbers in the 40s. Total crashes reported from 2008 to 2012 have all been in the low to mid-3000s.

Legislation to ban texting while driving died in this legislative session.

In a Friday email statement to the OA, Rep. Tom Craddick of Midland (R-82nd District) expressed disappointment about the failure of the legislation, House Bill 63, which he introduced.

“Unfortunately, the bill proposing the statewide ban on texting will not become law this year. Legislators were poised to act on this legislation that would have saved lives. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation denied lawmakers the opportunity to move House Bill 63 forward and subsequently denied Texans a chance to make our roads safer. I am incredibly disappointed by this result.

“Next legislative session, I will again attempt to put a statewide law in place to deter Texas drivers from texting while driving. It is devastating that we will have two more years of accidents and deaths on our Texas roadways from distracted driving that could have been prevented.

“Although there is no statewide law stopping Texans from picking up their phone to text while driving, I would implore everyone to focus on driving and put your phone down — it can wait.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (under the U.S. Department of Transportation), there were 32,367 deaths from motor vehicle wrecks in 2011 (last year information available). Texas had 3,016 deaths that year. NHTSA said 2012 data would be available in August.

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Source: OAOA (Munsch, 5/28)

Mother of 12-year-old Tuscaloosa boy killed in wreck files lawsuit against tire manufacturer, car repair shop

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The mother of a 12-year-old Tuscaloosa boy killed in a wreck on Interstate 65 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturer and the local distributor of a recently replaced tire on her SUV.

12-year-old Octavious Chandler died in a March 25, 2011, wreck in north Jefferson County. The crash happened about 5:50 p.m. on interstate 65 north in Gardendale. His mother, Julia Chandler, was driving, and Octavious was in the front passenger seat.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson County Circuit Court by Birmingham attorneys Jeremy Knowles and Amanda Luker on behalf of Julia Chandler. It claims that Michelin North America Inc. and Amigo Tires, a Tuscaloosa car repair shop, acted "negligently and wantonly" in regards to a tire that "detreaded" while Chandler was driving.

A jury trial is requested to decide whether to award compensatory and punitive damages from Amigo Tire and Michelin.

According to the suit, "defendant Michelin designed, manufactured, distributed and/or sold the Michelin XW4 tire made the basis of this lawsuit. Said tire failed and detreaded, thereby causing the fatal accident."

After the wreck, witnesses told investigators that it appeared the vehicle blew a tire, then lost control and flipped several times before landing in the middle of the interstate.

Octavious was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother and three other passengers - an 8-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl - were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The lawsuit states that on March 15, 2011, Julia Chandler bought a used Michelin tire that Amigo Tire employees selected from the shop's inventory. The employees installed the tire on her 1997 Ford Explorer.

Ten days later, the tire's tread separated as Chandler was driving, "causing the vehicle to go out of control and rollover several times," the suit states.

It claims that Amigo Tire employees "negligently or wantonly selected" the Michelin tire, "which was over 15 years old, and informed Plaintiff that the tire was safe for travel. In fact, the tire was not fit for use."

When contacted by phone, a man who said he was the manager of Amigo Tire said he wasn't aware of the lawsuit and hung up.

The suit also claims breach of warranty against Michelin, which "impliedly warranted" that the tire "was reasonably fit and suitable for the purposes for which it was intended to be used. The Plaintiff avers that the Defendants breached said implied warranties in that the tire was not fit for the ordinary and expected purposes for which such tires are intended to be used; but to the contrary, said tire was in a dangerously defective and unsafe condition."


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Source: Alabama (Stein, 3/14)

Despite Counsel, Victim Is Hindered by Tort Laws

SAN ANTONIO — When Connie Spears arrived at a Christus Santa Rosa hospital emergency room in 2010 with severe leg pain, she told medical staff members about her history of blood clots. Doctors sent her home with a far less serious diagnosis.

Ms. Spears in a pre-surgery photograph. She has run into problems with the state’s expert-witness rule and its time frame.

Days later, swollen and delusional, Ms. Spears was taken by ambulance to another hospital where doctors found a severe clot and extensive tissue damage. With her life on the line, they amputated both of her legs above the knee.

Nearly three years later, Ms. Spears contends that she is a victim not only of a medical mistake but also of Texas’ tort reform laws.

The huge tort reform package that Texas lawmakers approved in 2003 capped noneconomic damages that a plaintiff could receive for medical malpractice at $250,000 and set a “willful and wanton” negligence standard — interpreted as intentionally harming the patient — for emergency care. It also required plaintiffs to find a practicing or teaching physician in the same specialty as the defendant to serve as an expert witness and to demonstrate evidence of negligence before a trial. Under the strengthened rules, if plaintiffs fail to produce adequate expert reports within 120 days of filing their cases, they are liable for defendants’ legal fees.

Ms. Spears said the laws obstructed her ability to find a malpractice lawyer and forced a judge to order her to pay thousands of dollars to cover some defendants’ legal bills. Her lawyers plan to file a motion that challenges the laws’ constitutionality.

“How can that law be?” Ms. Spears asked. “Maybe the law was too loose before, but they went way too far the other way.”

Tort reform proponents say that such restrictions are the only way to curb frivolous lawsuits against health care providers and that they have drawn more medical professionals to a state with exploding population growth.

“Our purpose had never been to have a procedural hurdle,” said Mike Hull, a lawyer for the pro-tort-reform Texas Alliance for Patient Access. “It had been to have the plaintiffs really get the case reviewed.”

For two years, Ms. Spears struggled to obtain legal representation, because several lawyers said they feared her case did not meet Texas’ new negligence standards. Justin Williams, a Corpus Christi lawyer who eventually took the case, said, “Her life has basically been ruined by all of this, and there was just no way I could turn her down.”

But the case fell apart under the new expert-witness rules. After the first attempt at an expert-witness report failed to identify the proper defendants, Mr. Williams said, he was unable to find another expert witness in a time frame that would satisfy Texas’ requirements.

Tina York, a lawyer for Christus Santa Rosa, said it was unusual for a case to be dismissed because of problems with an expert-witness report. The rules are in the statute, she said, to weed out plaintiffs who “can’t legally support their claim” from the beginning. (Christus Health is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.)

Ms. York said Christus Santa Rosa did not pursue compensation for its legal fees out of sympathy for Ms. Spears. But Ms. Spears said other defendants in the case had. With her retirement savings tapped and her husband out of work, she is afraid they will lose their home.

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Source: The New York Times (Aaronson, 1/24)

Consumers warned to check Fisher-Price infant sleepers after mold reported, 16 infants treated

WASHINGTON — The government is warning consumers to inspect Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘N Play Sleepers due to risk of exposure to mold for infants who use them.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday that its warning applies to 800,000 infant recliner seats, called sleepers, that were sold at stores nationwide and online since September 2009, with prices ranging between $50 and $85. The seats, designed for babies up to 25 pounds, feature a soft plastic seat held in a tubular metal rocking frame. The product has a removable fabric cover.

Mold can develop between the removable seat cushion and the hard plastic frame if the sleeper remains wet or is infrequently cleaned, the agency said. Mold is associated with respiratory illnesses and other infections, the warning said. Fisher-Price has received 600 reports of mold and 16 infants have been treated for respiratory issues, coughs and hives after they were in the Fisher-Price sleepers.

The agency said consumers should check for dark brown, gray or black spots that can indicate the presence of mold under the removable seat cushion. If mold is found, they are advised to immediately stop using the product and to contact Fisher-Price for cleaning instructions or further assistance.

Units currently in retail stores are not affected by the warning, but mold growth can occur after use of the infant sleepers.

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Source: Washington Post (AP, 1/8)