Philadelphia Personal Injury Lawyer

When talking about the dangers associated with texting while driving, many Philadelphia residents may like to think this is more a teen driver than adult driver problem. However, a recent study found that more adults actually text while driving, even though they know it is unsafe.

The study was conducted by AT&T. Of those 1,011 adult drivers who were asked, 49 percent admitted to texting while driving. Of teens asked, 43 percent admitted to the same dangerous driving behavior. These statistics are particularly troubling given the fact that there are roughly 180 million adult drivers and 10 million teen drivers.

In 2010, the DePuy Orthopaedics division of Johnson & Johnson issued a recall on the Articular Surface Replacement hip replacement model. This was after it was learned that the all metal hip replacements were defective, causing patients who had the device implanted to have to go through yet another painful surgery. Many also suffered from serious internal damage due to the all metal hip implant.

By the time of the 2010 recall, there were already roughly 93,000 patients in the U.S. who had the Articular Surface Replacement implanted.

Earlier today, a Paulsboro, New Jersey, bridge collapsed while a train was crossing it. While no serious injuries have been reported from the crash itself, authorities are concerned about the impact of the accident. Six train cars fell into Mantua Creek near Delaware River; four of those cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a highly toxic chemical. At least one of the cars leaked the substance into the creek.

Eighteen people were treated for respiratory issues that may be related to the train crash. They complained of sore throats. They may have been exposed to the chemical immediately following the train accident.

Exposure to vinyl chloride, which is used to make PVC piping as well as other plastic products, can cause drowsiness, headaches and dizziness, as well as other center nervous system problems. In the long-term, vinyl chloride inhalation can cause cancer. It is classified as a Group A, human carcinogen.

A recent report shows that medical malpractice payments have been on the decline for eight consecutive years, while reports of injury and death caused by medical error are not.

The report, released by the consumer group, Public Citizen, said 9,758 payments were reported last year totaling $3.2 billion, the lowest in eight years. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than 700,000 Medicare patients suffered avoidable medical injuries with 80,000 suffering a fatal outcome. The reports indicate that while malpractice payments may be down, the instances of medical error have not improved.

The advocacy group believes the data proves that rising health costs cannot be blamed on the number of malpractice payments. The report entitled, "Malpractice Payments Sunk to Record Low in 2011," was based on data provided by the National Practitioner Data Bank, the federal government's official record of malpractice payments made on behalf of doctors.