Neglecting Your Tire Pressure Leads To Accidents

Checking your tire pressure is one of the most vital maintenance steps when it comes to keeping your vehicle safe, but most drivers forget to stay on top of it! With snow and icy weather still on the radar for Connecticut this season, it is more important than ever to avoid driving with low tire pressure to avoid unnecessary vehicle accidents that could cause devastating injuries.

Low tire pressure is one of the leading causes of tire failure in the country and results in thousands of injuries every year. In 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported 11,000 injuries and 738 fatalities were caused by tire-related accidents, and these numbers are conceived to be even higher due to classification errors in traffic accident reporting.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), about a third of cars and small trucks on the road are driving with under-inflated tires or with pressure levels below the manufacturer’s safety recommendations. Under-inflated tires severely impact a driver’s ability to control their vehicle, leading to tire failures such as skidding, uneven wear, and blowouts.

Low Tire Pressure Can Be Expensive

It may seem bothersome to pay a low fee for air, but not filling your tires can end up costing you a lot more in the end:

In addition to financial losses, accidents that result from tire failures can lead to catastrophic consequences including fatalities. Understanding the importance of tire maintenance and how to know when/why your tires may be low is the first step to preventing these unnecessary tragedies from happening.

Why Your Tires Might Be Low

When the weather becomes cold, your tires can lose air and cause the low tire pressure indicator in your car to turn on. Some drivers ignore the warning, expecting the problem to resolve when the car warms up. But cold weather is not the only reason why your tires pressure could be low.

Tires can decrease in pressure for several different reasons, including:

The invention of tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) has dramatically reduced the number of traffic fatalities and injuries over the past two decades, but you can’t rely on these systems as a substitute for manually checking your tire pressure. Sensors used in TPMS systems can stop working correctly from running out of batteries, wiring issues, voltage or electronic failures, corrosion, or recognition errors after a tire rotation. Drivers who wait for the indicator to go on may be driving on severely low tire pressure and putting themselves at risk for a vehicle accident without even realizing.

How To Prevent Low Tire Pressure Accidents

Luckily, most tire-related accidents are entirely preventable when taking the proper maintenance steps before you hit the road. Here are some tips for how drivers can help prevent accidents caused by low tire pressure:

What To Do If Your Tire Blows

Let’s face it- tires do not always cooperate even with the best prevention. If you do experience a tire blowout while on the road, use these safety tips to reduce the risk or severity of an accident:

If you or a loved one has sustained a serious injury due to a motor vehicle accident, our expert personal injury team is here to support you. Contact the law firm of Jacobs & Wallace today for a free case evaluation to explore your options.

Winter brings more than just bitter cold temperatures and slippery surfaces. Illnesses and fatalities caused by carbon monoxide poisonings soar in the winter months, mostly due to failed and improperly functioning heating solutions. With February’s weather proving to be unpredictable, Connecticut residents should be aware of all the carbon monoxide risks in their home and how to prevent future fatalities from occurring.

Carbon Monoxide: The Silent Killer

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a highly fatal gas known as the ‘silent killer’ for its odorless scent and appearance. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 5,000 people are treated in emergency rooms across the United States for CO poisoning every year. Shockingly, this number is conceived to be even higher due to the fact that carbon monoxide poisoning is often misdiagnosed and documented as other illnesses such as the flu.

At least two people die every day in the month of January from Carbon Monoxide poisoning due to fuel powered heating solutions that release carbon monoxide into the home. Since January is generally the coldest month of the year, the higher rate of CO deaths is explainable. However, bitterly cold temperatures are still on the horizon for this season which could bring a new onset of CO fatalities in the month of February if residents are not careful.

Appliances posing carbon monoxide poisoning risks

Carbon monoxide is found in the fumes released from dozens of appliances we keep around our home all year round.  Any appliance that runs on the following fuels can produce harmful CO gases:

The winter months, however, prove to be especially deadly due to the number of heating appliances that release carbon monoxide indoors or near windows, doors, and vents. These products allow for CO to become trapped and circulate freely within the home, exposing those inside to air contaminated with the fatal gas. The most common sources of CO in the winter months come from appliances such as:

 

Signs of CO Poisoning

Far too many people are killed while they are sleeping due to undetected carbon monoxide levels in the home. In these cases, sadly, there is little to be done if there is no CO detector installed to wake residents and alert them to evacuate.

Though carbon monoxide cannot be seen or smelled, there are some common symptoms to watch out for that could indicate a CO leak is present in your home:

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can be easily passed off as other ailments such as the flu. If you or a loved one experiences a sudden onset of these symptoms (while in the home), and have not come in contact with anyone who has been diagnosed with the flu, check your CO levels to ensure your family is safe before going to bed for the night.

Unfortunately, these symptoms are not allows experienced when there are harmful levels of CO in the home. If you or anyone in your family does display these symptoms, it’s extremely important to exit the house immediately and not return until first responders have cleared you for reentry.

Most At Risk for CO Poisoning

Anyone can be at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if they are not careful, but some populations are more at risk than others of becoming extremely ill from even minimal exposure. People who have a history of heart disease or anemia, infants, and individuals over the age of 65 are most at risk for complications when CO is present in the home. Making sure to place CO detectors directly in the rooms of at-risk individuals will help prevent long term exposure if any carbon monoxide is present.

How To Prevent CO Poisoning

The most distressing fact about carbon monoxide deaths is that they are 100% preventable using the appropriate measures. All homeowners and renters should be making sure they take the following safety steps highlighted by the CDC to reduce the occurrence of CO leaks that can lead to serious illnesses and unnecessary fatalities this winter:

There are no natural and obvious warning signs to alert you when carbon monoxide is present. If you suspect a carbon monoxide leak in your home, get out first and call 911 immediately after for assistance.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in an accident, our experienced attorneys at the law firm of Jacobs & Wallace are here to help. Contact us today for a free case evaluation to review your options for seeking fair compensations for all damages sustained in your accident.

 

Bad doctors who surrender their license to save their reputations may still be practicing medicine. An investigation published by MedpageToday last November revealed that hundreds of physicians who have surrendered their license in one state are simply moving to another to start over with a clean slate and unknowingly putting more patients in danger.

Is Your Doctor Banned?

It’s always been recommended that you do your research on your doctor to make sure they are licensed in your state. But now it might be necessary to check across stateliness. More than 250 actively practicing doctors were found to have surrendered their medical licenses in other states prior to their current position, according to the MedPage Today investigation using data from TruthMd- a private firm that collects from thousands of sources on physicians nationwide. Out of the cases found:

In an additional study using the data from TruthMd between 2011 to 2016, more than 500 doctors were found to have been disciplined in one state, yet practicing with a clean slate in another. Unfortunately, these numbers are conceived to be far higher than what has been reported.

Doctors who continue using negligence and poor quality medical practices are putting patients across the country at risk of serious or even fatal medical errors. So how are these physicians getting away with it?

 How Bad Doctors Cheat The System

Doctors who have been accused of medical malpractice due to negligence, medical errors, or other ethical violations must have their records available for patients and prospective patients to view. If a doctor loses his or her license involuntarily, this information also becomes available for those who wish to find it.

Medical licenses that are voluntarily surrounded, however, are not granted public access and this is where bad doctors are sliding through. Rather than wait for their license to be revoked for poor quality care, doctors are instead choosing to voluntarily surrender their license to avoid consequences such as:

Without these consequences, most doctors are free to change their address and practice with a new clean license in another state, even though states have the ability to take action against them. Some states even make it easier for doctors to start over by neglecting to check the national database at all before issuing new licenses to applying physicians.

Why A Medical License Would Be Revoked

Medical licenses are not revoked from physicians on a whim. According to the Connecticut Physician Licensure Statue, a doctor in danger of losing their license in our state has met one or more of the qualifications that could put patients in severe danger:

Other unprofessional conduct that could result in the loss of a medical license defined by the Federation of State Medical Board include:

How To Research On Your Doctor

You are your own best health advocate. Making sure you are doing thorough research on your doctor before you trust them with your medical care is crucial to your health and safety. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Keeping CT Patients Safe

Patients should be doing their due diligence to ensure a doctor is appropriate for their care, but states must do a better job of preventing negligent and dangerous doctors from getting new licenses. It is not the responsibility of a patient to issue and suspend licenses of physicians, nor it is their job to monitor current and past cases of malpractice that could lead to fatal consequences.

If you or loved one has sustained an injury or illnesses due to medical malpractice, our expert team of medical malpractice attorneys is here to fight back for you. Contact Jacobs & Wallace today for a free case review to review your options for justice.

In the last two decades, more than 70,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in the United States- about 130 every day. Sadly, over 9,000 of these fatalities were children and some of them under the age of four, who stumbled upon the drugs by accident. 

Pediatric Opioid Deaths Are Skyrocketing 

Opioid drugs are addictive and dangerous, particularly for our young. It only takes a small amount of opioids for a child to experience a fatal overdose and it doesn’t take long for them to take it. Children are curious about prescription bottles they see on the counter and the medication they watch their parents take. A Yale study found that opioid deaths have almost tripled among children since 1999. Around 25% of these fatalities were children ages 0 to 4, involving accidental or even intentional doses of opioids. This age population, particularly when they begin to walk and climb, are very curious and observant. It only takes a parent walking away from an open bottle for a second, or improperly disposing of medication in the trash, for a fatal dose to be swallowed by a child who mistakes the drugs as candy.  

The Most Dangerous Drug 

All opioid drugs are dangerous for children, but one of them, in particular, has been making headlines for causing children to become seriously or fatality ill: methadone. Methadone is a synthetic drug that is used to help people come down off of heavily addictive substances, including narcotic painkillers and heroin. The goal of this drug is to reduce the horrible withdrawal symptoms by helping to relieve pain, however, it is still classified as an opioid itself and extremely dangerous. 

The Yale study found that approximately 36% of accidental opioid overdoes in children involved methadone. In recent years, laws regulating the prescription of methadone have become more lax, allowing doctors to easily prescribe it to patients who are in need. As the fight against the opioid crisis continues, more and more patients are bringing home this dangerous drug and children are suffering the consequences of easy access.  

Signs of Methadone Overdoses in Children 

A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information warns parents to watch out for these overdose symptoms to indicate their child could have ingested a harmful opioid:  

The study reports that symptoms of a methadone overdose generally kicks in around 120 minutes after the child ingests the drug and can be difficult to spot if the child takes a nap or goes to sleep shortly after.  

 Lock Up Meds To Save Kids 

Almost 50% of children who are dying of opioid overdoses are dying within their very own homes. An article published by ABC News back in February 2017 reported only 32% of parents are locking their opioids safely away and limiting access of these dangerous substances to their children.  

Parents who keep opioid drugs in their home such as methadone must put safety practices in place to help keep children safe from unnecessary harm:  

In any home with children, parents should have the Poison Control number (800-222-1222) posted or saved on their phone for easy access in the case of an emergency. By being mindful of your medications and where they are at all times, you can make a huge difference in the safety of your children when it comes to opioid overdoes.  

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