Bicyclists in Portland, Oregon, are an adamantly vocal and independent bunch, and an article in the July 31, 2008, edition of the Oregonian may just give bicyclists another issue in which to pour their energy. Oregon state senator Floyd Prozanski of Eugene hopes to expand Oregon’s current bicycle helmet law to include all bicycle riders. The existing law, ORS 815.485, affects only riders under the age of 16. Prozanski, who considers himself a bicycling advocate, believes helmets are a public safety issue and that a mandatory helmet law would go a long way in ensuring the safety of citizens. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the largest bicycle advocacy group in the state, has not supported mandatory helmet laws. For additional information on this increasingly heated issue, see this post from the BikePortland blog. Weigh in with your opinions. Do you think a mandatory helmet law is a good idea for Oregonians? Do you wear a bicycle helmet? As a driver, how do you feel about bicyclists who don’t wear helmets?

Who could imagine that dental care could be hazardous enough to cause death? Though uncommon, apparently there have been enough patient deaths resulting from dental care to prompt the state of Washington’s Health Secretary to ask the state’s dental board, known as the Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission, to launch an investigation.

The Seattle P-I newspaper first published a story on July 15, 2008, that investigated three patient deaths. The article asserted that the dental board’s investigations of these deaths were inadequate.

On Wednesday, June 25, 2008, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling in Franco v Willamette Dental — basically upholding the verdict. The trial was two years ago during the summer of 2006 and involved damage to our client’s lingual nerve from wisdom tooth extraction. The court did not issue an opinion but issued an “AWOP” — affirmed without opinion. The insurance company for the defendant is Fortress Insurance, the dental branch of OMSNIC (the oral surgeon branch).  After the verdict the highest offer made from Fortress to our client (over a year and a half after the verdict which runs at 9% interest) was less than half of the jury verdict.  Fortunately, our client had the courage to stand up to the company and let the court decide.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Finn Terry. Tragically, Finn, an 11 year old Portland boy, died this weekend when a canoe he was riding in flipped over in the Clackamas River. Finn attended da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland and he received a standing ovation at the school’s talent show on Friday when he read his poem about love.

As an attorney representing people injured in automobile accidents, it is important to collect as much information regarding the facts of the accident in addition to the names of witnesses as soon as possible. Frequently, attorneys are not contacted by accident victims for quite some time following the collision and much of the valuable information surrounding the accident has been lost. Good accident attorneys, including the attorneys at Paulson Coletti, retain investigators as soon possible to obtain and preserve important evidence.

If you are involved in an automobile accident, even if you choose not to consult an accident, attorney you should do the following:

Jane Paulson, of Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys in Portland, Oregon, will be speaking tomorrow at a Civil Trial Practice CLE in Bend, Oregon. Jane Paulson will be speaking on “Courtroom Technology” with Eli Hart a trial consultant with Rose City Media in Portland, Oregon.

The seminar is for members of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association.

For over 50 years, the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) and its member attorneys have advocated for the rights of consumers by promoting safer products, workers’ rights, access to quality health care, safeguarding the environment and eliminating discrimination in the workplace.

Unfortunately, despite the use of seat belts and airbags, people involved in automobile accidents frequently experience head injuries and post-concussive symptoms. Head injuries can come in many forms beginning with severe traumatic skull fractures with traumatic brain injury and ending with mild post-concussive symptoms without a recognizable concussion following the collision. People suffering from post-concussive symptoms frequently do not receive appropriate treatment because their symptoms were subtle in comparison to other injuries they may have suffered during the collision. For many, it takes months for them to recognize that they are experience symptoms such as forgetfulness, irritability, difficulty concentrating or vestibular problems which are related to the motor vehicle accident.

All too often, people who are badly injured in automobile accidents are injured by uninsured drivers or drivers with limited insurance coverage. In Oregon, accident victims are surprised to learn that their medical bills and lost wages  may far exceed the available insurance limits and find that they have no method of paying for out of pocket expenses even though the automobile collision was not their fault. Worse yet, some accident victims learn that the other driver was not insured and has no method of compensating the injured person.

Sixty two people are now suspected of dying from use of Heparin. The Food and Drug Administration is analyzing the heparin deaths.

It has not been established how the additive, oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, ended up in heparin. The material is less expensive to produce than the actual drug which raises concerns of involvement of counterfeiters.

Due to the deaths lawsuits will likely be filed against Baxter and the other manufacturers involved.

* FDA on expanded recall

The FDA reported that additional patient deaths may be linked to Heparin, the blood thinner, so Baxter International Inc. is recalling the drug (the remaining lots of single and multi-dose injection and it will recall HEP-LOCK products).

In February, Baxter recalled nine lots of heparin multi-dose after the drug’s use was linked to four deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions.

Now 17 other deaths are being investigated because of a link to heparin. The FDA is cautioning against immediately linking the deaths to Heparin since many of the patients were already sick so a definitive cause of death has not been established.