I don’t mean to be alarmist, but it sure seems like recalls of children’s products are on the rise. I guess we can console ourselves by assuming that these recalls are a reflection of increased safety precautions by the government? Anyway, the latest of the recalls involves Harmony High Chairs by Graco, a company whose name is practically synonymous with children’s products.

Hot dogs are the quintessential American food, but they may soon be in for a redesign. The American Academy of Pediatrics are calling for hot dog manufacturers to redesign frankfurters to make them less of a choking hazard to youngsters. If the redesign is out of the question, the Academy is hoping for warning labels on hot dog packages.

Choking is actually one of the leading causes of accidental death among children, and, according to the Academy, hot dogs are responsible for about 17 percent of food-related choking incidents. The publication Pediatrics published a study on non-fatal choking incidents. Among the more than 17,000 children aged 14 and younger included in the study, some 60 percent choked on food, 31 percent on non-food objects, and 9 percent was unknown.

In September 2008 a sand-rail accident at Sand Lake Dunes Recreational Area near Tillamook, OR, left two dead and others seriously injured. A sand rail is a sort of dune buggy designed to go fast on sand. The accident was caused by David Rieman, who crashed his sand rail head-on into another sand rail, killing the other driver and a passenger and injuring the other two passengers. At the time of the accident, Rieman’s blood-alcohol content was 0.27 percent (the legal limit is .08 percent).

I was searching around for interesting articles to blog about when I came across an article by Joanne Doroshow on the Huffington Post blog called “This Week in Horrific Medical Negligence News.” She highlights a number of news stories and lawsuits across the country that display, well, horrific medical negligence. She puts it much better than I ever could. To read the article, click here.

The problem with stuck accelerators in a number of newer Toyota models has been big news as of late.

The company is clamoring to fix millions of recalled vehicles and has even halted the sale of many models until the problems are solved.

Though Toyota is making an effort to appease troubled Toyota owners, it’s little consolation for those who have been directly affected by the accelerator issue.

Michael Harris of Houston lost his wife just before Christmas of 2009 when her 2009 Toyota Corolla crashed into a cement barrier. The lack of skid marks suggested she either did not brake or her brakes were ineffective.

I know a trucker who drives a triple-trailer about 500 miles every day, and do you know how he passes the time?

By texting on his cell phone. When I pointed out the dangers of this, he responded that it is a good way for him to stay awake!

Well, I just discovered via the GJEL accident attorneys blog that it’s now against the law for commercial drivers to text while driving.

That means drivers of vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more, which includes trucks and buses, cannot text and drive.

The Multnomah County jury verdict last Friday, January 22, 2010, for the Beale family, against I-Flow Corporation has made the New York Times — although not mentioning lead attorney John Coletti by name.  Finally, the news is getting out there to other shoulder surgery patients that these pain pumps, placed directly into the joint, cause chondrolysis.

It seems as if there has been an increase in the number of recalls and issues relating to some infant products, which is very unfortunate. Recently there was an article in the Oregonian about a woman in Keizer, OR, who lost her infant due to suffocation from an Infantino Sling-Rider baby sling. She has filed a $4 million lawsuit against the manufacturer and seller of the product.

The Amby Baby Motion Bed is marketed for babies who are restless or fussy, since the rocking motion of the hammock is supposed to be soothing. Unfortunately, the Amby Baby can also be dangerous. Gresham resident Jonathan Kuzma’s five-month-old son Matteo suffocated in one in August. He is now suing Amby Baby for negligence and is represented by our own John Coletti.

Kuzma believes the Amby Baby hammocks are defective and should not be on the market. The fabric and materials in the hammock, Kuzma feels, don’t offer proper ventilation and can thus lead to suffocation. Matteo was not the first victim of the Amby Baby. An infant girl died two months before Matteo, and other injuries had been reported.

And another one for the “practically unbelievable” files! An Ohio daycare center, church affiliated, no less, allegedly “quieted” some of the children by drugging them with doses of the supplement melatonin, which is often used as a sleep aid. As you can imagine, some parents have filed a lawsuit against the daycare center and its owner, the Springfield Township’s Covenant Apostolic Church.