A man died in a traffic crash in Jupiter just after midnight on Saturday, May 12, 2012,  after he allegedly ran a red light and drove into the path of an oncoming car.

The crash occurred at the intersection of Central Boulevard and Indiantown Road.

Jupiter Police say that the preliminary investigation revealed that 30-year-old Anthony Dale Evans was headed southbound on Central Boulevard when he ran the red light at the Indiantown Road intersection. A car that was going west on Indiantown Road crashed into Evans’ Ford pick-up truck.

Evans was thrown from his truck and was declared dead at the scene. The other driver was treated for minor injuries at Jupiter Medical Center and was released.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a car accident, then please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055.

2 children, a man and woman died in an early morning accident involving a wrong-way driver in Palm City this morning, May 14, 2012.

Florida Highway Patrol identified Carolyn Ramos, 41, of Port Saint Lucie as the driver who was driving the wrong way in the northbound lanes of I-95, slamming her Jeep into a Chevy pick-up truck in Martin County.

The crash happened just north of southwest Martin Highway near mile marker 110 in the northbound lanes of the interstate in Palm City.

After the collision the vehicles became stuck together and caught fire.

Troopers say they believe all the victims were sitting side-by-side in the pick-up.

Investigators are trying to determine if Ramos had traveled the wrong way from St. Lucie County into Martin County.

A witness pulled Ramos from the wreckage on the highway and she was flown to Lawnwood Medical Center in critical condition.

FHP is trying to determine the identities of the victims.

The victims were the people who were going the right way northbound.  FHP reportedly stated that they were not exactly sure how many people were in the vehicle because the vehicle was crushed and the victims were totally burned up.  

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating whether Ramos was under the influence of alcohol or another substance at the time of accident.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of an auto accident, please call the lawyers at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules on hours of service for truck drivers maintains an 11-hour daily drive limit, despite several Public Safety Awareness groups lobbying for a 10-hour driving limit for greater highway safety.

According to the FMSCA, more than 4,000 people are killed every year in accidents involving trucks.  Driver fatigue is a factor in 30 to 40 percent of those crashes.  Research has shown that the risk of a crash increases by 200% after 8 hours of consecutive driving.

Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway Safety and other consumer groups filed a lawsuit against FMSCA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) because of these increased truck driver hours, but the agencies agreed to open a new rulemaking as part of the settlement.  Subsequently, little if anything has been done to change semi-truck driver safety regulations.

If you of a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a car crash with a semi or tractor trailer, please call the lawyers at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055.

According to a recent report by the Office of the Inspector General at HHS, most medical errors are not reported by hospital staff.  These errors include medication mistakes, severe bedsores, infections, delirium from overuse of painkillers, and excessive bleeding from improper use of blood thinners.

HHS reported that only 1 in 7 medical mistakes are reported.  This is disturbing when considering a previous HHS investigation that found more than 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries experience adverse events in hospitals each month.  Even more disturbing is that some of the most serious problems, including some that caused patients to die, were among the medical errors that go unreported, according to the New York Times.  Furthermore, little is being done to stop the errors from happening again.  According to the HHS, even after hospitals investigate preventable injuries and infections, they rarely change their practices to prevent repetition of the “adverse events.”

Ten years ago, the Institute of Medicine found that as many as 98,000 people die every year from preventable medical errors.  The estimated annual cost of these medical mistakes that harm patients was $17.1 billion in 2008.

Preventing avoidable medical errors cannot be accomplished without health care providers taking this problem seriously.  Patient safety must be priority number one.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of medical malpractice, please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055.

The average American lives to 78 years of age.  That number will only continue to rise.  As a result, the number of nursing homes opening throughout Florida will continue to rise.  While nursing homes are supposed to offer a safe haven for our elderly, they can sometimes provide abuse and neglect.

Selecting a nursing home is a serious responsibility that should be evaluated in  more than just its cost.  You can minimize the chances that your loved one will become a victim to abuse or neglect by carefully selecting their facility.  Tour the facility.  Meet the staff.  Most importantly, be present.  The best way to keep your loved one healthy, safe and free from neglect is by your visiting her in her new home.  In addition to providing companionship, your visits help monitor her physical and emotional condition.  Your visits will also ensure that the facility’s staff will take extra care in their treatment of your loved one for fear of being caught doing something inappropriate.  Frequent and irregularly timed visits accomplish that goal.

Follow these tips when visiting your loved one to minimize the risk of developing bedsores, pressure sores or decubitus ulcers: 1. Check your loved one’s skin over bony areas.  2. Make sure her skin is clean, dry and moisturized. 3. Make sure she is eating a healthy diet high in protein.  4. Get her moving.  5. Check her bedsheets to make sure they are dry.

By following the above safety tips, you can help your loved one enjoy a healthy and dignified life.

If you have any questions or comments regarding nursing home abuse or neglect, please call the Trial Attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – 1-877-995-0055.

In an 18 month study in 2009 at the University of Utah, college students using a sophisticated driving simulator showed an 800% greater crash risk when texting than when not texting.

NHTSA reported that 20% of injury crashes involved reports of distracted driving.  5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 448,000 people were injured.

According to a Monash University study, using handheld devices makes you 4x more likely to get into a serious crash.

An online survey of 1,999 teens age 16-19 found that 86% had driven while distracted even though 84% admitted that it’s dangerous. (2010, AAA and Seventeen Magazine)

77% of young adult drivers are very/somewhat confident that they can safely text while driving.  (Ad Council, 2010)

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a car accident, please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – 1-877-995-0055.

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012, a man died and another man was injured in a crash on Hagen Ranch Road near Boynton Beach Boulevard west of Boynton Beach.

A Nissan sedan traveling north on Hagen Ranch collided with a Lincoln SUV headed south around noon, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Eric Davis said.

The Lincoln crossed the double yellow lines and drifted into the northbound lanes, a report said.

The Nissan’s driver, Steven Cohen 69, of suburban Boynton Beach, died at the scene. The Lincoln’s driver, Jack Stevens Hayden, 80, of suburban Boynton Beach was in critical condition. Investigators believe he suffered some type of medical problem, Davis said.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055

A deadly pileup on I-75 near Gainesville Sunday, January 29, 2012, killed ten people and 21 were injured when fog combined with dense smoke from a wildfire in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park moved over the Interstate.

The road has reopened but the National Weather Service in Jacksonville warned that new wildfires burning in the Osceola National Forest produced smoke that covered I-10 near Lake City. Visibility was cut to less than a quarter of a mile.

A large swath of West-Central Florida from Tampa to Orlando and nearly touching Lake Okeechobee to the southeast was put under a Red Flag Warning by the NWS Monday, meaning that wildfire potential had reached a critical state.

In its mid-season outlook released Jan. 5, the Florida Forest Service predicted a near- to above-normal wildfire season, with the worst conditions in the northern parts of the state. As the dry season continues, wildfire risks will expand throughout the peninsula, officials said.

Even in a normal year, more than 4,600 wildfires occur in Florida, burning 110,000 acres.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of an auto accident, please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now 1-877-995-0055.

As reported by The Palm Beach Post:

As the first stretch of guardrails was installed along State Road 80 near Belle Glade this summer, officials gathered to remember a mother and her two daughters who drowned this year after driving into a canal near that very spot.

The long-sought guardrails are among the measures that local officials hope will help continue a steady decline in traffic deaths on Palm Beach County roads over the past five years.

There were 123 traffic fatalities in Palm Beach County in 2010, down from 151 in 2009, according to the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Though the trend encourages local law enforcement officials, they’re only cautiously optimistic, especially since traffic deaths this year are keeping pace with a year ago.

And some say the county’s turnaround is threatened by worrisome factors such as distracted driving.

Donna Bryan, spokeswoman for the Safety Council of Palm Beach County, cites 2009 data from the U.S. Department of Transportation showing there were nearly 5,500 fatal crashes nationwide involving distracted drivers.

“I think we as a society need to work on this type of behavior,” she said.

Compounding the problem is that Florida has no laws limiting either texting or talking on mobile phones while driving. Efforts to enact such laws failed during the past two legislative sessions, but new legislation has been filed for the 2012 session.

Laws, gas prices help

Palm Beach County’s decline in traffic deaths mirrors a statewide trend of decreases in each of the past five years, according the highway safety department.

Several factors have contributed to the decline, officials said. They include recently enacted state traffic laws, the economy and gas prices.

“Our law enforcement initiatives such as Click It or Ticket (have been important),” Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Tim Frith said. “There’s been a huge emphasis on that with the primary seat belt law taking place.

“And our community is fortunate to have so many advocates of traffic safety,” he added. “It’s a year-round accomplishment, and the numbers going down, I think, speak for themselves.”

Sgt. John Churchill, a traffic homicide investigator for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, said the sluggish economy and high gas prices have more drivers opting to make fewer trips or use public transportation.

“Some of the traffic counts are showing they’re driving a bit less,” he said, adding that fewer drivers on the roads translates to fewer deaths.

Though Churchill and others are hopeful that deaths will continue to decline this year, there were 94 traffic fatalities countywide as of Oct. 4, compared with 90 at the same point in 2010.

Cars already hitting rails

A key initiative in halting any backward slide for Palm Beach County, Frith said, is installing guardrails along a stretch of State Road 80 – long one of the deadliest stretches of highway in South Florida.

The work began this summer near Belle Glade in response to at least 12 drownings since 2004 between Belle Glade and the 20-Mile Bend area. State transportation officials have said they hope to have the project completed by January.

Frith said cars have damaged some of the completed guardrails.

“Hopefully that prevented someone from going into the canal,” he said. “That was a hot-button topic that was addressed both by local and state leaders. I think that’s a real reason where we may see a significant decrease there.”

Another reason, Frith suggested, is that local law enforcement agencies have aggressively targeted drunken drivers. There were 31 alcohol-related traffic deaths in Palm Beach County in 2010, compared with 62 in 2009, according to state data.

“The saturation patrols are the most effective,” Frith said.

DUI units are concentrating on areas that have had many traffic crashes, he said, such as stretches of Military Trail, Forest Hill Boulevard and Okeechobee Boulevard.

The Safety Council of Palm Beach County, meanwhile, credits law enforcement as well as local organizations’ driver programs with helping to save lives on roads.

“It really takes a combination of educational efforts along with enforcement to make a change in behaviors,” Bryan said.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a car accident, then please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 1-877-995-0055.

According to The Palm Beach Post, a 19-year-old Palm Beach State College student died and four others were sent to the hospital when a car and a sport utility vehicle collided on Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

On Thursday, September 29, 2011, at around 11:39 p.m., Bryanna N. Sanville, of Palm Beach Gardens, was in the front passenger seat of a Kia Forte headed west on Northlake when the driver of that car made a U-turn near the corner of Hiatt Drive/Alister Boulevard.  But the Kia’s driver, Sabrina J. Gavagni Fiorentino, a 19-year-old from Palm Beach Gardens, pulled into the path of an eastbound Ford Explorer being driven by 42-year-old Dora J. Valencia.

The Explorer struck the Kia in the passenger door and killed Sanville, who was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.

Fiorentino was taken to the St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

Valencia, of Palm Beach Gardens, was also taken to the hospital, along with her two passengers: a boy whose name and age were not given; and 19-year-old girl, Viviana Silva.

In the report, police traffic accident investigators say that alcohol played a role in the fatal crash and charges are pending.

Sanville was a freshman at PBSC. She graduated Palm Beach Gardens High School in 2010 where she was a member of the track team.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a car accident, please call the attorneys at Hogan & Chapman, PL for a free consultation.  Call Now – Toll Free 877-995-0055.