Boston Injury Attorney Blog

According to the Boston Herald, a Dorchester woman who averted a Boston accident is being hailed a hero after she ran into traffic to save a 2-year-old child from personal injury who had wandered into a South End street. Apparently the toddler walked along Columbus Avenue for about a third of a mile at 5:30 p.m. She was following her 11-year-old autistic sister. Her sister was on a scooter heading to a park.

Driver Tammy Thompson spotted the little girl, as the child stepped off the curb. She parked in the middle of the street and jumped out of her car to save her. The cars coming toward her were actually swerving around the child, but no one got out to help. The toddler just kept walking. Luckily for the little girl, Thompson grabbed the child and pulled her to safety.

According to a police report, the girls wandered from their home on Warwick Street while their mother, Rory Johnson, 40, was at a funeral and their father, Lloyd Moore, slept.The state Department of Children and Families is investigating.

As there is no legal duty to come to the aid of one in need, in the wake of the recent news out of New York City where a good Samaritan was stabbed assisting a crime victim and left to die on the sidewalk, this story is heartwarming. Ms. Thompson is a local Boston hero, who no doubt prevented this little girl from becoming seriously hurt.

Continue reading "Dorchester hero saves toddler in the South End of Boston" »

According to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, a Middlesex Superior Court jury's verdict that an orthopedic surgeon should not be held responsible for the death of a patient who suffered a massive pulmonary embolism days after undergoing knee surgery was overturned by the judge. Ruling in the case of Howard v. Brassard, , Lawyers Weekly No. 12-065, that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, Judge Thomas P. Billings, a District Court Judge, granted a plaintiff's motion for a new trial.

The decedent, John L. Howard injured his knee while playing basketball in March 2004. He went to the emergency room where doctors found that he had ruptured his patellar tendon. He had a prior knee surgery in 1998 to reconstruct his knee ligament . He subsequently developed deep vein thrombosis and was admitted to the hospital. For the 2004 injury, a second surgery was performed. The plaintiff initially did well, but died within a few weeks of the surgery from a pulmonary embolism. Howard's estate claimed the doctor failed to prescribe medication that could have prevented his death.

During trial experts agreed that the standard of care in 2004 required that a surgical patient known to have this history be given medication following surgery. The defense expert testified on cross examination that most doctors would ask for a history, but when questioned on re-direct, defendant's expert said failure to do so was not a deviation from the standard of care. The jury found that the defendant was responsible but did not deviate from the standard of care. Plaintiff's counsel filed a motion for a new trial based on the weight of the evidence. The judge found that it would be surprising for a surgeon, not to ask about prior surgeries and complications.

Continue reading "Massachusetts defense verdict in medical malpractice case overturned" »