Maryland Injury Attorney Blog

May 31, 2013

Maryland Work Safety : Falls the Leading Cause of Construction Accident Deaths

Look around your Baltimore County, Maryland neighborhood. How many roofs are being repaired or replaced? How safe are those construction workers who are up there walking around and balancing on our rooftops, hammering and replacing shingles for long hours in the sun?

Many of the Maryland Workers’ Compensation injury cases we handle involve fall accidents. It may be a construction work related fall from a roof, scaffolding, or other elevation. We’ve also had cases where clients were injured by falling from a large vehicle (e.g., a tractor trailer truck or crane), or by having a fall when they stepped on a slippery or broken surface at a job site.

A recent article posted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) confirms what we as Baltimore County work injury attorneys encounter working on behalf of injured clients in Maryland: Falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry. When someone is injured or killed in a construction fall accident in Maryland or any other state, the toll on the family is significant. Not only are wages lost, but life as that family knew it is never the same.

May 25, 2013

What Is Drunk Driving in Maryland? NTSB Wants to Lower Legal Limit to Reduce Alcohol Related Accidents and Deaths

by Jeff Butschky

All 50 states, including Maryland, define drunk driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above .08 percent as a crime. Now the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wants to lower that threshold to .05 BAC to further reduce the number of drunk driving accident injuries and deaths. Currently about 10,000 people in the U.S. are killed every year in alcohol related motor vehicle crashes. The NTSB feels those are 10,000 good reasons to re-examine the nation’s legal definition of drunken driving.

In the early 1980s, public safety awareness groups brought more attention to the issue of drunk driving, with many states establishing a rate of .15 BAC to demonstrate intoxication. Over the next two decades, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) brought more attention to this deadly traffic safety problem, with all states adopting a .08 BAC by 2004.

According to CNN.com, “The number of alcohol-related highway fatalities…dropped from 20,000 in 1980 to 9,878 in 2011, the NTSB said.”

May 21, 2013

Memorial Day Weekend Driving in Maryland : Stay Sober, Avoid Alcohol Related Motor Vehicle Accidents

by Jeff Butschky

Long holiday weekends statistically rack up more fatal drunk driving crashes than normal weekends. According to national traffic accident data, Memorial Day Weekend is the deadliest of all holiday weekends on U.S. roads and highways. Statistics showing holiday weekend traffic crash fatalities in order of most people killed are as follows:

Memorial Day: 473 killed (42% alcohol impaired driving)

New Year’s Day: 468 killed (40% alcohol impaired driving)

April 16, 2013

Maryland Observes Work Zone Safety Month, as Road Construction Swings into Gear

by Jeff Butschky

The sight of orange cones and barrels marking work zones on Maryland highways is so common, drivers don’t think too much about them. That’s part of the problem. The Maryland Department of Transportation estimates that an average 2,237 traffic accidents occur in or around Maryland work zones every year, resulting in 1,250 people injured and 11 people killed.

Nationally, some 700 people die each year in motor vehicle crashes occurring in road work zones. The road construction workers are themselves at risk, often operating machinery just a few feet from speeding traffic. (Sad case in point: Two Pessoa Construction Company workers were killed in a work zone crash in Cecil County, Maryland earlier this year.) Police on detail are also at risk of being struck by passing vehicles.

But the national figure of 700 people killed in roadside work zone crashes are mostly drivers or passengers travelling in motor vehicles on roads and bridges under construction. An estimated four of five people killed in work zone accidents are motorists, not highway workers.

March 30, 2013

Maryland Workers Rights : Family and Medical Leave Act Turns 20, But Sick Employees Still Fighting an Uphill Battle

by Jeff Butschky

When an employee suffers an injury or work-related illness, their lives literally may be at stake. As Maryland Workers’ Compensation lawyers, we work with hurt and sick workers to obtain the compensation they need while they’re recovering from their work injury or illness. This means promptly filing a Maryland Work Comp claim and sometimes, taking the employer to court if they refuse to honor the claim in a timely manner.

One law that provides workers who become seriously ill with some protection is the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which Congress passed 20 years ago under the Clinton administration. The Act ensures job security by providing workers *who meet certain requirements* (this is significant) with 12 weeks of unpaid leave, to care for a family member (including maternity/paternity care) or to care for themselves in the event of injury or illness. The law was designed to protect sick workers from losing their jobs or medical coverage.

Some employee rights advocates heralded the FMLA as the beginning of a “Workers’ First” attitude in the U.S. However, others have criticized the Act as not going far enough, as it does not require all employers to provide the unpaid-leave benefit for all employees (see link to terms of the law below) — and some people simply can’t afford to take 12 weeks off without pay. Considering how exorbitant medical expenses rack up quickly, this is significant for sick workers in Maryland and everywhere else.

March 15, 2013

Maryland Among Top 10 States for Motor Vehicle Theft

by Jeff Butschky

Baltimore car accident injury lawyers like us know all too well from our work with clients: Anything can happen when you pull out of your driveway and hit the road in Maryland. Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents can and do happen, often without warning. And, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), your vehicle itself is more at risk in Maryland as compared to the majority of states.

NHTSA reports that Maryland is among the top 10 states for motor vehicle theft. In fact, Maryland ranks number 8 on the government’s list of states where your car is more likely to not be there when you return to it. The states with the most stolen vehicles are…

1. California 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. New York 5. Illinois

February 20, 2013

Baltimore Lawyer Representing Clients in Johns Hopkins Gynecologist Alleged Medical Misconduct Case : “These are serious and disturbing allegations…”

by Jeff Butschky

Patients put their trust in their doctors to not only treat their ailments and preserve their health — but to maintain patient privacy at all times. When a patient enters a doctor’s office in Baltimore, Maryland or anywhere else, they expect to be treated with respect. They expect their confidentiality and privacy to be upheld. It’s an understanding that makes going to the doctor a little bit easier.

This is why the criminal investigation into alleged medical misconduct by a Johns Hopkins Hospital gynecologist is so shocking and difficult to understand. The story broke earlier this month. Baltimore media reported that a hospital employee had tipped off officials that an OB GYN doctor was allegedly taking unauthorized photos and videos of patients — possibly with his own photographic equipment — and storing them electronically.

Here at The Law Offices of Butschky & Butschky, LLC, we have begun consulting to patients and others who are concerned their privacy may have been violated by the OB-GYN doctor under investigation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. These are serious and disturbing allegations, and our clients have justifiable concerns about whether their privacy may have been breached.

February 5, 2013

Maryland, Do You Drive 65? Highway Speeds Rising, National Survey Shows

by Jeff Butschky

The speed limit in Maryland is 65 mph for both rural and urban interstate highways. Despite posted speed limits, there always seem to be plenty of drivers who tear down the highway — with no regard for the law or other motorists’ safety. Speed is a factor in many of the serious Maryland traffic accident cases we handle here at our Baltimore County personal injury law practice.

If it feels like speeding on U.S. interstates and highways has ramped up in recent years — it’s not your imagination.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported on a recent survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which found 14 percent of motorists exceed the posted speed limit by at least 10 mph on limited-access highways. (Known in some states as freeways or expressways, limited-access highways have on and off ramps, are generally separated from residential properties, and have barriers separating traffic traveling in opposite directions.)

January 15, 2013

Dangerous Jobs in Maryland : OSHA Site Specific Inspections Target High-Risk, Non-Construction Workplaces

by Jeff Butschky

The United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) announced its plan to inspect workplaces in industries with increased hazards for worker illness, injury, and death.

OSHA announced in a press release that the Site-Specific Targeting 2012 plan aims inspections at high-hazard, non-construction site workplaces with 20 or more workers. The plan is the result of data collected from a survey of 80,000 establishments in high-hazard industries. Industries surveyed included farming, automotive, trucking, packing and crating, manufacturing, grocery, lumber, department stores, as well as hospitals and psychiatric and nursing facilities.

Baltimore, Maryland Worker’s Compensation lawyers like us know that construction work can be very dangerous. A fair number of our work injury cases result from construction workers who suffer injuries from slip and fall accidents, being struck by machinery or objects, and construction vehicle accidents. However worker hazards exist in other non-construction industries target by OSHA – both nationally and regionally, here in the Mid-Atlantic.

January 7, 2013

Maryland Drivers – Are You Asleep at the Wheel? 4 Percent of Drowsy Driving Survey Respondents Said “Yes”

by Jeff Butschky

Federal regulations require drivers of large commercial trucks, including tractor trailers, to get a certain amount of sleep between shifts, to avoid falling asleep behind the wheel and causing serious truck accidents. No one wants to think that the 18-wheeler roaring up behind them on the Baltimore Beltway might be piloted by a driver who is about to fall asleep.

But what about all the other motorists with whom we share Maryland’s back roads and highways?

A new study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals something alarming: 1 in 24 drivers admit to driving drowsy, including actually nodding off behind the wheel. ABC News reports that “…based on a survey of nearly 150,000 drivers in 19 states and D.C. … sleepiness aggravated by shift work and snoring can be as risky as alcohol, slowing reaction times and impairing decision-making behind the wheel.”