About: David Goguen

Montagues versus Capulets. Red Sox versus Yankees. Charlie Brown versus Lucy’s football. These rivalries are rooted in history and tradition, and it wouldn’t be wrong to add dogs versus mail carriers to that list. Just in time for Dog Bite Prevention Week, the U.S. Postal Service is shining a spotlight on U.S. cities where mail carriers are most at-risk for getting bitten by one of their four-legged neighborhood foes. See where your city ranks by checking out Postal Service Releases Top Dog Attack City Rankings (from USPS.com).

Every year, dogs bite more than 4.7 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thankfully, the majority of those bites are minor and don’t require any medical attention. And of the more than 4.7 million people who are bitten by dogs each year, about 800,000 seek medical attention, including about 385,000 people who need to visit a hospital emergency room or other urgent care center. (See more Dog Bite Statistics and Trends.)

The USPS is asking pet owners to help prevent future skirmishes that are no laughing matter to the people charged with delivering the nation’s mail. And if keeping postal carriers safe isn’t enough of an incentive, there’s always this “promise”, from Ken Snavely, the acting postmaster of Los Angeles (the city that led the list for 2012): “If our letter carriers deem your loose dog to be a threat, you’ll be asked to pick up your mail at the Post Office until it’s safe to deliver.”

So, there’s that. Plus, you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of a Dog Bite Injury Lawsuit.

The family of professional hockey player Derek Boogaard has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the National Hockey League, claiming the organization is to blame for his brain damage and the addiction that played a role in his 2011 death from an overdose of alcohol and painkillers.

Boogaard played for the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers over the course of six NHL seasons, and was widely considered an “enforcer”-type player who would aggressively protect teammates and strong-arm opponents. For NHL enforcers, fights are practically part of the job description, and according to the lawsuit, Boogaard engaged in at least 66 fights on the ice, leading to numerous concussions and other injuries. A postumous medical examination revealed that Boogaard suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which can be caused by repeated head trauma.

The complaint tries to put liability for Boogaard’s death on the shoulders of the NHL by arguing that team doctors and dentists prescribed oxcodone and other powerful drugs to Boogaard — more than 1,000 pills in the course of the 2008-09 season alone, according to the lawsuit – and then didn’t do nearly enough to help him with his ensuing addiction and health complications.

The Chicago Tribune quotes William T. Gibbs, an attorney representing Boogaard’s family, opining on the league’s culpability: “The NHL drafted Derek Boogaard because it wanted his massive body to fight in order to enhance ratings, earnings and exposure.  Fighting night after night took its expected toll on Derek’s body and mind. To deal with the pain, he turned to the team doctors who dispensed pain pills like candy. Then, once he became addicted to these narcotics, the NHL promised his family that it would take care of him.  It failed.  He died.  Today, his family seeks justice for the NHL’s egregious failures.”

Learn more about Wrongful Death Claims.

Some overly-enthusiastic passenger-side airbags are to blame for a worldwide recall that is affecting more than 3.3 million Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and Toyota vehicles worldwide.

The problem is that the airbags may deploy with too much force, resulting in metal shards showering the passenger cabin of the vehicle, which could make a bad situation worse for people who are involved in a car accident.

For Honda, this week’s airbag recall joins a list of others dating back to 2008, although prior problems involved driver’s side airbags deploying with too much force.

The airbags were manufactured by Japan’s Takata Corporation, according to the New York Times, and some of the affected airbags were also sold to BMW and General Motors, so we likely haven’t heard the last word on vehicles that have been affected by this problem.

For details on affected vehicles (all of which were model year 2000 to 2004 as of now) and instructions for vehicle owners, check out this L.A. Times article and the press releases linked up here: Honda | Toyota.

Learn more about vehicle recalls and defects.

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $8 million in damages to a retired prison guard who received a defective artificial hip that was manufactured (and later recalled) by the health care giant.

A Los Angeles jury sided with plaintiff Loren Kransky and placed Johnson & Johnson on the legal hook for marketing a defective product and failing to warn consumers about the health risks associated with the all-metal artificial hip device, 93,000 of which were recalled in 2010.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the financial hit that Johnson &  Johnson took today could have been a lot worse: the plaintiff’s attorney asked the jury to order the company to pay another $179 million in punitive damages. When the jury declined that request, you could probably hear the sigh of relief coming all the way from J&J headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Learn more about Product Liability Claims Involving Medical Devices.

A new report on hospital safety shows that more than a few health care facilities need a second opinion when it comes to safe treatment practices and eliminating preventable medical errors.

The study looked at more than 2,600 hospitals, and of those, 790 came home with an “A”, including the Mayo Clinic, New York Presbyterian, Duke University Hospital, and Bellevue Hospital Center.

But nationwide, 25 health care facilities received a failing grade. And as the Los Angeles Times mentions, the prestigious UCLA Medical Center was one of those hospitals whose report card announced the dreaded “F.”

The study was conducted by the nonprofit group Leapfrog, whose focus is on quality and affordable health care. Read a press release from the group here: Leapfrog Group Announces Updated Hospital Safety Scores

It’s no surprise that preventable medical errors and hazardous treatment environments — such as those outlined in Leapfrog’s report — have a pretty close correlation with medical negligence. And when that kind of negligence leads to injuries to patients or a worsening of a patient’s condition, the result can be a viable medical malpractice lawsuit.

Learn more about what is (and what is not) medical malpractice, and how these cases work, in Nolo’s Medical Malpractice Center.