Injured by a Defective Vehicle?

Not every car accident is caused by driver error. In recent years, it seems to be more common for vehicle defects to lead to crashes or to exacerbate situations. There have been countless vehicle recalls over the past 10 years, many of which include defective airbags, seat belts, and other crucial vehicle components.

If you were hurt in an accident because of a vehicle defect, you should contact a products liability attorney. An experienced lawyer understands the difficulties you face following an accident and knows how important it is for you to recover in order to pay your expenses and move forward in life.

Types of Defects
Not every defect is categorized in the same way, and the type of defect involved in your accident matters. The type and origin of the flaw will influence who you go to for recovery, whether that includes a third-party insurance claim or filing a lawsuit.

There are three types of defects:
• Design
• Manufacturing
• Warning

A design defect means the inadequacy was part of the vehicle’s intended plan. The actual design of the vehicle was flawed, which means the vehicle is dangerous even when used how it was intended to be used. Every vehicle of its type will have the same problem.

A manufacturing defect means a mistake occurred while the vehicle parts were made or while the vehicle was assembled. This flaw makes that vehicle dangerous.

A warning defect, also known as a marketing defect, occurs when the vehicle could be dangerous in a way that is not outwardly apparent to the driver. In this situation, the manufacturer is required to warn potential users of this danger.

Common Vehicle Defects
Cars, vans, SUVs, and trucks are all incredibly complicated, particularly now with an increase in computer technology in vehicles. The more important parts a car has, the more places there are for something to go wrong. While there could be a defect anywhere in a vehicle, certain defects are more likely to lead to accidents and cause injury, including:

• Airbag defects: Airbags can be improperly designed, manufactured, or installed incorrectly, leading to injuries or not preventing harm like they should. Airbags can inflate too quickly or not enough. They could be too small or too large for the intended space. Some airbags have gone off when it is not necessary and others have sent shards of plastic and other debris into the cabin of the car.

• Seatbelt defects: Seatbelts can also be designed or manufactured incorrectly. Seatbelts that become unbuckled or loose during an accident put people in great danger.

• Brake defects: If the brakes on a vehicle are installed incorrectly or one part of the mechanism was manufactured with a flaw, the brakes can fail causing serious collisions and injuries.

• Tire defects: If a tire is designed or built incorrectly, it can suddenly blow while a person is driving, causing a crash. Tire failures can also occur from slow leaks overtime, which if not noticed, can cause tires to wear down too soon and overheat.

Contact Miller Weisbrod
If you believe your accident and injuries were caused by a vehicle defect, call us today. The experienced attorneys of Miller Weisbrod, LLP will know how to investigate your case to determine if there was a defect, and if so, who was responsible. You may be able to bring a lawsuit against the designer of the car, the manufacturer of the vehicle parts, the assembler, or the dealership.

For more information, we invite you to contact our offices in Dallas at 214.987.0005 to schedule a free initial consultation with our experienced personal injury trial lawyers.

If you are calling from outside the DFW Metroplex, please call us toll free at 888.987.0005. You may also contact us by e-mail now for prompt attention or to request an appointment.

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What are the most common injuries seen in car crashes?

People are injured every day in car, truck and motorcycle accidents. The type and nature of any injury is dependent on the specific facts and dynamics of the crash. Over the years, we have noted most common injuries following a wreck:

Head Trauma: This occurs when the head strikes an object in or outside the vehicle. The head can be traumatized by the roof, windshield, side window, rear window, seats or steering wheel. Trauma to the head can cause a fracture to the bones of the skull or bleeding just under the skull.

Brain Trauma: Injury to the brain can be one of the most devastating injuries to a person after an accident and many times the injured person doesn't realize it until months or years following the crash. The brain is suspended in the skull by fibrous tissue (ligaments) and is bathed in cerebral spinal fluid. (If the victim's head is jerked forward and backwards or hits a stationary object the brain can collide with the inside of the skull causing bruising and damage to nerve cells).

Whiplash: If a car is rear-ended, the quick, forceful impact can cause the occupant's head to jerk backwards and forward. This may cause injury to the soft tissues of the neck (muscles, ligaments, discs). These people can feel neck pain, arm pain, upper back pain and/or headaches.

Spinal Cord Injury: A spinal cord injury may lead to loss of function in the injured person's arms and/or legs depending on the nature extent of damage to the spinal cord. Along with brain injuries, this is one of the most serious types of car accident injuries one may experience.

Upper Extremity Injury: The shoulder, elbow, wrist or hand can be injured in accidents from either direct or indirect trauma. We typically see rotator cuff injuries, fractured forearms and wrist bones because the driver is holding onto the steering wheel or a passenger puts their hands on the dashboard to brace themselves during the crash.

Lower Extremity Injury: A person's hips, knees, ankles or feet can be injured in an accident from blunt force trauma. We typically see knee injuries when peoples' knees are pushed into the dashboard, steering wheel or seat back. We see hip injuries from side impact and front impact collisions and ankle injuries when a person leg is jammed against the brake pedal or foot board.

Internal Injuries: If an accident is forceful, an occupant of the vehicle may experience injury to internal organs. For example, rib fractures can injure the lungs, heart or spleen.

Why Miller Weisbrod?
At Miller Weisbrod, LLP, we focus on results. In our many years of practice, we have developed an in-depth knowledge and familiarity with the structure and design of automobiles and auto parts, which we bring to bear on every case we handle.

We have recovered many million and multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients who have suffered TBIs. Our demonstrated trial experience and proven record of results are just some of the many reasons clients continue to turn to us in their time of need.

Among other notable cases, Miller Weisbrod recovered $4,250,000 on behalf of a passenger in a truck who suffered a catastrophic brain injury as a result of being forcibly ejected from a truck in a serious motor vehicle accident.

Contact Us
Our attorneys offer sound legal advice, experienced representation and dedicated advocacy to victims of auto accidents and their families. For more information, we invite you to contact our offices in Dallas at 214.987.0005 to schedule a free initial consultation with our experienced personal injury trial lawyers.

If you are calling from outside the DFW Metroplex, please call us toll free at 888.987.0005. You may also contact us by e-mail now for prompt attention or to request an appointment.

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Oxytocin (Pitocin) and Birth Injuries

Oxytocin’s misuse in the United States causes thousands injuries of babies. Oxytocin is the drug most commonly associated with preventable adverse perinatal outcomes.

The package insert lists permanent CNS or brain damage and fetal death as adverse reactions to a baby whose mom receives Oxytocin during labor.

Overdosage of Oxytocin (Pitocin) depends on uterine hyperactivity. Hyperstimulation with strong or prolonged contractions can lead to uterine rupture, utero-placental hypoperfusion, and variable deceleration of fetal heart, fetal hypoxia, hypercapnea, or death.

Excessive uterine activity can manifest in many ways: 

• Contractions that are too long
• Contractions that are too strong 
• Insufficient resting tone 
• Insufficient resting time

Excessive uterine activity from the use of Oxytocin can cause permanent neurologic injury to a child by three separate mechanisms, or a combination of the three. 

• Insufficient resting tone
  Uterus does not relax enough between contractions
• Excessive uterine activity
  The use of Oxytocin can cause trauma and excessive molding to the child 
• Intra-Uterine pressure
  Causes a corresponding increase in intra-cranial pressure

If nurses wait until there are changes in the fetal heart rate pattern to turn off the Oxytocin, it might be too late to avoid injury.

Hypoxic Ischemic Injury

If there is not sufficient resting tone between contractions to allow for re-oxygenation of the baby, the cumulative effect is hypoxia, and ultimately acidosis.

Trauma & Excessive Head Molding

Premature birth, difficult labors, and mechanical injuries to the head and neck are succeeded by an effect on the limbs of the child, which is spastic rigidity of the limbs.

Forces of labor are potentially dangerous to the fetus.

Trauma, uterine hyperstimulation, and compressive forces on the fetal skull have great possibility to injure the baby during labor and delivery.

One of the mechanisms by which abnormal forces of labor impact traumatic physical damage to the neonatal brain is through excessive head molding. Head molding during labor and delivery refers to the changes in the cranial bone relationships that occur in response to the comprehensive forces or uterine contractions.

Cranial molding can produce lesions on the fetal brain. Displacement of cranial bones is an obvious cause of subdural hemorrhage. Molding increases intracranial pressure. This decreases blood flow to the brain. Molding also depresses the venous sinus return and, decreases the blood flow to the brain. Excessive head molding from excessive forces of labor causes a decrease in blood flow to the fetal brain and also traumatic injury.

Fetal head molding is a phenomenon which may contribute to satisfactory progress during delivery as it allows the fetal head to accommodate to the geometry of the passage. In contrast, excessive head molding can result in cranial birth injuries.

Excessive molding can occur from the following:

• Labor is prolonged
• When contractions are too forceful
• When there is a malposition of the fetal head
• Inept instrumental interference

As the mother dilates, the pressure on the fetal head increases dramatically; as does the potential for excessive molding and injury.

More than 5 contractions in a 10-minute period are considered hyperstimulation.

The compression of the fetal skull can produce brain damage by one of three mechanics: 

• Increased pressure
  The ensuing development of anoxia and asphyxia may damage the brain as well as the blood vessel walls, making them liable to rupture when exposed to hypertension 
• Severe compression
  Can cause fracturing of the skull bone or laceration of underlying brain tissue 
• Stretching
  The pulling and stretching of the tentorium may cause the falx to tear.

Hyperstimulation and Decreased in Cerebral Perfusion- Ischemia

Abnormal strength and/or frequency of contractions may cause devastating injury to a baby’s brain even absent excessive molding and apart from the effect upon the placenta. An increase in intracranial pressure above the mean-arterial pressure results in a decrease in perfusion to the brain.

Compression of the fetal head by an externally applied force caused severe cerebral ischemia due to a marked reduction in cerebral blood flow. The obstruction to flow prevents well-oxygenated blood in the carotid artery from reaching the fetal brain.

Maternal pushing during the second stage of labor is associated with a significant decrease in fetal cerebral oxygenation. The concept of resting time between contractions is critical to keep a baby out of harm’s way during paturation. If there are too many contractions, there will not be enough time for the baby to catch up on the oxygen necessary for the brain to survive.

Oxytocin is listed as a “High Alert” medication with potentially serious consequences if misused.

Miller Weisbrod is recognized nationwide for our effective counsel and aggressive personal injury representation. We invite you to contact our main offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex today at 214.987.0005 or toll free at 888.987.0005 for a free consultation with a compassionate personal injury trial lawyer. You may also contact us by e-mail today to get honest answers to your legal questions about birth injury claims and lawsuits.

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