So enjoy the family, the barbeque and the fireworks. Remember why you're so lucky to be here.

To begin with a dismissal by the trial Judge is something he or she strives to avoid. The cases are so politically charged that some Judges actually are afraid to dismiss on a technicality lest the Judge be publically criticized or worse. In other words a case will be dismissed by a judge if he has to. Our challenge, as lawyers, is  to convince the Court that a dismissal is required.

The law on DUI cases has gotten progressively more oriented against a defendant driver over the years. A lawyer must carefully examine what happened at the initial stop and thereafter. No detail is too small. When I meet with clients, I try to reconstruct things word for word step by step. If the breath certificate comes in, the case is over. The lawyer must be up on new appellate decisions at all times. The new problems raised by new cases have a short shelf life. In about two or three months, the other side has caught up. Your lawyer must meet this high standard in defending these cases. A lot is at stake. Your drivers license, higher insurance rates and even your freedom.

So in selecting a defense lawyer keep these thoughts in mind.

There are a number of resources online available for parents and teens to prevent an unimaginable tragedy.  We?ll mention two big things ? speeding and seatbelt use.  Many accidents in the Virginia area happen when teen drivers drive too fast, and are then ejected from the vehicle and severely injured or killed because they weren?t wearing their seatbelt.  In addition, check out the websites below for helpful hints and tips to keep teens safe:

• The Virginia DMV manages a safe teen driving program, and has a number of teen driver safety tips on their website.

• Partners for Safe Teen Driving is a Virginian community health initiative aimed at keeping teen drivers safe on the road and has a number of helpful resources for parents.

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has Q&A, statistics, and other research information on their website.

Finally, you can read about federal recommendations for teen driver safety in our library article, ?What Can Be Done About Teen Car Deaths??

We?ve all heard of the big drug scandals of recent years ? Vioxx and Heparin being two fairly recent examples of drug company negligence and FDA incompetence that killed and injured Americans.  Well now that pharmaceutical companies are trying to fatten their bottom lines by bringing ever more drugs onto the marketplace, they?re finding that it isn?t as easy as it once was.

It?s hard to feel sorry for Big Pharma.  This is clearly a case of ?you make your bed, and then you lie in it?.  Lawmakers and the American public have grown weary of what seems to be a relentless pursuit for profit that puts consumer safety on the backburner.  If Big Pharma doesn?t like the new rules, well they need look no further than their own backyard for someone to blame.

On the other hand, the FDA has been hit with criticism for its slow response to the food safety crisis, highlighted by the recent tomato salmonella scare.  The FDA just can?t win these days ? but maybe they don?t deserve to.

In Virginia (as well as every other state), it is illegal for anyone under 21 to possess or consume alcohol.  But that crime isn't only punishable against the person doing the drinking.  In Virginia, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to serve that alcohol to someone under the age of 21 - and agencies across the state are cracking down on parents who violate this rule!

For each count of serving a minor, you could be end up serving up to one year in jail and owe a fine of up to $2,500.  A high price to pay for being the "cool" parent.

In fact, just last year, George Robinson and Elisa Kelly recieved a 27 month jail sentence for providing alcohol to their sons' friends.  The Charlottesville couple had a post-prom party busted and 16 teenagers were arrested.  When you're planning your own grad party, please exercise a little more discretion than them!

State police will be on the lookout for Virginia drivers not wearing their seat belts this Memorial Day weekend.  According to the Highway Safety Office, 1,026 people died on Virginia roads last year, the highest number in a decade.  Out of those deaths, 60% of people who were riding in cars equipped with safety restraints were not wearing those restraints.  The ?Click it or Ticket? campaign began on Monday and runs through June 1st.  Please become familiar with Virginia?s seat belt laws by visiting our page.

The new signs will update the old crosswalk signs by having a countdown next to the "walk" sign that indicates how long pedestrians will have to cross the street.  The project also includes adding buttons that pedestrians can push to trigger the walk sign and new mounted signs that read "Turning Traffic Must Yield to Pedestrians."

We applaud the city of Chesapeake for their efforts in improving pedestrian safety.

The new signs will be installed at the following intersections:

• Battlefield Boulevard South & Cedar Road


• Battlefield Boulevard South & Johnstown Road


• Cedar Road & Country Club Boulevard


• Battlefield Boulevard North & Gainsborough Square


• Battlefield Boulevard North & Medical Parkway

The city has selected three other intersections to make improvements at as well, but whether those projects are completed will hinge on the availability of funding.

The Joint Commission's new guidelines include tips like:

• Hospitals and physicians should weigh children in kilograms, not pounds, because pediatric medication dosages are measured by the metric system.


• Hosiptals shouldn't give children high-risk drugs until after the child has been weighed.


• Doctors writing prescriptions should "show their work" by noting the calculations they made to arrive at the prescribed dosage.  This will allow other doctors to double-check the math at a later date.


• Parents and caregivers should seek informatoin and ask questions about their children's medications and repeat hte instructions back to the doctor.

Children in hospitals are often more vulnerable than adults for several reasons.  They are sometimes unable to articulate what hurts, they have weaker immune systems, and their bodies are ill-equipped to fight off certain illnesses.  The new guidelines by the Joint Commission should help doctors and parents work together to prevent over-medication in hospitals and should ultimately reduce the number of medical malpractice incidents that occur in our hospitals.

How do you select an Emergency Room for your children?  If you're lucky and live in an area that has lots of health care choices, you should carefully consider which one you want your kids going to.  The fact of the matter is that not all hospitals and emergency rooms are created equal.  Some are better staffed with pediatricians than others.  Some have better equipment for treating children (i.e. child-sized oxygen masks).  Some even have cartoons and kids magazines in the waiting room to put your child's nerves at ease.

Where do you live?

Obviously, if the closest hospital to you is a children's hospital, that should be your first choice.  But what if you were going to pass a general hospital to get to a children's hospital?  Is it worth the extra time?

Dr. Emory Petrack of the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland says that when you have a "truly critical emergency" on your hands, you must get to the nearest hospital - regardless of whether it's a children's hospital or a general one.  Also, if it's a relatively small problem (a minor burn or a small cut), then the extra distance to the children's hospital might not be worth it.  However, those middle-ground cases (not life-threatening and not minor) could be worth the extra mileage.

If you live far away from a children's hospital, you might have your work cut out for you.  Dr. Petrack says you have to find out which hospitals in your area are "child-friendly." The Joint Commission has a list of ERs here.  After going to the link, choose "Pediatric Facility" from the "Type of Provider" list and input your ZIP code to find out which ERs offer services for children.

First, according to a new study from the University of Chicago, patients who take those "free" samples end up spending much more money on the drug in the long run.  Patients who took a free sample spent almost 40% more on the drug over the the first six months, and 20% more than those who didn't over the next six months.

Dr. William Shrank, of Harvard Medical School, said "This builds on a growing body of literature that shows that samples are not aimed to help the uninsured and the poor, but to increase the sale of branded drugs."  This study, Dr. Shrank noted, is a close follow-up to a January study that found that free drugs were more likely to be distributed to the wealthy and insured than to the uninsured.

Other studies have found that when drug companies are giving free handouts to physicians, the doctors are more likely to write prescription for the brand-name drug than for the generic.  Drug companies should not be injecting themselves into our personal relationship wtih our physician for profit.  The government should step in and impose certain restrictions on the abilities of the drug companies to give handouts to physicians and patients.

The drastic increase in the number of joint surgeries will be caused by the aging American population, the increased demands of younger patients, the increased ability of surgeons to perform the surgery, and an increased level of arthritis in the general population.

While many people are genetically prone to develop arthritis as they get older, the growing weight of the average American is increasing the stress put on our joints.  Surgeons have seen the average age of a joint replacement patient gradually creep down from about 70 years of age to somewhere around 65.  They are attributing this age decrease to a weight and stress increase.

A recent Time magazine article suggested three lifestyle changes that can keep your knees and hips healthier longer.  The first is weight control.  According to Dr. Joseph Buckwalter, an arthritis specialist at the University of Iowa, each pound of weight that you lose takes 3-5 lbs. of pressure off of a bad joint. 

The second thing to prevent joint pain late in life is to adequately address the problems when they occur.  According to Dr. Buckwalter, treating joint injuries - including ankle sprains - properly as they occur can greatly decreased the risk of arthritic pain later in life.

Finally, Buckwalter points out that exercising regularly helps to maintain muscle strength, a full range of motion, and flexibility, all of which protect your joints.  Daily exercise can be the difference between a mobile life and a surgery.

The officer's chief concern in any traffic stop is his own safety.  This comes in two forms.  First, he'll look to stop you in an area that is safe for both him and your vehicle.  Second, he is concerned for any suspicious movements that you make inside the vehicle.  It's best to keep your hands on the wheel as he approaches and to inform the officer if you need to reach in a glovebox for your registration.

Reading over the article can help you to better understand the mind of a police officer and understand what risks they are undertaking when approaching your vehicle.  Knowing this, you may be able to turn your next traffic stop into a simple warning.

In Riegal v. Medtronic, the plaintiff had filed a lawsuit after a Medtronic catheter ruptured in Mr. Riegal's coronary artery during a heart surgery.  Even though the catheter's labeling specifically warns against use for patients with diffuse or calcified stenoses, the doctor choose to use it in Mr. Riegal's heavily calcified artery.  As the heart surgeon was inflating the catheter, it ruptured, leaving Mr. Riegal on life support and requiring emergency coronary bypass surgery.

The catheter had recieved FDA pre-market approval.  Any medical device must undergo extensive screening by the FDA before it can be sold (hence the name "pre-market approval").  This screening includes an average of 1,200 hours of FDA review per application to ensure that each device has a "reasonable assurance" of the device's "safety and effectiveness," as weighed against hte probable risk of injury or illness resulting from use.

The result of this decision is to make it virtually impossible to sue manufacturers of medical devices - like pacemakers or catheters - as long as they have been pre-approved by the FDA.  While the FDA does a great job in screening out medical devices not ready for the mass market, their screening process does not warrant giving blanket immunity to the makers of medical devices. 

Even scarier?  The Supreme Court will hear a case next term regarding the exact same issue - but with prescription drugs.  This could be the end of manufacturer liability in the medical industry.

Specifically, Forde-Mazrui believes that police are targeting racial minorities and young motorists. 

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.  However, if police officers make an arrest, they are able to validly search the area within the immediate control of the motorist.  As long as the initial arrest is valid, a court reviewing the officer's actions will find that the search was also valid.

Forde-Mazrui's argument is that the discretion given to police officers during a traffic stop lead to a discriminatory application of the law.  For instance, an officer might be more likely to ticket a racial minority or young driver in a traffic stop than he would be to ticket a white, middle-class adult.  This discretion, he argues, dictates that minorities and young drivers are effectively limited to lower speeds than white, middle class adults, because the officer who might ticket not the middle class driver for exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph is likely to ticket the minority for exceeding it by only 5 mph.

To remedy this problem, Forde-Mazrui suggests limiting the authority of police officers by requiring them to justify enforcement practices that have a discriminatory impact, requiring higher enforcement rates, and precluding enforcement of minor traffic violations.

A full copy of Forde-Mazrui's article can be found here.

Noting that the Center for Devices and Radiological Health receives almost 1000 reports of adverse effects each year, the FDA issued a Public Health Notification.  These adverse effects have included more than 200 different medical devices that cause reaction in local tissue, infection, perforation and obstruction of blood vessels, and death.
The FDA has made the following recommendations to surgeons, none of which sound particularly earth-shattering:

1.       Use medical devices in accordance with their labeled indications and the manufacturer?s instructions for use, especially during insertion and removal.

2.       Inspect devices prior to use for damage during shipment or storage or any out-of-box defects that might increase the likelihood of fragmentation during a procedure.

3.       Inspect devices immediately upon removal from the patient for any signs of breakage or fragmentation.

4.       If the device is damaged, retain it to assist with the manufacturer?s analysis of the event.

5.       Carefully consider and discuss with the patient (if possible) the risks and benefits of retrieving vs. leaving the fragment in the patient.

6.       Advise the patient of the nature and safety of unretrieved device fragments including the following information:

a.       The material composition of the fragment (if known);

b.       The size of the fragment (if known);

c.        The location of the fragment;

d.       The potential mechanisms for injury, e.g., migration, infection;

e.       Procedures or treatments that should be avoided such as MRI exams in the case of metallic fragments. This may help to reduce the possibility of a serious injury from the fragment.

After striking the AIDS patient, the police officer and a bystander placed Mr. Mitchell back in his wheelchair and immediately called the EMTs.

Anyone want to guess what happened next?  The officer apologized and Mr. Mitchell got treated for his injuries?  The police department conducted an investigation into the accident?  Wrong.

First, while he waited in the University of Virginia Hospital emergency room, another Charlottesville officer walked in and served Mr. Mitchell with a jaywalking ticket.

Then, the police issued this memo, which defends the decision to ticket Mitchell and states that any attempts to investigate the accident would be fruitless because there were not witnesses.

Not so, says Ben Gathright, the pedestrian who helped officers place Mitchell back in his wheelchair.  Not only does Gathright claim to have witnessed the entire accident, but he also says that he wrote down his contact information and gave it to Mitchell ? a card which the police officers then took from Mitchell (Gathright then wrote it down again).  No formal statement was ever taken from Gathright, who says he lingered at the scene so long that the police eventually asked him why he was still there.

Gathright claims to have made repeated attempts to speak with police about what he saw and claims he has been repeatedly denied this privilege.  Maybe The Hook?s article will change that.

Back in 1981 an omnibus agricultural bill (that's right, agricultural) declared that the oversight of theme parks should be left to state programs, instead of federal oversight.  As a result of underfunding and sparse staff, these state programs have been unable to adequately find and correct safety problems that occur in rides.

This patchwork oversight has led to tragic cases like 9 year old Fatima Cervantes, who slipped under the lap bar on a ride in 2005 and had her head crushed by a metal arm.  This fact pattern is made worse by the fact that the same ride has been responsible for at least four more deaths and dozens of injuries in the U.S. since 1997, including a 6 year old boy in Kentucky this summer.

So why hasn't anything been done to remedy this situation?  Maybe because the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions spends millions of dollars a year lobbying Congress to keep things the way they are. 

A little federal oversight and communication would go a long way toward keeping us safe at the amusement parks - but it might also cut into the park's bottom line in the way of repairs - so the parks are unwilling to allow the feds to regulate them.  Robert Johnson, president of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, put the parks' position succintly when he said, "You have to look at the risk-reward of these programs . . . There may be people out there who want more regulation, but there has to be a return on that investment."

How about our safety, Mr. Johnson?