Tractor-Trailer Accidents in PA

The Pocono Record published an article on 10/17/2012, written by Howard Frank, that discussed a large tractor-trailer accident in the area.  To learn more, please read below or click this link for the original article.

A tractor-trailer driver who caused a Tuesday crash involving two other tractor-trailers on Interstate 80, "will be cited with numerous summary traffic violations," state police said.

The 11:23 a.m. crash at mile-marker 304.8 in Stroud Township backed up traffic on the highway and connecting roads for hours.

Edwin Chavez, 31, of Paterson, N.J., was driving a 1999 Freightliner east on I-80 between the Route 209 merge and the Main Street exit when he lost control for unknown reasons, causing the trailer's load to shift and the vehicle to flip over the concrete median and across both westbound lanes and the left eastbound lane.

Its load, a shipping container, became separated from its trailer.

An Acura TL, driven by Susan Arnst, 56, of East Stroudsburg, was hit by debris from the overturning tractor-trailer. Another tractor-trailer, a 1998 Freightliner driven by Gary Bailey of Independence, Mo., was hit by Chavez's trailer.

A third tractor-trailer, a 1996 Freightliner driven by William Cowan, 62, of Bordman, Ohio, swerved off the road into a grassy area, damaging its undercarriage.

No injuries were reported, but all vehicles involved suffered minor to major damage.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation quickly closed both westbound lanes and traffic was diverted onto West Main Street. Both westbound lanes were closed for 4½ hours while crews cleared the mangled big rig.

Linda Schlier, owner of Schlier's Towing, was tasked with removing the wreckage.

"When we got there it was just a little scary, with the trailer having ridden the medium so long. The load was all compressed cardboard boxes, so it was really heavy," Schlier said. "We used a lot of SpeedyDry because both the tanks were ruptured and their was diesel fuel spilled. Thank God it didn't kill anybody, because that was a bad wreck."

Taking action

Monroe County emergency officials sprung into action when the crash was reported.

"Over the last one or two accidents since the I-80 communications committee meetings, Pennsylvania State police in Swiftwater has been pretty diligent about notifying the New Jersey Department of Transportation and state police to get the information out on their message boards," said Bob Werts, program coordinator for the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counterterrorism Task Force.

The message boards were strategically placed far enough back from the crash site to give motorists enough time to divert to other routes.

Werts said the group was working with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to try to get message boards as far back as the Pennsylvania Turnpike and then in the area of Blakeslee to divert traffic from the area of the accident so traffic doesn't get backlogged into the Stroudsburg area.

The Monroe County Emergency management's RSAN communications system sends text messages after a reported crash with the location of the crash.

The Stroud Township Volunteer Fire Department diverted traffic off I-80 west at Exit 305.

Despite these moves, the closure caused traffic backups throughout Stroudsburg. Westbound traffic was backed up for miles on I-80, though it was moving slowly. Eastbound traffic was backed up on I-80 as well as northbound traffic on four-lane Route 209.

PennDOT reported another crash in the afternoon at I-80 in Bartonsville and Route 33 South. It is not known how much a role that played in the traffic mess.

At about 4 p.m. Lindsey Oberly reported, "611 is all backed up now too... just spent 45 minutes sitting in traffic for what should have taken 10."

About the same time, Barbara Magnano was trying to take back roads to get from Bartonsville through Stroudsburg to Marshalls Creek. "The traffic is horrendous," she reported, with cars backed up on Chipperfield Drive from the intersection of Fifth Street to the Stroudsburg school campus.

"People are turning around in the middle of Chipperfield," Magnano said.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  For more information on his Altoona area law practice, please click this link or call his office at 814-946-4100.

Elder Financial Abuse in York, PA

The York Dispatch recently ran an article highlighting a case of elder financial abuse in the area.  The original article, written on 10/24/2012 by Liz Evans Scolforo, can be viewed by reading below or clicking this link.

The wife of a former York City police officer has pleaded guilty to one count of theft for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from her elderly aunt.
Rita L. Wynegar, 52, of 431 Dartha Drive in Dallastown, remains free pending her sentencing hearing, set for Dec. 31.
Court records indicate she must return to court on Monday. That's because the judge has questions about the remaining unresolved charges against Wynegar, according to the state Attorney General's Office, which is handling the case.
Those include counts of theft and forgery.
She pleaded guilty on Monday to one third-degree felony count of theft by unlawful taking, records state.
Must repay $240K: Her guilty-plea form states there is no agreed-upon sentence with prosecutors, but that both sides agreed she must pay $240,000 in restitution.
It will be up to presiding Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder to determine Wynegar's punishment. She noted in her guilty-plea form she knows she could face up to 14 years in prison.
Her husband, Michael Wynegar, was placed on unpaid administrative leave by York City Police when authorities began investigating his wife.
Hired in 2011, he resigned from the department on Aug. 6, police officials said. Michael Wynegar faces no charges.
The background: In April 2010, the York County Area Agency on Aging notified state authorities that Lidia Coito was being financially exploited.
The agency began looking into Coito's finances when it learned she was about to be evicted from the Brunswick at Longstown for failing to pay what she owed the Springettsbury Township personal-care home, documents state.
Coito granted Rita Wynegar, her great-niece, power of attorney in June 2002, authorities said. Initially, Rita Wynegar had assistance from a local financial-consulting firm.
Full control? But she took full control of her aunt's finances in 2006 and in October of that year, Coito's money began to disappear.
Police said Rita Wynegar stole $309,490.51 from Coito without the elderly woman's knowledge or consent between October 2006 and April 2010.
Her defense attorney, K. Edward Raleigh, did not return a phone message seeking comment. 

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He works with elderly clients who have been victims of abuse and neglect.  For more information on his Altoona, PA practice, please visit his website athttp://www.stoehrlaw.com or call at 814-946-4100.

Long-Term Prescription Opioid Use and Doctor Response

The most recent issue of Pain Pathways magazine (Summer 2012) covered the recommendations for patients on long-term opioid therapy.  The original article may be found by reading below.

“Medication monitoring such as urine drug screening helps physicians stanch the growing number of prescription painkiller overdoses.  In a report late last year, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that the number of annual overdoses from narcotic pain relievers such as Vicodin, oxycontin, Opana, and methadone are at more than 20,000.  The CDC has called this a “public health epidemic”.

Ameritox, a national leader in pain medication monitoring, has provided an unrestricted grant to the Jefferson School of Population Health for the development of consensus recommendations for patients on long-term opioid therapy. 

Recommendations seek to bring uniformity to the use of pain medication monitoring, a tool that many physicians use to aid treatment decisions for patients on chronic opioid therapy.  The recommendations also spell out how a physician treating chronic pain patients can determine which patients to test, how frequently to monitor and what clinicians should do in response to abnormal test results.  For instance, the consensus calls for drug monitoring a patient with medium to high risk of misuse at least four times a year.

The consensus recommendations could help improve adherence and reduce misuse, abuse, and diversion of powerful painkillers.”

            Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer in Altoona, PA that serves the central and western PA regions.  He helps many clients who have chronic pain as a result of an accident due to the fault of another.  For more information on his law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

Cooled Radiofrequency For Chronic SI Pain

An article in the most recent issue of Pain Pathways magazine (Summer 2012) highlighted the new evidence supporting cooled radiofrequency technique.  The original article may be found by reading below.

“Approximately four out of five adults in the United States will experience chronic axial low back pain, the most common cause of job-related disability.  Kimberly-Clark Health Center recently announced successful results of a randomized controlled trial on the use of cooled radiofrequency (RF) to treat sacroiliac (SI) joint pain in the lower back.  The results are published in the March edition of Pain Medicine.

            Cooled radiofrequency (RF) is a minimally invasive treatment for difficult-to-treat spine anatomy.  The SIergy Cooled Radiofrequency System is intended to target and treat the pain-generating nerves in the lower back and buttock region that may be responsible for sacroiliac joint pain.  The treatment approach can greatly reduce low back pain and potentially even eliminate it.

            For more information, visit http://www.kchealthcare.com and visit http://www.painpathways.org to read Winter 2011’s article on SI joint pain through our digital edition.”

            Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer in Altoona, PA that serves the central and western PA regions.  He helps many clients who have chronic pain as a result of an accident due to the fault of another.  For more information on his law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

Neuromodulation and Chronic Pain

The New York Daily News recently published an article online pertaining to chronic pain and neuromodulation.  Originally written on 10/17/2012 by Katie Charles, this article can be read by continuing below or clicking this link.

The specialist: Co-director of the Center for Neuromodulation
at Mount Sinai, Dr. Brian Kopell is a neurosurgeon who specializes in implanting devices to alleviate chronic pain, psychiatric disorders andmovement disorders like Parkinson’s. He performs 200 to 300 neuromodulation surgeries a year.
Who’s at risk:
Millions of Americans live with neurological disorders that arise from abnormal firing of the circuits of the nervous system, which can lead to a wide range of debilitating symptoms.
“Neuromodulation therapies are a new field of treatment that involves stimulating parts of the nervous system to alter or reset the abnormal circuitry,” says Kopell. “By implanting devices in the affected area of the body, we can use electricity or drugs to alter the problematic circuitry — much in the same way that a pacemaker controls abnormal heart rhythms.”

There’s a reason that the language neurologists use sounds like the way your electrician explains the wiring in your house. “In essence, the nervous system is an electrical entity,” says Kopell. “All your thoughts, your feelings and often your symptoms are the result of electrical phenomena traveling around the brain, the nerves and the spinal cord — and neuromodulation seeks to fix problems that originate in the nervous system at the electrical level.”
While the field is only about 15 years old, neuromodulation already has proven results in helping many kinds of patients. “One of the most common applications of neuromodulation is for providing relief for refractory movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease and dystonia,” says Kopell. “More recently, we’re finding tremendous benefit in using neuromodulation to treat chronic pain and psychiatric disorders that have proven resistant to previous treatments.”
Signs and symptoms:
Patients are considered potential candidates for neuromodulation only after traditional treatment approaches have failed.
“The only way to know if you might benefit from neuromodulation is to get evaluated,” says Kopell. “Typically, patients are referred for evaluation because their drug regimen either isn’t working well or it’s causing side effects that are intolerable.”
For instance, the dyskinesia, or tremors, associated with Parkinson’s disease are often a side effect of medication, not the disease itself.

Evaluation for neuromodulation is noninvasive, and involves getting a few imaging scans, a physical exam and meeting with doctors. “The first step is always to identify the various nervous circuits that are responsible for the disease’s symptom,” says Kopell. “The problem area could be anywhere in the nervous system — in the brain or spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system or the autonomic nervous system.”
Traditional treatment:
The form a neuromodulation surgery takes depends on where the problem is located. “The common link is that neuromodulation always entails implanting a device in the faulty circuit to affect and improve its function,” says Kopell. “Depending on the patient, neuromodulation can be a brain surgery, spinal surgery or peripheral nerve surgery.”

One of the most common forms of neuromodulation surgery is for treating Parkinson’s disease. “For these patients, we place a deep brain stimulator in a target area in the brain that is connected to other areas in the brain,” says Kopell. “While using a stereotactic head frame to steady the head, we open up the skull, map the brain and use a tiny recording electrode to make sure that we place the permanent electrode in the right position.” Another common form of neuromodulation implants a drug delivery device in the spinal cord.
The neuromodulation device remains implanted for the rest of the patient’s life. “It’s like a pacemaker in the heart — you don’t take it out,” says Kopell. “Post-surgery, patients will see their doctor on a periodic basis for programming and refitting.”
While neuromodulation is a surgical procedure, it carries a low risk of complications. “The risk benefit profile is extremely kind,” says Kopell. “Neuromodulation can be transformative. I’ve seen children completely disabled by dystonia — basically, they’re human pretzels — go back to having a normal life.”
Research breakthroughs:
The whole field of neuromodulation is young, and one of the most exciting areas of growth is exploring new neurological disorders to treat. “Neuromodulation has a huge potential for treating psychiatric diseases like major depression or OCD because there’s so much unmet need,” says Kopell. “I’ve seen patients who were debilitated for decades by depression go back to a normal life after neuromodulation.”

Right now, there is still limited approval for the psychiatric applications of neuromodulation, which are mostly available through clinical trials.
Questions for your doctor:
If you are starting to experience side effects from drugs taken for a chronic pain, psychiatric or movement disorder, ask, “Is there an alternative to the medication?”
If an evaluation finds you are a candidate for neuromodulation, ask, “What are the risks and benefits?”
While not everyone is a candidate, neuromodulation provides tremendous results for some patients. “For thousands of patients, neuromodulation is life-changing,” says Kopell. “This is about as close to miracle surgery as you see in medicine — period.”

What you can do:
Get informed.
Be your own best advocate.
“If you feel like your doctor’s current approach to your neurological illness is not satisfactory, don’t be shy about asking if you’re a candidate for neuromodulation — and get a second opinion,” says Kopell.
See a specialist.
Kopell says centers with dedicated neuromodulation teams are the places where you want to receive care.
By the numbers:
It’s estimated that only 10%-15% of patients eligible for neuromodulation receive the therapy.
About 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s every year.
Major depression is the No. 1 cause of disability in the world.
10% of patients with major depression do not respond to traditional treatment methods, which makes them potential candidates for neuromodulation.

Attorney Doug Stoehr works with clients who suffer from chronic pain as a result of an accident or injury.  For more information on his central Pennsylvania law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.comor call his office at 814-946-4100.

Chronic Pain and Mood Disorders

The Scientific American published an article pertaining to chronic pain and mood disorders.  The article, written by Stephani Sutherland on October 15, 2012, may be viewed by clicking this link or reading below.
Anyone living with chronic pain knows that it amounts to much more than an unpleasant bodily sensation. Fuzzy thinking, faulty memory, anxiety and depression often accompany long-term pain, suggesting that the condition is more of a whole-brain disorder than simply pain signaling gone haywire. New research from Northwestern University reveals a possible cause: an impaired hippocampus, a region critical for learning, memory and emotional processing.
Using anatomical brain scans, the researchers found that people suffering from chronic back pain or complex regional pain syndrome had a smaller hippocampus than healthy people. They then studied mice for further clues about how this region contributes to chronic pain's cognitive side effects. As reported April 25 in the Journal of Neuroscience, mice in chronic pain had trouble with a test of emotional learning, and they displayed greater anxietylike behaviors than normal mice. In the hippocampus, electrical and biochemical signaling was disrupted. Perhaps most striking was the mice's failure to produce new neurons in the hippocampus—one of the few brain areas where adult mice and humans can grow new neurons.
Lead researcher A. Vania Apkarian suspects that the hippocampal size difference seen in humans might reflect the lack of neuron growth and other problems seen in the mice. Without new neurons forming, memory and emotional processes would also become impaired. The work underscores the importance of treating “the suffering we associate with chronic pain” as a brain-based disorder, Apkarian says, in addition to trying to target its perceived source in the body.

Attorney Doug Stoehr works with clients who suffer from chronic pain as a result of an accident or injury.  For more information on his central Pennsylvania law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.comor call his office at 814-946-4100. 

Videos Help With Fall Prevention

US News Health recently ran an article regarding elderly fall prevention and how watching videos of falls might help avoid them in the future.  To read the original article, please click this link or continue to read below.

Incorrect weight shifting is the most common cause of falls in elderly people, according to researchers who analyzed videos of actual falls among seniors.
The videos of 227 falls suffered by 130 people -- taken from closed-circuit television systems in public areas of two long-term care facilities for the elderly in British Columbia, Canada -- offer real-life examples of the causes and circumstances of falls.
The study is the first of its kind and could help improve understanding and prevention of falls in elderly people, the researchers said.
Forty-one percent of falls in the videos were caused by incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their body weight and caused their center of gravity to move outside their base of support, the investigators found.
Other common causes of falls included trips or stumbles (21 percent), hits or bumps (11 percent), loss of support (11 percent), and collapse (11 percent). In one-quarter of the cases where seniors tripped, the incident occurred because their foot got caught on a table or chair, which suggests that facility staff members need more awareness about this type of hazard.
Falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of falls among older adults, yet this new study, published online Oct. 16 in The Lancet, found that slipping accounted for just 3 percent of falls.
"Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programs," study author Stephen Robinovitch, of Simon Fraser University, said in a journal news release.
"Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care," Robinovitch noted.
Falls are the most frequent cause of accidental injuries in people 65 and older, accounting for 90 percent of hip and wrist fractures and 60 percent of head injuries in elderly people, the study authors pointed out in the news release.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He takes claims for elder falls in public, nursing homes, and hospitals.  To learn more about his law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

Fall Analyis For Elderly by The Lancet

In an article written on 10/16/2012, MedicalXpress.com highlighted a recent research study performed by The Lancet on elderly falls.  Please read below or click this link to read the original article.

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group.

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group.

The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, reveals that previous studies – generally based on interviews, incident reports, or artificial laboratory simulations – might have missed some of the most important features of falls in elderly people.
Scientists analysed videos of 227 falls from 130 individuals, taken from CCTV systems in public areas of two facilities providing long-term care for the elderly, in British Columbia, Canada. They assessed the cause of the fall and what the person was doing when they fell, finding that the most frequent cause of falling (41%) was incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their bodyweight causing their centre of gravity to move outside their base of support.
Trips or stumbles (21%), hits or bumps (11%), loss of support (11%), and collapse (11%) were also common causes of falls in the study. 25% of recorded trips were due to the foot being caught on a table or chair, suggesting that awareness of this type of hazard needs to be improved among care home staff. Slipping accounted for just 3% of falls, yet as the researchers point out, falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of the dynamics of falling.
Falls are the most frequent cause of unintentional injuries in elderly people (at least 65 years old), accounting for 90% of hip and wrist fractures and 60% of head injuries. Around 30% of elderly people who live independently and 50% of those who live in long-term care fall at least once each year.
According to Professor Stephen Robinovitch, at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, "Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programmes. Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care."
Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Clemens Becker, at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, highlights the problems caused by the lack of objective research in this area, writing that: "Many assumptions and decisions about falls are still based on subjective and often biased information. This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved."
However, Dr Becker adds that limitations of the study – particularly the fact that only falls in public areas were studied, which are thought to only account for half of all falls that take place in long-term care homes – should spur on further objective research in this area, using innovative technology: "To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift. Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems. The next step will require coordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared."
Professor Robinovitch also hopes that the results of this study will aid any future technological developments in the field, adding that, "Our results also inform the design of wearable sensor systems for provision of information about movement quality during daily activities, and for automatic detection of falls in elderly people—a rapidly developing discipline. In particular, our results identify the most common sequence of events, including activities leading to falls, and subsequent causes of imbalance, that should be considered in designing and testing of fall detection algorithms appropriate for the long-term care population."

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He takes claims for elder falls in public, nursing homes, and hospitals.  To learn more about his law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, reveals that previous studies – generally based on interviews, incident reports, or artificial laboratory simulations – might have missed some of the most important features of falls in elderly people. Scientists analysed videos of 227 falls from 130 individuals, taken from CCTV systems in public areas of two facilities providing long-term care for the elderly, in British Columbia, Canada. They assessed the cause of the fall and what the person was doing when they fell, finding that the most frequent cause of falling (41%) was incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their bodyweight causing their centre of gravity to move outside their base of support. Trips or stumbles (21%), hits or bumps (11%), loss of support (11%), and collapse (11%) were also common causes of falls in the study. 25% of recorded trips were due to the foot being caught on a table or chair, suggesting that awareness of this type of hazard needs to be improved among care home staff. Slipping accounted for just 3% of falls, yet as the researchers point out, falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of the dynamics of falling. Falls are the most frequent cause of unintentional injuries in elderly people (at least 65 years old), accounting for 90% of hip and wrist fractures and 60% of head injuries. Around 30% of elderly people who live independently and 50% of those who live in long-term care fall at least once each year. According to Professor Stephen Robinovitch, at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, "Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programmes. Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care." Ads by Google 3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia - www.w3.newsmax.com Nutrients For Your Eyes - Helps Replenish Essential Nutrients Your Eyes Can Lose with Age. - www.ocuvite.com Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Clemens Becker, at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, highlights the problems caused by the lack of objective research in this area, writing that: "Many assumptions and decisions about falls are still based on subjective and often biased information. This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved." However, Dr Becker adds that limitations of the study – particularly the fact that only falls in public areas were studied, which are thought to only account for half of all falls that take place in long-term care homes – should spur on further objective research in this area, using innovative technology: "To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift. Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems. The next step will require coordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared." Professor Robinovitch also hopes that the results of this study will aid any future technological developments in the field, adding that, "Our results also inform the design of wearable sensor systems for provision of information about movement quality during daily activities, and for automatic detection of falls in elderly people—a rapidly developing discipline. In particular, our results identify the most common sequence of events, including activities leading to falls, and subsequent causes of imbalance, that should be considered in designing and testing of fall detection algorithms appropriate for the long-term care population."

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group.

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group.

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group. Ads by Google Lifeline® Medical Alert - No equipment to buy or long-term contracts. Call 1-800-594-7117. - www.Philips.LifelineSystems.com Designer Shoes at Bluefly - Clothes, Bags & Shoes from 40% Off. Free Shipping Offer Today! - www.bluefly.com/shoes The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, reveals that previous studies – generally based on interviews, incident reports, or artificial laboratory simulations – might have missed some of the most important features of falls in elderly people. Scientists analysed videos of 227 falls from 130 individuals, taken from CCTV systems in public areas of two facilities providing long-term care for the elderly, in British Columbia, Canada. They assessed the cause of the fall and what the person was doing when they fell, finding that the most frequent cause of falling (41%) was incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their bodyweight causing their centre of gravity to move outside their base of support. Trips or stumbles (21%), hits or bumps (11%), loss of support (11%), and collapse (11%) were also common causes of falls in the study. 25% of recorded trips were due to the foot being caught on a table or chair, suggesting that awareness of this type of hazard needs to be improved among care home staff. Slipping accounted for just 3% of falls, yet as the researchers point out, falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of the dynamics of falling. Falls are the most frequent cause of unintentional injuries in elderly people (at least 65 years old), accounting for 90% of hip and wrist fractures and 60% of head injuries. Around 30% of elderly people who live independently and 50% of those who live in long-term care fall at least once each year. According to Professor Stephen Robinovitch, at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, "Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programmes. Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care." Ads by Google 3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia - www.w3.newsmax.com Nutrients For Your Eyes - Helps Replenish Essential Nutrients Your Eyes Can Lose with Age. - www.ocuvite.com Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Clemens Becker, at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, highlights the problems caused by the lack of objective research in this area, writing that: "Many assumptions and decisions about falls are still based on subjective and often biased information. This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved." However, Dr Becker adds that limitations of the study – particularly the fact that only falls in public areas were studied, which are thought to only account for half of all falls that take place in long-term care homes – should spur on further objective research in this area, using innovative technology: "To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift. Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems. The next step will require coordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared." Professor Robinovitch also hopes that the results of this study will aid any future technological developments in the field, adding that, "Our results also inform the design of wearable sensor systems for provision of information about movement quality during daily activities, and for automatic detection of falls in elderly people—a rapidly developing discipline. In particular, our results identify the most common sequence of events, including activities leading to falls, and subsequent causes of imbalance, that should be considered in designing and testing of fall detection algorithms appropriate for the long-term care population."

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group. Ads by Google Lifeline® Medical Alert - No equipment to buy or long-term contracts. Call 1-800-594-7117. - www.Philips.LifelineSystems.com Designer Shoes at Bluefly - Clothes, Bags & Shoes from 40% Off. Free Shipping Offer Today! - www.bluefly.com/shoes The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, reveals that previous studies – generally based on interviews, incident reports, or artificial laboratory simulations – might have missed some of the most important features of falls in elderly people. Scientists analysed videos of 227 falls from 130 individuals, taken from CCTV systems in public areas of two facilities providing long-term care for the elderly, in British Columbia, Canada. They assessed the cause of the fall and what the person was doing when they fell, finding that the most frequent cause of falling (41%) was incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their bodyweight causing their centre of gravity to move outside their base of support. Trips or stumbles (21%), hits or bumps (11%), loss of support (11%), and collapse (11%) were also common causes of falls in the study. 25% of recorded trips were due to the foot being caught on a table or chair, suggesting that awareness of this type of hazard needs to be improved among care home staff. Slipping accounted for just 3% of falls, yet as the researchers point out, falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of the dynamics of falling. Falls are the most frequent cause of unintentional injuries in elderly people (at least 65 years old), accounting for 90% of hip and wrist fractures and 60% of head injuries. Around 30% of elderly people who live independently and 50% of those who live in long-term care fall at least once each year. According to Professor Stephen Robinovitch, at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, "Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programmes. Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care." Ads by Google 3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia - www.w3.newsmax.com Nutrients For Your Eyes - Helps Replenish Essential Nutrients Your Eyes Can Lose with Age. - www.ocuvite.com Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Clemens Becker, at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, highlights the problems caused by the lack of objective research in this area, writing that: "Many assumptions and decisions about falls are still based on subjective and often biased information. This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved." However, Dr Becker adds that limitations of the study – particularly the fact that only falls in public areas were studied, which are thought to only account for half of all falls that take place in long-term care homes – should spur on further objective research in this area, using innovative technology: "To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift. Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems. The next step will require coordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared." Professor Robinovitch also hopes that the results of this study will aid any future technological developments in the field, adding that, "Our results also inform the design of wearable sensor systems for provision of information about movement quality during daily activities, and for automatic detection of falls in elderly people—a rapidly developing discipline. In particular, our results identify the most common sequence of events, including activities leading to falls, and subsequent causes of imbalance, that should be considered in designing and testing of fall detection algorithms appropriate for the long-term care population."

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

Researchers have completed the first ever objective, real-life analysis of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, which could lead to improvements in the understanding and prevention and of falls in this group. Ads by Google Lifeline® Medical Alert - No equipment to buy or long-term contracts. Call 1-800-594-7117. - www.Philips.LifelineSystems.com Designer Shoes at Bluefly - Clothes, Bags & Shoes from 40% Off. Free Shipping Offer Today! - www.bluefly.com/shoes The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, reveals that previous studies – generally based on interviews, incident reports, or artificial laboratory simulations – might have missed some of the most important features of falls in elderly people. Scientists analysed videos of 227 falls from 130 individuals, taken from CCTV systems in public areas of two facilities providing long-term care for the elderly, in British Columbia, Canada. They assessed the cause of the fall and what the person was doing when they fell, finding that the most frequent cause of falling (41%) was incorrect weight shifting, where the person shifted their bodyweight causing their centre of gravity to move outside their base of support. Trips or stumbles (21%), hits or bumps (11%), loss of support (11%), and collapse (11%) were also common causes of falls in the study. 25% of recorded trips were due to the foot being caught on a table or chair, suggesting that awareness of this type of hazard needs to be improved among care home staff. Slipping accounted for just 3% of falls, yet as the researchers point out, falls caused by slipping have been the focus of most laboratory-based studies of the dynamics of falling. Falls are the most frequent cause of unintentional injuries in elderly people (at least 65 years old), accounting for 90% of hip and wrist fractures and 60% of head injuries. Around 30% of elderly people who live independently and 50% of those who live in long-term care fall at least once each year. According to Professor Stephen Robinovitch, at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, "Prevention of falls in elderly people needs to be a public health priority. However, up to now, the general scarcity of reliable information on falls in elderly people has hindered the development of safer environments for older people and fall prevention programmes. Our study provides long-missing objective evidence of the causes and circumstances of falls in elderly people, and should open up new avenues for the prevention of fall injury in long-term care." Ads by Google 3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia - www.w3.newsmax.com Nutrients For Your Eyes - Helps Replenish Essential Nutrients Your Eyes Can Lose with Age. - www.ocuvite.com Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Clemens Becker, at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, highlights the problems caused by the lack of objective research in this area, writing that: "Many assumptions and decisions about falls are still based on subjective and often biased information. This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved." However, Dr Becker adds that limitations of the study – particularly the fact that only falls in public areas were studied, which are thought to only account for half of all falls that take place in long-term care homes – should spur on further objective research in this area, using innovative technology: "To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift. Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems. The next step will require coordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared." Professor Robinovitch also hopes that the results of this study will aid any future technological developments in the field, adding that, "Our results also inform the design of wearable sensor systems for provision of information about movement quality during daily activities, and for automatic detection of falls in elderly people—a rapidly developing discipline. In particular, our results identify the most common sequence of events, including activities leading to falls, and subsequent causes of imbalance, that should be considered in designing and testing of fall detection algorithms appropriate for the long-term care population."

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-analysis-elderly-falls-fall.html#jCp

NPR Addresses Elder Falls

A recent article by NPR, written on 10/17/2012 by Jessica Stoller-Conrad, highlighted the problem of elderly people and falls/injury.  To read the orginal article, pleaseclick here or continue reading below.

Accidental falls are one of the leading causes of injury death in people over 65 worldwide, but for a long time researchers have struggled to understand just how they happen.

What they do know is that many older patients have cognitive impairment, and even the most conscientious medical staff can have trouble remembering details of a fall. So a group of researchers in British Columbia decided to use a round-the-clock video in a long-term care facility to observe accidental falls right as they happen.

Their study, published in the The Lancet, found that most of the 227 falls caught on video happened because the patients lost their balance, not because they slipped or tripped.

But what causes this momentary loss of balance?

One simple explanation could be the lack of walkers or wheelchairs, says Stephen Robinovitch, professor of biomedical physiology and kinesiology at Simon Fraser University and lead author on the study. Though 75 percent of patients reported using a walker or a wheelchair to get around, only 20 percent were using one when they fell, he says.

"That indicates that people are neglecting to use their device, but also many times those falls are occurring in those transition periods ... when someone is going from the walker to sitting down in the dining room or getting up," Robinovitch says. "So these are very important danger periods that need to somehow be addressed."

But convincing patients to actually use their walkers won't solve the problem entirely. Robinovitch says that many other factors can make elderly folks lose their balance.

"They span physiological reasons that may relate to muscle weakness or impaired vision or ... different types of medications," Robinovitch says. "[And] often these factors are coexisting, so it's difficult to really understand what might be [the dominant cause]."

Robinovitch and his team are also working on solutions to help make the effects of a fall, like serious head injuries and wrist fractures, less severe.

His next project involves the installation of a one-inch thick rubber flooring material in nursing homes, which he says can reduce the impact force of falls by 35 percent.

And though trips weren't the leading cause of falls among the elderly (they came in at number 2), Robinovitch says there are a few ways to prevent them, too. "Twenty-five percent of [trips] occurred on the legs of chairs and tables. So why don't these items have a central flaring support where there aren't so many obstacles that are tripping hazards?," he says.

Most importantly though, Robinovitch says that this study creates awareness of the importance of elderly fall prevention. "There's some important lessons for how care providers should go about assessing risks for falls, and what are the activities that you should be watching for," he says.

Attorney Doug Stoehr works with many elderly people who have fallen in public, in hospitals, and in nursing homes.  For more information on his central Pennsylvania practice, please visit his website athttp://www.stoehrlaw.com.

National Residents' Rights Month

The Pennsylvania Department of Aging recently ran a press release proclaiming October as National Residents' Rights Month.  To view the full press release, written on 10/5/2012, please click this link or read below.
HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 5, 2012 --/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Department of Aging is encouraging all Pennsylvanians to recognize the rights of older Pennsylvanians living in long-term care facilities during National Residents Rights Month.
The month long event celebrates the importance of the Nursing Home Reform law of 1987.  The federal law ensures quality of life, care, and dignity, while promoting and protecting the rights of each resident.
"Residents of Pennsylvania's long-term care facilities can feel confident that someone will always advocate on their behalf because of a dedicated network of staff and volunteers of the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program," said Secretary of Aging Brian Duke. "This program ensures that rights of individuals are upheld and empowers them to speak for themselves."  
The Department of Aging partners with the commonwealth's 52 Area Agencies on Aging to provide ombudsman services to long term-care facilities.
Ombudsmen are legally based advocates who work to resolve individual complaints involving long-term care service. They also work to improve the long-term living system for residents and their families.
Residents of long-term care facilities can also become advocates themselves by enrolling in the Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Resident program, or PEER. Individuals in the PEER program develop skills that enable them to advocate for themselves and their fellow residents.
With a network of volunteer ombudsmen and PEERs, long-term care facility residents have access to over 2,000 trained specialists.

Read more here:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/05/4885090/pa-department-of-aging-marks-october.html#storylink=cpy

Attorney Doug Stoehr handles nursing home abuse and neglect claims for many area residents in his Altoona, PA practice.  For more information on his firm, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100. 

Medicare Cut By $24M in PA

The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care covered the $24.2M Medicare cut in an article that they wrote last week.  To view the original article, written on 10/3/2012, please read below or click this link.
HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New $24.2 million cuts to Pennsylvania seniors' Medicare-funded nursing home care officially kicked-in this week as a result of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed into law earlier this year, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care pointed out today. Nursing homes are technically referred to as skilled nursing facilities (SNFs)
The $24.2 million cut to Pennsylvania seniors' Medicare-funded nursing home care associated with the new tax law will be fully phased-in by 2015 -- and total $355.8 million nationally, according to Avalere, the independent health policy advisory firm.
The new Medicare cuts that kicked-in Monday 10/1 are part of broader $65 billion funding reductions over 10 years resulting from several different federal budgetary actions and regulatory changes made by Congress and the Centers for Medicare andMedicaid Services (CMS) since 2009, according to Avalere.
"As the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney is tonight, and as seniors' nursing home funding has been a higher profile issue in this election than in the past, we hope to hear both candidates articulate ideas beyond just more cuts to Medicare and Medicaid — which has seemingly become the default governmental policy in regard to SNFs," stated Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance, which funded the Avalere data findings.
"No matter who eventually wins the White House and controls Congress, it will be imperative to pursue bigger-picture, systemic reforms that reduce costs, improve efficiency and optimize care quality once the election is over," he said.
According to the Avalere data, the states with the biggest SNF Medicare cuts associated with the new tax law that went into effect 10/1 are Florida $60.5 million; Ohio $30.5 million; Illinois $28.8 million; Pennsylvania $24.2 million and North Carolina $22.6 million.

Read more here:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4878320/pennsylvania-242-million-medicare.html#storylink=cpy

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer in Altoona, PA who serves the western and central Pennsylvania region.  For more information on his law practice, please click here. 

California Joins Other States In Signing Social Media Lawe

ENewsChannels recently covered an article about California's new social media policies for employers and universities.  The article, originally written by the California Newswire on 9/27/2012, can be viewed by reading below or clicking this link.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today took to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace to announce that he has signed two bills that increase privacy protections for social media users in California.
Assembly Bill 1844 (Campos) and Senate Bill 1349 (Yee) prohibit universities and employers from requiring that applicants give up their email or social media account passwords.
“The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts,” said Governor Brown.
Assembly Bill 1844 by Nora Campos (D-San Jose) prohibits employers from demanding user names, passwords or any other information related to social media accounts from employees and job applicants. Employers are banned from discharging or disciplining employees who refuse to divulge such information under the terms of the bill. However, this restriction does not apply to passwords or other information used to access employer-issued electronic devices. The bill further stipulates that nothing in its language is intended to infringe on employers’ existing rights and obligations to investigate workplace misconduct.
Senate Bill 1349 by Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) establishes a similar privacy policy for postsecondary education students with respect to their use of social media. While the bill prohibits public and private institutions from requiring students, prospective students and student groups to disclose user names, passwords or other information about their use of social media, it stipulates that this prohibition does not affect the institution’s right to investigate or punish student misconduct.
Proponents of Assembly Bill 1844 say this is a common-sense measure that will bring clarity to a murky area of employment law and stop business practices that impede employment. Senate Bill 1349, which passed without opposition in the Legislature, is designed to stop a growing trend of colleges and universities snooping into student social media accounts, particularly those of student athletes.
Social media rules and regulations are also very important when it comes to litigating cases.  For more information on central Pennsylvania Attorney
Doug Stoehr's law practice, please visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com or call his office at 814-946-4100.

$3M in Wrongful Death Case

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered an article this week about a wrongful death suit for a man who was killed as a result of a tractor-trailer accident.  The story, originally written on 10/6/2012 by Paula Reed Ward, can be viewed by reading below or clicking this link.
A Canonsburg woman won a $3.2 million jury verdict last month after her husband was killed when a piece of mining equipment fell off a tractor-trailer during transport in Washington County seven years ago.
Carri Collingwood filed the wrongful death complaint against Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., O'Brien's Rent All and Sales, based in Wheeling, W.Va., and the driver of the tractor-trailer, John Milner, of Morristown, Ohio.
The verdict, returned Sept. 18, attributed 90 percent of the blame for Shawn Collingwood's death to Mr. Milner and O'Brien's, and the other 10 percent to Consol.
According to the complaint, Consol owned a coal shearer loader -- a large piece of mining equipment -- that it used at its Enlow Fork Mine in Washington and Greene counties.
The coal shearer needed repairs and was being transferred to facilities in Pittsburgh by O'Brien's.
The shearer included four large metal cylindrical pins, each weighing 123 pounds. Three of them were loaded in the goose neck of the trailer, while the fourth was placed unsecured on the top of the shearer, the complaint said.
On Dec. 8, 2005, at 1:30 p.m., Shawn Collingwood, 36, was driving his 2000 Chevy Silverado south on Route 221 in Washington County, while Mr. Milner was heading northbound with the tractor-trailer.
One of the cylinders on the trailer fell off, crashing through the front cab of Collingwood's windshield, killing him instantly.
The complaint alleged negligence for how the equipment was secured and also claimed that the trailer had two labels warning that it was not to be loaded from the side. Instead of heeding the warning and loading the shearer with a crane, the complaint said the shearer was loaded with a forklift from the side.
In a separate criminal case, Mr. Milner pleaded guilty to three summary traffic counts, including driving with an unsecured load, operating a vehicle with unsafe equipment and careless driving.
Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co. is a subsidiary of Consol Energy. Lynn Seay, a spokeswoman with Consol, said the company will appeal.
"This was a horrific accident, but we strongly believe that Consol Energy was not responsible for it in any way," she said. "The trucking company and its driver took full responsibility for the accident at trial. For some reason, the jury found Consol 10 percent liable, but we think we have numerous and significant bases to appeal this verdict, and we intend to do so."
A message left with O'Brien's was not returned.
Collingwood worked as an engineer for a company that builds water filtration plants. His two daughters were 7 and 4 years old when he was killed.

Wrongful death suits can be emotional and difficult for the family and friends of the deceased.  Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving the western and central Pennsylvania area.  For more information on his Altoona, PA practice, please visit his website athttp://www.stoehrlaw.com or calling his office at 814-946-4100.

Social Media Training For Law Enforcement Officers

The Kota Area News recently covered an article discussing social media training for law enforcement officers. A recent incident with a hostage situation in Pittsburgh is prompting area agencies to think about how they handle social media-related crime situations.  To read the original article, written on 9/26/2012 by Joe Mandak, please continue below orclick this link. 

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh police plan to train their officers to be fluent in social media, joining other departments nationwide, days after a man armed with a hammer and kitchen knife used a hostage's computer to post Facebook messages lamenting his troubles.
The case of Klein Michael Thaxton, who is accused of picking a hostage at random in a downtown office tower and then kept authorities at bay for hours before surrendering and releasing the hostage, was a first for the Pittsburgh department.
There is some reflection about whether officials did the right thing by not immediately shutting down the suspect's Facebook page. Police say they want to make sure officers are prepared for such judgment calls down the road.
"I think it's something we will train for in the future," said Lt. Jason Lando, who acted as a coach to the primary negotiator, Officer Matt Lackner.
Members of law enforcement are finding variations of the Pittsburgh situation nationwide. The International Association of Chiefs of Police now has a Center for Social Media to help officers prevent and solve crimes using social media. The center's website contains training tools for law enforcement, and a list of crimes where social media played a role. Special software applications are even being created to help monitor and solve crimes.
Gary Noesner, a former chief of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit, said his instinct would have been to shut the Facebook page down immediately, though he agreed it might also have provided some useful information to law enforcement.
"The whole social media situation is really fascinating, the impact it is having on operations," Noesner added.
Pittsburgh police wouldn't detail their specific conversations with Thaxton, 22, whose defense attorney didn't return calls for comment.
But, in general, Lackner said negotiating with a hostage taker is like "riding a seesaw," as authorities try to "reduce the emotionality and raise the rationality" of their subject.
"When one goes down, the other goes up," Lackner said.
But until police got federal authorities to intervene and shut down Thaxton's Facebook page about four hours into the ordeal, the negotiators couldn't control how many other people might be riding that see-saw. Thaxton's posts drew about 700 responses, most from family members and friends expressing concern and the hope that he'd do the right thing. But other messages were "ridiculous," Lando said, and had the potential to incite Thaxton.
Lackner said that even seemingly positive messages could have posed a problem because police were primarily concerned with establishing a one-to-one rapport and building trust with Thaxton.
"Any outside influence is distracting and, generally speaking, does not help our cause," Cmdr. Scott Schubert said. "We want our subject speaking to us."
Last year, a Utah man posted updates on his Facebook page during a 16-hour standoff with police. According to reports at the time, some of his friends and relatives urged him to "be careful" while at least one tipped him off to the location of a SWAT officer.
In another Utah case last year, a woman used Facebook to seek help after she and her 17-month-old son were held hostage at a residence for nearly five days. According to police, the woman hid in a closet with a laptop computer to post her plea for help, saying she and her son would be "dead by morning" if they were not rescued.
Thaxton, who remains jailed unable to post $1 million bond, faces a preliminary hearingOct. 17 on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and terroristic threats in the confrontation at a financial services firm on the 16th floor of Three Gateway Center, a 24-story office tower in Pittsburgh.
Although police were vitally concerned about the hostage's welfare, and did what they could to check up on him, the negotiators were careful not to ask Thaxton too much about his hostage.
"Clearly we're always very concerned about the hostage," Lando said. "But when we're doing negotiations, we have to make it all about the hostage taker."
Too many questions about the hostage and the suspect "might feel like, 'You don't care about me. You just want to say whatever you need to say to get this person (the hostage) out of here,'" Lando said.
Instead, negotiators try to find people the hostage taker cares about who will help the negotiator build empathy.
"People want to tell their story," Lando said. "Listening to them is a cheap concession."
In Thaxton's case, key issues were his inability to find a job and his feelings for an ex-girlfriend he hadn't seen since 2008. Police arranged for her to speak with Thaxton, but only once the hostage was released. Thaxton surrendered, and police were sure they could keep the woman safe with Thaxton handcuffed and in custody.
"We try to find hooks - their schooling, work history, personal relationships," Lando said. "Oftentimes personal relationships are the source of why they find themselves in crisis."

Social media training is very important for law enforcement officers in this new digital age.  For more information on Attorney Doug Stoehr and his central Pennsylvania law firm, please contact his Altoona office at 814-946-4100 or visit his websitehttp://www.stoehrlaw.com.

Gravel Increasing Accidents In The Fall

According to a recent article from the Emmaus Patch, written by Tad Miller on 9/20/2012, loose gravel may be responsible for many car and motorcycle accidents this fall.  To learn more, please read the original article below or click here for the original link.

Loose gravel from recent road maintenance was a contributing factor in two motor vehicle accidents that occurred a day apart on Willow Lane in Lower Macungie Township, according to police.

Neither accident resulted in serious injury, according to state police at Fogelsville.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently had applied oil and gravel, known as chips, to portions of Willow Lane and several other roadways throughout the East Penn area. PennDOT also had erected several orange signs warning of loose grave that remained in place at the time of the accident and days later in the affected areas.
The first accident occurred at 7:33 a.m. Sept. 13 and involved a motorcycle driven by David W. Stout, 50, of Bethlehem, police said. Stout was driving north on Willow Lane near John Fries Drive when his motorcycle slid on loose gravel in the street.
The bike's side peg and crash bar struck the roadway. The motorcycle continued to slide and spun before striking a culvert and landing in grass, police said. In all, it traveled about 150 feet from the initial point of the accident.
Stout had minor injuries, but refused treatment, police said.
The trooper noted "roadway conditions" and did not cite Stout.
The second accident occurred at 4:28 p.m. Sept. 14. Joseph A. Nicolini, 16, of Macungie was northbound on Willow, again near John Fries Drive, when his car slid on gravel on the berm, police said.
He over-corrected his steering and slid sideways before striking several large rocks with his right front bumper, police said. The impact spun the car. This time the left front bumper struck rocks. The car continued on until it hit a utility pole, again damaging the right front bumper.
Nicolini was not injured, police said.
However, he was cited for failing to maintain his lane, police said.
Oil and chip is an effective process of sealing roadways to extend their use an average of three to five years, according to PennDOT spokesman Sean Brown. A sweeper vehicle is used to remove the majority of loose gravel, but the safety process includes posting the orange signs as an indicator that motorists "need to slow down and drive at appropriate speeds."

The reports did not indicate estimated speeds for either accident.

Attorney Doug Stoehr represents may people who have been injured in car or motorcycle accidents. For more information on his central Pennsylvania law practice, pleaseclick here or call at 814-946-4100.

Police Officer Killed By Tractor-Trailer

In an article covered by Officer.com's Tom Fontaine on 10/5/2012 and originally written by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the story of a police officer killed by a tractor-trailer was covered.  The Officer.com article can be viewed by reading below or clicking on this link.

A veteran state trooper who was three months from retirement died Thursday when a tractor-trailer ran a stop sign and hit his patrol car broadside at a rural intersection in South Beaver, state police said.
State police identified the trooper as Blake T. Coble, a 24-year veteran who works out of Troop D, Beaver Station, where they said his wife, Brenda, is a dispatcher. They have two children, 6 and 8.
"His untimely death left two children without a father and a wife without her husband," State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said in a statement.
The accident happened about 10 a.m. at the intersection of Route 168 and Blackhawk Road. The accident shut the roadways in both directions.
Coble, 47, was taken to Heritage Valley Beaver hospital in Brighton Township where he died, according to Noonan. He was the 94th Pennsylvania trooper killed in the line of duty.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Gregory Golkosky, 47, of Mt. Pleasant, was not injured. He was not charged Thursday and the investigation is continuing, police said.
The tractor-trailer was headed south on Route 168 when it drove through a stop sign and slammed into the driver's side of Coble's patrol car, state police said in a news conference at the Beaver barracks.

"It's tough. We lost a friend, a wife lost her husband, two children lost their father," said state police Lt. Eric Hermick. "You just get through it."

Attorney Doug Stoehr takes tractor-trailer, car, and motorcycle accidents in the central Pennsylvania area.  To learn more about his Altoona, PA practice, please click here.

Tractor-Trailer Hits School Bus

Tractor-trailers can often cause accidents that can injure, kill, or change the lives of their victims.  In this case, a tractor-trailer rear-ended a local school bus in New York.  The Daily News Online reported this story, originally written by Paul Mrozek on 9/18/2012. The full article may be found by reading below or clicking this link.
EAST PEMBROKE — No one suffered serious injuries in a Monday afternoon crash that ended with a Pembroke Central school bus tipped onto its side.The bus was eastbound on Route 5 when it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven by James Persons, 66, of Mill Village, Pa. The bus spun 180 degrees and came to rest in the front yard of a house on West Main Street Road in the town of Batavia. The crash occurred just west of the Bushville Bridge over Tonawanda Creek. East Pembroke Fire Department Chief Don Newton Jr. said the only child on the bus was transported as a precaution to United Memorial Medical Center. “It doesn’t look like it’s anything serious,’ Newton said.
The passenger, Thomas Starowicz, 4, complained of head pain, according to Gordon Dibble, chief deputy of road patrol with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office. Thomas was examined at UMMC and immediately released. A medical evaluation for a student is standard procedure for a school bus crash, Newton said. Drivers of both vehicles declined medical help and signed off at the scene. However, the bus operator, Thomas Swimline, 55, of Corfu complained later of back pain and sought medical assistance, Dibble said. There were no other occupants in either vehicle, Newton, the  fire chief, said.
Newton said he imagined a more serious scenario when he was initially dispatched to the accident. “I’m still trying to calm myself down,” he said. “Could have been a lot worse. Thank God it was only one child,” Genesee County Undersheriff William Sheron said. Two witnesses also said the 4-year-old passenger seemed to be OK once he was taken out of the bus.
The bus came to rest in the yard of Tracey McGaughey of 3299 West Main St. She said she saw the crash and helped get the student out. McGaughey was on her front porch, getting ready to put her son, Luke, 4, a prekindergarten student at Pembroke Primary School, on the bus. The driver usually backs into her driveway, she said. McGaughey and her son started walking down the driveway when she saw the semi crash into the back of the bus. “It looked like it was going pretty fast. I heard the screeching of the brakes,” she said. “The bus really got whacked.” The Pembroke Central vehicle came to rest on the passenger side. McGaughey ran into the house and called 911, then ran back outside. She could see the bus driver, a “Mr. Swimline,” who had his seat belt on, and the boy, who also appeared to be belted in. “He (the student) was still sitting in his seat,” McGaughey said. That conflicted with Dibble’s account. The chief deputy said the child was not belted in and it was not required under state law.
McGaughey said she and the driver of the semi tried to open the bus’ emergency roof hatch to extricate the two occupants, but it was stuck. The bus driver and passenger ended up exiting through the rear emergency door.
The back of the bus was pushed in and crumpled from the force of the impact and its rear windows were shattered. Swimline walked from the front of the bus, escorted his passenger to the rear door, and exited, McGaughey said.
The rear door’s two windows were the only ones broken on the bus. Both vehicles were towed from the scene. East Pembroke resident Tom Schneider drove by the accident right after the crash. He had just picked up his son, Camden, 2, from preschool at Batavia YMCA and was driving west on Route 5. “I turned around to make sure everyone was OK.” The boy on the bus looked as if he was uninjured, Schneider said, as he sat under a tree with McGaughey. McGaughey said her son usually sits next to Reece Starowicz.  They takes seats in the middle of the vehicle. McGaughey said she was still shaken by the experience. “My heart is racing. I’m on the verge of tears and I’m ready to throw up. I’m just thankful for God’s goodness,” she said.
The accident was called in to sheriff’s dispatchers at 12:08 p.m. The eastbound Pembroke bus was stopped, waiting to make a left turn into the driveway at 3299 West Main Street Rd., when it was rear-ended by the semi rig, owned by Rohrer Trucking of Waterford, Pa. Genesee County Sheriff Gary Maha said Persons, the truck driver, was talking to his fiancé on a hands-free cell phone and didn’t notice the bus had halted and put on its left directional blinker. Persons was charged with following too closely and a state transportation law violation, having an improper log book. The trucker was also charged under United States Department of Transportation law, for having an overweight vehicle, Dibble said.
Deputy Lonnie Nati is handling the crash investigation. Matthew Calderone, superintendent of Pembroke Central Schools, was also at the scene. He said the district will evaluate the incident after it gets the accident report from the sheriff’s office. “We’re glad it appears there’s no injuries,” Calderone said. He made the statement before authorities reported complaints of pain to the student and bus driver. Dispatchers initially asked multiple fire departments and ambulances to respond to the scene. That was scaled back once the sheriff’s office was told there was a single passenger on the bus and that the boy and driver were out of the vehicle.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  For more information on his central Pennsylvania practice, please clickhere or call at 814-946-4100.