Maryland Injury and Disability Law : Washington DC Metro Injury & Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Greenberg & Bederman : Accidents, Falls, Medical Malpractice : Maryland, DC, Virginia

Believe it or not, there used to be a time when Toyota had a reputation for manufacturing safe and reliable cars. That certainly seems like a long time ago, what with all of the crashes and deaths and injuries. But there was a time when people used to get into Toyota model cars without having to worry about dangerous floor mats, bad brakes, stuck accelerators and faulty steering.

To be sure, the crash ratings for these cars were mostly average. But in fairness, they were no better or no worse than many of the other cars that were out on the market. Toyotas in the 90s and in most of the first decade of the twentieth century were no better or worse than Hondas, Chevys, Chryslers or Nissans in terms of safety.

So while they weren’t exactly up to the high safety standards of say, Saab or Volvo, they were at least well within established safety requirements.

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Being a police officer is a dangerous and difficult job. It involves long hours and often involves performing thankless but necessary tasks. To be sure, law enforcement officers often receive our  thanks, but almost never while in the process of performing their duties. This is because their duties involve apprehending people who break the law, and those who do so are not likely to be thrilled about being caught.  As an example, when was the last time you thanked a police officer for writing you a ticket? Have you ever heard of a burglar or car thief who thanked the officer who caught him for his hard work?

It is sobering to think about what your average police force has to deal with on a daily basis. They get verbally abused, they often have to break up fights, and they have to stop crimes in progress, both minor and major, often while putting themselves in harm’s way in order to do so. And, most importantly, they have to do all these things within the defined parameters of the law. The police are not free to apprehend criminals in any way they see fit. For instance, if they think someone is receiving stolen property, the police can’t just kick open that person’s front door and arrest him. They have to have cause to request a warrant for the search, and they have to have a judge agree to their reasons.

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For the better part of a year, we here at Greenberg and Bederman have been closely monitoring developments over the Bayer Corporation’s line of birth control pills. Yaz, Yasmin and its generic version Ocella are all immensely popular and incredibly profitable for the German drug manufacturer.  Aside from simply preventing pregnancy, Bayer markets the secondary benefits of Yaz and Yasmin, which include prevention of certain types of acne, as well as relief from some of the more traumatic emotional disturbances that can come with menstruation.

What separates Yaz and Yasmin from other forms of oral contraceptive is that these pills contain a synthetic variation of the normal birth control ingredient progestin. This variation is called drospirenone, and while it can contribute to less acne and relief from emotional trauma, it also significantly raises potassium levels in the bloodstream. Elevated potassium levels can cause deep vein thrombosis, which is the formation of blood clots in the major veins and arteries in the legs. If the blood clots break apart and travel, they often get pulled into the pulmonary bloodstream, which can lead to pulmonary embolisms. Or the pieces of the blood clot can travel to the heart or brain, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. It’s important to mention that these birth control injuries aren’t one-in-a-million occurrences. They happen with unfortunate regularity.

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To say that Toyota has “let down” its customers understates the impact of their actions. If your pizza is delivered in over thirty minutes, you can say that the pizza place “let you down.” If a suit that you bought falls apart after only wearing it three times, then you can say that your tailor “let you down.” But if the accelerator of your Prius sticks and you end up barreling through a stop light, hit another car and are seriously injured or worse, saying “Toyota let me down” doesn’t really cover it.

From what has been uncovered so far, it appears that the Toyota Corporation has marketed and sold cars with multiple defects in acceleration, steering and braking systems, and it appears that they were aware or should have been aware of these defects and did nothing about it, causing multiple injuries and death. 

So what would be the appropriate response from the government and Toyota itself? First and foremost would be a propersafety recall, and not one that is merely financially convenient to the Toyota Corporation, but rather one that actually fixes the problems that make these cars dangerous. Toyota has done that, issuing recalls on practically every model that they have on the market.

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Damage from Yaz birth control pills is International

At Greenberg and Bederman, we have been keeping a close eye on developments regarding Bayer’s line of Yaz birth control pills.  For those of you who have not been informed, birth control pills that have been marketed under the names of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella have been linked to serious health complications among the women who use them.

Since Yaz and Yasmin have been on the market, there have been thousands of incidents of strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms and gall bladder disease among otherwise perfectly healthy women who have been using these pills.

What appears to be the cause of these medical complications is that when Bayer developed these pills, they chose to use as an ingredient a synthetic variation of progestin called drospirenone. This ingredient has been shown to increase the potassium levels in the bloodstreams of those who use it. When potassium levels increase substantially, this can cause blood clots to develop in the main arteries and veins in the legs. This condition is called “deep vein thrombosis.” While the clots themselves are relatively harmless, complications develop when these clots break apart and start to travel through the bloodstream. When these bits of blood clot get to the lungs, the heart or the brain, the end result can be a pulmonary embolism, a heart attack or a stroke.

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If you need brainpower in the United States of America, you can’t do much better than the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Since it’s beginning in 1958, NASA has been responsible for any and all space exploration undertaken by the United States. That includes the first manned multiple orbit of the earth, the first manned flight around the moon, the first landing on the moon, the first satellite to leave our solar system, the first re-usable manned spacecraft, and any manner of advancements in satellite technology.

Anything involving spaceflight takes a mastery of multiple scientific disciplines. There has to be a mastery of chemistry (rocket fuel and lubricants, to name only a few applications,) physics (launching the spacecraft and keeping on a correct trajectory,) biology and environmental sciences (keeping the astronauts alive during the mission,) To give you an idea as to how impressive the minds are over at NASA, consider what had to be done for each of the Apollo lunar missions.

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