North County Injury Blog

The residents of Huntington Beach are devastated by the death of an 11-year-old girl, who was struck by a lifeguard boat during junior lifeguard camp. Allyssa Squirrell was participating in “speed drop” training, where lifeguards jump off a moving boat to quickly approach drowning victims. According to reports, the senior lifeguard operating the boat was…

This weekend the New York Times had two good opinion pieces about reform in the medical liability system. Both contributors agree that the real problem is medical errors, not medical malpractice lawsuits, and that arbitrary caps on damages do little or nothing to address the underlying problem of too many preventable medical mistakes. Professor Tom…

There is a great story in yesterday’s Orange County Register about the lone survivor of the car accident that killed Angel’s pitcher Nick Adenhart. Jon Wilhite was a passenger in the car with Adenhart when the collision occurred, and was hit with such force that he suffered atlanto-occipital dislocation, better known as “internal decapitation.” Internal…

A 68-year-old woman in a motorized wheelchair was hospitalized Thursday after being struck by a car in Mission Valley. According to witnesses, the woman was crossing in the cross-walk at the 200 block of Camino de la Reina at approximately 6:30 p.m. when a man driving a Ford Mustang not paying attention to the road,…

It was a relatively quiet Fourth of July weekend on San Diego County roadways. Countywide there were 88 arrests for suspicion of driving under the influence, which represents 66 fewer arrests than last year. While that is great news, the story wasn’t the same on North County roads, where 21 people were arrested, an increase…

A retired teacher visiting San Diego from Illinois died over the weekend after falling out of a pedicab at the 100 block of Harbor in San Diego’s Marina District. Sixty-year-old Sharon Miller was participating the National Education Conference when she and another participant decided to take a pedicab ride on Saturday. At about 11:30 a.m.…

Anthony Beninati was attending the iconic Burning Man Festival, when he fell into the fire at the annual ritual of actually burning the “Burning Man” was performed. Beninati suffered burns in the incident, hired a lawyer, and sued the Burning Man promoter for personal injury damages, alleging it was negligent in the operation of the…

A 31-year-old emergency room technician was arrested last week for raping a woman inside the emergency room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. The woman was reportedly too intoxicated to resist. According to reports, police received a 911 call from inside the hospital from the woman, who said she believed she had been raped. Police…

Almost three years ago, Jim Halverson of Danville suffered fatal injuries when his pool’s two-piece kettle style filter exploded and struck him in the head. Since that time, his wife Sue has made it her mission to make sure this kind of terrible accident doesn’t happen again. Sue has started a website www.poolsafetyadvocates.org, to highlight…

Typically, active duty military personnel cannot bring a legal action against the military for injuries caused by military decisions, or other military-related activities. But the House Judiciary Committee is considering a bill that would allow military families hold the government accountable for non-combat related personal injuries. Col. Adele Connell tried to bring a claim against…