A woman finds herself still at the mercy of her caretakers at ECMC five months after a car accident stole her ability to walk, speak, eat on her own or even move her head. The August accident involving an impaired driver and his 40-year-old female passenger resulted not only in the woman’s injuries, but a vehicular assault charge and a four-year prison sentence for the driver.

The pair was returning to Buffalo from Indiana. The woman drove from Indiana to Pennsylvania until she grew weary, at which point the man took the wheel. The man, driving under the influence of drugs, lost control of the vehicle between Exits 55 and 56 on a Hamburg highway and was struck by a passing vehicle. The passenger side took the brunt of the collision, resulting in the woman’s devastating injuries. In addition to his impairment, the man operated the vehicle with a suspended license.

In a statement to the Supreme Court, the driver said “I didn’t mean for this to happen. . . I cry myself to sleep every night. I’m sorry, that’s all I can say.” Despite the man’s remorse, in addition to the vehicular assault charge, the court charged him with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and possession of marijuana. In a statement to the Buffalo News, the victim’s husband stated “Everything my wife loved to do, she can no longer do because of this accident… She can’t do anything by herself.”

You can avoid accidents like this. Do not drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or allow anyone in that condition to drive your vehicle. If you’ve suffered due to someone else’s recklessness, call James Morris Law today 716-855-1118.

In a world where we walk with computers in pocket, communicate with a single click and have access to infinite streams of information at our fingertips, finding an alternative to lead-based paint should have happened years ago. Unfortunately, much of Buffalo’s housing is stuck in a time-warp. The Nickel City’s unique architecture serves both as a spectacle and a burden. The New York State Department of Health estimates that 85% of Buffalo homes built prior to 1978 contain lead-based paint: the primary lead source in cases of lead poisoning. From 2006-2008, Erie County had the third highest percentage of new lead poisoning cases, 80% of which were children.

Children are more susceptible to lead poisoning due to an underdeveloped digestive system and ease of ingestion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry suggest that a child’s digestive system absorbs up to 10 times more lead than that of an adult, and will excrete only 32% of the absorbed lead, as opposed to 99% excreted by an adult. Children ingest lead through everyday behaviors like sucking their thumb, eating with their hands or even playing with certain toys, making lead poisoning difficult to prevent.

Once a child ingests lead, diagnosis of lead poisoning can be costly and mistimed. There are few, if any, external signals alerting parents that a child has ingested lead. A doctor administered blood test is the only conclusive way to tell if a child’s lead levels are elevated. Through early detection of lead ingestion from lead-based paint or from another lead source, parents alleviate I.Q. decline, physical and intellectual debility, attention deficit disorder, delayed reaction time,  and kidney damage that may occur to the child later in life.

Don’t let your child fall victim to lead poisoning at the hands of lead based paint in your home. If your child has tested positively for lead poisoning due to exposed lead paint, call a Buffalo personal injury lawyer today. Contact James Morris Law at 716-855-1118.