It was inevitable that Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system would eventually go electronic, but no one was expecting the substantial delays being created at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, at least 500 new workers’ comp claims are still awaiting assignments to judges since the bureau’s new paperless system went online on Sept. 9. […]
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, nearly 37,000 people sought emergency medical treatment between 2003 and 2012 after being injured by adult portable bedrails, and 155 died. Most of these accidents occurred in private homes or in nursing facilities. The Food and Drug Administration is also well aware of the issue. Since 1985, the […]
Parents and family members do all they can to make sure that the products their baby is exposed to are safe. This includes cribs, which have undergone substantial regulation in recent years to prevent babies and toddlers from getting trapped and suffocating. People don’t always realize it, but the elderly are in need of protection […]
A new program at Loyola University Health System could help prevent people who don’t realize they aren’t fit to drive from getting behind the wheel. It could also relieve the awkwardness that often keeps people from confronting elderly loved ones about their deteriorating driving habits. The program involves a comprehensive clinical evaluation of patients within […]
Cases of child sexual abuse by priests, teachers, coaches and other trusted adults are far too common. Last week, we wrote about a Pennsylvania priest who was recently arrested and now faces several criminal charges related to sexual acts with an underage teen. In light of the criminal charges, many are now scrutinizing the priest’s […]
Fire is a disaster in a nursing home or long-term care facility, where many residents are too frail or disabled to escape on their own. As a spokesperson for the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care told the New York Times for a recent report, many residents aren’t even able to get out of […]
While child sexual abuse is an issue that reaches into nearly all walks of life, it is frequently associated with the Catholic Church, and has been for decades. Whether or not this association is deserved is a matter of debate, but it seems that priest sexual abuse allegations continue to surface regularly. Recently, a 56-year-old […]
Philadelphia users of the near-ubiquitous escalator may have heard recent horror stories about riders injured or killed by the moving staircases. Escalators have ripped a big toe from a child in Singapore, have thrown off dozens of users in Washington D.C. and strangled a sushi chef to death when his hoodie got caught in the […]
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote that California legislators were attempting to pass a bill that would temporarily suspend the statute of limitations for cases of childhood sexual abuse. The legislation seeks to allow victims who suffered sexual abuse as a child to file lawsuits even if they are outside the statute of limitations. […]
In the wake of a high-profile deadly demolition accident, the mayor of Philadelphia is preparing the city to implement sweeping changes to the regulations of building demolition. In addition to the regulatory changes, according to the mayor, every currently active demolition site will be inspected for safety. The event that precipitated the regulatory changes was […]