It seems like New York City Transit and the Metropolitan Transit Authority have seen quite a bit of news coverage in the past few months - and almost all of it has been linked to injuries and lawsuits.

According to a New York Daily News report, NYC Transit officials say legal quirks in the law make the organization an easy target for lawsuits. In the past 20 years, the MTA has paid out more than $1 billion in personal injury lawsuits.

The organization has tried to get the state to pass legislation protecting its rights when it comes to personal injury suits - but to no avail. The MTA pays for lawsuits involving very drunk passengers who fall on the tracks or voluntarily walk on the tracks because of their own impaired judgement. This is not something that a transit organization should be paying for.

As a result of the money put toward lawsuits, the MTA has less funding to do good things for transit, like update train tracks and increase service lines and times.

Unfortunately the New York legislature in Albany has not yet passed any laws that could protect the MTA against frivolous lawsuits for which it should not be held responsible, according to the New York Daily News.

If such legislation were to be passed, NYC Transit would save millions of dollars each year because of fewer personal injury lawsuits, and there would be greater strides taken to improve public transit in NYC.

Michael Jackson’s recent passing has touched the world in a way I don’t think anyone expected. Through the years, Jackson has been the center of numerous lawsuits - in all areas of law. As one CNN reporter said, “Michael Jackson was a one-man cottage industry for the legal profession.”

Among the lawsuits involving Jackson were some out-of-court settlements as well. Back in 1992 when Jackson started a friendship with the then-13 Jordan Chandler, Chandler’s family did not approve.

The relationship continued, and in the summer of 1993 Chandler’s father, on behalf of his son, accused Jackson of sexual abuse. The story was all over tabloids and other media, and had an immense effect on the pop-singer’s career.

After the accusations and descriptions of Jackson’s actions and a physical description of his genitals from Jordan Chandler, the allegations were settled outside the courtroom. In January of 1994, Jackson ended up paying the Chandler family $22 million for the civil suit.

This incident marked the first accusation against Michael Jackson for sexual abuse. In the years following, other accusations were made blaming Jackson for other personal injury issues, and there were criminal trials involved.

This pop icon had a tumultuous relationship with the media, and with the public. His popularity ebbed and flowed like the tide, and though Jackson is sadly no longer here to perform his planned come-back tour, his ‘thrilling’ music and contributions to pop culture will not soon be forgotten.

A Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) train conductor was accused of using his cell phone and texting while operating a passenger train, according to JusticeNewsFlash.com.

The operator, Damien Whatley, was hired by MARTA in 2000 and became a train operator within the past two years. A transit customer reported Whatley to MARTA officials, claiming he was certain the train operator was not only holding his phone while driving the train, but also using it.

The MARTA rider used his own cell phone to take photos of Whatley texting and gave them to transit officials.

With such limited evidence against the employee, the maximum punishment MARTA could impose on Whatley was a three-day unpaid suspension. More evidence may become available in the accusation.

JusticeNewsFlash.com also reported that Atlanta is not the only city to experience problems with transit employees using their cell phones on the job and causing public transportation accidents. Within the last 12 months, vehicles in both Boston and California have crashed because the transit operator was text messaging on a cell phone.

According to the New York Times, Boston’s Transit Authority banned transit operators from carrying cell phones during their shifts after the texting trolley crash resulted in nearly 50 injured transit customers.

The ban also follows the fatal California commuter train crash that killed 35 people and left more than 100 passengers injured.

No national cell phone ban for public transportation workers has been suggested or implemented, though such laws for government employees as well as private citizens are being put in place in cities nationwide. Personal injury lawyers can help if you are a victim of a public transit accident.

America’s Watchdog - a national organization that serves as an advocate for consumer rights - has branched out into a new genre for its services.

The Nursing Home Complaint Center is a new organization under the America’s Watchdog parent company designed to help people who have suffered, or have relatives who have suffered, from elder abuse or nursing home neglect.

The goal of the organization is to pair with personal injury lawyers across the country to help get justice for elderly abuse victims and their families.

With this system, victims, families, nursing home employees and the American taxpayer will all be protected. Some things the organization plans to focus on include:

• Medicare over-billing
• Improperly compensated employees
• Neglectful or inadequate/unprofessional care

Patients or family members who believe they or their loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse should not hesitate to talk to a personal injury attorney to help find out what options are available.

Nursing home abuse and improper care are not new problems in the world of personal injury - and it can be difficult to prove the offenses and take action against elder care organizations. It’s great that America’s Watchdog has recognized the problem and is taking measures to help everyone potentially involved.

President Barack Obama returned to his home city this week - Chicago, Ill. - to address the American Medical Association on the topic of health care reform.

Obama wants to let doctors do what they are trained to do and be doctors - not bureaucratic businessmen that are constantly thinking about money making and worried about lawsuits.

According to a CNN report, Obama said the current health care model focuses more on the quantity of heath care patients received rather than the quality of care. Obama said to his audience of physicians that this model “pushes you, the doctor, to see more and more patients even if you can’t spend much time with each; and gives you every incentive to order that extra MRI or EKG, even if it’s not truly necessary.  It is a model that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession — a calling — to a business.”

According to Obama’s speech, the extra tests and scans called for by doctors are often unnecessary precautions, used by doctors to lessen the risk of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

If the system is reformed in the manner that Obama is proposing, there would be protection for doctors, allowing them to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

Obama did say he does not want to put a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits, but he wants to make sure that patient safety comes first and allow doctors to be the “healers” they are meant to be.

So what does that mean for the health care system of America? Obama is still making his case for universal care - a topic on which doctors are still torn.

The President was very well received by the audience of doctors at the AMA in Chicago, but I think some of the country’s health care professionals are still wary of the changes that might be coming their way.

According to the New York Daily News, a transit worker who was helping fix an elevated train platform in Brooklyn three years ago fell 30 feet through some unsupported wooden beams and ended up in a two-month coma.

George Nunez was recently awarded $13 million from a personal injury lawsuit he filed against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, who failed to alert Nunez that the beams he was standing on were not safely supported.

Lawyers from the MTA will try to refute the lawsuit, according to the Daily News, because they claim the accident is Nunez’s fault - if he had been properly secured by his safety harness, he never would have fallen in the first place.

Nunez rightfully filed a personal injury lawsuit against the MTA, and was compensated for his pain, suffering and time.

The question remains, who is correct? Is the MTA at fault because they failed to tell Nunez about the known-to-be-unsupported beams, or is Nunez at fault because his safety harness wasn’t properly fastened?

For now the judge has ruled on the side of Nunez, but if the MTA strikes back, that could change.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, city officials in Crestwood, Ill. have been lying to residents and the EPA about the town’s water source.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against the village of Crestwood, which alleges that the village has lied more than 120 times to the state EPA about the source of water. The village has claimed that all the water being used comes directly from Lake Michigan - when in fact the water has been coming from a contaminated well containing cancer-causing chemicals.

Sounds a little bit similar to the situation Erin Brockovich handled in Hinkley, Calif. back in the late 1990s.

Crestwood mayor, Robert Stranczek, his father and former town mayor Chester, and Crestwood’s certified water operator, Frank Scaccia could be facing millions of dollars worth of fines if a Cook County Circuit Court agrees with Madigan’s allegations, the Tribune reported.

These three city officials have been lying to state officials and Crestwood residents about the village’s water source for more than 20 years - and Madigan now wants to see them held accountable for their actions, and use this as an example so nothing like this happens in Illinois again.

Hopefully her tactics work - the residents have been drinking water from a contaminated well - and not just any contamination. The well in question contains vinyl chloride, which is so toxic the U.S. EPA says there is no safe level of exposure.

Personal injury lawyers could help Crestwood residents file a class-action lawsuit against village officials, and residents could win a lot of money for their damages from drinking a lifetime of dangerously contaminated water.

To read the full article about Madigan’s lawsuit and the severity of Crestwood’s situation, see the Tribune’s report.

According to an article from Newsweek, a new, lewd dancing trend in Jamaica has made penile injuries three times as common as they have been in the past.

This new dance trend is called ‘daggering,’ and as the name implies, it involves varying degrees of sometimes violent sexual expression on the dance floor. Newsweek reported that the occurrence of patients appearing in Jamaican hospitals and clinics with ‘broken’ penises has increased over the past year.

While daggering is incredibly sexual and may look perverse, Newsweek says it is not, in fact, Internet porn. Jamaica is a country known for its musical and dancing culture - and this new form of physical expression is not meant to tarnish that.

Newsweek also mentioned that in addition to the broken penises, other injuries - including back and neck injuries - have happened as a result of daggering. Jamaican emergency rooms and clinics are all aware of daggering culture, and are becoming more accustomed to dealing with these types of injuries.

Daggering has not yet become a popular activity in the United States - but there are many other personal injuries that can be suffered - sexual or otherwise.

According to the American Humane Association, every year 3.5 million kids suffer from dog bite injuries.

The Association has launched a new dog bite safety program for kids called “American Humane KIDS: Kids Interacting with Dogs Safely™.” The program, according to Jane Greco Deming, head of education for American Humane, is aimed at kids aged four to seven.

Many of the association’s current safety programs are geared toward kids over age eight, but the younger ones are more likely to sustain a severe dog bite injury to the head, neck or face, Deming explained.

The KIDS program will not use scare tactics on kids, but will instead teach them to be sensitive to dogs’ feelings in certain situations. According to American Humane, the curriculum will result in fewer dog bites, decreased medical expenses and fewer personal injury lawsuits.

The association also hopes that fewer dogs will be sent to shelters and euthanized as a result, because kids won’t unknowingly scare dogs and cause bites.

This program seems like a great idea. It meets national education standards, and implemented correctly, it should have a positive effect on America’s dogs and children. However, there are still dangerous dogs out there that will cause problems no matter how carefully kids or parents act.

Have you ever had a doctor tell you that the potential outcome of whatever illness you’re suffering from is far worse than you expected or than it should be?

Take, for example, a friend of mine who recently dropped a cardboard box on her foot, got a paper cut from it, and found herself in the hospital the next day.

The cut got infected and swelled badly - causing the emergency room doctor to put my friend on antibiotics. The doctor also said that if the swelling didn’t go down and the infection didn’t subside, amputation might be necessary.

You can imagine my friend’s reaction - “Amputation from a paper cut?! You have to be kidding!” - and the doctor admitted that an outcome like that was incredibly unlikely. Okay, so then why did she even say it, and is she allowed to give drastic prognoses like that?

Legally, yes. There’s no way to know if the doctor truly believed that amputation would be necessary, but if the infection did get bad enough (it didn’t), amputation may have been a valid solution. That doesn’t make it right to say so, though.

Whether doctors scare patients on purpose remains to be seen - the situation and doctor in question vary, of course. But these scare tactics are not considered medical malpractice.

Sometimes doctors say things that scare patients without even realizing it - it’s like when you think out loud and other people hear you. You think it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you believe it. If this happens to you, say something to your doctor - ask them to clarify, and ask them why they said what they said.

If some kind of injury happens to you because of a procedure, shot, surgery or technique a doctor uses on you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a personal injury lawyer and ask questions about medical malpractice.

Words aren’t enough to press any charges against a medical professional, but as in anything, actions speak louder than words. If you think you’re a victim of medical malpractice, ask a local personal injury lawyer.