Honolulu Personal Injury Law Blog

A wrong diagnosis could have significant consequences

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams on Sunday, October 28, 2018.

When a patient goes to a Hawaii doctor or visits an emergency room for treatment, it is with the expectation that he or she will get the care necessary to address the specific medical issues at hand. However, doctors are not always correct, and sometimes, they can cause innocent patients to suffer. When doctors do not give the proper diagnosis, the results can be deadly.

Improper, delayed or missed diagnosis is one of the most common types of medical malpractice. When patients do not get the right type of care they need, it can result in additional pain and continued suffering, or perhaps lead to his or her death. When this happens, it could be grounds for a civil claim against the responsible medical professional.

A car crash can give you a headache -- literally

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams on Friday, August 3, 2018.

Your trip to town on a sunny day can easily turn into a nightmarish excursion as a result of a car crash. What makes the situation worse is if another driver's negligence, which may have been preventable, caused the collision.

Unfortunately, sometimes car collisions cause serious injuries, including brain injuries. Here is a look at what an injury to the brain involves and what your legal rights are in Hawaii if somebody's negligence caused you to suffer such an injury in a car crash.

Mopeds are big in Hawaii, and so are moped crashes

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams on Thursday, May 3, 2018.

Whether you live here in Honolulu or are vacationing here, one of the best ways to get around these beautiful islands is on a moped. The problem is that riding a moped also puts you in danger of being involved in an accident and suffering serious injuries, or worse. Even though you can't predict how others on the road will react, you can take steps to protect yourself.

Hawaii does not require you to wear a helmet, but you may want to seriously consider doing so. Unlike driving or riding in a passenger vehicle, you have no protection from an impact with a vehicle, the road or some other obstacle. Your body takes the brunt of impact, which means injuries are often more severe.

Prostate cancer - watch out for yourself!

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in medical malpractice on Monday, April 9, 2018.

Over the past year, our lawyers have become involved with a number of failures to diagnose and properly treat prostate cancer cases. Regrettably, we have recently seen an increasing number of treating physicians failing to properly pick up the signs of possible prostate cancer. These cases have opened our eyes to the need for the patient to be alert to the serious dangers of this common disease not diagnosed and treated early. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men following only skin cancer. Most men have a less aggressive form of the disease but about 20% have an aggressive form with requires prompt treatment for a cure. The only way to definitively diagnose cancer and its aggressiveness is a prostate biopsy. Although not without its own risks, a biopsy is typically done by a urologist who specializes in cancer of the prostate.

Is drugged driving a serious threat for Hawaii drivers?

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in blog on Thursday, February 1, 2018.

When a person takes a drug, prescribed or otherwise, it can impact his or her physical and mental function. Drugs can make it difficult for a person to drive safely, and drugged driving can be as dangerous as distracted or drunk driving. Injured victims in Hawaii have the right to seek compensation when a person under the influence of drugs causes an accident.

The effect that a drug will have on a person depends on many factors, such as the type of drug, the presence of alcohol in his or her system and more. Even a prescribed medication can have a detrimental impact on a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. Each driver is responsible for his or her decisions regarding drugs and driving.

What parents should know about birth injuries

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in blog on Thursday, November 9, 2017.

No parent expects their baby to be harmed during birth. Unfortunately, birth injuries happen every year in Hawaii. Birth injuries happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s due to the size of the baby or position during labor. However, physicians and nurses are trained to handle complicated issues during birth to prevent birth injuries from happening.

What to know about birth injuries

Bad Medicine Podcast by Freakonomics

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in blog on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.

Bad Medicine is the podcast series by the Freakonomics team of economists at the University of Chicago and Columbia University as heard on National Public Radio. Of interest is the analysis of American medicine. By some estimates, medical malpractice is the 3^rd leading cause of death in America. Bad Medicine examines what is wrong and what is right with American medicine.

Sprinkler systems lacking in high-rises. What can be done?

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in blog on Wednesday, July 19, 2017.

A fatal fire that broke out at a high-rise condominium in Honolulu resulted in three fatalities. The fire broke out in a unit on the 26 floor of the 36-floor high-rise. The victims lived in two different apartments on the same floor as where the fire started. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Sprinkler systems not in all high-rises in Honolulu

Could the fatalities have been prevented? Possibly, if the high-rise had installed a sprinkler system to stop the fire from spreading. The Honolulu Fire Chief said that the sprinkler system would have "confined the blaze to the unit where it started."

The dangers of distracted driving are all too real

On behalf of Trecker Fritz & Williams posted in blog on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

2015 was a year of record fatalities. Almost 40,000 people lost their lives in a car crash, the most since 2007. The number one cause of traffic accidents? Distracted driving. 3,477 people were killed, and 391,000 were injured because of distracted driving.

Distracted driving is when the driver of a car is driving and doing something else that takes their eyes and mind of the road. A distraction can occur in a flash, with results that might be long-lasting such as death, maiming or disability.