Troopers ready to Arrest those who choose to Drink and Drive over the 4th

The Fourth of July holiday is cause for celebration. Many of those celebrations unfortunately end with someone drinking and driving. A new Highway Patrol DUI enforcement team aims to prevent drunk driving accidents and fatalities.

Highway Patrol based the statewide team on one being used in Horry County. Last year, Highway Patrol assigned six troopers to the DUI team in Horry County. They say it resulted in more DUI arrests and fewer DUI-related fatalities.

Officials want to see those same results in Florence and Darlington counties where DUI crashes and fatalities have increased this year. Troopers say they will fan out across those counties and hold safety checkpoints, until they see a drop in DUI accidents. (Wpde)

Preventing problems instead of trying to fix them

So often in my practice, I am trying to fix problems or overcome unnecessary obstacles.  That is why I started this web page.  I want to help people before they hire me or another attorney from making the same mistakes which are made over and over.   I have and continue to write information books on the areas of law in which I have practiced for over 20 years.  I have written an article called "The top 10 things you need to do after an accident".  If these things are done, the injured and/or disabled person will protect his/her rights.  Additionally, if it becomes a case in which an attorney is needed, he or she won't be digging the case out of a hole.  If any of the 10 things are not done, the insurance carrier has an argument as to why it should either prevent your claim altogether or reduce your benefits.

Fatal Car and Motorcycle wrecks are taking a toll on Myrtle Beach Area

The Sun News has a search tool available ion 7/7/09 edition that allows you to research the fatal accidents in the Myrtle Beach area for the year 2009.  The search shows that car accident deaths are taking a toll on our area. It has involved people from the age of 16 to 85.  The majority of them were not wearing seatbelts.  If you study these accidents, it shows many of them  involve individuals running off the edge of the road,  turning quick to get back on the road (over-correcting), tires getting turned sideways causing the cars to flip or lose control.  During my highschool years, my father was a coach and drivers education teacher.  While he was teaching me to drive, he made me run off the road, keep my right tires off the road as I let off the gas and until the car had slowed enough to safely ease my way back on the highway.  While I'm not advising everyone to go run off the road.  The ability to safely get back on the highwayis a learned skill that someone must have, to avoid one of the most dangerous types of wrecks that occurs.  Many personal injuries and premature deaths could be prevented if these types of wrecks were eliminated.

Bone-Growth Proteins Show Risk in New Study

Patients who received a bioengineered protein during spinal fusion procedures to correct neck pain had far more complications than patients who did not get it, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study, published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, reinforces previous concerns about the use of the proteins in fusion procedures to treat upper spine, or cervical, pain. The substances studied, sold by either Medtronic or Stryker, are not federally approved for cervical procedures, although surgeons are free to use them for that purpose. By BARRY MEIER New York Times

Fusion surgery is a common surgery for those injured in personal injury accidents, including car and truck wrecks, motorcycle accidents and workers compensation claims.  Often an injury to the neck involves herniated disks which need to be removed and the vertebrae fused together.  Bioengineered protein used in these fusions have not been approved and are causing some additional complications.