Safest Cars from Rollovers, NHTSA says

By on 7-09-2014 in Civil Suits

If you are thinking of buying a vehicle, it would be a good idea to find out if the car you’re considering is likely to get you killed or seriously injured. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a report ranking vehicles according to safety tests for rollovers, and provided some recommendations to increase the safety rating of a vehicle.

Among the vehicles that the NHTSA to be safer than others from rollovers are those produced by Mazda, especially the RX-8 4-door sports car on first and the Mazda3 compact sedan on third. Luxury vehicle maker Acura’s TL sedan ranked second while the new Beetle Convertible by Volkswagen and the Hyundai Tiburon sports coupe garnered 4th and 5th place respectively.

These are all noticeably low-slung cars which is to be expected as sedans are much closer to the ground that other vehicle types, making them much more stable. Predictably, the vehicles that scored the lowest in the NHTSA tests are all sport utility vehicles (SUVs) including 4×2 versions of Ford’s Explorer, Explorer SportTrac and Mercury Mountaineer, General Motor’s Yukon, and Chevrolet’s Tahoe. So if you really want an SUV, it would be better to stick to the all-wheel version of the Chrysler Pacifica which although not precisely an SUV it is close enough for government work.

The report also stated that while sedans gain more stability with more passengers, SUVs become less so. This is a sobering thought, considering the potential for destruction of a passenger-laden SUV. The injuries sustained by victims in rollover accidents are often catastrophic and life-changing. Habush Habush & Rottier S.C.® believes that when negligence plays a factor in rollover accidents, the responsible parties should be made to pay for the consequences.

The potential for rollovers is a real danger, especially in SUVs, but passengers who observe safety regulations have a greater chance of surviving it. According to the NHTSA report, about 75% of fatalities in rollover accidents were not restrained. In such cases, the safest cars in the world is no assurance of driver or passenger safety.

Health During Pregnancy

By on 7-09-2014 in Civil Suits

Pregnant women are highly encouraged to follow an extremely healthy diet while carrying their baby to term. Developing fetuses are vulnerable to contracting illnesses from the substances that the mother comes into contact with. Avoiding foods, like unpasteurized milks and cheeses that potentially contain harmful bacteria is a prudent choice for pregnant women. These foods can potentially contain listeriosis bacteria which can seriously harm a fetus.

Smoked meats, hot dogs, deli meats, store-made salads, swordfish, white snapper, large amounts of albacore tuna, medicinal herbs, alfalfa sprouts, radishes, and mung beans can potentially carry listeriosis bacteria and high levels of toxic chemicals. In addition to avoiding harmful foods it’s important for mothers to avoid cosmetics with concentrated or high levels of preservatives.

Other substances that prospective mothers should not ingest include common over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, pepto bismol, dimetapp, theraflu, ibuprofen, aleve, nicorette gum, and sudafed. Sometimes these medicines are acceptable for consumption within the first two trimesters, but a doctor should always be consulted before taking them.

The FDA has created a classification system in order to rank medicines as they pose risk to the development of fetuses. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft are classified under pregnancy category C, which indicated that though animal testing has revealed some birth deformations, there is not enough evidence to suggest  that it affects humans in the same way.

Drugs classified under pregnancy category X are extremely harmful to the wellbeing of a forming fetus. Some drugs under category X include Restoril, Leflunomide, and Accutane. Restoril is a drug prescribed to people that suffer from insomnia. Patients with arthritis are sometimes prescribed Leflunomide, while Accutane is a popular drug for people affected by cystic acne. If a woman is prescribed any of these drugs, and is capable of becoming pregnant, a they are often encouraged, or even required to take birth control medication in tandem with these prescriptions.