Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

Toyota Not Out of the Woods Yet

2010-03-10T20:39:57Z

If I were a Toyota owner (I am NOT), I would still be a little apprehensive about whether Toyota really has fixed the problem with millions of their cars. The latest scare, yesterday in California, involved a runaway PRIUS, with the driver having no brakes and the accelerator stuck at speeds of up to 94 m.p.h. The 911 call is harrowing.

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The PRIUS owner had taken his car to a Toyota Dealership for repairs and was incorrectly told his car was not on the recall list...but, you guessed it, it was. The investigating police officer reported that the floor mats were all secure and not involved in the runaway acceleration, which brings to mind whether Toyota has been telling the truth about this problem from the get go. I
DOUBT it.

Now Federal Regulators in the Department of Transportation are investigating a similar crash in New York that occurred on Monday. The driver of the car told police that the car accelerated on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall.

This brings into question whether what Toyota is doing to "fix" their rather severe problem is really the solution, or whether Toyota is simply trying to pass it off as fixing the problem. I am skeptical, but as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney in Georgia, I am skeptical about alot of things. Toyota Owners: BE CAREFUL!!

Nestlehutt v. Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery: Caps on Damages Violate Your Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial

2010-03-08T18:17:10Z

The Supreme Court of Georgia will soon rule on this issue, i.e., whether the Georgia Legislature's imposition of an arbitrary cap of $350,000.00 on damages in medical malpractice cases violates the 7th Amendment Right to a Jury Trial under the United States and Georgia Constitutions. The case pending before the Georgia Supreme Court right now on this issue is Nestlehutt v. Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C., d/b/a Oculus. I have filed an Amicus Brief with the Georgia Supreme Court in support of Mrs. Nestlehutt and in support of the position that such arbitrary caps on damages do, indeed, violate your 7th Amendment right to a jury trial. The Nestlehutt case involved cosmetic surgery that disfigured Mrs. Nestlehutt permanently. A Fulton County, Georgia jury, who heard all the facts and considered all the evidence in the case, returned a verdict for Mrs. Nestlehutt and her husband in the amount of $1.2 Million. Under the caps law, this would have been written down to $350,000.00; however, the trial judge found the caps law to be unconstitutional. And so, Oculus appealed that outcome to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Other media have referred to this case simply as a "botched facelift" case. This does not, however, adequately portray the injury Mrs. Nestlehutt sustained and the horrible pain and suffering she has endured since that careless surgery. Below is a video that shows the after-surgery photographs of Mrs. Nestlehutt so that NO GEORGIAN thinks this is simply a "botched facelift" where the patient simply doesn't think she looks as good afterward as she should. It was a horriffic injury and after watching the video below, I think you will agree that the original jury's award of $1.2 Million was proper. Thanks to her attorney, Adam Malone, for sharing this powerful video with me. I want all Georgians to watch it. Thanks to Mrs. Nestlehutt in having the courage to share it and the courage to fight this battle.

WE THE PEOPLE from Georgia Justice on Vimeo.

Chrysler Sebring Defective

2010-03-01T13:53:37Z

I was right. I wrote in my February 18, 2010 blog entry that I suspected a defect in the Chrysler Sebring caused the car to unexpectedly roll over a child in Fayette County, Georgia. It was reported the key was out of the ignition and the car was in park at the time it ran over the child. Now, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office confirms my suspicion that it was, indeed, a manufacturing defect in the car that caused the tragic and utterly unnecessary death of this child. The vehicle had a defective ignition park interlock that caused it to slip out of park, roll down a driveway and strike the victim, according to Capt. Brian Eubanks of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

My heart goes out to this family. One more death at the hand of a car manufacturer is one too many.

No Texting While Driving Picking Up Momentum

2010-03-01T01:53:28Z

For my regular readers, you know how long I have been writing about the need to make texting while driving (TWD) illegal in the State of Georgia. I am glad to report the rest of America seems to be catching on. First, Oprah introduced her "No Phone Zone" pledge. This is a pledge that you can print out and sign which says you swear not to text while you are driving. Tens of thousands of people have taken the pledge. If you have a teenage driver I urge you to visit this No Phone Zone page with your teen to watch numerous videos on the dangers of driving while texting. It is extremely informative and scary.

Now even automobile insurance companies are jumping on the bandwagon and urging their insureds and the motoring public in general not to text while driving. Progressive Insurance is supporting Oprah in her no texting pledge. I noticed Melbourne Insurance out of Florida is emphasizing not to text while driving.

One neat potential solution is a smartphone app called Drive Safely that apparently will read your text voices outloud to you while you are driving. Unfortunately, although it will convert a text to voice, it does not yet convert voice to text, so it will not eliminate the oh-so-uncontrollable urge to respond ASAP to that text you just got! That will take some self-discipline!

The State of Florida appears to be poised to pass legislation banning TWD and Florida Governor Crist is supporting it. Likewise for the State of Massachusetts. And now NHTSA, the National Highway and Traffice Safety Administration is even urging states to pass a ban on TWD. Where is Georgia Governor Perdue on this issue? Shockingly silent. Where is the leadership the State of Georgia needs NOW on this issue? What about the Georgia General Assembly? Yes, bills have been filed, but have they made any progress in the intricate procedure of getting legislation in Georgia passed? Not yet and we begin the second half of the General Assembly session on March 8. I urge Georgia lawmakers to make texting while driving illegal, for the sake of all Georgia citizens. It will save the lives of thousands of Georgians.

Too Little Too Late for Toyota?

2010-02-23T18:32:05Z

Finally! Toyota apologizes to the American public for selling us dangerous cars and keeping it secret from us when Toyota KNEW they were accidents looking for a place to happen.Yet Toyota still has yet to come 100% clean, in denying anything is wrong with their cars' electronic throttle system, when all evidence points to the contrary.

Added to the misery created by Toyota's cavalier conduct is the revelation that there may be some Americans wrongly convicted of vehicular homicide when their runaway Toyotas killed someone. This issue has arisen in Minnesota, where Koua Fong Lee is serving an eight year prison sentence for vehicular homicide in 2006 when his 1996 Toyota careened out of control and he was unable to stop it. With this late confession by Toyota executives about their out-of-control cars, it may be that Mr. Lee was wrongfully convicted and that it is Toyota, not poor Mr. Lee, that is responsible for the Minnesota deaths.

Things that make you go hmmmmm...another episode of Corporate Malfeasance, and it will be left to the trial lawyers of America to seek any justice for Toyota's victims.

Tragic Death of Child in Fayetteville, Georgia: Another Car Defect?

2010-02-18T19:10:03Z

This was a terrible headline to read today, that a child was killed in Fayetteville, Georgia when a car rolled over him. The car, a Chrysler Sebring, apparently rolled over him even though the car was in park and no key was in the ignition at the time. Sounds like another car manufacturing defect to me.

Child Killed By Rolling Car

Posted: 7:41 am EST February 18, 2010
Updated: 8:43 am EST February 18, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. -- Investigators will be checking out a Fayette County family's car on Thursday after the vehicle apparently slipped out of park, hitting and killing the family's 6-year-old boy.

The Chrysler Sebring was parked in the driveway of the home in the 500 block of Westbridge Drive in Fayetteville Wednesday afternoon when it began rolling, according to investigators.

The car stopped against a tree after hitting the child.

"The Chrysler was found without the keys in the ignition," said Major Bryan Woodie of the Fayette County Sheriffs Office.

The victim's 9-year-old sister was in the car during the incident, but "her presence is not believed to be a factor," said Woodie.

No charges are expected to be filed, officials said.

Toyota Has No Other Options Now After Recall

2010-02-09T19:57:02Z

It was bad enough that Toyota had recalled hundreds of thousands of newer models of their best-selling Camry and the Corolla and Tundra and certain Lexus models for sudden uncontrolled accelleration. That recall, blamed by Toyota executives as being caused by defective rubber floormats, affected 3.8 million vehicles that contained certain all-weather floor mats. Then Toyota issued another recall for 2.3 million Toyota vehicles, including 600,000 that were not subject to the prior floor mat recall due to an actual mechanical problem that was causing some gas pedals to stick. Which begs the question: was the TRUE problem with the first 3.8 million cars really to blame on the floor mat? Or was this a convenient excuse for what was really an accellerator problem from the get-go? Knowing Toyota Execs, count on the latter.

But now, in the MackDaddy of all Recalls, Toyota has recalled its Star of the Show, the Prius, Toyota said Tuesday it would recall 437,000 of its 2010 flagship Prius hybrid and other gas-electric models worldwide to fix a glitch in the braking system, as the Japanese automaker moved to contain a crisis over defects in a range of its vehicles. Toyota says its only a software problem, which may be true, but are we to trust them?

I have found myself in the last couple of weeks avoiding driving near or around Toyotas on the street. I will switch lanes rather than dare be behind one. I do not own a Toyota, but I can imagine Toyota owners faced with the moral dilemma: "Do I drive my Camry to work and risk killing myself, a loved one or another person? Or do I put it in the garage, continue to make monthly payments on a car I cannot drive and try to find alternate transportation?" Toyota, you've got some explaining to do!

And it's not just ONE problem. There are complaints of power steering problems, braking problems, sudden acceleration problems, and other problems. Which one does your Toyota have? The vast array of complaints is in and of itself scary.

Probably the wreck that first made many of us plaintiff's personal injury lawyers suspicious of the Toyota/Lexus Corporate line that it was merely a "floormat" problem causing sudden, uncontrollable accelleration was the horrible wreck in Santee, California, in which a family of four was killed, including a California Highway Patrol Officer who was driving a Lexus ES 350. He called 911 to report his car was accellerating out of control, they could not get their brakes to work and they could not stop the Lexus. At first, after this tragedy, Toyota blamed it on a floormat causing the accelerator to stick. But immediately I thought that CAN'T be right, because if anyone would know how to pull out a floormat to get the accellerator unstuck it would be a State Highway Patrol Officer. It just didn't make any sense what Toyota wanted us to believe.

There are allegations that Toyota knew of these problems long ago but kept its corporate mouth (so to speak) shut, and their corporate fingers (so to speak) crossed, that "hey, maybe we'll get lucky and no one will say anything while we continue to makes hundreds of millions of U.S. Dollars off the back of American workers!!!" There are also allegations raised that NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knew about the Toyota problems a long time ago. If true, this raises the old question of whether NHTSA is too closely alligned with car manufacturers to consider doing anything that's in the best interests of the American Motoring Public.

Well, I watch with great interest. My guess is for there to be any justice gained in this whole mess, it will be up to a trial lawyer to achieve it.

Bill Banning Texting While Driving (TWD) Introduced in Georgia House

2010-01-20T19:29:28Z

Two Georgia lawmakers are proposing a ban on texting behind the wheel that could make the practice illegal for all drivers.

State Reps. Allen Peake and Amos Anderson have introduced bills to prohibit the practice and come with a fine and driver’s license penalties. If the law passes, it would go into effect on July 1 and make Georgia the 20th state to outlaw texting while driving. Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Virginia and Washington are among the 19 states that ban text messages for all drivers. Nine states ban text messaging for teen drivers.

Peake says the bill is a step in the right direction for Georgia. He stopped short of a total ban on cell phone use and says the legislation addresses the “more dangerous” practice of texting.

Representative Mary Margaret Oliver introduced another such ban last session in House Bill 23. There was no explanation why these two Representatives felt the need to introduce an entirely new bill when House Bill 23 accomplishes the same thing. House Bill 23 has already been passed by the House and awaits action from the Senate.

America's New Deadly Obsession: Texting While Driving

2010-01-16T16:20:40Z

My consistent readers know I have been on a crusade to eliminate Texting
While Driving (TWD) here in Georgia. I will be offering my assistance to Georgia Legislators interested in passing that bill this session. Seems lots of folks are getting on the TWD bandwagon now, including Oprah. This is wonderful news because Oprah seems to have the Midas Touch...she makes things happen. Please watch Monday's Oprah at 4:00 p.m. on WSBTV (Channel 2) entitled "This Show Could Save Your Life: America's New Deadly Obsession." As I was traveling down I-85 South coming home from my daughter's basketball game this morning, I saw a woman in a red Chrysler Sebring hard-top convertible going about 75 m.p.h., texting with her arms outstretched stuck through her steering wheel. Scary!! I hope she will be on watching Monday.

Texting While Driving Proposed Legislation in Georgia Legislature

2010-01-15T11:28:02Z

Many of you know that texting while driving has been one of my pet peeves for awhile. Studies have shown that texting while driving makes a driver about as impaired as if he or she were intoxicated. Unfortunately, unlike drinking while driving, texting while driving is not (yet) illegal in the State of Georgia.

Check out House Bill 23, a proposed piece of legislation that would make it illegal to text while driving. I intend to work with the sponsors of this bill to help it move forward. It passed the Georgia House last session and now is sitting in the Georgia Senate. I will keep you updated on its progress during the Georgia General Assembly 2010 session.

The Alaimo Way: Georgia Federal Judge One of the Greats

2010-01-14T13:00:47Z

I have written often in the past about Judge Anthony Alaimo, a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia, who the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association honored with its first Anthony Alaimo Guardian of Justice Award last year. Judge Alaimo passed at the end of 2009. Put simply, there will never be another person like him. Below is a column that appeared in the Augusta Chronicle about this Great American. The Alaimo way Groundbreaking federal judge set a gold standard for the bench Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff Wednesday, January 13, 2010 U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Alaimo wasn't some judge who delivered generic up-or-down decisions from an unfeeling bench. He helped shape the very culture of the legal profession and the judiciary in Georgia. If you heard the man's life described, you almost would think you were hearing the plot of a movie. In a way, you would - more about that in a bit. When Alaimo died Dec. 30 at age 89, Georgia lost perhaps its most eminently fair jurist. Atlanta civil rights attorney Robert Cullen, who had argued many cases before Alaimo, described the judge in later years as "something of a folk hero in the white and the black communities. He was an extraordinary jurist who did extraordinary things." How powerful is Alaimo's legacy? When the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association created its Award for Judicial Excellence in 2008, it not only gave the very first award to Alaimo, they named the award in his honor. At that first ceremony, Augusta attorney John C. Bell Jr. summed up the high points of Alaimo's career as "shining examples for the bench, the bar and for every soul lucky enough to claim that title 'citizen of the United States of America.' " Alaimo came to America as a toddler in 1922 with his Sicilian immigrant parents, and in Jamestown, N.Y., he grew into a young man who embraced hard work and solid moral values. He cut hair and shined shoes to help put himself through college. And like many patriotic young men of the Greatest Generation, he served his country in World War II, as a B-26 bomber pilot. We mentioned a movie plot before. Alaimo was the only member of his flight crew to survive when his plane was shot down in 1943. While imprisoned by the Germans, he helped fellow prisoners tunnel to freedom in a daring breakout that was immortalized in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He engineered his own great escape from another prison camp in 1945. After graduating from Emory University with a law degree in 1948, he practiced with distinction in Atlanta and Brunswick. But it wasn't until after he was confirmed for the federal bench in 1971 that he began striking his greatest blows for fairness and equality. Perhaps his best-known decision was in the historic 1972 Guthrie v. Evans case, which spurred sweeping prison reforms, starting with the then-notoriously corrupt, rat-infested, sewage-swamped Georgia State Prison at Reidsville. His decisions dramatically improved the security, safety and basic privileges of prisoners. Closer to Augusta was the landmark Rogers v. Lodge case in 1982, which confronted election procedures that Alaimo found were unfairly diluting minority voting strength in Burke County - a decision reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as the Southern District of Georgia's chief federal judge from 1976 to 1990, assuming senior judge status the following year. And through it all, he set a pace and a tone in the legal community that stressed decorum, respect and, above all, justice. Augusta attorney David Hudson counts himself among the fortunate who began practicing in front of Alaimo. "We were expected to be professional, courteous and prepared," he said. "He was a marvelous mentor to all of us who learned to try cases the Alaimo way." Sadly, the "Alaimo way" can no longer be witnessed firsthand, only hopefully emulated by others. This fine judge truly will be missed. From the Wednesday, January 13, 2010 edition of the Augusta Chronicle

Giovanni Santos Gets New Kidney Through Paired Donor Program

2010-01-13T20:31:40Z

Finds Compatible Donors Across The Country
Read Comments (1)Recommend Print Article Email Article Larger Smaller Updated 1/12/2010 6:21:02 PM
Marc Pickard

Giovanni Santos was out of options.
The nine year old Buford, Georgia boy had already received a kidney from his grandmother... which was now failing.
And though his mother and father qualified as donors, cruel circumstances prevented Giovanni from getting kidneys from them.
All looked bleak, until the Santos family was told about a new donor program that could save Giovanni's life.

Giovanni Santos was going to Children's Healthcare at Egleston, one more time.
His last trip there ended in disappointment.

"We felt like we were doing all the right things" said Giovanni's father Peterson, "but at that point we felt like there wasn't any...any other resolution available at that time. And all of our cards were played."

His kidneys failing, Giovanni's prospects were dismal.

"He had antibodies against about ninety nine percent of the population" explained Dr. Chris Larsen, director of Emory hospital's transplant center. "So we were looking at a really difficult situation to find him a donor."

But doctor Larsen was aware of a new program that could find potential kidney donors anywhere in America.

"We worked with a center in Texas" Dr. Larsen said, "who had the same situation but their donor was actually a match for Giovanni. And Michelle turned out to be a match for their recipient."

Giovanni's mother Michelle donated her kidney to a recipient in Texas. Someone in that family donated a kidney to Giovanni.

Michelle has recovered from her surgery.
She remembers the first time she saw her son, last week, after both their operations.

"it was just a great moment" recalled Michelle Santos, "because I knew I was going to see a healthy little boy."

Throughout the day, hospital staff came by to make sure that Giovanni could go home.

"We're just ecstatic" said Peterson Santos. "We're very pleased and happy. And it's a great way for us to start two thousand ten."

Giovanni is anxious to go home for more than the obvious reasons...there's his dialysis machine.

"I'm going to ask my dad if I can get a hammer" a mischievous Giovanni said. "I'm going to get a hammer and (smash it) ...because I'm tired of that."

Because of this special...and new...donor program... As many as two thousand people, who might otherwise be waiting for a kidney, could now get one.

"Someone driving in to see their doctor in Texas" Dr. Larsen said, "the last thing in their mind is that they're going to be able to be helped by a family in Atlanta to share their kidney. And likewise, they're going to be able to help a young child."

Giovanni Santos will still have to make regular visits to children's healthcare of Atlanta...and will take medication for years to come.
But he can spend more time with his friends...and soon he'll play soccer again.

Giovanni is going home...with a health kidney...two days before his tenth birthday.

He was asked how important it was going to be, to be at his birthday with a healthy kidney.
"A lot" he said. "I finally got my kidney. And this is a good birthday gift."

But before his birthday...Giovanni has some business to attend to...something about a dialysis machine.

Georgia Physicians Shouldn't Get Special Treatment Over All Other Georgia Citizens

2010-01-11T13:49:35Z

How many hoops should you have to jump through to get justice? It's a fair question that many people struggle with. Recently, the CEO of a Georgia medical services company suggested in a guest column in the Atlanta Journal and Consitution on Friday, January 8, 2010, that to be really sure that Georgians who have been harmed by negligent medical care are worthy of justice we should subject them to one more hoop. Not coincidentally, it's a hoop that benefits only medical professionals and insurance companies – the only two interest groups that profit when injured patients are prevented from securing justice. What this CEO has proposed is that, instead of allowing victims of medical malpractice the same Constitutional Right to Trial by Jury enjoyed by all other Georgians, people harmed by medical malpractice would have to get permission to have a jury trial from a “screening panel” comprised of members of the medical and insurance industries, the same entities that want to avoid compensating injured patients. This approach is wrong and adds an unnecessary, ineffective layer to our civil justice system. The fact is all medical malpractice cases brought in Georgia have already been through multiple screening hoops. The first hoop is that you have to have had something very bad happen as a result of malpractice. Your next hoop is that you have to find a lawyer willing and able to take your case. That lawyer will tell you that there is another, special hoop that protects only professionals charged with negligence. In order to pass through that hoop, the patient must find a medical professional willing to publicly criticize their colleague and sign a document swearing that malpractice happened. So far your case has been screened three times: Something bad happens. You find a lawyer who will invest in helping you find justice. And, you find another doctor who agrees that there was malpractice and is willing to say so. Then there’s a fourth screening before you can have a jury hear your case: the judge must screen the case, too. Our Founding Fathers created the world's best independent screening panels when they imbedded the right to a trial by jury in our Constitution. You are entitled to a jury of your peers, not a two step process, the first of which is a trial by jury of the defendant's colleagues. We trust the people of our communities to fairly resolve our disputes when we are unable to resolve them ourselves. The CEO cites an approach tried in Maine as being the right fit for us here in Georgia. He fails to mention that this approach is regularly criticized by the Supreme Court of Maine as being inadequate and harmful to the people of Maine. He cites, as a reason for needing “screening panels,” a Georgia case involving a plastic surgeon who carelessly destroyed the blood supply to a woman’s face and left her horribly disfigured. He suggests that this woman – who was horribly injured through no fault of her own and who successfully navigated all of the legal hurdles to hold the wrongdoer accountable for herself and other patients – has not done enough. He says she needs to clear yet another hurdle to prove herself worthy of a jury trial. The suggestion is outrageous and it serves no purpose but to deny those who have been harmed their fair measure of justice. Why should patients who have been harmed by medical malpractice have to go through two trials when everyone else only has to go through one? Why should medical professionals get special treatment? It's a question with an obvious answer: They shouldn't.

Paired Donor Program for Kidney Transplant a Miracle

2010-01-05T16:33:09Z

Some of you may remember a blog post I wrote several months ago about Giovanni Santos, a young man here in Georgia who desperately needed a new kidney. Giovanni has been undergoing dialysis every day to keep him alive until a donor kidney turned up for him. Well, today is the day. Through the remarkable "paired donor" program, Giovanni will receive a kidney from a non-relative somewhere in Texas who matches Giovanni and simultaneously, the family in Texas will receive a kidney from Michelle Santos, Giovanni's mom, whose kidney didn't match her son's but did match the person who needs a new kidney in Texas. Amazing, isn't it? Please keep the Santos Family and their surgeons in your prayers so that all goes well and keep the Texas Family in your prayers, also. Below is an article published by 11Alive.com on the surgeries occuring today in two states.

You can learn more about the paired donation program at the Paired Donation Alliance. In 2009 People Magazine honored 20 individuals as the People Most Unselfish Heroes of the Year who created the longest kidney donation chain ever. Another amazing story!!

He's Finally Going To Get The Healthy Kidney He Desperately Needs
Read Comments (4)Recommend Print Article Email Article Larger Smaller Updated 1/4/2010 8:23:11 PM
Marc Pickard

Usually, when we follow the story of a child needing an organ transplant it has a happy ending.
But when we told you about nine year old Giovanni (joe-vahn-ee) Santos last summer the news wasn't good.
Born with failing kidneys...transplanted with one of his grandmother's ...Giovanni (joe-vahn-ee) endured a series of hardships that left him without any functioning kidneys.
We heard from Giovanni's mother today.

With no healthy kidneys...Giovanni Santos doesn't get to take many trips.
But he is taking one today.

It has been a struggle for Giovanni since the summer...when efforts to have his mother and then his father donate their kidneys failed.
He has been on home dialysis.

"Dialysis has taken a toll on him" related Giovanni's mother Michelle. "It unfortunately is not working as well as they had hoped."

They have asked the rest of their family...and their friends to test to be donors.

"There was no match to be found" Michelle Santos said.

Then, through Emory hospital, they learned of something called the "pair donor" program.

"You would give your kidney to another family.....it's anonymous" said Michelle Santos. "And they would donate to your family member."

Yesterday, the Santos got a phone call.

"So we got the call yesterday from our doctor" an excited Michelle said, "that we have a match. And we are going to transplant."

Tomorrow, Michelle Santos will have a kidney removed and sent to a recipient in Texas...and that same family in Texas will send a kidney to Giovanni at children's healthcare at Egleston.

"What does that mean to you? Giovanni was asked. "I mean...that's mostly the biggest present. Biggest. Taller than this house" he answered. "better than anything you got for Christmas?" "Yes."

Giovanni (joe-vahn-ee) Santos will celebrate his tenth birthday at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta while recuperating from his kidney transplant.
He told us that's fine...because getting a new kidney will be the best birthday present he could ever get.

It will also give Giovanni a life no longer tied to a dialysis machine...more time with friends.

"I get to play with my friends more often. Get a sleep-over. Cause I hate when I have to leave. I.........hate...........it" Giovanni said. "But I can stay longer". "And play?" He was asked. "Yeah" "And have fun?" "Yeah" "And be with your friends?" "Yes."

Getting a kidney means a lot to Giovanni.
And it means a lot to his friends.
They want him to stay longer too.

]]>

Don't Drink and Drive on New Year's Eve: Take a Cab!

2009-12-30T17:59:41Z

Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve, a night when those who have had too much to drink from celebrating the New Year will, undoubtedly, be out on the road. This is known to be such a dangerous night to drive that a funeral home in Rome, Georgia is actually offering a free burial to anyone who dies from driving drunk tomorrow night. No joke! I can assure you the Georgia State Patrol is preparing for tomorrow night. They will have various random road blocks to check for possible DUI's and they will arrest plenty of intoxicated drivers.

December is “Drunk and Drugged Driver Awareness Month” in Georgia as holiday parties can increase the number of impaired drivers on the state’s roads. Leading into the Christmas and New Year’s weekends, Georgia State Troopers and officers with the Motor Carrier Compliance Division will concentrate on intercepting impaired drivers on the roads before they can cause a traffic crash. In what is one of the more morbid activities performed by the Georgia State Patrol, the GSP predicts during Holiday driving periods how many Georgia drivers are likely to be killed in motor vehicle accidents. For example, The State Patrol predicted 16 people would die
during the Christmas holiday weekend, which turned out to be safer than expected on Georgia roads. Twelve people were killed during the 78 hour period. Likewise, The Georgia State Patrol predicts that 16 people will be killed in wrecks over the 78 hour New Year's holiday period, which begins at 6 PM Thursday. Many of those traffic fatalities will involve drinking. Roughly one-third of the traffic deaths each year in Georgia involve an alcohol or drug impaired driver. The Georgia State Patrol has "Nighthawks" division, the Nighthawk DUI Task Force, which was recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the outstanding DUI team in the nation in 2005. The Nighthawks patrol the roads of Georgia looking to find DUI drivers and get them off our roads.

Do your part in keeping our roads safe. If you are out drinking, take a cab home. This is made easier if you have the name and telephone number of a local cab company already programmed into your cellphone. Do this before you go out tomorrow night. Another option is to call Safe Ride America. Safe Ride America is a non-profit driver for hire company. Visit them at http://saferideamerica.org/ Safe ride will drive you and your car to your home or hotel, so no worries about leaving your car in some parking lot overnight in Buckhead. A third option: stay home and celebrate with your family. Who better to bring in the New Year with than your family?

Enjoy New Year's Eve, be safe and Happy New Year to you and your family.