Liability of Hospitality Firms for Deaths On Premises: Recent Court Cases and Methods for Prevention
Proprietors and employees need to be prepared when deaths occur in hospital ity establishments. Lawsuits involving deaths-both homicides and accidents—are frequent. Innkeepers and restaurateurs are held to a standard of ordinary care, with innkeepers having around-the-clock responsibilities and restaurateurs having re sponsibility for much shorter periods of time. Water, fire, food, alcoholic beverages, and vehicles are among the most common causes of accidental deaths. The outcomes of some cases hinge upon what constitutes proximate cause of death. Wrongful death and survival claims are the bases for remedies in death cases. Practical measures for reducing the likelihood of deaths and ensuing legal problems pertain to security, accident prevention, policy adoption and implementation, record keeping, employee training, and insurance coverage.
New Developments in Liquor Liability Law
Liquor liability laws remain in a state of flux. Some states are expanding their theories of liability while others are looking at ways to place limits on liability. This article examines the expansion of liquor liability laws in two ways: consideration of appellate court cases that address the question of who may be sued, and evaluations of two cases that predicated liability on a general duty of care. Finally, the possible implications of these cases for the hospitality industry are examined.
Intralesional Infiltration with Meglumine Antimoniate for the Treatment of Leishmaniasis Recidiva Cutis in Ecuador.
Meglumine Antimoniate (MA), administered intramuscularly for 21 continuous days is the recommended treatment of leishmaniases in Ecuador. However, because of its toxicity and requirement for intramuscular injections, treatment is frequently abandoned before completion. In addition, therapeutic failure and reactivation are not uncommon. Here we evaluate the efficacy and safety of MA administered intralesionally (IL) in leishmaniasis recidiva cutis (LRC). LRC is a special clinical variant of cutaneous leishmaniasis, characterized by reactivation at the edges of a primary cured lesion, presenting with active papules around the scar. Twenty-one patients were included in the study. All were diagnosed parasitologically by one of three diagnostic methods (smear, culture, and Leishmanin skin test). Each patient received MA intralesionally weekly for 4 weeks. Each papule was infiltrated until complete saturation. On average, patients received 1 mL of MA per administration. The criterion of cure was the complete resolution of the papules. Follow up was performed at 30, 90, and 180 days after treatment. At day 30 after treatment, 19 (90.5%) of 21 patients were clinically cured. The two patients, who did not heal by the fourth application, were cured on the seventh and eighth dose, achieving a clinical cure of 100% without subsequent reactivation. Mild to moderate local pain during infiltration was the only adverse reaction experienced by 81% of patients. In one case, subsequent infiltrations were discontinued because of a local allergic reaction. Complete compliance of patients to treatment and the small volume of drug administered make this method of administering MA an effective, safe, and inexpensive alternative. Consequently, IL could replace intramuscular administration in the treatment of LRC in Ecuador.