October 14, 2011 in Legal, Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Study Highlights Medical Malpractice Lawsuits and True Amount of Medical Errors

The hot debate over tort reform usually involves frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits. If a medical negligence case goes to court, it is not frivolous.

It may sound incredibly simple to just state that medical malpractice lawsuits can be frivolous. This however, comes from a point of view of someone who has no idea what it involves to take a medical malpractice case to court. The enormous amount of time needed to vet a medical malpractice case, study the patient records, line up expert witnesses, and more instantly signifies that a case is not frivolous.

Medical malpractice lawyers do not waste their time on cases that are merely bad outcomes with a doctor. They do however, take cases that involve medical negligence that harmed someone permanently, and they take a case because they know it has merit, and the court needs to hear it. Lawyers are also seeking justice for the patient who ended up with a life they no longer recognize as a result of medical malpractice.

If you do not believe either side of the hot debate over tort reform, take some time to track down and read the study published by the New England Journal of Medicine a few short years ago. It has information in it that will pique your interest. In particular, it answers the question regarding how many patients bring a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The basis of the study involves five malpractice insurance companies across the U.S. and examines 1,452 different claims. The claims include medication errors, surgical errors, obstetrical mistakes and other issues such as delayed or missed diagnosis. Those are the main areas that comprise roughly 80 percent of all of the medical malpractice claims in the U.S. today.

Perhaps the most interesting fact gleaned from the statistics is that filing a claim and the subsequent litigation tends to show whether an error really did occur. In other words, it is not so much that lawyers take shaky cases to court, but that it is becoming increasingly difficult for plaintiffs and attorneys to figure out what really happened to the patient before a claim is filed. This has a down side as you can imagine, in that medicine is becoming more and more complex, thus increasing the number of chances for something to go wrong. The question then becomes how it went wrong and who caused the error.

Overall, the researchers in this study concluded that the oft-used political cry of frivolous lawsuits is exaggerated. What seems to be the real issue is that when a case did land in court and the dust settled, there was no medical error. That means the attorney took the case in good faith and was certain there was an issue to be settled. Only later when all the documentation was on the table for examination did it turn out there was no medical error, but instead a bad outcome without doctor negligence. The statistics are very clear though that the major portion of malpractice costs were spent litigating and paying for errors that did happen.

The other interesting find is that the justice system does a good job of booting out medical malpractice cases that have no merit. In other words, if the system really has a glitch in it, then the glitch is in favor of the plaintiff (arguably a good thing).

There is no question that litigating medical malpractice is expensive, but one way or the other, they bring justice where it needs to be served.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

October 12, 2011 in Legal, Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Car Accident Causes Bizarre Motorcycle Crash and Serious Injuries

The strangest things happen when you least expect them. This accident caused people to shake their heads at the reckless driving involved.

Many people love riding a motorcycle because they are less expensive to operate than a car, and you feel the freedom of the road even more. But in this instance, a motorcyclist was out for a ride, and saw a speeding Volkswagen that lost control and hit a power pole.

If that is not bad enough, when the car hit the pole it snapped in two and the power lines landed in the street – but not before they slapped the biker across the neck and chest, causing him to lose control of his motorcycle.

Interestingly enough, the police on the scene of this reported accident decided to treat each accident as being separate. The biker might just want to pursue a case with a personal injury lawyer.

If the car was not speeding, then the accident would likely not have happened, unless the driver was texting, talking on his cell phone or fiddling with something on his dashboard. Given those various scenarios, it is entirely possible that the car driver was distracted while driving and the biker’s severe injuries would have been prevented.

The police report would give an Atlanta personal injury lawyer details on what was found at the scene of the accident. This could be a live cell phone with an open connection to someone or a partially completed text message. And, if booze was involved, this would be a whole other issue. Nonetheless, the plaintiff motorcyclist has the right to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover costs for his medical and other expenses as a result of the accident.

Have you been in a similar accident and do not know what to do? Call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer who knows what it is like to recover from an accident and what injuries may affect you in the long-term.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

September 29, 2011 in Legal, Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Motorcycle Helmet Debate Continues as Injuries and Deaths Still Occur

The debate over whether to wear a helmet on a motorcycle never ends. Some want wind-tousled hair, others desire safety. It does not matter who you talk to as everyone has an opinion about motorcycle helmets. They save lives. They do not save lives. Largely, the question boils down to what kind of helmet the biker was wearing and the nature of the accident, because honestly there will be some accidents that leave a biker dead, helmet or not. The most important thing to remember though is that there are solid statistics that show helmets do reduce the severity of brain trauma if they are the safety rated and approved ones.

This great helmet debate has been around just about as long as motorbikes have been, although some states do not have helmet laws or age based helmet laws. Michigan, for example, just passed a law that would make it illegal for bikers under the age of 21 to ride without a helmet. The ramifications of that will certainly make an impact in ERs across the state.

What is at the root of this debate? On one side are the bikers who see being forced to wear a helmet as a personal affront, treating it as their right to strike a blow against insurance companies and medical groups who both insist that repealing the helmet law would result in more fatalities. In actual fact, the number of accidents may remain the same, but the outcome of those accidents may vary according to the safety orientation of the biker.

Closer to the truth is a nugget of biker wisdom that says helmets or not, bikers are still dying and getting hurt and the only way to really not meet the Grim Reaper is to not get into an accident. That is a bit of a “duh” statement, as it is a well-known fact that if a motorcycle gets into a crash with another vehicle, the biker is not going to fare well in the outcome, helmet or not.

This is not to say that helmets do not reduce the severity of brain trauma, because they do. It just means, accidents will still happen, helmets or not. People will still die, helmets or not. However, the severity of the head injuries may be reduced, thus offering a biker a second chance. Often that is worth gold to the surviving biker.

Nationally there were more than 2,000 bikers still alive at the end of the year thanks to a helmet. On the other hand, in states where the motorcycle helmet law was repealed entirely (Texas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana,), bikers deaths rose.

Will medical costs rise as a result of a repealed helmet law? Will insurance companies pay out more money as a result of more crashes involving bikers without helmets? These are interesting questions to take into consideration. Perhaps the true key to this conundrum is slowing down, taking care to avoid accidents and be alert at all times. Unfortunately, not everyone drives safely.

Have you been in a motorcycle accident and do not know what your rights are? Do not wait to find out. Get on the phone and contact a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You can ask as many questions as you like in the first consultation. It is the best thing you could possibly do for your peace of mind.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

September 27, 2011 in Legal, Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Motorcycle Accidents Typically Result in Death

It is a sad statistic that motorcycle accidents usually end in death. If they don’t, the alternative is not always the best result either.

There are normally two outcomes after a motorcycle accident – death or life-altering, catastrophic injuries. For the fortunate few who walk away from a bike crash, they are very lucky. Certainly, there is the odd case where the biker sustains injuries they can and do recover from, but they are never quite the same again. It is hard to imagine any other kind of result when something as unprotected as a motorcycle ends up tangling with another vehicle. For instance, take the case of Johnee B (names have been changed to protect the victims).

Johnee B was cruising on a Friday night when the unthinkable did happen. He slammed into the side of a car in the middle of an intersection. He made it to the hospital alive, but did not leave their care. He died the next day. The two people in the car were rushed to hospital with injuries. It is hard to imagine a biker hitting a car so hard that it injured those inside, but it shows the seriousness of these collisions.

Police at the scene of the accident were able to interview eyewitnesses to the crash who indicated the biker was speeding and had zipped through two stop signs without looking or even slowing down. Was this the deliberate choice of the biker or was the throttle stuck open? The answer to this question is important, not only for the dead biker’s family but for the two occupants in the car he hit. It highlights the question of negligence (of the biker) for the injuries of the two in the car or the negligence of the manufacturer in the case of a stuck throttle (wrongful death filed by the family).

Or, consider the case of Clifton A (name has been changed to protect the victim) who was heading into the city to visit his girlfriend. He was going at highway speed when an elderly man turned right in front of him from a side road. He had no place else to go but right into the side post of the car on the passenger’s side. He hit so hard, he sustained severe traumatic brain injury, lost a part of his face, suffered a ruptured spleen, and damage to his liver and kidney, not to mention collapsed lungs, broken ribs and a crushed pelvis. His parents made it to the hospital in time to say goodbye. Was there negligence here? Yes, definitely when the man turned in front of oncoming traffic.

Would the biker’s family have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit? Yes. Even though the man may not have seen the biker, there was a duty incumbent on him to drive with the safety of all others in mind. That did not happen and the biker died.

Have you been in a similar situation to either of these cases? Do not waste time trying to figure out if you have a case or whether or not you are entitled to compensation for injuries – call an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney. Find out what your rights are, find out if you do have a case and find out if you would be entitled to recover compensation. It is a phone call that is well worth making.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

August 28, 2011 in Business, Legal Articles by jferris

Scissors jack crushes man’s head

This gruesome case demonstrates what a family goes through when they file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a deceased family member.

This reported case involved the wrongful death of a man by a defective car jack. To be more precise, a scissors car jack that was woefully inadequate in holding up the weight of the car the man was working on. The jack gave way and the vehicle landed on the man’s head, crushing it instantly.

The family chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Ford Motor Company for making a defective jack that could not bear the weight of the vehicle. The case told a heartbreaking story of their husband and father, attempting to make repairs to the family Ford Windstar minivan. He used the scissors jack, an original piece of equipment that was made to go with the van. He was working on the right side of the van to remove the right front tire.

He was a careful guy and took the time to put chocks behind each tire, made sure the van was on a flat surface and put the jack in precisely the location indicated in the vehicle manual. The jack failed, dropping the van on his head. The lawsuit stated that Ford, the defendant, was negligent, had sold a defective product, and was accused of a manufacturing defect, design defect, marketing defect, misrepresentation and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.

The suit also contended the scissors jacks that came with the vehicles were badly constructed, far too short and were not capable of lifting the weight of the van. The lawsuit asks for damages for the deceased’s physical impairment as a result of the van dropping on his head, for the sheer agony he endured, the mental anguish he felt, the medical bills, the death expenses and funeral costs. As a family they are seeking damages for pain and suffering, loss of income, loss of consortium, mental anguish and court costs plus interest.

Will the family win this case? There is a good chance they will, given the nature of the evidence. If there is further proof that the jack sold with the van was defective, the jury will likely award the family a decent settlement. This wrongful death lawsuit will not be easy for the family, who saw what happened the day of the accident. They fought back the horror of the injuries to help their husband and dad, realizing that he was in serious trouble. Despite their hopes, he did not survive this horrific trauma. His family now needs financial compensation to be able to move forward with their lives.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

August 27, 2011 in Business, Legal Articles by jferris

Middle Class Americans Caught In The Middle Of Tort Reform

In an interesting turn of events, a Harvard law professor suggests it’s about time lawyers did something about how they are perceived. Too much time is spent protecting jurisdictions instead of solving problems.

Unfortunately, there is a prevailing myth that lawyers are ambulance chasers and take frivolous cases to court to get paid big bucks. There are a number of things wrong with that thought. First, most lawyers do not chase ambulance for business. Most of them have more than they can handle at any given time. Secondly, while there may be some cases that seem questionable on first blush in terms of being successful in court, typically, a lawyer takes a case because there appears to be merit in it and/or a point of law.

As for making big bucks, that is not the case. Many lawyers get a portion of a settlement on winning for a client; a portion that goes right back into the firm to help it represent other clients who need them. Granted big cases sometimes have big wins, but it should be remembered that a big firm with a big case and a big track record for winning, will also have big office overhead.

But back to the concept that lawyers need to change how they are perceived. There may well be some truth in that observation. The law professor went on to point out that not much time is spent preventing problems in the justice system, because everyone is too busy protecting their behinds. How does that impact on lawyers? If you want the justice system to work in any given state, the money to do that has to come from the legislature. If the legislature perceives lawyers as money-grubbing talking heads out just for fame and fortune, state courts will continue to face underfunding and staggering case loads.

Justice is needed at all levels of the legal system, but as it exists right now, the middle class are slammed between a rock and a hard place when it comes to medical malpractice lawsuits. In many states, there has been med mal caps implemented that are designed to cap damages for victims of medical negligence. For those plaintiffs who are so severely injured that they need care for the rest of their lives, capping medical malpractice damages is an outrageous travesty of justice.

What is even more frightening is that there are also some states that are currently contemplating bringing in a loser pays law. Think about that for a minute. The seriously injured victim goes to court with a medical malpractice case and for some reason, the case is lost. The loser pays approach would mean the victim would pay the price, twice. Once as a victim of medical negligence and for the second time as a severely injured victim who lost a court case. And the victim gets huge sums of money from where?

What is happening here is that these kinds of restrictive laws are trying to scare victims away; victims that don’t have the ability to access money to pursue a valid claim in court. What does that say about the justice system?

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

August 5, 2011 in Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Driving Without Due Care and Attention Kills Biker

A biker is killed, thanks to the inattention of another driver. He never stood a chance.

Bikers face the very real consideration that every time they go out for a ride, they may never come home. There are too many things that can happen out on the road; things that may be fatal. That’s what happened in this case.

The police report indicated that a black Nissan Versa 4-door sedan was heading south on the highway in the second lane from the left in an area where there were four southbound lanes. In the next lane, which would be lane number three, there was a Kawasaki motorcycle. This means that the biker was in the lane to the right of the Nissan and therefore just about parallel to the car’s passenger door.

Suddenly, the Nissan went to change lanes and hit the biker on the left side. The impact sent the bike, and the 48-year-old rider, straight into an exit ramp area, where the bike slammed into an interchange exit sign. There were motorcycle parts and debris all over the road when the first responders arrived. While the biker was alive at the time, he died later in hospital; a victim of his injuries.

In the Nissan driver’s favor, he stayed at the scene of the accident and the police feel there were no drugs or alcohol involved. This is not to say that there may not have been something else that caused the 61-year-old driver to veer into the biker; for instance, driving while distracted or a mechanical failure involving the steering wheel or tires.

What caused the accident will certainly be under investigation, until the police get a good sense of what happened that deadly day. In the meantime, the biker’s family will likely want to talk to a personal injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

If this accident had happened in Georgia, the family would most likely speak to a seasoned Atlanta personal injury lawyer; someone with significant experience dealing with motorcycle accidents. They know all about drivers who claim they did not see the victim. An Atlanta personal injury lawyer also has the skills and knowledge to garner the required evidence and deal with the insurance companies.

When it comes to wrongful death actions, the lawyer will guide the family through the process with sensitivity and explain to them what they can expect when their case does go to court. These lawsuits are never easy, but if the family has any hope of moving forward, they may need financial compensation to do so.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

August 4, 2011 in Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Nursing Home Abuse Leads to Death and a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The nursing home in this case had a long history of providing poor treatment to its residents. The outcome was the death of patient.

The family in this case chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit to set the record straight and to try and improve things for others at the nursing home where their relative died. Shockingly, the nursing home in question had an established track record of being on a federal watch list as a special focus facility. This was not for good reasons. It was because it had an awful record and needed to be watched carefully. Unfortunately, that did not help the victim in this story.

The elderly gentleman in this nursing home developed bedsores and a variety of other skin conditions that led to necrotic tissue, breathing difficulties, osteomyelitis and ulcers. Any one of these medical conditions on their own would have been bad enough, but cumulatively, they caused the man’s death. This should not have happened, as these conditions are highly preventable with proper care. Rather than getting that care, the man got substandard and lackluster nursing from staff that led to his demise.

The man’s wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit and ultimately named not just the nursing home staff and management, but the owners of the facility, who turned a blind eye to what was happening there and did nothing to stop the rampant abuse. The really sad part about this story is that there are more nursing homes just like this one across the country. One may even be just down the road from where you live. One of them may even be where your loved one is currently living.

Do you know what is going on in the nursing home where your family member is living? If you do not know, it is time you made it your business to find out what is going on there, before it may be too late and you are dealing with the death of your relative. There is no way that our seniors should be allowed to live in conditions like that because those tasked with their care fail to keep them safe.

If you have suspicions about what is going on in a local nursing home, or you have lost a loved family member due to neglect and abuse, speak to a compassionate and skilled Atlanta injury lawyer. If you want justice for the suffering of your loved one, an Atlanta injury lawyer will guide you through the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

While many lawsuits such as this tend to take time to make their way through the courts, if the suit acts as a comeuppance to the owners and staff at the nursing home and helps others still residing there, you have accomplished something to be proud of in memory of your lost family member.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

August 3, 2011 in Business, Criminal Defense, Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Wrongful Death And Medical Malpractice Lawsuits May Go Hand In Hand

Often, death due to medical malpractice results in a wrongful death lawsuit.

In this case, a medical doctor was sued for wrongful death and malpractice in the death of a well-known professional golfer. The father of the deceased, on behalf of her estate, filed the complaint. After a year-long investigation into the suicide of the young woman golfer, the father indicated in his lawsuit that he felt the doctor was directly responsible for his daughter’s death because of what he did and did not do; meaning he did things he should not have done and did not do things he should have done.

Evidently, although the woman also played golf with the doctor named as defendant in the lawsuit, she was also a patient of his. He was the last person to see the woman alive, and even though he called 911, he removed all drugs from her premises and also took her suicide note. The woman had been on multiple prescription drugs, including anti-anxiety meds, pain meds, and cough and headache medications. The coroner ruled her death a suicide due to asphyxia and the overload of drugs she had in her system at the time of her death.

The doctor pled guilty to obstruction of justice for taking evidence from the scene and was sentenced to a year’s probation and 40 hours of community service. None of this would bring the young woman back, and the family, hoping that this would never happen to anyone else, chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit on the heels of the man’s criminal conviction.

Wrongful death is not usually about getting even with the person or persons involved in the death. It is usually about the family not wanting anyone else to experience what happened to their loved one. It is about closure and moving forward in the memory of the deceased. It is also about insurance money that will help the family cope financially and be able to get on with their lives. They have sustained a significant loss emotionally and psychologically with the death of their daughter. They need not also suffer a financial loss to compound their devastation.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

August 2, 2011 in Legal Articles, Personal Injury by jferris

Business Law Is Far More Important Than You May Realize

You do not realize how important business law is until you have a contract dispute. Business is the backbone of America.

If you stop to think about it, one of the main things that keeps society functioning and on track is business law, especially business transactions, contracts, agreements, the building of new companies, corporations, etc. Governing all this commerce is business law; call it overseeing the world of business if you will.

Without business law in place, the world would be a much tougher place to regulate and run because there would be no contracts and no one to uphold contracts and hold people to their word. It would mean business would run without any repercussions or consequences for those who did not live up to their promises. Unfortunately, even though a lot of people would follow through on their promises, they are just as many more who would rip the system and others off. This is why you need business law.

You may know business law as commercial law. Its usual definition is that it governs business and commercial transaction and is a branch of civil law, handling issues in the public and private sectors. Under this umbrella you will find an enormous range of legal issues and lawyers that deal with things like white-collar crimes (a criminal issue, not civil) and insider trading.

On the other side of the business/commercial law fence you would have corporate contracts, hiring practices and the manufacture/sales of consumer goods, etc.  When dealing with contract law, unarguably the largest arena in business law, you would typically be writing contracts, supervising their signing, ensuring they are worded correctly and filing a lawsuit if there is a breach of the contract. Just about everything we do today involves a contract of some sort, whether it’s buying a house to renting a carpet cleaner.

When it comes to hiring, this is one of the trickier areas of law, particularly if a business has to let an employee go. In situations like this, if you do not have a carefully worded hiring/firing policy, you could be open to a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. Even with a handbook in place, you may still have legal issues. This is why you need the advice and counsel of a skilled Atlanta business lawyer.

Then, consider the world of manufacturing. It is not just the company that makes the product that has a part in the chain of commerce; there is also the designer, the shipper and the seller. Each link in the chain has contracts with the other links in the chain, and so it goes. Although they are largely invisible, those contracts are what glues everything together; keeping industry and commerce running smoothly and accountably.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.