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Recent Blog Posts
Alcohol-Related Car Accidents Spike During the Holidays
For many people, the upcoming six weeks are the best time of the year. Getting together with friends and family to enjoy a special meal, exchange gifts, or simply catch up is a cherished part of the holiday season. Many of these holiday gatherings will also involve alcohol. Unfortunately, this means that there are more alcohol-impaired drivers on the roads during the holiday season. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that on average, about a third of fatal car accidents involve an alcohol-impaired driver. During the winter holiday season however, an astounding 60 percent of fatal traffic accidents involve a driver who was drinking. This holiday season, make a commitment not to drink and drive and take steps to keep you and your family as safe as possible on the roads.
Make a Transportation Plan Before Drinking
First, Do No Harm: Common Mistakes Made By Doctors and Other Medical Professionals
Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are some of the most trusted members of our society. Of course, medical professionals are human just like everyone else, and they sometimes make mistakes. Unfortunately, errors made by doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and other medical professionals can often have devastating consequences.
Negligence Must Be Proven in Medical Malpractice Claims
Before delving into the most common mistakes made by medical professionals, it is important to be clear about one point: medical malpractice only occurs when negligence occurs. A patient simply being unhappy with the results of a medical procedure or test cannot be reason enough to claim malpractice. Furthermore, a medical procedure or surgery which results in a negative outcome is not always the result of medical malpractice or doctor error. For example, when an individual receives an organ transplant, the organ is sometimes “rejected” by the patient’s body. This can happen for a myriad of reasons and is usually not related to any negligent acts by the surgeon or other hospital staff. In order for a successful medical malpractice claim to be made, negligence must be proven. A medical professional is negligent when he or she acts in a way which is not reasonably competent or skilled, and this carelessness leads to patient harm.
Evidence Shows Safest Seat During a Car Crash Differs for Adults and Children
From the beginning of automobile manufacturing, auto manufacturers have worried about safety. Motor vehicles are constantly being redesigned with increasingly effective safety features. Components like seatbelts, safety glass, and padded dashboards were among the first efforts at increased automobile safety. Airbags designed to cushion passengers in the event of a car crash were another significant addition to automobile design. More recently, experts have been working to understand how these safety features work together to prevent passenger injury during a traffic accident. Insurance companies and automakers are continuously analyzing data in an attempt to answer the question, “Which seat is the safest to be in during a car crash?”
The Rear Middle Seat Is Often the Farthest from Impact
Many people believe that the rear middle seat is the safest seat in an average automobile. This seat is the furthest away from the sides of the car. In the event of a crash, the passenger in the middle seat is theoretically less likely to come into contact with crushed windows and sides and suffer injury. Statistically, the rear middle seat has been found to be the safest seat during crashes that occur at intersections.
Avoid These Common Mistakes After a Car Accident
After your car has been towed and you have been to the doctor comes the part of an auto accident that most people hate the most: dealing with insurance. While every car accident is different, there are several common mistakes that people make when they have a car accident claim.
Not Doing Your Own Research on Your Car
If the insurance company has declared your vehicle a total loss, the value of your car must be determined. The insurance company will almost always attempt to determine the value, but be wary of their estimate. The mistake many people make is to simply accept the insurance company’s value without doing their own research. An offer from the insurance company is just an offer. If you can demonstrate your car was worth more than they are offering, you may be able to get more for your car.
Negotiating a Settlement Yourself
On a basic level, it may not seem like it should be that hard to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company for property damage, your medical costs, and your pain and suffering. After all, you may feel that you have access to all the data, and you were the one in the accident.
Sharing Responsibility for an Accident
As the old proverb goes, two wrongs do not make a right. In fact, when applied to an auto accident or other type of personal injury, two wrongs can actually create an even bigger problem. Countless television commercials, billboards, and phone book advertisements bombard you daily about your rights to collect compensation following an accident. What they may not tell you right away, though, is that your contribution to your own injuries could impact the amount you may be able to recover.
Determining Who Was Negligent
Assume for a moment that you are in your car, sitting at an intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. You are listening to music on the radio, but are not otherwise distracted by a cell phone, or any other additional stimulus. Without warning, a drunk driver slams into the back of your vehicle, causing extensive damage and leaving you with broken bones and a neck injury. While the other details of the case, including insurance coverage and criminal charges, may not be so clear, the assignment of fault in this example would be very straightforward. The actions of the drunk driver caused the accident and he or she would likely be completely liable for your injuries.
Possible Drug Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults May Harm Children
A traumatic brain injury can happen to anyone, and at any age. When it does, the end result can be catastrophic. This is especially true in cases involving serious injury and excessive brain swelling. Unfortunately, there are currently no medications to treat the swelling—only drugs that help to improve the ultimate outcome for patients who survive. Thankfully, recent studies suggest an answer may be on the horizon, but with one major caveat: it may only work in adults.
Antibiotics and TBI Swelling in Children and Adults
The potentially deadly implications of TBI do not typically come from the injury itself. Instead, it is generally caused by the post-injury swelling of the brain. Previous studies have suggested that genetics may play a role in the severity of this swelling, but no one really knows why some are more prone than others to rapid and life-threatening swelling.
Aggressive Driving Accidents and Your Right to Compensation
Aggressive driving is a common factor in traffic accidents across America. In fact, a 2009 study from the American Automobile Association (AAA), which used information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Accident Report System (FARS), had found aggressive driving to be a factor in as many as 56 percent of all U.S. car crashes between the years 2003 and 2007. What does these statistics mean for non-aggressive drivers, and what can victims do after an accident has occurred?
What Constitutes Aggressive Driving?
Most people see the terms “aggressive driving” and “road rage” as synonymous, but road rage is actually a form of aggressive driving—certainly one of the more concerning displays of it. Other forms of aggressive driving include:
- Speeding;
- Following too closely, or “tailgating;”
- Racing;
- Improper lane changes;
An Early Discharge from the Hospital Could Lead to Future Problems
Anyone who has spent time in a hospital can tell you the relief they felt when they were discharged and allowed to go home. Even those staying in a hospital for a short time can start to feel homesickness and grow intolerable of the bustle and noise of a busy hospital. Although they can be uncomfortable, hospital stays are often a requirement for patients requiring round-the-clock care for more serious illnesses and injuries.
To most patients, the news that they get to leave the confines of a hospital bed and return home is met with happiness. After all, if they are allowed to go home, their condition must have improved dramatically. Patients assume that the doctors and nurses on staff at the hospital would never discharge someone who was not well enough to go home. The tragic reality is that doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals do make mistakes and sometimes patients who are not ready to leave the hospital are discharged anyway.
What You Should Know About Whiplash
Of all the car accident injuries, whiplash is, by far, the most commonly reported in the United States. In fact, recent statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that some 66 percent of all claimants file an injury related to the neck, and over 800,000 whiplash injuries have been reported over the last 12 years. What can accident victims with whiplash expect after a crash, and what kind of compensation might they be entitled to receive? It is important to understand the dangers of this condition and what can be done about it.
What is Whiplash?
A soft tissue injury that involves the tendons, ligaments, and surrounding tissues of the neck, whiplash occurs when the head is suddenly and violently thrust backward, and then forward. It might sound as though it takes a high-speed crash to create this type of motion. However, whiplash is often seen in even low-speed crashes (perhaps as little as six miles per hour, if going by the cut-off limits in the UK). There is also a common misconception that whiplash occurs only in rear-end crashes, but front-on collision victims are also at risk.
Hot Coffee: The Famous “Frivolous” Lawsuit Against McDonald’s
If you were to ask a random person on the street to think of a personal injury lawsuit that did not involve a member of their family, that person might name any number of cases. If you were to ask that same person to think of a frivolous lawsuit, he or she will almost certainly bring up the idea of suing over a cup of coffee and being awarded millions of dollars.
In 1994, an elderly New Mexico woman named Stella Liebeck did, in fact, sue McDonald’s over a cup of hot coffee. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury did decide that she should receive nearly $3 million in damages. A closer look, however, reveals that labeling the lawsuit as “frivolous” is, at best, unfair to the woman who suffered gruesome injuries from coffee that was far too hot.
The Facts
Ms. Liebeck was 79 years old when her grandson took her to McDonald’s in 1992. As she sat in the passenger seat of the car, she started to remove the lid of her coffee so that she could add cream and sugar. The cup tipped over and spilled the coffee onto her lap. The spilled coffee was so hot that Ms. Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on her legs and genitals in a matter of a few seconds. Her injuries were so severe that she required skin grafts and extensive surgeries.
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