It is natural for patients to fully trust doctors when it comes to problems concerning health, especially life-threatening ones. Due to this, it becomes the legal responsibility of doctors and other health professionals to provide patients only with quality care, which their profession likewise requires.
Doctors, even the best ones, however, commit mistakes which cause patients serious harm. Every year, at least two hundred and fifty million people die due to these mistakes, making these the third leading cause of death in the United States.
One example of mistake committed by doctors and other health professionals, which can be considered as medical malpractice, is wrong diagnosis, the failure to detect the warning signs of a patient’s health problem. This failure to correctly identify the signs of serious conditions, like one leading to stroke, can have severe damaging or deadly effects in a patient.
A stroke, also called Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA), results from the cessation of blood flow to any area of the brain. According to the American Stroke Association, about half a million Americans suffer from stroke each year; about 200,000 of those who suffer stroke end up disabled, while the many more others end up dead.
If diagnosed on time and given the proper treatment, then it is possible to prevent a stroke attack. While it is true that it is difficult to determine the symptoms of stroke due to the symptoms’ resemblance with other health problems, like diabetic hypoglycemia or severe migraine, other warning signs which include severe headache, dizziness, loss of coordination or balance, weakness, numbness or paralysis in the face, arm or leg, typically on one side of your body, difficulty walking, difficulty understanding or speaking, and difficulty seeing either from one or both eyes, should help reveal that a stroke may be imminent. These signs are actually the symptoms of Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). TIA, also called a warning stroke or mini stroke by medical professionals, usually precedes a major stroke. It lasts only for 20 minutes since the flow of blood resumes afterwards.
According to the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, effective treatment of stroke patients involves restoration of blood flow to the brain. This may be done by giving the patient Aspirin or by injecting into the patient a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), also known as alteplase, within three to 4.5 hours after the start of stroke symptoms. Aspirin prevents blood clots from forming, thus, reducing the possibility of another stroke; tPA, on the other hand, is a clot busting drug.
As explained in the website of the law firm Crowe & Mulvey, LLP, stroke is a common and potentially life-threatening occurrence for patients of all ages. Sometimes a stroke occurs without warning, but often there are warning signs or symptoms. When stroke occurs, prompt medical treatment should be given to minimize or prevent serious consequences, as well as prevent death. Unfortunately, in some instances, medical providers fail to identify and treat strokes when they should.
A doctor’s failure to correctly read the symptoms of stroke can very well result to delayed treatment or failure to provide appropriate treatment altogether. A stroke patient’s family may consider seeking the services of a seasoned medical malpractice lawyer and take legal action, naming the doctor or the hospital as defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit. While this legal move is primarily aimed at recovering compensation for all the pain and suffering of the patient and his or her family, it is also intended to make the liable party realize the harm committed and face punishment for such harm.Read More
Awful pain and severe trauma are almost always what follow burn injuries and, depending on how severe the burn is, disfigured skin and death are also possible results.
Burns are one the most painful types of injuries a person can suffer from. Surprisingly, it is the less severe ones that cause the greater pain because what is damaged is the layer beneath the skin where the nerves are located.
Many accidents that cause burn injuries happen in the home, often more frequently than in the workplace or anywhere else. Based on records from the National Burn Repository (NBR) of the American Burn Association (ABA), 73% of all burn accidents in the US are household-related with children and senior citizens being the most common victims (burn accidents in the workplace only has an 8% rate).
Burn injuries are classified based on their causes. In relation to this, there are:
Thermal or heat burn injuries. These are caused by heat from hot tap water, steam from boiling water, hot grease/oil, hot food or drink, curling iron, flat iron, fire, firework, and flammable liquids. Scald is the most common type of injury suffered by children and senior citizens; this is caused by boiling or very hot liquid.
Chemical burn injuries. These are caused by strong acids and bases. Car battery acid, drain cleaners, ammonia, cleaning products, teeth whitening products and chemicals used in pools are some very common products that cause chemical burns.
Electrical burn injuries. Electrical burns can cause life-threatening internal injuries besides causing damage to the skin, . Electrical burns can also be due to short-circuiting devices, contact with power lines, getting struck by lightning, or getting electrocuted while using an appliance or device that run on electricity.
Radiation burn injuries. These refer to damage to the skin or tissues because of exposure to radiation. One very common type of radiation burn is sunburn, which is caused by UV radiation. Sunburn, however, is minor compared to the severity and extent of damage which ionizing radiation, thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, and nuclear radiation can cause.
Burns have different degrees based on the severity of skin and tissue damage. That which affects only the skin’s outer layer is called first-degree or minor burn. A second degree burn affects the layer underneath the skin; this layer is called the dermis. Besides the swelling and the blisters that go with a second degree burn, it also happens to be the most painful degree of burn.
A third-degree burn, according to some medical professionals, is the most severe type of burn injury. Others, however, add another which they call a “fourth degree burn.” While a third-degree burn damages the skin’s three layers, namely, the epidermis, which is the skin’s top layer, the dermis, and the subcutaneous tissue or hypodermis, the tissue which joins the dermis to the muscles and bones, a fourth degree burn still causes deeper damage, one that affects the muscles and the bones.
Both third and fourth degree burns are often fatal. Despite their severity, however, victims no longer feel pain as the nerves are already damaged. Many people who survive these severe burns usually require microsurgery or skin grafting – this is to reconstruct the affected area of the body; others, however, suffer further as their severely damaged extremity get amputated.
The United States, according to the website of a Dallas personal injury lawyer at the Benton Law Firm, is 8th in the list of the top 25 most developed countries where mortality rate from burns, particularly from fires, is the issue. Residential fires, by the way, are not the only disasters that cause damage to properties and loss of lives. There are also fires resulting from severe car accidents and forest fires, which damages hundreds of homes, takes lives and burns down hectares of forest lands.
It may be possible for victims of burns, even those who have been injured in a forest fire, to seek compensation for damages through a civil lawsuit.Read More
Turning valuable customers to loyal ones
Customer loyalty should be the ultimate goal of any marketing strategy. Loyal customers are your brand advocates. They talk about your brand positively to their friends, they give good reviews, and they are the ones who are in the know of the latest upgrades and newest products. But turning your most valuable customers into loyal ones is not easy. To get you started, here are the things that you should keep in mind in building customer loyalty.
Make their experience memorable
You can make their buying experience truly memorable by customizing every stage in the purchase funnel. Say you are a contractor offering home renovations. According to the website of Follow Up Power, you can identify where your potential client currently stands with different online business solutions, such as cloud-based CRM platforms offered by.
Make your product/service reliable
A single defect or malfunction can put everything in jeopardy. Promise only what you can deliver. Remember, keeping up with your client’s expectations (or exceeding it) is your key to keep your valuable customers return for business.
Know who your most valuable customers are
You will only know who your most valuable customers by tracking their behavior. By knowing how your customers make a purchase, you can tailor fit your business to cater to those who are most likely to be your loyal customers.
Make customer care among your priorities
More than the products and the services you offer, customers want a pleasing buying experience. Do you address your customers in a polite and formal manner when answering emails? Do you offer clear solutions over the phone whenever a customer calls for an inquiry? Do you greet your customers with smile whenever they show up in your store? These simple acts of kindness can go a long way, and will always be remembered by your customers.
Use technology for engagement
Once you determine your most valuable customers, you can engage with them constantly through technology. Building an app is a great way to keep them in the loop. Signing them up on your weekly email subscription may also help keep them informed about your latest products and upgrades.Read More
When we imagine a car crash we imagine high speeds and a victim with broken bones stumbling away from totaled vehicles. While these images make for an exciting scene in an action movie, many car crashes are far less dramatic. Some can occur with vehicles only going at slow speeds. Still, even in these less dramatic crashes, painful and debilitating injuries can still occur. One of the more common examples of an injury which typically results from these circumstances is known as whiplash. Whiplash occurs when there is a sudden, violent or jolting movement of the neck. This occurs most often in accidents in which a car is rear ended and the passengers or driver of the front vehicle are jolted forward with no warning to brace themselves. While whiplash is not a life threatening injury and will heal, it is still a very painful injury to experience and it is important for drivers to be aware of the possibility of this threat.
According to the website www.jeffsampsonlaw.com, common symptoms of whiplash include: pain and stiffness in neck, back, and shoulders, constant headaches, numbness or tingling in arms, legs, hands, and fingers, reduced range of motion in head, blurred vision, and difficulties with balance. Whiplash can last for several hours or even days and in the most serious cases may require medical attention. While this injury most often heals on its own, it can still be a very painful and inconvenient healing process for those who experience it.
While all drivers aspire to drive safely, accidents do occur. Even the smallest of accidents can have serious consequences. Sometimes in these cases, so one is at fault, however, in the case of rear end accidents resulting in whiplash, the driver may be held accountable and the victim of such a painful experience may be owed certain damages.Read More
A person’s wrongful death is devastating for the family of the deceased. Unfortunately, wrongful death can occur across an array of situations. Areas when wrongful death can occur include medical malpractice, car accidents, construction site accidents, or murders. Although emotional pain does not subside immediately, compensation from the wrongdoer can help alleviate financial stress. There are guidelines that outline who can sue for wrongful death; in the terrible time following the death of a loved one, expenses are the last thing a family wants to think about.
Unfortunately, medical errors are not uncommon in hospitals. Furthermore, prescription drug companies can be cited for medical malpractice in the event that their drug has lead to the death of the consumer. If the company did not put warning labels on their medicines, compensation can possibly be received due to their negligent actions. Doctors, hospitals, or drug companies are three different entities wherein negligence can be accused.
Generally with car accidents, a wrongful death is evident when another driver’s actions have caused the death of another driver. A any other form of reckless driving or mistake on the manufacturers end can be legally pursued.
When a death occurs as a result of unsafe working conditions on a construction site, whether the victim is a worker or bystander, negligence can be sighted. If death comes from anything related to improper implementation and oversight of the work environment, the responsible party can be accused for acting negligently.
Lastly, if someone accidentally kills someone, they have acted negligently. While this is a horrible idea, it is, unfortunately, not a rare topic in court.
The website of the Abel Law Firm says that many lawyers recognize the responsibility a wrongdoer must assume. When any party’s negligent action leads to another’s death, a terrible injustice has been committed; these people should be held accountable for the horrific mistake they’ve made.Read More
Bayer AG is just at the start of its Mirena IUD problems as yet more lawsuits are being transferred to the US District Court of the Western District of New York under MDL 2434 (In Re: Mirena IUD Products Liability Litigation). Multidistrict litigation is often indicated when there are numerous lawsuits being filed against the same defendant/s with substantially similar claims. In the case of Mirena IUD, the claims are for strict liability of Bayer for defective product, failure to warn, negligence, and loss of consortium. It’s status with the FDA has been amended to reflect this new reality.
Mirena IUD was marketed as a safe and convenient birth control method suitable for busy women and teens that may not have the discipline, patience or inclination to follow the strict schedules required for oral contraceptives or similar methods of contraception. The Mirena IUD was designed to be inserted into the patient by a healthcare professional and was supposed to prevent conception for 5 years before it is discharged and needs to be replaced.
However, plaintiffs claimed that the device had a tendency to move out of place within the first two years of implantation and in some instances led to tissue damage and uterine perforation. Plaintiffs alleged that Bayer did not provide adequate warning and even suppressed information about the risk potential of the device migrating to places other than where it was originally implanted, not to mention the dangers of perforation.
It is quite a horrific thought that a foreign object is lodged somewhere where it should not be and at any time may cause serious injury. In some cases, the device could not be found for extraction, so patients are left with no option but to hope for the best. The failure of Bayer to warn about migration is hard to defend, because Bayer knew or should have known that it could happen, and patients could have chosen another, safer method of contraception had they known about the risks.
There are many kinds of dangerous products on the market. Every year there are several recalls or defects discovered in older products. According to the website of Pohl & Berk, LLP, the manufacturers of dangerous products can be held accountable for the injuries that befall the public. Consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer in your state for assistance.Read More
Prescription drugs are classified as such because their intake must be monitored by the appropriate professional healthcare provider, typically a doctor, as opposed to over-the-counter (OTC) medication such as aspirin which can be bought by anyone at anytime in any quantity. This is because prescription drugs can have dangerous side effects and most have adverse interactions with other drugs, food, and activities. Taking prescription drugs without a doctor’s supervision can result in serious injury, even death.
Xarelto (rivaroxaban), an anticoagulant, is affected by a total of 322 drugs, in a major way by 158. That is a lot of drugs that you will not want to take with Xarelto, so you have to give your doctor information on what you are on including prescription, OTC, and recreational drugs as well as any dietary, nutritional, or herbal supplements.
Some of the substances that should not be taken with Xarelto unless with the knowledge and concurrence of a physician include:
This is important information that your doctor needs to have before prescribing you with Xarelto for conditions such as atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, or after your knee or hip replacement procedure. According to the website of law firm Williams Kherkher, many patients have experienced adverse side effects from using Xaretrol, and some may have been due to oversight on the patient’s part. If you are not sure about what medications you are taking, tell your doctor so. It is also important to tell a healthcare provider if you are on Xarelto before submitting to any medical, surgical, or dental procedure.
If you have exercised due care and followed the doctor’s instructions to the letter and still suffered serious harm from taking Xarelto, you may have a good case for personal injury compensation. Contact a Xarelto lawyer in your area for advice.Read More
As long as man has existed, he has looked at the heavens and envied the domain of the birds and clouds. “How can I join them?” he’d ask himself with sincere longing. It was the kind of impossible dream that sent imaginations soaring and led to incredible technologies.
For centuries, we used ballistic weapons. From throwing rocks with our arms to using slings to propel them, to bows, catapults, and artillery. Overcoming gravity through weaponry apparently made sense to humans, but it did not help us get much closer to realizing that dream of flight.
Perhaps the first concrete step to overcoming gravity’s pull was understanding what it is. Everything with mass exerts a tiny gravitational force. The thing is, the only gravitational forces that really matter are those that are very large. Think planet, or star, sized objects. Objects of this magnitude exert strong gravitational forces that pull smaller objects towards them, even if that’s not exactly where the objects want to be. This is why planets orbit around the sun. The sun’s gravity pulls the planets towards it, even though the planets are trying to “fall” away.
For human flight, this means that we’d have to find some way to create enough lift in an object to overcome the Earth’s gravitational pull to a great enough extent that the object can lift off. Airplanes do this by taking advantage of the way air interacts with wings. By tilting the wings at the proper angle and moving quickly, the force of the air pushing the wings up from underneath is strong enough for the plane to lift off. Voila! You’ve overcome gravity!
Across America, Texas is considered the worst state in terms of the quality of its nursing home facilities. Nearly all facilities (91%) have been cited for some violation of the regulations on government health facilities, and about one-third (36%) have been reported for some form of elder abuse.
Many cases of reported abuse in the state refer to neglect, due mostly to the shortage of experienced staff in these facilities. However, more than enough of these cases indicate some active form of abuse such as physical violence or psychological cruelty and because the residents seldom report these incidents on their own, it is up to family and friends to take action.
But because they have not personally witnessed the abuse and may not get corroboration from the resident, proving abuse can be an iffy situation. Fortunately, it is legal in Texas to place surveillance cameras in the rooms of residents in nursing homes and other assisted living facilities to prevent elder abuse, although audio is not allowed due to a federal statute forbidding it.
However, as experienced by a family in Dallas who did just that for their elderly relative, the video was worth a thousand words. They watched as two nursing aides slapped and yelled at their relative, and then went straight to an attorney to help them lodge a complaint with the Department of Aging and Disability Services as well as file a civil case against the nursing aides and the facility. The nursing aides were fired and brought up on criminal charges.
If you have a relative in a nursing home, you may want to consider placing a hidden camera in the room to see how the nursing home staff treats him or her. You may want to consult with a nursing home abuse attorney to make sure it is legal in your state. If surveillance shows that abuse is going on, do what needs to be done to protect the rights of your elderly relative to the full extent of state criminal and civil law.Read More
Young children are frequent victims of dog bites. In one study, the average age of dog bite victims was 5.9 years old. This may be because they are smaller and less able to deter an attacking dog; it may also be because they are less cautious when approaching or being approached by a strange dog, and more prone to provoke an attack. Whatever the reason, the most common dog bite injury sites in children are to the face, and these injuries frequently lead to facial scars.
Scars per se are generally accepted without comment; in some cases, they can even engender awe and admiration for supposed bravery. But facial scars are disfiguring, and for young children, the psychological and emotional impact can be considerable and long-term. More often than not, scar revision is recommended a certain length of time after the recovery period to alleviate the adverse effects of the disfigurement.
In a study of 107 children, primary surgery was required to close the wounds and it was carried out without incident except in the most severe attacks, where the risk of infection was highest. Facial scars are always permanent, but with revision surgery, it is possible to minimize them. In the severe cases, several surgeries were required to achieve an approximation of the desired outcome.
The treatment and outcomes for these children were duly recorded to document what the victims and their families had to go through. In 39 of the victims, this documentation was used in premises liability lawsuits filed against the dog owners.
The study noted that the dog was known to the victim in 77% of the cases, which could mean a dog that is habitually in the immediate neighborhood. This supports a premises liability claim because it the dog owner had a duty to ensure that the animal would not be able to inflict harm on his or her neighbors, especially children. This lapse constitutes negligence, and must be duly addressed.
If your child sustained dog bite-related facial scars, you will need to file a case against the dog owner to get compensation for your emergency medical and revision surgery expenses, as well as the emotional and psychological injury to the child. Find a dog bite lawyer in the area to get started on your case.Read More