Accidents happen.  Sometimes an accident could have been prevented – and was caused by the carelessness of another.  When an accident is caused by someone else’s negligence, then the negligent party (the one who didn’t act carefully enough) can be held responsible when a person is injured as a result.    However, sometimes an accident is truly just an accident – it wasn’t reasonably preventable, everyone involved behaved pretty responsibly, etc.  While it might not seem like anyone could be held responsible for an accident that’s “just an accident,” you’d be surprised at how much liability could actually be involved…  Sometimes the owner of property is legally responsible for an accident that occured on his or her property simply because a dangerous condition existed.  Sometimes a product manufacturer is legally responsible for defects in a product that caused harm to someone simply because the product is considered dangerous.  There are many different ways a person may be held responsible for another’s injuries. 

Take a look at LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center for more information – we’ve recently updated our section devoted to the issue of “fault” when a person is injured.  Specifically, we’ve added a new video on the topic to help explain this sometimes complicated matter.  To learn more and watch the videos, click the following:

I was injured in an accident… now what?

Who is responsible when a person is injured?

What does the term “liable” mean?

What does the term “reasonable person” mean?

What is negligence?

What is strict liability?

How do you know if you have a personal injury claim?

What financial compensation can I get in a personal injury claim?

Hiring the right personal injury attorney

If you’ve just been in an accident, or been injured by someone, you might be wondering whether or not you should hire a lawyer.  If your injuries are very minor, such as a bruise or a little embarrassment, you might not need a lawyer, but it doesn’t hurt to contact one just in case you have a bigger legal claim than you think! 

If you’ve suffered moderate to severe injuries, you should definitely consult an attorney for assistance.  Did you know that in most cases a good attorney can help you get compensation for your injuries without even having to go to court? Most personal injury lawsuits are based on good fact-finding and steadfast negotiation more so than on black-and-white laws. Attorneys know these rules and the tricks other lawyers use to try to get around them.  For instance, do you know which questions the other side can, and can’t, ask you?  Probably not…  But lawyers are trained on these matters and can raise appropriate objections when necessary to prevent you from having to respond when you don’t need to.  While this sounds simple enough, many a case has been won or lost on simple facts.  

Also, when it comes to negotiating a settlement on your own, you will almost always fare worse than if you had a lawyer’s help.  Experienced attorneys know the average settlement range for similar injuries in the courts in your area.  Also, they know how the laws would be treated in your particular case and how such circumstances would either entitle you to more or less than the average award. 

Finally – let the pros handle the process.  Lawyers know the legal process like the backs of their hands.  Usually, you don’t.   So going it alone would be like going from your neighborhood kickboxing class to the boxing championships…    While there certainly isn’t anything wrong with being an amateur, when your legal rights are at stake your odds of prevailing are best protected if you go heavyweight-t0-heavyweight. 

At the end of the day, talk to an attorney in the beginning to figure out how best to protect your legal rights. So schedule an initial consultation – most times they’re free. 

Learn more about accidents and injuries in LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center.

Two teenage girls who worked at Good Samaritan Society Nursing Home in Albert Lea, Minneapolis, are being charged with nursing home abuse, reported authorities on Thursday. 19-year-old Brianna Broitzman and 18-year-old Ashton Larson are accused of taunting, spitting upon, poking and groping the genitals of residents who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia disorders in the home.

Broitzman and Larson, who worked as part-time nurse’s aides at the home, are being charged as adults. Four other teens who worked with them are being charged as juveniles for failing to report the incidents.

Broitzman and Larson’s charges include assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failing to report suspected maltreatment. All of these charges are gross misdemeanors.

If found guilty, Broitzman and Larson “most likely will face suspended jail sentences and probation, so they’d have the threat of jail hanging over them if they get in more trouble,” Attorney Craig Nelson told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

Mark Anderson, administrator at the Good Samaritan Society home said the past few months “have been difficult for the staff, the home’s residents and their families. We are just really thankful that the proceedings are moving forward and hopefully can see some closure to this whole process.”

As many of today’s nursing homes are under-funded and understaffed, a disturbing incidence of neglect and abuse is being reported. Injuries sustained by nursing home residents due to neglect and abuse often involve the inappropriate use of physical restraints, joint contractors, overuse of sedatives, unnecessary use of urinary catheters, loss of mobility, pressure sores and lack of nutrition with weight loss.

Nursing home abuse is devastating, extremely unnecessary and completely illegal. If you feel you or a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse, or if you have lost a loved one due to wrongful death caused by nursing home abuse, you are not alone and you do have legal rights. Contact the authorities immediately if you or your loved one is still in danger. After the threat of personal safety is relieved, contact an experienced nursing home abuse attorney to discuss your litigation options.

If you’ve been injured, arrested, or sued, you’re probably wondering how much it would cost to hire a lawyer. Or you might not even TRY to hire a lawyer because you just assume that it’s too expensive, or that you could probably get by on your own.  This is, unfortunately, all too common.  In fact, a lot of people who DO hire lawyers have learned their lesson by getting burned the first time. 

The good news is  this – many attorneys offer free consultations.  So, there is no reason, other than a bit of your time, to meet with a lawyer and let them tell you how they could help you.  Also, most personal injury attorneys work on what’s called a ‘contingency fee basis.”  This means you don’t have to have a lot of money to hire a lawyer.  The lawyer will not charge you legal fees upfront, but will take his or her fees out of whatever settlement or award you receive.  Usually, the attorney takes a percentage of the recovery.  And.. if you loose the case, then the attorney doesn’t get a fee either.  Although, keep in mind the costs incurred for the lawsuit are ordinarily the client’s responsibility, either way it turns out. 

Or, another way to think about it is this… what would it cost you NOT to hire a lawyer?  What consequences could you suffer by not having proper legal advice or representation?  While in minor cases, you might be able to successfully resolve the matter yourself, for cases in which anything valuable is at stake (your freedom, your health, your money, your pain and suffering), the consequences of not hiring a lawyer could be devastating. 

Take the example of a debt collections case.  Many people don’t hire a lawyer because they figure they’re already in debt, how much worse could a lawsuit really make it?  Trust me, it can be worse.  Having a judgment for a debt owned and unpaid is another negative on your credit report.  Also, that creditor may have been willing to negotiate if you got a lawyer involved, because a lawyer knows better how to deal with creditors and what risks they take in pursuing a collection against you. 

Another example – getting arrested.  Too often, those charged with crimes try to go it alone, thinking they’ll figure it out as they go along.  Wrong!  Getting a lawyer involved as early in the process is crucial to protecting your rights. Law enforcement, including the prosecuting attorney, are highly skilled at getting criminal defendants to talk.  Most times, you unwittingly say something that ruins your chances of getting a plea deal.  If you have an attorney speak for you, that won’t happen.  Also, an attorney may even be able to get the case dropped or the charges reduced early on… making everything else easier for you. 

Finally, if you’ve been in an accident, most times it is not in your best interest to talk to that nice insurance adjuster.  Their job is to make you think the settlement they offer you is a “good deal”… but the insurance adjuster, no matter how nice they seem, is looking out for the insurance company’s best interest – not yours.  Only an attorney would know what a “good deal” is under the law given your situation. 
 So, please, if you’ve suffered an injury, are facing criminal charges, are involved in a lawsuit, or have any other legal matter pending, don’t possibly jeopardize your rights.   Contact an attorney and ask about an initial consultation.  Only make the decision NOT to hire a lawyer after you know what a lawyer can do for you. 

Good luck!

If you know or are close to an elderly man or woman, chances are you have seen them pop a pill before or after dining, heard them mention that their medication costs are too high, and/or have seen their bathroom or kitchen cabinets overflowing with small, orange prescription bottles.

Polypharmacy (the use of multiple meds) is most common among people over age 65, about one-fifth of whom take at least 10 medications a week. Although multiple medications can treat or ease many ailments, overmedication can worsen some conditions and cause troubling side effects that need to be treated with even more drugs. This overmedication among older Americans is developing into a vicious cycle and a growing, unexamined problem in modern-day health care. “Overmedication is a true medical epidemic,” says Armon B. Neel Jr., PharmD, a clinical pharmacist in Georgia. “It’s completely out of hand.”

The Institute of Medicine estimates that at least 1.5 million drug overdoses occur in the U.S. every year, thousands of which are fatal. Studies indicate that about one-third of these adverse drug reactions occur among senior citizens—and that 42% of these fatal accidents were caused by a lethal combination of drugs. Sadly, when elderly patients first start to recognize signs of a possible adverse reaction to their overmedication; e.g. memory lapse, fatigue, abdominal pain, swelling, or other ailments, doctors often mistake these physical responses as signs of a worsening disease…and prescribe more drugs to combat the symptoms. This can lead to a “prescribing cascade,” says Jeffrey Delafuente, FCCP, a professor of pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University. “The solution is to perform a proper diagnosis and reduce the number of drugs. Adding more just exacerbates the problem.”

Improper treatment of a patient by a physician is the leading cause of medical malpractice. There can be a variety of circumstances in which a patient is misdiagnosed and subjected to improper treatment and preventable procedures—such as wrong limb amputation, wrong organ operation/transplant, inappropriate administration of chemotherapy, and excessive medication prescriptions.

If you believe you or a loved has suffered from medical malpractice of any kind, including being overly-medicated, or if you have lost a loved one due to wrongful death from medical malpractice, contact a qualified medical malpractice attorney in your area today for more information or to discuss the specifics of your case.

Just about every injured person is very concerned about the potential damages that could be won in a lawsuit.  The question is even more difficult when contemplating taking an out-of-court settlement or taking the case all the way to trial.  Attorneys are skilled at advising clients about the possible outcomes and perhaps even estimating a damages award.  However, no attorney has a crystal ball and taking a case to trial can certainly be less than predictable.  Lucky for us the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), conducted a study of over 27,000 lawsuits in 2005 to determine the trends in civil court lawsuits and awards.

The BJS study is the first nationally representative report about general civil lawsuits before a judge or a jury in state courts.  The report discusses the types of civil cases that usually end up going to trial, the differences between cases tried before judges or juries, the trending in plaintiffs’ win rates, and the median amount of damages awarded.  “Median” is the middle value in the total number of items analyzed.  Thus, half of the lawsuits returned higher awards than the median and half of the lawsuits returned lower awards than the median.  At any rate, it is a useful resource showing the trends in lawsuit verdicts and awards. 

The report shows that plaintiffs won more than 50% of the time in state court civil trials and took home a median damages award $28,000. Less than 5% of all plaintiff winners won an award of $1,000,000 or more.  The median damages award in federal court was reported at over $200,000.  The cases with the highest estimated median damage awards included medical malpractice ($600,000) and product liability ($350,000) cases. Product liability cases and medical malpractice cases have seen the highest increases in jury awards.  The findings were recently published in a BJS press release.  A summary of the findings can be found here.

If you’ve been injured in an automobile accident or by a defective product, if you think you might be the victim of medical malpractice, if you have a real property dispute, or if you have another litigation matter, contact an attorney in your area for more information about your legal options.  The amount of damages you could recover will depend greatly on the specifics of your case.

Are you facing a legal issue?  Have you been sued, or are you wondering about foreclosure?  Did you just have a medical procedure that didn’t turn out as you expected?  Is bankruptcy looming?  What about your family life – are you and your spouse considering divorce?  Do you need to update your will?  Has someone you love been arrested for a DUI? 

These are examples of only some of the most common legal issues.  The fact is we actually deal with the law more than most people think.  More importantly, when we face a legal issue, many of us might not know where to turn for answers.  The legal system can certainly be overwhelming – especially because the consequences are often so grave. 

Since 1994, LawInfo has been providing the public with quality legal resources they can count on.  The idea for the company even came out of the founder’s own legal needs!  How do you find the right attorney?  How do you know the attorneys you contact are in good standing with the state bar association?  What if you want to learn about a legal issue before you talk to a lawyer?  Well, these are the reasons LawInfo was established!  LawInfo has a whole library of information about the most common legal issues including answers to frequently asked questions, articles, legal guides, legal forms, and other information – ALL FREE TO THE PUBLIC!  The really great thing is this – you can also easily find an attorney who will understand your legal needs.  It’s all designed to help the public – help someone find answers they need and find an attorney who can help them. 

Learn more about LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center and Find the Right Attorney in your area today!

So you have been injured and are looking to pursue legal action. Hiring the right personal injury attorney for the job is critical and can literally make or break your case. When meeting with an attorney for the first time, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked to decipher if an attorney is a viable fit for your case, and for you personally.

The following are the top ten questions that should be discussed in your first meeting with a personal injury lawyer:

1. How many years have you practiced law, specifically personal injury?

Your prospective personal injury attorney should not be a newbie, but a trained, seasoned professional. Younger attorneys, although they may be used to perform some of the work on your case, should not be given full case-management authority until they have a little more experience under their belt.

2. Have you taken cases like mine to trial or settlement, and if so, how many?

An experienced personal injury attorney will have taken several cases like yours to trial and/or settlement. This answer is an indicator of the prospective attorney’s skill and success rate.

3. How much of your practice focuses on personal injury cases like mine?

A personal injury attorney should focus at least 75% of his or her time on the subject matter involved in your case.

4. Will you use other attorneys or paralegals on my case?

Other attorneys and paralegals are often used to perform important tasks, but should play a limited role. It is important that you ask to meet them and use your own personal judgment to evaluate them. Even though the subject matter and law governing your case might be unfamiliar to you, you should not discount your ability to size-up potential legal staff.

5. What is your policy regarding returning my phone calls?

The most frequent complaint of clients is unreturned phone calls. Your attorney should have a 24-hour turnaround on client phone calls, taking into consideration unforeseeable circumstances. It’s a good idea to have this policy written into your retainer agreement with your attorney to ensure compliance.

6. Will you explain to me all of the court procedures, legal concepts, fee arrangements, billing practices, retainer agreements, and payments of costs?

These questions are often time-consuming, but very important. Your attorney should explain to you, in detail, all of the above matters thoroughly.

7. What is your method or strategy for handling cases like mine?

An experienced personal injury attorney should have a streamlined process for “working-up” cases like yours. The level of detail contained in the attorney’s process will demonstrate his or her organization skills and familiarity with the subject matter and law of your case.

8. What is the likelihood of a quick settlement or trial?

Taken from legal horror stories of the past, beware of the attorney who promises a quick settlement or trial! However, your attorney should be able to provide a well-reasoned estimate of the time necessary to reach disposition of your case.

9. Do I even have a case? And if so, what do you think my chances are for receiving a settlement?

An experienced attorney should be able to inform you if your case is worth pursuing and/or if there exists a possibility of recovery. Sometimes people are hurt, injured, or suffer injustice and there is no legal remedy. A good attorney will provide you with his or her strategy for your case, explaining the steps they will take and the likelihood of your success at trial or settlement.

10. Do you have a policy of professional liability insurance?

Like doctors, all attorneys, personal injury or otherwise, should maintain a malpractice insurance policy in the event that mistakes occur on your case.

For more information about personal injury attorneys, or to discuss your personal injury case, click here.

If you’ve been injured, you’re probably wondering how much it would cost to hire a lawyer.  Some of us don’t even try to hire a lawyer because we’re sure we’d never be able to afford one.  This kind of thinking is especially common when an injured person has already lost money as a result of being injured – via lost time from work as well as upfront medical bills. 

However, don’t be so sure you can’t afford legal help when you need it.  In fact, pretty much anyone can afford to hire a lawyer when they’ve been injured.   Most personal injury lawyers work on a “contingency fee basis.”  With contingency fee arrangements, the lawyer will not charge legal fees upfront, but will take a percentage of whatever settlement or award is obtained for the client, which can range anywhere from 25% to 40% (or more) of the recovery, depending on the type of case, whether it goes to trial, and other factors.  If no recovery is obtained, then the attorney doesn’t get a fee. (Although, keep in mind costs incurred for the lawsuit are ordinarily the client’s responsibility, either way it turns out.)

If you’ve suffered an injury and think you might have a case, don’t wait any longer – contact a personal injury attorney and ask whether he or she takes contingency fee cases.

A new study by the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that 1 of every 10 patients who died within 90 days of surgery did so because of a preventable medical error.  The study also found that preventable medical errors cost nearly $1.5 Billion annually.  (Find the study in the July 28 issue of the journal Health Services Research.)

Medical errors are unfortunately all too common.  Generally, a medical error is a mistake in the care of a patient, or a medical care plan of action that doesn’t achieve the intended outcome.  Often, preventable errors result from staff failure to follow standard policies and procedures, whether at the hospital, your doctor’s office, at the pharmacy, surgery centers, or other clinics.  Remember when Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins suffered from a “preventable medical error” after being accidentally given 10,000 units of a blood-thinning drug instead of the standard 10 units?

Many suggest that at least some medical errors may be due to the lack of sleep healthcare workers commonly suffer.  After being on duty for several hours at a time, often up to 36 hours or more, physicians, nurses and other medical staff may be at higher risk for making errors.  Also, with a high patient load, medical workers often aren’t able to communicate as well, or as regularly, with their patients as they would if they had fewer patients.  After all, the folks who work in the healthcare industry are often incredible people…. and only human.  While we hold them to a higher standard of care than any of us hold ourselves…. they aren’t perfect.

Many states have enacted “apology laws” for healthcare workers.  The intention of these laws is to prevent a doctor’s apology, expressions of regret, sympathy or compassion from being used against him or her in court.  Otherwise, such an apology could be considered an “admission of liability” in medical malpractice lawsuits. The intention is to encourage physicians and other healthcare providers to apologize to patients when a medical error occurs.

In addition, many hospitals have implemented policies to waive the cost of medical bills involving medical error.   Medical procedures can be very expensive!  Can you imagine getting the wrong surgery… and having to pay for it?  Twice?  (Once to have it done wrong, and once to correct it)

How would you feel?  If you or someone you love has been injured by a preventable medical error, maybe even of the kind that results in unnecessary death, would you want an apology from the doctor or medical worker who made the mistake?  Would hearing an apology – an acknowledgment that a mistake was in fact made – make you more or less likely to sue?  Do you think it’s fair to have to pay for improper medical care?

For related information, see the AHRQ Patient Fact Sheets:  20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors and 5 Steps to Safer Health Care.  See also the AHRQ’s brochure on Ways YOU Can Help YOUR Family Prevent Medical Errors.

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, medical negligence, or have suffered from a medical error, contact an attorney to discuss what legal options may be available to you.  A medical malpractice attorney may be able to help you get a portion of your medical costs waived (perhaps at least the portion related to the erroneous care) and may be able to get you compensation for your injuries.