With the federal government settling its claim against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong today, clients are asking about his former teammate, Floyd Landis receiving $1.1 million dollars as a whistleblower.  Clients have asked me if this is a new law or process. On the contrary, President Abraham Lincoln created the False Claims Act during the Civil War in an attempt to incentivize whistleblowing against war profiteers who sought to defraud the government.  Under the False Claims Act, the government can attain treble damages against the person or corporation committing fraud in the pursuit of a government contract, meaning the penalty is three times the fraud itself. A whistleblower, the person who alerts the government to the fraud under the False Claims Act, is entitle to 15% to 30% of the government’s recovery. Given that government contracts are frequently many millions of dollars, the rewards for whistleblowers can be sizable.

The Challenges of Being a Whistleblower Under the False Claims Act

Many people walk into my office excited at the prospect of being a False Claims Act whistleblower.  But being a whistleblower is scary—it can be terrifying to become aware of fraud, especially when you are reporting fraud by your coworkers or those within your corporation. Choosing to expose that misconduct and to become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience.

What are the Types of Fraud the False Claims Act Covers?

Clients often ask me what constitutes fraud under the False Claims Act? Fraud can take several forms. Imagine that your company contracts to supply car tires to the Army at a certain specification of resilience and puncture resistance. If your company sell the government knock-off versions of the promised tire, that is fraud. In that example, your company is promising one thing to the government and providing a substandard product at the same price.

Yet another type of fraud involves qualifications; many types of government contracts either require that the contractor has certain qualifications and certifications or that it meet certain demographic qualifications such as being minority or woman owned.  In this type of fraud, a whistleblower may not be claiming that the product or service sold to the government was shoddy, but that the corporation involved in the transaction actually had no business entering into it.

Similarly, bribery is another type of fraud.  If your company bribes government officials in an effort to obtain a government contract, it is violating the False Claims Act.  For the same reason as stated above, your company is entering a contract with the government that it has no right to.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of your employment? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. First, you need confidential advice regarding whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud and whether you are in a position to receive compensation based on a whistleblower tip. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Explains Lance Armstrong’s Corruption Exposed by a Whistleblower

As a whistleblower attorney, I am used to reading about cases where the settlement amount—sometimes an eight digit number—is the what is noteworthy about the case. Today’s settlement of the Lance Armstrong doping fraud case is not huge—he has to pay a $5 million dollar settlement—but his larger than life profile makes for a great False Claims Act example. Under the False Claims Act, the government can attain treble damages against the person or corporation committing fraud in the pursuit of a government contract, meaning the penalty is three times the fraud itself. A whistleblower, the person who alerts the government to the fraud under the False Claims Act, is entitle to 15% to 30% of the government’s recovery. Given that government contracts are frequently many millions of dollars, the rewards for whistleblowers can be sizable.

How Did Lance Armstrong’s Actions Violate the False Claims Act?

Fraud can take several forms. The form at issue in the Lance Armstrong case involved qualification to contract with the government. Many types of government contracts require that the contractor has certain qualifications and certifications. In some contracts, the contractor must meet certain demographic qualifications such as being minority or woman owned. Here, Lance Armstrong defrauded the government by indicating that he was not taking performance enhancing drugs when the government—the U.S. Post Office—contracted to sponsor his team .  In essence, he was just like any other fraudulent contractor who promises the government a certain product, here drug free cycling victories, and actually provides something of less value.

The whistleblower in this case, Armstrong’s teammate Floyd Landis, exposed Armstrong’s cheating. As a result, he receives $1.1 million of the $5 million dollars that the government recovered, along with $1.67 million dollars in legal fees.

Because this settlement under the False Claims Act is so newsworthy, I thought I’d provide the following National Public Radio article that describes it in a bit more depth.  The entire article can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

Lance Armstrong To Pay U.S. Government $5 Million To Settle Fraud Claims

Lance Armstrong has agreed to pay the federal government $5 million to settle fraud allegations that could have resulted in a nearly $100 million penalty. The U.S. Postal Service, which had sponsored the disgraced cyclist’s team, argued that Armstrong defrauded taxpayers by accepting millions from the government agency while using performance-enhancing drugs during competition.

“A competitor who intentionally uses illegal PEDs not only deceives fellow competitors and fans, but also sponsors, who help make sporting competitions possible,” Chad Reader, acting attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. “This settlement demonstrates that those who cheat the government will be held accountable.”

During his time cycling, Armstrong famously won a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles after recovering from testicular cancer, six of which he won as a member of the USPS-sponsored team.

But he was dogged by suspicions of doping throughout his career — including from his former teammate, Floyd Landis, who sued him in 2010 under the False Claims Act. As Reuters explains, the federal law “lets whistle-blowers pursue fraud cases on behalf of the government, and obtain rewards if successful.”

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of government contracting? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

Source:            https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/19/604125474/lance-armstrong-to-pay-u-s-government-5-million-to-settle-fraud-claims

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Provides Example of the Possible Rewards of Insurance Industry Employees Participation in the IRS Whistleblower Program

One thing is certain—if there is money in an enterprise, fraud will follow. That is certainly true in the insurance industry, where increased regulation under the Affordable Care Act has tightened insurance companies’ bottom lines. And if there is fraud, there is an opportunity for whistleblowers to expose it, which comes with tremendous risk and tremendous potential reward. Choosing to expose that fraud and become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security.

But with risk comes reward. The following April 17, 2018 article excerpts demonstrate the potential reward of whistleblowing, so I thought it would be interesting to those considering becoming a whistleblower. The whistleblower in this health insurance case exposed $89 million dollars in unpaid federal taxes. If his case is successfully prosecuted by the U.S. government, he would be due 30 percent of that amount or $26.7 million dollars under the IRS Whistleblower Program. I have linked to the entire article at the end of this blog post and encourage you to read it.

California Insurer Faces Whistleblower Complaint Over Health Law Taxes

A federal whistleblower complaint alleges that a major California insurer failed to pay an estimated $89 million in taxes on premium revenue as required under the Affordable Care Act.

The complaint against Blue Shield of California focuses on the taxation of certain health plans that are funded by both an employer and insurer. It could spark more scrutiny by federal officials into whether all insurers are paying their fair share of taxes on premiums.

The ACA’s health insurance tax is one of several fees designed to help fund the health law. Employers’ self-funded plans are exempt from this ACA tax. But traditional plans, in which health insurers are fully responsible for paying medical claims in exchange for premiums, are subject to the tax.

At issue in this case is whether Blue Shield should have paid ACA taxes on hybrid, or “flex-funded,” plans, in which employers pay claims out of their own pocket up to a point and the insurance company covers the rest. Such plans account for a modest share of the insurance market.

The whistleblower in the Blue Shield complaint is Michael Johnson, a public policy director at the company until 2015, when he left and became an outspoken critic of the company.

“Blue Shield appears to have skipped out on $89 million in health reform taxes in 2016, and it’s poised to do the same every year going forward,” Johnson said.

In July 2016, the San Francisco-based insurer made a significant change to its annual tax filing required by the ACA, federal records show. Blue Shield amended its initial filing from three months earlier and made a 25 percent reduction in its reported premiums, or $3.1 billion less.

Johnson cited those public Internal Revenue Service filings and other information he learned as a Blue Shield employee in his Jan. 30 whistleblower complaint. He shared parts of his complaint with California Healthline.

Johnson worked at Blue Shield for 12 years before leaving in March 2015. Soon after, he launched a public campaign against Blue Shield, accusing the nonprofit of shortchanging the public by operating too much like its for-profit competitors. Blue Shield sued Johnson in 2015 for breach of contract, accusing him of disclosing confidential company information. Johnson is seeking to have the case dismissed in state court.

The IRS Whistleblower Office acknowledged receipt of Johnson’s complaint in a Feb. 22 letter and said “we will evaluate the information you provided to determine if an investigation is warranted and an award is appropriate.”

If the IRS uses the information provided by a whistleblower, it can award the person up to 30 percent of the additional taxes and penalties collected. A spokesman for the IRS declined to comment further, saying the agency can’t discuss specific cases.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

Sources: https://californiahealthline.org/news/california-insurer-faces-whistleblower-complaint-over-health-law-taxes/

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Failure to Monitor Errors

When you go to a medical clinic, a hospital, or any other medical facility, you may think that the operation or procedure you are undergoing poses the greatest danger to your health. While there is risk in any procedure, here in Mississippi I see a large number of injuries occur as a result of a “failure to monitor” a patient after a procedure is completed. So while a failure to monitor a patient may seem benign compared to a procedure that goes wrong, the results can be just as harmful and even fatal.

What is a Failure to Monitor Error?

Many medical procedures require some sort of monitoring after the procedure is complete. That requirement is the reason why you are not just immediately discharged after a medical procedure. Instead, you usually sit and rest for a period of time and your vital signs are taken periodically. There are many examples of procedures requiring this sort of period of monitoring, including any procedure requiring anesthesia, dialysis, child birth, and procedures requiring multiple drugs that interact. Other situations requiring monitoring are less acute, such as the monitoring of an elderly person who is confined to a bed to make sure he or she does not develop bed sores.

The responsibility of monitoring a patient is spread across the medical facility, but includes the physicians involved, nurses, and other medical professionals charged with monitoring a patient’s health and safety.

What is Negligence?

You are not necessarily due a settlement simply because you something unfortunate occurred in the course of your medical care, and there is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring during a medical procedure and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is medical negligence different from an accident?

Negligence means that a health care professional or health care-associated establishment fails to provide care in line with the generally accepted standards, and the individual is injured as a result. To establish negligence based on a failure to monitor you will have to show:  a) you were under the care of a medical professional; b) the medical professional failed to meet the “standard of care” for monitoring you; and c) you were injured as a result of that failure.

What Does the “Standard of Care” Mean for Monitoring?

Simply put, malpractice occurs when the patient’s medical care does not meet current medical standards. You do not necessarily need to be monitored constantly; however, there is a standard for how often your vital signs are to be taken and how soon you are to be sent home. If a medical professional fails to meet that standard, their behavior is considered negligent.

What Should You Do If You Were Injured as a Result of a Failure to Monitor?

Serious infections, injury, and even death can result from a medical professional’s failure to monitor you adequately in conjunction with a medical procedure. You deserve compensation. Contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately and let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with aggressive opposing counsel, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that an only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury that you believe is due to medical malpractice.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Needle Stick Malpractice Claims

One of the most common forms of medical malpractice that I see here in Mississippi is from “needle sticks.” This sounds benign, but the negligent pricking or cutting of a patient can lead to serious infections and disease. Those are serious consequences, and that consequence is compounded when a person loses their livelihood and lifestyle as a result of a needle stick. Even worse, needle sticks are commonly the result of avoidable malpractice.

Needle Sticks

According to the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, there is a tremendous needle stick problem in the United States:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about 385,000 sharps-related injuries occur annually among health care workers in hospitals…It has been estimated about half or more of sharps injuries go unreported. Most reported sharps injuries involve nursing staff, but laboratory staff, physicians, housekeepers, and other health care workers are also injured.

A sharps injury is a penetrating stab wound from a needle, scalpel, or other sharp object that may result in exposure to blood or other body fluids. Sharps injuries are typically the result of using dangerous equipment in a fast-paced, stressful, and understaffed environment. These strenuous demands often produce feelings of fatigue, frustration, and occasionally anger. In the operating room, for example, health care personnel do not have the luxury of “taking a break,” but must continue with their duties until the procedure is completed. These conditions can increase the risk of injury and infection for health care workers.

Health care workers may also incur injuries from improper procedures, such as passing sharps hand-to-hand between team members, placing sharps in a disposal container, or failing to use a safer sharps device. A report from the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) found that nearly half of all sharps injuries occurred during use of the sharp, and of the nearly 40% of needle injuries which involved a safety designed needle, the majority occurred before activating the safety device. Moreover, the report also showed that many sharps injuries occurred in patient rooms among nurses and operating rooms among surgical team members.

As I said above, the consequences of needle sticks can be extreme. Common consequences are Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Herpes, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Syphilis, Maralaria, Typhus, Spotted Fever, and many more. That is a list of potentially life-threatening infections.

 

What is Negligence?

Believe it or not, accidents do happen in the medical environment. You are not due a settlement simply because you were stuck with a needle at the wrong time. However, there is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring during a medical procedure and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is medical negligence different from an accident?

Negligence means that a health care professional or health care-associated establishment fails to provide care in line with the generally accepted standards, and the individual is injured as a result. To establish negligence based on a needle stick you will have to show:  a) you were under the care of a medical professional; b) the medical professional failed to meet the “standard of care” for the handling of needles or for a safe workplace; and c) you were injured as a result of that failure.

What Does the “Standard of Care” Mean?

Simply put, malpractice occurs when the patient’s medical care does not meet current medical standards. This failure may be due to a physician or medical provider not staying current with their training, a failure to perform the correct procedure at the right time, a failure to adequately supervise or train nurses and other support staff, or poor sanitation within the medical environment.

Needle prick injuries can be caused by a number of different factors. Poor medical facility sanitation, lack of staff training, overworked staff, improperly administered protocols, and poor record-keeping.  Each of these areas has an associated standard care that medical professionals must meet.

What Should You Do if You Were Stuck by a Needle at Work?

I sometimes speak with Mississippi clients who have received an offer to settle their case after a needle stick causes a dangerous infection; they are sometimes offered a quick settlement in exchange for your agreement not to pursue a legal challenge.  Do not accept these “low-ball” offers, as tempting as they may be at the time.

Instead, contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with aggressive opposing counsel, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that an only a personal injury attorney can handle for you. If they are handled poorly by an attorney without numerous personal injury cases under his or her belt, they may be done ineffectively, costing you a tremendous amount of compensation.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury that you believe is due to medical malpractice.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Fetal Stroke Malpractice Claims

There is nothing sadder than the death of a child. It pains me terribly when clients meet with me after their child has been injured or killed, and whatever I feel is nothing compared to their pain. That pain is compounded when the injury or death was caused by another person’s negligence. That negligence is made worse when the person or person who injured the child was a medical provider charged with healing them.

Fetal Strokes

A stroke is an event where blood flow to the brain is restricted, causing death of brain cells, brain damage, and death. Many types of injuries result from a stroke, including cognitive deficiencies, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. A “fetal stroke” occurs while the baby is the womb.

As a personal injury attorney, injured people often meet with me to ask whether they can bring a claim against a doctor, nurse, other medical professional who may have caused a fetal stroke, leading to an injury or death of a child.  As a result of these frequent inquiries, I thought it would be useful to describe what makes a fetal stroke claim in Mississippi. One thing is critical to state up front—you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel help you attain any settlement from a medical provider. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What is Negligence?

Believe it or not, accidents do happen. There is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring during a medical procedure and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is medical negligence different from an accident? Negligence means that a health care professional or health care-associated establishment fails to provide care in line with the generally accepted standard of care, and the individual is injured as a result.

What Does the “Standard of Care” Mean?

Simply put, malpractice occurs when the patient’s medical care does not meet current medical standards. This failure may be due to a physician or medical provider not staying current with their training, a failure to perform the correct procedure at the right time, a failure to adequately supervise or train nurses and other support staff, or poor sanitation within the medical environment.

What is the Standard of Care in Fetal Stroke Cases?

Fetal stroke can have a number of causes, one of them being medical malpractice. Commonly, I see cases here in Mississippi where a physician inappropriately uses a vacuum extractor during labor or where efforts to pull a baby through the birth canal result in harm to the child’s nervous system.

What Should You Do If Your Child Suffered a Fetal Stroke?

If your child was injured or killed as a result of a fetal stroke, no amount of legal help will ease your sadness. However, some of the neurological conditions caused by fetal stroke are extremely expensive, and you deserve to be compensated if those conditions were the result of malpractice. Sadly, I sometimes speak with Mississippi clients whose children have died as a result of fetal stroke; they are sometimes offered a quick settlement in exchange for your agreement not to pursue a legal challenge.  Do not accept these “low-ball” offers, as tempting as they may be at the time.

Instead, contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with aggressive opposing counsel, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that an only a personal injury attorney can handle for you. If they are handled poorly by an attorney without numerous personal injury cases under his or her belt, they may be done ineffectively, costing you a tremendous amount of compensation.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury that you believe is due to medical malpractice.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Deep Vein Thrombosis Malpractice Claims

Deep vein thrombosis is a serious condition that kills too many good people here in Mississippi.  It is caused when a blood clot forms in a deep leg vein but also sometimes in the pelvis or in other parts of the lower body. Properly administered tests can detect these clots and allow for treatment. Detecting deep vein thrombosis is important, because if the clot dislodges it will travel through the blood stream to the lungs, where it cut off blood supply—a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolisms are often deadly.

As a personal injury attorney, injured people often meet with me to ask whether they can bring a claim against a doctor, nurse, other medical professional who failed to catch deep vein thrombosis, leading to an injury or death of a loved ones.  As a result of these frequent inquiries, I thought it would be useful to describe what makes a deep vein thrombosis case in Mississippi. One thing is critical to state up front—you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel help you attain any settlement from a medical provider. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What is Negligence?

Believe it or not, but accidents do happen. There is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring during a medical procedure and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is medical negligence different from an accident? Negligence means that a health care professional or any other health establishment failed to provide care within the generally accepted standards of care, and the individual was as a result.

What Does the “Standard of Care” Mean?

Simply put, malpractice occurs when the patient’s medical care does not meet current medical standards. This failure may be due to a physician or medical provider not staying current with their training, a failure to adequately supervise or train nurses and other support staff, or poor sanitation within the medical environment.

How Does Standard of Care Affect Deep Vein Thrombosis Cases?

Imagine your leg starts to throb at work. The throbbing does not go away, so you go in to see a physician about it.  Imagine that he ignores possible symptoms of deep pain thrombosis, does not perform any tests, and treats you for dehydration-induced cramping. Imagine that two days later the clot in your leg breaks free from the vein it’s blocking and migrates to your lungs, causing a deadly pulmonary embolism. Your family could sue on those facts, claiming that your harm was a direct cause of your physician’s failure to meet the standard of care.

What Should You Do If You Suffer from Deep Vein Thrombosis Due to Malpractice?

If you were injured in the course of receiving medical care, contact an experienced personal injury attorney so that you can focus on yourself and on your healing process. Sadly, I sometimes speak with Mississippi clients whose loved ones have died as a result of medical malpractice. In either case, you may be offered a quick settlement after an accident in exchange for your agreement not to pursue a legal challenge.  Do not accept these “low-ball” offers, as tempting as they may be at the time.

Instead, contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with aggressive opposing counsel, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that an only a personal injury attorney can handle for you. If they are handled poorly by an attorney without numerous personal injury cases under his or her belt, they may be done ineffectively, costing you a tremendous amount of compensation.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury that you believe is due to medical malpractice.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Hearing Loss Claims

Clients often come to me with questions about hearing loss, and they wonder whether they can recover damages as a result of this injury. Yes, hearing loss is a common type of injury, especially for those working in industrial environments. That said, if you experience hearing loss, there are a wide variety of factors that influence what sort of payment you can expect to receive. One thing is critical to know—you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation. Barrett Law has the experience to help you recover for hearing loss.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Hearing loss is a significant problem in the United States.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website:

Occupational hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses in the United States. Each year, about 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to hazardous noise levels at work. Over 30 million U.S. workers are exposed to chemicals, some of which are harmful to the ear (ototoxic) and hazardous to hearing. In addition to damaging workers’ quality of life, occupational hearing loss carries a high economic price to society.

That quote raises an important point.  First, work related hearing loss is a serious issue. Second, while we commonly thing of very loud noises as the reason for hearing loss, exposure to toxic chemicals is actually a greater overall threat.  This is particularly an issue in Mississippi, as we have a high number of workers exposed to loud noises in the industrial and farming environment, as well as in the petrochemical and plastics industry, both of which utilize potentially ototoxic chemicals.

In particular here in Mississippi, the following industries have the high risk of causing hearing damage: manufacturing, construction, welding, carpentry, airport work, entertainment, and the military.

An employer or business can be liable for your hearing loss if you are negligently exposed to either sounds or chemicals that damage your hearing. “Negligence” has many definitions, but generally means that a person or business fails to act reasonably under the circumstances.  What is “reasonable” is often a point of much disagreement. For example, we have all spent an evening at a concert or bar and returned home to find our ears ringing. In that situation, while there was some effect on our hearing, it was short term and we chose to subject ourselves to it. It is probably not reasonable to expect the concert promoter to hand out ear plugs. However, a bartender or waitress working in that venue night after night might need those ear plugs to prevent permanent hearing loss, and it is may be un reasonable for his or her employer to not provide them.  The same “reasonableness” balancing must go on in each profession and activity.

One challenge of hearing injuries is that they often occur imperceptibly and gradually. As a result, it is easy for an employer or business to claim that they were caused by poor health, natural hearing degradation, or some other intervening cause. If you feel your hearing ability decreasing, it is important to see a doctor or audiologist to document any decline.

What Should You Do If You Suffered Hearing Loss?

If you believe you are suffering from hearing loss, document it. You should also seek medical attention, as a doctor can provide clear documentation that an injury occurred and its potential causes.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with your employer’s insurance company. These are important tasks that a worker’s comp attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered hearing loss.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on your employer, defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for the injury you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Attorney Explains: Why Employers Need to Provide Fall Harnesses to Employees

A common workplace injury here in Mississippi is falls. Injuries related to falls at construction sites, from roofs, and other elevated workplaces are very common, and they tend to involve more significant injuries because of the heights involved. These types of construct injuries are almost entirely preventable if an employer supplies an adequate fall harness and employees are trained how to use the harness appropriately. I stress the second point regarding training because a fall harness can actually cause injuries if it is not worn and used appropriately. Unfortunately, some employers do not take this simple step, which can result in serious injury and death. If you have been injured in a workplace accident, one thing is critical to know—you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured in a workplace fall or harness related injury.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

A Fall Brings Many Risks

Imagine you are working as a roofer and are wearing an appropriate fall harness.  If you lose your footing and fall, you will likely tumble off the roof and then will be suspended by the harness and line it is attached to once the fall harness catches you. While this may seem like a good outcome, different types of injuries can result from even the short fall you took, and the harness itself can begin to cause injuries while you are suspended. So while you did not hit the ground, you may be injured from trauma caused by the side of the building, strangulation, or by the pressure caused by an ill-fitting harness. If you are working alone, hanging in the harness awaiting rescue can also result in a number of medical problems.

Factors in Fall Harness Injuries

Harness Fit—A properly fitted harness has to do several things. It must initially catch your fall and support you while you are suspended, but should not cut off blood flow.  Serious injuries and death can result from a harness that cuts off blood flow while a person is suspended or that suspend the person in a manner that causes further injury, such as strangulation. This also highlights why being suspended for too long comes with its own dangers.

Time Suspended—The longer you are suspended, the greater the chance that you will suffer immediate and long-term injury. Heart attack, stroke, heat exhaustion, and hypothermia are all immediate threats, while concussions, crushed veins and arteries, and many others may not manifest until much later.

Immobility—If your fall renders you unconscious, you will be unable to protect yourself from trauma caused by either spinning and hitting a hard object or from air or blood flow being cut off.

Health—If you are in poor health due to weight, smoking, or other preexisting conditions, your fall injuries may be exacerbated. The stress and trauma of a fall can trigger a heart attack; because you are suspended, providing you with appropriate care is difficult.

Age—Your body’s ability to “bounce back” from a fall and related trauma decreases as you age. Your harness is more likely to cause damage to your body—particularly veins and arteries—as you age.

Dehydration, Air Temperature, and Energy Level—You are less likely to be able to protect yourself in a fall situation in extreme cold and heat, as your body is using more energy to do a normal amount of work. These challenges are compounded when you are dehydrated or exhausted. Inadequate work breaks and availability of water can have serious consequences for workers at risk for falls.

What Should You Do If You Suffered an Injury at Work?

If you suffer a fall injury at work, document it. Many employers have policies requiring the documentation of a workplace injury.  You should also seek medical attention, as a doctor can provide clear documentation that an injury occurred and its potential causes.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with your employer’s insurance company. These are important tasks that a worker’s comp attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered a fall harness injury.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on your employer, defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for the injury you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

 

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