Sadly, clients sometimes contact us because what should be a joyous occasion, the birth of a child, has taken a tragic turn. They are usually contacting us because they believe their medical providers’ actions resulted in an injury or birth defect in their new child. If they are correct, they are due significant compensation for the injury their child suffered and the extra expense raising their child will entail.

Our firm has significant experience representing parties in medical malpractice cases and can provide expert counsel if your child suffered a preventable birth defect or birth injury at the hands of medical providers. What does “preventable injury” mean though? A “preventable injury” is one occurring when a medical provider such as a nurse or doctor treats a mother or child during the childbirth process, fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure results in an injury or birth defect.

What are Birth Injuries?

A birth injury is an injury caused during labor and delivery. Common causes for birth injuries are labor itself, complications of labor, c-sections, medical mistakes during labor involving a c-section or the use of forceps, failure to monitor fetal health and signs of distress. If your child was injured during birth, that does not mean that you have a claim for compensation for that injury. The question will be whether the medical professionals who handled the birth met the professional standards of care given the situation presented to them. Basically, proving negligence does not hinge on the appearance of an injury, but on the failure to meet the requisite standard of care.

What are Birth Defects?

As was said above, birth injuries occur during the labor and delivery of the child. In contrast, birth defects occur while a child is developing for nine months in the womb. Not only are the time periods very different, but so are the standards for negligence. That is because injuries to the child during the birthing process are relatively easier to establish than those that develop while the child in the womb. The latter is usually assumed to be congenital and to have little to do with the medical care the mother receives. However, if a mother is given incorrect medication or medication to which the mother has a known allergy, there can be a successful claim for compensation for the birth defects arising from that negligence.

What Make a Strong Case?

There a multitude of complex factors that must be scrutinized before bringing a medical malpractice claim based on a birth injury or birth defect. At the core of any strong case, however, is a clear showing of negligence. A clear showing of negligence means that a medical professional such as a doctor or nurse did not meet the accepted standard of medical care when they provided treatment and that that failure caused you or your child harm.

What Should You Do if You Believe Your Child Was Injured During Birth?

If your child was born with either birth defects or a birth injury, you may be due compensation. While no amount of compensation can truly make you whole, you will need financial compensation to help meet your child’s ongoing medical and developmental needs. Receiving the compensation you deserve will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Hiring inexperienced counsel lacking Mississippi medical malpractice experience will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve, if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your child was born with birth defencts or a birth injury.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

Caring for elderly relatives poses a tremendous financial and emotional challenge for loved ones. The fact that other family members and workers that we employ to take care of the elderly would use that position to steal money, property, and assets compounds this responsibility. Unfortunately, elder financial abuse is a frequent problem but is also one that can be prevented by putting in place a series of effective precautions. If you have an elderly family member that has been the victim of financial abuse, contacting an experienced Mississippi personal injury attorney is vital to making your loved one and you whole.

Defining Elder Financial Abuse

Elder financial abuse can take many forms but includes forging signatures on checks, draining bank accounts, stealing assets, and taking control of property. The quintessential victim is over 80 and lives alone. Because many people at this age are suffering from some form of mental diminishment, they are often either not aware of the theft, unwittingly participate in it, or are not believed when they discovering it happening. The culprits can either be nursing staff employed to care for the elderly or the elderly person’s own family.

While we categorize elder financial abuse as theft and treat it like any other crime driven by greed or desperation, there are nuances to it as well. A family member caring for an elderly family member may be missing work to provide that care, may incur significant expenses associated with that care, and may feel that they are “owed” money. These family member caregivers often take money or assets from the elderly family member in their case as a form of payment.  This is also illegal, however, and is just another form of elder financial abuse.

What are the Signs that Elder Financial Abuse is Occurring?

Being alert to the signs that elder financial abuse is occurring is important to preventing it. Read and review bank statements and be concerned if banks stop sending them. Also be on the lookout for an increase in credit card offers. Your elderly family members are unlikely to be using credit cards frequently, yet the companies send these offers as a result of increased use. Is your loved one’s checkbook accessible and balanced? Are the signatures on the checks clearly his or hers? Keep an accounting of high value assets such as jewelry and firearms that are easy to sell for cash, and if they disappear or “go missing” be concerned.

If you suspect that someone is financially victimizing an elderly loved one, contact legal counsel immediately. A lawsuit or claim against a health care provider may be necessary to protect your interests. It is possible to protect your loved one and recover the funds for property that was taken, but not without expert help and advice.

What Should You Do a Loved One is the Victim of Elder Financial Abuse?

If a loved one has been the victim of elder financial abuse, quickly receiving the compensation to care for them and that they are due will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Trying to “go after” the culprit on your own will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been the victim of elder financial abuse.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

Having a loved one die as a result of an employer’s negligence is life-altering. Loss of the loved one and their income can devastate a family. Unfortunately, employers routinely cut corners on trenching projects, making this horrific outcome a far too common reality. You need to immediately contact an experienced Mississippi personal injury attorney if you or a loved one is injured or killed in a trenching accident.

Trenching and excavation work is incredibly dangerous. Too deep trenches lacking sufficient shoring can collapse, crushing those working below, and resulting in serious injury or death. Sadly, these accidents are the result of employers’ unwillingness to take proper safety precautions are entirely preventable.  These injuries and deaths are the results of cutting corners.

What Are the Employer’s Responsibilities?

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets standards and protects employees on the job site.  Importantly, OSHA also provides protections against retaliation to employees who report unsafe workplace conditions.

Under OSHA and Mississippi workplace safety rules, employers must make sure that trenches are sufficiently supported with shorings, and large mounds of soil cannot obstruct trench exits. It is in construction companies’ interests to remove these hazards, as even if a significant personal injury claim is not brought against them, they can be fined by OSHA for maintaining an unsafe workplace.

Most Trenching Accidents Are Preventable

Workplace laws surrounding trenching are extremely prescriptive because trenching accidents are so often severe and are usually preventable. Sufficient shoring or benching, keeping heaving equipment away from the trenches’ sides, and sufficiently removing excavated earth are all proven work-site techniques for preventing cave-ins on workers working below ground.

Additionally, there are a number of serious environmental factors that endanger workers that are not immediately related to how the trench is dug or shored.  In particular, it is extremely important that the employer monitors soil for toxins and environmental conditions such as heavy rains. Soil samples should be taking as trenching commences and continue as work progresses to prevent workers from being exposed to toxic substances trapped in the trenching soil. Employers must have a plan to remove employees and machinery safely from a trench in the case of extreme rain or a water main rupture.  Using benching to prevent cave-ins may not be appropriate in very silty or sandy soils; in these conditions, shoring may be the only safe option.

Extreme nearby vibrations can also result in these tragic situations occurring. Employers need to know what other work is going on in the vicinity, as heavy machinery working on utility or building projects nearby may cause vibrations that destabilize soils on their trenched building site.

In short, there are a host of concerns any time you or a loved one are working on a construction project that involves trenching.  If an injury or death occurs, it was often preventable and only occurred due to the employer’s negligence or corner-cutting.  If that is the case, you have the right to be made whole with the help of an experienced personal injury attorney.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured?

If you or a loved one has been injured in a trenching accident, receiving the compensation you are due will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Trying to settle the case on your own will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been injured or killed.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies’ defense counsel.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

Being injured as a result of another party’s negligence is stressful and life-altering. It can threaten your livelihood and family’s status in life. Attaining fair compensation to “make you whole” and repay the costs associated with your injury is often as stressful as the injury itself.

If you are trying to attain your compensation through an insurance company without the help of an experienced attorney, you are likely discovering a multitude of obstacles that the insurance companies routinely place in claimants’ paths to frustrate their attempt to attain fair compensation. Always keep in mind that the insurance company opposing you is not in the business of helping you; in fact, it is in the business of paying out as little as possible to you. The following are the most common obstacles injured parties encounter:

“Low Ball Offers” or “Go Away Money” Offered to Those Without a Lawyer

Insurance companies will try to scare you into not hiring counsel by saying that they will take a huge percentage of your settlement or slow down payment to you. Obviously, insurance companies have tremendous self-interest in making those sorts of claims.  In fact, when an insurance company knows that you are unrepresented, they often give you far lower settlement offers than you would receive otherwise. They have two reasons to this.  First, you have little understanding of what your case is worth, as you are inexperienced.  Second, they want you to sign a release and “go away” prior to getting the sort of legal advice that would dissuade you from taking these low dollar offers.

The Dilemma Posed By a “Small Case”

Not all claims are for millions of dollars or involve complex or extreme injuries. This may be your first claim, but it is the insurance company’s thousandth. If you have a “small claim,” insurance companies automatically know that they have an advantage. Specifically, they know that it is not financially worthwhile for you to hire an attorney, as the cost of your counsel’s work to attain fair compensation often exceeds the compensation itself.  As a result, insurance companies routinely offer low financial offers in these cases, as they know that a person coming to them will often accept the low amount rather than pay more for counsel to help them attain more.

Talking Yourself into a Corner

If a third party injures you, his or her insurance company will likely contact you soon after. These calls intentionally seek to lock you into certain statements about the severity of your injury—or lack thereof—before you fully feel your injuries’ effects. You can also inadvertently accept partial blame by responding positively to the insurance company representative’s leading questions.

We are all are of “Miranda Rights” from watching television; the police must read someone their “Miranda Warning” prior to interrogating them in a criminal case. The “Miranda Warning” starts by saying, “You have the right to remain silent.”  The problem with the insurance company representative’s contact with you is that they do not give you this sort of warning. In fact, they want you to talk so that those statements can be used against you in your subsequent claim for compensation.

It is not possible for you to understand all of your injuries soon after you are injured. In fact, many serious injuries take years to develop. Similarly, until a thorough investigation is conducted by an attorney, it is unlikely that you fully understand what caused the negligence that harmed you.

Statements made early on in a case will come back to haunt you later, once you have realized the full extent of your injuries or have more information suggesting the incident’s true cause. Rather than speak to anyone about the matter, remember that you should remain silent to avoid boxing yourself in later. 

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured?

If you or a loved one has been injured, receiving the compensation you are due will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. Trying to settle the case on your own will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been injured or killed

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies’ defense counsel.  Contact our seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer now at (601) 790-1505 to get experienced counsel on your side.