Giving birth to a child ought to be a miraculous moment; unfortunately, it can instantaneously become a nightmare if a maternal infection threatens the baby or the mother. A “maternal infection” is an exposure to a serious infection that can be passed in utero to an unborn child. Maternal infections can kill either the child or mother and can result in congenital disabilities.  As a personal injury attorney, I have learned the minutiae and nuances maternal infection medical malpractice law.  The fact of the matter is that hospitals are often at fault for failing to prevent infections that can have life-altering and even deadly consequences.  If you or a loved one contracted an infection while giving birth and have suffered as a result, I will meticulously examine your case and attain compensation for medical errors that resulted in your maternal infection.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of maternal infection, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Maternal Infections

Maternal infections commonly cause congenital disabilities and injuries.  Basically, the mother contracts the infection and passes it on to the unborn child.  Common infections include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, hepatitis B, toxoplasmosis, urinary tract infections, strep, HIV or AIDS, rubella, and others.  These infections are widely present in many hospitals and are transferred from patient to patient by negligent handling of medical devices, failing to properly sterilize medical devices, and inadequate cleaning and sterilization protocols. Once the mother is exposed, the infection spreads to her unborn child through the uterus and placenta or exposure when the child passes through the birth canal.  Tragically, these infections sometimes result in the death of the child through miscarriage or fatal congenital disabilities. Even when they are not deadly, these infections can cause serious, life-long problems for the child, including blindness, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, and challenges with motor skills and hearing.

Contracting a maternal infection, while unfortunate, does not necessarily mean that the medical facility or staff were negligent.  These infections exist all around us, and a mother can contract them from many places.  However, a medical center may expose the mother to these infections unnecessarily.  To be proven negligent, the medical facility must fail to meet a reasonable standard of care to the mother and child.  To show that the medical facility has been negligent, a personal injury attorney often has to show that the hospital lacked proper sterilization and device-handling protocols and failed to make changes to address this problem through training and increased scrutiny of practices.  Alternatively, if the medical center or hospital knew that the mother had an infection and failed to treat the infection or alter the birth plan in a way that prevented its spread to the child, they may be negligent for that failure as well.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Hospital Setting?

If you or a loved one was injured in a hospital by a maternal infection or any other type of medical negligence, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney. Inexperienced counsel may lead you down a dead end where you receive no compensation for the harm you experienced or the long-term harm to your child. Instead, let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions, reviewing evidence, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys while you grieve and heal.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered a serious injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Dogs are a significant part of so many people’s lives here in Mississippi.  We use them for hunting, protection, or just to share the couch; dogs genuinely serve as “man’s best friend.”  But we all know about dogs that are mistreated or somehow turned out mean. Other dogs are friendly, but lash out when intimidated or threatened. Regardless of the reason, dog bites are an unfortunate fact of life.  While some bites are minor, others can be deadly or require extensive plastic surgery to repair. Because of their smaller stature and inexperience, children are frequently dog bite victims, causing scars that may last a lifetime. Because this is a frequent inquiry, I have written the following blog post to describe what you should do if a dog bites you or a loved one.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of a dog bite, you will need to have experienced personal injury counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury, medical treatment, and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Can I Receive Compensation for Injuries Related to a Dog Bite?

In Mississippi, dog owners must protect the public from their dogs.  When a dog bites, it is the owner’s fault, not the dog’s. So if a dog bites you, you can receive compensation for injuries resulting from the bite. Obviously, it is not worth a lawsuit if a dog simply nips you or causes a scratch, but you deserve compensation for a more severe bite requiring medical care. The only exception to a dog owner’s duty to protect the public from their dog is if you somehow were taunting or violently provoking the dog to the point that it was really your fault that the dog bit you in “self-defense.”

What Should I Do If a Dog Bites Me?

If a dog bites you, call the police. You are not necessarily calling the police because you want the dog’s owner to be arrested. Rather, you want the police, an unbiased third-party, to document the scene and your injuries.  A police report carries a tremendous amount of weight in legal matters, as law enforcement officers are trained in observing, photographing and documenting incident scenes in an impartial, emotionless manner.

Once the police have finished documenting your dog bite and the scene, you should seek medical treatment immediately. Dog bites are usually jagged, messy lacerations and often require plastic surgery to avoid irregular scarring. Even if your bite is not severe, for reasons similar to the police report, you want an unbiased medical professional to photograph and describe the severity of your injury.  This description will carry much more weight as legal evidence than any story you make, as you are biased towards your self-interest and will be remembering the incident through the lens of trauma.

Finally, if the attack was traumatic, seek counseling.  You do not want to spend the rest of your life jumping in fear every time you see a dog.  A counselor can help you work through and unwind the trauma so that it does not haunt you for years to come. Counseling is particularly crucial for children, who may blame themselves for the attack.

What Should You Do If A Dog Bite Has Injured You or a Loved One?

If a dog bit you or a loved one, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney to begin the process of attaining your fair share of compensation. As I have described above, these cases seem straightforward but can lead to a dead-end if they are left to an inexperienced lawyer. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, deposing witnesses, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that 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 been bitten by a dog. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

 

 

Anyone who drives Mississippi’s highways and highways knows that we have to share our roads with large vehicles—long haul trucks and buses. Often, these large vehicles are squeezing onto roads carved into valleys or hillsides a century ago, and as a result, large trucks and buses are often involved in severe accidents with automobiles. Because of the tremendous weight difference between these large vehicles and smaller cars, the automobile and its passengers are almost always the losers in a collision, sometimes catastrophically. I am an attorney who focuses on attaining the most compensation for individuals injured in this sort of accident and can assist you if you or a loved one was injured in a large truck or bus accident. People often ask me what they can do if they are injured in this type of crash, and I wrote the following blog post to provide a general overview.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of an accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your injury and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you—contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Focus On Your Physical Health

If you are involved in a large truck or bus accident, attain medical attention immediately.  This is true even if you believe that you are not injured.  First, you are likely in shock and are in no condition to judge your physical health.  Second, most soft tissue injuries such as whiplash take more than 24 hours to develop, so feeling alright at the crash site may not be a reliable indicator of your actual health.  Third, many severe medical conditions such as neck and spine injuries take even longer to develop and you want a medical professional to provide an unbiased assessment of your physical health.

Even if you are not seriously injured after a crash with a large truck or bus, you should seek medical treatment so that you have a baseline record of your physical condition at the time of the incident. If you fail to attain immediate medical attention, the defendant will attribute any subsequent pain or injury to events unrelated to the accident.  If successful, this argument will result in you not recovering any compensation for these injuries.

Call the Police

After an accident, law enforcement plays a critical role in providing an unbiased, third-party record of what transpired at the scene.  They can document the scene and take pictures before any vehicle is moved or altered.  This is critical because trucking and bus companies frequently dispatch crews to an accident scene immediately to move vehicles and remove incriminating evidence.  The police report will provide a trustworthy document that can be relied on later in court.

Take Photographs

If possible, take as many photographs as you can immediately after the accident.  Luckily, with the advent of smartphones, we all have cameras with us everywhere we go.  Take as many pictures as possible, as they will serve as critical evidence later.

Do Not Admit Fault

While you were involved in an accident, you are not an omniscient being with the power to observe what happened from a neutral viewpoint. Furthermore, you are in shock and are in no position to be making legal admissions.  Taking all of that together, never admit any fault after an accident.  You have no duty to disclose anything at any time.  Let the attorneys and courts determine fault once they have all relevant evidence available.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Bus or Large Truck Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in a large truck or bus accident, you should seek medical attention immediately and contact an experienced personal injury attorney. Inexperienced counsel may lead you down a dead end where you receive no compensation. Instead, let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions, reviewing evidence, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that 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 large bus or large truck injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

Our children are our most precious resource.  We entrust their safety to daycare providers here in Mississippi and believe that the provider acts in the child’s best interests.  But what happens when a daycare provider is negligent or reckless, injuring your child? Who will pay for medical bills and costs of long-term treatment?  How would you know if a seemingly innocuous playground accident will develop into a brain-stunting disability in the years to come? Determining how to proceed when a daycare accident occurs is a decision fraught with pitfalls. Hiring an experienced personal injury attorney is your first step towards resolving this issue in you and your child’s best interests.  I have written the following blog post to help people understand the problems that this type of claim raises.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of a daycare accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for his or her injury and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What You Should Do if Your Child is Injured at Daycare

In Mississippi, a daycare provider will be financially responsible for injuries your child suffered on your property if the injuries are the result of the provider’s negligence.  “Negligence” is a legal term that means that a person had a duty towards someone—here, the daycare provider had a duty to your child. Part of that duty is acting reasonably to protect your child from reasonably foreseeable harm.

What do those legal terms mean?  Well, true “accidents” do happen regardless of how careful we all are.  Imagine your child falls off of an age-appropriate swing set and breaks her wrist. Your daycare provider was likely not negligent in that scenario, as we all know that children fall of swing sets from time to time, no matter how careful we are. On the other hand, imagine if your five-year-old child was playing with “lawn darts” that a daycare provider bought at a garage sale over the weekend and skewered her leg with a falling dart.  As you may remember, “lawn darts” are a dangerous toy that has long been recalled.  No adult in their right mind would let a five-year-old play with them.  That lawn dart injury would constitute a failure of the daycare provider to protect your child from harm reasonably—they were negligent.

Similarly, you may be able to prove a violation of the daycare’s duty if they failed to meet a licensure requirement—railing heights, number of adults supervising children, class size—and an injury resulted from the failure.  Negligent hiring is often a problem with daycares, and if they fail to perform adequate background checks and hire a person who should not be working with children, you may have a claim if that person harms your child. For example, if the daycare hires a person with a record of DUI’s to drive the daycare van, that is a fairly clear violation of the daycare’s duty to protect your child.  Similarly, no one with any record of abusing or hurting children should ever be employed at a daycare.

What Should You Do If Your Child Has Been Injured?

If your child is injured in a daycare accident, you must hire a personal injury attorney to assess your case, provide you a clear path forward, and defend your rights.  You should be compensated for medical costs, educational remediation, counseling, and other expenses.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, documenting the accident site, attaining expert opinions, and dealing with the day care’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that 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. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.  The seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Jonathan Barrett is ready to assist you now!

 

 

 

Automobile accidents happen every day here in Mississippi, and I work with clients whose families have suffered a wide range of injuries, from no injuries at all to death.  Whether you have been involved in a minor fender-bender or a catastrophic or fatal accident, there are a few simple steps that everyone should take to protect their legal interests. When an accident happens, it can often be traumatic, and it is hard to remember what steps to take. I have written the following blog post to help people remember four mistakes they should avoid after any accident, no matter how insignificant.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of an automobile accident, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for injuries and recovery. Barrett Law has the experience to help you.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Failing to call the police—Always call the police after an automobile accident.  Even if there appears to be no damage or injuries, there is no harm in having an objective, third-party law enforcement officer document the scene.  This report may be vital later if injuries arise, and photographs and notes that the police officer creates may carry more weight than ones made by a person involved in the accident.

Failing to exchange insurance information—Always exchange insurance information with the other driver and take a picture of the information with your phone.  Even in situations where you believe no damage to your car occurred, and you were not injured, exchange insurance information.  Also, always attain the following information from the other driver: Name; Phone number; Address; Driver’s license number; License plate number; Insurance information; Make and model of the other driver’s vehicle.

Failing to attain medical care—Attain a medical examination immediately if you are injured in an accident. Even if you “feel O.K.” after an accident, see a physician, as you are likely in shock and in no position to judge your medical condition. It is essential to establish a baseline of your physical condition so that if injuries develop subsequently, there is evidence establishing when they began. If you fail to do this, the other driver’s insurance company is likely to claim that some later incident caused your injuries, not the accident.  In that scenario, without any medical records supporting your claim you are unlikely to recover any compensation.

Failing to take pictures—We are lucky that we now live in a world where almost everyone has a camera on them at all times.  If you are physically capable, take as many pictures as possible of the accident scene.  It becomes much more difficult to establish what caused the accident and who was to blame once the vehicles are towed away.  The other driver’s insurance company will likely attempt to construe the police report in a way that paints you as negligent, and there may not be police photos to prove otherwise.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in an Automobile Accident?

If you or a loved one was injured in an automobile accident, you should be compensated for medical costs, loss of work, and other expenses.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, taking pictures of the accident site, attaining expert opinions, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that 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. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.  The seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Jonathan Barrett is ready to assist you now!