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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Why You Should Be Careful About What You Say to Your Doctor After an Accident

Usually, the phrase “everything you say may be used against you in a court of law” is brought up in the context of criminal law, not civil. But statements made to your medical provider after you have experienced a severe injury may come back to haunt you in court as well.  While I always want my clients to see a medical provider immediately following an accident and still want my clients to provide all medically-relevant information to their providers, I also want people to understand that statements can be taken out of context and undermine personal injury cases.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of another’s negligence here in Mississippi, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income, emotional trauma, and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you, contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Your Doctor-Patient Privilege is Gone

Most people believe that anything they tell their physician is protected by the “doctor-patient privilege,” which means that the statements made to your physician cannot be disclosed to third parties.  That is normally true. However, if you have filed a personal injury claim for injuries caused by a third party, the third party’s attorneys can request or subpoena your medical records at any time. This means that they will have access to statements you have made to your physician and that those statements are not at all private.

For example, imagine that you were injured when a supermarket employee drove a forklift into you while you were walking across the supermarket’s parking lot, severely injuring your back.  Again, my advice would be for the injured party to attain medical attention immediately, even if he or she does not feel hurt, as this initial medical assessment will serve as a baseline if future injuries develop later. But in this case, imagine that the injured person’s back was severely injured, requiring months away from work and significant expenses. A personal injury claim would be appropriate in this case to recoup the injured party’s costs and to receive compensation for pain and suffering.

However, imagine that six months after the forklift accident, the victim is feeling better due to extensive physical therapy, long periods of rest, and careful attention to his injury. Also imagine that he goes in for a six-month checkup with his physician who asks, “how are you feeling?” If the injured party responds, “oh, I’m okay, but I’m always sore after a weekend of wrestling with my nieces and nephews,” the doctor may enter “patient’s ongoing back soreness is caused by wrestling with grandchildren” into the patient’s chart.  While that entry may seem innocuous, it will likely be raised as an argument months or years later by the plaintiff’s counsel as an argument why the plaintiff does not owe the defendant any compensation.  That off-the-cuff comment about wrestling may cost the plaintiff hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

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

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of an accident, you might have a negligence claim for your injuries, loss of work, and emotional trauma. While I always advise clients to attain needed medical attention immediately after an accident, I also want my clients to be well-advised regarding what they should and should not say to their physician to best protect their future claims. If you have been injured in an accident, get expert legal advice immediately.

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.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Why Having an Experienced Attorney Seize Evidence is Vital to Your Case

When a severe automobile, construction, or any other kind of catastrophic accident occurs, it is vital that you have experienced counsel on your side that can seize evidence related to your case. Unfortunately, I have seen people here in Mississippi either hire an attorney too late or retain inexperienced counsel with tragic results—significant evidence is destroyed, degraded, or lost. If you have been injured in a serious accident, the defendant’s counsel wants the evidence related to your accident to be lost or destroyed, so don’t give them an advantage. I have written the following blog post to describe why preserving evidence is so vital to recovering your fair share of compensation after you have been injured.

If you have been injured in a severe automobile, construction, or any other type of catastrophic accident, 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 if you or a loved one has been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Why Seizing and Documenting Evidence is So Important

When a catastrophic injury results from an automobile accident, a construction accident, a machinery malfunction or any other accident, it is vital that the cause of the injuries in question be documented as soon as possible after the accident occurs. For example, imagine a scaffolding collapses, injuring five employees that had been standing on it. A lawsuit on behalf of those workers will likely either allege that the scaffolding itself was defective or that the contractor that owned the scaffolding assembled it negligently.  But to prove either of those arguments, the plaintiffs’ attorney will have to establish negligence, which means that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff and failed to take reasonable steps to avoid injuring him or her.

The most important advice I can give you is that when a severe accident occurs, call experienced personal injury counsel immediately. If you delay, there is no way that the attorney can spring into action on your behalf and preserve evidence.  Delay is deadly to your case, and when an accident like this occurs, I immediately request that the property owner seal off the accident site and prevent any movement of the alleged cause of the injury—in this case, the scaffolding.  Then my team and I arrive on the scene and take detailed pictures of the scaffolding and site. If possible, I would even take a sample of the scaffolding to determine whether undue decay or degradation had caused the scaffolding’s structure to become compromised.  Unfortunately, once the scaffolding is moved or removed, it is challenging to establish who and what caused the accident in question.  For example, it is common for contractors to use too few cross supports on scaffolding; the only way to establish how many supports were in use is to be there, on-site, and count them.

Similarly, the scaffolding may have been assembled correctly, only to collapse because the manufacturer negligently calculated weight limits.  There will be no way to determine negligence definitively without detailed documentation of the accident scene. The scaffolding company and building contractor will each blame each other, making pursuing either party more challenging.

What Should You Do If You Have Been Injured?

If you have been injured because of another party’s negligence or recklessness, you should be compensated for medical costs, counseling, loss of employment, and other expenses.  Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Pedestrian Accidents

Mississippi’s wonderful climate should make it a perfect place to walk outdoors.  Unfortunately, it is all too common for families to come into my office to discuss a severe automobile accident that injured or killed their loved one who was innocently walking down the street. While Mississippi’s climate may be excellent for pedestrians, our roadways are not.  We have narrow roads with no shoulders, few street lights, and even fewer bike paths. This combination forces people to walk on the side of the road, often within inches of speeding drivers that may or may not be able to see them. Injuries ensue. Pedestrian accidents pose several novel legal issues that may not be intuitive. 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 pedestrian 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.

To Receive Compensation, You Must Prove Negligence

To attain any compensation, you must show that the person or persons responsible for your injury did not act reasonably and that unreasonableness resulted in your injuries.  In a pedestrian injury case, the most common defendant is the person who struck the pedestrian with his or her vehicle.  To show that the driver was not acting reasonably, the injured party’s attorney must show that the driver was speeding, driving recklessly, distracted, intoxicated, or some other clear indication that he or she was not operating reasonably at the time of the accident. Texting or checking social media while driving are both common forms of negligence that I have seen a lot of in the past few years.

The second type of defendant is the municipality or government entity responsible for the road. We all know particularly dangerous intersections or stretches of road.  If a municipality is “on notice” that one of these areas is particularly dangerous, it has a duty to at least warn citizens of the danger through signage or, better yet, to correct that danger through lighting or changes to the roadway itself.

A Pedestrian’s Own Behavior Influences Whether There Will Be a Negligence Finding

Just because someone is struck by a vehicle does not mean that the driver was negligent, and the same rules of reasonableness also apply to pedestrians. If a pedestrian was intoxicated and walking down the center of an unlit road at night, the odds of proving that an oncoming vehicle hit them negligently are much lower than if he or she was walking on the road’s shoulder during the day.  This is more or less a sliding scale, and the more negligent the pedestrian is, the less negligent the driver is usually viewed.  Only an experienced personal injury attorney can provide you with an assessment of how a jury will consider a claim, so make sure to seek counsel immediately if you or a loved one is injured.

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

If you or a loved one was injured by a vehicle while walking, you should be compensated for medical costs, counseling, 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.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

There are several factors currently combining to create a nursing home crisis in the United States. First, with the baby boomers now well into their 60’s and 70’s, there are more people than ever using assisted care facilities. Second, with low unemployment and increasingly tight immigration controls on talented Salvadoran and Haitian immigrants that have long staffed nursing homes, the employment pool for traditional nursing home staff has never been smaller. As a result, I have noticed an increase in nursing home abuse and neglect cases here in Mississippi. When loved ones come into my office asking whether they have a strong abuse or neglect case, I usually go over a couple of questions to shed light on the situation, which I detailed in the blog post below.

If a loved one was injured as a result of nursing home abuse or negligence, one thing is critical to know—you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair of compensation for physical harm, emotional harm, financial loss and death.  Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What are the Key Components of a Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Case?

Is it Really a Nursing Home?

The first question I ask clients is whether their loved one was in a licensed nursing home. I am specifically interested in whether the business in question was licensed, was full time live-in, and had paid nursing staff on site. Often people initially tell me that their loved one was in a “nursing home,” but after further questioning, it comes out that the loved one was actually staying with a relative that has some elderly people renting out rooms and receiving meals. There is a significant legal difference between the two. To be negligent, a person must have a legal duty to the injured person and must have violated that duty, giving rise to the injury in question.  The duty of a licensed nursing home to protect and keep your loved one in good health is much higher than the duty of an unlicensed home where your loved one pays rent and receives some meals.

Did the Nursing Home Breach its Duty to Your Loved One?

One unfortunate reality is that a significant number of people are injured and die in nursing homes. But very few of those injuries and deaths result in an actionable negligence case for abuse or neglect. In reality, seniors are often unstable and fall. Many people die in nursing homes because their time was up. To be an actionable claim, the nursing home must have violated its duty by failing to provide your loved one with a clean and safe environment, or by committing physical or mental abuse. Being injured is not alone sufficient; instead, with the help of an experienced personal injury attorney, you must be able to show that that the injury or death in question arose from the breach of the nursing home’s duty to your loved one.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured at a Nursing Home?

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of abuse or neglect at a nursing home, you are entitled to compensation for your injuries and may have a viable negligence claim. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the nursing home’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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.

 

 

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Describes How to Avoid Common Mistakes in the Workers’ Compensation Process

Workplace injuries are common here in Mississippi. Too often, unfortunately, people misunderstand the way the workers’ compensation process works and unwittingly deny themselves benefits that they deserve. The first mistake people make is not getting in touch with an attorney experienced in Mississippi workers’ compensation law. Because I so frequently see this sort of mistake, and others, I have written the following blog post to describe common mistakes people make in the workers’ compensation process.

If you were injured or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of medical care, 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.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

How to Avoid Common Mistakes in the Workers’ Compensation Claims Process

Failing to report your injury promptly is the most common mistake I see. Employees sometimes believe that they are going to get in some trouble for being injured. Other employees feel that because their own negligence or recklessness caused their injury, they will be disciplined for becoming injured. These instincts are wrong. You should immediately report all injuries.  If you delay, doubt creeps into the process as well as a suspicion that you are making a workers’ compensation claim for a preexisting or injury.  Reporting your injury as soon as it happens means that no such doubt can exist. Also, remember that you are due compensation for your injuries even if your recklessness or negligence caused them.

Make your report to your employer in writing.  While you may be in too much pain to file a written report immediately, follow-up with a written statement within 24 hours referencing your initial, oral report of the incident.  You do not want there to be any question regarding when and where you were injured, and an oral statement is not sufficient to rely on long after memories have faded.

If you do not immediately report your injury, you still need to report it within 30 days of the occurrence.  After 30 days, your claim may be denied as untimely. Additionally, strictly adhere to any workplace policies regarding workers’ compensation reporting.

Seek medical treatment and assessment immediately, even if you do not feel that anything is wrong.  Again, you want to position yourself so that no one can claim that your workers’ compensation claim is a false, retroactive claim for an injury that was caused outside of work. The best way to document your injury is to have a physician perform a physical immediately after your injury occurs.  This also provides a baseline against which to compare any subsequent degradation in your physical condition.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured on the Job?

You have a right to file a workers’ compensation claim if you were injured while on the job. That is true even if the injury is the result of your fault. Having If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of a medical error, you might have a malpractice claim. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the hospital’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains What To Do After a Truck Accident

We all share Mississippi’s highways with big rigs, tractor-trailers, interstate trucks, eighteen-wheelers—they go by many different names, but we all know how it feels when one of these monsters rumbles by you.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of an accident with an eighteen-wheeler, 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.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

An Overview of Trucking Accidents

There are over 500,000 eighteen-wheeler accidents each year in the United States.  Sadly, because of these vehicles’ tremendous mass, their accidents trend toward catastrophic, especially when the accident involves a passenger vehicle.  Even the largest passenger car does not stand a chance when it is hit by an eighteen-wheeler, regardless of speed or the weight of the load in question.

Who Do Sue in a Trucking Accident Case?

One of the significant issues that separates a trucking case from a typical automobile accident case is the complexity involving the number of possible defendants. In a negligence case, it is essential to sue everyone who bears some responsibility for your injuries, and if you fail to include a party, the other named parties may evade or partially evade responsibility by claiming that the unnamed party was actually at fault. In a car accident, you usually just have to name the other driver in your suit.  However, in a trucking accident case, you will often want to sue the driver, the trucking company that hired the driver, the company that maintains the truck, and even the truck’s manufacturer. Each of these parties will then have their own attorney. Accordingly, you will need representation of an attorney that has an office set up to take on a substantial opponent.

Why Covers My Medical Costs and Loss of Wages While the Case Progresses?

Usually, your insurer will cover your medical costs and loss of wages when you are injured in an automobile accident.  However, that is not the case if you are involved in a collision with an eighteen-wheeler or any large vehicle over 6,500 lbs. In these cases, your insurer will usually seek compensation directly from the trucking company for payment while the case is pending.

What Sort of Insurance Coverage to Trucking Companies Carry?

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires truckers to carry much more insurance than they would usually be needed to carry in Mississippi, depending upon the type of cargo they carry.  For example, an eighteen-wheeler carrying soccer balls is only mandated to have $750,000 in insurance. Compare that to a truck carrying a load of hazardous petrochemicals—it has to possess somewhere between $1 and $5 million in coverage, depending on the nature of the dangerous substance.

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

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of a trucking accident, you are due compensation for your injuries, property damage, emotional trauma, and loss of work. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the trucking company’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains “Assumption of Risk”

Clients often come to my office after they or a loved one was injured. Sometimes they have been told that they have only themselves to blame, as they “assumed the risk” of whatever activity injured them. “Assumption of risk” is a legal term that has made its way into many people’s everyday vernacular. It is commonly used when a person wants to say that it is someone’s own fault that they were injured. But that is only half right. Because this term comes up so often in my practice, I thought I would give it some specific attention in a blog post.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of another’s negligence, you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income, emotional trauma, and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you, contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What is “Assumption of Risk?”

We live in a society enthralled by risk-taking and eager to place blame when risk results in injury. “Assumption of risk” is a legal term that tries to balance that contradiction. Water parks are a good example—when people follow the rules at water parks, they are usually a fun time on a hot day.  But sometimes people do get injured at water parks, and the park is often quick to say that they cannot be negligent because the injured person “assumed the risk” posed by the park. That may or may not be true. “Assumption of risk” is a legal term that means that when a person knowingly decides to enter a risky situation, he or she accepts the risks posed by that decision.  The classic example is the person who goes to a hockey game assumes the risk that he or she may get hit by a puck.

But assumption of the risk is not always so straightforward and usually hinges on how “knowingly” a person entered the situation and how apparent the risk was.  For example, if you go to a waterpark, you likely assume the risk that you may get kicked in the face by someone landing in the water on top of you.  Similarly, if you choose to leap out of the park’s slide while everyone else chose sliding down it, you assumed the risk of hitting the pavement under the slide. That said, you likely did not assume the risk that the water slide’s water would turn off, causing you severe abrasions. In short, a consumer can only assume the risks that he or she would reasonably be aware of upon entering a property, and if the hazard that injured you was not one that was notorious, advertised, or well-known, it will be difficult to claim that you assumed it. Assumption of risk is almost always used as a defense in negligence cases. But is fact-specific and is often shown to be inapplicable when the risk in question was one that the injured person could not have anticipated.

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

If you or a loved one was injured or killed as a result of a hazard on a third party’s property, you might have a negligence claim for your injuries, loss of work, and emotional trauma. Don’t let anyone tell you that you “assumed the risk” of whatever caused your injuries until you have spoken with an experienced personal injury attorney.

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.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains When a School May Liable for a Student’s Injuries

We trust our children’s schools here in Mississippi to provide them with an education and keep them safe. What happens when a child is injured while at school, either by another child, a teacher, a third party, or the school premises? The answer is that it depends on the facts of the case, but that the basic tenets of negligence apply. In the following blog post, I will describe how school liability works and how schools are different than other businesses.

 

If your child was injured as a result of his or her school’s negligence, one thing is critical to know—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 or a loved one has been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Negligence in the School Setting

Regardless of the setting, schools are generally charged with keeping children safe. This is true in all school programs, including field trips and off-campus events sponsored by the school. That said, schools are not charged with keeping all children accident-free at all times—that is an impossible standard to meet. Instead, schools must exhibit a reasonable standard of care to keep children safe.  That is a broad standard, which results in most cases being fact specific.

Imagine a teacher takes a 12-student class on a study abroad trip to Venezuela. Once there, she ignores U.S. State Department warnings and travels to a dangerous part of the country where the children are subsequently robbed, held against their will for a short period of time, and seriously scared before being released.  Upon returning home, the children continue to experience anxiety and distractedness due to their harrowing experience.  What, if anything, are they due? In this scenario, I would argue that the teacher had a duty to keep the children reasonably safe.  Getting robbed and held against your will could happen in any country, so that unfortunate occurrence does not itself trigger negligence.  However, in this scenario the critical fact is that she ignored a U.S. State Department warning—the particular danger that the students encountered was reasonably avoidable. That is the negligence standard for schools, was the harm experienced by a student reasonably avoidable by meeting a recognized standard?  I could have written similar examples with a homeless person wandering in through an unlocked door and assaulting a child or a teacher with several DUI’s getting in an accident while driving a team bus.  Each of these incidents was avoidable by meeting a reasonable safety standard.

The above examples would apply to either a private or public school. Sovereign immunity—the ability of the state to avoid liability—will complicate a suit against a public school, but this is a surmountable problem. The first step to attaining compensation for your child’s injuries is to contact an experienced personal injury attorney.

What Should You Do If Your Child Has Been Injured at School?

If your child was injured at school or during a school program, you should be compensated for medical costs, counselling, and other expenses.  Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the school’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Liability for Sports Leagues

Playing sports as a child or adult is one of life’s most precious experiences. I have seen countless children here in Mississippi grow into respectful members of the community because of the lessons learned on the playing field or court.  But what happens when the experience is not positive because of a severe injury or death?  These cases are rare but heartbreaking. While injuries are a normal part of athletics, some severe injuries and death are avoidable with adequate policies and equipment in place. What happens when a sports league fails to put sufficient safeguards in place to protect participants?  The courts have found that sports leagues can be liable if they fail to take adequate precautions to protect participants.

If you or a loved one was injured while playing in a sports league, 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.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Understanding How Sports Leagues Can Be Liable for Injuries

Sports are inherently risky and almost always result in some injury. Generally speaking, when a person participates in a sport, they “assume the risk” of participating in that sport. “Assumption of risk” is a legal term that means that when a person knowingly decides to enter a risky situation, he or she accepts the risks posed by that decision.  The classic example is the person who plays hockey assumes the risk that he or she may fall on the ice and get hurt.

Increasingly though, I am seeing more cases where adult and children’s sports leagues are being held liable for injuries that occur in the course of the game. But what differentiates this type of liability from ordinary cases where a person assumes the risk? In short, if a league fails to reasonably protect participants from known risks by implementing and enforcing safety rules, it can be held responsible for injuries that arise.

This issue has been highlighted in the context of sports-related concussions. People have been receiving concussions from sports as long as people have been playing sports. Historically, athletes were told to “shake it off” when they “got their bell rung” in a game or practice. Now, however, medical evidence has clearly demonstrated that even minor concussions can result in significant brain injuries over time.  As a result, every sports league in the country has developed a multi-step “concussion protocol” that must be followed before an athlete can return to physical activity. Using concussions as an example, if a league failed to have a concussion protocol, sent a child back into a game after she took a severe blow to the head and felt nauseous, and the child then developed brain damage, the league may be liable for failing to meet the standard of care to protect the child.  A similar argument could be made for a field hockey league that did not mandate eye protection, a football league that had old or insufficient helmets, or any other sports league that ignores current safety standards.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured While Playing Sports?

If you or a loved one was injured while playing organized, you might have a negligence claim. The strength of the claim will depend on the factors listed above, but you will need to speak with experienced counsel to assess how these factors align with your facts. Once a claim is filed, let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the sports league’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

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

 

 

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Pharmacy Negligence

Pharmacists are a vital part of our lives and are a part of our life that we often take for granted. That is because usually, our experience with our pharmacist is seamless and easy. But the results can be disastrous when pharmacists make mistakes. Sadly, I have represented people here in Mississippi harmed by pharmacist errors and have written the following blog post to help explain the standards at play for bringing a successful negligence claim against a pharmacy or pharmacist.

If you or a loved one were injured or killed as a result of a pharmacist’s mistake, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income, pain and suffering, and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Negligence in the Pharmacy

To make a successful claim against a pharmacy, it is not enough to merely have an adverse reaction to a drug. Generally speaking, to prove negligence against a pharmacist, you must show that he or she had a duty of care to you and failed to meet that duty. In laymen’s terms, that means that the pharmacist made a mistake that was reasonably avoidable with proper training, controls, or protocols. Pharmacies are strictly controlled environments and are governed by federal law, state law, and professional rules.  Any one of these standards provides a bar which pharmacists must consistently clear. There are many types of pharmacist errors that result in successful negligence claims, such as providing the wrong medication, providing the wrong dosage of the correct medication, providing a patient with incorrect instructions, failing to adequately counsel patients regarding dangerous drug interactions or combinations, failing to recognize dangerous drug allergies, printing the wrong instructions on the medication, and erroneously interpreting doctors’ notes.

You may also have a claim against the pharmacy itself for many different negligence theories.  “Negligent hire” is a claim based on a business’s decision to hire a person who is either not qualified or barred from employment. It is often triggered when a company employs someone without performing adequate background checks or assuring that the new hire possesses sufficient licensure. A failure to conduct appropriate background checks can result in a pharmacist who ran into problems at one pharmacy to simply move to another one. Another negligence claim may be based on negligent management of the clinic; this applies if unlicensed pharmacy techs routinely do the more technical work of licensed pharmacists, or if the pharmacy does not have an adequate training program to stay up-to-date with professional standards and practices.

What Should You Do If A Pharmacist Injured You or a Loved One?

If you or a loved one were injured as a result of medication provided by a pharmacist, save any bottles, medicines, labels, and prescriptions related to the prescription. These are vital evidence that will be necessary to prove your case.  Write down the names and contact information of anyone who accompanied you to the pharmacy when you picked up your medications.  Next, focus on healing. Let experienced counsel take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with the pharmacy’s attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a mistakenly prescribed drug or any other type of pharmacy-related negligence. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

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