Posts

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Recent Supreme Court Case Affecting Nursing Home Lawsuits

With baby boomers starting to move into nursing homes, there is an increasing demand for spots, especially in high-quality placements. As demand increases, nursing homes have leverage and can be more selective about who they admit. Along with that selectivity comes contract terms that are unfavorable to residents, including conditions that bar lawsuits against the nursing homes. Instead of being able to go to court like any other injured citizen, nursing homes sometimes insert contract provisions requiring binding arbitration instead. While arbitration is ostensibly a neutral setting for grievances to be heard, it lacks many of the quintessential qualities of a court, such as a jury, strict rules of evidence, and an ability to appeal decisions. Arbitrators rarely grant the significant settlements that come out of jury trials, making them the favored venue of industries such as nursing homes.

I want to discuss the effect that a recent U.S. Supreme Court case will have on nursing home abuse cases, and how it may affect the contracts that families sign when they agree to house their elderly loved one at a nursing home.  I attached the entire case below for you to read but will provide an overview and discussion of the case’s ramifications below.

If you fear that an elderly loved one is being abused or taken advantage of, you must contact an attorney experienced in representing families in elder abuse situations immediately.  Your loved one’s health, finances, and well-being are at stake. Barrett Law has the experience to help you during this difficult time.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Kindred Nursing Centers v. Clark

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kindred Nursing Center v. Clark changed the playing field for those entering contracts upon moving into a nursing home. The facts are relatively straightforward. The families of two residents of Kindred Nursing Center moved their relatives into the Kentucky facility. Upon moving in, the families signed arbitration agreements that mandated that they resolve disputes in front of an arbitrator instead of taking any claim to court. The elderly residents did not sign arbitration agreements, however.  Soon after, the elderly residents both died, and the families felt that their deaths were due to Kindred’s neglect or abuse.

Usually, if a family believed that their relative’s death was the result of neglect or abuse, they would file a case in state court alleging a tort such as negligence or wrongful death. But because these families had signed an arbitration agreement, Kindred argued that they should be barred from filing a case in Kentucky state court and should instead have the case heard by an arbitrator. The families filed wrongful death in state court, arguing that because the elderly residents did not sign an arbitration agreement, the parties were not bound to arbitration.

The case eventually made its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which held that a family member could not bind an individual with an arbitration agreement unless the person has expressly authorized entering the contract. The Kentucky Supreme Court held that a person must expressly waive his right to a jury trial under the Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, determined that federal arbitration law trumped state law and that states cannot create special rules that apply only to arbitration agreements. This is a significant change, as states had enacted laws that protected their citizens’ rights to have a jury trial.  I expect that over time, nursing homes will make it a practice to have families sign away residents’ rights to a trial in favor of more industry-friendly arbitrators.

What Should You Do If You Believe Your Loved One is Being Abused?

If you believe a loved one has been neglected or abused in a nursing home setting, contact experienced personal injury counsel immediately. Collecting evidence of the abuse, dealing with opposing counsel, and attaining expert opinions are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on making sure your parent or relative is safe and healthy.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your loved one has experienced abuse. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Claims Based on Dangerous Roadways

We enjoy some of the best maintained and designed roads here in Mississippi, unfortunately, we also have some of the worst.  Devastating accidents, injuries, and death can occur when contractors, or the state or local government builds or maintains a road negligently. I frequently receive calls from people who have been injured by dangerous roadways, especially roads that are being repaired or repaved. I wrote the following blog post to help those who have questions about the most common types of roadway dangers that I see.

 

If you have been injured, you must find experienced counsel to 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.

Improper Striping

The stripes on the road that we all follow are usually pretty clear. That said, I frequently see clients who were injured when new striping was put on a newly paved part of a road while the old striping was on another section of the roadway. The new striping can confuse and divert cars into oncoming traffic’s lanes. In other instances, new striping directed cars off the roadway or into construction vehicles. If a construction company negligently allowed striping to confuse and injure drivers, it may provide a basis for a successful negligence claim.

Unmarked Turns or Dangers

Like striping, signs are supposed to direct traffic safely and help drivers avoid dangers on or alongside the roadway. When roads are newly build or repaved, however, signs or sign positions may not be updated to reflect current road conditions. I have seen cases here in Mississippi where a road sign was posted over 100 yards after the hazard it was supposedly warning drivers about. If a sign is that poorly posted and results in an accident, injury, or death, the victim likely has a strong negligence claim against the business or agency responsible for its faulty posting.

Low Road Shoulders or Drop Offs

We have all driven down a road and accidentally drifted onto the road’s shoulder.  This is usually an inconsequential event, and we correct our steering so that the car returns to the road’s center. But when a road is improperly designed and marked, the shoulder may be too steep and sudden, prohibiting the driver from returning to the roadway or causing him or her to lose control of their vehicle. Some roads have steep or no shoulders but should have signs warning drivers about this hazard. This may be a road design or road marking failure and may lead to a successful negligence claim if the car’s passengers are injured as a result.

Superelevation

We have all seen extreme examples of superelevation on raceways or when we built electric car tracks as children—a raised outer road edge keeps cars on the road as they go around turns fast. The same concept applies on highways, and superelevation means that the outside edge of a road’s curve should be higher to help keep cars on the road that are traveling at higher speeds. Older roads may not have superelevation, and paving projects may inadvertently reduce the degree of superelevation necessary on a roadway, making it more dangerous.  A negligence claim may succeed if a driver is injured because a curve that required superelevation lacked it.

What Should You Do If A Dangerous Roadway has injured you or a Loved One?

If a dangerous roadway injured you or a loved one, you might have a viable claim for compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and other harm. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions regarding the roadway’s safety, and dealing with opposing attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

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

 

 

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Injuries Caused by Cars

Car crashes cause some of the worst injuries I see as a personal injury attorney and sadly often result in death. We buy cars so that we will be protected in a crash, so it is disheartening to see that cars themselves are often the cause of injuries.  I sometimes meet clients who failed to attain legal advice regarding a life-altering injury. These folks lost so much due to their car-related injury, yet simple mistakes kept them from being compensated. A simple mistake can mean the loss of your home and financial ruin for your family. I wrote the following blog post to help individuals and families avoid costly mistakes when their car causes significant injury or death.

If you have been injured, you must find experienced counsel to 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.

Overview of Three Types of Automobile Related Claims—Crashworthiness, Design, and Manufacturing Flaws

Not everyone who gets in a car accident has a valid claim against an automobile manufacturer. To establish liability, an injured party must show some negligence on the part of the manufacturer. Negligence generally means that a person knew or should have known of a risk and failed to take steps to avoid that risk. In the automotive context, that means that the manufacturer was negligent regarding the car’s crashworthiness, design, or manufacturing. Clients here Mississippi often have questions regarding the difference between these three theories of negligence, so I have described each one in some detail below.

Crashworthiness

You have likely seen commercials where car companies show off their crash-dummy filled cars surviving horrific impacts. While those images were made to get you to buy that car, that sort of crash testing is critical to establishing the car’s actual safety rating.  Many advances in car design—seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones—have increased passengers’ chances of surviving even an extreme impact. Claims against car manufacturers alleging failures to ensure crashworthiness usually focus on one of the car’s safety features failing to work during a crash.  At its core, a crashworthiness claim argues that a person in an accident should have survived given the manufacturer’s claims regarding the car’s safety systems.

Design Failures

Recent history is full of examples of poorly designed cars.  Those design problems frequently resulted in tragic results. Whether it was cars that tipped over at certain speeds or had airbags that propelled deadly shards of plastic at passengers, design flaws have proven to be fatal. If you were injured by your car, it may be because of a problem with its design. You can recover compensation for your injuries if it can be shown that the manufacturer was negligent in selling the vehicle with this design flaw.

Manufacturing Failures

Sometimes vehicles are designed by the manufacturer to be safe, but the car is actually built incorrectly. This is a manufacturing flaw, which means that an otherwise well-designed car was made unsafe due to a mistake in the manufacturing process that rendered the car unreasonably dangerous. For example, if a cheaper, weaker metal is used instead of the specified type, part failure and serious injuries may ensue.

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

If you or a loved one was injured by a car, you might have a viable claim against the automobile manufacturer for compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and other harm. As I explained above, claims can be made based on crashworthiness, design defects, manufacturing defects, and other negligence claims. Let experienced counsel take care of attaining statements and analysis from expert witnesses and dealing with the automobile company’s legal team. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

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

 

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Product Liability Cases

Unfortunately, I routinely represent clients here in Mississippi who were injured by a product they purchased. Often, the product itself was benign and was used appropriately but had some design flaw that resulted in it becoming dangerous. These cases are always sad, as my client has usually been injured, has lost work, and may take years to recover. In the worst cases, I represent the family of a person who was killed by a defective product. Attorneys for the other side, the product manufacturer or store that sold the product, are always aggressive in their defense, as they know that the damages my clients are due are massive.

If you have been injured, you must find experienced counsel to 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 if you were injured by a product you purchased.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

The Two Parts to a Products Liability Claim

There are two parts to proving a products liability case. The first part is that you were injured and the product caused your injury.  The second part is that the product was unreasonably dangerous, and there are several ways to prove “dangerousness” in this context.

Part One—You Were Injured, and the Product Caused Your Injury

This may seem pretty straightforward and often is.  First, you have to prove that you were injured. If you are pursuing a personal injury claim, you have some injury. That said, people are injured all of the time. So you must also be able to show that the product in question caused that injury. For example, if you have a broken leg, you have an injury. But if you are arguing that a faulty ladder rung caused that injury, you will need to either show a broken rung, have a witness that saw the rung break, or some combination of the two. Without that sort of evidence, the ladder company’s attorneys may successfully argue that you broke your leg some other way and are simply blaming their ladder to get a windfall.

Part Two—The Product Was Unreasonably Dangerous

To meet the second requirement of a products liability claim, you must show that the product was unreasonably dangerous. “Unreasonably” is a somewhat subjective standard. A chainsaw provides a good example to explore this standard and the others that follow. As most people who work with them know, chainsaws are inherently dangerous even if used safely. So just being injured by a chainsaw is not enough to recover in a personal injury case against a chainsaw manufacturer or store.  To prove that the chainsaw was “unreasonably” dangerous, you first have to show that you were using it appropriately. Using the product appropriately generally means using it within the manufacturer’s specifications. In this example, you would have to show that you were using the chainsaw to saw wood of the appropriate size for the saw under appropriate conditions.  If you were using a trimming saw to take down a massive weeping willow, you were not using the chainsaw appropriately.  On the other hand, if you were using the trimming saw to cut a branch off that weeping willow, you have a good argument that you were using the saw appropriately.

Simply being injured by a product that you were using appropriately is insufficient to win your case—the product must also have some defect.  If we can prove that you were using the chainsaw appropriately and were injured as a result of that use, we will then have to show that a design defect, manufacturing defect, or a failure to warn caused your injury.

Design Defect—a design defect is what the name implies; the product had a design flaw that resulted in an unreasonable risk of injury when the product was used appropriately.  Imagine a chainsaw that had a guard in between the handle and spinning blade that was designed poorly and allows the user’s hand to slide over the guard when some routine event occurred, such as the chainsaw blade catching on tree knot.  That would be a design defect that creates an unforeseen hazardous condition when the product is used as intended.

Manufacturing Defect—a manufacturing defect is a flaw in the creation or building of a properly designed product.  Imagine the same chainsaw but with a properly designed guard.  However, in this example, imagine that the manufacturer used a cheaper, lightweight plastic for the guard that resulted in the user’s hand breaking the guard if the chainsaw caught on a knot in a tree.  That flaw was not the designer’s fault but was caused by the poor way the product ‘s manufacturing.

Failure to Warn—finally, a failure to warn is a flaw in a properly designed product that was manufactured correctly but lacks sufficient instructions to warn a person of a reasonably foreseeable hazard. Again, imagine the chainsaw from the above examples. If the saw was designed and manufactured correctly, but the manual failed to indicate that the blade would likely jump back if it was used to cut wet wood, that would be a failure to warn.  Failure to warn cases usually involve products that are normally safe, but the manufacturer fails to warn the consumer of a situation where the product is unreasonably dangerous.

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

If you or a loved one was injured by a product, you might have a viable claim for compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and other harm. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with your opposing attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

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

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Nursing Home Understaffing

There is a shortage of trained, qualified nursing home staff in the United States. There are federal staffing requirements for nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, requirements of which are rarely met. Here in Mississippi, I frequently see the tragic effects of this understaffing—neglect, medication errors, injuries, poor hygiene, falls, and more. No one should spend the end of their life suffering these indignities, and if you have discovered that a loved one has, you should speak to a personal injury attorney immediately.

If you fear that an elderly loved one is being neglected, you must contact an attorney experienced in representing families in nursing home negligence situations immediately.  Your loved one’s health, finances, and well-being are at stake. Barrett Law has the experience to help you during this difficult time.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

How Understaffing Affects the Elderly

Federally, the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendations are that nursing home residents spend two hours each day with a nursing aide and twelve minutes each day with a registered nurse. In my experience, many nursing homes fail to meet this standard. In understaffed nursing homes, residents’ needs go unnoticed because staff do not have sufficient time with each resident to identify them. At a minimum, this lack of attention can lead to emotional and intellectual decline. At worst, it can lead to life-ending neglect. That is a wide spectrum, so I listed various ill-effects below:

Problems Commonly Caused by Understaffed Nursing Homes

Medication Errors—short-staffed nursing homes have to ask more from their staff.  That means staff must work without breaks and distribute a tremendous number of medications daily to residents they barely know, a recipe for mistakes. If an elderly person receives the wrong medication, it can be life-threatening.

Dehydration—nursing home residents are often unable to get themselves a drink and are dependent on staff for hydration. But because residents are not moving vigorously or sweating, attention to hydration can be lacking, leading to serious health consequences and even death.

Malnutrition—like hydration, nursing home residents are often unable to feed themselves. Even if they are given adequate food, careful monitoring must occur to assure that they are consuming enough food to maintain their health.  Over time, inadequate food intake can have serious, negative health consequences.

Problems Related to Immobility—if nursing home residents are incapable of standing or moving easily, they often spend a lot of time either in bed or sitting. Prolonged periods sitting or lying in bed can lead to life-threatening bed sores, infections, and muscle atrophy.

Falls—low staffing means that nursing home residents have to do more for themselves, without help. The more often residents try to walk or move in instances when they require assistance, the more likely they are to have a fall. Given some residents’ fragility, these falls can be traumatic and life-ending.

Poor Hygiene—like many other aspects of life, the elderly often rely on nursing home staff for basic hygiene. Understaffed nursing homes are less able to provide the sort of personalized attention that residents require, sometimes resulting in serious infections, soiled clothing, dirty bedding, and other basic hygiene deficiencies that threaten residents’ health and sense of self-worth.

What Should You Do If You Believe Your Loved One is Being Neglected?

If you believe a loved one is being subjected to neglect in his or her nursing home, contact experienced personal injury counsel immediately. Collecting evidence of the abuse, seeking expert medical opinions, and getting answers from the nursing home are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on making sure your parent or relative is safe, happy, and healthy.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your loved one has experienced negligent care at his or her nursing home. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Elder Abuse

Most of us are horrified by the thought of elder abuse. Our parents took care of us as we grew from babies to children to adults, and we all went the best for them in their twilight years. But as the Baby Boomer generation grows older and more and more of them enter nursing home and in-home care, instances of elder abuse are on the rise.

I see clients whose elderly parents have been abused. That is always a sad conversation, but it is often made sadder by the fact that other family members are commonly the source of the abuse. People are often familiar with physical elder abuse, but are frequently less familiar with emotional abuse, and financial abuse. These are all common, often overlap, and require skilled legal intervention to stop.

If you fear that an elderly loved one is being abused or taken advantage of, you must contact an attorney experienced in representing families in elder abuse situations immediately.  Your loved one’s health, finances, and well-being are at stake. Barrett Law has the experience to help you during this difficult time.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Types of Elder Abuse that I Frequently See

Emotional Abuse—emotional abuse occurs when a caregiver threatens, mocks, belittles, or ignores an elderly person in his or her care. Emotional abuse is often the initial form of abuse that a person is subjected to, as if there is little or no evidence that it occurred and is a way of testing whether the elderly victim will report the behavior. This sort of abuse can be particularly difficult to spot when a family member is a caregiver, as longstanding relationships and family history can sometimes what is appropriate communication between the caregiver and the elderly person in his or her care. It may be clear when a nurse in a nursing home is cruel to your parent, but not as clear when your sibling lashes out at your parent in frustration.

Financial Abuse—financial abuse is stealing money from an elderly person as well as manipulating the elderly person to extract money from them. Again, this situation, like emotional abuse, is often much easier to spot in a nursing home environment when the caregiver clearly has no right to the elderly person’s money. It is less clear when family members pay the elderly person’s bills, buy groceries, and have legitimate access to his or her finances. This situation is exacerbated when the elderly person’s family has limited funds, and ongoing care is straining their finances. Careful tracking of bills and finances is key to catching and stopping this sort of exploitation.

Physical Abuse—hitting, pushing, or any other type of physical assault of an elderly person is deplorable and likely criminal. Nursing home staff are trained to differentiate sometimes necessary contact with an elderly person from assault. But family members acting as caregivers likely do not have that training and can also often be swept up in extremely complex emotions surrounding challenging care giving situations. Be on the lookout for unusual or unexplained bruises or a parent that becomes withdrawn or fearful when a particular caregiver is present.

What Should You Do If You Believe Your Loved One is Being Abused?

If you believe a loved one is being abused, contact experienced personal injury counsel immediately. Collecting evidence of the abuse, dealing with opposing counsel, and attaining expert opinions are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on making sure your parent or relative is safe and healthy.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your loved one has experienced elder abuse. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

 

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Steps You Should Take if You are Injured While Driving a Truck for Work

Anyone who spends any time on Mississippi’s roads knows that many people are driving big rigs for a living. If you drive a commercial vehicle, you know that its massive weight has the potential to cause serious harm in the unfortunate event of an accident. But what should you do if you are injured in a crash while you are driving a truck for a living?

 

If you have been injured in a trucking accident, 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.

 

Essential Steps to Take if You Are Injured in an Accident

 

Call the Police—Whenever an accident occurs, set out flares, move away from the accident scene, and call the police. They are important for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, they can make sure the scene is safe and that anyone who requires medical attention gets it. Second, if you require medical care, the police will call in EMT’s to assess your injuries. Finally, the police will usually take pictures and measurements to document the accident site. Both the documentation of your injuries and the crash site will be vital if you have to make a personal injury claim later.

 

It is important to be treated by EMT’s even if you feel unhurt. You are likely in shock and are unable to judge whether you are hurt or not. Even if you are unhurt at that moment, you will want the EMT’s report to serve as a baseline if a medical condition develops later.

 

Take Pictures—If you are physically able, take as many pictures as possible of the crash scene. If your camera has a time stamp feature, use it. When taking pictures, be sure to get clear photos of the entire crash site, including skid marks and debris that has disconnected from your truck. If possible, take pictures so that there is an object in the frame such as a fire hydrant or guardrail to provide scale.

Gather Witness Information—While the police may get the names of witnesses, you should not leave that up to them. Get the names and contact information of all witnesses. Note that they are continuing to be a witness when you speak to them. By that I mean that you should speak to them in a calm, level-headed manner; if you come across as wild or out of control, that perception may play into how they portray the accident and your injuries later.

Call Your Employer or Contractor—Contact the trucking company you drive for immediately. Remember that “whatever you say may be used against you” later—stick to the facts. Avoid taking any blame for the accident, as until a thorough investigation occurs there is no way of knowing what or who caused the accident.

Preserve All Records, Photos, and Documents—If you have been injured, the trucking company that employs you will likely try to shift blame to you, claiming that you had not gotten enough sleep or that you were distracted. In this situation, maintaining all driving records, photos, and log books will be critical to show that you did not cause your injuries.

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 in a trucking accident, you might have a viable claim for compensation for your injuries, loss of work, and other losses. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with your employer’s attorneys. These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

 

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: What Is Premises Liability?

One of the most common claims that clients here in Mississippi ask me about is “slip and fall” cases. People often believe if they are injured on another person’s property, they are due a large cash settlement. While that can happen, it is rarely that straightforward.  That said, landowners and landlords can be liable for injuries you experience on their property, but liability depends on a theory called “premises liability.”

If you or a loved one was injured due to a hazardous or unsafe condition on another’s property, 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.

What is Premises Liability?

A person who opens up a building or property to the public must keep it reasonably safe. Landowners and landlords have a duty to protect visitors from harm on their property reasonably. If their construction or maintenance of their property is not reasonable and that failure results in an injury, they may be held legally liable for all injuries incurred by the visitor. Damages routinely include pain and suffering, compensation for medical bills and loss of wages, as well as damages suffered by family members such as loss of consortium.

How Does a Premises Liability Case Work?

At its core, a premises liability case relies on the notion that a building or property was unreasonably unsafe. The inverse of that argument is that the injured person must not themselves be to blame for their injuries. Finally, the injuries must be caused by the incident and cannot be preexisting.

Imagine that a person was injured due to a slip on an icy spot on a sidewalk leading into a supermarket. The injured person would have to show that the supermarket’s maintenance of the sidewalk was unreasonable and that a reasonable supermarket would have kept that spot ice-free. However, if the supermarket can show in response that there was a sign warning about icy spots, that the person was under the influence of alcohol at the time he slipped, and that the person was distracted by a conversation on his phone, the supermarket may be able to show that the injured person’s behavior was actually more of a cause of their injury than the ice. That back and forth comparison is called “comparative negligence” analysis, and the injured party must show that they were less than 50% at fault. In Mississippi, just because the plaintiff—the injured party—is partially at fault does not mean that they cannot recover for their injuries. In the example above, the injured party’s recovery would be proportionate to their degree of fault. Given the facts above, they may recover little or nothing.

Similarly, the injured party must show that the premises were the cause of the claimed injuries. For example, if the slip and fall in the above hypothetical case resulted in a broken leg, that would be a pretty clear-cut result. Of course, that assumes that the person who fell did not already have a broken leg when they walked up to the icy sidewalk. While that is a fairly clear example, back injuries, head injuries, and other strains and sprains are not as easily connected to a specific event. For example, a person’s back may be injured after a slip and fall, but the fall in question may have only aggravated a serious preexisting condition. The same is true for head injuries, which may be caused by a lifetime of sports-related trauma, only to be exacerbated by a fall. In those cases, proving that the symptoms you seek to be compensated for are caused by a specific incident can be quite challenging. A tremendous amount of time is often spent working with medical experts, who can help distinguish preexisting injuries from those caused by unsafe premises.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured on Another’s Property?

If you or a loved one was injured due to an unsafe condition on another’s property and suffered subsequent injury, you may have a viable premises liability claim. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the opposing party’s attorney.  These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call the seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney at 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.

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: How the Doctor-Patient Relationship Affects Medical Malpractice Claims

If you have sought treatment here in Mississippi for any serious medical condition lately, you know that you are not simply being cared for by a single doctor. Because of the complexity of modern medicine and the specialization of medical care, you were probably poked and prodded and reviewed by a host of medical professionals. Which one of those medical professionals “treated” you? That is a key question if an error occurs that harms you, as a to establish medical negligence or malpractice claim, a doctor-patient relationship must exist. It is often difficult to determine who made the medical error that resulted in your injury, and then a second inquiry must be made as to whether a doctor-patient relationship existed.

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.

A Hospital Hypothetical

Imagine your spouse go to the emergency room for gastrointestinal problems that are causing severe heartburn. The emergency room physician that treats her thinks she may have an ulcer but is not sure. She provides her prognosis to a gastroenterologist on staff, who confirms that your wife’s symptoms likely are an ulcer and to treat them accordingly. Several weeks later, when your wife’s conditions do not improve, further testing reveals that she has stomach cancer. As a result of the delay, your wife’s cancer spreads, requiring extensive treatment, expense, and loss of work. Who is to blame for that misdiagnosis?

Why the Doctor-Patient Relationship is Important to Malpractice Claims

To prove negligence or malpractice several steps, or elements, must be shown:

(a)    First, there must be a doctor-patient relationship;

(b)    Second, the doctor must meet a reasonable standard of care under the circumstances;

(c)    Third, the doctor’s failure must cause harm.

You cannot prove negligence without all three elements. Accordingly, determining whether there was a doctor-patient relationship in (a) is critical to having any case at all. Generally speaking, a doctor-patient privilege is created when a physician takes responsibility for a patient’s care. It generally does not exist when a doctor simply provides information or an informal consultation regarding another doctor’s patient. So in the above scenario, the emergency room doctor would have a doctor-patient relationship with your hypothetical injured wife, but the gastroenterologist whom she consulted likely would not.

The “standard of care” in (b) above is much higher for a gastroenterologist than it is for an emergency room doctor; as a result, it is harder to show that the emergency room doctor violated the standard of care if the error in diagnosis is so subtle than an emergency room doctor would not be expected to diagnosis it. On the other hand, a gastroenterologist may be expected to make that diagnosis given his or her specialized training. Therefore, the viability of your negligence claim may depend on establishing that the gastroenterologist had a doctor-patient relationship with you in addition to the emergency room doctor.

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 medical error, you may have a malpractice claim. Let the seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the hospital’s attorneys. These are important tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.

/by

Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

It is sad that many people in the United States cannot afford reasonable access to health care. This problem is pervasive and is especially problematic here in Mississippi. Sadly, the emergency room becomes the primary-care physician for many people. And if you think back to the 1980’s, there was a persistent healthcare nightmare depicted on the nightly news—individuals desperately in need of medical care being refused service at private hospitals and being transferred or “dumped” on publicly funded medical facilities with no capacity. In 1986, this practice became illegal in the United States when Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or EMTALA. The EMTALA guarantees people emergency medical treatment if they need it, regardless of their ability to pay.

If you or a loved one was removed from a private medical center when you needed emergency care or were in labor, you may have a claim under the EMTALA, especially if you were harmed as a result of the transfer or delay in treatment.  Similarly, if you reported this conduct and were retaliated against by your hospital, you may also have a claim. If you think you may have a claim under the EMTALA, 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.

What are EMTALA’s Requirements for Hospitals?

The EMTALA only applies to hospitals with an emergency department, so it will not apply if you were simply refused service at a specialty medical center or any other medical center lacking an emergency medicine department, as the law only applies to “emergency medical conditions.” Under the EMTALA, a qualifying hospital must:

  • Provide necessary screening and stabilization to anyone seeks treatment for an emergency medical condition or is in labor;
  • Provide an appropriate transfer to an appropriate hospital that has the capacity to treat the patient if the patient requests the transfer or the treating hospital lacks capacity;
  • Not delay treatment or examination simply to investigate a patient’s ability to pay;
  • Accept transfers from other hospitals if the transferred patient is in need of a specialty that the receiving hospital has a specialty in providing and capacity to provide treatment;
  • Obtain written documentation of a patient’s refusal of examination, treatment, or transfer;
  • Not retaliate against medical personnel who enforce EMTALA or report a violation of it.

What is a Qualifying “Emergency Medical Condition” Under the EMTALA?

An “emergency medical condition” is a situation that places the patient’s health in jeopardy, which means impairment of bodily functions or danger to any organ or body part. It also includes jeopardy to an unborn child.

If a patient is suffering from an emergency medical condition, they must be admitted, screened, and stabilized. If that hospital has the capacity, they must be treated there. If they are transferred when from a hospital that can treat them, the hospital may be liable for an EMTALA violation.

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

If you or a loved one was transferred from a hospital for financial reasons and suffered subsequent injury, you may have a viable claim. Let experienced counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the hospital’s insurance company. These are important tasks that 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 a medical injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

/by