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Personal injury involves injury to an individual. This area of law allows the injured person to sue in a private action called the civil action or known in the legal community as a tort action. Personal injury is the body of law that allows an individual to be compensated in the event of someone's carelessness, recklessness or intentional misconduct which causes injuries to you or your loved one. There are different degrees of fault and several elements that are necessary to prove in court to be successful against a wrong doer in a personal injury action. Not every accident or injury is recoverable in the court of law. Consulting a lawyer in this field will provide a basis on whether to pursue an action in court.
Whiting Law Group represents many people in personal injury actions, including wrongful death. A wrongful death claim is a suit that arises from the death of an individual that was caused by the conduct of another. A wrongful death suit is different from other types of personal injury claims because the actual victim (the "decedent") is not bringing suit, rather it is the family members or the decedent's estate. What that generally means that a lawsuit that is filed when someone's wrongful conduct results in the death of another. This area of tort law can involve every area of tort practice from automobile accidents to premise liability to medical negligence. A wrongful death claim is brought to recover damages for the injuries that surviving family and/or estate have suffered due to the death of a family member.
Damages in wrongful death cases are intended to compensate for losses resulting from the death of a family member. Some losses are measurable, a widow in a wrongful death suit, for example, could seek to recover the financial support that she would have received had her spouse lived. Other damages are more general in nature. Types of recoverable damages include:
- Direct Expenses - Medical Bills and Funeral Costs
- Loss of Benefits - What the person could have received in pensions/retirement benefits had they lived.
- Loss of Future Earnings - What the person who died would
have earned in salary if he or she had lived.
- Loss of Companionship - What the person who died would have emotionally provided to a relationship and the mental pain and suffering resulting from the decedent's death.
- Punitive Damages - What amount the defendant should be punished fro his or her actions resulting in the victim's death.
In all matters involving personal injury or wrongful death, it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence, investigate the accident and/or conduct in question, and to file a lawsuit prior to deadline imposed by the statute of limitations.
Whiting Law Group routinely handles Medical and Hospital Malpractice claims involving every medical specialty. Despite this era of health care turmoil, Whiting Law Group's commitment is unwavering in responding to victims rights and awareness in litigating medical and hospital actions. The firm has handled Medical and Hospital Malpractice claims involving mistreatment, misdiagnosis and improper surgical procedures resulting in either permanent injury or death.
With a physician and nurse on staff, as well as relationships with the top medical experts in the country, Whiting Law Group, working behind the scenes offers round-the-clock in-depth medical insight to its clients and referring attorneys.
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Obstetrics involves assessing risk factors during pregnancy, labor, and delivery; carefully considering a patients history and clinical presentation; performing antenatal tests to assess fetal well being; properly assessing the mother's vital signs for things such as bleeding disorders, interpreting the fetal heart rate patterns; performing interventions to increase oxygenation of the fetus in a timely matter; and expediting delivery when necessary to prevent injury or death to both mother and child. This is what the standard of care requires; it is what a prudent physician should do without economic pressure, uncertainty of ambiguous professional guidelines, technical bulletins and practice patterns.
In Medical Malpractice, "Birth injury", cases an underlying assumption has existed for many years that a full term fetus and uncomplicated pregnancy entered labor neurologically normal. Abnormalities of the fetal monitor strips are viewed as evidence that the stresses of labor were a threat to the fetus, triggering a duty for healthcare providers to step in and expedite delivery, usually by way of C-Section. In other words, cerebral palsy is viewed as a preventable "birth injury".
The goal of electronic fetal monitoring strips is to detect fetal hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) in its earliest stage in an attempt to prevent prolonged and severe hypoxia. Once of the reasons electronic fetal mentoring strips do not prevent more cases of cerebral palsy is that physicians continue to make too many mistakes when they interpret electronic fetal monitoring patterns. To often, they fail to respond to warning signs of hypoxia and ischemia, worsening hypoxia with developing acidosis, and fetal asphyxia, thereby missing a window of opportunity to prevent conditions that can lead to brain damage and cerebral palsy. Many of their mistakes results from inexperience, inadequate training, reliance on biased literature, inadequate hospital protocols, ambiguous professional guidelines and reluctance to communicate and exchange views with other members of the healthcare team at a hospital.
Several circumstances can trigger hypoxia and lead to fetal asphyxia, including, impaired materal blood flow to the placenta, impaired blood flow through the placenta to the fetus, umbilical cord compression. All three mechanisms can produce fetal heart rate patterns that can alert the physician to the fact that the fetus is at risk for asphyxia.
Since no one knows the precise moment when a fetus will develop irreversible brain damage, the timing of intervention is critical. Once fetal distress appears on the electronic fetal monitoring strip, the physician must remove the fetus from the hostile environment as quickly as possible. Asphyxial damage is cumulative and progressive, the timing, severity and duration of the oxygen deprivation will influence the extent of the brain injury and secondary asphyxial damage. Even when minor brain injury may not have been preventable, a front line physician may be responsible for aggravating the condition and allowing the brain damage to worsen. As noted above, expedited delivery is crucial in any type of fetal distress whether the brain damage may have been a prenatal or antenatal situation.
A common labor/delivery injury to the mother is pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is the leading cause of maternal death and is particularly troubling because it can strike without warning. The condition results in high blood pressure and protein in the urine. Pre-eclampsia may progress to eclampsia-hypertension and generalized convulsions- which may prove fatal. Although the high blood pressure accompanying pre-eclampsia can be treated with blood pressure luring drugs, the only cure treatment for the overall condition is immediate delivery.
Similar types of disease that mothers also often encounter during pregnancy and/or delivery of her child is dissmentated interavascular coagulapthy (DIC). Although DIC and Pre-eclampsia can strike without warning, physician and obstetricians, properly trained should be able to treat and quickly diagnose and deliver the child to prevent injury to the child and the mother. |
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Automobile & Truck Accidents- One of the most frequent types of personal injury or wrongful death claims involves transportation either by automobile, truck, bus or train. In automobile litigation, States require residents to carry minimum vehicle liability insurance for their vehicles. If you are involved in an automobile accident and think you have a claim, it is best to first speak to an attorney before talking to the other parties, most importantly, insurance companies. It is also important that you seek immediate medical attention if you are seriously injured in an automobile accident. After everyone is out of danger and all medical and police help has been summoned, attempt to obtain the following:
- The full names and insurance information of the drivers of all of the vehicles involved;
- Driver's License numbers and addresses of all the drivers;
- If any of the driver's appear under the influence of alcohol or drugs, notify policy or other emergency personnel immediately;
- The full names and addresses of any passengers in any of the vehicles;
- The full names and addresses of any pedestrians or other parties involved;
- The full name, address and phone number of any witnesses to the accident.
Construction accidents - Accidents on the job unfortunately occur when machinery, equipment or the workplace itself is unsafe. Worker's and their families may sue on several tort theories of liability, including negligence and strict liability against general and sub-contractors and product manufacturers. Even though your may be receiving workers compensation benefits, you may also have a recovery for your injuries against a party other than your employer.
Nursing Home Abuse - Negligence and mistreatment occur in almost every nursing home or nursing care facility in the United States. Nursing Home injuries occur in almost 43% of all American nursing homes and/or elder care facilities. Everyday, American families face difficult decisions about whether to move a loved one into a nursing home, and to trust their loved ones to nursing homes and/or elder care facilities. Under-staffing, inadequate training and employees overworking themselves are just a few of the shortfalls that result in poor treatment of residents, causing injuries and/or death. Because nursing home residents are dependent on staff members for most or all of their needs, such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming and ambulation, they are very vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
Federal and State law require that residents receive the necessary care to enable elderly and sick residents to reach and maintain the highest practical level of social well being. The regulations that the Federal and State law often requires are as follows:
- Sufficient nursing staff;
- Comprehensive and accurate assessment of each residents functional capacity;
- Comprehensive care plan for each resident;
- Medical and/or devices for living while a resident of a nursing home;
- Adequate supervision and assistance in a live-in;
- A knowledge of each resident's quality of life;
Many times a lawsuit must be filed to protect the resident's rights and to obtain compensation for the physical or mental pain and suffering. Additionally, the wrongful death action may be brought for the negligence of nursing home's poor supervision, care or treatment.
"Slip, trip and fall" is a term for personal injury cases which arise when injury is caused when a person slips, trip and falls as a result of a dangerous or hazardous condition on someone else's property. Inside a building, dangerous conditions such as torn carpeting, abrupt changes in flooring, poor lighting, narrow stairs or a wet floor can cause you to slip, trip and fall and injure yourself.
Landowners have different degrees of responsibility to different classifications of people that come on to their property. Landowners must protect those who are lawfully on their property from injury. These landowners include business owners and homeowners. For example, business owner is expected to make sure the stairwells in his or her commercial property are clean and safe. It is reasonable to expect that regular checks, maintenance and cleanup will be conducted. However, it is unreasonable to expect that a person will keep watch all day long to make sure nothing is spilled or broken.
If you are a victim of a slip, trip and/or fall at a commercial property or home, immediately to attempt to do the following:
- Inspect the area where you fell, and try to determine what caused you to fall;
- Make sure to write down the names, addresses and phone numbers of anyone in the vicinity where the incident occurred, both those who saw you fall and others who were there after the incident, since you will likely need them as witnesses on your behalf. Even if someone did not see you fall, he or she could, if necessary, describe your pain and conditions of the floor, lighting, or other hazards immediately after you fell;
- If the incident occurred in a store or place of business, speak with the manager or supervisor on duty, and have them make a record of the incident, being sure to get a copy of anything prepared. Make sure to get the name, address and phone number of anyone else who heard him or her make any statements;
- Have someone take photographs of the area as soon as possible, so a record is made. Dangerous conditions have a way of changing if the property owner thinks that you might file a claim for injuries;
- If you slip on any substance on the floor, obtain a sample of the substance if possible;
- After receiving appropriate initial medical treatment, contact an attorney with experience in handling claims for personal injury resulting from slip, trip and fall accidents.
Spinal Cord Injury causes damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. A frequent cause of spinal cord damage are medical malpractice, automobile accidents, construction accidents, and slip, trip and fall accidents.
The nature of a spinal cord injury is such that the amount of damages that may be recovered against a party responsible for causing such injury is substantial. In spinal cord injury cases, it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve the evidence, review the medical procedures in question and to enable physicians or other expert witnesses to thoroughly evaluate the accident record and injuries.
Head and Neck Injury - Though closed head injuries are not objectively apparent at the time of an accident, common indications that brain injuries may occur are loss of consciousness, inability to recall events immediately before or after the accident, and alteration in mental state immediately following, such as feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused. After an accident, common symptoms of brain injuries in adults are as follows:
- Persistent neck pain;
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus);
- Lapses in attention, perception, judgment, or information processing;
- Difficulty with memory, concentration, or decision making;
- Trouble with cognition, abstract concepts, and time and space relationship;
- Limitations on reading and writing skills;
- Slowness in thinking, speaking, or taking action;
- Getting lost or easily confused;
- Persistent low grade headaches;
- Fatigues or feeling tired all the time, lacking energy or motivation;
- Feeling light headed or dizzy;
- Volatility in your mood - apathy, irritability, anxiety, and/or depression;
- Blurred vision;
- Reduction of sense of smell or taste;
- Decreased endurance;
Often in brain injury cases, experts must be involved immediately in treating and proving a brain injury. Array of experts may be involved in carrying and proving traumatic brain injury including but not limited to a neurologist, psychiatrist, neuro-psychologist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist and/or vocational rehabilitation counselor. Neuropsychological, clinical psychologist, and other tests can provide information about a brain injury.
Although loss of consciousness is a sign of a brain injury, lack of or loss of consciousness does not necessarily mean that somebody has not sustained a brain injury.
Knowing the role of the number of providers needed to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate brain injury victims is important to appreciating the magnitude of brain injuries and in formulating a courtroom presentation that explains the disability a survivor must endure. It is important to obtain a thorough medical examination from the proper medical physicians, following an accident, so as to immediately determine if a brain injury occurred.
In cases involving traumatic brain injury, it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence, prove the nature and extent of your injuries and to enable expert medical witnesses to support the causes of your injuries.
Brain Injury - Though closed head injuries are not objectively apparent at the time of an accident, common indications that brain injuries may occur are loss of consciousness, inability to recall events immediately before or after the accident, and alteration in mental state immediately following, such as feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused. After an accident, common symptoms of brain injuries in adults are as follows:
- Persistent neck pain;
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus);
- Lapses in attention, perception, judgment, or information processing;
- Difficulty with memory, concentration, or decision making;
- Trouble with cognition, abstract concepts, and time and space relationship;
- Limitations on reading and writing skills;
- Slowness in thinking, speaking, or taking action;
- Getting lost or easily confused;
- Persistent low grade headaches;
- Fatigues or feeling tired all the time, lacking energy or motivation;
- Feeling light headed or dizzy;
- Volatility in your mood - apathy, irritability, anxiety, and/or depression;
- Blurred vision;
- Reduction of sense of smell or taste;
- Decreased endurance;
Often in brain injury cases, experts must be involved immediately in treating and proving a brain injury. Array of experts may be involved in carrying and proving traumatic brain injury including but not limited to a neurologist, psychiatrist, neuro-psychologist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist and/or vocational rehabilitation counselor. Neuropsychological, clinical psychologist, and other tests can provide information about a brain injury.
Although loss of consciousness is a sign of a brain injury, lack of or loss of consciousness does not necessarily mean that somebody has not sustained a brain injury.
Knowing the role of the number of providers needed to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate brain injury victims is important to appreciating the magnitude of brain injuries and in formulating a courtroom presentation that explains the disability a survivor must endure. It is important to obtain a thorough medical examination from the proper medical physicians, following an accident, so as to immediately determine if a brain injury occurred.
In cases involving traumatic brain injury, it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence, prove the nature and extent of your injuries and to enable expert medical witnesses to support the causes of your injuries.
Dog attacks represent some of the most gruesome personal injuries that are suffered, particularly where a child is involved. During 1997 and 1998, at least 27 people died as the result of dog bite attacks in the United States. In 1994, roughly 4.7 million people in the United States were bitten by dogs. Children of small size may cause a dog to act in a dominant way toward a child. Many children's lack of judgment and inexperience about how to behave around a dog and their inability to fend off an attack can add to the risk. It is very important that parents closely supervise children when around dogs. You can reduce the chances of children in your care being bitten or injured by a dog if you teach them some basic safety tips which are as follows:
- Never approach an unfamiliar dog;
- Never run from a dog and scream;
- Stay still when an unfamiliar dog comes up to you;
- Do not look a dog in the eye;
- Do not disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies;
- Do not pet a dog without letting it see and sniff you first;
- Seek medical care for any serious dog bite and report all dog attacks
If you your child or loved one has sustained injury or death as a result of labor/delivery medical negligence, please contact Whiting Law Group for a free consultation toll free at (877) 936-7200 or email us at nfo@wlglaw.net.
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