Archive for the 'Personal Injury' Category

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Personal Injury Law

Published on July 31, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

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A personal injury refers to any physical or psychological damage caused by the negligence, recklessness or intention of another person or entity. A personal injury can devastate the victim physically, psychologically and financially. You may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover damages.

Leading causes of personal injuries may include:

· Motor vehicle accidents

· Construction or job-related accidents

· Slips and falls

· Birth defects

· Nursing home abuse

· Defective products

· Prescription errors

Compensation for Losses

Personal injury can cause you to experience devastating financial losses such as:

· Medical/doctor bills

· Funeral expenses

· Loss of Salary

· Loss of ability to work

· Pain and suffering

· Mental anguish

In a personal injury case, determining who is responsible for the injury sustained is of paramount importance. The one at fault could be a person, a company or a defective product.

It is a daunting task to set a dollar amount on injuries you suffered in an accident. The amount varies depending on each case and its’ circumstances. It is simple to add up money spent and money lost but how can one determine the cost of pain and suffering or missed experiences and lost opportunities in life? It is important to obtain help and information to assist you in dealing with the serious losses you have suffered because of the negligence of another.

If you live in the Orlando, Florida area and you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury, please visit the website of The Law Offices of Michael Barszcz, M.D., J.D. today and learn more about your legal rights and whether you are entitled to compensation.

What To Do in the Case of a Car Accident

Published on July 30, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

South Africa has a high incidence of road accidents and as many as 90% of drivers can expect to be involved in a motor vehicle accident at some stage in their lives and everyone should be prepared in any event. Fortunately there are dedicated car accident lawyers and personal injury attorneys to protect our interests.

Apart from costly damages to the motor vehicle, there is a very real threat of extensive injury or even death to the people involved in the accident, whether pedestrians, passengers or drivers. Personal injury attorneys will, first and foremost, assist in ascertaining who should be held liable for the accident and what claims, if any, can be established against the guilty party.

Ensure you appoint a top flight law firm

There are dedicated car accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers to deal with all aspects of an accident. It is up to the driver or injured party to approach a reputable law firm for the right kind of assistance and advice.

As with all accidents, it is imperative to remain calm; bring your car to a stop if it is in motion and move it completely off the road if necessary. At this stage, it is critical to quickly and calmly determine the extent of any bodily injuries and to call the emergency services if necessary.

Gather the facts

Once the damages to the motor vehicles have been assessed, make sure you collect all the relevant details of the driver and any witnesses at the scene of the accident – they may be called on to appear in court should the case be contested. Information should include

Names Addresses Phone numbers ID numbers A description of the offending vehicle Insist on the vehicle ID number of the car The licence plate number

It is crucial that these details are handed over to your car accident attorney as soon as possible.

Do not, under any circumstances, discuss the accident with anyone else apart from the police and your car accident or personal injury attorney. It is often easy to admit liability or fault when in shock, so the tried and tested rule of thumb is simply to keep ‘mum’.

It’s a good idea to take photographs if you have a camera phone, or to make a quick sketch, of where the occupants of both cars were seated as well as where each car was on the road at the time of the accident, including the direction of travel. Make a clear note of the date and time of the accident as well as the prevailing weather conditions. This can prove invaluable should the case go to court.

File an accident report

If the police have not been called to the scene, it is imperative to report the accident at your nearest police station, regardless of the severity of the collision. Remember to get hold of both a case number and a copy of the police report, if possible. These items are mandatory information in any motor vehicle accident claim and will be critical information for your car accident lawyer.

Hereafter, it’s a matter of contacting a top flight law firm specialising in car accidents or personal injury and leaving it in the hands of the experts.

Industrial Injuries and Illnesses

Published on July 30, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

At the factory, workers are endangered with various types of common factory accidents. It can be an injury to a limb caused while loading paper reels in the box factory, or the inhalation of poisonous fumes while working in a chemical plant. Whatever the case, the one who suffers from industrial injuries and illnesses is the worker and the one who incurs treatment and hospitalisation costs is again the worker. In some instances, the workers are even rendered useless for the rest of their lives, making their families and dependants also suffer along with them.

The factory owners should make their workplace as safe as possible for their workers, so that accident risks are kept to the minimum. Most of the common factory accidents are the results of falls and slips on the work premises or the injuries that were held while handling heavy loads. Some amount of claims may arise out of the injuries that were caused due to dangerous and defective factory equipments or dangerous work processes.

Most workers do not know that all employers are legally obliged to keep a book of accidents and to ensure that all the accident reports are entered into it. Therefore, whenever the workers meet an accident during working hours in the factory premises, they must first of all report to the supervisor or to the person who is responsible for the safety and health of the workers. Then they should seek immediate first aid in the factory premises and the person there will tell them whether they require treatment in a hospital or not. After that, the injured workers have to fill in a form for claim of compensation.

Within the 24 hours of the accident, a solicitor will contact them in order to fully assess the claim. If a factory accident is less than 3 years old and if the workers can prove that it was caused due to employer’s negligence of any duties owed to the workers, then the workers can claim for compensation. Damages like injuries or loss of income can be successfully awarded by making such claims.

What the workers can claim for include any psychological or physical injuries, for which the factory management is entitled, any medical or travel expenses caused due to industrial injuries & illnesses, interest on such types of losses and the legal expenses that the workers had to make for claiming the compensation. It is important for every worker what their legal rights are and what are they entitled to in case of industrial injuries.

Head Trauma Accidents

Published on July 30, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

Being involved in any type of accident can be a devastating event to endure. This is especially true when it comes to individuals suffering brain injury or head trauma.

An accident which causes a brain injury can be very traumatic, not only for the victim who has suffered some type of head or brain trauma, but this type of injury will also cause a tremendous impact on the entire family as well.

In the event that you or one of your family members have suffered from an unfortunate brain injury or head trauma, you will want to consult with legal counsel that have vast experience in representing clients over the entire state of California.

Professional and compassionate brain injury and head trauma attorneys serving Orange County, Venice Beach, Dana Point, Los Angeles Santa Monica and all throughout California area, will help to assist you and your family in finding specialized medical professionals who will evaluate your specific injuries that you have endured and put a lifetime plan in motion for not only your physical needs and care you will be requiring, but for medications you will be needing, specialized medical doctors, any specific transportation needs you might need, full time nursing care, and nursing facilities if they are needed.

There are many types of accidents that can be responsible for causing brain damage or head trauma to individuals. Some of these tragic accidents would include situations where you have been hit in the head with an object, a motorcycle accident, bicycle accident, assault and battery incidents, recreational or amusement park accidents, shaken baby syndrome, injuries that can be related to birth, and many other injuries caused by blunt head trauma, including wrongful death.

If you or one of your loved ones has been involved in an accident that has resulted in brain damage or some type of

New York Truck Accident Facts by Personal Injury Lawyer

Published on July 23, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

Truck accidents such as those involving 18 wheeler tractor trailers turn out as fatal accidents on the roads. An average loaded commercial truck can weigh from 55,000 to 80,000 pounds whereas an automobile weighs around 3,000 pounds.

The huge size of trucks combined with driver inattention, fatigue, work pressure, longer working hours lead to accidents.

Following are some of the causes of truck accidents:-

- Lack of Truck Driving Training

- Overloaded and Oversized Trucks

- Oversized Trucks

- Faulty brakes of the trucks

- Poor driving conditions due to smoke, fog, snow, or rain

- Lack of experience on the part of Truck driver

- Fatigued, sleepy or over worked driver driving too long and too many hours without rest;

- Driving over the speeding limit

- Running off the road

- Aggressive driving

- Driving under influence of drugs or alcohol

- Driving the truck in bad weather conditions

- Reckless truck driving

- Faulty safety systems, reflectors, lights and other warning devices

Trucking accident cases are substantially different from other types of auto accidents such as car accidents. Tractor trailers generally have big insurance policies which goes up to million dollars or more. Further, truck accidents result in serious injuries as compared to accidents by cars, or motorcycles. Even if an accident victim survives a truck accident, then chances are that he may have to live with a serious physical disability throughout his life.

Most of the fatalities and injuries involve the passengers of vehicles while the truck drivers escape truck-vehicle collisions with little or no personal injury. A truck accident endangers lives of other small vehicles when truck or tractor-trailer operators fail to follow legal driving norms.

Due to serious nature of truck accidents, it can make things complicated for the victim. It can make medical issues more complicated and victims have to spend considerable amount of time undergoing surgeries and operations.

If you are involved in a truck accident within New York City then you must speak with a New York truck accident attorney who will help you receive justice and compensation for your injuries.

Motorcycle Accident Injury Claim

Published on July 23, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

An increasing number of people are falling prey to motorcycle accidents. Most often, these injuries prove to be fatal. The impact of the injury is such that an accident victim finds it very difficult to recover. Indeed, injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident can be very traumatic. You can make a claim for motorcycle accident injury claim to recover losses suffered in a motorcycle accident. Initially, the process of making a claim may seem to be complicated. However, with appropriate guidance, you can make a claim easily.

Make a claim the right way by making use of this service. You may be in need of money to pursue compensation at some stage. If the accident has resulted due to the fault of the other person, you can seek a compensation for the same. An accident victim can make a claim for any kind for injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.

Seeking professional advice can do wonders to the claims process. A team of accident claims solicitors can help the claimant sail through the claims procedure efficiently. Ensure that you keep in mind the following things before making a claim:

•  Provide proof of your injury – Providing a proof of the injury will help you get compensation fast. The success of the claim depends on the physical and psychological injury that you have suffered due to the accident. It is also advisable to see a professional (physician or psychologist) immediately to get an evaluation.

•  Preserve evidence – Providing appropriate account of the incident is also a crucial factor in securing claim compensation. Appropriate evidence in the form of official reports or photographs will surely help reconstruct the events and circumstances of the accident.

Motor cycle accident claim can come handy to those who wish to make a claim for the injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. An accident victim can also look online to fasten up the claims procedure. From within the comfort of the house, one can make a claim through this mode. One can easily find all the answers related to claims procedure by looking online.

What is Online No Win No Fee Compensation Claim?

No win no fee for claim allows you to make a claim for the injuries suffered in an accident. Most of the people are often confused as to the type of claim they should opt for and the amount they will be required to pay. Most of them cannot afford to pay for a claim. However, with proper guidance, you can easily seek compensation. Under this provision, an accident victim can easily seek compensation.

No win no fee claims procedure can help a claimant resist from making any payment against the claim. In case, the claim is unsuccessful, the claimant need not pay any fee for the claim.

Hospital Malpractice

Published on July 11, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

When people enter the hospital for any type of treatment or medical care, they expect to be diagnosed and treated properly by trained medical professionals. Unfortunately, medical errors are the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for up to 98,000 deaths annually. A 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimated that more than 22 percent of active-care patient deaths were possibly preventable. While these are alarming statistics, there are countless other non-fatal medical mistakes that can lead to costly, inconvenient and even tragic situations, such as:

· Catastrophic injury

· Disability

· Extended hospital stays

· Longer recovery times

When a doctor or other staff members of a hospital or medical facility neglects to provide proper care for a patient or neglects to demonstrate an appropriate level of medical skill for that patient, that medical professional is committing medical malpractice. When the medical facility does not take precautions to ensure your safety, including continuing to employ doctors with a lengthy history of malpractice, that facility can be liable under hospital malpractice laws.

Common Hospital Malpractice Lawsuits

· Surgical mistakes

· Neglectful monitoring of patient

· Wrongful death

· Wrong site surgical procedures

· Failure to properly diagnose or treat an illness

· Failure to carry out physician orders

· Failure to refer patients to appropriate specialists

· Failure to order proper testing

· Failure to begin treatment of a serious medical condition on time

· Incorrect administration of medication(s) or anesthesia

· Incorrect administration of treatments

· Improper use of medical equipment

· Failure to prevent post-op infections due to poorly regulated safety procedures or violated rules of conduct

In many cases, a single individual is sued for medical malpractice, however entire medical facilities can also be found negligent, including nursing home facilities and hospitals.

Is a malpractice lawyer necessary to file a lawsuit?

It can be very difficult to prove hospital malpractice without a lawyer who is trained in aggressively litigating such cases. The lawyer will perform a thorough investigation of the hospital malpractice case and confer with a medical expert to find evidence that the malpractice has occurred. This can be a lengthy process, and the amount of restitution can vary greatly depending upon the severity of malpractice. All patients have legal rights when it comes to hospital malpractice, and a qualified malpractice attorney can help you get the compensation you deserve.

· Why are medical malpractice lawsuits hard to win?

· There are many different and acceptable ways to treat injuries and medical conditions.

· Medical records can be tampered with when a lawsuit is suspected.

· Witnesses are often hesitant to provide evidence and testify against their coworkers, and some medical facilities practice reprisals against nurses, doctors, and even patients who act as witnesses.

· Physicians and medical facilities can afford good defense attorneys.

Not every failure of treatment or procedure is malpractice. Often doctors and hospital staff do everything possible to treat patients who ultimately suffer pain or die, but sometimes they do not.

Burn Injury

Published on June 30, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

According to statistics from the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, each year in the U.S. nearly 2.5 million burn injuries occur, and nearly 1 million of those are so severe that they require hospitalization and end in temporary or permanent disability. Sadly, more than 8,000 of those patients die. In fact, burn injuries are one of the top five causes of accidental death in this country.

Degrees of Burn Injury

First Degree Burns – The most common degree of burn injury, first degree burns are considered superficial injures that only affect the top layer of skin. First degree burns can be very painful and usually involve peeling of the skin and temporary reddening and other discoloration.

Second Degree Burns – This degree of burn involves a burn that goes through the outer layer of skin and into the second layer, called the dermal layer. Second degree burns can cause significant pain, moist blisters, swelling and discoloration of the skin. If more than 15 percent of the body suffers second degree burns, the situation becomes more critical.

Third Degree Burns – This type of burn, also called a “full thickness burn,” affects all of the layers and underlying tissues of the skin. A third degree burn may require special treatment and skin grafting to replace damaged skin. Intense scarring is very common. Third degree burns can result in other serious medical problems, such as respiratory issues, heart, lung and other organ damage, nerve injury, problems with the circulation system, body temperature fluctuations, infections and joint function.

Causes of Burn Injuries

Some of the most common causes of burn injuries include:

House/building fires Automobile accidents Gas or other fuel explosions Industrial/plant accidents Chemical or electrical burns Lightning Boiling water

Compensation for a Burn Injury

For someone suffering from a serious burn injury, especially when the accident was caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, life can be forever altered. There can be physical and emotional scarring, long years of rehabilitation, skin grafting surgeries, and physical and psychological therapy.

While certainly financial compensation for your injury can’t make up for what’s happened, it can serve to provide you with money to help pay for medical bills and make up for lost income during and after recovery.

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Types of Spinal Cord Injury

Published on June 29, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

Along with brain injuries, spinal cord injuries are among the most severe and life-destroying injuries a person could sustain. In fact, the spinal cord is like an extension of the brain. It is a rope of nerves that runs from the base of the brain (medulla oblongata) down inside the spinal bones to about waist level. The bones (vertebrae) continue on down to the hip area, where we sit on the coccyx. Being inside those bones protects the spinal cord from many potential injuries, and any of those bones can be damaged or chipped without the spinal cord necessarily being hurt.

But an event like a car accident, sports accident, or slip and fall can so damage the spinal vertebrae that the spinal cord may be bruised, pinched, or severed. Then a wide assortment of consequences will happen, depending on how severely the spinal cord is damaged and at which exact point it is damaged.

The Job of the Spinal Cord

The main function is to transmit nerve information from the brain to the body parts and from the body parts to the brain.

• Messages traveling out from the brain are movement instructions, traveling in motor nerves, such as “Jump quickly and catch that basketball!”

• Messages traveling back to the brain carry sensation information, traveling in sensory nerves, such as “Aarrgghh! The coffee’s too hot!”

The spinal cord branches out through the vertebrae to extend throughout the body. These branches are referred to as the spinal nerves, and they exist in 31 pairs – a pair for each spinal bone. One nerve in each pair is a motor nerve exiting from the spinal cord, and the other is a sensory nerve returning from the body to join the spinal cord.

Spinal Cord Segments

When a person sustains a spinal cord injury, the resulting paralysis or disability will be determined by which segment is damaged. The vertebrae are divided into five segments and the corresponding nerve pairs are named accordingly, as, for example, Cervical 1 through 8.

• Eight cervical vertebrae – spinal nerves C1 to C8, controlling the back of the head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, and diaphragm

• Twelve thoracic vertebrae – spinal nerves T1 to T12, controlling the torso and some parts of the arms

• Five lumbar vertebrae – spinal nerves L1 to L5, controlling the hips and legs

• Five sacral vertebrae – spinal nerves S1 to S5, controlling the groin, parts of the legs, and the toes

The spinal base is one coccygeal bone (several vertebrae fused together).

Complete and Partial Spinal Cord Injuries

A complete injury removes all function below that injury location. There will be no movement and no sensation because the nerve messages that would normally enable them cannot travel past the injury. Quadriplegia (paralysis of both arms and legs) and paraplegia (paralysis of the legs) can result from a complete injury

A partial injury will leave some movement and sensation intact. One side of the body may remain more functional than the other, or one limb will function more than the others. Partial injuries are individual to each person.

Impaired Body Functions

Besides causing loss of movement and sensation, spinal cord injuries can impair any of the body’s functions such as urination, blood pressure, heart rate, fertility, breathing, body temperature, and sweating ability. There will also be secondary complications arising from these initial impairments. Examples of those would be a greater susceptibility to infection, respiratory disease, or stroke.

Auto accidents cause more spinal cord injuries than any other trauma. Other causes are violent attacks, falls, and sports injuries, especially diving incidents.

Treatments of spinal cords are as various as the injuries themselves. When the injury is caused by somebody’s negligence, medical attention is often supplemented by legal advice and representation. If you have suffered a spinal cord injury, or if you have a loved one who has, why not learn more about your legal options by getting a free consultation with an experienced spinal cord injury attorney?

Calculate Back Injury Compensation Claim Amount!

Published on June 27, 2009 in Personal Injury. 0 Comments

If you have met with an accident due to the negligence of someone, you can make a claim. The amount of compensation, you can receive depends on several factors. It depends on the type of injury you have suffered, the place where the injury occurred, the amount of losses or damages you have suffered, etc. Even though, the amount of compensation for each injury varies dramatically, accident claims specialists can give you an approximate idea of the amounts of compensation you can claim. You can use a claim amount calculator to get an estimate of the amount of compensation you can receive. is tool can help you give a fair estimate of the amount of compensation you can receive.

The claims solicitors can make a more realistic estimate of how much you are likely to receive. They can help you make a no win, no fee compensation claim too which will not cost you a single penny. You can even get 100% compensation for the injuries suffered. Accident claims specialists have helped many claimants get compensation quickly. The specialist can guide a claimant how to make a claim, the documents to be furnished to make a claim, under what circumstances you can make a claim, etc. They will answer any of your claims queries. The specialists will also discuss the circumstances under which you have suffered an injury and let you know how much you can claim.

Many people suffer with back ache. Back injuries are caused by a wide variety of accidents or poor posture. There are four main causes of back pain. Facet syndrome is caused by sudden excessive movement. This often causes pain on one side of the spine only. Sacro Iliac Joint Dysfunction is caused by a traumatic incident which affects the joints at the back of the pelvis. Slipped discs generally occur in the lower lumber region of the spine and stress fractures of the lower spine also cause lower back pain. 

Apart from this, there are other causes also which cause back pain. An accident at work may also cause back pain. This often happens due to lifting and manual handling injuries. Such injuries can occur because employers have not provided a safe working environment. Road traffic accidents can also lead to back ache. If you are the victim of a road traffic accident and have suffered a back injury, you are entitled for compensation. If it can be proved that the injuries have resulted due to the negligence of someone, you can get compensation for the same.