January, 2019 - WNW Legal

Seat Belt Neglect May Be Partly Behind Rise in CMV Crash Deaths

January 24, 2019/in Personal Injury /by damg

Mississippi drivers who neglect to wear their seat belts should be aware of the added dangers they face. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has just studied commercial motor vehicle crash data for 2017 and found that the rise in crash fatalities is partly due to seat belt neglect.

Specifically, there were 5,005 CMV crash fatalities in 2017, a significant increase from the 3,193 fatalities in 2009. Of these, 841 were large truck occupants — 717 drivers and 124 passengers. Of the 717 drivers who were killed, 322 were found without their seat belts on.

The seat belt compliance rate is 86 percent among CMV drivers, including large trucks and buses. On the other hand, it’s about 90 percent for passenger vehicle drivers. Overall, researchers believe that at least half of all the CMV drivers killed were not wearing their seat belts.

This is just one of the major factors in the rise. The FMCSA also notes that speeding was involved in one-third of the CMV crashes. Distracting driving, failure to yield, intoxicated driving and careless driving in general were factors, too. However, the FMCSA is especially calling for better enforcement of seat belt laws and supporting the use of new vehicle automation technology on commercial trucks.

As the above data shows, negligence is behind many truck accidents. When it’s the trucker who is to blame, a crash victim might be able to file a claim against the applicable insurers. A lawyer can help build up the case and negotiate for a reasonable settlement covering past and future medical expenses, lost wages and more. As a last resort, the lawyer can prepare for litigation.

If You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse, Do These 4 Things

January 15, 2019/in Personal Injury /by damg

Few decisions are more heart-wrenching than choosing to place an aging parent in a nursing home. Still, often a long-term care facility is the best option. If your mother or father lives in a nursing home, you want to be certain she or he receives top-notch care.

Unfortunately, not all healthcare providers offer an exceptional level of care to aging patients. Sometimes, neglect turns into abuse. If you suspect your elderly parent is the victim of nursing home abuse, you must act quickly to protect your loved one and assert your legal rights. Here are four things you should do.

1. Watch for signs of abuse

It may surprise you to know that nursing home abuse is not always easy to detect. On the contrary, your aging parent may not be able to tell you about her or his experiences in the nursing home. Thus, you must watch for signs of abuse. If you see any, take photographs and document the incident. With a bit of effort, you can likely discover whether your parent is receiving adequate care.

2. Report your findings

Nursing homes typically have procedures they follow to investigate and stop abuse. Therefore, if you think your loved one has become the victim of elder abuse, you must report your findings to the facility’s administrator. Of course, if you believe your parent is in imminent danger, you may want to remove her or him from the facility immediately.

3. Complain to state regulators

If the nursing home administrator is unwilling to address your concerns, you may need to escalate your complaint to state regulators. The Mississippi Division of Health Facilities Licensure and Certification has an ombudsman who can help investigate the matter.

4. Demand action

Your aging parent may not be able to advocate for his or her best interests. Just as your mother or father took care of you when you were young, you may need to demand action on her or his behalf. Remember, care providers are likely to be on their best behavior when you are around. As such, try to be as present as possible. Schedule regular care meetings and ask for follow-up reports.

No one wants to think about placing an aging parent in a nursing home. Still, for many families, long-term care facilities offer the best possible care. If you think your parent is not receiving adequate care, though, you must work diligently to protect your mother’s or father’s interests.

Investigation Begins in Sexual Assault Case

January 15, 2019/in Personal Injury /by damg

Mississippi residents may have heard about a story involving a woman in a vegetative state who gave birth in December 2018. The woman had been in that state for roughly two decades when her son was born. Although nursing home caretakers were watching over the woman on a 24/7 basis, no one has acknowledged anything out of the ordinary took place prior to the event. According to one person familiar with the incident, she would not have been able to defend herself against a sexual assault.

She would also not be able to tell anyone that she was pregnant. Multiple people did have access to the 29-year-old woman’s room, and police have obtained warrants to collect DNA samples from male employees. An investigation into the incident is being undertaken by the Arizona Department of Health. Hacienda HealthCare has also said that it is conducting an investigation and that it has changed its policies to ensure something similar doesn’t happen again.

One of the new rules states that male employees must have a female employee with them when entering a female patient’s room. A board member for Hacienda Health said that the company would do everything in its power to protect patient safety. The organization’s CEO at the time of the incident resigned in its aftermath.

If a nursing home fails to provide a reasonable level of care to patients, it could constitute negligence on its part. In some cases, multiple parties could be held financially responsible. For instance, an employee who sexually or otherwise abuses a patient could be liable for damages as well as managers or others who fail to stop it.

How ADHD Medication Can Affect Driver Safety

January 7, 2019/in Personal Injury /by damg

Mississippi residents with concerns about distracted driving should be aware of a JAMA Psychiatry study that shows ADHD medication greatly reduces the chances a driver with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder will get in a car accident. The study examined more than 2.3 million Americans and demonstrated that up to 22.1 percent of car crashes may not have happened if the drivers had received ADHD medication.

ADHD is a disorder with core symptoms that include inattention and impulsivity, two factors that may greatly interfere with a person’s ability to drive safely. The study found that 83.9 percent of the drivers with ADHD received at least a single prescription for ADHD medication. Researchers then looked at emergency room visits resulting from car accidents that occurred while the patients were behind the wheel. The study found that the risk of getting into a car accident was much higher during months when patients did not refill their prescriptions. However, when they were presumably medicated, their risk was much lower. Female ADHD patients had a 42 percent lower risk of getting into a car accident when they were medicated and male ADHD patients had a 38 percent lower risk.

Although medication may help eliminate crash risks, some patients do not want to take their pills. An assistant professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Department at Florida International University stated that there is a general trend of patients choosing not to take their medication because they do not like the way it makes them feel.

Someone who has been injured in a car accident should consider working with an attorney experienced in negligence and personal injury. Legal counsel could help prove that a distracted driver was at fault for an accident. This may lead to compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages. In the event of an injury resulting in a need for physical therapy, compensation may also include transportation to and from appointments.

Seat Belts Prevent or Lower the Severity of Liver Injuries

January 2, 2019/in Personal Injury /by damg

Emergency rooms in Mississippi and around the country treat about 2 million car accident victims each year, and many of these road users are admitted because of blunt force abdominal trauma. Two of the organs most commonly damaged in automobile accidents are the liver and spleen. However, wearing a seat belt reduces the risks of suffering such an injury by more than 20 percent, according to a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that was recently published.

The safety benefits of seat belt use are well established, but a team of researchers from New York University and the University of Kansas Medical Center wanted to find out how effective they are at preventing serious liver injuries. After studying patient admissions collected by the National Trauma Data Bank between 2010 and 2015, the researchers identified 51,202 motor vehicle accident cases that involved varying degrees of abdominal trauma.

An analysis of these cases revealed that seat belts reduced the likelihood of someone suffering an abdominal injury in a car crash and significantly lessened the severity of the injuries that were sustained. Seat belts alone reduce the chances of suffering a liver injury by 21 percent, according to the study, and seat belts combined with airbags make such injuries 26 percent less likely to occur.

Seat belt use is often a contentious topic in car accident lawsuits because plaintiffs who did not do all that they could to avoid injury may be awarded lower damages. Experienced personal injury attorneys may expect reckless motorists or their insurance companies to make arguments based on the legal doctrine of comparative negligence, and they could take steps to refute these claims. Lawyers could have the vehicles their clients were driving inspected to establish that their safety systems were in good working order, and they may consult with medical experts to find out how badly their clients would have been injured if they had been properly restrained.