- Ken Margolin | October 31, 2006 7:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousMany clients who are injured delay calling an attorney because they are apprehensive about the process. There is no need to be. An experienced personal injury attorney will put his client at ease and explain every step of the process during the first interview. While the specifics of any individual case vary with the facts, most personal injury lawsuits will follow some or all of the steps...
- Ken Margolin | October 26, 2006 9:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeWhile going down a ramp, a 79 year old nursing home resident fell out of her wheelchair head first. The injury did not seem at first to be severe. The resident complained of neck, shoulder and back pain, and was taken by nursing home staff to her bed with no further evaluation. When the on-call physician was notified, he prescribed narcotics for pain, but conducted no further examination....
- Ken Margolin | October 26, 2006 7:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeTwo year old Andreas Perry developed lymphoblastic lymphoma, a potentially deadly cancer two years ago. In accordance with Andreas' doctor's prescription, his parents were treating eczema with the topical ointment, Elidel. Andreas' parents filed a lawsuit against Novartis Pharmaceutical Co., alleging amongst other things that Novartis had negligently failed to warn users - especially pediatric...
- Ken Margolin | October 25, 2006 5:00 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeObjectively viewed data leads to the undeniable conclusion that medical malpractice lawsuits are not skyrocketing in number, nor are they the cause of escalating insurance premiums for doctors. The malpractice insurers will continue their campaign to prejudice potential jurors by their repetition of the big lie of the evils of malpractice litigation. That crisis - the one invented by the...
- Ken Margolin | October 24, 2006 8:10 AM |
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MiscellaneousConstruction is a dangerous job. In a typical year, construction workers suffer more on-the-job fatalities than any other category of employee. Some accidents are inevitable. Many, however, are preventable and are due to contractors or subcontractors cutting corners, gambling with workers' safety in order to gain contracts or maximize their profits.Several categories of hazards account for a...
- Ken Margolin | October 24, 2006 7:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousLast month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled Walmart's Baby Cookie Monster Toys. The plush Sesame Street character came with a small cookie attached to its hand.The CPSC determined that the cookie could be easily removed by a small child and the cookie stuffed by the child into his mouth creating a choking hazard. Fortunately, the federal safety agency discovered this...
- Ken Margolin | October 23, 2006 1:17 PM |
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Miscellaneous"Tort Reform" is the rallying cry of a multitude of business and insurance groups who claim that our personal injury ("tort") system causes everything from physician shortages to competitive disadvantage in the global economy. The subtle message is that personal injury lawsuits are motivated by greed, and that injured plaintiffs and their lawyers are perpetrators of social harm. That message is...
- Ken Margolin | October 19, 2006 1:27 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeThere is no medical malpractice crisis - except in the scripts of the well funded campaign of the insurance industry to deprive injured victims of their rights. Our system of civil justice rests on the time-honored principle that a person harmed by the carelessness of another is entitled to compensation for the injury. As has been the case for many years, businesses and professionals maintain...
- Ken Margolin | October 19, 2006 12:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousA Massachusetts Superior Court judge ruled that a doctor negligently failing to advise his patient, may be liable to a person injured by the patient. Judge Peter W. Agnes, Jr., denied the defendant doctor's motion for summary judgment in the case of a motorcyclist seriously injured by a driver whose diabetes medication made him lose consciousness.Judge Agnes ruled that the plaintiff produced...
- Ken Margolin | October 18, 2006 5:00 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeIn a blog entitled, "When to Call a Lawyer," I touched on the topic of alteration of medical records. In this posting, I will address it in more detail. Accuracy in medical records is essential. They are relied upon by subsequent treating physicians to give an accurate picture of a patient's prior medical history. In those instances when a medical professional must change a record - for example,...
- Ken Margolin | October 18, 2006 7:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousOne of the most emotionally difficult cases I ever handled was on behalf of the parents of a little girl who drowned in a neighbor's swimming pool. The tragedy seemed to happen in an instant but the impact on two families will last a lifetime. Swimming pools are dangerous. Whether they are in homes or commercial settings, any property owner with a pool must be safety conscious and must exercise...
- Ken Margolin | October 18, 2006 12:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe answer to the question, "when should I call a lawyer after I've had an accident?" is almost always, "right away." Contacting an attorney as soon as possible after an accident or possible medical negligence, can increase the odds of a good result if the facts warrant filing a lawsuit.In a highway accident case, for example, it is important for your attorney or his investigator to interview...
- Ken Margolin | October 17, 2006 7:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseJuries continue to show their appreciation of the sanctity of life even for older and ill individuals. A Middlesex County jury awarded $285,000 ($441,665 with interest) to the family of an 80 year old nursing home resident who suffered severe burns from uncovered and excessively hot radiators. The woman died subsequent to her injuries. While the jury did not believe that the resident's death was...
- Ken Margolin | October 17, 2006 7:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousMassachusetts law requires insurance companies to make "prompt, fair and equitable settlements of claims in which liability has become reasonably clear." M.G.L. c. 176D, §3(f). An insurer's failure to do so is an unfair trade practice, theoretically exposing the insurer to double or treble damages plus the plaintiff's attorneys fees. It is also an unfair insurance practice for an insurer to...
- Ken Margolin | October 16, 2006 1:45 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeA Superior Court judge has ruled that the Massachusetts Promotion of Anatomical Science Act does not immunize doctors from liability if they implant a diseased organ into a donee. Nelson Gonzalez's liver was failing and he needed a transplant. Doctors implanted a liver that turns out to have been riddled with cancer. The donor had died of brain cancer and the doctors who used the donor's liver...
- Ken Margolin | October 14, 2006 8:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousOn on September 22, 2006, Playskool of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, recalled more than 250,000 Team Talkin' Tool Bench toys, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Two children, a 19 month boy from West Virginia and a 2 year old boy from Texas, died when they choked on large plastic nails sold with the tool bench.The Playskool toy tool bench had been sold since last October in stores...
- Ken Margolin | October 13, 2006 7:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseFew choices are more emotionally wrenching than entering a family member into a nursing home. The only purpose for removing a loved one from their home and placing them into an institution, is the belief that they will be well care for, protected when they can no longer live on their own or with family help. Nursing home neglect is a disgrace that should never occur. Dehydration and malnutrition...
- Ken Margolin | October 12, 2006 1:01 PM |
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Head & Brain InjuriesSafety over profits is a fundamental principle with which every retailer must abide. Unfortunately, too many "big box" stores create their convenience with a high dose of greed, causing sometimes lethal results to customers. Falling merchandise injuries and deaths is a little-known nation-wide scandal. In order to maximize profits, the warehouse stores often stack heavy items too high and too...
- Ken Margolin | October 09, 2006 12:48 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeMedication errors injure an estimated 1.5 million Americans each year. That staggering number is reported in studies conducted by the medical profession and pharmaceutical industries themselves. While there is no single cure for this terrible problem, borne ironically, of the tools used to cure disease, the steps to be taken to greatly reduce the problem have been understood for more than 10...
- Ken Margolin | October 05, 2006 12:37 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsIs there anyone who drives regularly on the highways who has not had a perilous encounter with a large tractor trailer truck? Unlikely. Maybe when seeing an 18 wheeler in your rear view mirror closing fast, or watching a double tractor trailer weaving in and out of lanes or passing traffic at 80 miles an hour, you wondered whether large trucks really cause much death and injury in addition to...
- Ken Margolin | October 02, 2006 12:20 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeIn the mid-90s, two articles published in the prestigous Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that medication errors created a terrible human and economic toll (LL Leape et al, "Systems analysis of adverse drug events..." JAMA 274 (07/05/19950; DC Classen et al, "Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients...." JAMA). Various studies by the medical professiona and pharmaceutical...
- Ken Margolin | October 02, 2006 9:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeIn a highly publicized case, a Bedford, New Hampshire family received a $5,000,000 pre-trial settlement arising out of severe injuries suffered by their son, Dustin, during his delivery. The medical malpractice settlement was reported on the first page of the September 18, 2006 Boston Herald. Dustin's parents alleged that numerous errors by his doctors and nurses caused Dustin to suffer severe...