Category Archives: Wrongful Death

An Analysis of the Unauthorized Practice of Law.

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in Legal Analysis, Legal Writing, Litigation, Unauthorized Practice of Law, Wrongful Death

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Wrongful Death Case Filed for Late Spouse Not Null and Void as Unauthorized Practice, by Mike Frisch, Legal Profession Prof (with hat tip to William P. Statsky)

http://bit.ly/2xK44uo

A man’s wife dies in a hospital due to complications after surgery. He sues the hospital and other defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit. You can represent yourself in court without a lawyer, but can you represent someone else without a lawyer? No, you can’t. It’s called the unauthorized practice of law. So, how did he do it? -CCE

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Kentucky’s Bill To Prevent “Frivolous” Nursing Home And Other Medical Abuse Claims, But Is That The Problem?

21 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Elder Abuse, Elder Law, Health Law, Health Reform, Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Negligence, Nursing Home Abuse, Personal Injury, Skilled Nursing Facilities, Wrongful Death

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Senate OKs Bill For Review Panels In Medical Lawsuits After Lively Debate Between Doctors, Lawyers, Others, by Melissa Patrick, Kentucky Health News

http://kyhealthnews.blogspot.com/2015/02/senate-committee-oks-bill-for-review.html

The Senate has approved a bill that advocates say will help weed out ‘frivolous’ medical malpractice lawsuits and speed up litigation for legitimate suits.

‘Right now, Kentucky has one of the nations most litigation-friendly environments, making our commonwealth a prime and profitable target for personal injury lawyers preying upon our health care providers,’ Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, a physician and sponsor of Senate Bill 6, told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. Opponents disputed that claim.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday 24-12. It is not expected to pass the House.

The bill would establish panels of three medical experts, two chosen by each side and the third chosen by the other two, to review suits against health-care providers to determine if the case has merit before the lawsuit can proceed. Panel findings would be admissible in court but not legally binding.

The Republican-controlled Senate passed a very similar bill last year but it got nowhere in the Democrat-controlled House, and its prospects are similar this time. However, Wednesday’s committee meeting provided a detailed and lively explication of the issue, lasing almost two hours.

Vanessa Cantley, a Louisville personal injury attorney, told the committee that most medical malpractice cases are legitimate. She cited a Harvard University study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that concluded ‘portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown’ and reported that 97 percent of claims for medical injury evaluated over a decade were deemed to be meritorious.

However, Michael Sutton of Louisville, a civil defense attorney, said defendants win 80 per cent of medical malpractice suits.

Cantley said there are 2,700 deaths in Kentucky each year due to purely preventable medical error, but, according to the state Department of Insurance, fewer than 500 lawsuits a year are filed by abuse and neglect victims. . . .

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Seat Belt Use Evidence Now Admissible In Texas.

19 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by in Admissibility, Authentication, Damages, Discovery, Evidence, Motor Vehicle, Negligence, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Relevance, Torts, Wrongful Death

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TX: Evidence of Seat Belt Non-Use is Admissible to Apportion Responsibility, by Christopher J. Robinette, Torts Prof Blog (with hat tip to Jill Lens (Baylor)!)

http://tinyurl.com/kmbeph9

For years, evidence of seat belt use was prohibited at trial. The Texas Supreme Court changed that rule of law with this case. This ruling will have a major impact on this area of the law. -CCE

The Texas Supreme Court case, which was announced on Friday, is Nabors Wells Services, Ltd. v. Romero. The case (pdf) is here:  Download TX Sup Ct = Seat Belt Admiss  From the opinion:

We hold relevant evidence of use or nonuse of seat belts, and relevant evidence of a plaintiff’s pre-occurrence, injury-causing conduct generally, is admissible for the purpose of apportioning responsibility under our proportionate-responsibility statute, provided that the plaintiff’s conduct caused or was a cause of his damages.

Keeping Medical Records Costs Down.

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in HITECH Act, Litigation, Medical Records, Motor Vehicle, Negligence, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Torts, Wrongful Death

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Defeating The Medical Records Paper Copy Scam, by Max Kennerly, Esq., Litigation and Trial Blog (with hat tip to Evan Schaeffer, The Trial Practice Tips Blog!)

http://tinyurl.com/mmpm4sy

Mr. Kennerly explains why obtaining medical records need not be expensive, and provides a sample letter with citation to legal authority. -CCE

Hardly a day goes by without a letter from my office either requesting medical records or paying for them. Some days, I sign more than a dozen. It’s perhaps the most common thread among all my cases: the vast majority of my clients have been physically injured in one way or another, and at a bare minimum, I need the records from their doctors and hospitals to show the diagnoses they have and the treatment they have received.

Every patient has a right to receive their medical records, and by law should be able to obtain those records promptly at no markup, with no padded fees, and no unnecessary charges from the hospital or the records company. But if there’s money to be made, someone will try to make it, and over the past decade a whole cottage industry has developed around the “business” of trying to cheat patients trying to get their medical records. Sometimes health care providers outsource this ‘business’ to third-party companies, and sometimes the hospitals and health systems play the con game themselves. . . .

$17 Million – Likely Largest Ever Wrongful Workplace Death Settlement.

13 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Damages, Employment Law, Evidence, Government, Litigation, Negligence, OSHA, Settlement, Wrongful Death

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Philadelphia Electrician’s Widow to Receive Record $17 Million in Wrongful-Death Settlement, by Josh Cable, EHS Today

http://tinyurl.com/mx9kqq5

The widow of an electrician who died in a crane accident at Veolia Energy’s Schuylkill steam plant in Grays Ferry, Pa., will receive $17 million, in what is believed to be the largest wrongful-workplace-death settlement in Philadelphia County history. . . .