When we first speak to a potential client, or concerned family member, we always ask:

* “Is your loved receiving Medicare or Medicaid benefits?”
* “Is your health insurance provided by your employer?”
* “Were you injured on the job?”

These may seem like strange and somewhat irrelevant questions but they are essential for determining whether to file a lawsuit.

Medicare
If you are sixty-five years old or older, then you are entitled to Medicare insurance coverage through the federal government. If so, and often without your knowledge or notice, Medicare will be billed for and pay for a portion of your medical care and treatment. Medicare may even pay for a portion of your nursing home stay. If so, any lawsuit you file where you seek repayment for medical care necessary as a result of another’s negligence, Medicare has a right to seek repayment for the services they paid for on your behalf.

For example – Edna, age 65, falls on an open can of soup at her local grocery store. The store manager calls 911 when Edna is unable to walk and the ambulance arrives. The rescue squad takes Edna to Local Community Hospital where Edna is evaluated in the emergency room. She is admitted to the hospital when her doctors realize she has fractured her right hip and requires surgery. Edna has surgery and two days after surgery she is discharged to a nursing home for rehab after the hip surgery.

If Edna files a lawsuit against the grocery store for negligence and personal injury and recovers $25,000, Medicare will seek repayment of any monies paid on her behalf for injuries related to the fall. Under Federal law, Medicare does not have to provide Edna notice that they plan on seeking repayment. See 42 CFR §411.26.

But how much will Medicare seek in repayment? Sadly, we cannot answer that question for Edna or her family. Each lien is determined on a case by case basis… but by law, Medicare should reduce their demand, taking into consideration there were costs with filing a lawsuit or seeking a settlement (including attorneys’ fees, expert’s fees, etc.). But what if the ambulance bill was $400; Emergency Room $2000; Surgery $8000; Four day hospital Stay $7000; and twenty days in the Nursing Home getting rehab, $4000. Medicare will have paid at least $21,400.00 for Edna’s care, and effectively can take almost every penny of her $25,000 settlement after attorneys’ fees and costs…so we warn clients, right away – THERE IS A POTENTIAL LIEN ON YOUR RECOVERY… AND WE WON’T KNOW HOW LARGE OF A LIEN UNTIL THE END. Not only is this scary for many clients, it will often be enough of a deterrent the family will decide not to file suit.

And Medicare is not the only party who can claim a lien.

Medicaid
In Virginia, and most other states, programs exist to provide a level of healthcare for those who cannot afford it. There is no age limit to Medicaid, but rather an income cap. Like Medicare, Medicaid has a right to seek repayment for monies paid on behalf of a beneficiary. If you file a lawsuit against a nursing home, doctor, or even as a result of a car accident, if Medicaid paid for a portion of your care, they will seek repayment. And here is the real-kicker – both Medicaid and Medicare can seek repayment on the same lawsuit…. So if Edna in the above example was on disability or had an income qualifying her for Medicaid benefits, Medicare could seek a lien for the $21,400 it paid, and Medicaid could do the same if it paid any of her related bills.

Other possible liens
If you receive health insurance benefits through your employer as a result of a qualified ERISA plan, the plan will likely be entitled to reimbursement if you are successful in pursuing a claim against a negligent party. It is very important to discuss these issues with your attorney.

Conclusion
Our office staff spends weeks after a case has concluded, trying to work with Medicare and Medicaid on liens. Sometimes they are more than we anticipate and on good days, they are less…. But the existence and amount of liens is always a factor in our discussions on whether to take a case, settle a case, etc. If you know the lien could be overwhelming, sometimes legal action is not the appropriate choice.

Lawsuits are so common these days that you need very concrete evidence to prove that wrongdoing has been done. In the case of a possible medical malpractice lawsuit, this fact is even more emphatic since many times the proper course of action is a judgment call by the doctor or medical team, and many times there is not really a right or wrong answer.

But if you are convinced that medical malpractice can be shown and you have evidence to back it up, then by all means this is something that should be pursued. Even if the actions taken by the doctor seemed right, the doctor also has a responsibility to know what the possible adverse effects of his prescribed treatment are, and if there are dangers to you or your family member, to discuss those possible side effects with you.

Typically in a situation like this, the doctor will sit down with you and describe what he is planning to do and why that seems to him to be the best course of action. He should also explain alternatives to you, explaining why the alternatives are not a better choice for a course of action. Lastly, he should explain to you what the possible negative effects are for the treatment that is being planned, and give his professional estimate of the chances of a successful outcome.

Sometimes, even if the predicted chances of success are as high as 99%, there is also the 1% possibility that the treatment will not be effective. This is a situation where a medical malpractice lawsuit will be a waste of time, unless there was a safer procedure that could have been followed for the particular ailment.

But there are occasions when the doctor makes a poor decision. Unfortunately, based on the fact that the doctor deals with people’s lives, this can be a permanently disabling situation for the affected person, and could even result in death. Neither of these situations are acceptable, and a doctor in that situation cannot afford the luxury of being wrong. If he is in doubt, he always has resources available to him to get a second or even a third opinion from his peers and discuss the course of action for treatment.

If you feel that medical malpractice has occurred, do not be afraid to file a lawsuit but at the same time, be aware that the burden of proof will be on your shoulders and you will need to prove that mistakes were made that could have been avoided.

People who have been injured by dangerous medications often feel helpless and alone. When you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a medication that was supposed to help you, it may be difficult to know what to ask or where to find help.

Is your attorney local?
Laws are different in every state. While some attorneys are licensed to practice in more than one state—meaning they are familiar with the laws of those states—most lawyers are licensed to practice locally, either in their own state, or nearby.

Does he or she have experience with this type of case?
The law can be complex. It is important, therefore, to find an attorney who limits their practice to the type of legal issue with which you are faced. In the case of pharmaceutical injuries, it is important to choose a lawyer who not only has experience with personal injury law, but with pharmaceuticals specifically.

A capable, experienced pharmaceutical attorney will be able to read and understand all the evidence that arises in pharmaceutical cases, including studies, medical data, and other specialized information.

Is the attorney well-regarded?
Choosing the right personal injury lawyer can be difficult. It is essential, however, to choose an attorney with the right credentials and legal experience to win your case.

Fortunately, there are several ways to research a personal injury lawyer’s experience and credentials, including:

· Martindale-Hubbell National Law Directory. Martindale-Hubbell is an independent evaluator, which rates attorneys’ professional skill and integrity.

· Board Certification. The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Supreme Court of Ohio to certify lawyers in the specialty area of civil trial advocacy. NBTA board-certified attorneys are required to meet rigorous standards that include significant trial experience, judicial and attorney peer review, written examination, and continuing legal education.

· Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Less than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members.

· Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers is a listing of the top 5% of attorneys in each state, as chosen by their peers and through independent research of Law & Politics magazine.

A European guideline to the industrial safety, which must be converted 2008 into national right, could lead to the fact that the magnet resonance Tomografie (MRT) may not be used no more. How professor Maximilian Reiser reported yesterday on the occasion of the congress of radiologist in Berlin, with European Union parliamentarians and representatives from Federal Ministries negotiations were led, in order to reach special arrangements of the industrial safety guideline for the medicine.

A goal of this guideline is main it, persons employed at high voltage mechanisms to protect at Telefonmasten or in electric steel plants against electromagnetic fields. The limit values specified in the guideline apply however - which had obviously not been considered - also for medical personnel with the employment of MRT. The limit values specified by the European Union do not see the radiologists as scientifically at all justified on. After more than 25 years of application with so far over 500 million patient no health risks would have shown up.

If the guideline was converted as original planned, then physicians and maintenance personnel no more could not work in direct proximity of the devices. This is however for the support of the patients or necessary for the intervention in emergencies absolutely. Operations with MRT are then no longer possible.

One of the major company IDC is committed to providing our affordable DR technology to medical, orthopedic, chiropractic and veterinary communities all over the world. IDC has developed patented Digital Radiography (DR) technology that not only provides high resolution X-ray images, but at a much lower radiation dose that older film or Computed Radiography (CR) technology.

Based in Calgary, Canada, IDC is an emerging leading provider of this high performance DR technology and rapidly capturing a global market share with an install base in over 36 countries.

IDC’s patented DR solutions use one very high density Charge Coupled Device or VHD CCD. It’s the “film” in the digital system and it’s proven, reliable technology used in multiple applications and scientific advancements such as the Hubble telescope and MARS rover.

By using a single CCD detector that has more than 16 Megapixels digitized at 14 bits per pixel, the IDC X-Series technology is able to produce an excellent dynamic range in each X-ray with over 16,384 shades of gray. Additionally with 100% fill factor in each pixel, there is maximum efficiency attained and lower radiation needed to capture the image.

IDC’s high spatial resolution of 4.6 lp/mm provides superior image quality and one of the highest resolution X-ray images available on the market.

Nevertheless the European specialized company of the radiologists reached it at the European Union commission to agree upon a study to possible MRT health damage whose results are expected in November.

Doctors have been prescribing antibiotics for years now when patients come into their office complaining of the common cold (even though antibiotics are ineffectual to treat a cold’s viral basis) in large part because of patient demands. This has led to great concern in the medical and scientific communities that such overuse of antibiotics has caused an increase in antibiotic-resistant strains of certain bacteria. Can such over prescription of antibiotics lead to the revocation of a medical license? This intriguing possibility is raised by the Third Department’s decision today in Matter of Ostad v New York State Dept. of Health, 2007 NY Slip Op 04020. The facts were as follows. In support of its allegations of negligence, gross incompetence and failure to maintain accurate medical records, the Bureau of Professional Medical Conduct (BPMC) presented evidence that the doctor at issue had repeatedly prescribed antibiotics to four pediatric patients with complaints of sore, red throats without recording adequate medical histories or doing throat cultures, and despite his having made a diagnosis for which antibiotics would be ineffective. BPMC’s expert established the standard of care for diagnosing such ailments in children and explained the adverse consequences of the improper prescription of antibiotics.

In his defense, the doctor presented no expert witness at the hearing and admitted that his notes did not reflect the patients’ medical histories. However, he explained that he dispensed with throat cultures and routinely prescribed antibiotics because he served a low-income community whose members could not be depended upon to return if the cultures revealed the need for medication and, in any event, red throats always meant strep throat (which would justify antibiotics). The doctor further testified that the nature of his patients’ community justified giving lower-cost, but less appropriate, medications, and that he often prescribed antibiotics simply because the parents demanded them. A Hearing Committee found the testimony of BPMC’s expert to be highly credible while rejecting the doctor’s attempts to justify his actions. It also found that the doctor believed that a lower standard of medical care was justified by his patients’ economic status.

Based on this evidence, the Third Department found in the doctor’s article 78 challenge to his revocation that there was substantial evidence before the Hearing Committee that the doctor repeatedly failed to “exercise the care that a reasonably prudent physician would exercise under the circumstances” and that his conduct was sufficiently egregious to constitute gross incompetence. It thus denied his challenge to his revocation.

The sheer nature of medical malpractice and how it works is responsible for providing many challenges; possibly more than what people will ever be aware of.

We’ll come back to this topic later.

Making Money With Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is certainly not the best way to make a quick million, but its common knowledge that some people have the process of claiming compensation down to an art.

Such medical malpractice lawsuits send shivers down the spines of professionals in the medical and health care sector.

These so called “opportunists marvel at the possible lucrative outcome of medical malpractice cases. It’s not uncommon for individual companies to pay out millions in personal lawsuit damages.

So now you know that medical malpractice should not be taken lightly. It’s a serious matter for all concerned.

Practicing doctors and surgeons carry huge responsibilities towards their patients. One wrong move can result in patients having to live with some form of permanent disability, or in the most unimaginable cases; even the loss of life!

Diseases Related To Medical Malpractice

There’s a list diseases related to medical malpractice, here is a short list of the top five:

# 1. Breast cancer,
# 2. Lung cancer,
# 3. Colorectal cancer,
# 4. Heart attack,
# 5. Appendicitis.
#

Victims of medical malpractice are often subjected to needless suffering because of a doctor’s or nurse’s negligence.

The remainder of this article is related to medical malpractice insurance companies. Keep on reading and you’ll discover more information related to medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies

It can be argued that the business practices of large insurance companies are the reasons for the cost of medical malpractice insurance premiums being driven through the roof.

If greedy insurance companies are not to blame for medical malpractice premium

increases, perhaps it’s just foolish insurance companies.

What is really funny is… the very same insurance companies and interest groups who attempt to take away patients’ rights have no suggestions about how to prevent medical malpractice.

So in spite of what medical malpractice insurance companies want you to believe, there is no medical malpractice insurance crisis taking place. Truth is, all that’s left is a raw deal for the normal woman and man on the street…

For insurance companies and negligent doctors it’s another case.

Doctors and supporting staff face an unpredictable and constantly changing array of serious medical problems which they must assess and handle quickly. Hospitals have a duty to maintain the safest possible conditions in emergency rooms, in order to minimize the chance of errors and injury to patients in this naturally chaotic environment.

Emergency room errors can be caused by many forms of hospital negligence or wrongdoing including:

· Failure to maintain an adequate number of doctors and support staff per shift
· Inadequate training
· Failure to screen doctors and support staff
· Inadequate record keeping procedures
· Inadequate patient tracking procedures
· Inadequate medication administration procedures
· Inadequate facilities
· Unsanitary conditions
· Unethical policies

Every decision and every action taken by every person who works in an emergency room can mean the difference between saving a life or causing long-term injury or death. One mistake can have catastrophic consequences. Common emergency room errors include:

· Failure to fully evaluate a patient
· Failure to fully treat a patient
· Failure to monitor a patient
· Delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose
· Medication errors
· Laboratory errors
· Contaminated blood transfusions
· Surgical errors
· Negligence
· Delayed treatment
· Patient dumping

Hospitals can minimize the risk of errors by maintaining clear and consistent policies and procedures for record keeping, patient tracking, administering medications, and sanitation. Policies and procedures only work when followed up with training and enforcement. In a high stress environment, all of these elements are necessary to keep things running smoothly.

Understaffing results in doctors and support staff who are tired, overworked, and sometimes simply must choose who to treat and who must wait for treatment. This leads to misdiagnosis, delayed, incomplete, or total lack of treatment, failure to monitor unstable patients, and a myriad of simple human mistakes which can have deadly results.

Unsanitary conditions cause infections which can mean a longer and more painful recovery period, loss of limbs or organs, unnecessary long-term medical problems, or death.

“Patient dumping” is an unforgivable, unethical practice which often results in death. When patients are unable to prove their ability to pay for treatment, normally by providing insurance information, some emergency rooms will refuse to treat them, provide partial and inadequate treatment, or delay treatment until it is too late. During a medical emergency, when patients are too incoherent to provide financial information and are not accompanied by loved ones who can provide the information for them, many emergency rooms which practice patient dumping simply let them die.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of emergency room error, resulting in injury or death, you may be entitled to compensation including:

· Current and future medical bills
· Current and future loss of wages
· Rehabilitation
· Long-term disability
· Long-term care expenses
· Pain and suffering
· Loss of enjoyment of life
· Loss of companionship
· Burial expenses

A trip to the emergency room is not a choice. Patients do not have the opportunity to screen and evaluate emergency room doctors and staff and make an informed choice on whose hands they place their lives in, as they would when choosing a physician or surgeon under normal circumstances. Yet, emergency room treatment may be the most important and extreme medical attention a person ever receives.

Cerebral Palsy is a serious medical condition, which effects children’s control over their muscle movement. ‘Cerebral’ refers to the head while ‘palsy’ relates to problems controlling the muscles in the body. Children who develop cerebral palsy may not be able to function in the same way that other children do, which may include problems walking, eating, talking or enjoying everyday play. This condition may be caused by damage to the brain either before, during or after birth. Cerebral palsy does not get worse, but the effects can worsen over time. It first develops due to faulty development or damage to the motor areas in the brain.

There are different causes behind the development of cerebral palsy, which is why you should contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer if you feel that your child is suffering due to medical negligence. When searching for an accomplished Texas cerebral palsy lawyer, consider looking through the telephone book or the internet. There are a number of listings and it may be necessary to consult with more than one Texas Cerebral Palsy lawyer before making a final decision. Many attorneys will offer a free initial consultation, which will give you the opportunity to meet with more than one Texas cerebral palsy lawyer without having a large out of pocket expense.

There are many risk factors, preventative measures and treatments involving cerebral palsy. A Texas cerebral palsy lawyer will guide you through these subjects and fight for your child’s right to all future medical costs in the event of medical negligence. There are different types of cerebral palsy, which a qualified physician or attorney may be able to explain. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of this illness, but preventative treatments and early diagnosis are key in helping a child.

This article should not be construed as medical, or legal, advice. If you have any questions regarding this illness, or possible legal actions against a physician or facility that you feel may be responsible for your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis, contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer immediately. A Texas cerebral palsy lawyer should be forthcoming with answers to all of your questions, should sit down and discuss possible legal actions and the various options for recovering damages. Your child may be entitled to future medical care for the rest of their lives and it’s important to contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer as quickly as possible in order to protect your child’s rights.

You should know what is “informed consent”. Informed consent is to be obtained from well informed patients about their own health care in making decisions on their own free will before the patient is subjected to serious treatment or operation. This is a legal obligation and it is the ethical right of the patient.

The patient should be aware of his rights and participate in the discussions and decisions. And he should be given the freedom to decide on:
1. the alternatives to the proposed operation or treatment.
2. the process and its nature
3. the risks involved
4. the extend of the uncertainties involved

And if needed repeat the explaining part in a simple layman’s language and make sure he understood and accepted the proposed course of treatment/operation.

The informed consent should be legally valid and the patient should be in a competent state of mind and his consent must be voluntary. In certain cases the patients feel helpless and vulnerable to any coercive tactics. And he or she should be made comfortable and relaxed before the consent form is signed.

The informed consent process should be a clear acceptance of the proposed treatment or surgery and on his/her own free will. To improve the confidence of the patient, he should be allowed to seek a second opinion. This action will make sure the informed consent is a very well informed comprehensive consent.

In some delicate cases, the Doctor may be constrained to withhold certain portion of the information. This is physician’s discretion in the best interest of the patient. This is also tailored information supplied to obtain the patient’s informed consent.

Do you have baby who suffered Birth Injury? Check it out with some experts and make sure. Some specialist Doctors are to be consulted. If you have a baby with birth injury, you have a case. You need help from a specialist Birth injury Lawyer, an expert. It is easy to find one on the internet.

Check your case once again. Search for some articles on Birth injury on the internet. Now let’s have a look. How does this happen? Difficult child birth, baby’s size, position during labor and delivery and negligence are some of the vast and varied reasons.

Some of the causes of Birth injury are:
Breech Delivery
Delayed Cesarean Section
Failure to notice Fetal Distress
Placenta Abruption
Medical Negligence

A baby may be afflicted with any of the following:
Mental Retardation
Cerebral Palsy
Epilepsy
Autism

Injury or defect or deformity, during or before or after the process of child birth, may be any one of the several birth injuries. Cerebral palsy is one of the most common types. And this cerebral palsy is a physical condition caused by brain damage.

The four different types of cerebral palsy are:
1. Spastic cerebral palsy
2. Ataxic cerebral palsy
3. Athetoid cerebral palsy
4. Mixed cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy caused at the time of birth is asphyxia or lack of oxygen during the birth process. This is a complicated situation which is difficult to predict or prevent. Hemorrhage in the child’s brain, an infection or illness in the mother like rubella, toxoplasmosis; low birth weight, intrauterine exposure to drugs or alcohol, premature birth are also reasons for cerebral palsy. The health care professionals such as doctors and nurses are trained to identify symptoms of cerebral palsy. And they do fail to recognize the problem of brain injury in newborn infants some times. This negligence may lead to cerebral palsy. And this negligence is certainly a case of medical malpractice. The parents can claim for compensation for life long care. Did you get an idea? The expert Lawyer in this case will do the rest. Trust him.