When it comes to medical malpractice cases, injured patients have the burden of proving how a medical professional’s negligence more likely than not led to their preventable injuries. While medical negligence can take numerous forms, it is generally defined by law as a health care provider’s failure to administer treatment in accordance to accepted medical standards – which means that any reasonable and skillful medical professional under the same or similar circumstances would have acted differently to avoid harm.

As this legal definition makes clear, what constitutes medical negligence can sometimes be a matter open to argument. Were there medically acceptable reasons why a doctor failed to make a diagnosis of a patient’s condition? Could a doctor reasonably have foreseen complications experienced by a specific patient? The answers to these questions can vary from case to case, which is why it is often difficult for injured patients to understand when their medical professional’s care amounted to negligence, and whether they have a viable medical malpractice claim. However, there are some types of medical errors that always constitute malpractice. These are known as “never events.”

Motorcycles are considered motor vehicles by law, and riders have the same rights and responsibilities as any driver. However, due to their smaller size and the lack of protection they provide riders, motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable motorists on our roads. As such, riders have greater needs to remain vigilant and defensive when sharing public roads and highways with other vehicles.

Unfortunately, as we have seen throughout the years representing victims of auto accidents across Philadelphia and the state on Pennsylvania, even the most vigilant riders can suffer harm when others around them are negligent – often with devastating consequences. When preventable injuries occur, including catastrophic injuries, riders have every right to pursue legal action against the at-fault party, hold them accountable for their failures, and recover financial compensation for their damages.

Northampton County Coroner, Zachary Lysek, has ruled that Daniel Scanlan, an 84-year-old veteran and long-time resident of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, died on April 4, 2017 as a result of “complications of blunt force head trauma” which occurred at Arden Courts of Old Orchard in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania. The certificate of death from the coroner’s office states that Mr. Scanlan was “pushed by another resident causing him to fall and strike his head.” As a result, the coroner marked “homicide” as the “manner of death” on the certificate of death issued on September 14, 2017.

The children of Mr. Scanlan have retained Robert Sachs, Esquire, of Shrager & Sachs, a nationally-recognized nursing home and assisted living negligence lawyer from Philadelphia, PA, to investigate and pursue a claim against Arden Courts of Old Orchard. Arden Courts is owned by HCR Manor Care, Inc., which is owned by the Carlyle Group, one of the nation’s largest private equity groups.

Attorneys can help with a wide variety of injury cases. A personal injury attorney may be able to help if you have been injured at work, by a doctor, by an ill-meaning assailant, because of the negligence of another person, or for any other reason. Serious injuries typically result in large medical costs, significant time out of work, long-term physical damage, and other lasting negative effects for the injured party. If you have suffered a serious injury that was not your fault, you may be able to file a personal injury suit in order to hold the responsible parties accountable and receive the compensation you need to cover your costs and get back to your life.

Workers Injured on the Job

If you have been injured on the job, it is especially important that you speak to a personal injury lawyer before accepting workers’ compensation benefits. In many cases, employers can provide workers with some financial help to cover immediate injury-related costs, but workers’ comp is typically not substantial enough to cover the cost of a serious injury. Be advised that once you access workers’ comp benefits and payments, you are no longer legally permitted to file a personal injury lawsuit, even if the amount of workers’ comp you receive ultimately falls short of what you require. If you have been injured on the job, get in touch with an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney immediately.

In a continuing trend of naming bills misleadingly, the Protecting Access to Care Act (HR 1215) was passed in the Republican-majority Congress on June 28, 2017. This bill places a cap on the maximum amount a patient can sue for damages in a medical malpractice suit. HR 1215 is currently being considered by the Senate, so it has not yet gone into effect.

However, this is a bill Republicans favor. If the Senate goes the same way as Congress, those who are victims of severe negligence will only be able to sue for up to $250,000 in noneconomic damages, despite any additional care needed to deal with the repercussions.

Proponents of the bill argue it will save the health care industry thousands of dollars, making health care affordable for more people, but this assertion is dubious. Even if medical insurers do save millions of dollars, this is no guarantee they will lower their premiums to allow better health care for low-income individuals who can’t afford it. Likewise, this bill targets the victims of malpractice who have suffered the most. Those who require extensive amounts of health care, rehabilitation, and who can no longer work after their injuries will need much more than $250,000 to survive.

In one example, written about by F. Paul Bland Jr. in on The Hill website, Kathleen Astleford is one such victim. In 2018, she was diagnosed with cancer in the right tonsil. She was referred to a Dr. Turrisi, who incorrectly noted she had been diagnosed with cancer on the left side of her tonsil, rather than the right. He then recommended she undergo 35 radiation therapy treatments, after which she would be cancer free.

If you are involved in a car accident, you may think you are unharmed just because you don’t feel any pain. However, sometimes your injuries may not present themselves until days after the crash. Such injuries include soft tissue damage to muscles, ligaments, and tendons, as well as concussions and whiplash. If you wait to see a doctor, insurance companies will try to prove that the injuries did not result from the crash. With this in mind, you can still pursue compensation for injuries that are not immediately apparent.

Suffering a serious blow to the head from a car accident, blast, fall, or some other incident can result in a traumatic brain injury (TBI). For some, the memories from sustaining that injury can be extremely jarring, and may also trigger posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A traumatic brain injury is typically very traumatic, and the symptoms may sometimes overlap with those of PTSD, making it difficult to determine whether you are suffering from a TBI, or both a TBI and PTSD.

A traumatic brain injury may be caused by any type of injury to the head, whether direct or indirect and may vary in degrees of severity. For example, someone may suffer a slight TBI after experiencing whiplash in a minor car accident, while someone else who hits their head after a nearby explosion may suffer a much more serious TBI.

Someone with a TBI may experience symptoms of physical discomfort, mental problems, as well as emotional difficulties.

“There is no moral or economic reason to deny people who have been harmed the right to sue in court. But Republicans keep trying to do so.” This quote by our managing partner, Attorney Robert Sachs, Jr., shows our passion for protecting citizens’ rights to sue financial institutions. However, not everyone shares our convictions. The Trump administration is trying to shut down a rule that would allow people to join together to file class action lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions. If the Republicans succeed in blocking this rule, thousands of victims of fraud and financial abuse would have to settle in arbitration, which almost always benefits the banks.

Here’s What You Need to Know

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is trying to pass a rule that will allow citizens to file class action lawsuits against financial institutions. Without this rule, banks can force citizens to settle complaints in arbitration, which often works in the interests of the banks. Bringing individual lawsuits against financial corporations is often too costly, so the best way to hold banks responsible is through class action lawsuits.

Keith Noreika, a bank lawyer appointed by Trump, tried to stall the rule by saying more time was needed to determine if the rule threatened the stability of the nation’s banking system. The Consumer Financial Bureau refused. The facts showed that the rule would cost around $1 billion a year for the banking system, which makes more than $171 billion per year. Thus, the rule would not destabilize the nation’s financial institutions. It would only keep them more accountable.

Soft tissue injuries may seem mild and less concerning than visible wounds, but they can be equally dangerous if left untreated. These types of injuries are typically the result of a car accident or perhaps a slip and fall incident. Unfortunately, because these injuries are not as apparent as open gashes or broken bones, they are often overlooked and left to worsen gradually.

A soft tissue injury is any type of physical damage that does not involve the bones. So, this may include any harm inflicted on the structures that support the bones, such as ligaments, muscles, or tendons. These injuries may seem less threatening, but they can be just as damaging and should never be ignored.

Common types of soft tissue injuries may include:

• Ligament sprains
• Muscle or tendon strains
• Contusions

What is Whiplash?

While soft tissue injuries can occur anywhere, neck injuries, especially whiplash, are the most common. Car crashes are one of the biggest causes of whiplash because a sudden impact from either the front or the back can make the head and neck whip backward and forward, thus resulting in a whiplash injury. Whiplash is a very dangerous health issue and can result in serious head or spinal injuries, even if there was no actual impact to the head or visible harm. The symptoms of whiplash include neck stiffness, tingling in the shoulders, jaw pain, and a headache. In very severe cases, whiplash may lead to nausea, vertigo, or vomiting. In some instances, whiplash may cause injuries to the brain.

With more than 80 years of combined experience, Shrager & Sachs has guided hundreds of clients to successful outcomes. We take each case seriously and work hard to provide effective solutions to meet clients’ specific needs. Our team is proud to share the story of how we helped our client obtain a settlement for the wrongful death of his father.

The Situation

Our client’s father had been living independently in a senior living home for several months. However, he started becoming confused and unable to maintain his independent situation. It was recommended that he undergo a brief hospital stay, where he would try a combination of medication in the hopes of decreasing his confusion.

Once he was admitted to the psychiatric unit of a neighborhood hospital, the senior living facility sent over a list of his prescriptions, including Methotrexate, which he was taking as a maintenance drug for his rheumatoid arthritis. However, the list had a transcription error. Instead of recording a dosage of 2.5 mgs for 3 administrations given once a week, the list reported a dosage of 2.5 mgs given twice a day, on a daily basis.