Tennessee Injury Law Center

June 24, 2012

Calling An Injury Lawyer Too Late Can Destroy Your Case

Twice in the last couple of weeks I have had to turn away potential Tennessee personal injury clients because they called me too late.

People do not contact a personal injury attorney promptly after an accident for several different reasons. Some think that the injury they have is minor or temporary. Others believe the insurance adjuster when he or she says that they will be fair. Still others think that they can avoid an expense of a lawyer by taking care of their claim by themselves.

Candidly, there are some personal injury cases where you will not benefit from the help of a lawyer. At our firm, we tell many people every year that we do not think that they would benefit from our ongoing assistance and that they would be better served handling the matter on their own.

June 21, 2012

Medical Malpractice Claims Against Internal Medicine Doctors

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As Tennessee medical malpractice lawyers, we are often asked to evaluate claims against doctors who practice in the specialty of internal medicine. (For an understanding of what is necessary to prove a medical malpractice claim in Tennessee, read our Legal Guide titled "Understanding Medical Malpractice Cases in Tennessee."

The Doctor’s Company, a insurance company that insures doctors for medical malpractice claims, has published a study that looks at past medical malpractice claims against internists. Here are some of the results of the study:

58 percent of the allegations in these claims were related to diagnosis
23 percent were related to medical treatment
9.5 percent were related to improper medication management,
2.2 percent involved ordering errors
1.6 percent involved patient monitoring
5.7 percent were miscellaneous.

The diagnosis related claims were further broken down into two separate categories – failure to diagnose (79%) and delay in diagnosis (21%). The largest number of failure to diagnose claims were cardiovascular disorders, while the great number of claims in the delay in diagnosis category had to do with delay in diagnosing tumors.

June 20, 2012

Damages in Wrongful Death Cases in Tennessee

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Our Nashville wrongful death attorneys have been called upon to represent the families of many people who have died as a result of the mistakes of another. One question we are frequently asked in these cases is what type of damages may be recovered.

Tennessee law permits the following damages to be recovered in wrongful death cases arising from automobile accidents, truck accidents, medical malpractice, or any other type of event where negligence causes death:

medical expenses
lost wages from the date of injury to death
funeral expenses
pain, suffering, disfigurement, disability and loss of enjoyment of life from the date of injury to the date of death

Damages can also be recovered for what is called the "pecuniary value of life." This includes damages for the present value of future earnings (reduced by the amount of expenses that would have been incurred by decedent to keep the decedent alive so that he or she would have been able to work) plus damages for loss of love, society and affection between the decedent and certain family members.

June 19, 2012

10 Things To Do If You Are Involved in a Tennessee Car Accident

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

There are hundreds of car accidents in Tennessee every day, and any case involving personal injuries may result in litigation. Thus, it is important to take certain steps immediately to protect your rights.

At the Law Offices of John Day, P.C., we recommend the following:

1. If you can move, determine the well-being of all others involved in the accident. If anyone is injured, call 911 and seek help.

June 18, 2012

Medication Errors Give Rise to Injuries and Medical Malpractice Cases

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Medication errors hurt and kill many people every year. The Institute of Medicine reports that there are 1,500,000 preventable adverse drug events per year. The conservative estimate of the costs of these errors is $3.5 billion, not including the costs such as lost earnings and the pain and suffering experienced by the victims.

These errors occur in doctor’s offices, hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, and virtually every other type of health care setting.

My very first medical malpractice case over 30 years ago involved a medication error. A drug was prescribed for my client, and one of the risks of the drug was damage to the optic nerve. The health care providers failure to do a baseline eye exam and failed to monitor our client for changes in her vision. These failures caused permanent blindness in both eyes. We won this case at trial but it was later reversed on appeal because of an error in the jury instructions. The case was settled shortly before a second trial.

June 17, 2012

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Against Hospitalists

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Hospitalists are a relatively new phenomenon in the medical field and it logically follows that from time to time these doctors will be subject to medical malpractice lawsuits.

As doctors who care for patients in the hospital, the growth of hospitalists is the recognition that patient outcomes will be improved if there is a doctor on site coordinating patient care. This approach makes sense to us – the idea of trained doctors on-site seems to increase the likelihood that patient needs will be met and errors will be reduced. However, that does not mean that errors will not occur or that patients will not be injured by those errors.

One medical malpractice insurer, The Doctor’s Company, has done a study of the 113 claims against hospitalists it insures that arose from 2006-2010.

June 14, 2012

Damages in Burn Injury Cases in Tennessee

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

A person who suffers a burn injury in Tennessee as a result of the negligence of another person has a right to recover damages for their injuries. As Tennessee burn injury lawyers, we have represented many people who received burns in a variety of settings.

Tennessee law provides that a burn injury victim can recover damages for the following:

medical expenses
lost wages
pain
suffering
disfigurement
disability
loss of enjoyment of life.

If the burn injury results in future or permanent medical problems such as scarring, additional damages may be recovered for

June 13, 2012

Brain Injury During Childbirth – Deadline for Legal Action

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Almost every day in Tennessee a child is born that suffered a brain injury during childbirth. Brain injuries can arise for many reasons, some of which can be prevented with prompt medical diagnosis and treatment and some of which cannot.

If you have a child you have suffered a brain injury during childbirth, it is important that you promptly contact an experienced Tennessee birth injury lawyer. Tennessee law provides that any lawsuit for birth injuries to a child must be commenced before the three-year anniversary of the act causing the injury. The failure to file statutory notice and file a lawsuit within the time period required will result in a loss of rights.

If the injury results in the death of the child, the lawsuit must be filed within one year of act causing the injury that later resulted in the death of the child. Contrary to the thoughts of some, the deadline is not one year from the date of death.

June 12, 2012

Help! I Was In A Car Wreck and Doctors Keep Calling Me!

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As Nashville automobile accident lawyers, more and more people are telling us that after they are in a wreck they are getting calls from doctors offering their services. Most of these doctors are not medical doctors but rather chiropractors. And, some of these chiropractors tell the accident victim that they will refer them to a lawyer to help them get their medical bills paid and make a financial recovery from the accident.

How do the chiropractors know about the accident? They obtain accident reports and make telephone calls to the person they believe was not at fault.

I recommend that you stay away from these "services." I believe you are much better served – both medically and legally – seeing your regular physician or a specialist he or she recommends (or the emergency room recommends) than seeing a chiropractor who calls you after a wreck. If you do not have a regular physician, ask a friend or family member for a recommendation.

June 11, 2012

Why Do Some Tennessee Personal Injury Lawyers Charge Interest on Case Expenses?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The preparation and trial of a personal injury case requires the expenditure of time and money. Typically, personal injury lawyers work on a contingent fee, meaning that they do not get paid for their work unless they are successful.

The expenditure of money for case expenses is handled differently by different lawyers. Some lawyers make the client pay for medical records and deposition costs as they are incurred. This is relatively rare, but occurs. They do this because (a) they lack the money to advance the expenses for the client and / or (b) they lack confidence in the likelihood of success of the case and do not want to put their own money at risk. You should make every effort to find a lawyer to take your case who will not charge you for these expenses as they are incurred.

Other lawyers pay all of the case expenses as they are incurred and then deduct those expenses from the monetary recovery obtained in the case. In the event that the case is unsuccessful, these lawyers will either ask the client to re-pay the expenses or will waive expense reimbursement.