Archive for April, 2010
Veteran Gets Full Disability for Water Contamination
Veteran Gets Full Disability for Water Contamination
In what may be a first, a former Camp Lejeune Marine received full disability as a result of water contamination on the base during his service.
This is a first, and may be just the tip of the iceberg. It involves a former Camp Lejeune Marine who is suffering from a rare blood disease as a result of historical water contamination of the base’s water system. The former Marine is one of a small group of veterans to get full disability for the contamination.
“Former Marine Buckley was astonished to get the compensation, and even more surprised that his claim was granted in full. Usually, trying to get compensation out of Veteran’s Affairs it like pulling hen’s teeth,” said Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s law in Little Rock Arkansas.
This was by no means an easy victory for the 46-year-old Marine veteran. May 10th, 2006, was a signature day for the former Marine who became ill very quickly and just made it to a hospital emergency room where he promptly collapsed. He wound up being in a coma for ten long days. At the time he fell ill, his contract with the Marines had been over for at least 20 years.
“Oddly enough, the Marine was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a very rare and usually incurable cancer. It also normally affects a different demographic than Buckley was in. Although the doctors who diagnosed him knew what he had, they were more than confused since it’s usually elderly people who contract this; ones who worked with certain chemicals,” added Smith. At the time Buckley fell ill, he was only 42 years old.
The doctors weren’t the only confused people in this piece; so was Buckley, as he had never been exposed to the kinds of chemicals that could lead to multiple myeloma. Then one day he received a newspaper clipping in the mail from his sister. “It was an article about contaminated Camp Lejeune drinking water that had been laced with benzene and other toxic chemicals from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Benzene is a primary cause of multiple myeloma,” Smith stated.
Turns out that a fuel spill in 1984 at Lejeune’s Hadnot Point polluted the water and it had much higher levels of benzene than records indicated. Buckley had lived on base for a year and a half in an area serviced by Hadnot Point water pipes. There were no other reasons why he would have contracted multiple myeloma.
His appeal was granted because his advocate had letters from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, patient treatment reports that showed no risk factors for this disease, other than being at Camp Lejuene and other pertinent information. “It was pretty clear that the water contained not only benzene, but TCE, PCE, DCE, vinyl chloride, radioactive material, pesticides (DDT), etc. All these compounds are known carcinogens. The upshot here is that his disease was directly linked to his military service,” said Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s law in Little Rock Arkansas.
“While it may be difficult to chase down a favorable decision at times when dealing with the VA, it can be done by building a solid and well documented case. In this instance, justice was done. If others in similar circumstances also choose to file, there is every likelihood they will also succeed to varying degrees based on the facts of their case,” commented Smith.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Michael G. Smith is an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting
Man Dies Wrongful Death in Hospital Misdiagnosis
People go to hospital to get better. They don’t expect to die due to a misdiagnosis.
This is a case I heard about recently that points out that doctors can and do make mistakes when it comes to diagnosing patients. Something this man’s family found out the hard way when they lost their husband, father, grandfather and brother.
Here is the disturbing story. Mr. Sims (names have been changed to protect the victim’s identity) went to a local hospital in Seattle to have surgery to remove a noncancerous mass. Three days later, he died as a result of peritonitis that was misdiagnosed after his surgery. His family was worried sick about him, as he kept complaining about severe pain and thirst after the operation. He died an agonizing death.
The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit based on the fact that the man’s physicians failed to diagnose and treat the well-known signs of peritonitis. Evidently the doctors who treated him have credentials to practice at the hospital, but are not employed by the hospital.
This will be a contentious case based on what we know so far. There is certainly some indication of negligence on the part of the surgeons and the hospital staff. The difficulty will be proving it; something that will more than likely need to be done with the assistance of expert witnesses. In addition, medical malpractice lawsuits are often time consuming and expensive cases that even if an award is handed out, it may be capped – an injustice to the grieving family and an insult to the deceased who died in severe pain.
Generally speaking, if a person is killed due to the wrongful conduct of another, his heirs have the right to file a wrongful death action. This is an area of tort law that is governed by statute. While each state has a wrongful death statute, it tends to be different for every state. You need to check with your attorney to find out what applies in your state. What you need to know upfront is that most of the statutes cover who may sue and what limits there may be to an award (capping).
Of interest is that wrongful death statutes were originally created to allow financial support for widows and orphans, with the underlying purpose to encourage people to prevent injuries. You need to understand that a wrongful death action is not a criminal action and that you may file both types of actions – criminal and civil. Put another way, if someone was tried and found not guilty of murder, the family of the deceased may still sue for wrongful death.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com
Double Trouble on the Freeway Causes Big Rig Trucker’s Death
Anytime there is a big rig involved in a collision, the results are horrendous. This case is a story of inattention that cost a trucker his life.
This is a story of two big rigs that collided and burned. It was a ghastly scene, brought on by one of the trucks rear-ending the other. The accident totally shut down the freeway for six hours to clear debris, as one of the trucks flipped, causing both to catch on fire.
“The impact was so forceful that the trucker that hit the first 18-wheeler was killed instantly on impact. The fire that broke out on impact was an intense inferno, fueled by cleaning supplies, causing significant problems for the firefighters that responded to this emergency call,” outlined Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Little Rock Arkansas.
The accident reports don’t clearly indicate just what caused this accident in the first place. Eyewitnesses suggest the second truck, the one that rear-ended the first, was traveling at a high rate of speed. “It is also not known if the deceased trucker was doing something else at the time of the impact, such as texting on a cell phone, reaching for a map, drinking something that spilled and distracted him, talking on a cell phone, playing a game on his cell phone or perhaps using his laptop,” added Smith.
Until the accident investigators get a chance to clear the whole scene and find the second driver’s cell phone, they won’t know for sure if that played a part in this fatality. “Other things that may have caused this incident could involve something going wrong with the 18-wheeler itself, such as a blown tire, a sudden shift in load, a dirty windshield or faulty brakes,” Smith listed. Road or weather conditions may have also been factors in this double big rig collision. Only time will tell.
Trucking accidents stalk the nation on a daily basis, and each year over 500,000 of them cause catastrophic injuries and deaths. Statistics show that out of the 500,000 accidents, at least 5,000 or more are deadly, which means one in every eight traffic accidents with a big rig ends in death.
There is a whole list of things that can and do cause 18-wheeler accidents which includes, debris on the road, driver exhaustion, speeding, not following the rules of the road, driving under the influence and reckless driving. “The sheer size and weight of these giants guarantees that the end result of any collision is extremely serious or fatal. And you have to remember, 18-wheelers don’t stop on a dime,” commented Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Little Rock Arkansas.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Nursing Home Abuse Takes Many Forms
Nursing home abuse takes on many forms, and in this case, caused a resident to lose a finger.
They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and that seems to be the case in this nursing home abuse story that took place recently in New York. The incident started when an elderly gentleman fell while he was in the nursing home. Over the course of 12 days, the right ring finger developed gangrene and was amputated.
The disturbing thing about this case is that he fell in the first place, as he was assessed at high risk for falls when he was admitted. Evidently he was not monitored that well. The second thing is that it took 12 days for the nursing staff to notice that anything was wrong with his hand. Add to that oversight the fact no one on the nursing staff even wrote his accident in his patient chart. Wait, there’s more. As an Arkansas personal injury lawyer, this case really disturbed me.
Even when his swollen finger had been noticed, the nurse’s “still” didn’t enter that information in his chart. The man had to have it amputated when the staff finally figured out the finger tissue was dead. This is just a horrendous example of neglect and negligence. Did the family file a lawsuit? You bet they did.
The complaint said the nursing home failed to give proper or adequate supervision for the man and failed to notice or treat his finger injury in a timely manner. The bottom line here is that when a nursing home doesn’t provide proper supervision, especially for high risk fall patients, this can and does often lead to abuse and other instances of neglect. The nursing home’s job is to monitor its residents, treat injuries, and provide adequate care and supervision. If this man’s initial injury had been taken care of right away, he would not have lost his finger.
When we place our elders in a nursing home, we don’t expect they will be neglected or abused. We expect they would get the proper care and attention they need and deserve. Over the last few years, nursing home abuse has become a national concern. None of the things our elders are subjected to in some nursing homes is acceptable under any circumstances.
If you suspect nursing home abuse, call a skilled Arkansas personal injury lawyer and get to the bottom of the situation. Someone has to put a stop to this kind of despicable behavior. Stopping elder abuse in its tracks starts with us.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com