Archive for July, 2010
Medical Malpractice and Bribery May Go Hand-in-Hand
Med mal is still very prevalent in the US. Lately, another issue has surfaced, illegal kickbacks to doctors.
When a patient goes to hospital to get well and winds up having to speak to a med mal lawyer because the doctor was negligent and caused serious harm, that is a grave issue. Lately, another critical issue has been rearing its ugly head – illegal kickbacks to doctors. This is something that people may have heard about, but have not personally seen or witnessed. “This isn’t really too much of a surprise,” commented Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas malpractice lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law.
“Drug companies have a huge role in the occurrence of med mal, even in light of their attempts to supposedly improve health care standards. What role do they play? It all boils down to Big Pharma relying heavily on hospitals and physicians to promote ‘their’ products,” he explained. The kinds of products often being “pushed” are medical tools and devices and prescription drugs. The prescription drugs are an enormous profit pool for drug companies and thus they pressure doctors and hospitals to promote “their” brand name drug versus the generic brands.
“It goes without saying that the pressure is of the ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ variety, where the physicians get cash, trips, meals and/or expensive gifts, which is utterly tempting to say the least; utterly compromising for the patient’s health to say the worst,” observed Smith. By recommending or prescribing a drug that may cause a patient more harm than good, the patient is the one that will ultimately pay a price for the doctor getting presents.
“If you have been in a situation like this and are certain that you were given a drug only because the doctor was trying to promote it in return for a payoff of some kind, it’s a good idea to speak to an Arkansas malpractice lawyer with experience in this area. To say that things like this should not happen, is a major understatement,” Smith added.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
The Convoluted System of the Veterans Benefits Administration
Battling the Veterans Benefits Administration for benefits is almost second nature to many Armed Forces personnel.
This is a story that highlights some of the incredible problems there are for vets who are trying to deal with the Veterans Benefits Administration (VA). It involves a case we heard about where a retired Marine Sergeant was shot in the head in Vietnam, which resulted in spinal-cord surgery that landed him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
The Marine was told by a VA doctor to file to get funding that would allow him to adapt his home and car to handle his wheelchair. Flash forward to 2010, and the Marine is still fighting to get his claims dealt with, since all that has transpired in the last ten years was what appears to be a monumental run around of claim denials, a few rounds with legal interpretations, and dealing with the government bureaucracy. This Marine would get some straightforward information from an Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits.
Over the last ten years, the Marine took matters into his own hands and went ahead and did his home renovations to the tune of roughly $6,000. He also got his driver’s license suspended; not one of his finer moments, but he noted with some humor that the VA told him he could not drive without special equipment and then told him he couldn’t have that very same equipment for a service related disability. This Marine is definitely not alone in his fight to get his claim honored.
There may be some light on the horizon in the form of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who has indicated he wants to clean up the inefficiency and clean out backlogged claims. Sounds good on the surface, but what about the error rate for processing claims? The error rate is actually not the problem in and of itself; the problem is that the whole system needs overhauling (much like the health and immigration systems).
Dealing with the backlog of claims may be nice, but rushing to move them out doesn’t address the underlying problems when it comes to staff making errors. Hustling things along will only mean the claims may be processed faster, but with a higher error rate, because no one is taking the time to make sure they are right the first time.
Overall, Shinseki wants to hit an accuracy rate of 98% by 2015, which also sounds fantastic, but do some math first to figure out what that really means. Let’s say the VA processes 2 million claims; that means a 1% error rate would be 20,000 vets. That’s a whole lot of problems for the vets.
If you find yourself in the revolving door trying to deal with a VA claim and don’t feel like you are getting anywhere, contact a seasoned Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits. It may be the best thing you have ever done for your health.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com
Investment Fraud Stalks Unwary Buyers
Just about everywhere you turn these days, there is some kind scam going on. Sadly, investment scams are at an all-time high.
People want to invest money because they’d like to ultimately “make” money and be comfortable in retirement. Nice thought, and at one time, this was quite “doable.” Since the recession hit, those with investments have lost a lot of money, not their shirt – not yet – but it’s been a depressing ride for many. It’s hard not to understand why those who have lost funds would want to recoup them as fast as they can, any way they can – legitimately that is.
With that kind of investor mindset, it’s not much wonder there are scam and con artists out there that will set up schemes that are too good to be true and go trolling for unsuspecting investors. Unfortunately, even some pretty savvy people who do invest quite often get “had” by a scheme now and then. Of course, there are also the uninitiated investors who may be dabbling in the market and have an inkling of what they are doing, but not enough knowledge and intuition to spot a fraud when it raises its ugly head.
Here are a few things to be on the alert for if you are planning on doing some investing. If the rate of return on your investment is way too high – it sounds fantastic in fact – tone down your enthusiasm, because in cases like this it “is” too good to be true. The truth is that it is very rare for an investment to return more than twice the principle.
Keep in mind too that every investment must be audited and if this is not being done, your radar should go on high alert, prompting you to do some in-depth searching about the “opportunity of a lifetime.” Feeling rushed to fork over your cash? Being pressured to buy in or lose out? Back up a few steps and reconsider what you are doing. If the business offering the opportunity is legit and stable, they aren’t going to be out hustling customers and they won’t be using hard sell tactics either. This is when the word “No” should leave your lips promptly.
Sometimes all you have from the person who is trying to sell you something is their word about their firm or opportunity. Even though you may feel like its overkill to check out the firm’s rep and their investment offerings, do it anyway. The time you check may be the time you find out you should “not” invest your hard earned money.
If for some reason you got had by some smooth dude selling something that cleaned you out, speak to a qualified attorney with experience in this area of the law. You never know, you may be able to recover something.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com
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