Press Releases
Nursing Home Abuse Sends Out Specific Signals
Nursing home abuse may be silent, but it does send out subtle signals. Be on the lookout for those signs.
Nursing home abuse is an abhorrent blight on society, and as a nation, we need to do something about it. If we don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation further down the road when we age, we need to take this bull by the horns.
“For those who have loved ones in nursing homes right now, you may want to keep your eyes open for signs that abuse is taking place. Often the signals are silent, because the family member is afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation, but if you spend time quietly observing what is going on, you will see a clear pattern of abuse if it is present,” explained Michael Smith, an Arkansas personal injury lawyer.
Things to be on the lookout for are bed sores, bruises and wounds, weight loss, verbal abuse, malnutrition, excessive medication and unsanitary conditions. Bed sores are caused because the patient has been lying in bed for too long without having any exercise. Wounds or unexplained bruises may be the result of inadequate assistance from the nursing staff. If the wounds are infected, that should immediately raise a red flag.
Any type of weight loss is usually associated with neglect or the onset of depression as a result of neglect. It may also indicate malnutrition. If the rooms and bathrooms at the home are not clean or are barely passable, this may indicate the home is understaffed and the patients are not getting the care they need. “If at any time you overhear insults or harmful comments, you will know there is a problem with the level of care your loved one may be receiving,” remarked Smith.
If there are a significant number of residents in the home that are over medicated so the staff’s job is easier, run to the nearest phone and call an Arkansas personal injury lawyer. This is called chemical restraint and it must not be allowed to happen.
“While it would help if you could ask your family member precisely what is going on, that isn’t always possible if they have dementia or don’t understand what you are asking them. Basically, your intuition is a good indicator of something being wrong. After all, you ‘know’ your family member, and if something changes for the worse, you know something isn’t right. This is the time to give me a call and we will discuss what is happening,” added Smith.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
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
Big Rig Texting Deadly
If a semi driver is texting while driving, get out of his way. This is an accident looking for a place to happen.
Many people don’t realize that over 100,000 people end up being seriously hurt every year thanks to being in an accident with a big rig. It’s a no-brainer to think about the total destruction that results when something that size hits something a great deal smaller.
Often the other vehicle’s occupants die in the carnage.
“While size alone may make them the “Kings” of the highway, this doesn’t mean they are exempt from following the rules of the road, just like the rest of us. In fact, you’d think it would make them ‘more’ aware of what they were doing ‘because’ of their size and deadly potential,” noted Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas.
“Here is an interesting fact for you. Commercial trucks account for approximately 3% of all motor vehicle registrations. Doesn’t sound like much does it? Unfortunately though, they are responsible for roughly 12% of all yearly traffic fatalities,” observed Smith. The government does seem to be working toward making highway travel safer by putting stricter rules and regulations into effect that target truckers; specifically to get them to take precautions to avoid fatigue and distracted driving.
The statistics for big rigs crashes show that distracted driving tops the list of fatal driving errors. That list includes three kinds of distracted driving: taking their eyes off the road, taking their hands off the wheel, and disengaging their minds. This likely won’t surprise you in this day and age of texting, but truck drivers causing accidents while texting is negligent and deadly, and the very worst combination of the top three distractions,” Smith outlined.
“Maybe you haven’t heard about the case where a trucker killed a mom and her young child because he was watching a porn movie on his laptop while driving. Of course this is the high end of recklessness, not to mention stupidity, but it points out that some really strange things can and do happen,” added Smith.
Some other research just done recently by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revealed that truckers who text do so while taking their eyes off the road for 5 out of every 6 seconds. “If they are traveling at 55 mph, the trucker actually travels the full length of a football field without looking at the road. Pretty scary stuff, isn’t it?” asked Smith. On top of that frightening revelation, big rig truckers are up to 20 times more likely to get into an accident while texting on their cell.
The good news here is the DOT has now banned texting for truckers. If they follow the rules, this should help reduce accidents as a result of texting. If they don’t follow the rules, and let’s face it, some people won’t, there will still be death by texting while driving a big rig. “Yes, there is a fine if they’re caught texting. Lawyers can now also go for punitive damages to make a point that texting while driving is deadly,” said Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Wrongful Death Case Compensation Complicated
Calculating the economic loss resulting from a wrongful death is tough. Many times the loss has to be reduced to today’s dollar values.
Most wrongful death claims are as a result of accidents; accidents that include car crashes, truck collisions, motorcycle accidents, exposure to toxic chemicals, as the result of a defective product or due to medical malpractice. In cases like this, the key here is that the death was caused by someone else and that negligence is usually a factor.
“The person who brings a wrongful death lawsuit is usually the spouse, children or parents of the deceased and they are often referred to as distributees in cases like this. Also, wrongful death is a type of personal injury claim and you would file the lawsuit against the people responsible for the death,” outlined Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits in Arkansas.
Wrongful death cases require the services of an experienced attorney so the family is able to get fair and just compensation for things like, pain and suffering, funeral costs, loss of wages, medical expenses, loss of companionship and consortium, etc. “There may even be a valid claim for loss of inheritance. Since each state has a slightly different wrongful death statute, you’d need to ask your attorney about what the rules are in your state,” Smith remarked.
In the alternative, there may be another option to consider; a survival action. This is when the family asks for additional compensation for the pain and suffering of the deceased. Typically though, those left behind must have lost money as a result of their family member’s death in order to file a wrongful death action.
“Calculating the financial loss for the death of a family member is no easy task, and the process usually starts with your attorney trying to negotiate a settlement. If there’s no dice that route, we’d go to court and let the jury and judge decide the matter,” observed Smith. The factors they would consider include the percentage of liability the defendant had for the wrongful death, the age of the deceased and other things like if the person didn’t have a job.
Liability isn’t always black and white which means that if the death was caused by someone’s negligence, how much could the person responsible have known about the risks involved in their actions? “This is sometimes a very tough question to resolve and there have been cases where a court decided the one responsible couldn’t have anticipated the outcome of their actions. In addition, the case may show the deceased was negligent themselves and contributed to the accident,” added Smith.
The bottom line when it comes to an award is that it may also be converted into today’s dollar amount; meaning while the jury award may be substantial, it may end up being reduced when it is converted. “This point, and a variety of other things, are crucial to know if you are about to file a wrongful death suit. Call me and I can outline the process,” offered Smith.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Stock Fraud Nails Many
Stock fraud these days seems to be almost as common as product recalls. People need to be wary about investing in stock without doing due diligence.
“Generally speaking, there are two kinds of people who want to venture into the world of investing. Those who have an optimistic point of view on investing (if all goes well) but remain skeptical in light of recent fraud cases, and those who are skeptical first and try to hang onto their sense of optimism that not everyone is out to scam you,” said Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law and dealing with stock fraud cases in Little Rock Arkansas.
The most successful investors seem to have a certain internal radar about them that can spot a dud at fifty paces and the Bernie Madoffs of the world don’t get past their front door. “Having said that, it’s not easy to spot a fake, particularly when the fraudster is charming, personable, has a good reputation and an ‘image’ that projects confidence and trustworthiness. It’s those with the glib gab that get the furthest and make the biggest bucks in scamming people,” commented Smith.
Is it really possible to pull the wool over people’s eyes, take them for mega bucks and keep doing it for years? Yes, it is possible, and it’s possible because people have not done true due diligence in checking out the investment opportunity. They have relied instead on that illusive word of mouth from others and a person’s reputation. They have not checked into any details in any depth, and this is how people get ripped off.
“While people don’t like to question those that appear to be in the know, be successful and may even be a friend, it’s in their own best financial interests to check, check, check and check again,” added Smith, who has handled some interesting stock fraud cases in his years of practice. “You need to protect your ‘own’ interests first and if that means the person who is offering you a ‘great deal’ stops talking to you, you may just be better off,” he said.
Relying on mere trust without checking is precisely how Ponzi schemes get going and stay flourishing until the roof falls in one day. “Put another way, the person who unwittingly gets back his principal investment (from newer clients) as their ‘return on their investment’ just sets the person up to be a sitting duck who unintentionally may supply other victims to the scammer,” outlined Smith.
“Here’s one thing that you might want to watch out for if you’re planning on dealing with an independent investment advisor. First off find out if the advisor’s independent accounting firm is an obscure, ‘who in the heck knows who they are’ kind of firm,” recommended Smith.
If the investment advisor someone is working with keeps custody of client assets (money), that means they “must” have independent audits and unannounced audits by the SEC. If the advisor isn’t keeping the assets, but a group does, the client has statements to verify what is going on. In the Madoff case, the accounting firm was a “who in the heck are they” kind of firm. Red flag number one.
There are other areas to check as well, including the answers to the advisor’s ADV on the SEC site.
Analyze them carefully, because quite often there are clues sprinkled in the answers that will tip someone off that all is not as it appears to be. “When in doubt, speak to an attorney who handles cases like this and have them check the information out. It could save you a whole lot of economic grief,” stated 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.
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
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
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder May Not Be Recognized for VA Benefits
Not many Veterans realize that PTSD may not be recognized for benefits: a strange state of affairs indeed.
“PTSD, otherwise called post traumatic stress disorder, is a member of the family of anxiety disorders. It typically develops after a difficult or terrifying incident: a car accident, child abuse, murder and rape, or war experience in the trenches,” explained Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas veteran’s benefits lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. The way it usually manifests itself is by giving the body it bedevils a continuous loop of the event over and over – a flashback – often accompanied by emotional detachment.
One thing to understand about PTSD is that a traumatic incident need not happen directly to a person who suffers from this. It may instead happen to witnesses of horrific events. PTSD is quite common in high risk occupations such as police officers, ambulance attendances, EMS personnel, SWAT personnel and war veterans. “They amount of horror and destruction they have witnessed knows no bounds, and they’ve seen brutal sights they live with daily,” added Smith.
While there is treatment available for PTSD, the VA seems to go out of its way to make it difficult for veterans to receive compensation, except in the most obvious cases. “Let’s consider the example of an infantryman who steps on a landmine and loses at least one limb while in combat. The VA would likely award benefits in a case such as this, and do it fairly quickly,” Smith pointed out.
“Unfortunately, if the PTSD is a result of traumatic experiences in the battlefield and the veteran gets out alive and without major injuries, the VA has been known to deny their claim because PTSD is not as obvious as a physical injury, although there are psychological tests for it. In reality, the vet may desperately need psychological/psychiatric help to handle what they have seen. When the VA says no, this is a wrongfully denied claim that the veteran is entitled to have approved,” stated Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas veteran’s benefits lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas.
This isn’t the only problem with PTSD and returning war veterans making claims. The system itself is so convoluted and complex that very few attorneys want to practice in this area. Instead of taking months to resolve claims in the VA system, it could end up taking years. This is just one of the major reasons to consult with a skilled veteran’s benefits lawyer.
Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Michael G. Smith is an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law and veteran’s benefits law in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Talking on Cell Kills Senior Driver
People never seem to think that driving while talking on a cell phone may cost them their lives. This man found that out the hard way.
There are a lot of people who feel seniors should not have a driver’s license due to their many medical conditions, some of which include heart problems, poor eyesight and possible early onset senility.
“While this case does involve a senior, it’s not the age that is at issue in this fatality. It was the fact that he was talking on a cell phone that caused the horrific crash,” outlined Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Perhaps more to the point these days is not so much a person’s age anymore, but whether or not they have the ability and willingness to pay attention to their driving. In other words, be smart enough to not do something like talk on a cell phone, text or adjust radio dials while they are driving.
In this unfortunate incident, 75-year-old Stan Skags (name has been changed to protect the victim) was tooling along the highway in his Sebring convertible – a much cherished car. “He did stop at the stop sign on his road and the one he was going to turn on to, but even after having obeyed the sign, he pulled right in front of a Chevrolet Silverado,” said Smith. The Silverado hit the driver’s side of the car so hard; its bumper totally crushed the door inside the car. The Silverado didn’t have a stop sign.
When the police and EMS crews arrived, they pronounced Skags at the scene. “It was shortly after they determined he was dead that they found his cell phone which indicated it had been in use at the time of the crash,” Smith commented. The woman driving the Silverado was taken to hospital in pain, with unspecified injuries.
While local residents say that particular intersection needs a four-way stop sign, it is painfully obvious that in this case, it may not have made any difference to the fatal outcome. “Being on the cell phone at the time of the collision says quite plainly that the Sebring driver was distracted and not paying attention. Nonetheless, the driver of the Silverado may have a very good personal injury case against the driver of the Sebring,” added Smith.
Don’t wait to speak to a qualified and seasoned Arkansas injury lawyer, as time is of the essence in cases such as this. There is much to be done from gathering evidence to combing through police reports. Find out what kind of case may be made based on an assessment of the facts. Then trust in the Arkansas injury lawyer to make sure justice is served.
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 http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com
Stock Fraud at an All Time High
It should come as no surprise that stock fraud is sky high during a recession. The question is what to do about it.
The figures for stock fraud for 2009 have just been released by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Office of Dispute Resolution (FINRA). Long name and an even longer report that features some rather dismal news. The report reveals the results of customer driven investment arbitrations against stockbrokers and investment firms.
It seems that the arbitration cases have increased on the order of 43% from 4,982 cases in 2008 to over 7,137 in 2009. Large jump and not a welcome one for those on the receiving end of fraud. While this should likely not be too shocking, it is shocking in ways that go to the core of our beliefs in honesty in others, especially during a recession when times are tough. Here is the interesting thing though, that can be taken with a bit of a grain of salt. The number of fraud cases was actually predicted to exceed 10,000 for 2009. The fact that it came in at 7,137 is somewhat mollifying, but not by much.
Perhaps the increases in securities prices for the calendar year 2009 cut down the number of claims that otherwise would likely have been filed last year. Whatever the reasons, the bottom line is that stock fraud is up and investment money down. Not a good combination when people invest expecting to actually make a return on that investment.
Many of the arbitration claims deal with omissions and misrepresentations and are coming in a close second when it comes to selling unsuitable investments. Some of the preferred securities sold on a fraudulent basis in 2009 involved bond funds, structured products and near cash instruments. The plot thickens as time marches on. Unfortunately, there are a large number of people – not familiar with investing – that have walked into something they thought was a “good deal” and it backfired on them and wiped them out financially.
Sadly, many of the arbitration hearings didn’t result in a good outcome for the complainant. The figures show that ripped off investors only prevailed about 43% of the time. That’s less than a half chance of succeeding in recouping an investment; slightly better odds than playing Russian Roulette but not by much.
If stock fraud is suspected in dealing with a broker or brokerage firm, call a seasoned lawyer with a background in this area. Once the case reaches the courts, the chances for investment recovery may increase substantially.
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 http://www.Arkansaslawhelp.com