Birmingham Injury Blog

Here is a short guide to what we believe are the four critical steps or keys to improving your deposition testimony in your Alabama personal injury lawsuit.

We cover the following topics:

Fundamental rule - tell the truth

Key one - make sure you hear the question

Key two - make sure you understand the question

Key three - make sure you take a moment to think about the truthful answer

Key four - make sure you only answer the question asked, not anything else

Why is answering only the question posed so important?

Final thoughts

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Posted by John Watts & M. Stan Herring | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Deposition Tips

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This is funny and makes a good point. Enjoy it!

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Posted In: Video

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Yahoo! News has posted an article about the rising numbers of injuries caused by Nintendo's Wii. While useful for exercising, Wiis may also be causing a new wave of game related injuries, such as "Wii-itis." Wii-itis can affect the whole body, unlike the previous gamer injury called "Nintendo thumb," as the games physically engage the whole body.

"Before these types of games were introduced, patients typically presented with ligament injuries of the hand from intensive use of [video game] hand-held controls," said Karen A. Eley, a resident and doctoral candidate at a British hospital. "Now, the injuries seem to affect any region of the body."

Falling off the Wii Balance Board seems to be one of the main causes of injury, according to Eley, and although the board is only a few inches from the ground, a mishap can still lead to anything from soft-tissue damage to broken bones. Head injuries can also result from playing Wii games in confined spaces, she said.

The Wii is also the most likely game to injure your pet, as well.

Having said all of this - enjoy your Wii and just use a little common sense when your kids are playing. I know I lost a brand new TV (first new one in 10 years) to a flying Wii controller from my five year old. :)

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Posted In: Interesting News

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ABC News has posted an article that follows up on an earlier post about a Texas nurse who was brought to trial and accused of harassment after sending an anonymous letter expressing concern over a doctor's practicing habits. The letter was deemed as "misuse of confidential information," which is a third class felony in Texas.

In trial, the jury took less than an hour to decide that Ms. Anne Mitchell was not guilty of harassment and all charges were dropped. She could have faced up to ten years in prison if she had been convicted. However, this does not repair the damage done to her reputation and professionally...all for expressing concern and reporting unsafe medical practices.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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The New York Times has posted an article on a bizarre case where a nurse is to stand trial for writing a letter that reported Dr. Arafiles, of Kermit, Texas, to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The letter was deemed as “misuse of official information," which is a third-class felony in Texas. She was arrested and will go to trial.

Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle, nurses, became concerned over Dr. Arafiles' "improper prescribing and surgical procedures." For example, he performed a skin graft in the emergency room that he was not allowed to do and also sutured a rubber tip to a patient's crushed finger, a very unusual remedy. They also mention an email where he recommended an herbal supplement that he sold on the side.

When Dr. Arafiles was told of an anonymous complaint, he complained to the sheriff that he was being harassed. The sheriff credits the doctor with saving his life after a heart attack and immediately obtained a search warrant where he discovered the letter written by Mitchell and Galle and began prosecution. Charges were dropped against Galle but not Mitchell. The hospital claims that it's difficult to recruit physicians to west Texas, but that they have reprimanded Dr. Arafiles several times.

The state and national nurses associations have called the prosecution an outrage and raised $40,000 for the defense. Legal experts argue that in a civil context, Mrs. Mitchell would seem to be protected by Texas whistle-blower laws.

The prosecution must prove that Mitchell used her position to obtain confidential information for "nongovernmental purposes" to get a conviction. The outcome of this case, whether it's a wrongful conviction or not, will certainly have a "chilling effect" on the reporting of medical malpractices.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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The Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about a medical negligence lawsuit regarding a cancer patient's death. Patricia Quirk was receiving radiation treatments for endometrial cancer in Chicago hospital and died of a perforated bowel.

Ms. Quirk's untimely death was caused by receiving 50% more radiation during the last two-thirds of her treatments, being basically "over-radiated." Appropriate amounts of radiation treatments can have unpleasant side effects such as fatigue, hair loss and nausea.

Yet when given in overwhelmingly large amounts, radiation can have disastrous effects on one's body, as the decedent's case unfortunately illustrates. The large doses of radiation eventually caused decedent's bowel to perforate, or tear, which resulted in a blood infection and her eventual death.

The decedent's family mourned the senseless loss of Patricia Quirk and argued that if common sense had been applied then the Chicago hospital's medical negligence could have been avoided. The decedent's radiation prescription was for 180 centigrays of radiation, yet she was given 270 centigrays. Plaintiff's attorneys argued that if the medical staff had simply reviewed the chart that the error would have been caught and the Chicago woman's wrongful death would have been avoided.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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The Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about a rather strange, recently settled wrongful death case.

An 85 year old Illinois man confused the gas and brake pedals of his car, accidentally accelerating and crashing his vehicle into the side of a Subway restaurant. A restaurant patron was pinned between the car and the counter, which killed him.

A suit was filed on behalf of the decedent that involved several parties. However, the restaurant owner was found to be the most liable for the accident because he should have taken precautions to...

protect patrons from out-of-control vehicles crashing through their walls. Targeting the owner of the premises, in this case Subway, set the current case apart from many other theories of liability. The estate alleged that Subway's negligence in preventing the Illinois car accident was foreseeable because of the poorly designed parking lot and the lack of protective barriers between the lot and the front of the restaurant.

Subway paid a settlement of $1 million to the decedent's estate. The 85 year old man, Chrysler, the restaurant's owner, and the franchise also paid settlements.

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Posted In: Wrongful Death

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Pet owners are usually very loving of their pets - the pets become a member of the family. Let's say someone recklessly runs a stop sign or is speeding and kills your dog that has been with you for years and grown up with your children. Or an elderly person has a dog for a companion for ten years and someone shoots the dog. What can be done?

The traditional response is that at best you can only recover for the value of the dog and any medical or funeral expenses you have to pay. No emotional distress damages.

Mark McAndrew has an interesting post about a Vermont Supreme Court decision where this issue will be tested and explored - can you recover emotional distress damages for pets. In the Vermont case the plaintiff alleges the defendant shot (and killed) the dog with malice.

When there is an update we'll let you know.

My suspicion is that the court will be moved by the plaintiffs but ultimately will not allow for emotional distress damages for the "wrongful death of a dog" due to fears of this opening up too much litigation where large awards could be handed down.

In Alabama where we only allow punitive damages for wrongful death actions (you knew we had to be unique, right?) I don't see our conservative supreme court saying you can get punitive damages against someone who kills your dog. But you never know - could be conversion of personal property which can support punitive damages.....

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Posted In: Interesting News , Wrongful Death

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The Georgia Injury Law Blog has posted an article on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new proposition for stronger side airbags in vehicles. Last year the NHTSA announced that auto makers would be required to comply with "stronger roof strength standards" to prevent injuries and fatalities in rollover crashes.

The agency is now saying that stronger side airbags can prevent passengers from being ejected from a vehicle window during a rollover accident, even if they're not wearing a seatbelt. In 2002, 10,600 people died in rollover crashes and the number has declined every year especially since " more cars now come equipped with Electronic Stability Control systems that prevent rollovers."

According to its data, every year 6,400 people die when they are ejected from the side window during a rollover. It’s these lives the agency wants to save with its new standards. Currently, many vehicles come with side airbags, but these don’t comply with the NHTSA’s proposed stronger new standards.

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Posted In: Car Wreck

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The Maryland Injury Attorney Blog has posted an article about another case of nursing home abuse. Generally, one expects the culprits of nursing home abuse to be the employees; however, sometimes fellow residents are the guilty party.

A 98 year old Boston nursing home resident has been indicted for strangling and smothering her 100 year old roommate to death with a plastic shopping bag because she felt her roommate was "trying to take over the room."

...the victim's son had asked the facility to separate the two women due to tensions between them, but he was reassured that they were getting along -- and that his mother did not want to leave the room, where she had lived with her husband until his death in 2007.

The women's room was mere feet from the nurses' station, yet no one noticed a disturbance. Apparently, the 98 year old suffered from dementia and was prone to bouts of "erratic behavior."

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Posted In: Nursing Home

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Yahoo News has posted an article that discusses the ongoing problem of teenagers continuing to text while driving. The majority of teens choose to ignore bans on texting while driving. Bans are hard for police to enforce:

Some police agencies, while strongly in favor of such mandates, say its tough for officers to enforce them.

The California Highway Patrol has handed out nearly 163,000 tickets to drivers talking on hand-held phones since mid-2008. But it has issued only 1,400 texting citations since January in a state of 23 million drivers -- not for lack of trying.

"The handheld cell phone is relatively easy for us to spot, we can see when somebody has their phone up to their ear," CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

"But with the texting it's a little bit more of a challenge to catch them in the act, because we have to see it and if they are holding it down in their lap it's going to be harder for us to see."

Texting increases the likelihood of being in an accident by as much as 23 times.

"What I would say is that texting and cell phone devices have become such a component of life for teens and for young people that it's hard for them to differentiate between doing something normal and doing something wrong," said Steven Bloch, senior research associate for the Automobile Club.

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Posted In: Recent Case News

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The Alabama Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article that discusses the FDA's reluctance to discipline doctors and medical researchers who have committed crimes while carrying out research for the FDA.

According to government watchdog group, many of these criminally convicted health professionals are in charge of overseeing the safety of patients undergoing clinical trials, which calls into question how safe any of us are when it comes to medical research in general.

The article mentions one specific doctor who remained in practice for 11 years...

even though he had been convicted of 53 counts of criminal offense for, among other things, bribing an employee to conceal information about the attempted suicide of a clinical-trial patient and prescribing a drug without a license.

The FDA has the power to ban doctors from overseeing medical research if federal regulations are ignored while caring for clinical trial patients. The organization is also required to disqualify doctors who have been accused of other crimes, such as fraud.

The types of misconduct that can get a doctor debarred include submitting false information to the FDA, forging patient consent forms and not reporting when a patient has an adverse reaction to an experimental drug.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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