Personal Injury Lawyer

Mesothelioma is asbestos-related cancer that forms on the protective tissues on the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Though the tumors can be benign, malignant mesothelioma can be life-threatening. This form of cancer develops when a person ingests asbestos, the cause of all cases. Once the asbestos fibers become lodged in the lining of the lungs, heart, or abdomen, they damage the mesothelial cells and cause inflammation in the affected area. Over time, tumors will begin to form. What are the Symptoms of Mesothelioma? The primary symptoms of this cancer include coughing, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Other common symptoms include: Dry cough Respiratory complications Fever or night sweats Fatigue Abdomen pain Fluid around the lungs Muscle weakness Symptoms of this disease usually do not show until the tumors have developed and spread throughout the body. It can take anywhere from 20-50 years after asbestos exposure for mesothelioma to fully develop and reveal itself. Due to this laten...

Yes . Doctors can commit the type of medical malpractice that causes cerebral palsy. These can include making surgery errors, errors in treatment, pharmaceutical errors, or other types of negligence.  They can also commit other forms of negligence, such as a misdiagnosis or failed diagnosis, which can contribute to and cause cerebral palsy. Failing to follow proper health and safety procedures in treating pregnant patients can also lead to a malpractice claim.  Can You Sue A Hospital For Cerebral Palsy?  Yes. Other professionals and employees at a hospital can be held liable if they disregard the duty of care they should be held to. These can include nurses, doctor’s assistants, administrative staff, and other personnel.  A cerebral palsy attorney will be able to trace the trail of causation to determine exactly which parties can be held liable for malpractice. In certain instances, an entire health care organization can be held liable, such as when their overall pol...

If your child has been involved in a school bus accident, we offer our deepest sympathies. While kids are often the victims of these types of wrecks, pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers of other vehicles have also been known to be harmed. After a school bus accident, the following steps should be taken: Obtain Medical Attention:  Seeking immediate medical attention is important, even if it seems that only  minor injuries  have been suffered. It may take a day or two for some accident injuries to surface, such as traumatic  brain injuries . Document the Injuries:  Following the accident,  take photographs  or videos of every single mark or injury. Keep Records:  Keep and maintain all paperwork you receive from the hospital, doctors and reporting police officers. Gather Information:  Depending on the severity of the crash, obtain phone numbers and addresses from other victims, drivers and witnesses if you can. Contact an Experienced Lawyer: ...

Severe Hypersensitivity Reactions More than 100 drugs have been associated with severe, life-threatening hypersensitivity reactions, including Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TENS) . Erythema Multiforme is a milder hypersensitivity reaction, less closely associated with use of particular drugs than SJS and TENS.  Hypersensitivity reactions are immune-mediated reactions to drugs that range from relatively mild, (with only a rash or skin involvement), to deadly (with skin rashes that lead to massive loss of skin requiring painful treatments in a burn unit, ulcerations in mucous membranes, tissue death or necrosi, respiratory failure, kidney failure, and arrhythmia). Speak To Experienced Drug Reaction Lawyers  The Florida Stevens-Johnson Syndrome lawyers at Searcy Denney note that allergic drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death in the United States.  More than 100,000 patients are hospitalized each year due to adverse reac...

Oregon, Washington State and Vermont say the slogans for 5-Hour Energy drink are hype that is misleading. Last week the Attorneys General of all three states filed lawsuits against the drink’s maker , Living Essentials LLC and Innovation Ventures LLC of Farmington Hills, Michigan. They are seeking civil penalties against the companies for the marketing which they claim is deceptive. Claims about 5-Hour energy promise consumers it is a special blend that delivers the potent energy that lasts and lasts and does not result in an energy crash.  The truth is that 5-Hour Energy is concentrated caffeine. Calories provide energy and the drink is low calorie. Five-Hour energy also comes with a variety of B vitamins – B3, B6 and B12, but any way you slice it, it’s caffeine and many users report they have the side effects of too much caffeine.  The amount of caffeine is roughly three times the amount in a coffee or cola. The three states join 33 other states that are already investiga...

The Mass Tort Unit of Searcy Denney has filed two more individual lawsuits this week against DePuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson, over the medical device manufacturer’s recalled DePuy ASR hip implants.  The firm represents several dozen plaintiffs from Florida as well as other parts of the country who have suffered serious injuries due to premature failure of the hip implant devices as well as metallosis. A lawsuit was filed on behalf of a St. Cloud, Florida resident who was implanted with bilateral DePuy ASR hip implants, the first surgery in late 2007 and the second one nearly a year later in December of 2008. This plaintiff had suffered with significant pain stemming from osteoarthritis in his hips for several years prior to undergoing the total hip arthroplasty surgeries. Like so many patients, he was hopeful that the joint replacement surgeries would alleviate his pain and allow him to continue to be active. For the first year or two after the hip replacement surgeri...

Almost half a million pacemakers implanted in patients with heart disease have been recalled because of a scary and shocking scenario: The life-saving devices could be tampered with remotely by computer hackers - pacemaker hacking is becoming a possibility.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a safety alert in August of 2017 about potential pacemaker hacking, stating the potential for personal harm. The safety alert, titled “Implantable Cardiac Pacemakers by Abbott (formerly St. Jude Medical): Safety Communication – Firmware Update to Address Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities,” immediately grabbed headlines. Pacemaker Hacking Fears Stoked by FDA “White hat hackers have previously pointed out the risks with connected medical devices,” according to an article in Fortune titled “465,000 Pacemakers Recalled on Hacking Fears.”   “In its announcement, the FDA noted that this vulnerability could allow third parties to rapidly drain the pacemaker's battery or adjust the ope...

Protecting Consumers from Mercury in Seafood Imagine shopping for seafood at a fish counter and seeing a display on the mercury levels contained within the varieties of fish sold.  In an ideal world, that disclosure would be transparent for pregnant women and for all consumers, so they could eat the recommended two to three servings of fish a week and avoid consuming excess levels of the neurotoxin. But that will not happen.   Stopping just short of that, the Food and Drug Administration plans to update its general guidance on the amount of the metal in varieties of seafood. This comes after pressure from consumer groups who complained the FDA was not acting fast enough to educate the public on the dangers of mercury in seafood.   The agency is caught in a bind – it wants to up its recommendation for fish consumption while at the same time not offend the food industry. It is suggested most people benefit from eating seafood because it contains omega-3 which is goo...

Over the course of a lifetime, most people will need to have some kind of surgery at least once. In fact, according to the CDC, in 2010 Americans underwent 51.4 million inpatient hospital procedures.  Most of these types of operations go as intended, but what happens if you’re one of the few who’ve suffered an adverse outcome? While not all complications of medical treatment are the result of medical malpractice, they can mean you’ve been the victim of negligence . What you do in the face of such an unfortunate event can seriously impact your ability to hold your physician accountable.  Whether or not medical malpractice has occurred is determined by whether or not your treatment met the accepted standard of medical care and if it caused harm to you. That can include both things the doctor did, whether taking an unreasonable action or administering care incompetently, and things the doctor failed to do. How to prove a Medical Malpractice? However, proving that your treatment w...

Most people carry several different forms of insurance to protect themselves in case of injury, accident, or other calamity. You expect your car insurance, health insurance, and homeowner’s or renter’s insurance to be there when you need it. So what do you do if your insurance company rejects a claim? Your insurance company may be acting in bad faith if it refuses to honor your policy, and it’s essential for you to be informed in order to ensure that you receive the benefits to which you are entitled. A denial of your claim may not necessarily indicate bad faith; to prove that bad faith occurred, you must be able to show that the insurance company improperly denied your claim and knew that they had no basis for the denial.  How to sue an Insurance Company? However, some common warning signs may be a red flag that your insurance company is acting in bad faith: dragging their feet in dealing with your claim, offering to settle the claim for an unreasonable amount, failing to adequat...