The flowers are blooming, heralding the arrival of spring and the Spring 2009 Texas Law Alert! This table-of-contents article and the following short blog entries are all part of this winter’s Alert. Easy-to-read tips and articles on common legal questions make up each Texas Law Alert, a free service from Street and Ragsdale, your Fort Worth/Dallas car crash lawyers.

WE PREFER YOU TO REFER!

The time following a car crash or personal injury is often difficult. There are many things to take care of. Hiring a good lawyer is one of them.

You can trust our personal injury lawyers and our track record of winning cases and recovering settlements. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, call us. We will aggressively represent you and make sure that you are justly compensated for your injuries.

PREVENTABLE INFECTIONS ON THE RISE

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), patients in American hospitals come down with over 2 million hospital-acquired infections each year, 90,000 of which result in death. Given the lack of news coverage regarding the number of deaths caused by infections, it could be called a silent epidemic.

MEDICARE LIMITS PAYMENTS FOR TREATMENT OF INFECTIONS

In a potentially helpful development, the federal government has passed new rules that limit the payments Medicare will make to a hospital to pay bills incurred in treating preventable infections and medical errors the hospital should have avoided.

AGGRESSIVE DRIVING

As roads become more congested and people’s lives become more hectic, aggressive driving and the dangers associated with it increase. Aggressive driving is the combination of unsafe and unlawful driving actions that show a disregard for safety.

CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas given off by fuel-burning appliances such as gas heaters and gasoline-burning engines. According to the CDC, about 500 Americans die every year from CO poisoning not related to a house fire, and more than 15,000 are injured.

COMMON TREATMENT TIED TO JAW PROBLEMS

According to a recent university medical study, a drug commonly prescribed to treat osteoporosis in women may have the unintended side effect of causing a serious jaw disease.

DANGEROUS PRODUCTS MADE IN FOREIGN LANDS

A few years ago, the news was full of stories of toys being pulled from shelves for dangerous levels of lead in their paint. Anyone who was injured by these dangerous toys certainly has a claim against the manufacturer, but asserting a claim is often difficult, especially if the factory that made the product is in another country.

KNOW ABOUT THE “NO-ZONE”

All drivers should be aware of the “no-zone,” the area on the sides and rear of 18-wheelers where the truck driver cannot see a car.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), patients in American hospitals come down with over 2 million hospital-acquired infections each year, 90,000 of which result in death. Nor are nursing home patients immune: The CDC estimates that this population suffers another 1.5 million preventable infections each year, for a total of 3.5 million facility-acquired infections annually. While these numbers are grim enough on their own, they become even more so when you realize that, by comparison, the incidence of new AIDS infections ranges from 38,000 to 56,000 per year, while AIDS deaths number about 16,000 per year. Given the lack of news coverage regarding the number of deaths caused by infections, it could be called a silent epidemic.

The number of such infections has been on the rise in recent years, although experts disagree about the reasons. Some point to the rise in the number of infectious agents that are resistant to some or all of the antibiotics used to treat infections. Others point to the increasing prevalence of HMOs, which can result in patients’ not being treated by a specialist trained to recognize an infection until after it has become established, when it is more difficult to treat. Others claim that the infection rate is the same as it has always been, and it is just that reporting has gotten better.

Many authorities reject hospitals’ traditional response to complaints about infections acquired in their facilities–that a certain number of infections is inevitable–and have concluded that most of these infections result from the failure of the hospital or its staff to strictly follow the rules intended to prevent the infections.

Revolutions

The response to this information has led to a legal revolution that will hopefully bring about a health-care revolution. More than half of the states have passed laws requiring hospital-acquired infections to be reported to state health authorities, so people have a better idea of the scope of the problem. The CDC itself has given the issue much more attention than it ever did in the past, and has recently issued guidelines that hospitals and nursing homes should follow to prevent infections in their patients. So has the Joint Commission, a body that gives hospitals their accreditation and whose regulations are considered by many to be a good statement of the standards that hospitals should follow.

These changes are not just regulatory, but also legal. Lawyers who counsel hospitals and nursing homes have taken these standards seriously, and they advise their clients to enact protocols to ensure that these standards are met, rules that can include something as simple as requiring the staff to wash or otherwise disinfect their hands when moving from one patient to another.

Lawyers also advise hospitals to regularly screen patients for the presence of drug-resistant organisms and to regularly use instruments that have been pretreated with antibiotics to prevent infections before they occur. In recent years, based on these recommendations, many facilities have overhauled their policies and procedures that are intended to prevent infections, even imposing penalties on doctors and staff who are caught failing to obey the new, stricter rules.

Lawsuits

However, because not all hospitals and nursing homes have gotten the message, and because some of them allow profits to come before patient care, another legal avenue is being pursued: litigation. With the problem of hospital-acquired infections now well known, and with the enactment of many new regulations designed to address the issue, hospitals are finding it harder to avoid liability when a patient does become infected.

In some rare cases, juries are awarding tens of millions of dollars to patients who contracted serious bacterial infections while they were patients at hospitals or nursing homes, infections that often involve drug-resistant, flesh-eating bacteria and that lead to death or to the loss of limbs and organs. Most experts agree that the publicity given to the problem has also made jurors more aware of the problem, and so less tolerant of a hospital’s lack of a similar awareness and concern.

Despite increased awareness, lawsuits regarding facility-acquired infections can be difficult to win. Although the fact of the infection is known, the cause is often difficult to pinpoint. In some cases, the medical records allow experts to determine the likely source or cause of the infection, but, in others, it is not possible to know exactly where the infection came from and, therefore, who is at fault. This uncertainty means hospital infection cases must be handled very carefully by experienced lawyers to ensure that the injured patient or his or her surviving family have their day in court.

If you feel that you or someone you love may have been a victim of a preventable infection, contact us. We can help you determine the best course of action for you under the circumstances.

Last weekend, a Dallas car wreck resulted in the death of a 22-year-old man. It was a two-car wreck that happened near the Galleria Mall at around 10am on Sunday morning. A Dodge truck ran a red light at the Alpha Road and Dallas Parkway intersection, striking the victim’s car and subsequently hitting another car before it stopped.

The driver of the truck was not arrested or ticketed, but the case is expected to be referred to a grand jury in Dallas County.

Dallas car wrecks like this one can happen anywhere, anytime. And the outcome can often be very tragic, just like this one. The sad truth is that personal injury and death rates are on the rise when it comes to car wrecks. In fact, for people ages 4 through 33, they are the leading cause of death. In 2000, there were 41,821 people who died in car wrecks. And in those same car wrecks, the number of people injured was 3,189,000.

Dallas Car Wreck Personal Injuries

Dallas car wreck personal injuries are nothing short of serious. Painful emotionally as well as physically, personal injuries can have a tremendous effect on a person, along with their friends and family. Wages can be lost, medical bills can pile up and a person’s life can just plain not be the same as it was before the Dallas car wreck.

Wrongful Death and Dallas Car Wrecks

Dallas car wrecks can not only cause serious personal injuries, but they can result in wrongful death. If you know someone who suffered a wrongful death because of a Dallas car wreck, don’t hesitate to get help. A Dallas car wreck lawyer at Street and Ragsdale can discuss your case with you and decide the next step to take.

If You’ve Been Injured in a Dallas Car Wreck

If you’ve been injured in a Dallas car wreck, it is imperative that you seek help from a qualified personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible. The experienced, knowledgeable car wreck lawyers at Street and Ragsdale have what it takes to fight for your rights. Contact them today to have your case evaluated for free.

We’re happy to bring you the Fall 2008 Texas Law Alert in this new blog format. This article and the following short blog entries are all part of this fall’s Alert. Each Alert brings you easy-to-read tips and articles on everyday legal topics.

Despite this modern age of marketing and advertising, the best source of our new business is word-of-mouth. We are grateful that many of our clients and friends feel confident in recommending our firm.

Unfortunately, when people need a good lawyer, they often do not know where to turn. If you or someone you know has been injured and needs legal help, contact us for a free case evaluation.

Automobile Insurance Essentials

Most of us who drive know we must have insurance on our automobiles, but not all of us know what this insurance does and does not cover.

After an Auto Accident

Simple, practical advice about what to do after you’re involved in a car wreck or auto accident.

Advice for the Injured

No one wants to be injured in an accident, and no one wants to have to hire a lawyer to pursue a claim against the person who injured them. However, people are occasionally injured and have to pursue a claim.

Travel Safely on Airlines

While passengers in a plane can hardly prevent a crash, they can take some common-sense steps to make sure that they survive any crash that may occur.

Dog Owners Be Advised

Some dog owners believe they cannot be liable if their dog attacks someone, unless it has attacked someone else before and therefore the animal is known to be dangerous. The Texas Supreme Court has recently made clear that this is not accurate.

Dangerous Drugs

Although the majority of drugs are safe and effective, many are dangerous to certain users.

Visit our archive of past Texas Law Alerts.