Wheel flies off truck, kills Wisconsin man

A doctor from Mequon, Wis. died last month when his car was struck by a large wheel that flew off of a heavy truck. Dr. Krishna Chintamaneni, 55, was on his way home when a tire flew off a truck heading in the opposite direction. It bounced over a wall between the two lanes of traffic and hit Chintamaneni’s car, shattering the windshield and killing him. The truck driver didn’t stop, and police say he may not have known what had happened. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, such accidents are rare. It says out of 349,000 truck accidents each year, wheel separation accidents account for only about 750 to 1,000. But truck wheel-tire assemblies can weigh 200 to 300 pounds and can cause very serious damage if they come loose.

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New bonds includes money for Connecticut’s weigh stations

The state of Connecticut’s legislature has approved a new bond package – and those bonds include money to keep the state’s truck weigh stations open longer hours. Some critics claim that the state’s weigh stations haven’t been open enough hours – and they have also complained that the state Department of Transportation hasn’t kept good records to document just how many hours the stations are open. The result, they say, may be an increase in deadly truck accidents. The Citizens Transportation Lobby was founded to push for more rail transit funding. But now the group is also spending time and resources trying to get better truck weight inspections in Connecticut. They claim the longer weigh station hours are needed to help catch truck drivers who are overtired – or who may be operating unsafe vehicles. The new bond legislation – signed earlier this month by Gov. M. Jodi Rell – includes a provision which requires the departments of Public Safety and Motor Vehicles to create truck violation logs to document how long the weigh stations are open. The log system must be up and running by Jan. 1.

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Nebraska farmers turning to bigger semi-trailer rigs

More and more Nebraska farmers are replacing their older trucks with newer, larger semi-trailer trucks to haul grain from their fields. Those newer trucks hold three times as much grain as the old trucks did. But it appears their also are involved in more traffic accidents. The bigger trucks are harder to stop, and they require more experienced drivers. In 2006, semis registered to farms totaled 6,597 — 40 percent more than in 2003. Nebraska (and Iowa, too) require drivers license tests for operators of semi-trailer trucks, and in Nebraska farmers must possess the same commercial licenses as over-the-road truckers. Highway statistics don’t break down truck accidents enough to show how many of the accidents involve farm-owned trucks. But police say they are concerned that more accidents are happening that involve the farm-owned trucks, especially in the fall gravest season.

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Propane truck strikes pickup, overturns

Three people were injured recently when a pickup truck was struck broadside by a propane tank truck in the Brunswick, Ga. area. State police say the pickup truck pulled into the path of the larger vehicle, which was carrying a full load of propane. The Georgia State Patrol said the driver of the pickup, John Anderson of Brunswick, failed to yield the right-of-way and his vehicle was broadsided by the propane tanker. No propane was spilled in the accident, even though the propane tank truck overturned.

New York looks at solutions for rising malpractice insurance premiums

New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo says each of New York’s 30,000 doctors may have to pay $50,000 each to to cover the $500 million deficit of a medical malpractice carrier. The New York Medical Society says that is way too much for doctors to pay. But the New York Trial Lawyers Association says that malpractice premiums would come down if doctors made fewer mistakes. Gene DeSantis, a lobbyist for the lawyers’ group, said: “It’s not the tort system that’s broken. It is an epidemic of medical errors, and cataclysmic problems with the insurance system.” A task force has been studying the problem. It suggests, among other things, lower premiums for doctors trained in ways that reduce errors; lower premiums for hospitals that install electronic medical record systems; and to hospitals that add devices and services designed to reduce errors, like electronic medical records.

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Arizona lawmaker to look again at emergency-room suits

The chairwoman of the Arizona Senate’s Health Committee wants to make it harder for people injured in hospital emergency rooms to sue. Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, is backing a bill that would require patients to prove the emergency room care they received did not meet minimal professional standards “by clear and convincing evidence.” That’s a tougher test than the current standard, which requires them to show that it was more likely than not that the doctor committed malpractice. Under Allen’s bill, that older standard would remain in place for most other medical claims. This is the second time that Sen. Allen has pushed such a bill. A similar bill was passed by the legislature in 2006, but it was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Janet Napolitano.

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Malpractice insurance rates down a bit in Florida

A report by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation says medical malpractice insurance companies that operate in Florida have generated more profits in the past few years than they did before. But Florida doctors are complaining that they are not seeing those bigger profits resulting in lower malpractice insurance premium rates. Four of the seven companies have filed for lower rates in 2007, but the others did not. The doctors believe that if profits are up, then premiums should go down.

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Illinois jury awards $210,000 in medical malpractice suit

A jury in Marion County, Illinois has awarded a Salem, Ill. couple $210,000 because doctors failed to properly diagnose a post-surgery problem. Kevin Cummings underwent gall balder surgery in 1999. After the surgery, Cummings suffered pain from what turned out to be a bile duct leak. Two doctors failed to diagnose the problem, and Cummings had to undergo a second emergency operation. Cummings and his wife, Pam, were awarded the money, which included $43,000 in damages for the emergency medical care; $7,000 to compensate Cummings for lost sick days; $100,000 for pain and suffering; and $50,000 for emotional distress. Pam Cummings got $10,000 for loss of society due to Kevin Cummings’ medical problems. The jury award followed an eight-day trial.

Hospital tax in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle wanted the legislature to pass a $418 million tax on hospitals in the state. The state Senate approved it – but now it looks as though the idea has been dropped during the budget negotiation process. Proponents said the tax would have provided money to finance medical assistance for low-income people. But critics said the whole idea was just a scheme to attract to bring in federal matching dollars. And the critics also said the idea would have resulted in higher bills for hospital patients. Doyle offered to sunset the tax in two years. But once the state became dependent on the tax, ending it would have created more problems. While the idea seemed dead, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker now says he wants to do away with the transfer of $200 million from the Wisconsin ’s medical malpractice fund and replace it with the hospital tax idea. The malpractice fund is used to pay malpractice claims that exceed insurance limits. It is a fund financed by the state’s doctors and hospitals. Wisconsin’s State Medical Society has filed suit to prevent Decker’s plan.

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Changes in malpractice laws proposed in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Medical Society wants the state legislature to prohibit plaintiffs in lawsuits from using statements of guilt or error by physicians as evidence in malpractice lawsuits. Another bill in the Massachusetts Legislature would create a “Health Apology Pilot Program,” under which plaintiffs could not use physicians’ or hospitals’ statements of guilt as evidence in malpractice lawsuits provided they acknowledge the errors, apologize, and agree to negotiate “fair settlements.” The Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys opposes both bills, saying that if doctors and hospitals cause harm, they should be held responsible.

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Malpractice fund claims down in Pennsylvania

Claims paid by Pennsylvania’s Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) fund will decrease for a fourth consecutive year to $191 million. That’s approximately 50% less than in 2003, according to Gov. Ed Rendell. MCARE helps pay for malpractice claims that exceed $500,000 in the primary coverage that all Pennsylvania doctors must carry. Rendell says legislative reforms passed in 2002, as well as other reforms passed more recently, have decreased the number of malpractice cases and have also caused the cost of malpractice insurance to decrease.

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Washington malpractice law bars public disclosure

A malpractice law passed last year in Washington State prevents public disclosure of hospital medical error reports. That’s the opinion of the state’s Attorney General. The AG told the state Department of Health that it agreed with the Washington State Hospital Association, which wanted to end the public disclosures in order to comply with the new malpractice law.

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Medical malpractice judgments in Tennessee down in 2006

Medical malpractice judgments and settlements in Tennessee were down in 2006 from 2005, according to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. The department says state courts issued six medical malpractice judgments during 2006 that totaled $4.9 million. Damages in 2005 were more than $6 million. Damages paid as a result of case settlements were considerably higher — $141 million in 2005 and $100.2 million in 2006. About 85 percent of the state’s malpractice claims in 2006 resulted in no damage payments. Lawmakers in Tennessee have tried unsuccessfully in recent years to reform the state’s medical liability laws. The National Conference of State Legislatures
says that last year 36 states considered some form of medical malpractice reform legislation.

Wrongful death suit filed in death of college football player

University of Kentucky football player Trent DiGiuro died in July 1994 when he was shot in the head while standing on the front porch of his Kentucky home. Now, his family has filed a wrongful death suit against the man convicted of killing him. Shane Ragland pleaded guilty last August to a charge of second-degree manslaughter in connection with DiGiuro’s death. Ragland is disputing the wrongful death suit in spite of his guilty plea on the criminal charge. Ragland was convicted of the murder in 2002 and received a sentence of 30 years. The conviction was overturned in 2004 by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that prosecutors’ closing arguments were inaccurate. Two years later, the conviction was overturned again, this time because of questions about the reliability of tests that had been conducted on bullets. In exchange for the second-degree murder guilty plea, the state recommended and an eight-year sentence, with credit given for four-and-a-half years already served. He completed the sentence in August.

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Suit filed in death of pedestrian

A resident of Muncie, Ind. has been named the defendant in a wrongful death suit filed in connection with the death of a pedestrian. Police say Gary Smith, 46, was the driver of a van that struck James Burton, 37, of Parker City last August. Burton was reportedly walking along the side of a road in the early morning hours when he was struck. The driver allegedly did not stop, and Burton died several hours after the incident. Police say that forensic evidence found on the van matched the victim. Burton’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against Smith, and also against the Parker City Saloon, where smith was allegedly drinking in the hours before the accident. Burton left four small children.

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$12.5 million judgment in death of bicyclist

A dentist who lived in Thousand Oaks, Calif. was killed when he was struck by a motorist as he rode his bicycle near his home. Glenn Garvin, 49, died Sept. 16, 2006. Later, his family filed a wrongful death suit against Norma Seigel, 82, of Thousand Oaks, who was driving the car that struck Garvin. Now, a jury has awarded $12.5 million to Garvin’s family – one of the highest such awards ever returned in California’s Ventura County. Eight days before the accident, Seigel’s eye doctor informed her that she had cataracts in both eyes. Garvin was an endodontist. His 2006 earnings totaled $746,633.

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Lawyer asks that wrongful death suit be dismissed

The attorney for an 18-year-old Chapel Hill, N.C. man who is accused of fatally shooting his parents wants a wrongful death suit againsat the man to be dismissed. The lawyer claims that Adam Sapikowski was not sane in 2005 when Jim and Alison Sapikowski were shot to death, and he produced psychiatric reports in court that said the young man claimed his parents had abused him. The wrongful death suit was filed by the executor of James and Alison Sapikowski’s estate, and by trustees of several family trust funds. The criminal case has not yet gone to trial – that may happen early in 2008.

Two truckers die in New Jersey accident

Two truck drivers died recently when their rigs collided and caught fire on Interstate 78 in Union, New Jersey. The highway had to be closed for more than 90 minutes while officials extinguished the fire and cleared the wreckage. Authorities weren’t sure what caused the fiery accident. Both of the trucks ended up in the eastbound lanes, but it wasn’t known if both were traveling in that lane before the accident. Chief Frederic Fretz of the Union Fire Department said of the drivers, “We couldn’t get to them. They succumbed in the cabs of their vehicles.” One truck had been carrying gravel; the other one carried metal pipes. Chief Fretz said the accident happened on a stretch that has been the scene of many similar accidents.

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Enforcement in Kentucky may be reason for fewer accidents

Transportation authorities in Kentucky say there has been a dramatic drop in the number of people killed and injured on Northern Kentucky roads this year. Accidents have decreased in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, and police say it might be because of more stringent highway law enforcement. During the first three quarters of 2007, police reported 787 fewer crashes in the counties since the same period of 2006. That translates to a drop of about 11 percent. State Police Lt. John Bradley said, “What’s even more significant is - if you look at the number of fatal accidents. In 2005, there were 32 fatalities and during the same period in 2006 we had 31 fatalities. But during the same period in 2007 in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, we had just 19 fatal collisions and 20 fatalities.”

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Speeding, swerving trucks a problem on Florida highways

Police in Florida say that some accidents involving big trucks result from truckers driving too fast and swerving in and out of traffic. So the Florida State Police have been spending some time targeting truck drivers who engage in those dangerous practices. Authorities say that eight percent of highway accidents involve large trucks in the state of Florida. And the percentage is even higher for accidents that result in death. The police say swerving and speeding isn’t the entire story; some truckers follow other vehicles too closely.

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Truckers not happy with rule banning them from I-4’s left lane

Some truckers who travel I-4 in the Orlando, Florida area are unhappy that new rules that keep their rigs out of the fast left lane. They believe the rule may make the road more, rather than less, dangerous. The reason is that truckers believe they have to deal with more merging traffic when they travel in the right-hand lanes. And merging a big rig is much more difficult than merging a small car. The Florida Department of Transportation doesn’t believe that’s true. The department claims that three studies show that truck accidents declined on stretches of I-75 and I-95 that have had similar bans on trucks in the left lanes. The DOT says that the studies indicate trucks driving in the right-hand lanes make fewer lane changes – and that lane changes can create conditions that lead to truck accidents.

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Over weight trucks in Florida pay little in fines

There are many trucks operating on Florida roads that are overweight. But the drivers and owners have little to fear – fines for truckers hauling overweight loads are low, and the number of law enforcement officers enforcing the truck weight laws are few and far between. Overweight trucks are dangerous because it takes much more time and distance to stop and truck that exceeds the state weight limitations. And too-heavy trucks also cause greater wear and tear on roads and bridges. In spite of all that, trucks that are overloaded area common occurrence in Florida. And that situation isn’t likely to change until the state gets tougher, faces up to the strong trucker lobby, and raises the fines for operating overweight trucks.

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Swerving, speeding behind some truck accidents

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, swerving in and out of traffic is one big reason for serious truck accidents. Another reason is speed. So the FHP says it is going to be paying closer attention to truck drivers who drive too fast and who swerve their rigs from lane to lane. Another problem, accordsing to the FHP: truckers who follow other vehicles too closely. The police say that if truckers have to get on the brakes too hard when they are following too closely, they may either crash into the vehicle in front of them or end up jack-knifing their rigs.

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Train-truck crash closes Georgia road for hours

A 40-car CSX freight train crashed into two tractor-trailers stopped on the tracks on Dean Forest Road in the Savannah, Georgia area on October 18. One of the truck drivers was hospitalized, and it took many hours for workers to clear the wreckage as well as the truck cargo from the roadway — grapefruit juice, chicken grease and 30,000 pounds of powdered PVC plastic. Police say the two were traveling side-by-side and stopped on the tracks in heavy traffic. The drivers couldn’t clear the tracks because of the traffic and the approaching train struck the two trailers.

Study links truck safety to higher driver wages

The more truck drivers are paid, the less likely they are to engage in risky driving behavior. That’s the conclusion of a recent Cornell University study. Drivers who don’t earn very much are apt to drive longer hours, or drive when over tired, simply to increase their pay levels, the study says. Drivers who are better compensated are less likely to engage in those kinds of risks.

Some drivers are paid by the mile – so much money for each mile driven. This kind of compensation system can lead drivers to push themselves unnecessarily in order to boost their income. And drivers may engage in other risky behaviors, such as taking medications to help them stay awake.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that truck accidents go up sharply when drivers work too many hours, or drive too many miles in a day.

The study underlines once again that truck drivers need fair compensation plans, and also need reasonable periods of rest, if they are to maintain good safety records on the road. It is important that the trucking industry support these reasonable goals in order to protect public safety. If the industry won’t so it themselves, then the government needs to mandates those standards.

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Safety program significantly reduces truck rollover accidents

You can learn quite a bit by reading the quarterly and annual reports issued by public companies. For example, I was recently reading the third quarter report issued by an Arkansas-based trucking company that operates a fleet of about 2,600 tractors throughout the US and into Canada and Mexico.

The report talked about how the company experienced 24 rollover accidents during the first two quarters of this year. That computed out to one rollover accident every 7.5 days.

In the third quarter, the company began a safety training program for its drivers designed specifically to avoid rollover accidents. The result: just four rollover accidents in the third quarter, or one accident every 22.5 days.

What’s the lesson? Well, it certainly indicates that well-designed and executed driver training programs can be very effective in reducing serious accidents. Obviously, fewer accidents mean a higher level of public safety. But it can also mean a better bottom line for the trucking companies – serious big-rig accidents are expensive.

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Accidents in Florida involving trucks more frequent than average

The Florida Department of Transportation looked at highway fatalities and heavy trucks for 1998, 1999 and 2000, and found that heavy trucks are over-represented in fatal crashes in the state.

The study found that fully 50 percent of the fatalities occurring in accidents involving heavy trucks resulted from rollover accidents. Another 26 percent happened in vehicles that caught fire.

In addition, the study found that around 50 percent of vehicle defects in fatal crashes belonged to heavy trucks (that’s defects other than tire problems.)

Overall, Florida has about 40 percent more fatalities per vehicle mile than the 1999 national average, and heavy trucks were over-represented in fatal crashes. Fatalities in accidents involving heavy trucks happen at a rate about twice that of passenger cars.

Fatigue and inattention on the part of truck drivers contribute to the high accident numbers, the report said.

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Global positioning systems make truck accident reconstruction easier

Accident reconstruction has always been a difficult and demanding exercise. But the increase in Global Positioning System technology in trucks makes the job a little easier.

GPS technology (as well as Electronic Control Modules – computer-driven data systems) are installed on many modern trucks, and they allow trucking companies to keep track of where their vehicles are and how they are performing. They can even provide insight into how truck drivers are doing their jobs.

Accident reconstruction specialists can review GPS readouts or Electronic Control Module reports and determine exactly where the truck was prior to the crash, how fast it was going, and whether it was performing properly. The data can show whether the driver was speeding or weaving, where he applied the brakes, and how long he had been on the roads that day.

Much of that data can be retrieved by trucking company personnel back at the office, thanks to the Internet.

It’s one more tool available to accident reconstruction specialists. And the data can be valuable evidence in court cases that result from serious highweay accidents.

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New trucker hours are disallowed

A federal court has struck down regulations that would have allowed truck drivers to work more hours without rest. New Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (”FMCSA”) regulations had been passed that would have allowed 11-hour driving days followed by 10 hours of rest. The court’s decision means that driver will have to go back to the old regulations — 10 hours of drive time followed by eight hours of rest.

It’s good to see the courts siding with the interests of public safety, after the administration tried to make a gift of more working hours without rest to the trucking industry, which was looking fgor more profits. Research shows that truck accidents go up after eight hours on the road.

According to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, 56,935 people have died and a million more have been injured in truck crashes in the U.S. during the past 10 years. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen and the former director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said truck driving is the most hazardous occupation in America.

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Many truck drivers involved in accidents had criminal records

A Texas newspaper took a look at nearly a thousand large truck accidents that happened between 2000 and 2005. And it found that as many as one quarter of the truck drivers involved had criminal records.

The report, conducted by the Dallas Morning News, found that one in every four drivers involved in the accidents had either been convicted of a criminal offense, or had completed probation in order to have their records cleaned.

More than 14 percent had been convicted of drug or alochol charges. And more than 10 per cent of the drivers had been convicted of felonies.

Under current law, trucking companies do not have to conduct background checks on the people they hire. And thereis nothing to prevent the companies from hiring drivers that have criminal backgrounds.

Many states are changing their workers comp laws. Injured workers need to keep up with those changes to protect their rights and secure benefits

Palm Harbor, Fla. — Even though a number of states are considering revisions to their workers compensation laws, people who are injured on the job may still qualify for a number of workers’ compensation disability benefits, Attorney Jeffrey Hensley said today.

A number of states, such as South Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, New York, Delaware and others, are looking at changes to their workers compensation laws. Others, such as California and Florida, have made changes to their laws in the last two or three years, Hensley said. That means that injured workers need to look more carefully than ever at the workers compensation laws in their home states to see how the laws’ benefits apply to them.

“Those benefits may depend on a number of factors, but injured workers may qualify for temporary or permanent disability payments covering partial or even total disability, even though the laws may have changed,” Hensley said. “An attorney trained in the latest workers comp issues can be useful in sorting out appropriate benefits and strategies.”

A person who cannot work while receiving medical treatment for a work-related injury, and who has not reached “maximum medical improvement,” may qualify for temporary total disability. Just exactly what “temporary total disability” means can vary from state to state, but many states fix that amount at two-thirds of a worker’s average weekly wage, with some sort of cap on total benefits paid out.

Here are some other common workers’ comp benefits:

- Temporary Partial Disability - This benefit is usually paid out to injured workers as they perform limited work while recovering.
- Permanent Partial Disability/Impairment Benefits - This benefit is usually paid to workers who suffer permanent injuries of a type that do not result in total disability.
- Permanent Total Disability - Paid to workers who demonstrate permanent injuries or conditions that prevent them from returning to work.
- Disfigurement/Mutilation — Workers who suffer disfigurement or scarring may qualify for compensation even in the absence of work-capability impairment.

Since workers compensation benefits are provided via state statutes, workers comp benefits and program details can vary from state to state. Because of that, it is critical that workers understand the programs that exist in the states in which they work. They also must have a clear picture of what responsibilities are required by those state programs.

Workers comp programs generally cover all employees, whether or not they are minors, non-citizens or part-timers. Occasionally, the type of occupation, the size of the employer’s business, or the length of the employment will influence or impact entitlement to workers’ comp benefits.

Generally speaking, workers comp is considered to be a no-fault system of insurance. It is designed to provide medical care and pay benefits to injured workers even if they are at fault for their injuries.

The goal of most workers comp programs is to restore the injured worker to health and to get him or her back to work. If that is not possible, then the program’s aim is to provide replacement for the wages that would have been earned if the injured person had not been injured and was able to work.

Workers comp programs are designed to provide benefits to the injured worker in exchange for prohibiting the injured worker from suing his or her employer for negligence. There are, however, a few exceptions to the rule. For one, workers may be able to sue their employer if they can prove their employer engaged in conduct that was intended to cause them harm, or if they can show that the conduct of the employer was so negligent that their conduct was substantially certain to result in harm to the employee. Finally, the injured worker can sue for his or her injuries when there is some third party, or a product that was responsible for the injury.

Here is what injured employers need to do:

- Report the injury to the employer. Employers must be able to provide medical treatment and must file certain reports and other paperwork.
- Obtain medical attention promptly. Employers should immediately direct injured workers to the company medical facility, walk-in clinic, a physician, or hospital. The injured worker should initially accept such employer-offered treatment.
- File a written notice of claim. This makes a permanent record of the claim.
- Contact the employer’s workers’ comp insurance carrier if, within two weeks of becoming disabled, a disability benefit check has not been received.

If a claim is disputed by the employer, the injured worker will need to prove that the claim is valid, perhaps at a hearing. An attorney versed in workers comp law can help present the case.

Information about the workers compensation laws in any state may be obtained by searching the Internet. Entering “workers compensation and (the state’s name)” in Google or some other search engine should lead to the appropriate Web site.

Attorney Jeffrey Hensley says the health courts, supported by the AMA, “are like having the fox guard the henhouse.”

Palm Harbor, Fla. — So-called “health courts,” which would replace juries with health care professionals in medical malpractice cases, would leave malpractice victims dangerously unprotected, accotrding to Attorney Jeffrey Hensley.

The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted principles in July that favor the health courts, which would do away with peer-based juries and replace them with judges trained in medical standards.

Hensley said the notion of health courts dangerously tips the standard of justice in malpractice cases against victims who may be entitled to sizeable judgments when they are seriously harmed by poor medical care.

“There is a fox-guarding-the-henhouse quality to this idea of having medical people passing judgment in medical malpractice cases,” Hensley said. “People who have suffered very serious injuries or damages as a result of medical malpractice should have little confidence in courts which are run by the very same profession that caused their injuries.”

Instead, Hensley said, medical malpractice victims should have full access to a court system in which their peers consider evidence from both sides, and then determine possible damages that are based fairly on the extent of their injuries or damages.

“This is not simply a step away from reasonable medical malpractice law,” Hensley said. “This is a step away from the very foundations of American justice.”

So-called health courts were conceived during Brookings Institute conferences in 2002 and 2003. Besides the move to health courts, the principles adopted by the AMA urge quick resolution of claims, special training for judges, and reliance on qualified experts. The AMA also has stated its support for limits, or caps, on medical malpractice judgments.

A better way to limit malpractice judgments, Hensley said, would be to limit substandard medical treatment that results in injury or even death.

“If the AMA wants to limit the claims that get awarded in medical malpractice suits, a good place to start would be in its own backyard,” Hensley said. “People have a right to expect good, professional health care and, when they don’t receive it, they should have a right to reasonable financial claims.”

Hensley said it is important to remember that the duty of a medical professional is not to cure, or even to guarantee a good outcome from treatment. Rather, the duty is to provide good medical care according to accepted standards in the community, or, in the case of a specialist, accepted standards in that medical specialty.

“Medicine is not an exact science, and doctors are not required to be right every time they make a diagnosis,” Hensley said. “A misdiagnosis becomes malpractice, however, if the doctor fails to get a medical history, order the appropriate tests, or recognize observable symptoms of the illness.”

There’s a number of important steps to winning a disability claim. I posted the first step previously. Here’s the second step:

Secret #2: Give the insurance company notice of claim as early as possible. Late notice could result in a substantial loss of monthly benefits.

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