Medical Malpractice Lawyers Find Fault in Texas Tort Reform

In 2003, Texas government passed tort reform legislation regarding medical malpractice lawsuits within the state. The new legislation capped medical malpractice payouts at $250,000 per provider, with a maximum of $750,000 all together. It also stated that in order for emergency room physicians to be responsible for civil damages, they would have to act with “willful and wanton” negligence.
In other words, they have to purposefully and knowingly put their patients’ lives in danger.

A San Antonio medical malpractice lawyer, Jon Powell, commented on the “willful and wanton” standard, saying:

You’d have to be a Nazi death camp guard to meet this standard.

The liability caps and impossible standards are making victims of medical malpractice weary as they find that, in Texas, they simply do not have a case.

Medical Malpractice Leads to Amputation

new jersey philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers willful wanton connie spears texas Connie Spears, a 54 year-old woman with a history of blood clots, went the the emergency room at the Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, complaining of excrutiating leg pain. She was discharged with “bilateral leg pain” and told to follow up with her primary care physician.
Three days later, Connie’s legs were purple. An ambulance took her to another area hospital where doctors determined that a filter that had been installed in her heart years before was severely clotted, which led to tissue death in her legs, as well as kidney failure. Weeks later, Connie awoke to find that both of her legs had been amputated in order to save her life.

Now, she can’t find an attorney who will take her case, because in Texas, she doesn’t have one. Clear negligence exists, yet attorneys no longer have confidence in their judicial system due to the new standards set forth by tort reform. They also argue that this “willful and wanton” standard for medical malpractice allows for a serious decline in the standard of care provided to patients in Texas, and could allow Texas ER’s to become the most dangerous in the country.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia

Tort Reform has significantly and severely damaged a medical malpractice victim’s chance at justice in Texas. Connie Spears will live the rest of her life without her legs due to a careless misdiagnosis, yet because of the standards Texas tort reform has put forward, she may never be able to gain the compensation she needs and is entitled to.

Medical malpractice affects many patients in the US, and victims should know that when doctors act negligently, they are liable for damages. If you or a loved one have suffered at the hands of a negligent and/or careless doctor, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Let our team earn you the full and fair compensation that you need and deserve.

Tort Reform: How Does it Affect You?

You may have heard or read the term “tort reform” recently, regarding litigation and verdicts awarded to victims of nursing home abuse, medical malpractice and negligence, or defective products.
If you were unclear as to what it meant, read on.

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What is Tort Reform?

Tort reform is an effort to take away the average consumer’s rights to fair compensation for substantial losses brought on by negligent manufacturers, doctors, nurses, or caregivers. Tort reform allows big businesses and other power players to get away with negligence, fraud, or other acts of harm.
These corporations, insurance companies, and their political counterparts promote an aggressive campaign of propaganda, boasting the economic benefits of tort reform, so that companies will not have to rightly compensate the people they injure. It pushes for caps on recoveries that judges and juries can award in litigation.

Who is in Favor of Tort Reform?

Tort reform advocates are a coalition of insurance companies, HMO groups, pharmaceutical companies, big businesses, and other interests who want to protect companies from liability when they harm their own consumers.

Who is NOT in Favor of Tort Reform?

Civil rights advocates, consumer advocate groups, plaintiffs attorneys, labor groups, state prosecutors, legal scholars, and more. Some of these entities include The Public Citizen, The Committee for Justice for All, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), The Center for Justice and Democracy, and The American Association for Justice.

Who is Harmed by Tort Reform?

Consumers are the victims of tort reform. Tort reform takes away your right to a fair case, in which an impartial judge or jury looks at the facts of your case to determine liability, if you are eligible for compensation, and what that compensation should be.
We trust juries every day to determine if people are guilty of capital crimes and other serious offenses, but tort reformists claim that we shouldn’t we be able to count on them to determine fair compensation for someone whose life has been negatively affected by the negligence of another.

Particularly in the case of medical malpractice, doctors are made to appear the victims of the tort system. However, most of the damages paid to those harmed by medical malpractice comes from the deep pockets of the insurance industry.
When tort reform measures are passed and the insurance companies are shielded from paying for the mistakes of their insured, they do not pass those savings down to doctors who are charged outrageous premiums to obtain medical malpractice insurance. Our doctors are simply being used as pawns in an effort by insurance companies to pay out less in damages, and raise premiums anyway.

NJ and PA Attorneys at the Mininno Law Office

The Attorneys at the Mininno Law Office are dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers. If you have been affected by the negligence of a manufacturer, a doctor, a nurse, or a caregiver at a nursing home, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation.
We are here to work for you, and earn you the compensation that you DESERVE!

You may also call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Medical Malpractice Payments at an All Time Low

Amidst all the talk of so called tort reform and “frivolous lawsuits” comes a study by the Public Citizen, a non profit organization based in Washington D.C. that represents consumer interests through lobbying, litigation, research, and public education. The study illustrates the decline in medical malpractice payments since 1999.
In 2008, the number of malpractice payments was the lowest it’s been since the formation of the federal government’s National Practitioner Data Bank, which has tracked medical malpractice payments since 1990. 2008 was the third consecutive year that medical malpractice payments sunk to an all time low.

Unfortunately, the decline in payments has nothing to do with a reduction in medical errors and everything to do with the increase in the number of victims not being compensated. This also means that there are fewer incentives for doctors and nurses to reduce errors. According to a 1999 study done by the Institute of Medicine entitled “To Err is Human,” an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 hospital patients are killed every year due to avoidable medical mistakes.
Yet fewer than 15,000 malpractice payments were made in 1999. Those numbers DO NOT include the number of patients who suffered serious, non-fatal injuries. The large gap between the victims and the compensated has likely grown larger since 1999, as there is no evidence that any meaningful improvements to medical safety have been made.

In a series of graphs and charts, the Public Citizen thoroughly demonstrates the fall in malpractice payments in the last decade. In five years, there was a loss of 3,336 medical malpractice payments made on behalf of physicians. That means that while the number of victimized patients was rising, the number of those patients being compensated was falling. Studies since the 1970’s show that medical errors greatly outnumber lawsuits.
Perhaps the kind of reform that would greatly reduce the legal liability of our health care system is not the kind of reform that’s needed. It seems that medical errors are shockingly prevalent. Problems should be fixed at their source. Eliminating medical errors, rather than reforming our tort system, should be a goal of priority.

It’s been easy to drum up support for so called tort reform by blaming our health care woes on medical malpractice cases and “junk lawsuits,” but the numbers tell a very different story. In 2006, medical malpractice payments accounted for between .18 and .58 percent of all health care costs. 2006 is the most recent year with all of the necessary information available to make these comparisons.

Medical malpractice is a very serious issue, and something that is affecting patients everyday. Most doctors are wonderful and care tremendously for their patients. They are careful and follow well established rules of the medical profession to prevent errors.
However, a very small minority are not so caring and do not follow the rules. It is the mission of a trial attorney to represent those victimized by medical malpractice and earn them the compensation they deserve.

The trial attorneys at Mininno Law Firm want to help you get the compensation you deserve. If you or a loved one have recently suffered due to medical malpractice, you must act quickly! A two year statute of limitations can prevent you from being able to hold liable those who have harmed you.
Contact the Mininno Law Firm or call us at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Trial Lawyers have Made for Safer Vehicles

Recently, so called Tort Reform has been a major topic of discussion. Tort Reform has a very large following of pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, HMO’s, and defective food and beverage companies. These billion dollar corporations spend their profits on lobbyist and marketing campaigns in order to convince us all that most lawsuits brought to court are “frivolous,” and that payouts are “outlandish.”
This so called Tort Reform aims to restrict lawful recoveries for victims of things like medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, or defective product injuries. It also aims to make it harder to hold accountable companies that cause harm to consumers.

But if it wasn’t for trial lawyers and their litigation of these “frivolous” cases, the vehicles that we drive would not be what they are today. Cars today are loaded with countless safety features that, before litigation, did not exist. Below are 11 features of your vehicle that were improved after a court deemed it mandatory.

1. Gas Tanks – Manufacturers, like GM and Ford, designed vehicles with defective gas tank placement. The placement caused fires and explosions, even in the most minor collisions. Due to litigation, gas tanks are now universally located within rigid frames.

2. Door Handles – Ford’s own engineers cited that their paddle style door handles accidently opened in collisions. Ford continued to cover up the problem, until finally a court held them accountable and forced them to fix the issue.

3. SUV Stability – SUV stability has always been an issue. Ford’s rollover rate, at one time, was twice that of any other SUV. After injury and death, litigation increased emphasis on the development of Electronic Stability Control.

4. Airbags – Airbags have been being designed since the 1950’s, but by 1988, only 2% of new cars were made with them. Eventually, courts made in mandatory to manufacturer all new vehicles with airbags.

5. Faulty “Park” – Ford and Chrysler both experienced issues with transmissions that slipped out of Park and caused cars to roll away. In Ford’s instance, it caused the death of a pregnant woman trying to save the life of her four year old daughter inside the rolling minivan. Ford fixed the error after being held liable twice in court. Chrysler continued to ignore the problem until litigation forced a recall of over 1 million affected vehicles.

6. Tires – Firestone and Goodyear tried to hide defective tire problems for years before courts finally held them accountable. Firestone tires were responsible for 271 deaths before they were finally recalled.

7. Side-impact Protection – a police officer was paralyzed after a low-speed side impact collision. The court found that the absence of side protection was a vehicle defect. Now all cars are equipped with side-impact protection.

8. Weak Seats – Seats were not made strong enough and were collapsing during collisions, killing rear passengers. It was litigation that forced manufacturers to begin installing stronger seats in all vehicles.

9. Seatbelts – Court cases did a lot in bringing to light the dangers of inferior seatbelts, or no seatbelts at all. For example, Chryslers Gen 3 seatbelt was installed in over 14 million cars and proven to unlatch in accidents. Litigation forced Chrysler to redesign both seats and seatbelts.

10. Power Windows – Power windows became more common, and so too did associated injury and death. Children were especially susceptible because of accidently hitting the rocker style switch that moved the window up or down. The inexpensive solution would have been to replace the rocker style with a lift up style. The solution was ignored to cut costs until litigation forced universal acceptance of the safer switch.

11. Roof Strength – The strength of car roofs was known to be in need of improvement, but only litigation actually made it happen.

Thanks to these cases being brought to court by trial lawyers, judges and juries were able to hold the right parties responsible for unnecessary injury and death, and also reverse the problems to prevent future loss. Trial Attorneys are essential to maintain a balance between consumers and manufacturers.

If you or a loved one feel you have been wronged by a medical malpractice, insurance company, or defective product manufacturer, you’ll need a trial attorney. The trial attorneys at Mininno Law Firm are here to help. Contact us or call (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Needed Nursing Homes Struggling to Stay Open

When our loved ones are no longer able to take care of themselves and we have tried but we do not have the right medical care or the time to give them the assistance they need, nursing homes are where we turn. We depend on nursing homes to take care of our loved ones in the best way possible. We expect our loved ones to be treated well, with compassion and to be given the proper medical care as well. Due to the national recession and health reform cuts of $16 billion in Medicare plans, there are many nursing homes struggling to stay open. The nursing homes that are able to avoid bankruptcy and other problems have to make cuts on staff and proper training which leads to nursing home abuse, bed sores, and other types of neglect. We need a place for our elderly loved ones to feel safe and cared for without having to worry about their health and proper medical care. Even states that have been given extra funding for nursing home care are soon going to run out. It is important that we recognize that there is still a need for nursing homes and that we do something to save them and provide better medical care and services in them as well. Our loved ones and their lives may depend on it the way they depend on us.

If you would like to do something to save the nursing homes, you can write a letter to your congressman or attend a local town meeting and tell people how you feel and the importance of nursing homes.

For more information on nursing homes that are struggling, you may visit this web.

If you feel that your loved ones are a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, contact a nursing home abuse lawyer right away. They will help you get the rights and care for your loved one that they deserve to have.

New Health Legislation may not provide Coverage for Everyone

The health legislation concerns still keep going and going. The Democrats have celebrated that the bill created in the Senate Finance Committee would not increase the deficit, but it may not actually provide coverage for every American as previously promised. Yes, the bill will cover the expensive and possibility the sickest patients, but it will pose an insurance risk to other people by making them pay even more in health care coverage. This will lead to people once again not being able to afford coverage and then again having not everyone receiving health insurance coverage. The health care reform was supposed to provide health care coverage for as many if not all Americans. This does not seem to be the case since health insurance will increase their costs for those with insurance making those with insurance unable to afford it. This means less injuries and health problems for those that are covered by the new health care reform and unaffordable insurance and more injuries and problems for people that already had health insurance. This seems like the bill will not actually be able to deliver what was once promised. Patients and proper health care should come first, but yet again, money and profits are still being put first. When will our system get up to speed to places like Europe where if you have an ehic card, that’s probably all you are going to need for coverage. We need to make sure that not only is every American able to afford coverage but that this coverage will provide proper medical care and less malpractice and injuries for patients.

For more information on the new health reform debate, you may visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/08/AR2009100801732.html

If you or someone you love feels like you have not received proper medical care, please contact a malpractice lawyer right away. They will help you advocate for your rights to receive proper medical care.

Support is Gaining for Health Care Reform, but will it really benefit everyone?

According to an Associated Press poll today, October 7, 2009, the country is spilt forty-forty about whether or not to oppose or support the new health legislation. This includes more seniors supporting the health legislation than back in September. This is very good news for many people, after all, having health coverage for everyone is a great plan, but will it really benefit everyone. The money to provide everyone with health care coverage has to come from somewhere and it means that programs such as Medicare and Medicare and long term care facilities services will be cut to help provide these services as well as cuts being made from many other programs that allow seniors and other people proper medical care and training which helps to prevent abuse. The president’s intentions seem to be great but is the whole picture being looked at? Health care coverage for everyone is not the only thing at stake. People getting proper medical care and services is also at stake. Taking services from people that really need them in order to make sure everyone has coverage seems like a contradiction. Everyone having medical coverage should mean that more services and opportunities are provided, but instead they are being cut and taken away from people that really need them. This means more injuries and abuse if the proper care is not provided. The president wants programs that prevent sickness and illness yet cuts are being made to the services already provided, that just seems wrong. This plan is a good idea, but if you say it will benefit everyone than it really should, and right now it is clear that it will not.

For additional information on the new health care reform poll, you may visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_bi_ge/us_ap_poll_health_care

If you feel that you or a loved one is not getting the proper medical care or treatment, please call, a medical malpractice lawyer right away. They will help you advocate your case and get you the good medical care you deserve.

Tort Reform is Hurting More Than Helping

As the health care debate continues, so does tort reform. While some efforts have been made to help protect patients and their rights, there is still tort reform that is trying to cut costs and because of this there are still many people that are unable to get proper medical care and unable to fight for their rights to it. If tort reform continues the way it has, it is hurting more people than it is or will help. Cutting costs and providing coverage for everyone is a great idea, but it is only great if it actually helps people to get the care they need and to have the services they need to fight for proper medical care if it is not given. They are still many people being injured daily because of medical errors and malpractice. They are still many elderly being abused in nursing homes due to improper medical care. It is great that programs are trying to be put in place to cut down on medical malpractice lawsuits but what about just cutting down on the actual malpractice? If patients receive proper medical care, including checkups, treatments, evaluations and more, then we can worry less about lawsuits because the medical care will be better. Until medical errors are dramatically reduced and programs are put in place for more adequate medical care than people still need malpractice rights and lawyers to help them advocate for their rights to proper medical care. Tort reform may try to cut costs all it wants, but people still need their rights and one of these rights is their right to sue for medical malpractice. These rights are there to help those hurting. Tort reform has only hurt more and not helped.

If you would like more information on the health care debate and tort reform, you may visit:

This link.

If you or someone you loved has been injured or denied proper medical care, contact a malpractice lawyer right away. They will help you fight for your rights and get your voice heard to help those you love.

Should a Price Tag be put on Good Medical Care?

There has been much debate about health care over the last few months. One of the issues that is being brought up over and over again is whether or not tort reform and limits on malpractice suits actually will save money. Some people say it does because doctors will not have to spend so much money ordering special tests and treatments for patients when it may not be needed. Should a price tag really be put on good medical care? What if a doctor did not order a test or treatment because they thought it was not needed and then later discovered that it could have helped? For situations like these that happen every day in millions of hospitals, doctor’s offices, and nursing homes in every state, we still need our malpractice rights. It is still possible that even with universal coverage those doctors may make a medical error either because they want to cut a cost or because they just did not pay enough attention. States that have medical malpractice caps and tort reform are not actually saving any more money than those who do not have them. So why should we deny patients the right to good medical care and treatment when we are not really saving any money by doing so? Everyone, even the doctors that see patients every day, should have the right to speak up if their medical care is inadequate or if there is a problem. This should be a basic right as a person and an American. Malpractice caps do not save money on health insurance so why take away a person’s right to good medical care and treatment and the right to sue if they do not receive it? The logic just does not make sense.

People in this country have the right to free speech as well as many other rights and that should always include the right to speak up about medical errors and malpractice. These rights should be totally different than the health insurance debate because there should not be a price tag on person’s right to good proper medical care.

If you would like more information on the health care debate and malpractice rights, you may visit this link.

If you or a loved one has been injured or abused due to improper medical care, contact a medical malpractice lawyer right away. They will help you advocate for your right to be heard and receive the care you deserve.

Good Actions Speak Louder Than Words for Trial Lawyers

In our society, we have been taught through tort reform and other actions to fear and hate trial lawyers. Many people have come to believe that lawyers do not really care if their client has been injured or if their rights have been violated because it means more money for the lawyer. Many people have come to believe that lawyers do not really care about the health care and well being of their loved ones because the money they get will help them take care of their own loved ones. Every time a lawyer has tried to say that they care about people’s rights, someone else has always been there to say they really do not. People and tort reform have done a good job to make lawyers seem greedy and selfish and given the good ones and the ones that work hard for our rights a bad reputation. This means that lawyers have to stop speaking about what good they will do and actually do it. They have to start persuading juries and the people that their acts are purely selfless by doing selfless good work just for the people. The only way people will begin to see that lawyers are not just all about the money and power but that they care for people and their rights is by showing them through their actions. Supporting people over profits and other similar organizations and groups and being out there in the community with people that are being abused, injured and neglected will help trial lawyers that are for the people gain trust and respect from the people they work for to help and protect.

People learn by example. If they continue to see trial lawyers performing selfless acts for the people, then they will slowly learn again not to fear and hate lawyers and they will know that lawyers are truly are on their side and fighting for their rights.

For more information on what trial lawyers are doing for the people, you may visit:

This link.

More info.