May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Let’s Talk about Personal Injury Claims for Mental Health Injuries

Personal injury claims are usually associated with physical injuries like broken bones, soft tissue damage, traumatic brain injuries, burns, cuts, amputations, spinal injuries and others caused by car accidents, slip and fall accidents, or medical malpractice. There are also situations where a personal injury is an infection, food poisoning or other illness. In honor of mental health awareness month, we would like to talk about the reality that physical injuries caused by an accident can create serious psychological injuries.

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Mold and Toxic Substance Claims: Personal Injury

Black mold and other toxic substances like pesticides, asbestos and contaminated drinking water can have very serious health consequences. When a person is exposed to toxic substances, they may experience negative symptoms right away. In some cases, it can take years for symptoms to appear; making it difficult to know when the exposure happened. Asbestos is a well-known toxic building material that is no longer used and has been the basis of many successful toxic substance lawsuits.

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Class Action Lawsuit Brought Against UnitedHealth for Denying Mental Health Care

In March, 2019 a federal judge in Northern California ruled that a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group called United Behavioral Health violated its duty to provide coverage for people with mental health and substance use disorder needs covered by their insurance. As reported by MPRnews.org, the class action lawsuit represents about 50,000 people who were covered by the United plans between 2011 and 2017 and who were denied coverage for treatment of behavioral health and substance use problems. The suit accuses the corporation of limiting coverage for urgent behavioral and substance abuse issues and denying coverage for treatment of the underlying, longer-term conditions that led to the urgent issues.

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Doctors Found Negligent in Wrongful Death Case Involving Florida Woman Who Died After Childbirth

As reported by the Miami Herald, doctors who delayed a scheduled C-section for a Florida mom for over 14 hours have been found negligent in her death. The woman bled to death after giving birth to her last child, Lillian, in July 2015 at Broward General Hospital. A Broward County jury awarded $24.5 million to the family of the mom who was 34-years-old at the time of her death.

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Dozens of Medical Professionals Charged in Federal Opioid Sting

As reported by NPR, On Wednesday, April 17, Federal prosecutors announced that they are charging 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, seven other licensed medical professionals and eight nurse practitioners for alleged opioid pushing and health care fraud involving 350,000 prescriptions for controlled substances. The charges are a result of work by the Justice Department’s newly formed Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force. Fourteen health care fraud prosecutors were sent to regions of Appalachia known for rampant opioid abuse, overdoses and deaths in order to build cases. The work began in January, 2019 when they used data analysis to find outliers in opioid prescriptions. From there prosecutors issued search warrants.

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Ex Volkswagen CEO Charged with Fraud in Diesel Emissions Scandal

As reported by ABC news, Ex Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and four others were charged by German prosecutors on Monday, April 15 for fraud in the emissions cheating scandal and unfair competition.

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Canadian Women Bring Medical Malpractice Lawsuit For Improper Use of Labor Inducing Drug

As reported by Global News, New Brunswick’s largest health authority and one of their now former obstetrics nurses are named as defendants in a proposed class action lawsuit. The lawsuit, brought by two of at least a dozen women who were affected by this behavior, alleges that the nurse improperly administered labor-inducing drugs by adding the drug to IV saline bags hooked up to pregnant women. The drug oxycontin was allegedly administered without the knowledge or consent of the mothers. The women allege that the Moncton Hospital either knew or should have known that their nurse was allegedly improperly administering the drugs. They also argue that the health authority could have done more to prevent this from happening by acting on their knowledge that “the hospital…performed an unusually high number of emergency c-section and instrument-assisted deliveries.”

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After 10 Infant Deaths, Fisher-Price Issues Warning About Rock ‘N Play

On April 5, 2019 Fisher-Price and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released a warning to parents and caregivers about the Rock ‘N Play. The warning came in response to the company receiving reports of deaths involving the infant product; a total of 10 since 2015. The deaths happened when babies rolled from their backs to their stomachs or sides while unrestrained. The press release issued by CPSC noted that all 10 infants were three months of age or older.

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Are Motorcycles Safe?

Now that spring is here along with warmer temperatures, more people are bringing their motorcycles out of the garage. Many love the feel of riding a motorcycle but it’s clear that in a motor vehicle crash, motorcyclists are a lot more vulnerable to injury than a driver protected by a car. For those considering getting a motorcycle, safety considerations should be made.

Are motorcycles safe?

Motorcycles are much less safe than motor vehicles for the following reasons:

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Massachusetts Sues the Maker of Oxycontin for Role in Opioid Crisis

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50 and the numbers have been getting worse every year. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 52,404 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2015, 64,000 died in 2016, and 72,000 died in 2017. In fact, 2017 was the worst year ever for drug overdose deaths in America with almost 200 people dying of drug overdoses every day. Clearly opioids have caused a crisis in this country.

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