Hospital Held Accountable

16/08/08 12:29 Filed in: Medical Malpractice
A Utah jury recently held Lakeview Hospital accountable for the death of a child. The tragedy is that Lakeview Hospital, although advertising itself and profiting from a representation that they were a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year emergency care facility, failed to have staff on hand, or available for on-call to deal with emergencies and, in fact, lacked any real policy to deal with emergencies such as this family faced. As a result, the unborn child suffered oxygen deprivation and, although born alive, was severely brain damaged and lived for only approximately one year. The jury refused to let Lakeview Hospital dodge justice and found that the damage done to the family, the pain, suffering and wrongful death of this young soul could only be corrected through a verdict over $800,000 in general damages. Congratulations to the jury who refused to buy into the Defense attorneys & Lakeview Hospital’s attempts to avoid justice and condolences to the family who lost so much because of Lakeview Hospital’s medical malpractice.

Bragging Rights

07/08/08 17:11 Filed in: Civil Rights | Medical Malpractice
Sometimes the work of a personal injury attorney feels like toiling away without any reward. Then, on occasion, being a lawyer has its good days too. I (Pete Summerill here) am lucky enough to have prevailed in the cases of Dexter v. Bosko (right of inmate to bring civil rights action under Utah Constitution) and Bybee v. Abdulla (preventing a doctor from forcing wrongful death heirs into private pay-to-play arbitration for claim of medical malpractice). Now, those two cases are getting some recognition as well: Bybee v. Abdulla was just cited in the American Association for Justice’s monthly magazine Trial and Dexter v. Bosko will be featured locally in an article appearing in the Utah Association for Justice’s publication Utah Trial Journal. I hope that these decisions will go a long way toward preserving the rights of wrongful death heirs and the civil rights of prisoners well into the future.

Utah State Supreme Court - Dexter v. Bosko et. al.

11/06/08 08:57 Filed in: Civil Rights
We recently obtained a favorable ruling from the Utah Supreme Court upholding the right of an inmate to sue for damages when guards failed to seat belt him prior to freeway travel. Kelvin Dexter was ejected from a Ford 15 passenger van when the van rolled over. Shackled at the wrists, waist and legs, Mr. Dexter could not fasten his own seat belt. The guard/driver refused to seat belt the inmates. Mr. Dexter was ejected when the guard/driver lost control of the vehicle while reaching for a soda or bag of chips at freeway speed. The van rolled several times, ejecting Mr. Dexter. The rollover severed Mr. Dexter's spinal cord, rendering him a quadriplegic. Eventually, Mr. Dexter developed complications as a result of his quadriplegia and died, leaving behind a wife and children. The Utah Supreme Court recognized that the Utah Constitution prohibits exposing inmates to "unreasonably harsh, strict, or severe treatment [or] unnecessarily exposed to an increased risk of serious harm." Because the failure to provide the fundamental and basic safety of a seat belt exposed Mr. Dexter to unreasonable and unnecessary risk of harm, the court held that the guards may be held liable for the harm caused by their refusal to seat belt Mr. Dexter. The full opinion can be read here: Dexter v. Bosko, et. al. (pdf).

Medical Malpractice Crisis? Wrong.

02/06/08 09:07 Filed in: Medical Malpractice | Tort Reform
Yet again, another study indicates that the whole 'medical malpractice crisis' is an overblown attempt by the insurance industry to support a crumbling argument for tort reform. Frequently we are told that physicians are fleeing the practice of medicine because trial lawyers have caused malpractice insurance premiums to skyrocket. Massachusetts has been described by the AMA as such crisis state, with settlement payments for victims of physician negligence the fourth highest in the United States.... Yet, surprise, "[m]ost physicians paid lower inflation-adjusted premiums in 2005 than in 1990." The reality, as always, is that the insurance companies pump up the malpractice crisis in order to pump up their own profits.
Study by Health Affairs here.

Workers Beware

16/02/08 12:48 Filed in: Negligence
The Utah Supreme Court recently upheld a trial court decision that protects and shields general contractors from liability. In Begaye v. Big-D Construction, the court held that even when a general contractor has the ability to prevent injury to subcontractors, they need not do so. In other words, watch your own back, because no one else is going to stop you from getting hurt, even if you can't see it coming.