Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton, P.A. blog

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Truck Safety Issue with Foreign Companies

As trade is expanded with foreign countries the safety concerns and risks increase regarding the transportation of those goods. The attached Reuters article illustrates the problems of foreign safety standards being far less or non existent compared to United States requirements. It is imperative that trucking safety standards be enforced uniformly regardless of the origin of the vehicle. Anything less puts each and every motorist at risk on our highways and roads. There can be no compromise on safety standards and enforcement.

See this link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS200250+07-Feb-2008+PRN20080207

posted by Attorney W. Marc Hardesty at 4:18 AM

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Insurance Industry Committing Workers Compensation Fraud

Remember the Allstate commercials with the deep voiced announcer stating that the company investigates fraud to help the public or the Liberty Mutual ad with the blood hounds and the dog handler saying "sniff it out boys" as the over voice talks about fraud investigation. Unfortunately the insurance industry successfully has developed this perception while failing to keep themselves clean. As evidence the State of Florida just completed its investigation where several workers compensation carriers must refund millions of dollars in illegal premiums to their customers. Two weeks ago United States Attorney Mark Devereaux convicted 3 principals of fraudulent workers compensation providers for fraud that resulted in thousands of injured workers not receiving necessary medical care and their families facing financial ruin. One needs to simply look back at a PBS documentary outlining the fraud committed by the insurance industry and the sales job to distort the truth. Unlike the impression left by the insurance industry only 1 to 2 percent of all workers claims are fraudulent. It is clear that the industry fraud far exceeds that percentage. The facts speak for themselves. Please see the PBS site for details:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/workplace/etc/fraud.html

posted by Attorney W. Marc Hardesty at 1:47 PM

Friday, February 22, 2008

Air Bag Scams That Kill

You just bought that nice pre-owned car or have gotten your car back from the body shop and have loaded the family up for a test drive. It looks good and everyone is buckled in and you have the piece of mind that your air bag system is ready to go, but is it? Is the air bag even in the car. The panels saying "air bag" are there but is the bag and deployment system present and in working order? Recently it has been discovered that some dishonest car brokers and body shop operators are scamming their customers by not installing air bags after an accident or simply stuffing the air bag compartment with a non operational air bag or other junk and then charging for its alleged repair. You don't know when you are going to be in an accident but you want to know that when you are that you are protected. Make sure that you learn as much as you can about the vehicle history before you buy and then protect yourself by checking and having an independent mechanic verify the system is working properly. See the attached site for detailed tips on avoiding what could be a tragic injury or death:

http://www.nationalsafetycommission.com/alerts/2008/02/airbag-scams-on-rise.php

posted by Attorney W. Marc Hardesty at 5:00 AM

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Medicare and Insurance Companies Refuse to Pay for Hospital Errors

It is not uncommon for patients to develop infections or suffer injuries during hospital stays. Many of these injuries/infections, however, are preventable. For years, Medicare and private insurance companies have paid for patient medical care made necessary by hospital mistakes. These mistakes can add tens of thousands of dollars to hospital bills. For patients who are uninsured or who have to pay the deductible portion of the medical bills, this can mean thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Beginning in October 2008, Medicare will no longer pay for injuries or infections attributable to preventable hospital errors. The Medicare do not pay list will be expanded in 2009 to include additional preventable errors. The do not pay list will include the following conditions:

- Urinary tract infections from catheters
- Bloodstream infections from catheters
- Falls
- Bed sores or pressure ulcers
- Objects left in a patient during surgery
- Giving the wrong type of blood
- Mediastinitis (an infection after heart surgery)
- Air embolism (air bubble in the blood vessel)

While not all hospital infections/injuries are preventable, many are. There is little excuse for leaving a surgical sponge or instrument in a patient during surgery. Yet, it happens all the time. Similarly, many patients are catheterized without any real need for this to be done or catheters are left in the patient for extended periods of time, often without proper cleaning. This routinely results in preventable infections.

Hopefully these new regulations will result in reductions in preventable hospital infections and injuries. It is expected that many private insurance companies will follow Medicare's lead and refuse to pay for preventable injuries. If you or a loved one suffer one of these injuries or infections in a hospital, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to review your case.

posted by Attorney Frank Ashton at 4:44 AM

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Truckers Must Secure Their Loads

We have all seen the humerous news coverage where a truck lost their load of chickens, or the like, on a rural country road along with footage of trying to capture the birds, etc. Unfortunately, we all too often have seen commercial trucks involved in accidents due to their load being improperly secured and shifting or entirely coming off the trailer. These types of accidents reguarly cause death or serious injury. These accidents are also preventable if applicable safety regulations are followed. Adequate use of securing procedures to include straps, chains, dunnage and stop roll methods work. It is troubling when safety shortcuts are taken by commercial carriers due to lack of training of drivers, not supplying proper equipment or lack of enforcing compliance of safety standards. It is important to report an unsafe truck by using your cell phone and calling *FHP (Florida Highway Patrol), 911 or the local law enforcement agency and providing the location (ie: Northbound I-95 at mile marker 344 or Exit 65 etc.), trailer number/license tag and company name or description of the tractor trailer. Reporting a safety problem may likely save a life or injury and almost certainly prevent costly property damage.

posted by Attorney W. Marc Hardesty at 12:05 PM

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tired Truckers Cause Accidents

It is estimated that up to 40% of all commercial trucking accidents are in part due to driver fatigue. Federal regulations issued by the Department of Transportation permit commercial truck drivers to drive a maximum of 11 hours at a time before completing 10 hours off duty. The per week (7 consecutive days) maximum is 60 hours or 70 hours in an eight day period. Violation of these very important safety rules puts every motorist at risk as well as the truck drivers themselves. Unfortunately most drivers are paid by the load or the mile so the more loads carried or more miles driven give some drivers incentive to disregard the safety of themselves and all of us that travel our roads and highways. If you are injured in a truck accident it is extremely important to get advice and assistance from a law firm that knows these regulations and can respond quickly and appropriately. Trucking companies usually employ company representatives that attempt to lessen the liability of the company and reguarly show up at the accident scene within minutes of the crash to take pictures, measurements and obtain statements from anyone that will talk. It is important not to talk with them.

posted by Attorney W. Marc Hardesty at 5:33 AM