When doctors, nurses, hospitals, or other healthcare professionals provide substandard care that results in injury or death, you may have grounds to pursue a medical malpractice claim. Seeking justice after medical negligence is a complex process that requires experienced legal guidance. A Texas lawyer can help you determine the best option to hold the medical facility and provider liable.

Gathering Evidence and Documentation

The first step after suspected malpractice is gathering as much evidence as possible. Compile a timeline of events and all medical records related to the substandard care—track documentation of symptoms and issues that occurred due to errors or lack of proper diagnosis and treatment. Also, collect proof of additional costs incurred, like added medical expenses or lost income.

Consulting with Expert Witnesses

Medical malpractice claims rely heavily on expert testimony proving the healthcare provider violated standards. Your attorney will get the help of medical experts who can accurately evaluate records and provide opinions on where acceptable protocols were breached. Their testimonies can validate the malpractice allegations.

After an accident, it is not uncommon for insurers to use uncooperative tactics through adjusters to minimize claim payouts. However, understanding these questionable practices and your rights helps when seeking fair compensation. A Texas lawyer can help make sure you are not taken advantage of by insurance adjusters.

Spotting Adjuster Stall and Delay Tactics

Beware of adjusters utilizing stall tactics that should raise red flags, including:

• Failing to properly handle or assign your claim for many weeks or months
• Repeatedly missing scheduled phone calls and appointment times
• Claiming to have lost or never received documents and records you already provided
• Requesting duplicate documents and information already supplied multiple times
• Failing to return calls and emails for extended periods of time

These tactics drain your energy and time but have no legal merit. Carefully document every interaction in writing to substantiate bad faith delays and negligence.

Being in a serious auto accident can often lead to more than just immediate injuries that heal over time. Some crash-related trauma can result in long-term physical or mental impairments that impact your ability to work and earn an income for months or even years after the incident. 

Understanding which types of injuries commonly result in ongoing disabilities can help you better navigate their recovery and legal options. A Texas lawyer can help you discover which options are ideal for you.

Spinal Cord Damage

Perhaps one of the most devastating injuries one can suffer in a car accident is damage to the spinal cord. Injuring critical nerves will often lead to permanent paraplegia or quadriplegia, taking away mobility and sensation. Even partial spinal cord injuries can have lasting effects like chronic pain, numbness, and paralysis that may qualify as a permanent disability. If you have spinal damage, you will usually require extensive rehab along with mobility assistance.

Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained in auto accidents. While its symptoms may seem minor at first, people are often surprised to learn whiplash can develop into a debilitating chronic condition if not promptly treated. Understanding the long-term impacts whiplash injuries can have and working with a Texas lawyer is crucial when experiencing a car accident.

What Exactly is Whiplash?

Whiplash is a neck injury caused when the head is suddenly jolted back and forth beyond its normal range of motion. This commonly occurs in rear-end collisions. It strains muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the neck and upper spine. Symptoms include neck stiffness, shoulder pain, headaches, and reduced mobility.

Why Whiplash Pain Worsens Over Time

The soft tissues in the neck often don’t show major damage immediately. But as inflammation sets in, significant pain develops. Damaged fibers, pinched nerves, and tears gradually manifest. Lost range of motion becomes more noticeable. Without proper rehabilitative treatment, whiplash grows more severe as structural damage and tears progress.

Slip and fall accidents due to unsafe conditions are one of the top hazards employees face. The first step should always be to get medical attention for your work-related injury. After that, there are important next steps you should take to exercise your legal rights with a Texas lawyer.

Report the Incident

Alert your employer right away that you fell and suffered injuries on their premises. Provide details of exactly where, when, and how you fell. Request to fill out an official incident report and ask for a copy for your records once completed. Getting the details formally documented creates a critical paper trail essential for work-related injuries.

Identify the Cause of the Fall

Identify and photograph what caused your fall. Was it a slippery, wet floor lacking caution signs? Loose produce or debris in the aisles? Unstable displays or mats? Documenting the dangerous condition that led directly to the accident is key evidence. Take close-up photos from multiple angles as proof.

Dashcams are becoming increasingly popular in Texas vehicles. While drivers install them hoping to never need the footage, dashcams can provide crucial evidence if you are ever unfortunate enough to be involved in a car accident. Quality dashcam footage can significantly strengthen your ability to prove liability and recover maximum damages. This footage can help you and your Texas lawyer build a stronger case.

Capturing Accidents in Real Time

A dashcam provides an unbiased, objective record of the accident as it occurs. This can help establish crucial facts like lighting conditions, traffic flow, vehicle speeds prior to impact, and more. Unlike eyewitnesses, a dashcam never forgets critical details. The footage also refreshes the memories of the parties involved.

Corroborating Your Account of Events

In disputed accident claims, dashcam video backing up your version of events can undermine the at-fault driver’s claims. The defendant will have a harder time denying culpability or minimizing your injuries when concrete footage counters their statements.

Certain driving technology advancements have unquestionably helped keep motorists safer on U.S. roads. For example, backup cameras have helped to minimize the number of children and pets who are hit by vehicles every year in backover accident scenarios. Lane drifting alerts prevent an untold number of crashes as well, now that this technology is used widely. Yet, it is important to remain vigilant about driving safety as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) do not prevent all car accidents.

The Benefits of ADAS

ADAS systems help to prevent collisions by employing either warnings or automatic corrective action in the event that a motorist encounters certain hazards when traveling. For example, if a driver starts to drift out of their lane into an adjacent lane in which another vehicle is traveling in the motorist’s blind spot, an ADAS system may flash a light in the driver’s side mirror and sound an auditory alarm.

ADAS systems have the potential to do so much good that they are becoming widespread, and some are even mandated in new vehicles per federal regulations. The respected AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates that these systems could – over the span of the next 30 years – prevent roughly 37 million crashes.  

If you are like most American adults, there is a “too much to do, too little time” energy that impacts how your life tends to unfold. As a result, it can be frustrating to learn that there is yet another effort that you should be making in order to keep yourself and others safer. Yet if you travel by car or truck  with any kind of regularity, it is important to take a few minutes once a month or so to scroll news related to auto recalls. The five minutes you take each month when making this effort may help you to prevent auto accidents and may just save your life or the lives of others.

Why Auto Recalls Matter

When an auto manufacturer unintentionally allows a defective part or product to enter the stream of commerce, consumers unknowingly place themselves and others in harm’s way by using that defective item. As cars are already dangerous machines, adding defective auto parts into the mix can result in injurious or deadly consequences.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the government agency most directly tasked with ensuring that defective auto parts are identified and either fixed or eliminated as a risk to travelers. By initiating mandatory recalls and supporting voluntary recall efforts, the NHTSA helps to save lives.

The act of driving involves a seemingly endless checklist of decision-making. Speed up, slow down, or maintain one’s speed? Change lanes or stay put? Continue straight, turn right, turn left, or make a U-turn and go back? Every decision that a driver makes can potentially affect their safety and the safety of those around them. This is why it is both critical to pay attention when driving and to be informed about which actions are most likely to result in a car crash.

Turning Right

A motorist’s decision to turn is a perfect example of a decision that can impact their safety – and the safety of those around them – to different degrees, depending on how the turn itself is executed. Turning right is a relatively safe endeavor. When turning right, a motorist can almost always see what is happening around them and travels a very short distance to complete their maneuver.

Turning Left

By contrast, turning left is such a risky business that many delivery businesses now equip their fleets with technology designed to help their drivers avoid left turns whenever possible. To make a left turn, a vehicle operator must almost always cross at least one oncoming lane of traffic. Thus, if either they or an oncoming motorist is not paying attention, a T-bone crash can happen in the blink of an eye.

If you are like most American adults, you log on to at least one social media platform with some regularity. As one of the primary purposes of social media is to share one’s views and experiences with loved ones, colleagues, and the wider world, you may be tempted to discuss your recent car accident on social media. Yet, it is important to understand that car accident victims can unintentionally compromise their ability to pursue rightful compensation simply by posting on social media before their insurance and legal cases are resolved. As a result, you can safeguard your interests by foregoing social media activity at this time. At minimum, you will want to take great care when posting anything at all.

Why Social Media Activity Can Be So Consequential in Civil Cases 

It is not simply discussions of injuries and accident-related details on social media that can land a motor vehicle crash victim in trouble. Even seemingly innocuous content can be misinterpreted or twisted by insurance claims adjusters, opposing counsel, and other interested parties.

For example, say that you have achieved a new goal in physical therapy, which you started as a result of your injuries. To celebrate, you post a picture in which you are raising your arms above your head. Although it still hurts too much to keep them there for more than 10 seconds, you want to celebrate this achievement. That simple act could be used by any party that owes you compensation as evidence that you are not hurt at all.

Each state has enacted negligence laws that have the potential to affect how much compensation a car crash injury victim is entitled to be awarded, in the event that they file legal action in civil court. A few states do not allow injury victims to pursue compensation from other responsible parties if they, themselves, contributed to the harm they have suffered to any degree whatsoever. Some other states allow victims to pursue compensation from other responsible parties regardless of the degree to which everyone involved – including the victim – was to blame for what happened.

Texas Law

Texas honors a legal standard that is commonly referred to as a modified approach to comparative negligence. What this means is that a car crash injury victim remains entitled to seek damages from other parties that contributed to the cause(s) of their harm, provided that the victim was not more than 50% responsible for their own harm. Their damages award is then, proportionately, reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to the victim.

For example, say that a crash victim’s total economic and non-economic harm has been valued at $500,000. It has been determined that a manufacturer of a defective auto part was 60% to blame for what happened. Both the victim and another motorist involved in the accident are each considered to be 20% at fault. This means that the victim can pursue up to $300,000 from the manufacturer and $100,000 from the other motorist. The remaining $100,000 in damages is the victim’s burden to absorb due to their partial fault for their own harm.

Crating pets or strapping them into some sort of safety apparatus when preparing for a journey in a car or truck can be inconvenient, to say the least. Especially if an animal cries or is prone to chewing or digging when restrained, it can be far easier to simply let them roam loose in a vehicle. Unfortunately, the convenience of allowing a pet to travel unrestrained can lead to motor vehicle accidents. As a result, it is important to find creative solutions when an animal resists travel-related restraints.

Pets Are Distracting

It surprises many parents to learn that there are two primary distractions that are most likely to lead to collisions when their teenage children take the wheel. The first is, obviously, electronic-related distractions. By now, the vast majority of Americans understand that texting while driving and otherwise utilizing electronic technology when operating a vehicle causes preventable crashes. However, the second distraction that is most likely to cause an accident is neither so obvious nor so easily avoided: Passengers.

Pets are, in effect, passengers. Like human passengers, the noise that pets make, their movements, and their reactions to the world around them can be truly distracting. Additionally, like human passengers, if a pet experiences an emergency – such as choking – that reality can cause a particularly acute distraction for vehicle operators.

One of the most pressing questions everyone has after a commercial truck accident is, “Why?” Victims and their families want to understand why the truck accident occurred and who is to blame. The causes of commercial truck accidents are as varied and complex as the individuals harmed in those accidents. However, understanding the cause of the accident is one of the first steps in pursuing compensation for damages.

Many commercial truck accidents are caused by the truck driver. Distracted driving, fatigued driving, speeding, and inattention can all lead to catastrophic truck accidents. However, legal responsibility for a commercial truck accident often falls to the truck company. In this blog, we will discuss some of the ways that negligent hiring practices can lead to avoidable truck crash injuries.

Trucking Companies Need to Vet Applicants Carefully

Operating a large commercial truck is a massive responsibility. Only individuals who are properly trained and qualified should ever be behind the wheel of a semi-truck, flatbed, or other large commercial truck.

Multiple studies show that distracted driving is worse now than ever. Smartphones and other devices have become an integral part of our everyday lives, and many people cannot bear to part with their devices for even the few minutes it takes to drive across town.

Unfortunately, these factors have led to an increase in the number of fatal accidents involving distracted driving. If your loved one passed away in an accident that was caused by a driver who was using a cell phone or otherwise too distracted to drive safely, it is important to understand your legal rights. You may be able to take legal action against the negligent driver in the form of a wrongful death claim.

Texas Wrongful Death Claims

Texas law defines wrongful death as a death caused by another party’s “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.” Sending and receiving text messages, direct messaging on social media, or other electronic communications while driving are illegal in Texas.

Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare companies provide a valuable service to Texans. Whether you catch an Uber because you have had a few cocktails, your car is in the shop, or you do not own a personal vehicle, ride-sharing can be a convenient and cost-effective means of transportation. Unfortunately, taking an Uber does not eliminate the risk of being in an accident.

If you or a loved one were involved in a crash while riding in an Uber vehicle, you may have many questions about your legal rights. Does Uber pay for your medical bills? Do you need to file a claim with the driver’s car insurance company? What happens if you are denied reimbursement for your emergency room expenses or other costs related to the accident?

Rideshare accidents are often especially complicated from a legal perspective. This is why it is so important for anybody who has been seriously hurt in an Uber accident to consult with an attorney experienced in rideshare injury claims. Your lawyer can evaluate the situation and help you pursue compensation for all of your damages.

Drunk driving is one of the primary causes of serious collisions in Texas and throughout the United States. When a driver is intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, he or she is much more likely to cause a crash. Alcohol-related accidents can lead to severe injuries including brain and spine injuries, internal organ damage, broken bones, and more.

Drunk driving car accident victims may be able to recover compensation for medical bills, lost income from missed work, pain and suffering, and other damages. However, many injured accident victims are unaware of these rights or the benefits of filing a personal injury claim after a car accident.

Financial Restitution for Car Accident Damages

Being involved in a car crash is not only frightening, it often has long-term financial implications. If you are a loved one was hurt in a crash, you may be dealing with massive medical bills, huge repair costs, and financial difficulty caused by missed work. A personal injury claim may allow for the recovery of compensation for these and other damages.

Factories are packed with dangerous equipment, powerful machinery, and hazardous chemicals. Unsurprisingly, workers in the manufacturing industry face an increased risk of injury or death in a work accident. If you or a loved one were injured while working in a factory, it is important to understand your rights under Texas Law.

Unlike some states, Texas does not require employers to get workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. However, even if an employer does not carry workers’ compensation insurance, there are still legal avenues available for injured workers to recover compensation.

Financial Compensation after an Industrial Accident

Although government agencies like OSHA require that certain safety standards are met in factories, this does not completely eliminate the risk of a serious or even deadly accident. Falling objects, electrical accidents, heavy machinery accidents, equipment malfunctions, and explosions are just some of the dangers factory workers may be exposed to.

Texas law prohibits drivers from sending or typing electronic messages while driving. However, some drivers ignore this important rule. If you were injured in a car accident caused by someone who was texting and driving, you have the legal right to seek compensation for damages. Unfortunately, distracted drivers are responsible for thousands of avoidable auto accidents every year, so it is important that victims of these crashes know their rights.

Texas Law Regarding Insurance Claims and Personal Injury Claims

Texting and driving accidents often lead to painful injuries and significant financial losses. The first option for someone who is injured in a crash caused by a distracted driver is to pursue payment through the at-fault party's insurance company. Auto insurance companies are supposed to reimburse accident victims for their losses. However, getting adequate compensation from an insurance company can be difficult.

If the insurance company denies your claim or offers an unreasonably low payment, you may have to file a personal injury lawsuit. This is often necessary to ensure that victims are properly compensated for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. Texas personal injury law allows injured parties to file a claim for damages if another party's negligence or wrongdoing causes them harm. Texting and driving is not only negligent, it is also against Texas law.

For motorcycle enthusiasts, there are few things that compare to riding a motorcycle through the winding roads of Dallas. Unfortunately, riding a motorcycle comes with significant dangers. Motorcycles make up just three percent of the registered motor vehicles in the U.S., but they account for 14 percent of traffic fatalities. Tragically, many motorcycle fatalities are preventable. If other drivers simply paid more attention to their surroundings and drove with caution, thousands of motorcyclists’ lives could be saved.

If your spouse passed away in a motorcycle crash, you may be able to take legal action against the at-fault party and seek justice for your deceased loved one. You may also be able to recover compensation for expenses such as medical bills and funeral costs.

Who is Legally Responsible for a Fatal Motorcycle Wreck?

Motorcycle accidents are most frequently caused by negligent driving. Other drivers who are distracted by cell phones or GPS systems may not notice a motorcyclist in the lane beside them. Drunk drivers may not be able to see or respond to a motorcycle at all. Speeding, failure to yield, failure to stop at a red light, and other traffic violations are also common causes of motorcycle crashes. 

Large commercial trucks are one of the primary ways of transporting goods across the Lonestar state. Many semi-trucks carry everyday items such as produce, clothing, furniture, or electronics. However, there are also trucks on the road carrying extremely dangerous materials.

Hazardous materials such as explosives, toxic gases, flammable liquids, and corrosive substances can be incredibly dangerous. In the event of an accident involving a truck carrying hazardous materials, these dangerous chemicals may be released into the air or onto the road. The materials may catch fire, exponentially increasing the severity of the situation.

If you or someone you care about was involved in an accident involving a hazmat truck, reach out to a truck accident injury attorney for help. You will likely face life-changing consequences because of the accident, including substantial financial losses. Your attorney can help you file a claim to pursue compensation for these losses.