Cincinnati, Ohio Personal Injury Blog - Anthony Castelli
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Should We Get Rid of the Personal Injury Attorneys
Why not get Rid of all the Personal Injury Attorneys and All the Lawsuits
Shakespeare's famous line "kill all the lawyers" is an overstatement of course. But its trendy to put down the trial lawyers in their "tassled shoes" as the reason for society's ills from the high cost of medical care to the leaving of industry from a state.
As a personal injury trial lawyer myself, although I do not handle medical malpractice cases, it may sound like I'm beating my own drum when I say there is no real evidence that "frivolous lawsuits" are many in number and certainly frivolous or not lawsuits do not effect the price of healthcare.
Dr Rahul Parikh recently wrote about this issue. Here is what he had to say about defensive medicine causing problems.
"Defensive medicine is just one of the supposed systemic ills that doctors, doctors' lobbies and doctors' insurers invoke when they shill for what they call malpractice reform. Proponents of reform say that defensive medicine, frivolous lawsuits and high premiums are behind the surge in healthcare expenses.
Their refrain is familiar to anybody following the healthcare reform debate. The only problem is that it's not true. There's nothing "sure or quick" about changing medical liability laws that will improve healthcare or its costs. Defensive medicine adds very little to healthcare's price tag, and rising malpractice premiums have had very little impact on access to care."
First the doctor took a look at the statistics and found that they did not support such a claim.
After looking at the statistic on claims the doctor took on the notion of frivolous lawsuits . "Tort reformers push the notion that junk lawsuits dominate the legal system. Studies that show that 80 percent of claims are settled without payment to the patient and that when a case does make it to trial, doctors win 89 percent of the cases."
. Researchers from Harvard published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that was designed to avoid the limits, and the biases, of prior research. What they found kills the notion of frivolous lawsuits. It suggests that most people who sue are suing for good reason.
Instead of a swamp of frivolous lawsuits, what the data shows is a system that functions. Insubstantial claims tend to collapse, while the medical industry usually opts to pay off injured patients instead of going to trial. The doctors and the insurers choose to fight to win when they think they can, and when there is enough money at stake, and usually do win.
Finally lets deal with the last two arguements the insurance industry uses. The first is that defensive medicine drives up the cost of care. The second is that skyrocketing malpractice premiums are driving doctors out of business, cutting patients' access to care. In both cases, however, the facts don't substantiate those claims.
"Recent analyses show that the effect of defensive medicine on costs is marginal.
Another study concluded that "Direct reforms (caps on damages, abolition of punitive damages, eliminating mandatory prejudgment interest, and collateral source offset) did not significantly reduce payments for Medicare-covered services."
The Congressional budget office also took a hard look at the claim that rising malpractice premiums were driving doctors out of business and thus cutting access to care. While the report did find instances of reduced access to emergency surgery and newborn delivery, albeit in scattered, often rural, areas, it also found that many reported shortages of healthcare providers could not be substantiated or did not widely affect access to healthcare. Traditionally, rural areas are where healthcare is scarce anyway.
The doctor made a telling conclusion about what is really behind the rise in premiums citing the need for insurane companies to make a buck.
"It would seem that after all of this, what we are left with is a crisis not of the medical-legal system, but of the economics of malpractice insurance, as doctors have seen their premiums skyrocket in recent years. But even that can not be pinned strictly on the risk of insuring physicians. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, notes "that a historical pattern has been established that insurance rates rise also based on the investment market ... Earlier 'crises' similar to todays 'crisis' were due to declining investment fortunes and failed pricing practices of the insurance industry rather than an increase in medical malpractice filings and awards. Then, as now, the insurance industry covered its losses by raising rates dramatically, then blamed the lawyers of innocent patients rightfully seeking compensation for negligence-related injuries."
Tort reform is not going to save one extra life. Plus it will place the cost of wrongly injured people onto the taxpayer. Why not look for ways to help doctor, hospitals and nurses to prevent medical mistakes.
.
Anthony Castelli is a Cincinnati personal injury trial attorney. For more information go to www.castelliaw.com or call him at 621-2345
Shakespeare's famous line "kill all the lawyers" is an overstatement of course. But its trendy to put down the trial lawyers in their "tassled shoes" as the reason for society's ills from the high cost of medical care to the leaving of industry from a state.
As a personal injury trial lawyer myself, although I do not handle medical malpractice cases, it may sound like I'm beating my own drum when I say there is no real evidence that "frivolous lawsuits" are many in number and certainly frivolous or not lawsuits do not effect the price of healthcare.
Dr Rahul Parikh recently wrote about this issue. Here is what he had to say about defensive medicine causing problems.
"Defensive medicine is just one of the supposed systemic ills that doctors, doctors' lobbies and doctors' insurers invoke when they shill for what they call malpractice reform. Proponents of reform say that defensive medicine, frivolous lawsuits and high premiums are behind the surge in healthcare expenses.
Their refrain is familiar to anybody following the healthcare reform debate. The only problem is that it's not true. There's nothing "sure or quick" about changing medical liability laws that will improve healthcare or its costs. Defensive medicine adds very little to healthcare's price tag, and rising malpractice premiums have had very little impact on access to care."
First the doctor took a look at the statistics and found that they did not support such a claim.
After looking at the statistic on claims the doctor took on the notion of frivolous lawsuits . "Tort reformers push the notion that junk lawsuits dominate the legal system. Studies that show that 80 percent of claims are settled without payment to the patient and that when a case does make it to trial, doctors win 89 percent of the cases."
. Researchers from Harvard published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that was designed to avoid the limits, and the biases, of prior research. What they found kills the notion of frivolous lawsuits. It suggests that most people who sue are suing for good reason.
Instead of a swamp of frivolous lawsuits, what the data shows is a system that functions. Insubstantial claims tend to collapse, while the medical industry usually opts to pay off injured patients instead of going to trial. The doctors and the insurers choose to fight to win when they think they can, and when there is enough money at stake, and usually do win.
Finally lets deal with the last two arguements the insurance industry uses. The first is that defensive medicine drives up the cost of care. The second is that skyrocketing malpractice premiums are driving doctors out of business, cutting patients' access to care. In both cases, however, the facts don't substantiate those claims.
"Recent analyses show that the effect of defensive medicine on costs is marginal.
Another study concluded that "Direct reforms (caps on damages, abolition of punitive damages, eliminating mandatory prejudgment interest, and collateral source offset) did not significantly reduce payments for Medicare-covered services."
The Congressional budget office also took a hard look at the claim that rising malpractice premiums were driving doctors out of business and thus cutting access to care. While the report did find instances of reduced access to emergency surgery and newborn delivery, albeit in scattered, often rural, areas, it also found that many reported shortages of healthcare providers could not be substantiated or did not widely affect access to healthcare. Traditionally, rural areas are where healthcare is scarce anyway.
The doctor made a telling conclusion about what is really behind the rise in premiums citing the need for insurane companies to make a buck.
"It would seem that after all of this, what we are left with is a crisis not of the medical-legal system, but of the economics of malpractice insurance, as doctors have seen their premiums skyrocket in recent years. But even that can not be pinned strictly on the risk of insuring physicians. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, notes "that a historical pattern has been established that insurance rates rise also based on the investment market ... Earlier 'crises' similar to todays 'crisis' were due to declining investment fortunes and failed pricing practices of the insurance industry rather than an increase in medical malpractice filings and awards. Then, as now, the insurance industry covered its losses by raising rates dramatically, then blamed the lawyers of innocent patients rightfully seeking compensation for negligence-related injuries."
Tort reform is not going to save one extra life. Plus it will place the cost of wrongly injured people onto the taxpayer. Why not look for ways to help doctor, hospitals and nurses to prevent medical mistakes.
.
Anthony Castelli is a Cincinnati personal injury trial attorney. For more information go to www.castelliaw.com or call him at 621-2345
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Cincinnati Personal Injury Attorney Trial Tactic
Cincinnati personal injury attorney trial tactic - Crossexam of defense doctor
In most personal injury cases the insurance company will have you examined by their doctor. He will give opinions about your injury at trial. They generally fall into the following areas:
1. you were only injured for a short period of time
2. You are cured
3. A preexisting condition is the cause of your symptoms
4. you are exaggerating your symptoms
There is a technique known as using the learned treatise to crossexamine the doctor. Here is a use of the learned treatise that can be used in almost every case to knock the doctor off his pedastool. Watch this video to learn the technique from a real trial and crossexamination.
by Cincinnati personal injury attorney Anthony Castelli call 621-2345 for help
In most personal injury cases the insurance company will have you examined by their doctor. He will give opinions about your injury at trial. They generally fall into the following areas:
1. you were only injured for a short period of time
2. You are cured
3. A preexisting condition is the cause of your symptoms
4. you are exaggerating your symptoms
There is a technique known as using the learned treatise to crossexamine the doctor. Here is a use of the learned treatise that can be used in almost every case to knock the doctor off his pedastool. Watch this video to learn the technique from a real trial and crossexamination.
by Cincinnati personal injury attorney Anthony Castelli call 621-2345 for help
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Monday, October 26, 2009
5 Items of Damage for Your Ohio Personal Injury Claim
Compensation For Injury Victims-Ohio Insurance Settlements
If you are injured by the negligence of another in the State of Ohio your are entitled to compensation for certain damages. First let's define negligence. It is the failure to do what a reasonably careful person would do under the circumstances.
The damages recoverable if you are negligently caused injury are as follows:
1. medical expenses past and future
2. Lost wages past and future
3. Pain and Suffering past and future
4. Loss of enjoyment of life past and future
5. Disfigurement from scarring past and future
These 5 items cover most items of damage though their can be others.
A good doctor's report is critical. It must connect your claimed injuries to the car accident or other event that you feel caused your injury.
By Anthony Castelli Cincinnati Personal Injury attorney call 621-2345 for help
If you are injured by the negligence of another in the State of Ohio your are entitled to compensation for certain damages. First let's define negligence. It is the failure to do what a reasonably careful person would do under the circumstances.
The damages recoverable if you are negligently caused injury are as follows:
1. medical expenses past and future
2. Lost wages past and future
3. Pain and Suffering past and future
4. Loss of enjoyment of life past and future
5. Disfigurement from scarring past and future
These 5 items cover most items of damage though their can be others.
A good doctor's report is critical. It must connect your claimed injuries to the car accident or other event that you feel caused your injury.
By Anthony Castelli Cincinnati Personal Injury attorney call 621-2345 for help
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5 Keys to Personal Injury Insurance Settlement
Learn 5 keys To Personal Injury Insurance Settlements
You have just been injured in a car accident or other incident such as a truck or motorcycle accident where someone else is at fault. Now what should you do to ensure that you obtain a fair settlement from the insurance company. Here are five suggested tips that could go a long way in helping you get the compensation you deserve.
1. Document everything about the incident and you damages. This means making sure a police person comes to the scene and makes out a traffic accident report. You need to write down the names and phone numbers of all witnesses. You need to have someone take photos of the scene and your injuries. Get a file folder and put everything in it that pertains to your accident and injury. There are many more things to document depending on your case.
2. Make sure you seek timely and competent medical care for your injuries. If you have no doctor taking care of you and stating in their records the history of the accident that caused your injuries then you really do not have much of a case if any. Many people try to shake off an injury or suffer in silence. If you do, just know that the insurance company equates no doctor with no injury.
3. Learn what items of damage you are entitled to recover for your injury. How will you know what is fair if you don't know what you are entitled to recover.
4. You need to know what a fair settlement range is for cases substatially similar to yours. If you don't know this you may take a low ball offer from the insurance company or you may have an unreasonably high expectation.
5. You need the ability to say no to a low ball offer and do something about it.
None of these 5 tips have suggested that you seek a consultation with a experienced personal injury attorney. By researching educational web sites of experienced personal injury attorneys in your area you may be able to figure out how to take action on tips 1-4. But unless you are ready to take your case to court and act as your own attorney, you might want to consult with an experienced, trial seasoned personal injury attorney to help you with step 5. Better yet, if your case involves signifcant injury consider highering an attorney that can help you with the 5 keys.
by Anthony Castelli Cincinnati Personal injury attorney call 621-2345 for help
You have just been injured in a car accident or other incident such as a truck or motorcycle accident where someone else is at fault. Now what should you do to ensure that you obtain a fair settlement from the insurance company. Here are five suggested tips that could go a long way in helping you get the compensation you deserve.
1. Document everything about the incident and you damages. This means making sure a police person comes to the scene and makes out a traffic accident report. You need to write down the names and phone numbers of all witnesses. You need to have someone take photos of the scene and your injuries. Get a file folder and put everything in it that pertains to your accident and injury. There are many more things to document depending on your case.
2. Make sure you seek timely and competent medical care for your injuries. If you have no doctor taking care of you and stating in their records the history of the accident that caused your injuries then you really do not have much of a case if any. Many people try to shake off an injury or suffer in silence. If you do, just know that the insurance company equates no doctor with no injury.
3. Learn what items of damage you are entitled to recover for your injury. How will you know what is fair if you don't know what you are entitled to recover.
4. You need to know what a fair settlement range is for cases substatially similar to yours. If you don't know this you may take a low ball offer from the insurance company or you may have an unreasonably high expectation.
5. You need the ability to say no to a low ball offer and do something about it.
None of these 5 tips have suggested that you seek a consultation with a experienced personal injury attorney. By researching educational web sites of experienced personal injury attorneys in your area you may be able to figure out how to take action on tips 1-4. But unless you are ready to take your case to court and act as your own attorney, you might want to consult with an experienced, trial seasoned personal injury attorney to help you with step 5. Better yet, if your case involves signifcant injury consider highering an attorney that can help you with the 5 keys.
by Anthony Castelli Cincinnati Personal injury attorney call 621-2345 for help
Labels: insurance settlement
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