Summary...
Law Articles
SummaryIn 1997 the 22 M.R.S.A. § 14, the Medicaid lien recovery statute, was amended to give DHS complete autonomy to grant or reject requests for lien reductions by Medicaid recipients. The 1999 amendment restored the Medicaid recipient's right to challenge a DHS decision regarding Medicaid liens. The process is not as straightforward as it at first appears....
SummaryA tort lawyer who avoids nursing home liability cases under the mistaken belief that elderly claimants will receive minimal damages are doing a disservice to a highly vulnerable section of our society. Nursing homes are licensed and subject to government rules and regulations and contractually promise that all their residents will be well taken care of....
SummaryThe changing role of the pharamist is being recognized in law and in practice. A pharmacist is now seen as a professional who can be sued for malpractice in their own right, even when they have correctly filled a prescription....
SummaryChronic pain is often a disabling injury. While pain is a sign or symptom of a primary problem, if that problem is not diagnosable or treatable, the chronic pain syndrome is pushed aside. Physicians who accept the responsibility of treating an individual's illness must deal with the "whole man."...
Nowhere is jury hostility and cynicism more evident than in the area of soft-tissue or connective-tissue injury cases....
Trial lawyers have used photographs and other images as tools of persuasion for generations. Images help jurors understand, absorb, and retain information. The pictures created by modern medical imaging devices can reveal otherwise hidden information about injuries suffered by victims of accidents and medical malpractice....
For every lawyer consulting with an injured client, the key case evaluation questions are (1) how strong is the liability claim, (2) what is the value of the case, and (3) how can I collect the most money for my client. In a serious injury case, the answer to the collection question may depend on the lawyer’s ability to exert pressure on the defendant to contribute personally to the settlement fund. Too few lawyers choose to apply pressure directly where it hurts....
Crack! Whoosh! Boom!It is early on a fall morning in Maine. An older couple is tending to their rented campsite in a wooded area near a pond. They hear three sounds in quick succession:Crack! Whoosh! Boom! Startled, the man looks up. His wife, who had been making coffee, is lying on the ground. Next to her is a heavy tree limb. She is bleeding from the head and struggling to speak. Their grandchildren are sleeping in a tent close by. “I love you,” she says to the man, before losing consciousness. Later that day, she dies in the hospital....
Learn more about truck accidents and/or car accidents SummaryWhen a person has suffered a trauma and has pain and dysfunction even though the onset of that is delayed, injury to the temporomandibular joint must become a part of the differential diagnosis....
SummaryThe only purpose of a medical-legal illustration is to help a layperson understand complicated medical issues. Conventional medical illustrations are apt to be as all-inclusive and complex as possible. They are intended to be teaching tools for physicians. Thus, these drawings contain a saturation level of information that is too difficult to be understood by a lay jury....
SummaryWhen an elderly person has been exploited by professionals and family members with whom they thought they had a caring relationship, their quality of life is often significantly affected. The elderly need protection from financial exploitation. The Maine Supreme Court has set forth the standard for determining when a confidential relationship arises in situations other than under the improvident transfer statute.I. Introduction...
SummaryIn an age when accountants influence who will be treated, the wellfare of the critically ill newborn needs protection through the tort system. Rather than parents and physicians deciding the care of the critically ill newborns, these decisions are being made by third-parties....
SummaryPhysicians need to be aware of the mechanism of reflex sympathetic dystrophy and to consider it as part of their differential diagnosis when their patients start to complain of peripheral pain....
Twelve years ago I was working as a Superior Court law clerk and interviewing for a post-clerkship position at law firms. This was a dispiriting process. Many of the lawyers who I met seemed to find little joy in their careers. I believed that all I was looking for ways to work in a firm where I could get into the courtroom - the sooner, the better. Since that time I have come to realize that, as thrilling as it is for me to handle jury trials, my day-to-day job satisfaction is mostly derived from helping my clients wrestle with much smaller issues, like the unpaid ambulance bill....
About one in twenty people who seek help in Emergency Departments are there because they have chest pain. The vast majority of the time, the cause of the chest pain is a relatively benign process, not a heart attack. When chest pain is a warning symptom of a heart attack, however, proper diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. Heart attacks can also lead to seriously disabling conditions. For that reason, when patients complain of chest pain, the medical care provider must consider and exclude imminently life-threatening causes first....
Learn more about medical malpractice and/or vehicle accidents ...
Is Toyota committed to telling the truth? That question goes unasked as the news outlets splash recall, factory shut down, and apology stories across their front pages, websites and TV news shows.Four people died in a speeding Lexus in August of 2009. A woman died when her family’s Camry accelerated across a parking lot and over a cliff as her husband tried to brake. Are these cases of driver error, or are the families of these people among those to whom Toyota now extends its apologies for delay in addressing unwanted acceleration?...
Elevator accidents often involve catastrophic injuries, including death, paralysis, or amputation, either because someone has fallen down the elevator shaft or because something went wrong when an elevator mechanic was working on top of or below the elevator car....