by diazlaw | Jun 1, 2018 | Blog
Anyone who has unknowingly been given the wrong prescription for medication or the wrong drugs or pills could be seriously harmed or even die. Adverse drug events (ADEs) are extremely common and can cause long lasting health issues for those who are affected. The main sources of ADEs are as follows: A physician prescribing the wrong medication, either because of the wrong diagnosis or a simple error, e.g. the correct drug, but the wrong dosage, or the correct dosage but the wrong drug. A pharmacist or pharmacist’s assistant mixing up the prescription and delivering the wrong drug, or the correct drug at the wrong concentration, or both. The use of a defective or untested drug. An undetected or previously unnoticed allergy to a particular drug, precipitating a harmful reaction. There are many reasons why a prescription error can take place. The physician may make a mistake when prescribing a drug. There are many drugs that have very similar names, yet are prescribed for very different conditions. Some examples are Hydralazine and Hydroxyzine; Navane and Norvasc, Paxil and Plavix, Lovenox and Levemir. Pharmacists may be extremely busy and allocate prescriptions to pharmacists’ assistants. These assistants may have received insufficient training, or are too tired from overwork to make up the correct medication or misinterpret the prescription made by the physician. Case study of a medication error A 71year old woman was diagnosed as having acute kidney injury and uncontrolled hypertension amongst other health problems. She was prescribed a drug called amlodipine (brand name Norvasc), as well as metroprolol, doxazosin and torsemide. Over the next 3 months her health deteriorated and...
by diazlaw | May 8, 2018 | Blog
There are many reasons why you could end up on a stretcher after a car accident, badly injured. One reason is that you were unfortunate enough to be hit by someone who was drunk at the time of the accident. Surely the drunk driver will get arrested by the police and you will get some kind of compensation for the cost of your injuries? If the police charge the driver, do you need to sue the driver separately for damages? 30 year old Iris Franklin was killed by another driver, Natalie Duvernay, a year ago on Mississippi’s Highway 90 in Pass Christian. Duvernay has just been convicted of felony DUI as a result of the death, which happened when the35 year old woman crashed into Franklin’s vehicle at 70 mph in a 45 mph speed zone. Franklin was tested for alcohol and was discovered to have greater than three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood at the time of the accident. Iris Franklin will never have the chance to wonder whether it was possible to sue the drunk driver who killed her, but it remains a distinct possibility for her dependent family, if she has one. Despite a conviction, the injured victim of a drink driving accident, or the family of someone who has been killed by a drunk driver, is not automatically compensated for the often huge financial burden which a serious injury can involve. A charge of DUI may lead to a criminal conviction, but it still leaves you without anything except a sense of satisfaction that justice has been done. To obtain compensation...
by diazlaw | Mar 22, 2018 | Blog, Personal Injury
If you have been injured anywhere in Mississippi and consider that you were not to blame for the accident that caused the injury, you may think that you are entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit against the person or organization at fault. Injuries can be expensive if you are left having to pay for medical treatment and then there is the worry about your means of employment. If you miss time off work because of your injuries you could end up being seriously out of pocket. The worst case scenario is that you are so seriously injured that you lose your job altogether. While a personal injury claim is certainly an important option you will need to discuss the circumstances thoroughly with a Mississippi personal injury attorney before you file a claim. The attorney will run through the details of your case and make certain that there is a good chance of proving negligence, an important prerequisite for having a successful outcome. Each state has slightly different personal injury laws so it is worth acquainting yourself with some of the limitations that are used in Mississippi as they may have a bearing on your ability to make a claim. The statute of limitations Every state puts a time limit on making a personal injury claim. To be honest, the sooner you make a claim the better. This is not so much because of the statute of limitations but because it is simply easier establishing fault earlier rather than later. Witnesses are harder to find and become less reliable. Evidence that could have been used to support your claim...
by diazlaw | Feb 22, 2018 | Blog
Motorcyclist helmet rules vary from state to state. In some states, like Mississippi, it is compulsory to wear a helmet if you ride a motorcycle. 18 other states, as well as D.C., have the same or similar rules, leaving the rest with basically no helmet rules at all. If there are any compulsory helmet rules they are aimed at younger riders. So who’s right? Do state mandated helmet laws actually make it safer for motorcyclists, or is it simply an imposition on riders’ freedom to take a risk? Statistics show helmet wearing is inherently safer It’s not easy dissecting the statistics on motorcycle accidents and coming out with a conclusion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) keeps statistics on traffic accidents of all types and there is no doubt that riding on a motorcycle is inherently less safe than driving or being driven in an enclosed motor vehicle. NHTSA data shows that the number of motorcycle accident fatalities has spiked over the last few years, but the data doesn’t necessarily indicate that this is because riders are wearing helmets less. It may be because there are more people out riding motorcycles. The Advocates for Highway Safety (AHS), which campaigns for safer roads, including campaigning for helmet rules to be strengthened claims that in states like Texas that do not have helmet rules, riders that do not wear helmets have higher fatality rates than those that do. The U.S. wide figure is a 59% fatality rate for unhelmeted riders compared to 49% for helmeted riders. The rate by comparison for states that do have helmet laws like Mississippi is...
by diazlaw | Jan 24, 2018 | Blog
Many states across the U.S. have made laws about the use of mobile devices like cell phones while driving. Some of these have banned cell phone use outright. Others have just banned texting while driving. Others have allowed hands free devices only. And then there are a few states, including Arizona, but not Mississippi, that have essentially no cell phone rules at all. Mississippi’s cell phone laws have been strengthened in recent years. For a long time, they were very lax compared to other states. In fact, even as recently as 2014, the state was one of a small number of states with no cell phone laws. This has now changed. You are not allowed to text while driving in Mississippi. If you are a bus driver and have at least one minor on board or a learner driver you cannot use a cell phone at all. There is no hands free law in Mississippi at this time, so theoretically you can still use your cell phone for making voice calls or receiving them while you drive. The law in this regard makes the state still less rigorous than some other states like New York that bans the use of hand held devices completely, but still allows hands free devices. Mississippi’s cell phone laws have come under a lot of pressure to change in the last few years. This has come from pressure groups traditionally concerned with road safety as well as from the police, who have lobbied for stricter distracted driving legislation and stiffer penalties. As of July 1st 2016, any driver caught texting or using their device...
by diazlaw | Dec 27, 2017 | Blog
Have you experienced an incident of road rage recently? Road rage is thought to be a leading cause of auto accident fatalities and serious injuries. If you are caught up in a road rage incident, is there anything you can do to ensure you are not harmed and if you are injured because your vehicle is hit by the other driver, what can you do? Definition of road rage The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) defines road rage as behavior that a driver exhibits when he or she deliberately commits multiple traffic offenses in order to endanger the lives and / or property of others. Another way of describing road rage is “aggressive driving.” Road rage can take many forms. It might be unnecessary hooting the horn, swearing, waving, giving the finger, shouting, facial signs, tailgating, swerving close to the affected vehicle and in the most extreme cases, actual physical contact. According to the NHTSA, driver error, or driver behavior, is responsible for a vast majority of traffic accidents (94%). It’s hard to put an accurate figure on the contribution that road rage behavior has, but the NHTSA estimates that it could be as high as two thirds of all serious accidents. Responding to aggressive drivers Research suggests that many drivers exhibiting aggressive behavior have reasons for their behavior that have nothing directly to do with the conditions they are dealing with on a highway. It may be that they are stressed out at work, have marital or family problems or are genuinely emotionally or psychologically disturbed. The immediate of a road rage incident may be when another...
