Philadelphia Injury Attorney

  • Nov30

    6 Comments

    Philadelphia Medical Malpractice

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    Must a Doctor Accept You as a Patient?

    Suppose you consult a doctor for the first time, but after several minutes the doctor tells you that he or she cannot or will not accept you as a patient and advise you to find another doctor. Can the doctor do this? Yes. A doctor generally need not accept every new patient that comes to him or her. A doctor might refuse to accept a new patient for a number of reasons: The doctor is too busy to take on new patients; your ailment is beyond the doctor’s competency; or there is a personality clash between the two of you. A doctor’s right to reject potential patients is endorsed by the American Medical Association, whose principles of medical ethics state: “A physician is free to choose whom he will serve.”

    On the other hand, a hospital emergency room cannot turn you away if your problem is serious or life-threatening and you need immediate care. While doctors are essentially free to decide whom they wish to treat, hospitals with emergency rooms open to the general public must treat anyone needing emergency care for a serious injury or illness. An emergency room that refuses to examine or treat you in a true emergency is liable for your damages if you suffer further injury because of the delay in treatment that results from having to go to another hospital. For example, suppose that Collette takes her daughter to an emergency room after the girl falls off her bike and strikes her head. The girl complains of dizziness and vomits several times—signs of potentially serious head injuries. Collette tells the emergency room admissions nurse what has happened and describes her daughter’s symptoms. The nurse refuses to have the girl examined, forcing Collette to take her to another hospital thirty minutes away. By the time they get there, the girl’s condition is much worse, and she dies shortly after arrival. An  examination shows that the girl would have lied if the first emergency room had treated her. The hospital that refused to treat the girl is liable for her death because it rejected her in an obviously serious emergency.

    Now suppose that Collette receives welfare and is eligible for Medicaid, but in her haste to get to the emergency room, she forgets to bring her Medicaid card. The admissions nurse is interested only in how Collette plans to pay the hospital’s bill and refuses to let a doctor examine the child until Collette proves that she is covered by Medicaid. Collette returns home to get her Medicaid card, taking her daughter with her; the girl dies in the car on the way back to the hospital. Was the nurse wrong? Yes. In a true emergency, an emergency room cannot refuse to examine or treat you for any reason, including your inability to show proof that you will be able to pay the bill. The nurse clearly should have realized that the girl’s injuries could have been very serious and should have called for a doctor to examine the girl as soon as she was brought in. The doctor’s examination would have revealed that the child had suffered severe head injuries that required immediate treatment. Collette would have a good case against the hospital for malpractice.

    If you or a loved on has been injured due to medical malpractice it is important to contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney right away. Protect your legal rights, contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer at the Law Offices of Andrew Ballerini for your free consultation.

    The Law Office of Andrew A. Ballerini
    Harvard Law Building
    1522 Route 38, Suite 202
    Cherry Hill, NJ 08002-2214
    Phone: 856-665-7140
    Toll free: 800-989-5297 (LAWS)
    Fax: 856-665-8885

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  • Sep30

    4 Comments

    Product Liability – Defective Products

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    A faulty heater causes a fire; a house burns down; and the family inside is killed. A man walking behind a car that is idling in park is run over when the transmission slips into reverse. A five-year-old girl is paralyzed when the heavy lid on her toy trunk falls onto her neck while she is reaching inside. A tire on a ports utility vehicle (SUV) separates, causing the SUV to go out of control and roll over, killing two people and injuring three other. A young woman taking an over –the counter diet aid or cough remedy suffers a stroke due to one of the ingredients. A young woman’s nightgown brushes against a stove burner and bursts into fire, severely burning her; she is permanently disfigured. A man falls off the back of a moving boat and is injured severely by an unguarded propeller.

    Millions of products of every type and description are made each year. Mass production and mass consumption of products has also meant mass injuries. Statistics released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) show that tens of thousands of Americans die and millions of others are injured annually in accident involving consumer products. Many others are harmed or killed by accidents that do not come within the jurisdiction of the CPSC – industrial and farming machines, for example. Many injuries, however, are caused by products that are defective in one way or another – products that, if they had been made or designed safely, would not have caused the injury or death.

    A hundred and twenty-five years ago, if you were injured by a defective product, you were pretty much left out in the cold when it came to trying to collect damages for your injuries from the manufacturer or seller. Caveat emptor – buyer beware – was the order of the day. The law assumed that you had ample opportunity to inspect the product for defects before buying it; if you decided the product was safe enough when you bought it, you could not later claim otherwise. Caveat emptor developed in a time when products were much simpler than they are today. There were fewer products, with fewer moving parts. You usually could tell if something was built well by looking it over carefully, even trying it out a time or two. You didn’t have to be a mechanical engineer to inspect a buggy for sound construction.

    The average modern consumer is generally incapable of determining whether many products are safe and sound – even if given the chance to inspect and test them prior to purchase. Often, many components are hidden from view and can’t be inspected without taking the whole product apart. And even if you could take the cover off, say a television set or other product before buying it, you would need degrees in electrical engineering and many other discipline to determine whether the product was designed and built safety. (You’d also probably void any warranty that came with the product if you took it apart before buying it to see it if was made properly.)

    Product liability law is complex and needs to be handled by an experienced attorney. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a faulty or defective product, contact the attorneys at the Law Offices of Andrew Ballerini. CALL NOW: 800-989-5297 (LAWS). PROTECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.
    The Law Office of Andrew A. Ballerini
    Harvard Law Building
    1522 Route 38, Suite 202
    Cherry Hill, NJ 08002-2214
    Phone: 856-665-7140
    Toll free: 800-989-5297 (LAWS)
    Fax: 856-665-8885

    http://www.ballerinilaw.com/

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