The Texas Board of Nursing, another way to protect Texas Doctors

There is already plenty of controversy in Texas about suing doctors in the medical malpractice arena. Hospitals in Texas are now using the Board of Nursing and the Nursing Practice Act to minimize their exposure/liability and blame nurses rather than the doctors who improperly treated the patients where deviations of the standard of care are apparent. This is how they do it:

Hospital A receives a Patient that has HIV. The receiving ER doctor learns of the HIV and decides to make the Patient a DNR, since its only a matter of time before the Patient dies (insurance companies only pay for certain amounts, procedures and things for HIV patients). In the mean time, the Patient has chest pains and an EKG reveals that a possible MI is in the making. The ER doctor does not treat the heart attack but orders a consultation with another doctor. The Nurse tells the doctor that the Patient is complaining of chest pains and shows the doctor the EKG. The doctor does not want to treat the HIV patient, rules out a possible MI on the EKG itself and tells the Nurse that the Patient is a drug seeker anyways. Three Hours later the Patient is transfer to the ICU for pneumonia and dies at the ICU while in the care of another doctor five hours after arrival. Cause of death, MI. No expensive drugs are given for the MI and no other treatment was selected by the doctors.

The hospital realizes this, and launches a bogus investigation to get the "Root Cause" analysis simply to see how they can protect their assets (the doctors) who make them the money. The hospital sees that the nurse did not do a procedure (which was not ordered by the doctor nor paid for by the insurance anyways) but decides to fire the nurse and report her to the Texas Board of Nursing. The hospital produces falsified records and documents to the Board, the nurse has an informal hearing but the Board is only concerned about the procedure that the Nurse did not do which was not ordered. The Board hears all the evidence of how the Nurse acted as any other prudent nurse would act under the same or similar circumstances, but the Board did not want to hear that. Case close, Nurse is reprimanded, Doctor is safe and the Hospital wins since it was the nurse, and not the doctor, who deviated from the Standard of Care. Since hospitals will not defend nurses that are not working for them, the nurse is exposed, the Patient is death, insurance wins, hospital is free as a bird.

The Texas Board of Nursing is a governmental agency that is very nice and does not look like a public office at all. The floors are hard wood floors with very nice paintings and equipment. The nurse wondered: who provided the funds for the upgrades to this governmental offices. Insurance companies? Hospitals? Doctors? The public? It would be interesting to find out!!!

Serious injuries, come and see us

Our San Antonio Lawyers have been helping people in Bexar County when they suffer serious injuries as a result of some one's negligence. Auto Accidents are the main culprit, but also injuries caused by doctors, police officers and others.

The Baez Law Firm helps victims of car accidents, even when the victims don't have health insurance. Our lawyers will negotiate your settlement, and if needed, will go to trial for you. Let us help you with your case, do not do it alone.

Our Personal Injury Lawyers help victims of medical malpractice in Texas. The law is very rigit, and our lawyers know how to litigate a case under the new law. Give us a call (210) 979-9777 to set up a free initial consultation.

We have helped victims of police brutality in Texas successfully. If you have been a victim of police brutality in Texas, you need a law firm that is able to handle the police "qualify immunity" issues that could end your case. Let us fight for your rights in court.

Medical Malpractice in Texas

Before this new legislation was passed, people in Texas were able to be compensated when a doctor did something wrong to them. Now a days, that is not the case. Before personal injury attorneys will take any medical malpractice case, there is too many concerns that we must face.

First, is the amount of money that is going to be spent, worth the time and effort that is going to be used to obtain a fair and equitable settlement for the clients. Next, is the expert report, required by Chapter 74 of the CPRC going to overcome the challenge by the Defendants. Also, is there any insurance coverage that would decrease the recovery for the injured. These and many more are considerations to be taken by the lawyer or law firm that will handle your case.

Before proposition 12 was passed, the former 4590i statute gave some indication as to where the law was going to go. Today, the impact that has created on the community is far to grave to describe.

For instance, the paid or incurred statute rewards the irresponsible in Texas and punish the person who does what is right. To explain this concept, it would take another post, so stay tuned.

In essence, Texas has become a place where the injured are suffering more and more, and the wealthy insurance companies and doctors are benefiting at the behest of their pain and suffering. Something needs to be done pronto.

Fortunately, there are still law firms that will handle some cases. If you, or some one you know has been injured by a doctor, contact us. We care about your legal needs.

Medical Malpractice law in Texas

The law has changed in Texas, sometimes to the detriment of the victims of malpractice. This is true in the area of wrongful death. Years ago, a victims family could file a wrongful death or survivor actions for the wrongful actions of a doctor that negligently procured the death of the loved one. Now a days, that is no longer the case.

Texas law changed with proposition number 12, which created section 74 of the civil practice and remedies code. This is a very broad law that pretty much swallows a wrongful death action against any doctor or medical treatment facility for that matter. The law created the infamous "caps" on non-economical damages.

The proponents of the law, falsely accused trial attorneys of filing numerous frivolous law suits which allegedly increased the premiums on doctors, making it impossible for them to practice medicine. With that lie, the public voted for proposition number 12 and the results have been catastrophic.

A victim of a doctor's negligence is only allowed a recovery of $250,000 no matter what the injury was. In other words, lets supposed that you were a prominent entrepreneur, making millions every year, and you had a stomach pain. You go to the doctor and the doctor negligently takes your kidney out, but you only had indigestion. Now you have to be on dialysis for the rest of your life, your sex life is gone and your wife left you. Now you are broke, can't work and are placed on disability by the social security. Your maximum amount of recovery against the doctor is $250,000. And you are expected to live the rest of your life with that.

Let's supposed that you are an avid dancer that loves to take your wife dancing every weekend. You have back pain, and decide to go to the doctor for pain management. A neurosurgeon tells you that you have pinched nerves, but tells you that he can help you with a simple surgery. You decide to go through with the surgery, but the doctor severs a nerve in your spine that leaves you with drop foot. Now, you cannot dance and you are in constant pain. You have to wear a boot for the rest of your life and of course, no more dancing for you or your wife. The doctor gets to continue to make the same mistake to other victims, and your life, as you knew it is over. But wait, you may get $250,000 form the insurance, assuming that you find an attorney that will take your case.

Medical Malpractice law in Texas has become an obstacle for the people who really needs it the most, the injured victims. Because of false information, victims are now facing the harsh reality that, they will never be compensated for he wrongful actions of irresponsible doctors. And by the way, doctors came to Texas by the thousands when the law changed.

We have been helping injured Texans fight for their rights. Let our experts handle your case and take it to a successful recovery for you. We will continue to fight for your rights, and we will continue to try to change the law as we know it for the better of the victims.

Visit our websites: The Baez Law Firm, P.C or San Antonio Lawyer/Attorney or San Antonio Injury Trial Lawyers.

What, the insurance companies lied?

A report by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) indicated that "while we hear that the high cost of insurance premiums were driving doctors out of practice, the reality is that, medical malpractice insurance providers are increasing their profits better than any other Fortune 500 companies.

Here in Texas, the misconception that "frivolous" law suit were the reason for the increase on medical malpractice premiums is finally revealed. Proposition number 12, as we know it was all false propaganda by the insurance industry to increase their bottom line, to the detriment of the injured victims. Conversely, insurance companies have perfected their scheme to a science.

Insurance companies are required to keep "reserves" to pay for anticipated claims. The report has discovered that "often insurance companies grossly overestimate the value of pending claims, only to be able to adjust their books years later after the claim are finally resolved. The ability to hide these earnings allows insurance companies to argue that their profits are lower, thus creating the false need to increase insurance premiums to doctors, while lobbying for tort reform to minimize the payment on the aforementioned claims.

In other words, insurance companies through Enron-esque accounting maneuvers, are not telling the public, their insurers or congress the whole truth. While their profits escalate, they continue to lobby for more tort reform. In Texas, there is already a cap on non-economic damages which creates this abyss for the injured victims from which they cannot recover.

The report further comments that “as these hidden profits were exposed, it became clear that the so-called medical malpractice crisis (prop 12 here in Texas) was nothing more than a coordinated scam by insurance companies that included hiding profits while simultaneously raising premiums on physicians, and then blaming injured patients and their attorneys for these high premiums.” A full proof plan, or so they thought.

We believe that Texas needs to implement insurance reform, not tort reform, and now we have the documentation to prove it. Let us stand together and fight these injustices.

Why do we need experts witnesses

Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 192.3(e) creates three categories of experts witnesses. It is important to know the distinction between them in order to use them more efficiently.

The first category is the consulting expert. This is an expert who has been consulted, retained or specially employed by a party in anticipation of litigation or in preparation for trial.

The second category is the reviewed consulting expert. This is an expert whose opinions and mental impressions have been reviewed by the testifying expert.

Finally, the testifying expert. This is an expert that may be called to testify as an expert witness at trial.

The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure create an exception from discovery for the identity, mental impressions and opinions of consulting experts. On the other hand, the rules also designate information that is discoverable regarding reviewed consulting experts and testifying experts.

The utilization of experts in personal injury cases is crucial for the sauces of the case. Our law firm utilizes the most prestigious and knowledgeable experts available. When your personal injury, auto accident, medical malpractice, negligence, wrongful death case needs some experts, contact our law firm, we can help.

How much for a personal injury lawyer?

Attorney fees in cases of serious injury or wrongful death are generally based on a “contingency fee basis”. This means that the attorney is only paid if (enphasis aded) there is a recovery, and the fees are set as a percentage of the recovery made. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fees at all.

On the other hand, when attorneys charge for their time by the hour, their bills can quickly add up and be beyond the budget of most people. Although the insurance industry and corporations can have dozens of attorneys “on the clock”, that isn’t possible for the rest of us.

Fortunately, consumers have a way to level the playing field. Under a contingency fee contract, attorney fees are generally between 33.3% and 40%, but there is nothing sacred about these numbers. In more complicated and difficult cases or in cases that require significant expenses, the percentages may be higher. Talk to your lawyer about your contingency fee.

You should expect that a contingent fee agreement will be in writing, and in Texas, they are in fact required. Make certain that you understand this agreement. Ask questions. You should expect to be provided a copy of the agreement for your records. How expenses will be paid is an important part of the agreement. Cases for serious injury or death can require sizable expenditures, tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ask what kinds of expenses the attorney considers essential to prepare your case and maximize your recovery.

Routine costs in lawsuits can include charges for filing fees, process servers, facsimile charges, couriers, express mail, Federal Express, UPS, copying of medical and other records, deposition reporter's fees and transcripts, experts' and consultants fees, telephone toll charges, in office copying, postage, attorney's travel by car, parking, overnight hotel and meals, focus groups, trial exhibits, computer research, mediation fees, jury fees and investigators' fees and many others.

The most significant expenses in cases are for experts who hired to explain what the defendant did wrong, medical details related to the death or injury, and future expenses or losses that have resulted. Fo this you need doctors, engineers, life care planners, and economists. In most cases, attorneys with contingent fee agreements will advance the expenses on a case, and then deduct them from the settlement when the case is resolved. Although it is difficult to estimate the expenses of a case in advance, ask for a general estimate of what those costs will be.

Although no attorney can guarantee what the outcome of a given case will be, that does not prevent the attorney from promising to use his/her best efforts on your behalf. The "right attorney" is never unwilling to make this commitment to his/her client and to put that commitment in writing.

If you have been injured by someone's negligence, and you have substantial medical expenses, please contact our law firm. Our experts will help you through this diffucult time and will try to get you back to whole again. Visit our website http://www.thebaezlawfirm.com/ or http://www.sanantoniopersonalinjurytriallawyers.com/ and schedule your free initial consultation with one of our lawyers.