The role of a forensic toxicologist is to test for the presence of drugs or toxins in bodily fluid and tissue.
By understanding how various medications, narcotics, chemical elements, and compounds impact the human body, a forensic toxicologist can interpret drug dosages, identify interactions between medications, and explain the harm of various environmental toxins.
In 1955, the Los Angeles Police Department coined the now-popular phrase, “To Protect and Serve”. By 1963, this ethos became the official motto of the LAPD and was later adopted by other law enforcement agencies—concisely stating their mission to the public.
But law enforcement professionals are just as liable to commit negligence and malpractice as the rest of humanity, and pledging to protect and serve does not necessarily mean they will. (more…)
Americans spend an average screen time of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily.
There are many reasons car accidents occur. If, however, an individual is involved in a car accident while using a cell phone, they have a higher probability of being sued for driver negligence.
Whether you are the plaintiff or the defendant, an expert witness can provide the expertise required to scientifically prove who is at fault in a car accident case.
If you would like to see our redacted medical record chronology samples, call to schedule a free consultation, 800-327-3026.
A medical record chronology is an outline of medical events presented in chronological order. Creating an accurate, concise medical chronology as part of a review of voluminous or complex medical records can be challenging. Producing a medical chronology is part detective work, part analysis, and part communication. It requires determining what is relevant in the medical record and organizing that information into a succinct document of the facts.
It is a crucial part of any medical-legal case, and a good medical chronology provides facts and sources to assist expert witnesses in determining merit and damages in a timely and cost-effective manner, without the need for an expert to review a page by page record, until it has been determined that the case has merit.
Our nurse consultants review medical records for individual cases such as personal injury, medical malpractice, nursing home, drug and medical devices, product liability, and all cases where voluminous records get in the way of determining whether or not the case is worth pursuing and/or the specific damages associated with negligent acts.
An accurate medical record chronology requires reading through hundreds of pages of an individual’s medical records to summarize the relevant events in sequential order. Our medical record chronologies present verbatim health information in an objective manner, while taking care to focus on information relevant to the specific facts of your case.
The benefits of a Medical Chronology are:
For more information about medical record chronologies for medical record reviews and pricing, or if you would like to see redacted samples of our medical record chronologies or set up a free consultation, contact us today.
The assessment of pain and suffering damages is different for each claim because the circumstances of each injury victim from before the accident will vary, and injuries impact everyone differently.
Physical Injuries
Physical injuries often take away from a person’s ability to do or enjoy what they did before the accident. People may not be able to continue to work in their career or they may have trouble engaging in activities with their children or have difficulty participating in hobbies and doing things they are passionate about, etc. Some injury victims lose their abilities completely, but most people end up pushing through pain to do the things they need to do and used to love to do, usually with much less frequency than before. These impacts fall under the umbrella of “pain and suffering.”
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There are four areas where Covid-19 cases are appearing in the courts:
One out of four coronavirus deaths in the United States are nursing home residents, according to a new analysis of federal data conducted by the Associated Press. Close to 1 in 10 of all COVID-19 cases are contracted by nursing home residents, as well.
Administrators at nursing homes and assisted living facilities owe a duty of care to their residents. This duty of care includes acting quickly and taking reasonable steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as:
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This past year many of us have learned to work in many different ways, and from many different settings. Change can be challenging, with some trial and error. One positive thing that our attorney-clients have told us is that the need for zoom meetings and remote depositions, to keep cases moving forward, have allowed them to work with experts throughout the United States, without the difficulty of scheduling coordination or the expense of travel. Like many in the workforce, trial lawyers have been called on to be resilient as they remain dedicated to their pursuit of justice. Remote depositions have allowed cases to continue to progress, and have left a favorable impression that zoom meetings and remote depositions may be here to stay.
Below Are Some Best Practices For Conducting A Remote Deposition:
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It is common knowledge that expert witness fees can be one of the highest costs in litigation, if not the highest. Especially if a referral service invoices for the expert assisting on the case. Therefore, an attorney will try to mitigate these costs by:
Finding an expert on their own, and using that expert on multiple cases
Asking around, via email blast or word of mouth, to see if anyone has an expert in the required specialty
Using a local doctor to screen their case, and trying to find an expert that agrees with this opinion
In addition to the risks and costs of the above there are many expert horror stories, that involve:
Every day about 8 people in the United States are killed in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.1
What Is Distracted Driving?
Highway Fatalities:
Distracted Driving:
The growing frequency of distracted driving is alarming:
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With the legalization of medicinal marijuana in 33 states (plus D.C.) and 11 states (plus D.C.) where recreational marijuana is legal, it has become necessary for police to be able to evaluate individuals based on suspicion of impaired driving due to drug use. A Drug recognition expert or drug recognition evaluator (DRE) is a police officer trained to recognize impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs other than, or in addition to, alcohol.
The Los Angeles Police Department originated the program in the early 1970s, when LAPD officers noticed that many of the individuals arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) had very low or zero alcohol concentrations. The officers reasonably suspected that the arrestees were under the influence of drugs but lacked the knowledge and skills to support their suspicions. In response, two LAPD sergeants collaborated with various medical doctors, research psychologists, and other medical professionals to develop a simple, standardized procedure for recognizing drug influence and impairment. Their efforts culminated in the development of a multi-step protocol and the first DRE program. The LAPD formally recognized the program in 1979.
The LAPD DRE program attracted NHTSA’s attention in the early 1980s. The two agencies collaborated to develop a standardized DRE protocol, which led to the development of the DEC Program. During the ensuing years, NHTSA and various other agencies and research groups examined the DEC Program. Their studies demonstrated that a properly trained DRE can successfully identify drug impairment and accurately determine the category of drugs causing such impairment.
How Do Police Determine Whether a Driver Is Under the Influence?
