Newsletter Navigation
- From Robert’s Desk
- West TN List of “Target” Nursing Homes
- Pharmacy Errors
- Disability Hearings
- Foodborne Illnesses / Food Poisoning
- Settlements
- Plant Closings Q & A
- Buyer Beware
From Robert’s Desk
Hill Boren Spends The Day “ON” For MLK Day.
By: Robert Hill
Our law firm may have closed their offices in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., but our employees found many volunteer opportunities in keeping with the spirit of MLK Day. The law firm took a day “ON” instead of a day “OFF”.
Staff members from the Memphis and Jackson offices celebrated MLK Day January 21, 2008 by volunteering their services at the National Civil Rights Museum. Ten Hill Boren employees helped coordinate and host all the media who were on hand to report the day’s events. They served food and beverages and were runners for the press and The National Civil Rights Museum staff throughout the day.
Other Hill Boren staff members volunteered their time at RIFA (Regional Interfaith Association) in Jackson, TN. They planned, cooked and served lunch for about 150 people through RIFA’s Feeding the Multitudes program.
They created a hearty recipe that they made up on the spot. Since you have to use the ingredients that are on hand that day, we got in early and looked at what we had. They then came up with a wonderful dish that kept the diners coming back for more.
It took our 28 team members most of the day to plan the meal, cook, serve the crowd, and then clean up. Everyone who participated felt that the day was worthwhile. It also made them feel much closer to the community and more aware of the needs that must be met each day.
Hill•Boren started the tradition of a “day on” a few years ago. Each year we choose projects that we feel honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service to the National Civil Rights Museum was an easy choice and the relationship between the Hill Boren staff and the Museum staff is great. We plan to continue providing assistance to the museum for special events.
As for the RIFA experience, we are already planning ways to help ensure that the organization has a more consistent inventory of food supplies. Experiencing first hand the difficulties of trying to prepare a meal when you don’t know until the last minute what you have for ingredients, has motivated the firm to help develop a better system.
West TN List of “Target” Nursing Homes
By: Tamara Hill
A bulletin from The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR) dated February 5, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) named 4,037 nursing homes whose pressure sore and/or restraint rates have targeted them for improvement.
While CMS officials maintain that these facilities are “not the worst nursing homes in the country,” it says that their quality measures in these two areas substantially exceed CMS target rates. In West Tennessee, those facilities listed in the CMS report are as follows:
| Dyer Dyersburg Manor Nursing Home Oakwood Community Living Center Wesley at Dyersburg Gibson Humboldt Manor Nursing Center Haywood Crestview Health Care Center Lake Ridgely Care and Rehab Center Madison Forest Cove Manor Obion Union City Manor |
Shelby Americare Health and Rehabilitation Center Applingwood HCC Ashton Place Health and Rehab Center Ave Maria Home Bright Glade Convalescent Center Cordova Rehab and Nursing Center High Pointe Health and Rehab Memphis Health Care and Rehabilitation Center Midsouth Health and Rehabilitation Center Overton Park Health Care Center Primacy Health Care and Rehab Quince Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Spring Gate Rehab and Health Care Center The Kings Daughters and Sons Wesley Highland Manor Whitehaven Community Living |
Additional information concerning these nursing homes and a complete list of all nursing homes can be found at http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare
CMS also released a list of hospitals they have targeted for their Surgical Care Improvement Program - Infections. West Tennessee Hospitals on that list include the following:
JACKSON, TN |
MILAN, TN |
Additional information concerning CMS’ quality measures for these hospitals and others can be found at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home and you suspect they have been neglected, please call us.
Pharmacy Errors are on the Rise: Don't be a Victim
By: Jeff Boyd
Every year in the United States, 30 million dispensing errors out of 3 billion prescriptions occur at outpatient pharmacies, according to the National Patient Safety Foundation. Some errors are minor. Some patients catch the error easily. How-ever, others can be serious. There’s been a tremendous increase in fatal pharmacy errors over the past 20 years. This increase is much bigger for outpatient pharmacies like Wal-greens than for inpatient hospital pharmacies. Why the increase? More health care is happening outside hospitals, putting more of a burden on outpatient pharmacists.
Here are ways to avoid becoming a victim:
Don’t Get A Prescription Filled At The Beginning Of The Month.
Research shows that in the first few days of each month medication errors rise by as much as 25 percent above normal. The reason: Social Security checks come at the beginning of the month. Quite a number of people can’t afford to get their medicines until the Social Security check arrives, so at the beginning of the month they turn up in abnormally large numbers and swamp the pharmacists. When pharmacists are busy, they make more mistakes.
Open The Bottle At The Pharmacy
Opening the bottle right at the pharmacy and showing the pills to the pharmacist is one safeguard. Another: If it looks different than the medicine you’ve taken before, or you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask the pharmacist.
Don’t Be In A Rush
When picking up drugs, patients want to get in and out quickly. We care if our biscuit has butter or margarine on it; whether we are drinking diet or regular Coke; and whether the mashed potatoes are instant or “real.” We really should be much more careful about the medications we put in our mouths. Patients should take the time to get detailed instructions about how to take a drug. Errors happen not just when the wrong medicine is dispensed, but when the right medicine is taken at the wrong dosage.
Question Your Doctor
Doctors are human like the rest of us. If you have been taking a particular medicine or dosage of a medicine and that all of a sudden changes, call the doctor to confirm that they intended for that to hap-pen. Sometimes, doctors mistakenly go from 25 mg to 50 mg of a medicine without realizing it. Sometimes, they accidentally change your frequency of dose from 3 times per week to 3 times per day. Obviously, these mistakes can cause serious health problems. However, these can be addressed easily by either you or your pharmacist if you take the time to pay attention to your medical treatment. Never assume that they are the doctor or pharmacist and should know better than you about your medications.
As always, if you or someone you know have been injured by a pharmacy error, please call Hill Boren, P.C. to discuss your case in confidence.
Social Security Proposes New Rules for Disability Hearings
By: Mike Hartup
Now, more than ever, people applying for disability need the expertise of an experienced attorney to navigate the Social Security appeals process.
Anyone who has applied for disability benefits knows all too well how slow the appeals process moves be-cause of Social Security’s case backlog. The government now plans to tackle the backlog problem by changing the appeals process rules and regulations. However, these changes may actually make it harder for you to get your disability benefits.
Under Social Security’s proposed new rules you would have strict deadlines for submitting evidence at your disability hearing. If you don’t submit evidence that can help you win your hearing within the new time-frame, you may be barred from ever using the evidence on an appeal. Winning your case on appeal may be impossible without that evidence, and you may be forced to start the claims process over and lose valuable back-pay.
These proposed rule changes make it more important than ever to get a civil justice attorney that understands the Social Security appeals process working on your case as soon as your application for benefits is denied.
At Hill•Boren, we’re here to help you with your Social Security claim and we know how.
Foodborne Illnesses / Food Poisoning
By: James Krenis
We are seeing an increase in the number of foodborne ill-nesses or food poisoning incidents. We currently represent two clients involving salmonella contamination at a gas station food market. The food in these cases was prepared in an unsanitary way and both clients got very sick. The victims were hospitalized and treatment took months. The health department was contacted and salmonella contamination was confirmed.
Salmonella is a bacterium that is widespread in the intestines of birds, reptiles and mammals. It can spread to humans by a variety of different foods of animal origin. The illness it causes, salmonellosis, typically includes fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Illnesses that are primarily diarrhea or vomiting can lead to dehydration and rectal bleeding. In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune system, Salmonella bacteria can invade the blood stream and cause life-threatening infections.
An outbreak of foodborne illness occurs when a group of people consume the same contaminated food and two or more of them come down with the same illness. For an outbreak to occur, something must have happened to contaminate a batch of food that was eaten by the group of people. Contaminated food, like chicken left in melted ice for hours, allows the bacteria to multiply to high numbers. It was then insufficiently cooked to kill the bacteria.
After the microbes are swallowed, there is a delay called the incubation period, before the symptoms of illness begin. This de-lay may range from hours to days, depending on the organism and how many of them were swallowed. Salmonella is found by culturing stool samples in laboratory and identifying the bacteria. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 38 cases of salmonellosis actually occurs for every case that is actually diagnosed and reported to public health authorities.
Scientists are only now beginning to fully understand that foodborne illnesses can sometimes trigger serious health problems months or years after patients have survived the initial illness.. The long term consequences are a poorly studied area of foodborne illness. I believe the medical community has been drastically underestimating the burden on society that food-borne illnesses represent.
Evidence in these cases is often weak, because illness can be brought on by many things at different places. Important aspects of cases of foodborne illnesses include having receipts from the place where the food was purchased, medical records documenting salmonella poisoning, your specific complaints about the particular location where the food was purchased, a close connection between the time of illness and the eating of the food, and a witness who can confirm your story.
If you or someone you know has recently suffered a food poisoning, please call me to discuss how we may be able to help you.
Plant Closings: Question and Answer
By: Greg Petrinjak
With the recent rash of plant closings, we have received numerous calls from previous and new clients asking about the impact of their plant’s closing on their past or current workers’ compensation claim. If you had a work-ers’ compensation claim that was settled and you re-turned to work and the company is now closing, you may be entitled to additional benefits. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about plant closings.
Q: When I settled my workers’ compensation case, I was told that my award was limited, or “capped,” because I had returned to work with the same employer. Now the plant has closed and I lost my job. What are my rights?
A: If a plant closes, or you are laid off through no fault of your own, you may have the right to reopen your case and receive a larger award.
Q: My company recently sold the plant and we are under new ownership. I am still doing the same job, but I wonder whether this affects my rights?
A: Yes, it could. You may have the right to reopen your case against the old employer and receive additional benefits. But don’t wait,you generally have only one year from the date of new ownership to request reconsideration of your case.
Each situation is fact-dependent and there is no substitute for personal legal advice about your specific case. If you have questions concerning a plant closing or sale, and how it affects your workers’ compensation benefits, call Hill Boren today for a free consultation.
Buyer Beware: Cancer Policy Scam
Have you or anyone you know purchased a cancer policy from the Life Insurance Company of Alabama or some other insurance company? A large number of these policies have been sold to groups of blue collar workers as payroll deductions. The insurance company has been paying far less than what the policy states. Claims filed by purchasers of this policy have had their benefits reduced by the amount covered by their regular medical insurance. However, the policy indicates it would pay the full value of “usual and customary” treatment, regardless of other insurance coverage. Cancer policy holders are being cheated out of their benefits.
A class action lawsuit has recently been filed against the company. If you have ever purchased a cancer policy in the past, you may have legal rights resulting from these improper actions – even if you never filed a claim. For more information, please call our office: 1.800.727.0622.
SETTLEMENTS
Greg Petrinjak represented a man who suffered a severe crush injury to his foot at work. After a long recovery period, doctors determined that the client was unable to return to heavy construction work. The case settled for $95,480, plus payment of all past and future medical expenses.
James Krenis settled a workers’ compensation case for $150,000 where a truck driver suffered a serious injury to his groin while lifting items on the job.
T. Robert and Tamara Hill settled a case with a Middle Tennessee area nursing home for $425,000. The resident had been sent to the facility for rehabilitation. He suffered weight loss and developed pressure ulcers while at the facility. The resident later died at another facility of conditions likely unrelated to the pressure ulcers.
James Krenis settled a car wreck case for $25,000 in McNairy County where a truck crossed the double yellow center line and passed a car as the car was turning left into a driveway. The truck sideswiped the car injuring both the driver and passenger.
James Krenis represented a man in Benton County who was injured when he fell about 30 feet through rotted wooden bleachers sustaining bad bruises and cuts. Case was settled for $25,000.
Greg Petrinjak represented a client who was hit by a drunk driver on the 45 By-pass in Jackson. She suffered fractures to her arms, which were serious enough to require surgery. The case was settled with two insurance companies paying their policy limits, for a total of $100,000.