Do You Really Need A Personal Injury Attorney
I have been often asked by potential clients should I hire you? The insurance company told me I won't get any more by hiring an attorney and I will have to pay the attorney a fee.
While no guarantees can be made, it is important to consider why would the insurance company tell you this. Its not because they want to help you. They want to collect premiums and pay out as little as possible so they make a profit for their stockholders. So I believe that in many cases an attorney can get you a better settlement and here's why.
1 An experienced personal injury attorney knows what a reasonable range of jury verdicts would be in your case. This can be from experience and/or research. He can render an informed opinion of the value of your case.
2 If you don't have an attorney you are stuck with taking what the insurance company offers unless you want to represent yourself. However its often said that " a person who represents themself has a fool for a client." Face it, if you need surgery you don't attempt to do it yourself, you hire the best surgeon possible so you get the best result.
3 An attorney can guide you so you don't commit a deadly mistake that ruins your case or lessens the value.
4 An attorney can collect the evidence, review it, and present it in the most favorable light to the insurance company.
5 An attorney know what questions to ask your doctor to elicit information about your injuries that is relevant and helpful in impacting a favorable settlement.
6. An attorney knows what items of damages you are entitled to and works to establish evidence that supports those damages.
7 If an offer is deemed unfair an attorney can file suit on your behalf and seek alternative settlement solutions such as mediation and arbitration.
8 When all else fails to elicit a fair settlement an experienced attorney can take your case to a jury.
9 Some attorneys will advance the expense of litigation that you could not otherwise afford and will charge a fee based on what they recover and only seek to recoup expenses if there is a monetary recovery, Thus the courthouse doors become open to you. You don't have to worry about a big attorney bill and nothing to show for it.
So although minor injury cases may not merit an attorney if you have a significant injury do yourself a favor, consult with an attorney before you blindly believe the insurance company and sell yourself and your case short.
By Anthony Castelli Attorney
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Car Accident Rear End Collision Injuries
Rear End Collision: Overview
The rear impact collision accounts for six deaths per one million registered cars. However, these types of collisions are the most common type of auto accident, with approximately 2.5 million rear impact collisions occurring each year.
The rear bumper system is an important safety feature; however, automakers have developed and installed increasingly less reliable rear bumpers. While a quality rear bumper is capable of compressing upon impact and absorbing the force of a low speed collision, lower quality bumpers tend to be less absorbent, sending the brunt of the impact to the occupants. Furthermore, rear bumpers are designed to handle only a five-mile per hour rear collision when many rear impact collisions occur at much greater speeds. Many of today's bumpers are designed more to protect the car rather than the occupants.
Many insurance companies believe that if a vehicle sustains little or no visible damage, then the vehicle's occupants must have emerged unscathed. This is not necessarily the case. Each day we learn more about the potentially serious physical consequences of low speed, rear impact collisions. While the car may be designed to handle the low speed impact, the human body is not. Whiplash is the most common type of injury sustained in low speed, rear impact collisions.
Whiplash, also called accleration
deceleration trauma, is caused by a sudden and violent movement of the neck. Such movement can cause damage to vertebrae and cervical tissue found in the neck. Whiplash is typically categorized as a soft tissue injury as the muscles and ligaments of the neck are strained and swell, often resulting in pain and stiffness in the neck, headache, nausea, numbness and loss of balance. It can take up to 24 to 36 hours after an accident for these symptoms to manifest themselves.
The most common cause of whiplash is the rear end automobile collision. When your vehicle is struck from behind, your neck will go through a snapping motion resulting in the whiplash injury. Studies have shown that women are more susceptible to whiplash then men, as the female neck is generally longer and less muscular than the male neck. Women usually have more severe and longer lasting symptoms.
Unfortunately, diagnostic tools such as the x-ray cannot effectively detect soft tissue injuries; as a result whiplash often goes undiagnosed. Friends, family, your insurance company, and perhaps even your doctor may doubt the severity of your symptoms. It is important to promptly see a doctor who specializes in soft tissue trauma and to visit an attorney who can ensure that your legal rights are protected
The rear impact collision accounts for six deaths per one million registered cars. However, these types of collisions are the most common type of auto accident, with approximately 2.5 million rear impact collisions occurring each year.
The rear bumper system is an important safety feature; however, automakers have developed and installed increasingly less reliable rear bumpers. While a quality rear bumper is capable of compressing upon impact and absorbing the force of a low speed collision, lower quality bumpers tend to be less absorbent, sending the brunt of the impact to the occupants. Furthermore, rear bumpers are designed to handle only a five-mile per hour rear collision when many rear impact collisions occur at much greater speeds. Many of today's bumpers are designed more to protect the car rather than the occupants.
Many insurance companies believe that if a vehicle sustains little or no visible damage, then the vehicle's occupants must have emerged unscathed. This is not necessarily the case. Each day we learn more about the potentially serious physical consequences of low speed, rear impact collisions. While the car may be designed to handle the low speed impact, the human body is not. Whiplash is the most common type of injury sustained in low speed, rear impact collisions.
Whiplash, also called accleration
deceleration trauma, is caused by a sudden and violent movement of the neck. Such movement can cause damage to vertebrae and cervical tissue found in the neck. Whiplash is typically categorized as a soft tissue injury as the muscles and ligaments of the neck are strained and swell, often resulting in pain and stiffness in the neck, headache, nausea, numbness and loss of balance. It can take up to 24 to 36 hours after an accident for these symptoms to manifest themselves.
The most common cause of whiplash is the rear end automobile collision. When your vehicle is struck from behind, your neck will go through a snapping motion resulting in the whiplash injury. Studies have shown that women are more susceptible to whiplash then men, as the female neck is generally longer and less muscular than the male neck. Women usually have more severe and longer lasting symptoms.
Unfortunately, diagnostic tools such as the x-ray cannot effectively detect soft tissue injuries; as a result whiplash often goes undiagnosed. Friends, family, your insurance company, and perhaps even your doctor may doubt the severity of your symptoms. It is important to promptly see a doctor who specializes in soft tissue trauma and to visit an attorney who can ensure that your legal rights are protected
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Educate Yourself About The Dangers of Drug Combinations
It has been stated that an alarming number of young children and teenagers across the United States are taking powerful combinations of psychiatric drugs, despite a lack of evidence supporting that such combinations are safe and effective.
Last year, it has been reported thatapproximately 1.5 million children received a combination of at least two psychiatric medications. Of those, 500,000 received at least three, more than 160,000 were prescribed at least four, and 280,000 were under the age of 10.
“Zero” Evidence
Psychiatrists have long prescribe multiple drugs (known as drug cocktails) to adults. However, many are now doing the same for younger populations, where the safety and efficacy of drug cocktails has not been proven.
Several studies have shown that a combination of two psychiatric drugs can help some adult patients. Similar evidence for the pediatric population is scarce. And when it comes to combinations of three or more, the evidence is “zero.”
“The data is zip,” said Dr. Steven E. Hyman, former director of the National Institute of Health and current provost of Harvard University.
What Kids Are Taking
Stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit disorder represent the most commonly prescribed psychiatric drug in children. Still, psychiatrists often pair these drugs with antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and/or antipsychotics.
Some of these psychiatric drugs cause serious side effects and their use has not been extensively studied in the pediatric population.
“There are not any good scientific data to support the widespread use of these medicines in children, particularly in young children where the scientific data are even more scarce,” said Dr. Thomas R. Insel of the National Institute of Heath.
Compound Risks
Antidepressants are now required to carry a label warning of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children. Likewise, anticonvulsant drugs carry heightened warnings about the risk of pancreas and liver damage, and in some cases, fatal skin rashes. And among the risks associated with antipsychotics are rapid weight gain, diabetes, and permanent tics.
According to medical experts, these risks compound when the drugs are combined.
“No one has been able to show that the benefits of these combinations outweigh the risks in children,” said Dr. Daniel J. Safer, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.
Please question your doctor about the drugs he prescribes your child. Make sure he knows if any other Doctor is prescribing drugs to your child.
I do not handle defective drug cases and only offer this information as a public service announcement.
Anthony Castelli www.castellilaw.com
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