COVERAGE CONFUSION> underinsured and Uninsured Motorist's Coverage

One of the most important yet confusing coverage decisions that one must make in deciding what might be the most beneficial automobile insurance coverage to purchase in Pennsylvania involves the issues of how much underinsured and uninsured motorist coverages should be purchased to protect you and your family. Remember that most importantly, uninsured and underinsured motorists coverages serve to protect you and your family if injured by the carelessness of another driver. These coverages, as their names indicate, come into play when the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured such that their liability coverage is not sufficient to compensate you for your full recoverable wage loss, medical expenses, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life's pleasures. Unfortunately, some people drive without insurance coverage in Pennsylvania and others drive with only the minimum required liabilty coverage of $15,000.00 per person, $30,000.00 per accident. Should you become seriously injured as a result of the carelessness of someone uninsured or underinsured with minimal or inadequate limits of liability insurance, your injuries and losses could go uncompensated unless you have first adequately protected yourself through the purchase of substantial uninsured and underinsured motorists coverages. These coverages are relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of liability coverage, and there are ways to balance out the cost of purchasing sufficient liability coverage to protect others with the cost of uninsured and underinsured motorists coverages that you purchase in order to protect yourself. The lack of appropriate uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages can have a very catastrophic and regrettable impact upon your financial welfare and security if you find yourself seriously injured in a car collision and inadequately insured with these types of coverages. Should you wish to discuss your automobile coverage limits with knowledgable and experienced attorneys who have nothing to gain other than your thanks from suggesting that you may not be adequately protected, please feel free to contact Doug Stoehr.

WHAT IS A PATIENT NAVIGATOR

Patient Navigators are specially trained healthcare workers who provide services and support for the ill and aging. This concept was originally created to assist with the poor, uninsured, and those with low literacy levels. It is my understanding that it then developed to assist those suffering from cancer. Now Patient Navigators can help anyone.

Patient Navigators help people "navigate" the maze of doctor's visits, diagnostic testing, visits to the hospital, outpatient centers, insurance and payment issues, and other components of healthcare. For example, a patient navigator may coordinate your doctors' visits, maintain telephone contact between you and your physicians, arrange for transportation and assist with insurance paperwork. Patient Navigators are former nurses, social workers, or community health workers.

Admittedly, I only recently learned of this service. However, it makes sense: conceivably millions of people are not adept at all of the issues one faces in today's healthcare world. For example, one may be undaunted at arranging his or her medical appointments, but becomes easily flustered dealing with insurance or Medicare paperwork. Another individual may be in a nursing home and needs transportation. Yet many others do not know what to ask their doctor during a visit and even become embarrassed, feeling that they are taking up too much time of their physician.

If you feel that this type of service can help you, but do not know where to turn, I would simply Google the phrase "Patient Navigator" to learn more. I also became aware of a particular website which may be helpful: http://www.patientnavigator.com/. While I cannot vouch for this website, it may be a good place to start.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is interested in healthcare problems and is concerned about individuals who become injured through no fault of their own. Contact our office if you should have any questions or concerns.

Attorney Doug Stoehr

What is a problem with tort reform in the medical malpractice arena? Part II

In an op-ed in the New York Daily News (12/5), New York State Bar Association President Michael Getnick wrote, "Lawyers and lawsuits have been attacked politically for years, but in reality, civil lawsuits shine a spotlight on wrongdoing, call the offenders to account, deter future misbehavior and provide justice for people who have been hurt. Repeated studies have shown that approximately 100,000 people die each year due to medical malpractice in our nation's hospitals." Getnick argues, "Anyone who wants to reduce the number of lawsuits should focus on reducing the type of negligent behavior that harms people and causes them to sue".

Attorney Douglas V. Stoehr seeks justice for our injured clients, not political correctness according to some insurance companies idea of that concept. In doing so, we professionally and diligently represent honest individuals in their unfortunate injury claims resulting from the careless acts of others. When you come to us for help, you can expect integrity on our part, respect and dedication to your cause.

What is a problem with tort reform in the medical malpractice arena?

In a December 6 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it was reported that "Next month, the Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments" in a case challenging the state's cap on jury damage awards. "There and in Illinois' highest court, judges ultimately will rule on an issue that pits doctors and businesses against lawyers and advocates for victims." Medical malpractice attorneys say that the state's $350,000 cap is "bad for consumers...because it means that people...will have a hard time finding a lawyer willing to take their cases".
-Placing caps on jury damage awards merely injures the victim a second time.
-Attorney Douglas V. Stoehr believes that the best way to control medical malpractice is to develop medical practices that reduce or prevent medical errors and malpractice that carelessly cost tens of thousands of lives each year.

Pain Management Resources

Recently I posted a blog about suffering from chronic pain. I have located some pain management resources which I would like to share with you. These are pain advocacy and support groups. They are as follows:

American Diabetes Association - www.diabetes.org

American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association - www.afsafund.org

American Geriatrics Society - www.americangeriatricssociety.org

American RSDHope - www.RSDHope.org

American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics - www.aslme.org

Amputee Coalition of America - www.amputee-coalition.org

Arthritis Foundation - www.arthritis.org

Association of Oncology Social Work - www.aosw.org

Band Against MS-Clay Walker - www.bandagainstms.org

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities - www.c-c-d.org

Dia de la Mujer Latina, Inc. - www.diadelmujerlatina.org

Disability Advocates of America - www.disability-advocate.com

Disabled American Veterans - www.dav.org

Ehler-Danlos National Foundation (connective tissue disorder) - www.ednf.org

For Grace - www.forgrace.org

Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. - www.lupus.org

Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America - www.myasthenia.org

National Fibromyalgia Association - www.fmaware.org

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging - www.n4a.org

National Headache Association - www.headaches.org

The National Migraine Association - www.migraines.org

National Multiple Sclerosis Society - www.nationalmssociety.org

National Organization for Rare Disorders - www.rarediseases.org

National Palliative Care Research Center - www.nprc.org

National Stroke Association - www.stroke.org

National Womens Health Resource Center - www.healthywomen;org

Patient Advocate Foundation - www.patientadvocate.org

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association - www.rsds.org

Sickle Cell Disease - www.sicklecelldisease.org

United States Bone and Joint Decade - www.usbjd.org


At Stoehr & Smith, LLC, we are interested in issues regarding pain and pain management. Feel free to contact our office if you would like to discuss any pain problem brought about because of an accident or injury.

Attorney Doug Stoehr

WARNING: SOCIAL NETWORKING CAN BE HARMFUL TO YOUR CLAIM

IN EARLY OCTOBER of this year, CareerBuilder.com published an article written by Editor Kate Lorenz entitled "Warning: Social Networking Can Be Harmful to Your Job Search". This article started out with the following anecdote and statistics pertaining to careless social networking posts:

That cute, affable guy who brags of his drunken exploits on FaceBook.com may be meeting a lot of other partiers online, but he's probably not getting added to the "friends" lists of many corporate recruiters. A recent study by the executive search firm ExecuNet found that 77 percent of recruiters run searches of candidates on the Web to screen applicants; 35 percent of these same recruiters say they've eliminated a candidate based on the information they uncovered.

This same warning applies as seriously and with as potentially dangerous consequences to personal injury claims. Over the course of the last few years, numerous insurance adjusters to whom I have spoken have come up with information on individuals involved in some capacity on injury claims (usually parties or witnesses) that I would have never expected them to know in the past and which has prompted me to ask "HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU KNOW THAT?". Increasingly I discover that they have found out information that discredits someone's story or potentially lessens their credibility from public posts that are found on social networks such as My Space, Facebook, Twitter and the numerous other sites where we can be lulled into a false sense of privacy or security. I am now CONVINCED that most if not all insurance companies are scanning social network posts in order to see whether there might be something available to use in discrediting (often times unfairly) someone who is asserting a personal injury claim. NOW is the recommended time to recognize that everything placed on these social networking sites is really PUBLIC.

EVEN IF you try to protect your sites from what my kids call "creepers" (those persons trying to look into your site content for the purpose of either being nosey or to possibly use the content against you) by setting the security on private so that only your "friends" can see everything, please remember that any so-called friend can use what you have made private to turn it into something public for the world to see. Therefore, for example, innocent comments made on a social network by someone who has been injured that pertain to involvement or participation in physical endeavors, even if you are innocently watching, can be taken out of context and used to give rise to questions about whether the speaker has in fact been injured to the extent claimed or whether their injuries really prevent them from doing what they are actually unable to do. I believe that most injured people would prefer to put a positive spin on things and let on to their acquaintances that they are doing better than how they are actually doing. It is human nature for most people to not want to be perceived as a whiner, so one with a "tough it out attitude" might instead err on overstating what they are able to do or not accurately detailing all of what they are not able to do. I am not being critical of a "tough it out attitude"; instead I am only waiving a big warning about how this attitude can get an injured victim in trouble if he publishes an overly favorable account of his condition on a social network post.

BEST PRACTICE: keep the facts of your claim and your medical condition off of the internet and out of social network posts. KEEP YOUR INJURY CLAIM PRIVATE AMONG ONLY YOU AND YOUR DOCTORS, ATTORNEY AND TRUSTED LOVED ONES....no one else. Too much can be twisted and distorted too easily when it comes to the use of social networking posts, thereby making social networking about your personal injury claim or about your endeavors during the pendency of your personal injury claim as dangerous as the indiscriminate job searcher who posts things that are most distasteful to future employers.

At Stoehr & Smith, LLC, it is our pledge to protect your privacy WHILE PROTECTING YOUR RIGHTS WHEN REPRESENTING YOU IN A PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM, so as to work toward concluding your claim in A MOST FAVORABLE MANNER that gives credit to the truth and accuracy of the consequences of your injuries and damages!

Attorney Nat Smith natsmith@stoehrsmithlaw.com

What can I say to the therapist or nurse if my case is in litigation?

When you treat for your accident-related injuries the nurse at your doctor's office will often meet with you before you see the physician or physician assistant. Typically the nurse is acquiring updated information from you regarding your limitations and restrictions and pain level from the injury. The same is also true for the physical therapist. In fact, you are probably seeing the therapist 2-3 times per week if this is what your doctor has prescribed. It is easy to become friendly with the nurse and, in particular, the physical therapist. After all, they chose careers in the healthcare field so that we can assume that they do care about your medical condition.



Despite the above, you must be careful how you choose your words. For example, you were hurt in an automobile accident 5 months ago. Recently you experienced a weekend of less pain than typical. However, you know that you are far from being healed. Yet the therapist asks you on Monday morning about your weekend. You said that you felt better with less pain, merely being forthright and trying to keep a positive attitude. However, the therapist records in your notes "Patient improved, less pain, reports that his weekend went well. Will continue with modalities. Expect full improvement." Obviously you did say you were feeling better but you were only making a comparison of the past weekend to the previous five months. You certainly did not mean to imply that all was better with your injury. However, someone reading this note could certainly infer this, especially a claims adjuster or insurance defense attorney.



Here are some tips if you are treating regularly for your accident-related injuries:



1. Always be HONEST. Never exaggerate any complaints of pain yet do not minimize your complaints, either. For example, if you say something such as "Oh, I guess I am doing better," this will be interpreted to mean that you are literally improving. In reality, you may be hurting more than ever but you do not want to be a complainer. Go ahead and complain but, just do not exaggerate.

2. Be careful of developing a friendship with your therapist or nurse. This may cause you to become too comfortable with what you say. For example, you may casually say that you watched the football game on Sunday with some friends and had a couple of beers. However, it is likely that your medical record will state "Patient reports no change in her condition. Drank beer over the weekend." Although there may be nothing wrong with enjoying a brew, do you really want this in your medical records?

3. The goal of the healthcare professional is to help you improve. This is admirable, we want this from our healthcare professionals. However, an overzealous healthcare professional may use any opportunity to increase his batting average. Thus, unless you truly are improving and have no doubt that you will be 100%, do not give anyone ammunition to state in your records you are healed if this is not accurate.

Simply put, it may be better to state "I see some improvement but not enough" or "I still hurt a lot but the last couple of days seem somewhat better," if this is actually the case. Remember, your words will be recorded literally and, at times, stated inaccurately. Thus, like all of life's situations, be careful what you say and how you say it. If you are careful, you will not have to worry about something being taken out of its proper context. Attorney Doug Stoehr