Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

Rick Santorum, a Republican candidate for President, blames lawyers and medical malpractice lawsuits for unnecessarily driving up health care costs. He claims that he will push to limit payments to medical malpractice lawsuit victims and has repeatedly spoken about caps on medical malpractice recoveries. What Mr. Santorum fails to mention in his campaign speeches is that he testified in support of his wife when she filed a medical malpractice lawsuit that allegedly sought $500,000 dollars in damages, which was twice the cap in his original legislative proposal. According to sources Karen Santorum, the wife of Rick Santorum, claimed that a chiropractor left her with a back injury that will result in a lifetime of pain medication and restriction of mobility.

On the campaign trail when questioned, Senator Santorum told reporters that he backed limits and that his wife did not sue for pain and suffering which is the area he thought should be capped. The Judge in the Santorum case stated that a majority of the $350,000 jury verdict awarded to the Santorum’s was largely for unspecific losses and pain and suffering which he concluded was excessive. It is unfortunate however, that after practicing as a Pennsylvania catastrophic injury and malpractice attorney for over 30 years, I often find that the people that complain the most about lawyers are the ones that are the greediest when it comes time to the resolution of their own claims. When they are the victim or a family member is the affected victim, they have a totally different view and yes, they too become “greedy for justice".

I was regularly attacked by a prominent physician in Philadelphia who when dining with me or socializing with me would always chastise the efforts of myself and other trial lawyers committed to achieving justice for injured victims. When this doctor sustained a catastrophic injury as the result of medical malpractice, the sky was the limit for how much he wanted. He was no longer calling for the caps on damages that he was so arrogant and vociferous about before his accident.

Why is it that people will say anything to get them elected to office, yet when it comes time to a personal tragedy where they or their family member is a victim, it is a different set of standards?

I have always believed that a man should be judged by his actions rather than his words. I am not afraid to admit that yes, I am still “greedy for justice" when a wrongdoing occurs caused by the negligence of another or a defectively manufactured product.

I believe wholeheartedly in the American justice system and the average 500 year collective wisdom of American juries.

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury and Philadelphia car accident lawyer, I have literally dealt with thousands of chiropractic care cases involving injured clients. For the most part, although many people and defense attorneys consider chiropractors to be “quacks" or “light and magic shows", mostly I have found that chiropractic manipulation proffered by the properly trained and caring chiropractor can be most beneficial.

In fact, I regularly require chiropractic manipulations and have benefited more therefrom than traditional physical therapy. Unfortunately on the other side of the coin remains the fact that many chiropractor’s offices are nothing more than accident mills operated by businessman or chiropractor more interested in making money rather than offering proper patient care and manipulation.

The underlying basis for chiropractic is the belief is that all physical diseases are the result of misplaced spinal bones and that subluxations of spinal vertebrae cause disease by interfering with the flow of nerve energy from the brain to the body=s tissues. Accordingly, spinal adjustments by a properly trained chiropractor are technically supposed to restore vertebrae to their proper places and allow brain energy to heal the diseased condition. Obviously in order to properly treat a disease or condition, it is completely necessary to have an accurate medical diagnosis as to what constitutes treatment. Many chiropractors administer spinal manipulation without first accurately making a proper medical diagnosis utilizing confirming x-rays, CT scans, or MRI studies and many types of chiropractic medical malpractice claims evolve when a patient sustains an injury or aggravation by manipulation of the musculoskeletal system or the spine where the patient suffers from an illness, disease, or other injury that was not diagnosed. For example, if there is a herniated disc with potential impingement on the spinal nerves and the chiropractor fails to diagnose this condition and engages in aggressive treatment that worsens the condition instead of prescribing immediate medical intervention or diagnosis, that chiropractor may have caused more harm to the patient and may be guilty of chiropractic malpractice. Many times chiropractors don't fully explain the situation to the client or patient and the patient receives treatment or some part of treatment without the informed consent necessary to make an educated decision. Sometimes cervical manipulation or a neck adjustment technique can be more devastating than helpful and can lead to a stroke. A neck adjustment by a chiropractor can cause a dissection of vertebrae or the carotid artery resulting in stroke. The number of chiropractic malpractice and manipulations that report in strokes is vastly under reported in medical literature due to the fact that many patients suffer irreparable brain damage and cannot remember the chiropractic manipulation. All manipulations carry the risk of life threatening accidents and it is important that if you are receiving chiropractic care to do your homework and make sure that you are not treating in an accident mill just focused on volume rather than quality care.

If you have sustained an injury that you believe was caused by chiropractic negligence or malpractice, the experienced and skilled Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys at Reiff and Bily are always available to offer a free, no obligation consultation and work with the finest medical and chiropractic experts throughout the nation. We always offer a no recovery, no fee guarantee. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

As strange as it seems, surgery performed on the wrong side of a patient’s body is more common than one would think. In fact, due to a recent publication resulting from Freedom of Information requests, many more revelations of surgery performed on the wrong side of the body are being publicly acknowledged. While it is unquestionable that mistakes may occur during medical procedures, there simply is no excuse for wrong site surgeries. Simply stated, wrong site surgeries are always the result of carelessness, poor pre-operative planning, and an obvious lack of institutional control.

As an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney whose law firm has successfully litigated wrong site surgery cases for over three decades, we consider this medical error to be the most outrageous type of insult to the patient due to the fact that it forever changes the patient’s life with irreversible injuries and is so easily prevented.
Surprisingly the reporting of wrong site surgery is not mandatory in most states.

Recently when I went in for a minor surgical procedure on my elbow, I met with a doctor briefly after an IV sedative had been introduced prior to entering the operating room. The doctor asked me what I was there for and I asked told him “Why don’t you tell me?" attempting to have him acknowledge the site of the surgery so that I could confirm the same. Obviously at this stage of the game, even I was in an intoxicated state and under the influence of a sedative. Wrong site surgeries account for almost 15% of all reported medical mistakes and in many of the wrong site surgery cases we have investigated and litigated, many of the defendants, doctors, and nurses point the finger at each other without immediately acknowledging a mistake or properly assuming responsibility.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of wrong site surgery, why not put a team of experienced wrong site surgery and medical malpractice lawyers to work for you. Of course, we always offer a free, no obligation consultation. Recently, the accomplished Philadelphia medical malpractice firm of Reiff and Bily have joined forces with the legendary medical malpractice team of the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our attorneys have been awarded billions of dollars since the mid-1950's. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.