Philadelphia Injury Lawyers Blog

No one can doubt the difficult economic times that we all face. Businesses are also faced with belt tightening that affects both consumers and employees.

Countless studies have shown that when companies face difficult economic obstacles, one of the first measures to be cut is safety. Unfortunately, companies often believe that since safety is not a money producing venture, it can take a back seat to their employees and consumers well being. At Shaffer & Gaier, we have handled several cases where products did not go through the vigorous testing they should have done because the companies were trying to save money toward their bottom line. When these defective products caused injury, it was clear that if the companies had gone through their normal paces, the defects of the products would have been avoided. In addition, we have also had experiences with construction accidents where construction companies have placed their workers at risk by failing to adhere to basic safety protocols because they were trying to add to their profit. Certainly, in these difficult economic times these dangers rise to consumers and workers.

The change and developments of the United States Supreme Court has taken with regard to unsafe drugs and medical devices are quite simply frightening. Is there really anyone left in America who still thinks that just because a medication is approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is safe and without product defects? If so, then the drugs like Vioxx would never be recalled by the FDA. These drugs made it through the FDA’s incredibly lame screening process to hurt thousands of innocent people.

The pharmaceutical industry, and its giant lobbying group, has tried to prohibit lawsuits against drug manufacturers because the drugs that are approved meet the seal of approval by the FDA. Due to the huge problems that these drug manufacturers have had, and the confidential documents that they never disclosed to the FDA concerning negative research, it is frightening that these companies could be immune from liability. Too often, clients contact our office with questions about defective medical devices and/or defective drugs and I am faced with explaining to them the difficult and confusing decisions by the United States Supreme Court that, in effect, takes away their rights.

The government is finally poised to prevent hospitals from profiting from their preventable mistakes. Starting last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will deny payments to hospitals for the additional costs associated with treating patients for certain types of preventable hospital acquired infections and medical errors. These very preventable problems are caused by unconscionable care including bed sores, surgical error such as objects left in patients during surgery and in-hospital falls.

Too often, clients are faced with mounting medical bills that are only amplified by medical mistakes. One of the most tragic cases we ever had was a bed sore case where a patient was allowed to develop a bed sore that was literally larger than his fist. This individual had heart surgery and due to the nurses’ negligence in turning the patient, he was allowed to develop a huge bedsore on his buttocks. This made his recovery that much more difficult. We were happy to be able to secure a substantial settlement on his behalf.

Many people argue over whether there is too much government regulation concerning our everyday lives. However, we certainly could agree that when it comes to caring for our loved ones, the laws in the book should at least be followed.

In a report released just last week, Federal investigators have found that more than 90% of nursing homes were cited for violations of Federal health and safety standards last year. Most troubling, the for-profit nursing homes were more likely to have problems than any other types of nursing homes Federal investigators found. These problems included infected bed sores, medication mix-up, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients. Inspectors received over 37,000 complaints about the conditions in nursing homes last year and they substantiated almost 40% of them. About 20% of the complaints verified by Federal and State authorities involved nursing home abuse or neglect of patients.

It’s often said that the greatness of a country is determined how it cares for people who can’t care for themselves. Certainly, the elderly fall within this category and no one can contest that these people deserve the best care possible. It is clear from this study that many elderly are not receiving the best care available and that they deserve.

Our firm has handled many nursing home cases throughout the years. We employ a full time nurse/paralegal to review these type of cases. She has over a decade of experience in the nursing field reviewing and evaluating our cases. Please contact us at Shaffer & Gaier, LLC if one of your loved ones has not received appropriate care at a nursing home.