So whenever you hear anyone say your insurance rates are too high because of lawsuits, ask them where they gets their facts.  My guess is they will be able to give you no facts.  They will simply spout back what they have heard or read from untrustworthy sources.  Then think, well wouldn’t my rates be lower if the companies were not spending so much on TV advertising, sponsoring car races and bowl games?  Resist the urge to follow the crowd.  Demand proof.  Defend your mother, who I know taught you to make up for any harm you do.  If you spill the milk, clean it up.  If you break a window, fix it or pay to have it fixed.  If you do not use care in your life and it causes injury to another- Drunk driving, failing to stop at a stop sign, build a scaffold wrong, make up for the harm by demanding that your insurance company does right by the person who was hurt.  Demand the insurance company does right by the injured person’s family.

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This next part is for my readers who treat brain injury.  You can be of great assistance to your patient if, when you are asked to provide a report documenting your opinions about the patient’s ability to work, you write the report to include references to the medical record that support your opinions and conclusions.  Unsupported opinions carry little weight with the Social Security Administration.  Even if your opinions are dead on accurate,   if they are not supported by corresponding references to the record, you might as well have not taken the time to write the report. Please take your time when you write that report.  An accurate report to the SSA is very important to your patient’s well being.

Brain injury which causes severe neurological affect, i.e. paralysis, dysphasia, severe executive dysfunction, etc are fairly straight forward in terms of proof.  It is the brain injury which has responded well to treatment, but still leaves the survivor with subtle issues such as fatigue, short term memory loss and the need for increased completions times.  These survivors also face the well known prejudice, “They look okay, they must be okay”.  For these survivors, the report may well be the most important piece of evidence.  I also suggest letters from failed work attempt employers and or failed class teachers. Many times survivor’s recoveries are significant,  and relative to their immediate post injury condition, the patient is doing very well.  This, however, does not always mean the patient is back to their pre injury function or that they can return to employment. So, doctors, you must explain in your reports that although the patient has improved significantly, that does not mean they are employable in a competitive job.  You must point out why this is using references to your medical records.  Otherwise it is too easy for the SSA to say, well they look good and the doc says they are much improved, they must be able to work.

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Young children put almost everything in their mouth, which makes the main goal of choking prevention to keep any small items that your child might choke on out of his mouth. This may mean occasionally getting on all fours and checking under the kitchen table and other furniture and behind coach cushions.

Know what to look for.  Once you know what to look for the task is not so overwhelming. Some of the most common choking hazards include: whole grapes
• peanuts and other nuts
• popcorn
• hard candy and chewing gum
• hard foods, including raw vegetables
• soft foods, such as large cubes of cheese, caramels, etc.
• chewy foods, such as thick spoonfuls of peanut butter
• uncut hot dogs
• coins
• marbles and small balls
• small magnets
• small batteries
• balloons, which can be a choking hazard to kids under age eight when they put broken balloon pieces in their mouths or when they inhale intact balloons when trying to blow them up
• safety pins, pen caps, and tacks
• small toy parts that can fit inside a choke test cylinder or no-choke testing tube, which measures 1 1/4 inches wide by 2 1/4 inches long and simulates the size and shape of a young child’s throat, such as Lego building blocks, dice, beads, etc.
• dry pet food

Of course this does not mean that all of these items should be banned from the home, but it does mean they should not be in an area where your child, especially those crawling around on the floor, will be. Some tips include always be aware of what you are feeding your child.  If it is a hotdog, make sure the dog is cut into small enough pieces that they cannot become stuck in the throat. Supervise your children’s play and avoid age inappropriate toys.  If you have older children playing with smaller items, make sure the younger children are not able to get hold of the small pieces.

Choking Prevention

In addition to regularly checking the floor, your car, and other areas where your child crawls, walks, and plays, other steps to keep kids safe from choking include that you:

Learn CPR and keep emergency numbers by the phone, learn the Heimlich maneuver, keep medications and vitamins out of reach in child resistant containers, childproof cabinets and drawers so that your kids can’t get to small items inside them, supervise kids when they are eating, cut foods, like grapes and hot dogs, into small, one-half inch pieces, avoid foods that are not age appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers, like chewing gum, hard candy, and nuts until they are at least four years old, don’t let your kids play with toys that are not recommended for their age, since they may have small parts and could be a choking hazard, keep your older kids toys out of reach of younger siblings, regularly inspect toys to make sure that parts aren’t going to break off and throw out any broken toys, supervise kids under age eight if they are playing with a balloon, keep uninflated balloons out of reach, and throw away balloons once they deflate or break, see your pediatrician if your child seems to have an episode of choking, recovers, but then develops a chronic cough, since that can be a sign that your child aspirated the item and it is still in his lung, Also be sure to supervise your kids when they are outside, at someone else’s home that may not be as well childproofed as your own, or at a store, as there may be many choking hazards around that your toddler or preschooler could pick up.

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It may surprise you to know that the Founding Fathers thought so highly of a citizen’s right to ask a jury to determine fair compensation for their injuries, whether to their person, their property, their intellectual rights and so on, that they wrote the seventh amendment into the Bill of Rights.  The Seventh Amendment  states: In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

So why are our legislators infringing that right.  Did you know that in securities cases arbitration is mandatory and the Right to a Trial by Jury is almost impossible.  Did you know that there is a current effort by some special interest groups to abolish the right to trial by jury?

 A serious personal injury to a wage earner is often times the most important event in that person’s life as well as the lives of their family. Broken bones, brain injury, paralysis and even wrongful death can devastate the welfare of that family unit.  Requiring the negligent individual or corporation to fully make up for the harm they have caused is the right of the injured, as well as the taxpayer who will have to care for the person and the family if the responsible party does not meet their obligations. A Trial by Jury, as our Founding Fathers knew, is that check and balance which we all call fairness. Do not let anyone take that right from you, or from us!

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Our legislators (whose approval ratings are in the toilet) are consistently telling us that trial lawyers are greedy no good SOBs who live off the misery of others and interfere with our competitive abilities in the world market place.  Now, these folks don’t come up with this vitriol on their own.  They get it from vested interests whose goal it is to be free from the obligation of being responsible for the harm they cause, so as to maximize profits.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for maximizing profits, I just don’t think anyone, whether an individual, a corporation or a government should be able to do whatever they wish without being responsible for the harm they cause.  My mother was right.  Mom taught her children that being a good citizen, whether in our neighborhood, our city, our state or our country required us to be responsible for our actions.  This included being responsible for making up for the harm we cause.  She would be shamed if a law was passed giving her children protection from their actions, when those action hurt others.

If you agree with my mom, ask yourself, why should a corporation be protected and not be responsible for its actions?

Now, here comes the part about trial lawyers.  Our Government is too big.  We spend more money than we have.  But the people need protection from those who would flaunt safety rules and regulations for their own gain.  The simple, low cost answer is the trial lawyer.  Trial lawyers do not require subsidies from the government.  Trial lawyers hold wrong doers responsible for their actions.  Trial lawyers take people and corporations to task for the harm they cause others.  We do this at little or no cost to the tax payer.  When people and corporations follow simple safety rules, we have less injury, fewer people out of work, fewer people on Medicare or Medicaid, and more people contributing to the welfare of society.

So I ask you again, do you really think that trial lawyers are the problem?

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If you are not so seriously injured that you are able to walk and talk and think clearly, then we suggest that you give a concise statement of the facts to the investigating officer.  Ask the officer to record the names of witnesses at the scene.  You may exchange insurance information at the scene of the collision.  If the other driver is not cooperating, do not force the issue.  Allow the police to take care of it.  However, you should record the license plate number and make and model of the other car.

Limit Discussion of the collision and talk only with the police or your claim handler.

If you receive a call, a visit, or a letter from an attorney or attorney’s office within the first thirty days of the collision, know that they cannot be trusted.  They cannot be trusted because the rules of the Indiana Supreme Court prohibit such contact.  If a lawyer, a law firm or one of their workers contacts you within that 30 days, know they are not honest and you must report them to the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.  Someone who would violate this rule cannot be trusted to work for you.

Give no statement to the insurance company for the person who caused the collision. 

If you are injured seek medical attention and follow the doctor’s orders.  It is difficult for those without insurance to obtain quality care, but do what you can.

If you have any questions about your rights, seek the advice of people you know and respect to locate and retain a lawyer.  Experience counts, and your friends and family probably know a good lawyer with whom they have worked and trust.

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A cross walk is specifically defined in Indiana Law.  A crosswalk is either part of the roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the road measured from the curbs , or in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway. Or A part of the roadway distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.  It is my experience that cars hit pedestrians at cross walk most often in one of two ways.  The first is at the intersection.  A driver wants to make a right turn, and to do so is looking to the left for oncoming traffic.  Once traffic clears, the driver fails to look left, starts the turn and hits the pedestrian in the crosswalk.  Remember to look back to the right in these situations, before entering the intersection.  The second common collision is at the non-intersection crosswalk.  This crosswalk may be in the middle of the block.  Another car stops to let a pedestrian cross, and the second car does not stop and hits the pedestrian.  Be warned, it is against the law for a car to pass another car stopped at an intersection. See  Indiana Code 9-21-17-6. 

Please keep alert for pedestrians.  You will never forgive yourself for the harm you cause and the family who suffers the loss associated with a pedestrian/car collision may never recover.

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We do want to say, however that fair compensation is not vengeance.  Our mothers taught us that if you make a mistake, and that mistake causes others harm, you are honor bound to make up for the harm you cause. Your obligation is to make up for all the harm you cause, not just what you think is ok.  Of course the person who has suffered the harm has every right to say to you, “Thank you for your offer to make up for the harm you caused, but I choose not to either ask for or receive this fair compensation.”  However, if the injured person accepts your offer to fully make up for the harm that you caused, that does not mean that person is vengeful. It only means that they accept your offer to make up for the harm. 

Insurance companies gain much by vilifying “fair compensation”. 

The University at issue is well insured.  There insurance rates will stay the same whether the families claim is or is not made.  The University would not have to “divert resources”, because any payment would be from their insurance company.

Fair compensation is not vengeance.  It is the ultimate recognition that our mothers are right, that we all have to live together and take care of each other.

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When a person has private health insurance, the hospital submits the bills to the insurer, which then “writes down” the bill to the “Reasonable” charges for these medical services.  For those of you lucky enough to have private health insurance you have  seen this.  The hospital bill is say, $20,000.00.  The insurance company determines that the reasonable bill is $11,000.00 and the $9,000.00 is written off by the hospital.  Remember what I’m saying, the reasonable bill is only $11,000.00.  Therefore when the hospital writes off the other $9,000.00 they are agreeing the $9,000.00 is not reasonable. Now take the person without insurance, or the person with Medicare.  They are billed, by the hospital, $20,000.00.  There is no write down by an insurance company.  This person is obligated to pay the full $20,000.00 even though if they had private pay insurance, the hospital would have admitted that $9,000.00 of the bill is not reasonable.  That is not fair!!

In addition, when the money is collected through the injury claim, the private pay insurer has to share attorneys fees with the injured person.  Thus out of the $11,000.00 the injured party recovered from their suit, they have to pay the insurer 2/3rds of that amount because the injured party had to pay the attorney and it is only fair that the insurer has to pay also.  The hospital does not have to share the attorneys fees, they get all their money even though a large percentage of the money is  not a reasonable charge.

We say, change I.C. 32-33-4-1 to require that the injured person only has to pay the reasonable amount of charges, and that the hospital must pay their fair share of attorneys fees.

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