how long does it take to get a pain and suffering settlement?
i got in a roll over accident in july of 2009, as a third party, my friend was driving, no one was drinking,and my total bills including missed work were about 24000 dollars, the insurance company has more than the state min. but they wont tell me or my lawyer how much? it has been over nine months now, and i havent even had the first offer even though the insurance has had all my bills for seven months, i know they delay on purpose, but really? i mean make an offer already i already know what the case is worth? I had four diff adjuster’s so far!!!!! every month its somthing new, some code or number isn’t right on my bills and they have to be faxed again from chapel hill , oh i forgot the extent of my injuries, i spent four days in the hospital, bleeding on the brain, and dislocated shoulder, was out of work for almost two months.I don’t want any responses from adjusters lying, if u work for an insurance agency try to be a human being…..i also don’t understand why my lawyer doesn’t just take this to suit already?please help
I’m Angry! Is this seriously happening?
Fla. hospital defends secretly deporting patient
AP
STUART, Fla. – All sides agree on one thing in the strange case of a South Florida hospital that secretly repatriated a seriously brain injured patient back to Guatemala.
During the early hours of a steamy July 2003 morning, Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and sent 37-year-old Luis Jimenez back to the Central American country without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala — even as his legal guardian frantically sought to stop the move.
There, things get murky. The man’s guardian, also his cousin, is suing the hospital for essentially deporting Jimenez, who was an illegal immigrant. The hospital, which spent more than .5 million on his care over three years, says Jimenez wanted to go home.
Underlying the dispute is the broader question of what’s a hospital to do with a patient who requires long-term care, is unable to pay and doesn’t qualify for federal or state aid because of his immigration status. Health care and immigration experts across the country are watching the case, which could go to a jury Thursday, and which could set precedent in Florida and possibly beyond. Lawyers for Jimenez said this appears to be the first time a lawsuit has been filed in such a case.
"Regardless of the decision, it will heighten the awareness of hospitals nationwide. The next time they debate shipping a patient overseas, they’re going to have to do their homework because it’s going to leave them open to a lot of legal challenges and questions," said Steve Larson, an assistant dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and medical director of a nonprofit clinic for Latino immigrants.
But Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association, says hospitals may become even more wary about providing extended care to uninsured immigrants.
Hospitals are already struggling under the staggering costs of treating the nation’s roughly 47 million uninsured. Illegal immigrants make up an estimated 15 percent of this group, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
"I think they’ll do what’s required according to physician orders," she said, "but I think they will be more pro-active and aggressive in finding a discharge plan."
Like millions of others, Jimenez came the U.S to work as a day laborer, sending money home to his wife and small children. In 2000, a drunk driver crashed into the van he was riding in, leaving the robust soccer player a paraplegic. For more than a year he lingered in a vegetative state before he began to recuperate, eventually reaching a fourth grade level in cognitive ability. The hospital sent him to a long-term care facility for a brief stint, but eventually he was returned to the hospital for care. Armed with a letter from the Guatemalan minister of health stating the poverty-ridden country could care for him, the hospital sent him home.
Because Jimenez has diminished capacity to make decisions, his cousin, Montejo Gaspar, was named as his legal guardian. Gaspar appealed a judge’s order approving the move. The appellate court later reversed that order, ruling a state court lacks the authority to decide immigration cases. But by then, Jimenez had been released from the Guatemalan hospital and was living with his mother in a one-room home in the mountainous state of Huehuetenango, 12 hours from the Guatemalan capital. There is no road to the house, making it nearly impossible for his mother to get help for him in an emergency.
A South Florida Roman Catholic priest described a visit to Jimenez in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "He was clean, glad of the visit and occasionally made apparently good sense comments," wrote the Rev. Frank O’Laughlin. "It seemed that he was cooperating with his caregiver and would survive, I guessed, until his first pneumonia."
O’Laughlin said he wasn’t sure that Jimenez should be returned to "medical care in an alien Florida institution."
But he maintains the lawsuit is important because hospitals should not be allowed to deport people.
He and Larson also say a country that relies on cheap, immigrant labor for everything from agriculture, to clothing to construction, should factor in the cost of catastrophic injuries to those providing these essential services — whether it means requiring employers to offer coverage even for day laborers or ensuring public and nonprofit hospitals can care for them.
Carla Luggiero, a senior associate director for American Hospital Association, stressed that cases such as Jimenez’s are rare. Most of the time, hospitals are able to work with the families to find alternative and acceptable care. And most of the time families don’t have pro bono lawyers working for them as Jimenez does.
But she also warned the issue is serious, and it is one Congress has yet to address in its health care reform proposals.
"There is absolutely no discussion about it," Luggiero said. And yet,
The dangers and side effects of an MRI?
I wanted to know if there was any danger of suffering permanent damage from getting an MRI. I looked up ‘MRI side effects’, and ‘MRI injuries’. I read from these two sites.
http://trusted.md/blog/tyler24476/2006/01/05/mri_side_effects
http://klienspecter.com/mri_injury_lawyer.htm
My first fear is that there could be a metallic fragment in the room, not necessarily an obvious one, but the kind that may come in under someone’s shoes, like a small spec of metal. Then when the machine is turned on, it may lodge in my head or body, maybe without me feeling it.
I’ve heard it can affect the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent headaches and/or nerve damage? I’ve also heard the machine can cause permanent damage to your ears if you don’t wear earplugs? I’m concerned that I mightn’t be wearing them properly, or they mightn’t be good quality. I’ve also heard that it can cause a permanent tightness sensation in the testicles? Thanks anyone who knows and can answer honestly.
This is actually urgent. I got a message on the answering machine from the hospital this morning to confirm my appointment for after tomorrow for an MRI of the pelvis. Then I have another appointment later in June for the rest of the spine. I really need to decide today. The symptoms from the suspected injury that I may have had have actually died down, but I’m thinking if it won’t hurt to do the MRI, then I might as well do it. Thanks again
The dangers and side effects of an MRI?
I wanted to know if there was any danger of suffering permanent damage from getting an MRI. I looked up ‘MRI side effects’, and ‘MRI injuries’. I read from these two sites.
http://trusted.md/blog/tyler24476/2006/01/05/mri_side_effects
http://klienspecter.com/mri_injury_lawyer.htm
My first fear is that there could be a metallic fragment in the room, not necessarily an obvious one, but the kind that may come in under someone’s shoes, like a small spec of metal. Then when the machine is turned on, it may lodge in my head or body, maybe without me feeling it.
I’ve heard it can affect the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent headaches and/or nerve damage? I’ve also heard the machine can cause permanent damage to your ears if you don’t wear earplugs? I’m concerned that I mightn’t be wearing them properly, or they mightn’t be good quality. I’ve also heard that it can cause a permanent tightness sensation in the testicles? Thanks anyone who knows and can answer honestly.
This is actually urgent. I got a message on the answering machine from the hospital this morning to confirm my appointment for after tomorrow for an MRI of the pelvis. Then I have another appointment later in June for the rest of the spine. I really need to decide today. The symptoms from the suspected injury that I may have had have actually died down, but I’m thinking if it won’t hurt to do the MRI, then I might as well do it. Thanks again
The dangers and side effects of an MRI?
I wanted to know if there was any danger of suffering permanent damage from getting an MRI. I looked up ‘MRI side effects’, and ‘MRI injuries’. I read from these two sites.
http://trusted.md/blog/tyler24476/2006/01/05/mri_side_effects
http://klienspecter.com/mri_injury_lawyer.htm
My first fear is that there could be a metallic fragment in the room, not necessarily an obvious one, but the kind that may come in under someone’s shoes, like a small spec of metal. Then when the machine is turned on, it may lodge in my head or body, maybe without me feeling it.
I’ve heard it can affect the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent headaches and/or nerve damage? I’ve also heard the machine can cause permanent damage to your ears if you don’t wear earplugs? I’m concerned that I mightn’t be wearing them properly, or they mightn’t be good quality. I’ve also heard that it can cause a permanent tightness sensation in the testicles? Thanks anyone who knows and can answer honestly.
This is actually urgent. I got a message on the answering machine from the hospital this morning to confirm my appointment for after tomorrow for an MRI of the pelvis. Then I have another appointment later in June for the rest of the spine. I really need to decide today. The symptoms from the suspected injury that I may have had have actually died down, but I’m thinking if it won’t hurt to do the MRI, then I might as well do it. Thanks again
The dangers and side effects of an MRI?
I wanted to know if there was any danger of suffering permanent damage from getting an MRI. I looked up ‘MRI side effects’, and ‘MRI injuries’. I read from these two sites.
http://trusted.md/blog/tyler24476/2006/01/05/mri_side_effects
http://klienspecter.com/mri_injury_lawyer.htm
My first fear is that there could be a metallic fragment in the room, not necessarily an obvious one, but the kind that may come in under someone’s shoes, like a small spec of metal. Then when the machine is turned on, it may lodge in my head or body, maybe without me feeling it.
I’ve heard it can affect the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent headaches and/or nerve damage? I’ve also heard the machine can cause permanent damage to your ears if you don’t wear earplugs? I’m concerned that I mightn’t be wearing them properly, or they mightn’t be good quality. I’ve also heard that it can cause a permanent tightness sensation in the testicles? Thanks anyone who knows and can answer honestly.
This is actually urgent. I got a message on the answering machine from the hospital this morning to confirm my appointment for after tomorrow for an MRI of the pelvis. Then I have another appointment later in June for the rest of the spine. I really need to decide today. The symptoms from the suspected injury that I may have had have actually died down, but I’m thinking if it won’t hurt to do the MRI, then I might as well do it. Thanks again
The dangers and side effects of an MRI?
I wanted to know if there was any danger of suffering permanent damage from getting an MRI. I looked up ‘MRI side effects’, and ‘MRI injuries’. I read from these two sites.
http://trusted.md/blog/tyler24476/2006/01/05/mri_side_effects
http://klienspecter.com/mri_injury_lawyer.htm
My first fear is that there could be a metallic fragment in the room, not necessarily an obvious one, but the kind that may come in under someone’s shoes, like a small spec of metal. Then when the machine is turned on, it may lodge in my head or body, maybe without me feeling it.
I’ve heard it can affect the brain and nervous system, resulting in permanent headaches and/or nerve damage? I’ve also heard the machine can cause permanent damage to your ears if you don’t wear earplugs? I’m concerned that I mightn’t be wearing them properly, or they mightn’t be good quality. I’ve also heard that it can cause a permanent tightness sensation in the testicles? Thanks anyone who knows and can answer honestly.
This is actually urgent. I got a message on the answering machine from the hospital this morning to confirm my appointment for after tomorrow for an MRI of the pelvis. Then I have another appointment later in June for the rest of the spine. I really need to decide today. The symptoms from the suspected injury that I may have had have actually died down, but I’m thinking if it won’t hurt to do the MRI, then I might as well do it. Thanks again
Can I work without affecting my Social Security Disability case?
I have recently filed for disability through social security because of a brain injury i sustained as a child. i tried filing before but got denied because my parents made too much money. Now that I don’t live with them and live with a roommate I have applied again using a lawyer. I was told the case could take up to 2 years. I cannot go 2 years with no income. Is it possible to work 20-25 hours at .25/ hr as a night time janitor without it affecting my case?? This is type of work I feel I can do because I suffer from severe anxiety, ADD, depression, and an inability to work with others as a team. This part time night job working by myself will help get me by and get me some type of health insurance, beacuse I dont have any at the moment and need medication, until my case is determined.
Was I abused then USED?
I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this…hence that’s why I’m on here…but I need some advice about what I should do and what you think about my situation. So, here goes…
I was dating this guy…he had never been physically abusive to me before this happened but he dropped me down a flight of stairs, held a knife to my throat, and dragged me by my hair down the driveway. I don’t remember barely anything, but I know that it happened because my mom and sister were there and I was taken to the ER for my injuries and I had a concussion. Also, the knife was recovered by the police where my mom told them she put it.
Well, I didn’t press charges but the state picked them up. The charges were dropped at the preliminary examination because my ex persuaded me to lie and have my mom and sister lie to the prosc. atty. and judge (and his family spent almost 15k on lawyers). Of course the entire time he was telling me that he loved me and that we would be together when he got out. They held him in prison because he was on parole. We talked and wrote letters the entire time and I visited him a few times too. I met with his attorney for his parole because she requested a copy of my medical records and she told me that he had been transferred to a residential treatment center and that he would be there for 4-6 months and for me to not contact him because his parole had placed a no contact order on us (including my mom and sister as well). Well, I contacted the facility and he is not there. And OTIS, the offender tracking information system, lists his location as the parole office. I spoke with his family and after much prying and me telling them that I knew that he was out, they finally said that he was in Detroit and that he is not coming back. And I found out that there is no "no contact order".
I feel so used and betrayed it is NOT funny. I actually lost a lot from this entire experience. I lost my entire last semester in school which has ruined my chances of getting into the school I’ve been working to get into for the past 3 years. I finally told my therapist the truth about what happened after I knew that he was released and my therapist wants me to have an MRI now because he said that I have symptoms of brain damage that would be a result of my ex from the night that he abused me. I don’t know what to do now. I am afraid of what will happen to me and my family if I go back to the prosc. atty. and tell the truth. I think I can still press charges because his case wasn’t exactly dismissed. The term used was "order of nolle prosequi entere". And the night that all the stuff happened his brother threatened to kill me and my entire family if his brother went back to prison.
I know this is some heavy stuff and I don’t want to hear any "you shouldn’t have fell for it" kind of stuff. I really need some support and advice.
-Thanks.
monica lewinsky dead?
Goodbye Yankee Rose
America was brought to a standstill this morning by the news of Monica Lewinsky’s tragic and untimely death.
Nowhere was the state of despair and sorrow more apparent then amongst TV talk show hosts and television presenters. Their sense of loss was clearly visible as they struggled to come to terms with the fact.
First hand reports are sketchy, but it now appears she died in an automobile accident after leaving a briefing with her lawyers.
Initial reports suggest they were speeding away from pursuing reporters who besieged them as they left the courthouse, where Monica had met with her legal team and a sub-justice committee panel.
Eyewitnesses said there were at least 14 photographers – some on motor bikes, others in big black Cadillacs, who pursued the car as the chauffeur sped off.
Police on the scene had to fight their way through a mob of reporters, amateur photographers and bystanders with video cameras who crowded around the wreckage.
It appears the driver of the black mercedes was killed instantly. Monica died of severe injuries in hospital, while her lawyer, the only passenger to be wearing a seatbelt, survived. He has horrendous dental injures and will have to undergo months of rehabilitation and reconstruction work to repair his teeth.
All America is shocked. Monica has had a profound effect on the Nation which has followed her development and transformation from a gawky young White House intern to a dazzling, attractive, intelligent beauty, more than capable of holding her own amongst the best legal brains in the country.
Even now, Americans are beginning to pay their respects by leaving flowers outside the White House, where she spent so much of her time. Many were weeping openly in the street and telling anyone with a microphone of their bereavement and sense of loss.
The popular view emerging is of an ordinary American woman shamefully treated by an Establishment which did not know how to cope with her simple ability to upstage the strong and powerful.
Others are openly criticising the media for the fanatical way they hounded her every move. Some are suggesting that more has been written and reported about Monica than was ever written about America’s involvement in every theatre of war since World War II.
Although initial reports of Monica’s death have been sketchy, it has not stopped television chat show hosts from rushing in to fill the gaps in their programs with related news.
There have been suggestions of a State funeral in the world famous Crystal Cathedral led by TV Evangelist Pat Robertson.
Reliable reports indicate that Elton John has been hired to do a special version of his hit single Candle in the Wind, which he will perform live, at the televised funeral, with the Morman Tabernacle Choir. Proceeds from any royalties will go to the American Dental Association, and Aids-Watch, a new charity set up recently by Princess Monica when it was revealed that, although indirect, she is descended from an Eastern European, Hungaro-Russian branch of the Romanov royal family.
The White House is also being criticised for failing to fly the flag at half-mast, while every possible conspiracy theory is being examined in great detail by the CIA, FBI and other agencies.
The FBI are reportedly looking for the driver of a small, white car which they believe sideswiped the Mercedes, as it was going around a grassy knoll, before zig zagging across the road to reappear on the opposite side of the road. It then swerved to avoid a head-on collision, bounced off a parking meter, was thrown off course by a pot-hole, hitting the opposite rear end of the Mercedes, causing it to veer out of control when the driver spun around to see what was happening, before he ploughed into a concrete pillar while fighting to regain control of the speeding vehicle.
America is looking for answers. Did the FBI or CIA murder Monica because she was really pregnant? Had Bill Clinton proposed to her and were they about to be wed in secret? Was she concious in hospital and who was her final message delivered to?
Was she perhaps killed because she was about to announce her intention to speak out against landmines? Was she perhaps an Arab spy who had to be killed because she had blown her cover?
In further groundbreaking news we have just learned that Monica’s blue cocktail dress has been purchased by the Australian Daily Telegraph. Apparently, Piers Ackerman, had been negotiating a deal on behalf of the paper for some months. Readers of the Daily Telegraph can look forward to winning the dress in an upcoming promotion.
This is Rocket, reporting live from Paris, Texas. Goodnight Monica Lewinsky, wherever you are.