Howard Slusky, Author at Slusky & Walt

What Is Informed Consent in Michigan?

July 29, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

When you seek treatment from a doctor or other healthcare provider you likely have to sign a seemingly endless number of forms before the provider will move forward with your treatment. If you are like most people, you pay very little attention to what the forms actually say. Furthermore, few providers take the time to explain the forms in detail or to ask if you have any questions or concerns relating to the forms. This is unfortunate as one of the forms may be an “informed consent”. As a patient, “informed consent” is intended to protect you by ensuring that you fully understanding any medical treatment or procedure undertaken and, specifically, that you understand the risks involved. If a treatment provider fails to obtain your informed consent, and you are injured or become ill as a result of the procedure or treatment, the provider may be liable for those injuries.

Informed consent is a legal concept applied to medicine that is intended to ensure that individuals do not undergo treatment, procedures, or surgery without being fully informed so the patient can make a choice to accept or decline the proposed treatment, procedure, or surgery. For a patient to have given his or her informed consent, the law typically looks at whether the following elements were discussed with the patient prior to giving that consent:

The nature of the decision/procedure
Reasonable alternatives to the proposed intervention
The relevant risks, benefits, and uncertainties related to each alternative
Assessment of patient understanding
The acceptance of the intervention by the patient

A patient’s consent to treatment of any kind is only considered valid, in the eyes of the law, if the patient gave his or her informed consent to the treatment. The extent to which a doctor is required to discuss the treatment with the patient for informed consent to be given is very fact specific; however, simply handing a patient a stack of forms and telling the patient to sign them is not likely to qualify as informed consent.

If you believe you are the victim of a medical error, and you also feel that you did not give your informed consent to the treatment that resulted in the medical error, you may have the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Because each case is unique, it is imperative that you consult with the experienced attorneys at Slusky & Walt, P.C. as soon as possible to discuss your legal options.

Am I Entitled to Make a Personal Injury Claim?

July 22, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

Personal injury accidents occur all the time under a wide variety of circumstances. Although most people envision a car accident when they hear the term “personal injury accident”, there are actually a number of other common types of accidents and injuries that fall under the purview of personal injury accidents. Only an experienced Michigan personal injury accident attorney can review the specific details of your accident and tell you if you can make a personal injury claim; however, a basic understanding of personal injury law may help you decide if you should consult an attorney.

Personal injury law is part of the larger area of the law known as “torts”. “Torts” addresses injuries to people or property. Within the area of personal injury you will find car accidents along with other types of accidents including, but not limited to:

Slip and fall accidents
Dog bite accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Aviation accidents
Workplace accidents
Trucking accidents

To make a valid personal injury claim you must prove that the defendant’s wrongful conduct caused your injuries. Wrongful conduct can be the result of intentional or negligent conduct or can be based on strict liability.

Intentional conduct, as the name implies, occurs when the defendant intended to injure you. For example, if you were an innocent bystander in a bar when a fight broke out and the defendant physically assaulted you that conduct could qualify as intentional conduct. While the defendant might also be charged with a criminal offense, you could file a civil personal injury lawsuit against the defendant for compensation based on the injuries you suffered.

Strict liability is a product of statute. Many states, for example, have laws that make the owner of a dog strictly liable for injuries caused if the dog bites someone. When a defendant is strictly liable it does not matter what the defendant’s state of mind was nor does it matter if the defendant took steps to try and prevent the harm. All that matters is that the harm occurred and the defendant is responsible.

Most personal injury claims are based on negligence. Negligence requires the defendant to have owed you a legal duty of care first. The defendant must then have breached that duty of care, causing you to be injured. A motorist driving on a public road, for instance, owes a duty of care to everyone else on the roadway. If the defendant is texting while driving, he has breached that duty of care. If that breach causes an accident and you are injured in the accident, you may be entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit for compensation.

Consult with an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney to determine if your specific situation qualifies as a valid personal injury lawsuit case.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

July 15, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

When you go to the doctor, emergency room, or other medical professional because you are injured or sick it is with the expectation that you will be healed. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. Doctors are human and do make mistakes; however, some medical errors are actually more than a mistake – they are the result of negligence on the part of the doctor or other healthcare provider. When a healthcare provider’s negligence results in a medical error that causes harm to the patient, the patient may have the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Although the term “medical malpractice” does not have a single, universally accepted, definition, one commonly used definition is as follows:

“professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient”

Though we typically think of doctors when we contemplate the issue of medical malpractice, others in the healthcare industry can also commit medical malpractice, including hospitals, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, and nursing homes.

Not all mistakes made by a healthcare provider amount to medical malpractice. Medical malpractice can be the result of an act or an omission. If a doctor leaves a foreign object inside a surgical site during surgery, that act could form the basis of a medical malpractice claim. On the other hand, if a doctor fails to diagnose a serious medical condition, that omission could also be considered medical malpractice.

The other important element of a medical malpractice claim is the requirement that the act or omission “falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community.” In other words, would another doctor under the same circumstances have done something different? Would another healthcare provider, given the same set of facts and circumstances, have committed the same act or omission? The purpose is to judge a healthcare provider by standards used in the healthcare community. In a medical malpractice lawsuit it is usually necessary to find an expert witness – another doctor — who will testify that the care provided by the doctor/healthcare provider in your situation fell below the accepted standards.

If you believe that you were injured by a medical error that amounts to medical malpractice, or you lost a loved one as a result of medical malpractice, it is imperative that you consult with an experienced Michigan medical malpractice attorney right away. The law does allows the victim, or surviving family member, of medical malpractice to pursue compensation from the negligent healthcare provider; however, the law also limits the amount of time within which a medical malpractice lawsuit must be brought.

What Is Strict Liability?

July 8, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

The State of Michigan is one of several states that have a strict liability dog bite statute. If you are a dog owner it is imperative that you understand Michigan’s dog bite laws. If you have been injured by a dog bite, or are the parent of a child who was injured by one, it is equally important that you understand what strict liability means as it applies to Michigan dog bite injury claims.

The area of the law that addresses injuries to people or property is known as “torts”. All personal injury accident lawsuits are a type of “tort”, including dog bite cases. A tort can be based on one of three types of “means rea”, or state of mind of the defendant. Those three are:

Intentional torts – an intentional tort is one committed “intentionally” or with pre-planning on the part of the defendant. Assault is an intentional tort. Though it may also be a criminal offense, assault can be the basis of a civil lawsuit for damages as well.
Negligent torts – most personal injury lawsuits are based on negligent torts. Negligence occurs when the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim and breached that duty of care causing injury to the victim. A car accident caused by a driver who was texting while driving is an example of negligence.
Strict liability torts – strict liability does not look at the defendant’s state of mind. In a strict liability tort the defendant is liable for damages regardless of any intention to harm on the defendant’s part or on any attempts to prevent harm by the defendant. In Michigan, dog bites are a strict liability tort.

Michigan’s dog bite law is found in Mich. Comp. Laws Ann., sec. 287.351, which states, in pertinent part:

“Sec. 1. (1) If a dog bites a person, without provocation while the person is on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the property of the owner of the dog, the owner of the dog shall be liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”

In essence, the statute makes the owner of a dog liable for injuries caused by the dog if the dog bites someone who did not provoke the dog and who was lawfully on the owner’s property or who was on public property at the time of the attack.

Contact an experienced Michigan dog bite attorney if you were injured by a dog bite or if you are the parent of a child who was injured by an attack.

Should I Hire an Attorney for My Child’s Dog Bite?

July 1, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

As a parent there is nothing worse than seeing your child injured. A child dog bite, therefore, can be a traumatic experience for both the child and the parent. If your child has recently suffered an dog bite attack you may be wondering “ should I hire an attorney for my child’s dog bite ?” The simple answer to that is that it is always a good idea consult with an attorney if you have suffered injuries in any type of personal injury accident. When the accident is a dog bite and the victim is a child it becomes even more important to talk to an attorney.

Any type of personal injury accident can cause serious physical injuries to the victim. A dog bite, however, also tends to cause serious emotional trauma to any victim. When the victim is a child, the emotional scars caused by the attack can last a lifetime. Even a relatively minor dog bite that causes only superficial physical injuries to a child can cause the child to fear dogs, and often all animals, for years to come. Often, a child dog bite victim requires years of therapy to try and erase the trauma caused by the attack. Therapy, of course, is expensive. As the parent, you should not be forced to shoulder the financial costs incurred in treating your child for a dog bite if the dog was not your dog. Fortunately, the Michigan legislators agree with this which is why the State of Michigan has a strict liability law that applies to dog bite injuries.

Mich. Comp. Laws Ann., sec. 287.351 states:

“If a dog bites a person, without provocation while the person is on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the property of the owner of the dog, the owner of the dog shall be liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”

In essence, the law means that if your child was lawfully on the property where the dog bite occurred your child (through you as the child’s guardian) is entitled to compensation for all of the injuries suffered in the dog bite attack, including emotional or mental injuries.

Although the law favors victims of dog bite cases in Michigan it is still a good idea to have an experienced Michigan dog bite attorney on your side to ensure that your child is fully and fairly compensated for both the physical injuries and the emotional trauma suffered in the attack.

Saginaw, Michigan Auto Accident – Is There a Time Limitation?

June 24, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

An auto accident can cause serious, even fatal, injuries to the victims involved in the collision. Sometimes those injuries are obvious immediately following the accident while in other cases the injuries (or the severity of the injuries) do not present themselves until weeks, even months, after the collision. If you have been injured in a Saginaw, Michigan auto accident, or you are the surviving family member of a victim who was fatally injured in a collision, you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries or loss. While the law provides a mechanism by which victims can be compensated by a negligent party, the law also limits the time within which victims of auto accidents must pursue that compensation. Failing to pursue compensation in the time frame allotted by law means a victim will forever lose the right to compensation.

Victims hesitate to pursue compensation to which they might be entitled for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is because they don’t realize the extent of the injuries they suffered. Other times it is because a victim is too traumatized by the collision to focus on practical issues such as litigation and compensation while in still other situations a victim simply doesn’t understand that he or she is entitled to compensation. Regardless of the reason for the delay, failing to act in a timely manner after an auto accident can cause a victim to lose the right to compensation at all.

The law imposes time frames within which certain legal actions may be brought. Known as a “statute of limitations”, these time frames determine how long a litigant, or in the case of an auto accident a victim, has to begin a lawsuit. Note that the statute of limitations, or SOL, marks the date by which the lawsuit must be filed, not the date by which the lawsuit must be resolved or concluded.

In the State of Michigan, the SOL for most personal injury lawsuits is three years from the date of injury. A wrongful death action must also be brought within three years of the date of death. Although the time frames can get complicated in other types of litigation, such as a medical malpractice lawsuit, the SOL for an auto accident or w wrongful death based on an auto accident are fairly clear in Michigan. Even if it appears that you and the at-fault party are going to reach an out of court settlement that resolved the entire matter, it is crucial that a lawsuit be filed prior to the SOL running out or you will lose your right to compensation altogether.

If you have questions or concerns about how the SOL impacts your Saginaw, Michigan auto accident be sure to consult with an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney right away to ensure that your right to compensation is protected.

Flint Medical Malpractice: Can I Sue My Doctor?

June 17, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

When you are sick or injured you go to a doctor with the expectation that the doctor will heal you. Unfortunately, the opposite sometimes happens – the doctor actually makes you sick or causes you injury. When that occurs, you may ask “Can I sue my doctor?” The simple answer to that question is “yes”, you can sue your doctor. Whether or not the lawsuit will be successful depends on a number of factors.

With good reason, those in the healthcare industry are held to a high standard of care. When that standard of care is breached, and a patient suffers as a result, the doctor (or other healthcare provider) can be held legally accountable for the damages suffered by the victim. Though most doctors are conscientious, hard working professionals, medical errors still occur at an alarming rate. Some of the more common medical errors include:

Surgical errors –operating on the wrong body part, leaving foreign objects inside the surgical site, failing to operate, operating on the wrong patient, causing infection at the surgical site.
Anesthesia errors – giving a patient too much or too little anesthesia, failing to recognize and anesthesia adverse reaction
Diagnosis errors – failing to diagnose, misdiagnoses, diagnosing the wrong disease/condition
Prescription errors –wrong dosage, prescribing a drug that is contraindicated, filling with the wrong drug
Treatment errors –failing to follow-up, not treating in time (ER)

If you or a loved one believe that a medical error has been committed, and you have suffered injuries as a result of the error, it is best to consult with an experienced Flint medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. It is possible to file a lawsuit against a doctor based on a medical error; however, medical malpractice law is a highly specialized area of the law that can be very complicated to navigate. Not all errors amount to medical malpractice, for example. Doctors are human, meaning they make honest mistakes. For the error to be considered malpractice, the treatment provided by the doctor must fall below the accepted standard of care generally provided by the medical community. In other words, a doctor’s actions are judged by those of other doctors in similar circumstances. Only an experienced medical malpractice attorney can evaluate the facts and circumstances surrounding the error and determine if the error reaches the threshold necessary to form the basis of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

What Can I Sue for in a Southfield Auto Accident?

May 30, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident in Southfield, Michigan, you may have suffered more than just physical injuries. Chances are good that you also suffered emotional trauma as well as financial hardship as a result of the accident if it was more than a fender-bender. Exactly what damages you are entitled to be compensated for will depend on a number of factors.

Michigan is a “no-fault” automobile insurance state. Although the no-fault laws are complex, in essence this means that your own insurance policy will be responsible for compensating you for your medical expenses and lost wages up to a point without regard for who was at fault in the collision. The idea behind no-fault laws is to reduce the number of actual lawsuits filed in motor vehicle accidents when the parties are not seriously injured. The advantage to no-fault insurance is that you do not need to prove fault on the part of another party to be entitled to compensation for certain damages. The disadvantage is that the type and extent of compensation available to you under no-fault insurance is limited. Specifically, compensation for pain and suffering is not available through no-fault insurance.

That does not mean pain and suffering damages are not available. It means that they are not available through your own no-fault insurance policy. Pain and suffering damages, as well as additional compensation for economic damages (medical bills, lost wages etc.) can be recovered through a traditional personal injury lawsuit; however, your injuries must meet the statutory threshold before you can pursue a traditional personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Michigan law restricts claims for pain and suffering unless the impairment has affected “the person’s general ability to lead his or her normal life.”

If you have been injured in a Southfield auto accident, consult with an experienced Southfield personal injury accident attorney as soon as possible. Only an experienced attorney can evaluate the unique facts and circumstances of your collision and subsequent injuries to determine if you meet the threshold required to pursue a traditional personal injury lawsuit. Your attorney can also help you file any relevant first party claims with your own no-fault insurance provider.

Southfield Workers’ Compensation: Types of Compensation Available for a Claim

May 30, 2014 by Howard Slusky Leave a Comment

A Michigan workplace accident can happen anytime to anyone. Some accidents cause only minor injuries; however, a workplace accident can cause serious, even life-threatening injuries. If you have been injured in a Southfield workplace accident, or you believe an illness or medical condition you suffer from was caused by your workplace, you could be entitled to Southfield workers’ compensation benefits. For specific advice and guidance, contact an experienced Southfield workers’ compensation attorney; however, some general information about the type of compensation available for a Michigan workers’ compensation claim may be helpful in the meantime.

The Southfield workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system. This means that a worker who has suffered a workplace injury or illness is not required to prove fault on the part of the employer to be entitled to benefits. If you are an covered employee and you suffered an on the job injury, or you suffer an illness or medical condition caused by your employment, you should be entitled to benefits.

Benefits available for a Southfield workers’ compensation claim fall into two categories – medical and wage replacement benefits. Medical benefits cover the cost of treating your injury or illness. Wage replacement benefits are intended to provide you with financial benefits to replacement your regular wages during the time that you are unable to work as a result of the injury or illness. There is a seven day waiting period before you are entitled to wage replacement benefits; however, if you injury or illness lasts more than 14 days you will be reimbursed for the first seven days as well. The amount of your weekly wage replacement benefits will depend on how much you made prior to the injury or illness. Your benefits are calculated based on your average weekly wage, or AWW, prior to the claim being filed. You will receive two-thirds of your AWW in wage replacement benefits.

In theory, getting a Southfield workers’ compensation claim approved should be simple; however, claims are frequently denied for a variety of reasons. Because you, and your family if you have one, are likely counting on the benefits offered by the workers’ compensation system it is best to consult with an experienced Southfield workers’ compensation attorney as soon as you have reason to believe you are entitled to benefits.

To learn more, please download our free Michigan Workers’ Compensation here.

What Is Informed Consent in Michigan?

Am I Entitled to Make a Personal Injury Claim?

What Is Medical Malpractice?

What Is Strict Liability?

Should I Hire an Attorney for My Child’s Dog Bite?

Saginaw, Michigan Auto Accident – Is There a Time Limitation?

Flint Medical Malpractice: Can I Sue My Doctor?

What Can I Sue for in a Southfield Auto Accident?

Southfield Workers’ Compensation: Types of Compensation Available for a Claim

Slusky & Walt, P.C.

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