Missouri Injury Law Blog

Our St Louis injury law firm keeps most files in secured electronic format, greatly reducing our reliance on paper files which also makes accessing, storing, and producing files much more efficient and effective. Personal injury attorneys deal with a lot of medical records, particularly in medical malpractice and wrongful death cases. About seven years ago our law firm began digitizing most files and medical records. Then a few years ago many services popped up that provide electronic medical records to us for our clients, as more and more doctors and hospitals began keeping their records in digital format.

Depending on the case, but some personal injury cases involve boxes and boxes of medical records and those costs add up, but the Missouri legislature recently amended the statue regarding medical record retrieval costs. Until now, all records were subject to a $17.05 processing fee plus $.40 cents per page, no matter if the medical records were actually copied or just emailed in electronic format. So the law was forcing lawyers to pay medical providers $.40 per page for records that are simply emailed from a file. That can really add up, especially if the records are from a hospital stay which includes patient registration, nurse assessment, charts, monitoring records, notes, consults, etc ... a hospital stay can quickly turn into hundreds of pages of medical records.

Now there is another reason to get and keep medical records in electronic format, Missouri's legislature has amended Missouri Statute 191.227 with Senate Bill 62 stating the charge cannot exceed $25 no matter how many pages are in our injured client's chart:

"If the health care provider stores records in an electronic or digital format, and provides the requested records and affidavit, if requested, in an electronic or digital format, not more than five dollars plus fifty cents per page or twenty-five dollars total, whichever is less" Senate Bill 62

Therefore, electronic records now cost no more than $25 no matter how many pages are part of that particular record. Under the old law 1000 pages would cost around $420.00, even if provided in simple electronic format and not physically copied, now that same request is $25.00 ONLY if requested electronically. Costs of medical records are costs most personal injury lawyers in Missouri deduct from the final recovery as costs of the case, now this new law passes savings onto injury victims, assuming your injury lawyer can get away from the traditional paper records.

The costs savings is just one of many reasons to go digital with medical records. Personally, I have all my injury case files in electronic format, which allows me to highlight and bookmark pages electronically and quickly jump to them at a moments notice in a deposition or in the heat of trial without fumbling through stacks of paper. Makes it easier to send documents for injury clients to review or to send the documents to opposing counsel by email saving time, money, and trees.

Continue reading "Cost of Collecting Medical Records in Missouri, Capped at $25 for Electronic Records " »

Most people's understanding of tort reform is that it is stopping so called "frivilous lawsuits" and if they ever need the jury system, well, their case would be a good case and theirs could never be "frivolous". People buy the propaganda of doctors fleeing the state and undeserving people gaming the system. This is simply not true, and the tort reform advocates know it. They simply do not like being sued and have the money to buy politicians and change the laws. Then they scare the public with claims of rising health care costs and insurance costs, convincing them it is better to hand over their 7th Amendment right to a trial by jury, one of the basic founding fundamentals of the justice system in America. See St Louis Medical Malpractice Article: Medical Malpractice Myth "Too Many Lawsuits" Debunked by Harvard

A try to be apolitical as I believe both parties are misguided, however, now that election season is approaching, we are hearing from one particular candidate about tort reform as one of his top two talking points straight from his website. Really? in this day of economic uncertainty, two wars ongoing, jobless rates through the roof, national debt and one of his main talking points is tort reform.

Well, here is how well it has worked in Texas, not only has it shut the courthouse doors for most average people, but it is also costing everyone more money, that's right, the costs savings was a MYTH! An independent study of data on Medicare spending in Texas shows that for the years following the enactment of medical malpractice caps and reform costs have gone up outpacing the national average:

Not only has per person Medicare spending in Texas continued to exceed the national average, the data also show that such spending rose at nearly twice the national average (15.1% versus 8.7%) in the four years since the medical liability reform legislation was passed. Furthermore, before such "cost-saving" legislation went into effect, per person Medicare reimbursement rates in Texas were the tenth highest in the nation. In 2007, reimbursement rates in Texas had risen to the second highest. None of this is resounding evidence that tort reform has been successful in controlling health care costs.

See the graph below from Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, "Selected Medicare reimbursement measures."

So, the Too may lawsuits and frivolous claims has been proven wrong time and time again, even by Harvard University. And the rising healthcare costs myth has been proven wrong by the Texas experiment in shredding individuals' 7th Amendment Right to trial by jury. Yes, you still get a jury, but they can decide very little, as all their judgment and decisions have been legislatively hogtied.

As a St Louis medical malpractice attorney, I have this conversation with prospective clients all the time. when I tell them they do not have a case because of the 2005 reforms, they cannot believe it and often say that was meant for frivolous cases, and their case is a good case. Once you have some skin in the game through the death of a loved one or serious injury as the result of a doctor's negligence, you realize tort reform is just plain wrong.

Also see, Missouri Injury Lawyer Article: "Doctor Speaks Out Against Medical Malpractice Caps"

I don't know about you, but I feel better about 12 individual citizens, like you and me, deciding my case rather than a politician years before deciding it for me to protect insurance company profits.

Trial Lawyers - Keeping the Court House Doors Open for Consumers and Individuals

In Missouri, the calculation of damages (money) for the same injury under general negligence law (i.e. injured in a car or truck accident) as opposed to the calculation under Missouri workers compensation (i.e. work related injury) are very, very different. As a St Louis injury lawyer that handles both workers compensation cases and general negligence cases, I deal with both ways of calculating damages routinely.

A common reaction I get from clients injured at work, is the disbelief that an injury, just because it occurs at work, can be worth less than that same injury under a general negligence theory, typically meaning it was caused outside of work or by a negligent driver, doctor, or business. However, the benefit to workers' compensation coverage is that liability (whose fault it is) does not matter. Even if it is the injured employee's fault (in most cases), you still get the same compensation. Additionally, in many cases if the work related injury was not the fault of a co-employee or your employer (i.e. a 3rd party not employed by the same company) then a 3rd party claim exists and the injured employee can recover under both work comp and negligence claims outside the work comp structure and through the jury trial system. See: "St Louis Work Comp Lawyer discussing Work Comp Claim and 3rd Party Liability Issues" Additionally, in certain situations, even if the injury is caused by a co-employee, sometimes you can pursue the co-employee for their negligence. Any liability the co-worker may have will be covered by the employer's general liability insurance coverage; so don't feel bad about making a claim against your co-worker, their covered. See"Missouri Work Comp Law - Courts Open up Pathway to Co-Worker Liability".

Calculating Damages in Missouri Personal Injury Cases (non work Comp)

Damages (money) for injuries under Missouri general negligence cases are determined by the amount of medical bills incurred (past and future), lost wages (past and future), prescriptions, property damage, other expenses attributable to the injury, and finally, pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is that uncertain dollar amount that a jury may award you for the pain and suffering of having to go through the entire ordeal and the future problems it will cause physically, emotionally and mentally. Except if it is a medical malpractice claim, under Missouri law pain and suffering in medical negligence claims are capped at $350,000. Missouri medical damage caps have not been fully challenged yet and it is still possible they could be found unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court. See "Limits on Medical Malpractice Awards Constitutional? Missouri Supreme Court Signals .... Not Constitutional"

Calculating Damages in Missouri Work Comp Cases

Under Missouri workers' compensation, the employer's work comp insurance covers the medical expenses for your medical treatment, missed work pay or "TTD pay" (Temporary Total Disability Pay) for the days missed prior to the doctor releasing you to return to work, and then finally a final settlement for the ongoing disability. The ongoing disability is essentially the only amount the employee is awarded directly and is calculated using the Missouri "Permanent Partial Disability Schedule". This is a very specific calculation and does not take into consideration any pain and suffering. However, the Missouri Work Comp Second Injury Fund is also available for additional compensation in certain cases. See "Missouri Workers' Compensation Claims, Claims against the Missouri Second Injury Fund or 'SIF'"

Missouri's Division of Missouri Work Comp: State Website with information regarding workers compensation and explaining the process.

Regardless if you have a work comp or a general negligence case, the legal procedure and all the ways to maximize compensation for your injuries are very complex. If you need an experienced Missouri personal injury lawyer handling cases in St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson County, and all across Missouri and Illinois, call the St Louis injury law firm of Sansone / Lauber today.

As discussed in a previous St Louis bike accident lawyer article: "Avoiding Bike Injuries & Legal Liability at Intersections: Right of Way at Unmarked Intersections", bicycle accidents and injuries often occur at unmarked intersections. Bike accidents often occur at intersections controlled by electric signals as well. Having been a St Louis bike accident attorney now for about 10 years, I almost have never seen a situation where a cyclist blatantly ran a red light and caused a collision. Typically they have already entered the intersection and the drivers are anxious to go and do not see them.

Now some new laws give a much needed affirmative defense to cyclists accused of running red lights. But I caution my cycling friends, be careful at these intersections and use this privilege cautiously. Motorcyclists, bicyclists, and anyone operating a vehicle with 2 wheels, may have experienced the everlasting red light. That is because many electric signals in St Louis and throughout Missouri and Illinois are set off by pressure sensors, thereby allowing the light to remain green on the heavier traveled road until a vehicle approaches on the intersecting road and triggers the pressure sensor, changing the light from red to green. These pressure sensors often cannot be tripped by a motorcycle and almost never by a bicycle.

So is a bicycle rider doomed to sit at a red light until a car come up and trips the sensor? Until 2009, In Missouri at least, the answer was yes. There was no legal defense for a cyclist to run a red light, even if there is absolutely no traffic around and they have sat at a red light that was not going to change. In 2009, Missouri Bicycle Law was changed by Missouri Statute 304.285, "Red light violations by motorcycles or bicycles, affirmative defense, when", which states:

"304.285. Any person operating a motorcycle or bicycle who violates the provisions of section 304.281 or section 304.301 by entering or crossing an intersection controlled by a traffic control signal against a red light shall have an affirmative defense to that charge if the person establishes all of the following conditions:

(1) The motorcycle or bicycle has been brought to a complete stop;

(2) The traffic control signal continues to show a red light for an unreasonable time;

(3) The traffic control is apparently malfunctioning or, if programmed or engineered to change to a green light only after detecting the approach of a motor vehicle, the signal has apparently failed to detect the arrival of the motorcycle; and

(4) No motor vehicle or person is approaching on the street or highway to be crossed or entered or is so far away from the intersection that it does not constitute an immediate hazard."

As a St Louis bike injury lawyer, I believe this a fair law. The only part left for interpretation is what is considered an "unreasonable time"? I believe one could successfully argue to a Judge or jury that a unreasonable amount of time is once you realize the light is not going to cycle and there is no traffic in sight.

Another state, Illinois, is currently proposing a new law that would also allow cyclists (motorcycle, bicycle, scooter) the option of riding through a red light after waiting a reasonable time for the light to change.

Continue reading "Missouri Bicycling Law, Biker (Bike and Motorcycle) can go through Red Light Under Cirtain Circumstances, Illinois May Adopt Similar Bike Law. " »

A St Louis medical negligence lawsuit we have been working on for several years settled for over $900,000. The injured Plaintiff was seen by a St Louis doctor who performed a cervical nerve root block. See Negligent Pain Injection Lawyer. Within fifteen minutes of the procedure she was left partially paralyzed, fortunately, she has mostly recovered from her paralysis and was able to return to her full time job.

We believe that the negligent doctor caused the partial paralysis by allowing the medicine to invade an artery through a combination of negligent techniques. One, the dosage of the pain medication steroid was double the recommended amount, two, the operative technique was negligent as he failed to use tubing between the syringe and needle to minimize needle movement, and three, the basic placement of the needle prior to the injection was in a dangerous location. See St Louis Medical Malpractice Lawyer Article: "Missouri Medical Negligence - Cervical Pain Injection Hits an Artery - Med Mal causes Depo Medrol to go into Spinal Cord and Brain - Spinal Cord Injury and Brain Injury resulting in Partial Paralysis"

Despite our injured client's neurological deficits, she missed only a few months of work and was able to return to her job full time within months of the spinal cord injury. She incurred about $200,000 in medical bills as a result of the injury and no lost wages. Generally, arterial invasion by a steroid results in devastating injuries and death, our client was lucky that her injuries were relatively minor.

One of the essential requirements to successfully pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit is retaining a good medical expert. See St Louis Medical Negligence Attorney Article: "Use of Expert Witnesses by Missouri Injury Attorneys to successfully pursue Missouri Injury Claims and Lawsuits" Not only do you need an expert to testify regarding liability or negligence (violation of the medical standard of care), but before a Missouri medical negligence lawsuit can even be filed you must have a certificate of merit under Missouri Statute 538.225 or else the medical malpractice lawsuit will be dismissed. In fact, before retaining our St Louis medical malpractice law firm, our client initially retained another personal injury lawyer, however, they failed to file a certificate of merit and her case was dismissed. Additionally, they decided not to pursue the case after consulting with a medical expert. After we received the file, we immediately retained a well known and qualified expert in the field of diagnostic radiology. In fact, through a little research, we found out the expert the previous attorneys consulted with is a well defense expert, so obviously he talked the case down and immediately defended the negligent doctor.

Medical malpractice cases are time intensive, difficult, and very expensive. Many lawyers claim they handle medical malpractice cases, however few can successfully pursue them with excellent results. Choose your lawyer carefully.

Continue reading "St Louis Medical Malpractice Settlement: $900,000.00 for Spinal Cord Injury after Negligent Pain Injection " »