Medical errors occur more often than we’d all like to believe. From the heart of a chaotic E.R. to the recesses of a chilly operating room, there are doctors, interns, surgeons, nurses, x-ray techs, and other medical professionals learning, making mistakes, and ideally learning from those mistakes. All professionals—even medical professionals—are human, after all. Every doctor and nurse has a story to tell regarding a moment of error or regret.

In the best scenarios, these learning mistakes are caught well ahead of time and the patients don’t suffer. In the worst, lifelong complications, illnesses, side effects from a misdiagnosis, or even death may result. These are the scenarios that cause the most harm. If the staff member doesn’t know they made the mistake, the results can be even more detrimental. That professional will continue practicing medicine without realizing they could have cost a patient their life.

Georgia, unfortunately, has some of the worst nursing homes in the country. In the latest 2017 federal nursing home quality ratings report, 1 in every 4 Georgia nursing homes received the lowest possible rating of one star. According to another, older report from 2014, our state ranks #43 in the nation for overall long term care facility quality. Georgia’s nursing homes even rank the lowest between all 8 southeastern states.

Facts like this are saddening and pose a challenge—especially if you’re in the process of placing a loved one in a Georgia nursing home. The facilities around the Atlanta area, specifically, are some of the worst quality-wise within the state. As we can see from this nursing home inspection survey, some of the state’s worst facilities (the ones that suffer from the most deficiencies) are found in the Atlanta area.

Every year, Georgia residents are injured, harmed, and suffer because of dangerous products like medical devices and drugs that are not properly tested or were rushed to market too quickly. When this happens, individuals harmed by these products can file what’s referred to as a product liability claim against the manufacturer. Doing so may award a suffering or struggling family with the financial compensation they need to move forward.

More times than not, when a product or drug is discovered to be dangerous, multiple victims will come forward who have experienced the same symptoms, injuries, or negative consequences. In cases like this, it’s common for legal teams to form what’s known as a mass tort or multidistrict litigation (MDL) claim.

We have all heard the term “defensive driving” either as part of a driver’s education course or used by a parent when we were learning to drive for the first time.  Most of us know it simply as an encouragement to drive careful and be cautious of others.  But defensive driving is really more of a specific technique for driving a vehicle.  Practicing defensive driving skills can greatly reduce your risk of being in a dangerous car accident.

There are several key components of defensive driving, all of which encourage driver awareness and anticipation of potential dangers.  If you are already expecting the unexpected, you will be mentally prepared to take the action needed to stay safe.

Trucks are large, dominating, dangerous forces on Georgia roadways.  Collisions involving semi trucks are more damaging and more deadly than collisions involving only cars.  This is because the massive size of a semi truck produces a powerful force that is too much for a passenger car to defend.

Many assume that the legal process for personal injuries resulting from trucking accidents is the same as personal injuries resulting from car accidents, but this is not the truth.  Trucking accidents differ from car accident cases in that more than one party may be held liable.  These cases can actually be quite complicated, and it is important to seek the help of an attorney who is experienced in handling truck accident cases in the state of Georgia.

All of the lawyers and staff members at Bey & Associates are dedicated to helping our local and nationwide communities build strong foundations that can enable us to take part in a brighter future. We decided to start a scholarship this year that would give us the ability to help college students forge that strong foundation. The first submission period for that scholarship, Fall 2017, just came to a close. We were truly humbled by the amount of applications we received– 137 total– as well as the exceptional high quality of every essay. All of the essays were outstanding. Choosing just one winner was difficult!

We’re pleased to announce we’ve chosen a winner.

Congratulations to Toniann Mendelzon of Columbia, Maryland!

Toniann will be joining Northwestern University’s Integrated Marketing Communications program as a graduate student.