When a loved one becomes seriously injured or otherwise needs immediate medical care, the typical response is to take them to the closest emergency room in Atlanta. This is always the correct course of action. E.R. medical professionals and doctors are trained to act as quickly as possible to save their patients while keeping them safe and retaining a proper standard of care.

Sometimes, unfortunately, mistakes are made in the emergency room. Understaffing sometimes leads to negligence. Medical errors are rare but happen in emergency rooms across the nation. When negligence or carelessness causes a tragic mistake to happen that leads to further injury and/or even death, we call these cases medical malpractice cases. It’s important to note that with the proper training, staffing procedures, and prevention methods, medical malpractice mistakes can be prevented.

In a November 2016 New York Times interview, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called the latest set of 2016 highway fatality statistics a “crisis that needs to be addressed now.” The facts look grim. In the first six months of 2016 alone, the number of highway fatalities jumped 10.4% above the same number from 2015.

17,775 people died in car accidents across the U.S. in the first half of 2016. Many accidents undoubtedly occurred because of distracted driving. That’s a substantial increase during an era where even our laws try and prevent us from getting distracted behind the wheel by restricting us from texting while driving. The dangers of distracted driving go far beyond texting and driving, however. We need to look at every aspect of being distracted by technology and not just the process of using our hands.

Spinal cord injuries result from damage to the vertebrae, ligaments or disks of the spinal column or to the spinal cord itself.  The most common spinal cord injury in Georgia and throughout the U.S. is a broken neck or back, causing damage to the bones of the spine that surround the spinal cord.  This often results in damage to the nerves of the spinal cord inside the spinal column.

Traumatic spinal cord injures occur when individuals experience a sudden, traumatic blow to their spine that fractures, crushes, or compresses one or more of their vertebrae.  Additional damage can occur days and weeks later because of bleeding, swelling, inflammation, and fluid accumulation in and around the spinal cord.

Car accidents caused by drunk drivers can have devastating results for innocent victims who are involved. At Bey & Associates, LLC, we meet a lot of clients who have had their lives torn apart by a single bad decision made by a driver who decided to get behind the wheel while intoxicated. There’s never a good reason to place your life at risk as well as the lives of every driver and passenger around you.

When it comes to preventing disastrous drunk driving crashes throughout the entire state of Georgia, the best course of action is to put a halt to drunk driving whenever we see it. By encouraging our friends, relatives, and co-workers to never get behind the wheel while intoxicated, we can all do our part to prevent accidents.

When we send our children to the school bus stop in Georgia, there’s no way of guaranteeing their ride to school will be safe. School bus accidents do occasionally happen, although they are rare. According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1,214 motor vehicle crashes lead to fatalities in school transportation-related accidents between the years 2004 and 2013. This amounts to 0.4% of the total fatal crashes during that period.

A wrongful death is a fatality caused by the wrongful actions or neglect of another.  Medical malpractice, defective products, intentional acts of violence, and negligent behaviors are all common causes of wrongful death.  Wrongful death law allows families and dependents of the deceased to bring a case against the person or business that is responsible for the death of their loved one.  The court may award financial compensation to the family of the victim to help relieve their financial burdens.

The average funeral and burial cost in the United States is between $7,000 and $10,000.  Wrongful death victims often receive expensive medical treatment in an attempt to save their life.  And if the wrongful death victim was the financial provider for their family, they can leave behind dependents who are unable to pay for these expenses and future bills.