Nursing Home Abuse

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Making the decision to place an elderly relative in a nursing home is a difficult one. As you are placing your loved one’s health and well-being in the hands of others, look for signs of nursing home abuse. With the increasing problem of nursing home abuse incidents across the country, making the right choice becomes even harder. Nursing home malpractice is defined as an intentional act or negligence committed by a nursing home professional which may cause injury to a resident. There are different types of elder abuse that can occur, all of which can harm your loved one in varying ways.

Types Of Nursing Home Abuse To Be Looking For:

Physical Elder Abuse

This type of abuse is anything that may happen to your loved one’s body. Physical signs of abuse include broken bones, wounds, cuts, abrasions or burns, welts, bruises, swelling, sudden and unexplainable weight loss and any hidden injuries. In addition, unnecessary restraints may be a sign of physical abuse.

Mental Elder Abuse

Mental elder abuse can manifest itself in different forms and can include your loved one having feelings of fear, agitation, or hesitancy, disorientation or confusion, depression, withdrawal or unjustified isolation, sudden changes in behavior or unusual behavior patterns and/or the unwillingness to communicate. Another sign of mental abuse can be seen if the nursing home staff is making rude or humiliating comments to the residents.

Elder Neglect

If your elderly loved one is not receiving adequate care and attention, neglect may be occurring in the facility. Signs of neglect may include your loved one having an unkempt appearance, bed sores, poor personal hygiene, smell of urine or feces, unsanitary living environment, untreated medical conditions or malnutrition and/or dehydration.

Financial Elder Abuse

It is unthinkable that someone would exploit an elderly individual, but financial elder abuse unfortunately occurs. Some signs include missing/stolen property or money, abrupt and/or unjustified selling of property and any other radical changes in personal financial affairs.

If you discover signs that any type of elder abuse may be occurring, call Joe and Martin at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation.

Black Friday Shopping Safety Tips

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When the busiest shopping weekend of the year arrives, take some extra precautions to protect yourself, your purchases, and your personal information.

In The Store

From fistfights to identity theft, shopping at Black Friday sales brings a few safety risks. Consider these holiday shopping safety tips:

  1. Keep your purse close to your body or your wallet in an inside coat pocket or front pants pocket.
  2. Don’t argue or fight over an item.
  3. Don’t take your money out until asked to do so.
  4. Use only one credit card. Should something happen, you can reduce the risk of having multiple cards compromised.
  5. Save your receipts and monitor your credit card activity.
  6. Ask for help moving and loading large items if needed.
  7. If shopping with children, select a central location to meet just in case of separation.

In the Car

With so many people out and about, you may encounter aggressive drivers on the road. Don’t add to the problem. Remember to drive defensively and don’t allow road rage to rise. Parking lots can be dangerous too, so be on guard:

  1. Be patient when looking for a parking space. Don’t speed up to catch that empty (or soon-to-be empty) spot and be cautious of other drivers who do.
  2. Park your vehicle in a well-lit area.
  3. Look around and under your vehicle before approaching it.
  4. Store shopping bags, out of plain sight, in your trunk if possible.
  5. Look for other cars or people and back out slowly.

On the Internet

Opting to join Black Friday or Cyber Monday from your couch? You still need to be on the lookout. Stick to retailers you know and never commit to a deal that seems too good to be true.

Types Of Injuries

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Under the law, a personal injury is any harm that you, as an individual, sustains including physical injuries, financial costs and emotional trauma. Injuries can also be personal losses such as losing the care and companionship of a loved one.

As you work to resolve your claim, you may hear insurance adjusters, lawyers and doctors talk about different degrees of injuries. You may hear injuries described as minor, moderate, severe or catastrophic.

Minor and Moderate Injuries

Minor or moderate injuries can be injuries such as sprains, strains, fractures, bruising or superficial cuts. These may be painful, but they usually heal well and quickly with minimal medical treatment.

Soft Tissue Injuries

You may also hear insurance adjusters refer to “soft tissue injuries.” Soft tissue injuries are injuries to the non-bony parts of the body such as internal organs, nerves, muscles and connective tissues. Sprains, whiplash and pulled muscles are all types of soft tissue injuries. Some soft tissue injuries can result in chronic pain and disability, which can be permanent if not treated properly. Typically, it is harder to recover substantial compensation in these types of cases compared to the cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries.

Catastrophic Injuries

A catastrophic injury is a serious injury that is expected to permanently change the victim’s life. Examples of this type of injury include burns, amputations, spinal cord injuries, paralysis and certain head injuries. These types of injuries result in the most significant settlements and verdicts because the injuries can be proven objectively and are more obvious to the insurance company and/or the jurors.

Although catastrophic injuries are immediately obvious in most cases, sometimes the full extent of the injury is not immediately revealed. This is especially true when the victim suffered a traumatic brain injury, which may also be called a closed head injury. In some cases, the brain may be affected in ways so subtle that only people close to the victim notice changes in his or her abilities, behavior or personality. A concussion is the mildest form of brain injury, but more serious brain injuries leave their victims permanently disabled.

If you’ve been injured in any accident caused by another driver’s negligence, call Joe and Martin at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation.

Passing on Two-Lane Highways — A one-way ticket to serious injury

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Highways are interconnected not only by a vast number of roads, but also by a large variety of different types of roads. The differences between them pose no major driving concerns: some are two-lane, some are three-lane, and some have bike lanes along the side, etc. However, other types of roads introduce safety concerns that drivers need to be more aware of, namely, two-lane highways that allow drivers to pass each other. Although created for the convenience of passing slow drivers, such an inconvenience is hardly worth the types of accidents a passing lane may lead to if drivers are not extra careful.

Most often, passing on a two-lane highway is prohibited, but in rural areas where one road may stretch out for 20 miles before reaching the next intersection, small segments of the road are marked as passing lanes. Typically, these segments are strategically placed in order to give drivers the space and sight they need to safely pass another driver, but there are always risks when crossing to the other side of the road:

  • Miscalculating how much time you have to pass another driver or misjudging the speed necessary to pass them safely
  • Failure to see oncoming traffic either from negligence, curves in the road or in terrain, sun glares, darkness, mist/fog, or another optical phenomenon
  • Failure to turn on your turning signal when passing a vehicle
  • Overcorrecting the vehicle to swing back into the right lane after you’ve passed someone

Failure to adhere to some of the risks these passing lanes allow can result in head-on collisions that have the potential to be fatal. While passing is possible to accomplish safely on highways, it is always a risk to enter the lane with oncoming traffic in order to pass someone. Whether you are passing or being passed, be extra attentive of your surroundings, your speed, and traffic laws.

If a driver has caused an accident by violating a traffic law, that driver is typically held responsible for any injuries suffered because of the accident. But to be certain, if you’ve been injured in any accident caused by another driver’s negligence, call Joe and Martin at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation.

Does a Slip and Fall Accident Warrant Suing?

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Like any other injury you may have sustained due to someone else’s negligence, slip and fall accidents are sometimes situations where a law suit is necessary. At Joe and Martin Attorneys, we’re committed to help you get the best and fastest settlement as well as to educate you along the way.

Slip and Fall Accident Compensation

Proving negligence of the property owner is key to getting compensation for your suffering. Here are a few things you may be compensated for:

  • Pain and suffering
  • Medical bills (ambulance costs, therapy, surgeries, etc)
  • Future medical expenses caused by the accident
  • Lost wages from the inability to work

Timing is especially important when attempting to prove negligence of the property owner or tenant who may have caused the slip and fall. For instance, questions like “how long was the hazard present” or “did the property owner know of the hazard, and if so, for how long” are tantamount to proving who’s at fault.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury and have been thinking about filing a claim, Joe and Martin can help you. Call us at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation

Joe and Martin reach $10,000,000 in recoveries for injured clients

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In 2013 Joe and Martin started working together to represent injured South Carolinians against the big insurance companies.  Since then, Joe and Martin have recovered more than $10,000,000 for their clients. The types of cases included automobile accidents, boat accidents, and injuries caused by dangerous conditions on the property of others.  Joe and Marin want to thank our community for allowing us to serve you and trusting us to bring justice to you in your times of need. If you have been hurt and you have questions about who may be at fault, offers from the insurance company, or where to go for medical treatment, call Joe and Martin for a free case evaluation. Injured?  Trust Joe and Martin.

*Any results the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

The 4 Most Common Motorcycle Accident Injurie

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We wanted to touch on the seriousness of motorcycle accident injuries and how to rectify an accident of this intensity should it happen to you. Because of the lack of protection that motorcycles offer compared to standard vehicles, accident injuries are typically more severe.

Head Injuries

At this point, most states have passed laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets to limit the number of head injuries seen on the road annually, but there are always those audacious enough to not heed the law and crank up their bike without the proper protection. We cannot advise against this enough. Head injuries are one of the most severe because they can have life-long consequences like traumatic brain injury. These injuries require years of recuperation where the patient must relearn to speak, walk, feed themselves, or use the facilities. Sometimes even these basic tasks cannot be relearned.

Road Rash

Road rash occurs when the biker’s skin is dragged along road surfaces during an accident. Because of friction, external layers of skin are rubbed off which results in abrasions, cuts, and bruises along any exposed part of the body. Depending on how much protective (typically leather) gear the biker is wearing at the time of the incident, road rash can range in severity from light burns to deep scarring.

Spinal Injuries

The spine is an incredibly sensitive part of the body— one that is especially exposed to trauma during a motorcycle accident. Accidents can lend themselves to inflicting minor injuries to discs and soft tissue to causing life-long paralysis. Paralysis involves the loss of control of motor functions of the neck down, waist down, or for certain limbs that can’t always be rehabilitated. Those who experience spinal injuries such as these can require long-term care at assisted living facilities.

Broken Bones

Most common of all is the broken bone. It’s easy to break bones if you’re slung off your bike at high speeds. Because bikes don’t have airbags or seatbelts to keep you in place at the time of a collision, your body is forced to leave the bike. Because there’s nothing to absorb the impact, bikers are often inflicted with severely shattered or broken bones which can potentially tear through neighboring tissue and organs.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury and have been thinking about filing a claim, Joe and Martin can help you. Call us at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation.

Can sitting too close to the steering wheel be dangerous?

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When you jump into the front seat of your car, it is unlikely that you consider the position of your seat and steering wheel. In fact, most people have their seats and steering wheel set in positions in which they feel most comfortable. But did you know the position of your seat and the angle of your steering wheel can affect the amount of injury or damage you can face if an accident occurs?
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 10 or more inches is the appropriate distance between a driver and the steering wheel. Because a steering wheel airbag can generate a force of nearly two-thousand pounds reaching speeds over 200 miles an hour, sitting too close to the steering wheel and airbag can cause injuries or death on impact.
In order to help you stay safe when driving, we have provided a list of tips:

  1. Tilt the steering wheel at an angle so that it does not directly face the head or chest regions of your body.
  2. Slide the driver’s seat back by adjusting the base of the seat.
  3. Recline the top portion of the driver’s seat at an angle that will keep the top half of your body away from the steering wheel and airbag.
  4. See if you can have pedal adjusters installed in your vehicle. This way shorter people maintain distance from the steering wheel and air bag while still being able to reach the control pedals.

If you or someone you know was injured in a car accident, please contact Joe and Martin at (843) 357-8888, or fill out an online form anytime, day or night. We will respond as soon as possible.

Car Maintenance Prevents Accidents

The importance of regularly maintaining your vehicle

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Regular vehicle maintenance can protect one of your biggest investments – it can also reduce your risk of getting into a car accident. Poor maintenance causes many accidents every year because of blowouts of old tires and failures of worn brakes. Not only is this extremely dangerous for you, the driver, but ignoring regular maintenance of your vehicle is also dangerous to the people around you. If a system or component failure in your vehicle results in a car accident that injures or kills someone else, you can be held liable and be responsible for compensating the injured party or their family.
Make sure you check these things on a regular basis:

  • Windshield wipers and wiper fluid
  • Brake pads
  • Oil and fluids
  • Tires
  • Headlights and taillights

A poorly maintained vehicle is not always the fault of the vehicle owner, but it can also be the fault of a mechanic or service technician who performed work in an improper manner. Driving around in a vehicle that has been poorly maintained can be just as dangerous as driving in one that hasn’t received any maintenance at all. Make sure to research your maintenance facility before you take your vehicle in for service in order to ensure that the work is done by a qualified individual.
Vehicle Recalls
Ignoring a vehicle recall is never a good idea. If you have received notice that your car has been recalled over a potentially dangerous defect, it is critical that you contact your dealership and schedule a time to get the problem fixed as soon as possible. If you don’t, and you are found to have knowingly failed to remedy the problem, you may be held liable if someone gets hurt in an accident.
If you or someone you know was injured, please contact Joe and Martin at (843) 357-8888 or fill out an online form anytime, day or night. We will respond as soon as possible.

What You Need to Know About Slip-and Fall Injuries.

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Slip-and-fall injuries are not only common, but they also can lead to substantial problems for those who are hurt. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 17,000 people die, and more than 1 million people suffer injuries due to slip-and-fall accidents every year.
Common Causes of Slip-and-Fall Injuries

  1. Walking — Simply walking can result in injury, whether you trip over a broken piece of concrete, slip on icy pavement or fall after catching your foot on a broken floor surface.
  2. Dangerous conditions — Conditions on a piece of property may make it unsafe for people to be there. Also, the person harmed must not have been able to anticipate the dangerous condition under the circumstances. When a dangerous condition exists, the property owner can be held liable for the damages someone else suffers because of a slip-and-fall.

Known Defects
Property owners have to take reasonable steps to ensure they correct known defects. Knowing about a problem and not addressing it in time can make them liable.
If you or a loved one have suffered from an injury and have been thinking about filing a claim, Joe and Martin can help you. Call us at (843) 357-8888 to discuss your rights and legal options during a FREE, comprehensive case evaluation.