Pleasant Law Blog (Insurance Claims, Medical Misakes, and Nursing Home Claims)

Fiduciary Duty Overview: Brokers v. Investment Advisors

Investment advisors owe a fiduciary duty by law, but securities brokers only owe a fiduciary duty under certain circumstances

CMS Special Focus Nursing Homes: Increased Risk for Injury or Death?

Certain nursing homes get special attention for poor performance, due to increased risk of nursing home abuse, neglect, wrongful death or injury

Wikinvest: Interesting Info on Nursing Homes

Nursing homes sometimes cause injury or wrongful death and require a lawyer: Kindred, Sun Healthcare, Sunbridge, Skilled Healthcare Group, Five Star Quality

Pembroke Care and Rehabilitation Center (has Sunbridge turned this facility around?)

Sunbridge Pembroke NC nursing home - no deficiencies for nursing home abuse or neglect but possible more injuries and wrongful deaths will warrant lawsuits

Liberty Mutual Insurance: Irresponsibility?

Liberty Mutual Insurance denies insurance claims regularly so this site claims. Seek assistance from an insurance claims lawyer or attorney.

Skilled Nursing Facilities - Real Estate or Health Care?

The business side of skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes is an important driving force behing the actions of those who operate nursing homes. These actions can lead to nursing malpractice, and injury and death to nursing home residents.

Nurse-to-Patient ratios have affected care in nursing homes.

Studies show that nurse-to-patient ratios have an affect on care in nursing homes. North Carolina should refer to California mandated staffing levels as it can improve the quality of care from nurse to patient.

Omega's nursing home/long term care acquisitions: can nursing homes plead poverty?

Report shows a purchse of nursing home chain at a cost over $200 million. Why pay this much if it's not profitable? With those totals, there is no excuse for understaffing that so often leads to nursing home abuse and neglect claims.

Nursing Homes Misuse Money Marked for Staffing: Evidence of Corporate Neglect?

Certain nursing homes in another state received additional funding for nursing homes totaling $880 million, for hiring more staff and to increase wages. However, nursing homes are cutting staff and paying lower wages. Understaffing and lower wages can cause nursing home abuse, neglect, injury and wrongful death in North Carolina and other areas.

Nursing home abuse in North Carolina, Unfair Arbitration Clauses

Arbitration clauses unfairly limit victims' rights in nursing home abuse, neglect, injury and wrongful death cases in North Carolina and other places.

"Upcoding" in Nursing Homes - A Different Kind of Nursing Home "Abuse"

Nursing homes abuse the system in ways other than through injury and death to its residents. Nursing homes also sometimes abuse the system financially, taking advantage of the government for the nursing care they provide their nursing home residents.

Assurant Insurance (formerly Fortis Insurance) Pays Dearly For Misconduct

Insurance company Assurant Health Insurance pays dearly for unfair claims practice / bad faith insurance in its handling of health insurance for the plaintiff in this lawsuit. Insurance lawyer handling the lawsuit and trial argues the company formerly known as Fortis Insurance must be taught a lesson for its bad conduct.

Buying Disability Insurance Article May Help Avoid Problems With Unfair Disability Insurance Claim Denials

Wrongful denial of disability insurance benefits, including long term disability benefits from companies like UNUM Insurance, Provident Insurance, CIGNA Insurance, The Hartford Insurance, John Hancock Insurance and others: this article could help you avoid unfair insurance claims practices by insurance companies.

Unum Insurance, Provident Life Insurance, Paul Revere Insurance - Regulatory Settlement Details, etc.

Unum insurance / Unum provident insurance regulatory settlement for its questionable insurance claim practices and activities

Golden Living Centers in North Carolina and elsewhere - are the alleged problems in this nursing chain over?

Golden living centers nursing homes in North Carolina and other states have been alleged to be abusive and neglectful. A nursing home lawyer can help with nursing home claims against Golden Living and other nursing facilities

Medical Malpractice Myth - Tom Baker's Book

Myth of medical malpractice debunked by Tom Baker, law professor at UCONN. Pertains to all kinds of medical negligence, including surgery mistakes, failure to diagnose cancer, labor and delivery and birth injury, and other kind of legal claims against medical providers

Independent Insurance Adjusters - Help With Insurance Claim Problems

Problems with insurance claims with insurance companies like Nationwide, Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, GEICO, and others, sometimes require an insurance lawyer.

Insurance Bad Faith Claims on Wikipedia

Insurance bad faith claims practices and unfair claims practices lawyer comments on Wikipedia article about insurance bad faith

Nursing Home Transparency Bill Passes

Lawsuits and claims against nursing homes and assisted living facilities in North Carolina. The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant can help and offers free consultations in most cases.

Long Term Disability Insurance Benefits Denied Unjustly?

Long Term Disability Insurance Claims Denied Unfairly and in Bad Faith by Insurance Companies like Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, The Hartford Insurance Company, Unum Provident Insurance, John Hancock Insurance, Prudential Insurance, MetLife Insurance, Travelers Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, Allstate Insurance, American Heritage Insurance, and Zurich Insurance.

McKinsey Insurance Claims Documents: Allstate Insurance's "Zero Sum" game?

Allstate Insurance Company McKinsey documents regarding Allstate's alleged bad faith and unfair insurance claims practices (where an insurance company wrongfully denies a claim)

Hartford Insurance Story on ABC: Bad Faith/Unfair Insurance Claims Practices? You decide...

By Thomas Pleasant, North Carolina Insurance attorney. I ran across this informative video regarding Hartford Insurance practices in cutting disability insurance benefits to what appear to be deserving disabled clients. This happens more often than people might think. Sure looks to me like unfair insurance claims practices. If you are having a problem with an insurance company involving an insurance claim, contact my office. I do free consultations on most insurance bad faith and insurance unfair claims practices cases. Whether you are having a problem with Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Unum Providence Insurance, or The Hartford; I may be able to help you. Cal Toll Free, 888-435-7156.

Medical Malpractice Insurers Faked Lawsuit Crisis

Medical Malpractice insurance companies falsely generated a "medical malpractice lawsuit crisis" in order to help secure legislative protections to protect those profits, according to a report on businessinsurance.com. Medical malpractice insurance companies provide insurance to cover medical negligence claims made in cases where doctors, surgeons, hospitals, nurses, and other healthcare providers are accused with harming patients through negligence, recklessness, carelessness, etc. Hopefully this report will make its way to the general public in a widespead sort of way. People need to understand the cynicism in the insurance industry. People seem so quick to give up their rights in favor of the giant insurance companies and other huge corporations. Think twice. Victims of medical mistakes need to have the right to fair compensation for their injuries. Clearly, the insurance industry cares only about its bottom line; and will -- if this report is accurate -- go to all measures (including dishonesty) to preserve their huge goldmine of profits.

Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform: AAJ Primer

The American Association for Justice released a Medical Negligence Primer recently, an appropriate response to the propaganda being shoveled out by the insurance and health corporate lobbies. The publication does a good job debunking the myths that medical malpractice lawsuits are out of control, along with other issues commonly twisted by those who seek special protection. Recently, I heard AAJ's immediate past president point out that what this medical malpractice lawsuit reform movement really seeks to do is set doctors and other healthcare providers apart from the rest of us. I have never heard lawyers suggest that they should be allowed to have special immunities from lawsuits in the event that they commit malpractice. What about engineers, architects and contractors? This is just one of the issues, but I thought the point was well made. People who have been hurt or killed by the negligence (meaning lack of appropriate due care, essentially) of health care providers (doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc.) whould have redress in our court system. The Seventh Amendment to our constutition provides the right to a trial by jury for all citizens; and we are seeing an erosion of this right.

Would Tort or Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Reform Lower Health Care Costs?

A recent NY Times article on medical malpractice lawsuit reform sets out some interesting points about why limiting the rights of victims of medical negligence is not an answer to the heatlhcare cost crisis. In a nutshell, medical malpractice lawsuit costs are only a tiny sliver of the total costs of our healthcare system in this country. This whole debate is so politicized, and many are looking past the reality that there are legitimate medical malpractice cases, and there are people who have been hurt by doctors, hospitals, nurses, and nursing homes who need help. Help with future medical care, for example. There are vicitms who have been harmed by a physician's failure to diagnose a serious disease, where simple tests and follow-ups were not scheduled/ordered. There are wrong-site surgeries, botched surgeries by doctors who are careless and in a hurry because of the presures placed on them because of the money pressures of the modern insurance-driven medical practice. There are hospitals failing to provide even the most basic labor and delivery crisis management training for residents, so that they are prepared when the rare, but inevitable, crisis arises. In any event, the article is worth reading.