Thomas Pleasant helps people who are being victimized by insurance companies. If you are facing obstacles in getting your insurer to pay a legitimate claim or if your claim has already been denied, Thomas can help you. His areas of special expertise include insurance bad faith cases, long-term disability claims, and property damage and losses as well as personal injury and product liability cases, and situations in which people are being treated unfairly by their employers and as consumers. Thomas represents clients in the Southeast and Mid regions of North Carolina. If you need legal help, contact Thomas today for a free consultation. www.pleasantlaw.com

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Stockbroker Fraud & Misconduct

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Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

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Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice

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Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

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Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices

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General

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Resources

Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

  • American Geriatrics Society (Nursing Home Doctors, etc.): The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is holds itself out as supporting efforts to improve the health, independence and quality of life of the nation's elderly by providing leadership to doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, and nursing homes; and advocating nursing home and other health care facility patient care. This website deals with important topics related to nursing home abuse, neglect, injury and wrongful death. If a loved one has been hurt or killed in a nursing home, this site may provide useful information.
  • American Medical Directors Association: The American Medical Directors Association is the professional association of medical directors and physicians practicing in the long term care continuum dedicated to excellence in patient care by providing education, advocacy, information, and professional development.
  • American Medical Directors Association (AMDA): "The American Medical Directors Association, the professional association of medical directors, attending physicians, and others practicing in the long term care continuum, is dedicated to excellence in patient care and provides education, advocacy, information, and professional development to promote the delivery of quality long term care medicine." This site will be of interest to anyone with a nursing home injury, abuse, neglect or wrongful death claim, and to lawyers in North Carolina and elsewhere who handle nursing home cases. AMDA's site contains clinical practice guidelines for problems like pressure sores/ulcers which are so common in nursing homes in North Carolina and elsewhere.
  • Center for a Just Society: Website dealing with different issues, including issues relating to nursing home injury, abuse, neglect, wrongful death. Ken Connor, formerly of a nationally-known nursing home litigation firm, is director of this organization. Connor's contributions sometimes touch on issues of nursing home abuse and neglect.
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Heath and Human Services website contains regulations applicable to nursing homes (including North Carolina nursing homes) that accept Medicare/Medicaid. If you or a loved one has suffered from nursing home abuse in Fayetteville or any other North Carolina city or county, this website may provide a good starting point to determine the rules that might have been broken.
  • Clinical Geriatrics (Mediccal Journal with Nursing Home Medical Topics): Clinical Geriatrics deals with the clinical and practical issues related to the treatment and management of elderly patients, including those in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Articles deal with many medical conditions including cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, musculoskeletal disease, nephrology, neurology, oncology, pain management, psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, rheumatology, and urology. Nursing home residents' doctors typically specialize in geriatrics, and useful information for the families of nursing home residents may be found on this website.
  • Gerontological Society of America: The Gerontological Society of America is a non-profit professional organization with more than 5000 members in the field of aging. GSA provides researchers, educators, practitioners, and policy makers with opportunities to understand, advance, integrate, and use basic and applied research on aging to improve the quality of life as one ages. This site may be of interest to anyone with a nursing home injury, abuse, neglect or wrongful death case, whether you are in North Carolina (Fayetteville, Raleigh, Wilmington, etc.) or elsewhere.
  • Healthgrades.com: Provides information on hospitals and nursing homes. Use this website to help avoid putting your loved one into a bad nursing home and help avoid nursing home abuse and neglect.
  • Hospital-Data.com: Provides information about healthcare facilities, including skilled nursing facilities (nursing homes)
  • National Citizens Coalition for Nusing Home Reform (NCCNHR): NCCNHR is an organization of consumers and advocates who define and achieve quality for people with long-term care needs, including needs in nursing homes. NCCNHR accomplishes quality through:
    -Informed, empowered consumers
    -Effective citizen groups and ombudsman programs
    -Promoting best practices in care delivery
    -Public policy responsive to consumer needs
    -Enforcement of consumer-directed standards
  • North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services: This division of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for overseeing North Carolina nursing homes, and is a critical player when nursing home abuse occurs. This site provides a lot of information helpful to victims of nursing home abuse and their families.
  • North Carolina Division of Health Services Regulation: Link to North Carolina agency responsible for inspecting nursing homes in North Carolina. This agency is responsible for citing nursing homes for abuse, neglect, wrongful death, and other nursing home regulation violations.
  • Ostomy Wound Management (Pressure Sores/Ulcers in Nursing Homes, etc.): Ostomy/Wound Management deals with the overlapping disciplines of ostomy care, wound care, incontinence care, and related skin and nutritional issues. It is the premier journal dealing with these issues, which are so important in the nursing home context. The goals of the journal include the furtherance of the art and science of the care of skin, wounds, ostomy, and incontinence (essential topics related to pressure sores, pressure ulcers and decubitus ulcers in nursing homes). Pressure sores leading to infection and death in nursing homes happens. If you know someone who had a pressure sore in a nursing home, you may find useful information on this website.

Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice

  • Americans for Insurance Reform (Medical Malpractice Issue Papers): Mediacal liability and national health care issue papers from the organization Americans for Insurance Reform. These papers deal with the facts about medical malpractice and medical mistakes by doctors, hospitals, nurses and other health care providers. This information could prove useful to people hurt or injured by the health care system.
  • Check Hospital Mortality Statistics: Medicare Website: Check hospitals by zip code to see the mortality rate. When handling legal claims for medical negligence, nursing home abuse, neglect, injury and wrongful death, attorneys often look for patterns of negligence. It is an indicator that a facility is particularly bad and paves the way for a jury to take action and send a message that the facility or healthcare provider should “clean up its act.” As a practical matter, if you are considering having surgery, or need elective hospitalization, this could be useful tool and help you avoid having a situation where you need a medical negligence lawyer in the first place. This tool should allow you to check up on hospitals in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville; as well as other areas.
  • Dennis Quaid Congressional Testimony: Drug Overdose Via Medical Mistake: Quaid's Congressional testimony regarding the near-wrongful death of his twins at the hands of negligent hospital/nurses/doctors in the administration of the blood thinner Heparin. Quaid has become an advocate for those injured and hurt by medical mistakes. Contact North Carolina attorney Thomas Waitt Pleasant with your medical negligence case for a free evaluation.
  • Pain and the Law (Includes Information on Failure to Diagnose and/or Treat Pain): This is an interesting website dealing with legal liability and lawsuits arising from healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) failing to properly diagnose and/or treat pain. This can be a particularly bad problem with elderly patients, particularly those in nursing homes, and particularly those with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. For people whose loved ones have experienced unnecessary suffering due to untreated pain, this website provides some interesting information.
  • www.birthinjury.org: This is a website sponsored by the Midwest Brachial Plexus Network, Inc. Here you will find lots of detailed information about brachial plexus injuries, including erb's palsy. You will also find information about litigation revolving around these types of birth injuries, when medical negligence or malpractice is alleged. Brachial plexus injury (bpi) is an injury that causes paralysis to one or both arms. Most bpi's happen during delivery of an infant. This type of birth injury can be permanent or temporary. This site contains much information about brachial plexus injury, available treatments, legal information, articles, FAQ and support services.

Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

  • North Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers: National Website that serves as a legal resource for consumers looking for information and assistance on legal topics such as: Civil lawsuits, Negligence Claims, Class Action, Accidents, Personal Injury, Premises Liability, and several other topics related to Personal Injury Claims.

Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices

  • Risk & Insurance Magazine: An insurance company/industry publication, this website allows access to numerous articles concerning developments in the law applicable to insurance claims, and insurance claims handling practices (including unfair insurance claim handling practices, insurance bad faith claim handling, etc.).
  • United Policy Holders Article on Partial Fire Loss Insurance Claim Tips: Article from United Policyholders (a public interest organization helping people with insurance claim problems and other insurance issues including insurance bad faith and insurance unfair claim practices) dealing with tips for those who have fire property damage insurance claims. This article could help you avoid or otherwise deal with unfair insurance company behavior when you make your property insurance claim related to fire damage.

General

  • Allstate Insurance Online: Consumer site containing discussion, complaints of bad faith and unfair claims practices, as well as other interesting information about Allstate Insurance.
  • BadFaithInsurance.org: Site with comprehensive information about insurance companies, unfair insurance claims practices, and insurance bad faith.
  • Consumer Federation of America: "CFA is an advocacy, research, education, and service organization. As an advocacy group, it works to advance pro-consumer policy on a variety of issues before Congress, the White House, federal and state regulatory agencies, state legislatures, and the courts. Its staff works with public officials to promote beneficial policies, to oppose harmful policies, and to ensure a balanced debate on important issues in which consumers have a stake."
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
  • Family Medical Leave Act (US Dept. of Labor)
  • Findlaw Employment Discrimination & Harassment Site: This link provides an abundance of information regarding employment law; including information on employment discrimination on the basis of age, sex national origin, race, etc.
  • NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners): The mission of the NAIC is to assist state insurance regulators, individually and collectively, in serving the public interest and achieving the following fundamental insurance regulatory goals in a responsive, efficient and cost effective manner, consistent with the wishes of its members: Protect the public interest; Promote competitive markets; Facilitate the fair and equitable treatment of insurance consumers; Promote the reliability, solvency and financial solidity of insurance institutions; and Support and improve state regulation of insurance.
  • NELA Applauds Bill Banning Mandatory Arbitration: The National Employment Lawyers Association press release regarding pending legislation that would ban mandatory arbitration clauses. This legislation, if passed, would help protect employees' right to their day in court, where they have been wrongfully terminated, sexually harassed, discriminated or retaliated against, or who are having other employment disputes with their employers.
  • North Carolina Department of Insurance
  • North Carolina Department of Labor
  • Policy Holders of America: This website has information to assist people with insurance claims, including where an insurance company has engaged in unfair claims settlement practices, bad faith insurance practices, and other issues involving insurance claims disputes.
  • United States Department of Labor
  • UnitedPolicyholders.org: United Policyholders is a non-profit charity helping insurance consumers. The organization publishes reliable, free buying tips and practical insurance claim advice. The organization also advocates for consumers in the political realm. United Policyholders is a sound resource for information about insurance bad faith and unfair insurance claims issues.
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