Personal Injury Blog – Law Offices of Goodman Acker

Legislation recently introduced by several Michigan Senators has outraged parents of children who are alleged to have been injured by Dearborn neurologist, Dr. Yasser Awaad. Mothers, fathers and attorneys alike are worried that the bill will make it easy for doctors to get away with medical malpractice injuries, as it limits physician liability for damages. Any parent with a child injured by medical malpractice—whether birth injuries, failure to diagnose and properly treat medical emergencies, surgical mistakes or errors with medication or treatment—trusts that the law will protect their ability to seek compensation. However, there are many reasons a parent may have to file a Michigan medical malpractice lawsuit.

In the case of Dr. Awaad, hundreds of parents have accused him of misdiagnosing their children with a serious medical condition, epilepsy, and prescribing dangerous medications.  A WXYZ Action News story interviewed some of the parents who believe that Dr. Awaad made an incorrect medical diagnosis and mistakenly gave their child dangerous drugs.

For Detroit, Michigan personal injury lawyers, Goodman Acker, medical malpractice cases in Michigan require constant awareness of any new laws pertaining to doctor negligence and injured medical patients. They know that the rights of kids injured by Doctor Awaad could be jeopardized if this medical malpractice legislation passes.

According to the WXYZ report, Marie Woolen is one of many parents who believe the heavy medication their kids were prescribed caused physical and psychological damage. “It’s been devastating,” said Woolen of her son’s situation. ”My hopes and dreams have been shattered. He can’t be a doctor, he can’t be a lawyer…his memory is completely distorted.”

The parents of Dr. Awaad’s alleged child medical malpractice victims are extremely distressed by the thought that a doctor guilty of malpractice may not be held accountable.  “This bill makes a mockery out of the justice system,” attorney Brian Benner, who is representing the parents involved, told the news station. “Whatever happened to patient safety? We should have patient safety bills.”

Some of the parents who say their child was misdiagnosed by Doctor Awaad are worried about how the legislation will impact their ability to recover medical malpractice compensation. “I’m worried if this bill passes my son will not have any recourse,” said Woolen.

When a child is diagnosed with a severe illness, it can be devastating to the entire family. Very often such news is followed by medication prescriptions and/or medical procedures but sometimes parents discover that the doctor was a negligent provider, made the wrong diagnosis and/or may have even prescribed incorrect drugs.

The National Academy of Science states that approximately 98,000 Americans die from medical mistakes each year. Medical malpractice is a form of negligence that can be manifest in many ways, including an incorrect diagnosis of a disease, a mistaken prescription, an injury in the hospital, disfigurement, a needlestick or pain and suffering. If someone is injured due to a doctor’s digression from the standard of care, that provider may be liable for the injury that has occurred. If there is a patient fatality, it could be a case of medical malpractice wrongful death.

Anyone can be affected by medical malpractice, as well as laws that may protect doctors from being sued. Remember, every physician takes the Socratic oath—”Do no harm”—and it applies to medical diagnoses, prescriptions and treatments, in order to protect adult and child patients alike.

The Law Offices of Goodman Acker can help anyone suffering from a doctor’s mistake, hospital injury or pharmacist’s error because medical malpractice is a core area of our expertise. If you believe that you or a loved one is the victim of a medical mistake by a doctor or provider, we can fight for your rights. Call a Detroit, Michigan personal injury lawyer at 1-866-DON’T-LOSE or complete our online contact form for a free consultation. We can help you pursue the medical malpractice damages you deserve.

Goodman Acker, PC
17000 West Ten Mile Road
Second Floor
Southfield, MI 48075

We’ve all seen them—distracted drivers on the road in front of us, clearly with their eyes and minds on something other than driving. They slowly veer into other lanes or onto the shoulder of the road, they’re going dangerously slow or at racetrack speeds and they don’t seem to notice road workers or construction signs. They generally behave as if nobody else is on the road, until they’re involved in a distracted driver car accident, that is.

The list of driver distractions is almost endless. For anyone who’s been driving for more than a few years, nothing we see other drivers doing in the lane over is surprising anymore: putting on lipstick, fixing their hair, eating a burrito, studying a map, even changing clothes, shaving and reading the morning paper. It is even harder to fathom when we see other people in the car with them, since they are not only risking their own lives, they’re taking the chance of causing severe passenger injury as well.

Personal injury lawyers in the Detroit, Michigan, Goodman Acker, know that in addition to these low-tech, every day activities causing negligent drivers, the headlines are filled with reports of more high-tech causes. Texting while driving and using a cellphone while driving are the two top reasons we have distracted drivers on our roads. Technology is not just part of messaging while driving or talking on the phone while driving, however. These days operating a GPS unit while driving, using an iPod while driving or using an electronic book while driving are also being written up in car crash police reports.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration did a study in 2010 which revealed that there are many driver distractions that cause collisions, from applying make-up to playing with the radio to staring at accidents. In the study, driver distraction played a role in 11 percent of the fatal car accidents in the United States the previous year, which climbed to 30,797 in total.

So if you see a driver on the road near you who appears distracted in any way, give them a wide berth, and if you’re hit by a distracted driver, take action. You need to fight for your right to be safe when behind the wheel and the statistics on distracted driver auto collisions and distracted driver motorcycle accidents are rising by the day.

At Goodman Acker, we believe drivers should do one thing and one thing alone when they are behind the wheel, and that is drive safely, defensively and conscientiously.  If you or a loved one was involved in a distracted driver car crash, Detroit, Michigan personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Goodman Acker may be able to help you pursue compensation. Call us at 1-866-DON’T-LOSE or complete our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.

Goodman Acker, PC
17000 West Ten Mile Road
Second Floor
Southfield, MI 48075