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Auto Accidents

3 Tips for Getting Your Teens to Not Text and Drive

Mark Hickey
You quote statistics about the dangers of texting while driving to your teenagers until you are blue in the face.  But once they are behind the wheel, how do you know they have taken your advice to heart? Otherwise smart and well-behaved kids may succumb to the pressure to text while driving. Take the matter seriously, and do what you can to get your kids to stop texting while driving. 1. Sit Down and Discuss Hold...
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Medical Malpractice

A Florida Patient’s Medical Malpractice Checklist

Mark Hickey
Medical malpractice can lead to severe, debilitating conditions or even death. Fortunately, cases of medical professional error are in the minority, but enough occur to lead many patients each year to seek medical malpractice attorneys. But what exactly is medical malpractice? Is a simple mistake considered medical malpractice? The first part of the following checklist will help you determine whether you might have a valid case of medical malpractice or simply a common medical error....
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Auto Accidents

3 Reasons You Need to Stop Texting While Driving

Mark Hickey
Driving to the store, your phone beeps, alerting you to a text message. It’s your spouse, reminding you to pick up milk. You start typing a response, glancing at the road every few seconds — and happen to spot a small child running into the street.  Slamming on your brakes, you stop just in the nick of time. In this instance, you were lucky but what if you had not glanced up in time?  You...
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Nursing Home Abuse

Identifying Nursing Home Abuse – And What to Do About It

Mark Hickey
It’s been a few months since your grandmother moved into a long-term facility.  At first, everything was fine, but you’ve noticed some changes recently.  Your grandmother is unusually quiet and, while she claims her bruised arm was caused by bumping into a table, something seems wrong. No one wants to think about a loved one being abused in a nursing home but, tragically, it occurs. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), as many as...
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Medical Malpractice

Is It Malpractice or Simply a Bad Result? Questions to Ask When Considering a Medical Negligence Claim

Mark Hickey
Medical professionals serve an important function in society: to heal the injured and care for the sick.  We place our trust in doctors, nurses and hospitals and, in return we expect quality care.  When this trust is violated, the results can be catastrophic. Inattention, understaffing and carelessness often result in medical errors — with the patient paying the price.  In fact, a study in The Journal of Health Affairs found that nearly a third of all hospital...
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Personal Injury

Understand Florida’s Personal Injury Laws — Before You Get Hurt

Mark Hickey
Under Florida law, vehicle owners must carry personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. If you’re injured in a car accident, your PIP coverage is designed to pay up to $10,000 of your medical expenses and/or lost wages, depending upon the extent of your injuries. In January 2013, however, the Florida Legislature placed restrictions on PIP claims. If you don’t understand these changes — and don’t follow the new rules — your car accident could be painful in more...
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Auto Accidents

Florida Texting Ban Takes Effect

Mark Hickey
Starting October 1, 2013, Florida will join 40 other states to ban texting while driving.  However, unlike a majority of the states, violation of this new law will only be a secondary office.  That means a law enforcement official will have to witness another offense like swerving or running a stop sign, in order to legally stop a texting driver. Another loophole in Florida’s texting law is that it does not apply to drivers in stopped...
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Personal Injury

Mandatory Bodily Injury & PIP Repeal Proposed in Florida Senate

Mark Hickey
The Florida Senate Banking & Insurance Committee yesterday released Proposed Senate Bill, SPB 7152, to be heard and voted on in that committee next Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. The bill repeals PIP effective January 1, 2014, and replaces it with Mandatory Bodily Injury Liability insurance (MBI) with limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident (25/50).
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Auto Accidents

3 Ways to Prevent Drunk Driving

Mark Hickey
Don’t drink and drive; it’s a simple mantra, but one so many people have trouble following. Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports that in 2012, 10,322 people died and more than 345,000 people were injured as a result of collisions caused by drunk driving. If you’ve vowed never to drink and drive, it’s a start, but there’s more you can do to prevent drunk driving among friends and family members. Follow this simple checklist whenever alcohol is around....
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Personal InjuryResults

$136,000 Jury Verdict Against Polk County Sheriff’s Office

Mark Hickey
Tampa car accident lawyers Frank Fernandez and Jennifer Fernandez obtained a $136,000 jury Verdict on behalf of Albert Ceballos, a 52-year-old Mexican immigrant who suffered low back injuries as a result of two separate car accidents, the first involving a Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy and the second involving an underinsured driver.  At the time of the first collision, which occurred at 1:30 a.m. the Plaintiff was a pedestrian who had stopped to render emergency medical...
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