Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

We all experience depression in our lives occasionally. It can be from the loss of a job, a serious illness, the death of a loved one, or for other various reasons. Usually, we are able to adjust and return to our normal daily routines. However, sometimes feelings of depression seem overwhelming and continue in intensity. Extended periods of depression and sadness sometimes indicate a greater cause than personal circumstances. In times such as this, talking to a professional is important to identify if you are possibly suffering from depression. When this depression is accompanied by suicidal thoughts, other mental illnesses, alcohol or drug abuse, this is especially troubling and can indicate serious illness. A situation such as this demands immediate medical attention. The young woman in this Florida medical malpractice case was a model and just 20 years old when she voluntarily entered a facility for depression and anxiety and for psychosocial assessment. The victim had stated upon entering the facility that she felt helpless and hopeless and did not want to live. The victim also admitted to a poor appetite, difficulty sleeping, and feeling anxious. She further stated that she heard voices and had become increasingly depressed to the point where she had not gone to work, had slept all day, and complained of poor energy and poor appetite. While in the facility, the victim would cry hysterically saying she wanted to go home. The nurses stated that the victim’s affect was flat, tearful, feeling hopeless, saying that she doesn’t want to live. She attended no group meetings and remained isolated in her room except for meals. In spite of all of the above telling signs, the treating psychiatrist, who saw her for less than 10 minutes, stated that she did not meet the criteria for involuntary commitment (“a danger to herself or others”) and decided to discharge her after only 24 hours in the treatment facility, with an appointment to return for a follow-up visit with this psychiatrist in one week. Tragically, the following week, after multiple attempts to reach the psychiatrist (who was on vacation), fire rescue was summoned to the home of this young victim because she had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was unresponsive. She was trauma hawked to the closest trauma center, but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The family of this young woman contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for assistance in bringing a lawsuit against the treatment facility and the treating psychiatrist involved for failing to recognize the obvious signs and symptoms of expressed and implied suicidal tendencies, helplessness, hopelessness, and the wish to die, and for failing to convert her voluntary admission to an involuntary placement, as well as patient abandonment.

The victim in this Florida auto accident case was 75 years old and was employed by a hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida. He drove a golf cart and picked visitors up in the parking lot so they would not have to walk the long distance to the hospital entrance. He was a careful driver and drove very slowly in the golf cart. In fact, several witnesses stated that they became annoyed by his extreme “carefulness”.

On this particular day, the victim had picked up one passenger to deliver to the hospital entrance, had made it to the valet entrance area and stopped, when a visitor in a large Ram pickup truck made an illegal u-turn because she apparently passed an open parking spot and was in a hurry to turn around and park there. Unfortunately, in the process she struck the golf cart with great force.

Both the driver and the passenger in the golf cart were ejected out of the golf cart and were thrown approximately 3-4 feet from the cart onto the pavement. Although the passenger in the golf cart sustained cuts and bruises, she refused medical treatment at the scene and has not had the necessity to obtain any medical treatment since the accident. However, the driver and victim in this case sustained multiple traumatic injuries and hit his head which was bleeding profusely. The paramedics arriving at the scene determined that, due to previous heart surgery, the victim needed to be taken directly to the trauma unit at another hospital, so he was placed in an ambulance and immediately transported to Delray Medical Center.

This victim remained in the hospital for a few weeks and then was transferred to a rehabilitation facility for continued care and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, after being at this facility for a short time, the victim’s health deteriorated rapidly and he passed away from complications brought on by his injuries previously sustained during the golf cart/motor vehicle accident.

The victim’s widow and children contacted Attorney Jason D. Weisser to assist them in bringing a lawsuit against the driver of the pickup truck that struck the golf cart the victim was driving and also against the uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage the victim carried on his own insurance policy. After extensive investigation and negotiations, Mr. Weisser was successful in settling with all defendants for an amount that was 25 times the available policy limits in this matter.

Food poisoning is a common illness which is usually mild, but sometimes can be deadly. Classic symptoms of this disease include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and abdominal cramping. These symptoms occur suddenly (within 48 hours) after consuming a contaminated food or drink. Depending on the contaminant, bloody stools, dehydration, fever and chills and nervous system damage may follow.

The victim in this Florida food poisoning case was planning a large get together for her family (15 people in all). She traveled to a neighborhood fast food restaurant and purchased enough fried chicken, potato salad and cole slaw to feed all of her relatives. Unfortunately, the victim and most of her relatives became ill and suffered from various symptoms to varying degrees. The victim became violently ill with severe abdominal pain, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach swelling, excruciating head and neck pain, and high fever. She felt so ill in fact, that she literally thought that it was her time to die.

The victim quickly made an appointment with her primary care physician, who immediately had her admitted to JFK Medical Center. From the date of her hospital discharge which was in April, through the end of the year, the victim continued to experience problems with abdominal pain, cramps and diarrhea. In December, her primary physician performed an endoscopic cholangiopancreatogram and subsequently diagnosed acalculus cholecystitis and referred her to a surgeon.

A few days later, she was admitted to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center for abdominal pain. Her surgeon diagnosed biliary dyskinesia and he eventually performed a laproscopic exploratory laparotomy with laproscopic cholecystecomy (gallbladder removal) and operative cholangiogram. Her physician’s report summarizes his professional medical opinions that the victim continues to suffer from a chronic non-specific colitis as a result of the food poisoning incident in April. His report also confirms that she continues to experience intermittent abdominal pain, cramps and diarrhea, all of which are requiring supportive management. Finally, he has confirmed that the food poisoning incident aggravated a pre-existing underlying gallbladder problem and was in fact the catalyst to the surgery to have the gallbladder removed.

Needless to say, this victim’s life and health have been totally upended due to this unfortunate and horrible incident. She can no longer eat any potato salad or chicken and the thought of doing so causes her to get sick. She can no longer enjoy a meal out at a restaurant due to her fears that she will end up with food poisoning again.

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