Civil lawsuits are very common in the U.S.; as an industry, they generate $239 billion annually according to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Still, many people navigating the complicated waters of a malpractice lawsuit or wrongful death case are often overwhelmed by the legal complexity of the legal system.

For those in Kentucky who are looking for malpractice help, things recently became more complicated.

This past march, the Kentucky legislature passed SB4, a bill that fundamentally changes the way that medical malpractice lawsuits are carried out.

It’s every parent’s nightmare, getting a call in the middle of the night to inform you that your teenager has been in a serious car accident. Between the damage to the vehicles, the threat of serious brain injury, the lawyers, and the question of liability, car crashes are difficult enough to handle without the involvement of your children.

But fortunately for parents, there are a number of new devices and apps that can help greatly diminish the risk of your child experiencing an accident. These new tools are designed to address a number of the most common causes of accidents and keep you both out of the hospital or the office of your lawyers.

We’ve put together a list of tools that can help give parents a piece of mind while their children are behind the wheel.

In our last post, we discussed the various causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries, from a slip and fall accident to a serious car accident. We also talked briefly about the importance of taking steps to prevent them: traumatic brain injuries are a difficult injury to contend with once they’ve happened, and can have a wide range of symptoms and effects.

While you can’t control the actions of others, simply taking a few strong steps can dramatically reduce the risk of you or a loved one experiencing a personal injury or becoming the victim of a traumatic brain injury.

We’ve taken a few of the most common causes of TBIs and created a list of methods that can lower your risk.

If you’re an avid social media user, it may be tempting to document every event of your life. While this is usually fine, it is not a good idea following a car accident. Oversharing can be detrimental to your case, so consider the following consequences before you upload that photo or write that tweet.

• Photos document your physical condition
  Every injury that you sustain from your accident is evidence to argue your case. However, if you post photos of yourself dancing at a bar, playing soccer, or hiking, for example, the opposing legal team could use those photos to disprove the severity of your injuries.

A traumatic brain injury is a massive head injury that causes a brain dysfunction, specifically resulting from an external force. The effects of this trauma can range from mild dysfunction of some cells to bruising, all the way to long term impairment and even death.

While it is difficult to know the full extent of people who suffer a TBI each year, the number is estimated to be 1.7 million people. Out of those people, 52,000 die, 275,000 are hospitalized, and 1.365 million, or about 80% are released from the emergency department after being treated.

Currently, there is no cure and so prevention is often the best bet at avoiding a complication from TBI. But in order to understand how to avoid TBI, you must first understand what causes them.

Do you have a first-time driver in your home? While seeing your child get behind the wheel for the first time can be exceptionally nerve-wracking, as long as you teach your child the importance of driver safety, your worries will subside. Don’t know where to start? Here are some simple driver safety tips that will keep car accidents at bay and your child as safe as can be while on the road.

Get accustomed to the car
One of the biggest worries of first-time drivers is that they don’t really understand the massive machine they are driving. A car has so many components, and while seasoned drivers don’t think twice about them, these small details can be quite intimidating. So, to bypass any additional fear and apprehension, make sure your child gets familiar with the car before they start driving. This means going over the manual, teaching them the functions of the dashboard, and having them test out the strength they need to brake and turn the steering wheel.

Sadly, over 35,000 people die in road crashes annually and these crashes also leave over two million people injured or disabled. If you or your loved ones have been affected by a car accident, you know how terrifying and painful the experience can be, especially if a loved one has died wrongfully at the hands of another driver. Indeed, a car crash is the main cause of death from traumatic brain injury and those rates are highest for those between 20-24 years of age. There are certain steps you should always take when in a car accident and afterwards to make sure that the appropriate legal steps are being followed, especially if there was a death or serious injury. You may want to consult a legal professional, such as an attorney or lawyer, regardless of which side of the crash you were on.

Car accidents are an unfortunate fact of life that drivers face every time they get behind the wheel. Although most commutes are thankfully uneventful, it seems that car accidents are happening with greater frequency.

This is thought to be for a number of different reasons, with distracted driving being a leading cause. And with an estimated 660,000 drivers using their cell phones or mobile other devices at any given moment during the day in America, it’s easy to see how and why the number of car accidents continues to climb.

The moments after car accidents can be extremely stressful. After a car crash, you’re not exactly sure what’s going on, who’s injured and who’s fine, or even aware of what just happened. Despite the mass confusion in the aftermath of a car accident, this time is still extremely important.

The roadways are an extremely dangerous place and crashes happen much too often at the hands of illegal drivers. In 2013 alone, 9.9 million people drove under the influence of illicit drugs.

Hopefully, if you’re involved in a car crash, you’ll be unharmed and aware enough to pay attention to what’s going on around you, but that’s not always the case. That’s why your first move, no matter what, should be to contact an emergency crew immediately after an accident. After you’ve been cleared by a medical professional, that’s when you make the second most important call of the day: to your car accident lawyer.

If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, it can be hard to know where to turn. In fact, it can be hard to know for certain that you actually were the victim of malpractice in the first place. This is one of the most important times to consult a legal professional, as they will be able to lead you down the right path to fight for your rights. To prevent confusion during this difficult time in your life, here are some things to do after the incident.