Ohio car accident attorneys: as Americans try to save money, more motorists are dropping their car insurance.

After an auto accident, insufficient coverage can leave you with less than a full recovery for your injuries.

Uninsured motorist coverage provides additional coverage to a person not at fault in an accident when the person responsible for the accident carries insufficient insurance, or carries no insurance at all.

Uninsured motorist coverage is different from liability coverage, which protects other people from injuries caused by the policyholder. Instead, uninsured and underinsured coverage protects the person who purchases it, by providing payments for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering that might not be covered under the insurance of the person who caused the accident and injury.

Most states require a minimum amount of liability insurance coverage. In Ohio, it is illegal to drive any motor vehicle without insurance or other proof of financial responsibility. The Ohio Revised Code requires financial responsibility in the minimum amount of $12,500 for bodily injury or death of one individual in any one accident, $25,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more individuals in any one accident, and $7,500 for damage to the property of others in any one accident. (more…)

The Ohio Department of Public Safety reports fewer motorists were killed over the holiday weekend.

Provisional numbers released by the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) show that fewer motorists were killed on Ohio’s roadways this Christmas as a result of driving fatalities.

Throughout the holiday weekend, Ohio state troopers and local law enforcement officials used high visibility enforcement in an effort to reduce serious crashes across the state. The reporting period began on Thurs. Dec. 24 at 6 p.m. and continued through Mon. Dec. 27, at 5:59 a.m.

During that time, six people were killed, including one pedestrian, and two of those deaths were attributed to alcohol. According to the Ohio car accident attorneys at Elk & Elk, more than half of the fatalities may have been preventable – reports indicate that 60 percent of those killed were not wearing their seat belt.

Yet, the Ohio personal injury attorneys explain patrol efforts seemed to have worked since fatalities from 2009 were almost double those of this year. According to last year’s report, 11 people died over the holiday and five of those accidents were attributed to alcohol.

The ODPS is encouraged by the decrease in fatalities this Christmas weekend and are hopeful that the decline will continue through 2011 as well. The car accident attorneys at Elk & Elk remind you to always buckle-up, especially as the New Year’s holiday approaches. Wearing a safety belt is the only way to avoid serious injury or death during a motor vehicle crash.

If you or someone you care about has been injured in a motor vehicle accident, let Elk & Elk’s auto accident attorneys make sure you get the compensation you deserve. We are always prepared and eager to represent injury victims and their families, and see to it that their lives get back on track as soon as possible in the wake of an unpleasant experience.

Ohio drug recall attorneys: Vioxx poses risk for heart complications even after discontinued use.

The pain medication Vioxx (rofecoxib) was pulled from the market in 2004 for an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, in a follow-up study by the Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx (APPROVe) trial, Ross and colleagues determined that adverse heart events associated with the drug’s use were still present after patients discontinued use. According to the Ohio malpractice attorneys at Elk & Elk, Vioxx has been linked to adverse reactions and even death in some patients.

As reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, among 1,451 study participants, 723 were assigned to rofecoxib and 728 were assigned to a placebo. Of those, 43 percent were at risk for a first event and had off-drug follow-up data available, researchers reported.

Click to review report findings: (more…)

Preventable medical errors kill nearly 98,000 Americans every year. The Ohio malpractice attorneys at Elk & Elk share tips to help you avoid becoming a statistic.

The truth is, sometimes there is nothing you can do to avert the negligent acts of your doctor or health care provider. However, studies by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) show that patients who become more proactive in their health care are less likely to be victimized by a medical error.

According to the Institute of Medicine, medical errors kill as many as 98,000 people annually – but, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t steps you can take to protect your health and your safety.

When you visit the doctor, you have the right to ask questions regarding your medical care. The more informed that you become, the better decisions that you can make. According to the medical malpractice lawyers at Elk & Elk in Ohio, it is critical that each and every individual becomes active participants in their own health care. Here are steps you should take to ensure quality care: (more…)

The joy of having a baby can cause unexpected results when a negligent doctor makes a mistake during labor and delivery. The Ohio medical malpractice lawyers at Elk & Elk work hard to protect the rights of injured children.

How would you react if right after giving birth, you were told that something was ‘wrong’ with your baby? The Ohio birth defect attorneys at Elk & Elk define a birth injury as any event that occurs to which a newborn suffers a physical injury due to a problem that was the direct cause of substandard care during labor or delivery.

The Ohio personal injury attorneys often deal with cases in which infants become deprived of oxygen. In other cases, heavy pressure puts stress on an infant’s cranium, leading to a head injury. Common injuries also include nerve injuries, brachial plexus injuries and spinal cord injuries, among others.

As reported by the March of Dimes, nearly 20 percent of infants received substandard care in 2005. Most birth injuries cause permanent neurological injuries that cause a lifetime of pain and suffering for the children affected and their families.

The birth injury lawyers in Ohio explain that a traumatic delivery is more likely when the mother has small pelvic measurements or when the baby is too large. In such situations, it is expected that the fetal condition is closely supervised.

The unfortunate truth is that most birth injuries are preventable in the first place. When infants are injured due to the negligence of a health care provider who provides substandard care, Elk & Elk’s Ohio medical malpractice lawyers say that a birth injury claim may be the answer.

If your baby has suffered any type of birth injury as a result of negligent perinatal care, you need a medical malpractice lawyer who understands the complexities of a birth injury case. Call Elk & Elk’s birth injury lawyers at 1-800-ELK-OHIO at any time, any day from anywhere.