Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers Blog

Bayer Has Paid Billions to Roundup Victims, But the Product Is Still on Store Shelves

Roundup has been in the news for years after people who used it or were exposed to it developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and won billions of dollars in settlements. Despite Roundup’s manufacturer being required to pay massive settlements to those victims, the product is still on store shelves in America!

That’s because the manufacturer still denies that Roundup’s primary ingredient, an herbicide called glyphosate, is dangerous. Juries nationwide are disagreeing with this, and they’ve required the manufacturer to pay settlements ranging from $80 million all the way up to $2 billion to people who developed cancer after using or being exposed to this dangerous product.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer said in 2015 that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic.” That alone should be grounds for having the product pulled from store shelves and a massive nationwide recall, but those steps haven’t been taken by the manufacturer. That means people are still able to purchase Roundup and use it at their homes, putting themselves and their loved ones—including children—in danger.

At Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers, our Virginia defective product lawyers work hard to hold negligent product manufacturers accountable when their products hurt innocent people. Roundup, originally manufactured by Monsanto and now manufactured by the company’s owner Bayer, is putting many innocent people at risk of developing a potentially deadly cancer, and it’s our job to help those victims get maximum compensation.

Contact us today if you or someone you love developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after using or being exposed to Roundup. You may be owed significant compensation.

Birth Injuries Can Happen Long Before Delivery

When many people hear the phrase “birth injury,” they picture a serious complication occurring during childbirth. And while it’s true that many birth injuries do occur immediately before, during, and after birth, some occur long before birth. Unfortunately, some of those injuries can and should be prevented, but they aren’t because doctors, midwives, and other providers are negligent.

Common examples of pre-birth injuries and errors include:

• Failure to diagnose—Babies and their mothers need frequent checkups and examinations to ensure that everything is progressing smoothly and without any complications. When doctors, midwives, and other providers fail to perform tests or interpret the results correctly, treatable conditions can worsen.
• Gestational diabetes—Pregnant women should have their blood sugar levels checked regularly. Gestational diabetes is common and treatable, but when it goes undiagnosed, it can put mothers and their unborn children at serious risk of complications.
• Not scheduling a C-section—Knowing the position a baby is in during the weeks and days leading up to the due date is essential. When a baby is in a breech position or another position that will make natural childbirth difficult, healthcare providers should begin making plans for the mother to deliver via C-section.

Sometimes, birth injuries that appear to occur only at birth or shortly after are actually the result of negligence dating back days or weeks before delivery. That’s because they are due to conditions that should have been found and treated.

If you or someone you love experienced a birth injury, our Virginia birth injury lawyers want to help you get compensation. Contact Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation.

Why You Should Ride Wearing Full Gear, Even During the Summer

Summer is a great time to take your motorcycle out for a spin, but because the temperature can reach the 90s from June to September in Virginia, some riders opt to wear only a helmet to protect themselves. Although riding with less gear can keep you cooler, it also significantly increases your risk of suffering a serious injury during an accident.

Regardless of how far you’re going, how much traffic you’ll encounter, or even how hot it is outside, you should always wear all the gear, all the time. Here’s how your equipment protects you when you ride:

• Your helmet—The most important piece of safety equipment protects you from head and brain injuries. Full-face helmets can also protect your eyes, mouth, and face during a crash.
• Your jacket—Whether it’s made of leather, nylon, Kevlar, or another material, your jacket protects your torso and arms.
• Your gloves—Your hands and fingers are highly vulnerable during a crash, and heavy-duty gloves protect them.
• Your pants—Road rash can be severe on the legs and thighs, and thick riding pants can reduce or even eliminate it during crashes.
• Your boots—Some motorcyclists crash feet-first, and without boots, they may suffer severe injuries to their ankles, feet, and toes.

Above all else, you need all of this gear to protect you from negligent and careless drivers. Although motorcyclists are plentiful during the summer, drivers aren’t always looking out for them. That puts riders at significant risk of being struck by vehicles.

If you or someone you love is injured while riding by a negligent driver, our Virginia motorcycle accident lawyers want to help. Contact Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation.

Unsure If You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim? Call Us!

Medicine is an inexact science. It’s up to doctors, surgeons, and other healthcare providers to do their best to properly diagnose and treat patients. But they don’t always succeed, and sometimes patients have bad outcomes.

Not every bad outcome or worsening of health is considered medical malpractice, but some are. Of course, your doctor or hospital will never admit to medical malpractice on their own. Instead, it’s up to you to prove that it happened. But doing so without an experienced Virginia medical malpractice lawyer on your side can be extremely difficult.

Our legal team knows medical malpractice as soon as we see it. But we also know that in order to see it, we must collect plenty of evidence and review all the facts. Many times, that evidence and those facts are purposely obscured by healthcare providers. After all, the last thing they want is to be held accountable for bad outcomes caused by negligence.

When you call Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers, we’ll listen to your story and begin investigating what happened. Then, we’ll determine exactly when and where your care didn’t reach the standards it should have. Finally, we’ll calculate how the medical malpractice has affected your life and will continue to affect it financially, physically, and emotionally.

We don’t let our clients get pushed around by negligent healthcare providers and their insurers, and we won’t let it happen to you, either. Contact us today for a free consultation. You’ve been through a lot, and you deserve maximum compensation.

How Car Accidents Can Cause Traumatic Brain Injuries

Accidents are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., and many of those occur on the nation’s roadways. 38,000 people are killed annually in auto accidents in America, and around 3 million people are injured in crashes each year. And while many of those injuries are minor bumps and bruises, some people suffer catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

TBIs can have profound effects on victims and their loved ones. They can render victims helpless to care for themselves and live independently, and they can make it difficult or impossible for them to work. Many victims also need extensive, frequent medical care, including live-in nurses and caretakers.

How do car accidents cause these debilitating and disabling injuries? There are a few ways, including:

• Direct impact—Some TBIs are caused when victims hit their heads on their vehicles’ steering wheels, dashboards, or headrests. They also may be struck by loose objects inside their vehicles.
• Sudden deceleration—TBIs can occur even when there’s no direct impact. That’s because the sudden deceleration of a crash can cause the brain to move violently inside the skull, resulting in a serious injury.

Both of these causes of TBIs aren’t always immediately obvious. Sometimes victims may think they’re okay at the scene and after going home, but their symptoms may worsen, especially if they have a brain bleed. That’s why it’s vital for auto accident victims to get full examinations after crashes.

At Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers, our Virginia brain injury attorneys stand up for the rights of all car crash victims, especially those who suffer such profound injuries. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Which Nursing Homes Put Residents at Highest Risk of Abuse and Neglect?

When you’re looking for a nursing home for your loved one, your top priority is to find one where they’ll be safe and well taken care of. Unfortunately, some nursing homes not only fail to provide adequate care to residents, but they put them in harm’s way due to abuse and neglect.

While looking for a nursing home, always be on the lookout for these warning signs before moving your loved one into a care facility:

• Staff turnover—Ask about average staff tenure. Do most caretakers stay at least a few years, or is there a constant revolving door of caretakers with short tenures? Significant and frequent turnover means unhappy staff and an inability for caretakers to get to know residents.
• Facility cleanliness—Is the nursing home clean and orderly, or is it dirty and unorganized? The cleanliness of a nursing home can tell you a lot about how the management treats residents. Also, dirty nursing homes can also put residents at risk of infection, as germs spread more easily.
• Residents’ moods—Do the residents seem happy and engaged, or are they depressed and withdrawn? It’s not uncommon for a few residents to be down, but most residents should be cheerful. If you notice that most residents seem to be in bad spirits, it could be a reflection of poor care.

Even if you find a great nursing home for your loved one, it’s important to never let your guard down. A new caretaker or management team can significantly impact resident care and wellbeing, so stay vigilant. And if you do suspect abuse or neglect, contact the Virginia nursing home abuse lawyers at Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation.

The 5 Biggest Risks Bicyclists Face in Virginia

Riding a bicycle means exercise, fresh air, and NO visits to the gas station! There are plenty of perks to riding a bicycle, whether it’s for fun or to get around town, but there’s also a huge drawback: safety. When you share the road with big cars, trucks, and SUVs, you’re at significant risk of suffering a serious injury.

Avoiding a painful, disabling, and potentially life-threatening crash is all about riding as cautiously and defensively as possible. And doing so requires knowing the biggest threats you face on Virginia’s roads, which include:

1. Intersections—Intersections are extremely dangerous for bicyclists, especially when drivers run red lights, don’t stop at stop signs, or turn right into the paths of bicyclists.
2. Impatient drivers—Bike lanes allow riders a chance to share the road without slowing down traffic, but when they don’t exist, drivers may get impatient and dangerously overtake cyclists.
3. Distracted drivers—Drivers must give the road their full focus and attention, but many drivers are distracted. Drivers who aren’t paying attention can drift into bicyclists.
4. Vehicle doors—Cyclists who ride through downtown or urban areas often ride near parked vehicles. Open car doors are a huge threat to bicyclists and they must always be accounted for.
5. Slick and uneven roads—The road surface can put cyclists at risk, especially when they ride over potholes, loose gravel, and wet leaves. Riders must always scan the road ahead for hazards.

When cyclists are injured because others were negligent, we work hard to help them get full compensation. Contact the Virginia bicycle accident lawyers at Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation.

Can Supplement Manufacturers Be Held Liable for Injuries?

The dietary supplement industry is huge in the U.S. Americans spend billions of dollars every year on vitamins, minerals, and other supplements that promise to improve health and well-being. However, dietary supplements aren’t approved or tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That means they end up on store shelves without undergoing any rigorous testing.

It’s no surprise that many dietary supplements end up being recalled by the FDA or their manufacturers after it’s discovered that they are contaminated with foreign substances, contain undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients, or pose serious threats to patients’ health. But when that happens, can the people who take those supplements and are harmed by them sue their manufacturers?

Yes—people harmed by dietary supplements can sue for any damages they incur as a result of using those products. Although these products don’t require FDA approval to be stocked on pharmacy or health store shelves, they are required to be safe for usage. When they aren’t, the manufacturers can and should be held liable, the same way that the manufacturers of defective consumer products can and should be held liable when their products harm innocent people.

However, getting compensation from a dietary supplement manufacturer isn’t always easy. Many of them are based in other countries, or they may be uncooperative and unresponsive to injury and illness claims. That’s why having an experienced Virginia drug injury lawyer on your side is so important.

Contact the legal team at Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation if you or someone you love was harmed by a defective and dangerous dietary supplement. We want to help you get the money you’re owed.

What Insurance Pays for Dog Bite Injuries?

If you were recently bitten by a dog, you may be looking at big expenses related to the bite. It’s common for dog bite victims to need extensive medical care for complications ranging from bleeding and infection to nerve damage and pain. Some victims may even be hospitalized for days, while others may become temporarily or permanently disabled.

The expenses you’re facing can push you towards filing a compensation claim, but you may be worried about who or what will pay for your damages—especially if the dog owner is a friend, family member, or even a stranger you don’t want to burden. Thankfully, many dog bites are covered by homeowner’s insurance policies.

Although these policies are created to cover home-related expenses, they also cover many aspects of life that go beyond domestic life, including dog bites that happen on or off the policyholders’ property. That means that if you get bitten by a dog while walking through your neighborhood or at a park, there’s a good chance the dog owner’s homeowner’s insurance will kick in if you file an injury claim.

But what if the dog owner doesn’t have homeowner’s insurance? In this case, you may be eligible to claim compensation through their animal insurance if the owner has purchased it. If they haven’t, you can still file an injury claim, but it will likely be paid from the dog owner’s pocket. It’s common for bite victims to feel bad about doing so, but when they don’t pursue compensation, they have to bear the burden of those costs alone for a bite that wasn’t their fault!

Need more info or assistance with a dog bite claim? Contact the Virginia dog bite lawyers at Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation.

What’s the Difference Between Disability and Workers’ Comp?

When Virginia workers get hurt and can’t do their jobs, they have two options for replacing their income: filing for disability or filing for workers’ comp. Some people think these are the same thing, but they two separate income replacement methods for people who are too hurt or sick to work.

Disability insurance is:

• Provided by private insurance—Many employers offer disability insurance as part of their benefits packages, but it’s typically optional. Employees who don’t purchase it don’t have access to it if they can’t work.
• For all injuries—Injured or sick workers can apply for their disability insurance benefits regardless of where their injuries occurred. That means they can get benefits even if they were injured at home.
• For short- and long-term injuries—Disability insurance is available as both short-term and long-term coverage, the latter of which can cover employees for many years or even decades after they get hurt or sick.

Workers’ compensation is:

• Provided by state-mandated insurance—Virginia requires that almost all employers purchase workers’ compensation for their workers. Applications are reviewed and approved by a state board called the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission.
• For work-related injuries only—Workers’ comp only kicks in for workers when they get hurt or sick at work or during work-related activities. If their disability occurs at home or while on vacation, they won’t be covered.
• Typically for short-term injuries—Although workers’ compensation benefits can pay out for a maximum of 500 weeks, most people go back to work much sooner than this. Workers’ comp benefits end when a worker’s doctor says he or she is recovered enough to go back to work.

At Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers, our Virginia workers’ compensation attorneys have helped many injured workers throughout the state get benefits. Contact us for a free consultation if you were hurt at work and have questions about or need assistance with your claim.