What you need to know about wills and estates: A MyPhillyLawyer primer
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on March 14th, 2011
Do you have a will written in case something should happen to you? Have you carefully written down details for what should happen to your property and assets in the event you die? If something should happen to you, will your family know that they don't have to add worries about what will happen to your belongings, assets and real estate to the pain they will already feel from your loss? If you've answered "no," ...
Hospital errors in the U.S.: you have a right to know the facts
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on March 5th, 2011
If you or a loved one has to be admitted into a hospital for emergency or scheduled surgery or treatment in the U.S., you probably think that it's a routinely safe place to go. Reality, however, may be very different from those expectations. Across the nation, medical mistakes routinely occur inside hospitals and the systems in place to report those errors vary greatly from state to state. [caption id="attachment_1156" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo of surgery in...
Minnesota trying something new to prevent traffic deaths: a memorial Web site for victims
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 28th, 2011
Across the United States, motor vehicle accidents claimed the lives of 24,474 people in 2009, plus another 4,462 motorcyclists and 4,872 pedestrians and bicyclists, according to federal statistics. The numbers are sobering, and at least one state – Minnesota – is trying to do something to make people more aware of the human carnage happening everyday on the state's roadways. In an announcement today, the state's Department of Public Safety (DPS) unveiled a new Web...
Winter’s not over: Carbon monoxide safety at home is still critical
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 27th, 2011
Yes, we're all excited about the warmer weather we've been enjoying locally, but the fact is that winter isn't really yet over and winter-related carbon monoxide dangers continue to exist in our homes. With that in mind, we here at MyPhillyLawyer have put together some important information to remind you how you can keep yourself and your family safer while running in-home heating equipment that produces deadly carbon monoxide (CO) gas. Carbon monoxide is an...
Surgery is always a risk: know your rights for you and your family
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 26th, 2011
Earlier this month, a 17-year-old Illinois boy went to a dental clinic for what was to be a routine procedure – he was having a tooth filling replaced after one was dislodged when he ate some candy. Instead, the youth, who had gone to the dental clinic by himself without a parent or guardian, underwent a root canal procedure. A week later, the teen died of sepsis, an infection of the blood, based on an...
Parents: Lessons learned from the daycare center fire that killed 3 children in Houston
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 25th, 2011
It was a parent's worst nightmare – a kitchen fire broke out in an in-home child daycare center in Houston, Texas, this week, leading to the deaths of three children and serious injuries to four other youngsters. The home was filled with smoke as firefighters scrambled to rescue the children, ranging in age from 18 months to 3 years old, from the burning house, according to a story filed by The Associated Press (AP). Many...
Red light cameras: safety boon or police revenue enhancer?
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 24th, 2011
In communities across the U.S., red light cameras in highly-traveled intersections continue to cause controversy. Are they great devices that help to save lives by making drivers less likely to speed through intersections against red lights, knowing that they can be ticketed and subject to hefty fines? Or are they revenue-enhancing tools used by police departments to bolster their ticket-writing coffers at the expense of privacy and due process for motorists? [caption id="attachment_1119" align="alignright" width="201"...
Juries are being picked via Facebook?
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 23rd, 2011
What this could mean in your legal case and what you need to know A new trend in courtrooms across the nation includes searches being done by prosecutors and attorneys on Facebook and other social media sites of prospective jurors who are being polled for possible selection for juries in a wide range of civil and criminal cases. Think about that for a moment. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and others are certainly everywhere...
Protecting yourself from insurance “bad faith”
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on February 18th, 2011
We've been trained as consumers to believe that if we're injured in a vehicle accident, our insurance company – the one that's been collecting all of our costly premiums for coverage – will be there to help us in our hour of need. Sadly, though, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, it turns out that a driver's biggest nightmare after an accident begins when they have to sue their own insurance company to...