Workers’ compensation is designed to provide lost wages and medical care as benefits that get victims back to work and back to life after suffering an injury in the workplace. To that extent, injured victims receive money for both rehabilitative therapy and vocational therapy. The former is designed to restore mobility and everyday functions, while the latter helps injured workers …
Understanding Pedestrian Deaths: A Growing Problem
A confluence of factors, including a rise in distracted driving incidents, caused pedestrian fatalities to increase 10% in the first two quarters of 2015. Is the sudden rise a one-off spike or the beginning of a new trend? The report by the Governors Highway Safety Association also opined that unusually mild weather, relatively low gas prices, and an improving economy …
Plan Ahead: What to Consider Before Working Overseas
Living and working in a foreign country is an amazing adventure for many people, but before you board the plane, there are a few things to know. Many people do not even have to change employers to work overseas because such assignments are already available. In other situations, transitioning to another U.S.-based employer is a better option; in rare instances, …
New Medical Survival Advances With Veterans and Contractors Leads to Challenges for Long-Term Care
Victims and practitioners have long known and understood that the scars of war do not heal until long after the conflict has passed. Now, researchers are getting a better idea of just how long it takes. The good news for Iraq veterans is that the injury survival rate is around 90%, meaning that many wounds that would have been fatal …
Four Workers’ Compensation Mistakes to Avoid
Under Florida’s workers’ compensation law, injured workers have access to no-fault insurance benefits that compensate them for their economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages. However, “no-fault” does not mean the process is easy. The insurance company has attorneys whose sole mission is to reduce the amount of benefits that injured workers receive, or even deny these benefits …
Four Commonly-Asked Questions About Workers’ Compensation in Florida
Primarily because of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in April that overturned a key component in the law, questions abound about workers’ compensation in Florida. But even with these changes, many parts of the system remain substantially the same. State workers’ compensation laws, like the one in Florida, go back about 100 years to a time when industrialization was changing …
Medical Recovery: Understanding Burn Injury Healing
There are several reasons why serious burns are among the most common catastrophic injuries in truck crash cases. Most 18-wheelers carry about 300 gallons of fuel, and fully-loaded tanker trucks may carry as much as 9,000 gallons. The sheer volume is one reason why many large truck crashes involve large fireballs. But that is only part of the story. In …
December 2016 Newsletter
THE FIRM OF BARNETT, LERNER, KARSEN & FRANKEL WISHES ALL OF OUR CLIENTS, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS A HAPPY AND HEALTHY HOLIDAY SEASON AND NEW YEAR!
U.S. Increases Resources for Intelligence Contractors in Syria
The Department of Defense quietly upped the ante in Syria with a $10 million no-bid contract that sends an unspecified number of private-sector intelligence operatives to the war-torn country. In July 2016, the government announced that Six3 Intelligence Solutions, which is now a subsidiary of CACI International, will provide “intelligence analysis services” in Germany, Italy, and Syria. While almost nothing …
Beyond Iraq And Afghanistan: Contractors Stationed Around The World
Many local residents in places like Japan and Kuwait view U.S. service members as little more than a foreign occupying army. What impact does this attitude have on contractors? The American military presence in Okinawa, which has long been a sore spot for many, is a good example. In June 2016, according to police and witnesses, an intoxicated off-duty American …
Animals and PTSD Recovery
As more and more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return with post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, an innovative therapeutic technique is helping many of them regain at least part of the lifestyle they lost. Former Marine Tony Austin has a rather typical story with an unexpected ending. Chronic PTSD made it almost impossible for Austin to reintegrate into …
An “Agent Orange” for Iraq and Afghanistan
From defoliants used in the Vietnam War to the still-mysterious “Gulf War Syndrome” to the burn pits of Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors and service members are exposed to a wide variety of non-combat hazards. During the American Civil War, commanders would place their troops in hazardous situations without a second thought. In fact, some Southern commanders often inflated casualty figures …