David Farnbauch of The Sweeney Law Firm has been selected for inclusion in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.in the practice area of Medical Malpractice Law and Personal Injury Litigation.
Additionally, David Farnbauch has been recognized by his peers as 2018 Fort Wayne Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs “Lawyers of the Year.” This high honor is award to only a single lawyer in each practice area and community.
Inclusion into Best Lawyers is considered an honor. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.
Indiana Trial Lawyer’s Association
David Farnbauch has been elected to serve on the Executive Board of the Indiana Trial Lawyer’s Association.
Additionally, David Farnbauch has been asked to serve as chairman of the 53rd Annual Indiana Trial Lawyer’s Association “Annual Institute” seminar at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The seminar will be held on November 7-8 and will feature legendary trial attorney Mark Mandell from Providence, Rhode Island.
Assisted Living Facilities
INsight Interview with David Farnbauch explaining Assisted Living Facilities.
Video Transcript:
Q: Welcome back to INsight. We’re with Dave Farnbauch, from Sweeney Law Firm, and we want to talk about assisted living facilities. These are growing in popularity. More and more people are going into assisted living.
A: Dirk, every time you turn around in Fort Wayne, they’re putting up a new assisted living facility.
Q: And what does that mean, just, I mean, it’s kind of like organic or natural or whatever. I mean, does assisted living mean something specific?
A: Well, assisted living, you know, how I would define “assisted living” is elderly people that need assistance with basic activities of daily living, but it’s felt that they aren’t quite ready for a skilled long term nursing home facility.
Q: But are they regulated, I guess? Is one assisted living going to offer the same services as the second assisted living, as the third as the fourth?
A: Yes, and, of course, obviously, we approach this from the safety standpoint and when you ask are assisted living facilities regulated, what’s interesting, I brought in a couple of things for the viewers to look at. This is the, what we call the watermelon book. This is the book of regulations, federal regulations that govern skilled nursing home care. They say it’s the second most heavily regulated industry in the United States. So, obviously, lots of rules and regulations that must be followed. These are the regulations that govern what we call a rehabilitation facility, a residential rehabilitation, or residential facility in the state of Indiana. You know, the regulations are, you know, a few pages. So, people have to understand that when you put a resident into a facility, who has some medical needs, for example, a lot of these assisted living facilities have memory units, they have units that are designed to take care of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Well, those patients have a lot of medical needs and they need a lot of supervision and these regulations, while they do have some regulations in place that require certain level of staffing and sort of oversee what the staff can do, from a medical standpoint, it’s not anywhere near the level of care that you’re going to get in a nursing home.
Q: So, the term “skilled nursing” means skilled nursing?
A: You’re going to get round the clock skilled nursing care and a lot tighter oversight over those residents to, for their safety and to prevent accidents and to make sure that they’re safe.
Q: If my loved one truly just needs assistance, is there a best way to evaluate from one facility to the other?
A: Well, once again, the Indiana State Department of Health, they have score cards for these residential facilities. There’s information you can get from the Indiana State Department of Health website as to whether they’ve been cited for violations of the Indiana State Department of Health regulations.
Q: We were talking before we went on the air about the, don’t be fooled just because it’s clean and well maintained and beautiful grounds.
A: Right. Dirk, I think there’s just, there is still a stigma, families don’t want to put their loved one in a nursing home. So, they think to themselves, okay, we’ll just put Mom or Dad in an assisted living facility. It’s not really a nursing home. But I think what you really have to carefully evaluate is is this the right fit for that resident’s level of acuity or their needs. I think a lot of people get placed in an assisted living facility that really actually need to be in a nursing home and sometimes with tragic consequences that if your loved one needs a lot of care and oversight, it could be dangerous being in an assisted living facility.
Q: You can learn more at Sweeneylawfirm.com. We’ll be right back on INsight.
Medical Malpractice Commercial
Medical Malpractice Commercial for Sweeney Law Firm
Assisted Living Facilities
INsight Interview with David Farnbauch explaining Assisted Living Facilities.
Video Transcript:
Q: Welcome back to INsight. We’re with Dave Farnbauch, from Sweeney Law Firm, and we want to talk about assisted living facilities. These are growing in popularity. More and more people are going into assisted living.
A: Dirk, every time you turn around in Fort Wayne, they’re putting up a new assisted living facility.
Q: And what does that mean, just, I mean, it’s kind of like organic or natural or whatever. I mean, does assisted living mean something specific?
A: Well, assisted living, you know, how I would define “assisted living” is elderly people that need assistance with basic activities of daily living, but it’s felt that they aren’t quite ready for a skilled long term nursing home facility.
Q: But are they regulated, I guess? Is one assisted living going to offer the same services as the second assisted living, as the third as the fourth?
A: Yes, and, of course, obviously, we approach this from the safety standpoint and when you ask are assisted living facilities regulated, what’s interesting, I brought in a couple of things for the viewers to look at. This is the, what we call the watermelon book. This is the book of regulations, federal regulations that govern skilled nursing home care. They say it’s the second most heavily regulated industry in the United States. So, obviously, lots of rules and regulations that must be followed. These are the regulations that govern what we call a rehabilitation facility, a residential rehabilitation, or residential facility in the state of Indiana. You know, the regulations are, you know, a few pages. So, people have to understand that when you put a resident into a facility, who has some medical needs, for example, a lot of these assisted living facilities have memory units, they have units that are designed to take care of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Well, those patients have a lot of medical needs and they need a lot of supervision and these regulations, while they do have some regulations in place that require certain level of staffing and sort of oversee what the staff can do, from a medical standpoint, it’s not anywhere near the level of care that you’re going to get in a nursing home.
Q: So, the term “skilled nursing” means skilled nursing?
A: You’re going to get round the clock skilled nursing care and a lot tighter oversight over those residents to, for their safety and to prevent accidents and to make sure that they’re safe.
Q: If my loved one truly just needs assistance, is there a best way to evaluate from one facility to the other?
A: Well, once again, the Indiana State Department of Health, they have score cards for these residential facilities. There’s information you can get from the Indiana State Department of Health website as to whether they’ve been cited for violations of the Indiana State Department of Health regulations.
Q: We were talking before we went on the air about the, don’t be fooled just because it’s clean and well maintained and beautiful grounds.
A: Right. Dirk, I think there’s just, there is still a stigma, families don’t want to put their loved one in a nursing home. So, they think to themselves, okay, we’ll just put Mom or Dad in an assisted living facility. It’s not really a nursing home. But I think what you really have to carefully evaluate is is this the right fit for that resident’s level of acuity or their needs. I think a lot of people get placed in an assisted living facility that really actually need to be in a nursing home and sometimes with tragic consequences that if your loved one needs a lot of care and oversight, it could be dangerous being in an assisted living facility.
Q: You can learn more at Sweeneylawfirm.com. We’ll be right back on INsight.
Insight Interview with David Farnbauch, a Sweeney Law Firm Partner; explaining what Probate Court is, and how it is involved with Personal Injury Cases involving minors and Wrongful Death Cases.
David Farnbauch has the honor and privilege of being selected as the “Program Chairman” for the “Rules of the Road” and “Polarizing” Techniques in the Tort Reform Era seminar on August 25th and 26th in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This is the largest (in terms of number of state trial lawyers associations sponsoring an event) plaintiffs seminar ever held in the Midwest. Six state trial lawyer associations are co-sponsoring this seminar featuring Rick Friedman, the most sought-after trial attorney, speaker and author in the country. There has never been an educational event co-sponsored by six state TLA’s in the Midwest (or anywhere else, that we know of).
From the brochure:
You’ve read his best-selling books, Rules of the Road, and Polarizing the Case. You are hopefully applying his “Rules” methodology in your cases. It’s time to learn some of the things that aren’t in his books and learn the secrets behind Rick Friedman’s case selection and trial strategies.
Six Midwestern state trial lawyers organizations have come together to sponsor a historical collaborative seminar featuring the most sought-after speaker/author on trial strategy in the country. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear Rick Friedman and Don Bauermeister share their insights on selecting and trying cases in the tort-reform era.
It’s no secret that jurors in the Midwest are conservative, especially when it comes to damages. This seminar will likely be the one and only time that Rick Friedman will give a two-day lecture in the Midwest on strategies specifically designed to address the attitudes of “conservative” jurors.
Rick’s special guest will be Don Bauermeister from Anchorage, Alaska. Don will give an inspiring presentation on how conservative jurors react to moral blameworthiness. According to Rick Friedman, “Over the last 10 years, no lawyer has taught me more about trying cases than Don Bauermeister.”
The goal of this unique seminar is to be both informational and interactive. There will be ample time for every attendee to address their specific issues and concerns with Rick & Don.
David Farnbauch Awarded AV Preeminent Rating
David Farnbauch Awarded AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell
Fort Wayne, Indiana, Personal Injury attorney David Farnbauch has been awarded the “AV Preeminent Rating” by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings. The AV Rating is the highest possible rating given by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review for a lawyer and is established entirely on a peer-review basis.
The AV Preeminent designation signifies that a David Farnbauch’s peers rank him at the highest level of professional excellence in both legal ability & ethical standards.
Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings reflect a combination of a lawyer’s Legal Ability rating and General Ethical Standards rating as provided by their peers.
The Legal Ability Rating indicates professional ability within a specific area of practice as rated by other lawyers and judges, and is based on five key areas:
- Legal Knowledge
- Analytical Capabilities
- Judgment
- Communication Ability
- Legal Experience
The General Ethical Standards Rating denotes adherence to professional standards of conduct and ethics, including reliability and diligence.
David Farnbauch is honored to receive this prestigious recognition from his fellow peers and holds it as a testament to Sweeney Law Firm’s commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards.
VA Medical Malpractice
Insight Interview with David Farnbauch from 06/19/2017 the explaining VA Medical Malpractice.
Video Transcript:
Q: Welcome back to INsight and we’re here with Dave Farnbauch, from Sweeney Law Firm, and this is an interesting topic. So, the V.A., I know they’re trying to fix it, but what happens if something goes wrong to a veteran when they’re receiving V.A. care?
A: Dirk, veterans actually have the right to sue for medical malpractice. It’s a different process than civilian medical malpractice, you know, in the regular civilian world of medical malpractice, but there is a system in place for veterans to obtain monetary compensation, if they receive substandard care.
Q: Does that include receiving no care because it seems like that is also in the news, but.
A: We receive a lot of inquiries at our office regarding V.A. medical care.
Q: And so do I need to act quickly? Is there a time limit? It seems like the government would write some laws, maybe, to protect itself.
A: They do. There is, it’s much like conventional medical malpractice. There’s a two year statute of limitations. There is an administrative process that victims of medical malpractice sort of initiate before they get into the court system. It’s just a very simple form. This is called a Form 95. It’s just a two page form that is filed with the government and then they get some time to do an investigation to decide whether they’re going to accept or deny the claim. Most claims are denied and then once it goes through this administrative process, where the government is afforded the right to investigate the claim, and usually what will happen is the victim of medical malpractice will retain an attorney and then it goes into the federal court system, where the defendant in the case is the United States of America.
Q: Does that make it more difficult on you or on the person that’s bringing this suit?
A: You know, medical malpractice, once you get into the federal system are just very similar to medical malpractice claims in the state court. You know, it’s much the same. It’s just that you’re going to have a federal judge, you’re going to have the federal rules, but it’s very similar to medical malpractice in the state system.
Q: How does somebody, if they think they’ve been wronged by the V.A., do they need to, what would be your steps? What would be the first thing or the things you need to do?
A: What we always recommend is if you have questions about whether you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice at a V.A. facility, and you have questions about what your rights are or whether you might be entitled to compensation, call a law firm that specializes in these kinds of cases. This is a bit of a specialized area. To the best of my knowledge, we’re the only law firm in the Fort Wayne area that really does a steady diet of V.A. medical malpractice cases.
Q: Do they cap damages?
A: They do. Under the V.A. system of medical malpractice in Indiana, they go by our state cap on damages and in the state of Indiana we have a hard cap on damages of a million two fifty.
Q: It’s sad to think that this could happen with the V.A. As much as it’s in the news, as much as people seem to try to fix it, obviously, it’s really big.
A: Dirk, you know, obviously, the politicians are always talking about trying to reform the V.A. system, trying to upgrade their medical care. Personally, from what I’ve seen in our office, I’m not seeing that the, what they want to do to improve the system is really resulting in, so far, better medical care for our veterans, unfortunately.
Q: All right. If you think that this is something that you might want to pursue, if you have a loved one or could point somebody in the direction of Sweeney Law Firm, go to Sweeneylawfirm.com and learn more about taking those next steps. We’ll be right back on INsight.
Nursing Home Oversight
INsight Interview with David Farnbauch from 05/11/2017 explaining the governmental oversight of Nursing Homes and their performance score.
Video Transcript:
Q: Welcome back to INsight. We’re with Dave Farnbauch, here at Sweeney Law, and we want to talk about governmental oversight of nursing homes. Is there much?
A: Well, Dirk, nursing homes are licensed facilities that are licensed by the State of Indiana and the Indiana State Department of Health does employ surveyors to go out and inspect nursing homes to check for compliance with state and federal regulations, so, yes, indeed, there is state regulation or oversight of nursing homes in our state.
Q: So, I guess I’m thinking, as a restaurant consumer, they’ve started in some states putting the letter grade right there in the window. Is there an easy way for me to find out the same thing with a nursing home, like what these scores are?
A: There is. Actually, the Indiana State Department of Health has a website that you can go and look and see if there are what they call deficiencies. They give, sort of, nursing homes a score card. So, there is, there are resources available online with the Indiana State Department of Health to check on the performance of nursing homes, as far as compliance with state regs.
Q: Are there, is it in a language that I can understand, as a layman, or are there certain deficiencies that maybe they word them certain ways, so I don’t necessarily know what’s going on?
A: Yes, I mean, I think they’re fairly understandable. So, once again, you’re looking for, you’re looking to avoid nursing homes that receive what they call F tags that are violations of the regulations.
Q: Okay. Do those nursing homes get penalized? Do they instantly have to fix those things? How does that system work?
A: You know, what’s interesting, Dirk, is that, this is what we often tell our clients, that the penalties that are assessed by the State of Indiana, when there are non-compliance with state and federal regulations, I like to call them a slap on the wrist. You know, if you look every year, the highest fine might be $2,500. So, if you’re a corporation running a chain of nursing homes and you’re faced with a $2,500 fine, I don’t think there’s much incentive, from that standpoint, to comply with the regulations. Sometimes they threaten, you know, they’ll say, well, we’re going to suspend your license if you don’t take these corrective actions, but it’s extremely rare in the state of Indiana that a nursing home’s license is actually suspended.
Q: Would I contact the State if, you know, I have a loved one in a nursing home and something has happened to them? Do families typically go that direction and expect enforcement?
A: You know, it’s pretty common. A lot of times people will come into us and they’ll want to pursue a nursing home neglect case and they’ll say, “I have contacted the State and requested that they do an investigation.” And, once again, we tell clients that’s fine to do that. I think that’s a good thing to do, but people have to understand, the staff that’s available, you know, through the Attorney General’s office or the Indiana State Department of Health to do complaint investigations, you know, it’s not really adequate to really police all the nursing homes in the state of Indiana that are providing substandard care to residents.
Q: So, typically, then, I guess I’m asking, then, what do I do if I’m uncomfortable with something going on at, you know, at my loved one’s nursing home?
A: Well, we think, and we’ve said this many times, one of the most important reasons why families can, for families to pursue a nursing home neglect case is to prevent this from happening to another family and we think that pursuing a legal case against a nursing home for substandard care is a very important deterrent to prevent things from happening to elderly in nursing homes.
Q: All right. Good information and I know your website, full of information, as well, at Sweeneylawfirm.com. If you’d like to find out more, jump online and learn more or just give them a call. We will be right back on INsight.
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