Host: Welcome back to INSight. We are joined now by Dave Farnbaugh from the Sweeney Law Firm and we’re talking about something that’s really important to a lot of people my age, choosing a nursing home for our loved ones. People my age as our parents get to their older years their care is falling on us and as much as we would love to keep them at home with us, there comes a point where it’s just not possible. It’s just not physically possible. It’s not safe for any of us; for them or for us. What are some of the things that we should do when we’re choosing a nursing home for a loved one and how can an attorney help us in that choice.

Dave: Our viewers might be wondering, “what does a personal injury lawyer have to say?” or, “what insights do I have about choosing a nursing home for a loved one?” because I’m an attorney. For many many years, one of my main focuses of my practice has been representation of families who have a loved one that’s been injured in a nursing home. Over the years of doing these kinds of cases, you learn a lot about nursing homes, nursing home care, and obviously we encounter lots of families that have some second thoughts or they’re second guessing themselves about why they selected a particular nursing home to place a loved one. What I’ve tried to do for the last few years is try to provide information to the families and consumers. People that call our law firm about nursing home cases and try to give them the benefits of our insights and about the things we’ve learned from handling these types of cases. There are a lot of things we’ve learned. I think one of the most important things that you have to do when you make a decision on a particular nursing home is, like any thing else, you have to do some research. You have to do some homework. There are some tools available for people to make better decisions about how to select a nursing home.

Host: Now in the sea of information that there most certainly is on the internet, what are some specific questions that people should be asking or points they should be seeking out before they choose a nursing home?

Dave: Well you’re right Emily, there are some really great resources that are available on the internet now. I think probably the best source is a medicare dot gov website called nursing home compare. If you go in a particular geographic area within a zip code or city, it’ll tell you what nursing homes are available in that area, what types of care they provide, and it also gives you a rating. Every year, or sometimes more than once in a year, all the nursing homes under go what they call “state surveys”; where state surveyors or inspectors go into nursing homes and they basically do inspections and they have certain criteria to rank the quality of care that are provided by nursing homes. The information that is compiled by a state surveyor is listed in the nursing home compare website. You can go to the site and compare apples to apples. How did this nursing home rate in the number of residents who were injured? Or, (how do they rate) in “F Tags” when they receive a citation from a state surveyor? You can compare how many citations one nursing home receives versus another.

Host: So maybe one of those “F Tags” are a red flag that we should look for when you’re comparing. Are there any other red flags or things you should look for when you’re looking at these comparisons?

Dave: Well there are. One of their loved ones is being release from the hospital, a hospital might say, “We suggest that you go to this facility” People just go with that recommendation instead of doing their homework. I think what you need to do before you say “yes” to a particular nursing home is go visit that facility. Talk to the people that are there. Talk to other people that are coming to visit their loved one in the nursing home. How do they feel about the nursing home care? There’s no substitute, in my opinion, having a nursing home that is located in fairly close proximity to where the family members are located. There’s an old adage in the nursing home business, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” If your family members in a nursing home and you’re visiting that loved one and you are letting the staff know that you are going to be visiting and you’re interested in the care that your loved one receives. You’re going to get a lot better care in a nursing home than somebody who doesn’t receive regular visitors and that’s critically important.

Host: Now among some of the different options that you have when choosing a nursing home, you have for profit and not for profit nursing homes so that’s another thing to consider when you’re doing your research.

Dave: Right. They have done studies on what is the source of problems in nursing homes? Well the number one problem in nursing homes is the reason people receive inadequate care or are injured in nursing homes, is under staffing. In nursing homes that are not properly staffed you will find substandard care. In for profit nursing homes, (staffing) is one of the big areas of overhead. The home will look at “How do we increase the profits?” One of the ways they do that is by reducing the staff that are working there. One of the criteria that people should look at when selecting a nursing home is that a for profit nursing home is part of a larger nursing home chain or corporation. They’ve done some studies that show people that are in for profit nursing homes, particularly larger chains, are more likely to receive improper care. 

Host: If somebody finds themselves in a situation where there was maybe some inadequate care or there is a need for some legal advice – you guys do have some consumer advice that you have for people in choosing a nursing home and some legal advice you can offer them a brochure that they can get from you.

Dave: We offer consumers a free report on how to select a nursing home. It contains a lot of useful information, tips on some of the questions to ask when you go to the nursing homes, some of the sites you should visit, all kinds of information on how to make a proper choice when selecting a nursing home. Our website also contains a lot of information, if you or a loved one are the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, then we have some information on what you can do to exercise your legal rights.

Host: So if you want that brochure or you feel you have been the victim of abuse or neglect or someone in your family has, please visit the Sweeney Law Firm website today. It’s SweeneyLawFirm.com or give them a call. Thanks to Dave Farnbaugh for visiting with us today.

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On June 1, 2012, David Farnbauch will be speaking at the Indiana Trial Lawyer’s Association “Summer of Torts” seminar in New Buffalo, Michigan. The topic of David’s presentation will be “Working with Experts in Medical Malpractice and Nursing Home Cases.”

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LEE KELSO: The warm weather is upon us. The streets and highways see the return of motorcycles. There is no question that the number of people buying and riding motorcycles is on the rise. Unfortunately with the increasing number of motorcyclists on the highways that means that there are more accidents involving motorcycles than ever before. We are here to talk about the legal aspects of motorcycle accidents and what you can do to protect your legal rights should you have an accident. With us today is David Farnbauch, a personal injury attorney with the Sweeney Law Firm from Fort Wayne. Thanks for being with us.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: It’s great to be here today. 

LEE KELSO: David, you have had your share of motorcycle cases during your twenty-five year career. What is it that makes motorcycle cases different from other types of automobile accident cases.

DAVID FARNBACH: Well I think one of the things that stands out about motorcycle accident cases is that normally the severity of injury to the motorcycle rider. Most of these cases involve very severe injuries and oftentimes long ball severe injuries and will involve the death of the rider.

LEE KELSO: If one of our riders is involved in a motorcycle accident that’s the fault of another driver what are some of the things the motorcyclist or his or her family should be thinking about in order to protect their legal rights

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well one of the things that we find about motorcycle accident cases is oftentimes the testimony of high witnesses is critical. Oftentimes there will be witnesses to a motorcycle collision that have different perspectives and viewpoints on what they saw in connection with a particular accident or observations about the speed of the motorcycle or the speed of the car that came in contact with a motorcyclist, so it’s very important to get statements of the eye witnesses to a motorcycle accident shortly after the accident while their memories are still fresh.

LEE KELSO: Mr. Farnbauch, Indiana has a system called comparative fault that is utilized by a jury to determine who’s at fault in any type of accident including accidents involving a motorcycle. Could you explain just what that comparative fault system is and what the challenges are when you’re representing a motorcyclist in a jury trial.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well comparative is simply a process that we use in Indiana to assign percentages of fault to the various participants in an accident. For example if there’s a simple collision where a car pulls out in front of a motorcyclist a jury is asked to assign how much fault there is on the driver who pulled out in front of the motorcyclist and is asked to assign fault to the motorcyclist. If there’s an allegation that the motorcyclist was exceeding the speed limit. The jury is simply asked to put a percentage of fault on the various parties that are involved in an accident. Some of the challenges in a motorcycle case are the speed of the motorcycle, whether the motorcyclist was paying attention to what was happening in front of them. These cases are particularly challenging in a jury trial because oftentimes there is a bias on the part of the jury against motorcycles. A lot of people don’t respect the rights of motorcyclists on the roadways. 

LEE KELSO: Before you came on the show today you mentioned that one of the major problems you encountered in motorcycle accident cases is the amount of insurance coverage that is typically available in these cases. can you explain exactly what that problem is involving insurance coverage?  

DAVID FARNBAUCH: As I mentioned before motorcycle cases normally we’re dealing with motorcyclists who have suffered severe or catastrophic injuries or motorcyclist who have died as a result of being in an accident, so these cases normally have very significant value in terms of damages. So what we frequently encounter in motorcycle cases is a motorist or the operator of a car that causes the accident that may be insured, but may not carry enough insurance coverage to cover all the damages. So typically we have to look at the motorcyclist underinsured motorist coverage. Frequently in our office we find that motorcyclists don’t carry sufficient underinsured motorist coverage on their motorcycle policies.

LEE KELSO: David it seems like a personal injury claim involving an injury to a motorcyclist is a lot more involved than a run of the mill legal claim. What advice would you give viewers when it comes to picking an attorney to handle a case that involves a serious injury while riding a motorcycle?

DAVID FARNBAUCH: I think that motorcycle accident cases are unique because oftentimes in a motorcycle accident case it’ll be critical to do an investigation early in the case and interview witnesses. Its important to get an attorney early in the game so proper investigation can be done. Oftentimes in motorcycle cases it will require that the lawyer hire a very competent, well-trained accident reconstruction expert, to try to put together the investigation, piece together the physical evidence and determine how the accident actually happened. That has to be done early in the process. if I were to give some advice to someone who has been involved in a motorcycle accident case. i would say hire an attorney who is experienced in handling motorcycle accident cases.

LEE KELSO: Thanks for the information and advice David. Glad you could join us today to share that insight and experience.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: it was great to be here today.           

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LEE KELSO: There is no greater loss one can suffer than to lose a spouse, child, parent, or close family member particularly if your loved one’s death is caused by the negligence or fault of another party. The loss of a loved one can have devastating consequences both emotional and financial. Joining us today to talk about legal claims arising from the wrongful death of a loved one is attorney David Farnbauch, a personal injury attorney with the Sweeney Law Firm in Fort Wayne. Thanks for spending some time with us today to talk about wrongful death claims David.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Thanks for having me.

LEE KELSO: David, you have handled a number of wrongful death cases in the course of your career. How do these cases differ from cases involving serious injury?

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well, I think the central feature of wrongful death cases, the case is really about the loss of the survivors. The most important element of damages in a wrongful death case is the loss of death and companionship for the person who’s deceased.

LEE KELSO: When a person dies as a result of someone else’s negligence what are some of the different categories of damages that you can recover in a wrongful death case?

DAVID FARNBAUCH: As I mentioned earlier, the most important element of damage or category of damage in a wrongful death case are damages to a spouse or to a child or to a loved one as a result of the loss of love and companionship for the person that died. Another important category or element of damage in the wrongful death case or loss of future earnings. If a loved one dies and was projected to work another twenty or thirty years, the family can recover damages for the loss of future earnings. Another element of damage in a wrongful death case are the recovery of the funeral burial expenses associated with the person’s death.

LEE KELSO: David it might be helpful if you take your viewers through some of the steps that are involved when your office is involved to represent a family in a wrongful death case.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well obviously the first is to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our lawyers in our office. We try to be as understanding ans compassionate as we can be when we are dealing with a family who has had the loss of a loved one. It’s a very traumatic time and a very trying time and we try to be understanding and compassionate and try to give out helpful information and advice to families that are involved in this situation. The other thing that is unique about wrongful death cases is normally we have to open up what is known as an estate. An estate is simply a legal proceeding that’s filed in a probate court with the county where a family member, usually a spouse, is selected to serve as the personal representative of the estate to pursue a legal case.

LEE KELSO: Can you offer any advice to families who’ve lost a loved one and have reason to believe that the loss of that person was caused by the fall of another party? 

DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well as I mentioned earlier the first thing to do in a situation where there has been a wrongful death and a potential legal case is to meet with an attorney, hopefully an experienced attorney who has handled wrongful death cases before. The other thing I can encourage families to do because we’ve had a number of cases in our office where we’ve represented families in a wrongful death situation is to seek counseling. Oftentimes these are very emotionally traumatic situations and we find that the families who seek counseling out professional psychological counseling after a wrongful death event, they really benefit from that type of counseling.

LEE KELSO: Thanks for sharing time and insights with us today here.

DAVID FARNBAUCH: It was great to be here.                            

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Host 1: Welcome back to InSight. We are joined now by Dave Farnbaugh with the Sweeney Law Firm and we’re going to talk today about nursing homes.This is something that lots of generations are dealing with today because whether you are getting ready to make that transition into a nursing home or you are moving your parents into a nursing home, we’re all sort of dealing with it and we want to be sure that we’re making the right choices. So, luckily we have the support of the Sweeney Law Firm and what are some of the questions that we should be asking when we call an attorney? Because really, we probably should be calling an attorney when we’re making some of those choices.

Dave Farnbaugh: Well I don’t know Emily that you would necesarily call an attorny before you would place your loved one in a nursing home. Maybe I can give the views some background on why this is a topic of some interest to me and our law firm. We’ve been handling nursing home cases, where we file cases against nursing homes, for the last 15 or 20 years and so during that period of time, you learn a lot about why people have to go into nursing homes. You learn a lot about the care that they receive and most notibly these lawsuits are brought because of safety issues that arise in lawsuits. It’s sort of an unfortunate reality that many many people that end up in a nursing home wind up with injuries or even death for that matter. This is something that has really became a particualr insterest with our law firm. We pursue a number of these cases. We do these cases all over the state so what we like to do when we have forms like this is to share information that we’ve learned or acquired over the years about how to prevent injuries to try to make a difference that way. What happens most frequently with nursing homes is someone is in a hospital, they have a serious medical condition that requires rehabilitation or a loved one needs skilled nursing care. They’ve developed alzheimers, dementia, or some other condition that requires skilled nursing care and suddenly a family is confronted with a decision. Where are we going to place Mom or Dad or a spouse for nursing care? Often times, we don’t give a lot of thought to that ahead of time. A lot of times, you’re at a hospital and the doctor comes in and says, “Look, we’re going to release you tomorrow. We’re going to be releasing you to a nursing home care.” People really haven’t given a lot of thought to where we are going to place Mom or Dad or a spouse. So, I guess the idea is that there is a lot of resources out there that are available now-a-days for people looking to do their homework and do research on what’s the best placement. And of coarse we feel, based upon our experience having to sue nursing homes and seeing some of the things that can happen from a safety stand point, that it’s important for consumers out there to research some of the problems or safety issues in nursing homes. Probably the best resource that’s out there is a website called medicare.gov or a lot of people can reach it by googleing “nursing home compare”. And when you go on the website for “nursing home compare”, you find that you can actually access information online with the various state departments of health (the Indiana State Department of Health). You can actually go online an research what they call “citations” or “f tags” where nursing homes have been cited by the Indiana department of health or a resident developed pressure sores or falls. There’s statistics on there. There’s plans of correction those sorts of things. You can actually do homework on nursing homes before you have to place your loved one. Indiana has an obvincemen program where those nursing home obvincemen, which are employed by the state. That office is there to help families with issues that arise from nursing home care. What we recommend to families is call the local obvincemen and ask them questions about which facilities have you had problems with? What recommendations would you make when we place our loved one in a nursing home? So there’s lots of resources that are available. Also, just check around with people before you place a loved one. What experiences have other families that you know have had in a nursing home. Have you noticed that there’s adequate staffing? One of the things that we’re going to talk about in the next segment is the staffing in nursing homes.

Host 2: There definitely are some advocates and people do need to do their homework. When we come back, like Dave said, “We’re going to talk about some of the substandard care and issues that are there. Stick with us, we’ll be right back on InSight.

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David Farnbauch was honored to received a “President’s Award” from the Indiana Trial Lawyer’s Association during the May 3, 2012 luncheon at ITLA’s 24th Annual Lifetime Achievement Seminar in Indianapolis. David was recognized for his work as Program Chair of the August 26, 2011 seminar featuring Rick Friedman and Don Bauermeister co-sponsored by ITLA and several midwestern state trial lawyer associations.

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Host 1: Welcome back to INSight. We are joined now by Dave Farnbaugh and we’re going to talk about a really important topic, something that people don’t necessarily think of until they’re in a situation. What do you do after you’ve been involved in an accident? It’s just one of those unfortunate things.

Host 2: It’s something that we don’t want to happen, but unfortunately it does probably happen to everyone one at some point in their life. In their life, their driving down the road, and I’m in the car, let’s say someone hits me even and I’m not responsible for it at all. Let’s say even it’s a minor accident, do I need to get on the phone right then? I mean obviously I call the police first, then do I need to get on the phone and call the Sweeney Law Firm right then? What do I do?

Dave: Well, the issue of whether you should call an attorney right away depends on the severity of the injuries that are involved. If it’s a minor crash then probably calling an attorney’s not the best idea but if you’ve been injured in an accident, you’ve been taken to the hospital, you’ve been treated at the emergency room, you have some on going symptoms and problems after the accident. It probably makes sense before you start talking to the insurance company to find out a little bit about what your rights are, about what’s going to happen, and those sorts of things, so it depends a lot on the severities of the injuries in the crash.

Host 1: We live in an age where everyone has a cell phone that they can take pictures with. Do you recommend that if you’ve been in an accident, a car accident for example, that you or your family takes pictures right away? At the scene or later on? 

Dave: I think that the most important issue as it pertains to photographs is photographing the injuries themselves. Most of the time after a car crash, the insurance companies are going to be out taking a lot of photographs of the damage of the cars, but what comes and goes are the injuries from the crash itself. Often times people have bruises, seat belt bruises, or they’ll have a collection of blood, contusion, or hurt some part of their body that is going to be here today; gone in a few days.  If you don’t take photographs of those injuries then that critical evidence can be lost.

Host 2: I know the couple of times that I’ve been in accidents, they’ve all been minor thank heavens, but they’ve not been my fault. They’ve been the other drivers fault. So the others drivers insurance company has called me and questioned me. Is it ok for me to talk to them?

Dave: Well, that’s probably the big issues that a person has to decide from the get go about how they’re going to approach the insurance company contacting them. What people have to understand is that insurance companies are in business not only to pay claims but to minimize the amount of money that they pay out in claims. So insurance adjusters receive training on how to talk to people on the phone, get you to say things that maybe aren’t in your best interest. They always ask you, “Well how are you doing?” Most people don’t like to be on the phone and cry and whine about their own injuries, so a lot of people say, “Well, I guess I’m doing ok” or “I’m feeling better.” That’s a relative term. You might be feeling really bad, but compared to how you felt a day after the accident, you are doing better. There are certain things that people say to an insurance adjuster over the phone that causes harm to their legal case. We think it’s better if you are involved in any type of a serious accident where you receive treatment at the emergency room or you have some on going symptoms, to consult an attorney before hand to decide whether you should give a statement to an insurance company, what you should say, and also decide whether you may need an attorney to represent you in that case. It’s in your own best interest to have an attorney through this process. The insurance companies have done studies on the amount of compensation that a person receives if they don’t have an attorney or the amount of compensation that a person receives if they have an attorney. Insurance companies own research shows that if a person has an attorney they’re apt to receive twice as much compensation, even after attorneys fees are paid compared to their counter parts who don’t hire an attorney. That’s one of the critical issues, if you are entitled to compensation through medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. You have to decide do I want to go at this alone, or do I want to get competent legal representation to help me though the process and hopefully maximize the amount of my recovery.

Host 2: Is there some check list or something that the Sweeney Law Firm would have that can kind of tell us what we should do or give us a guide line of how we would go about it if we were in that situation?

Dave: Well, we do. What we provide to consumers is information about some of the steps that they should take immediately after an accident. This pertains to how you should deal with the insurance company. Also, steps that you should take, including some common sense things, don’t give a statement over the phone unless you’re certain about what your legal rights are. Photograph your injuries. Just a variety of helpful tips and we put it in the form of a brochure or free report that we give people so if you go to our website or you call our law firm, we’ll send you this free report which gives people a lot of valuable information on what to do immediately after an accident.

Host 1: That’s so great because a lot of times after an accident it shakes you up. And even though things might seem like common sense, you know as we sit here and talk; after you’ve had that traumatic experience – you don’t have your wits about you.

Host 2: You don’t and you’re just overwhelmed by the whole situation. If you have been involved in an accident or feel like you need legal advice, you can give the Sweeney Law Firm a call today or visit their website.

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On Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, David Farnbauch had the opportunity to speak at the Allen County Bar Association’s 2012 “Bench/Bar” Conference held at the Grand Wayne Center in downtown Fort Wayne. The annual “Bench/Bar” Conference is always the best-attended seminar sponsored by the Allen County Bar Association. The seminar features a number of presentations by the judges in northeastern Indiana, both state and federal court judges. This year’s featured guest speaker was Justice Steven David of the Indiana Supreme Court.
 
David Farnbauch spoke on the challenges of jury selection in the tort reform era. Mr. Farnbauch shared his insights on how the court’s pattern instruction on the “burden of proof” in a civil case can be framed as a theme of the plaintiff’s case throughout the course of the trial on liability, causation, and damages. He also discussed strategies for obtaining a jury’s pledge or commitment (during voir dire) to limit deliberations to the evidence presented during the trial.

About the Allen County Bar Association:
http://www.allencountybar.org/about-us/

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David Farnbauch of The Sweeney Law Firm has been selected for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Medical Malpractice Law.

Best Lawyers has been regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States for nearly three decades by the legal profession and the public.

Inclusion into Best Lawyers is considered an honor.

Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. In the U.S., Best Lawyers publishes an annual referral guide, The Best Lawyers in America, which includes 41,149 attorneys in 126 practice areas, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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