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Forensic Toxicologist—4 Ways They Assist in Personal Injury Cases

June 17, 2022

4 Examples of a Forensics Toxicologist Helping a Case

What is Forensic Toxicology?

The role of a forensic toxicologist is to test for the presence of drugs or toxins in bodily fluid and tissue.

By understanding how various medications, narcotics, chemical elements, and compounds impact the human body, a forensic toxicologist can interpret drug dosages, identify interactions between medications, and explain the harm of various environmental toxins.

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The Role of A Law Enforcement Expert Witness

April 11, 2022

Police Sirens

A Commitment to Serve

In 1955, the Los Angeles Police Department coined the now-popular phrase, “To Protect and Serve”. By 1963, this ethos became the official motto of the LAPD and was later adopted by other law enforcement agencies—concisely stating their mission to the public.

But law enforcement professionals are just as liable to commit negligence and malpractice as the rest of humanity, and pledging to protect and serve does not necessarily mean they will. (more…)

 

Expert Witness Fees Infographic: How Much Does an Expert Witness Really Cost?

March 11, 2022

expert witness fees

Expert Witness Fees

Expert witness fees can pile up fast, especially for high-cost medical experts. Many expert witness referral companies bill at an hourly rate and charge clients each time they interact with a provided expert witness. By providing their service in this way, they often add an extra 20-40% on top of their expert’s hourly rates.

At Saponaro, Inc. we connect attorneys to top expert witnesses for a flat referral fee, rather than marking up hourly rates. As a result, attorneys who use our services save money by working directly with the expert witness they need at a cost established by that expert—not us!

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Cell Phone Related Car Accident? How an Expert Witnesses Can Help.

January 25, 2022

saponaro cell phone accident expert witness

Driving Distracted

Americans spend an average screen time of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily.

There are many reasons car accidents occur. If, however, an individual is involved in a car accident while using a cell phone, they have a higher probability of being sued for driver negligence. 

Whether you are the plaintiff or the defendant, an expert witness can provide the expertise required to scientifically prove who is at fault in a car accident case.

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Medical Record Chronology

January 12, 2022

Medical Records

If you would like to see our redacted medical record chronology samples, call to schedule a free consultation, 800-327-3026.

A medical record chronology is an outline of medical events presented in chronological order. Creating an accurate, concise medical chronology as part of a review of voluminous or complex medical records can be challenging. Producing a medical chronology is part detective work, part analysis, and part communication. It requires determining what is relevant in the medical record and organizing that information into a succinct document of the facts.

It is a crucial part of any medical-legal case, and a good medical chronology provides facts and sources to assist expert witnesses in determining merit and damages in a timely and cost-effective manner, without the need for an expert to review a page by page record, until it has been determined that the case has merit.  

Our nurse consultants review medical records for individual cases such as personal injury, medical malpractice, nursing home, drug and medical devices, product liability, and all cases where voluminous records get in the way of determining whether or not the case is worth pursuing and/or the specific damages associated with negligent acts.

An accurate medical record chronology requires reading through hundreds of pages of an individual’s medical records to summarize the relevant events in sequential order. Our medical record chronologies present verbatim health information in an objective manner, while taking care to focus on information relevant to the specific facts of your case.

The benefits of a Medical Chronology are:

  • Send medical record chronologies to experts to reduce their review time
  • Increase efficiency by evaluating cases faster
  • Use as a reference tool before and during depositions, mediation, negotiations, and trial
  • Objective information direct from the medical record
  • An objective tool in settlement discussions
  • Exclude duplicative records or discover missing records.
  • Highlight the Significant point of medical evidence.

For more information about medical record chronologies for medical record reviews and pricing, or if you would like to see redacted samples of our medical record chronologies or set up a free consultation, contact us today.

 

Covid-19 and the Law

July 21, 2021

There are four areas where Covid-19 cases are appearing in the courts:

  • Nursing Home related infections

One out of four coronavirus deaths in the United States are nursing home residents, according to a new analysis of federal data conducted by the Associated Press. Close to 1 in 10 of all COVID-19 cases are contracted by nursing home residents, as well.

Administrators at nursing homes and assisted living facilities owe a duty of care to their residents. This duty of care includes acting quickly and taking reasonable steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as:

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There is no Yelp for Experts

March 1, 2021

It is common knowledge that expert witness fees can be one of the highest costs in litigation, if not the highest.  Especially if a referral service invoices for the expert assisting on the case. Therefore, an attorney will try to mitigate these costs by:

Finding an expert on their own, and using that expert on multiple cases

Asking around, via email blast or word of mouth, to see if anyone has an expert in the required specialty

Using a local doctor to screen their case, and trying to find an expert that agrees with this opinion

In addition to the risks and costs of the above there are many expert horror stories, that involve:

  • Not disclosing a disciplinary action
  • Not actively performing the procedure or care in question
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To Knock or Not to Knock

November 9, 2020

 

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman from Louisville, Kentucky, was shot to death by police shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, in the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. The police had a no-knock warrant and entered with a battering ram to search for evidence of drug dealing; none was found.  A Kentucky grand jury indicted former detective of the Louisville Police Department, Brett Hankison, on charges of reckless endangerment for his role in the raid. No charges were filed against Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, the two officers who fired shots inside the apartment. This has spurred a nationwide discussion of the use of no-knock warrants—and reforms that might prevent unnecessary death and injury in the future. (more…)

 

The Pitfalls of the Expert Search

August 3, 2020

Yes, knowing that you need an appropriately qualified expert is the first step in properly investigating the merits of your case, and connecting with the right expert is an investment that pays off starting with record review, all the way through to trial. Let Saponaro, Inc. assist you from the beginning, so you avoid these common mistakes.

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To Serve and Protect

July 6, 2020

Law enforcement is an integral part of our communities.  They ensure justice for over 8 million crimes a year and are responsible for 10 million arrests per year. Respect for police has been waning in recent years as methods of enforcement are increasingly called into question.  The perception of police as overzealous and abusive has eroded public trust and confidence.

In the last decade, 85,000 police officers have been investigated.  Reporters from USA TODAY and the nonprofit invisible Institute spent more than a year compiling records of police misconduct throughout the United States.

The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies. (more…)