San Antonio Personal Injury Law Blog

Media outlets in Texas and around the country have covered several stories in recent years about elder abuse in nursing homes and assisted care facilities. One of the latest such stories involves a disturbing series of events that allegedly took place at a North Carolina nursing home in June. Three female employees of the Salem facility have been charged with assaulting elderly residents, recording the assaults and then sharing the footage on social media. On Aug. 21, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services ordered the facility to cease accepting new residents.

The Winston-Salem Police Department began investigating the facility after receiving a tip about abuse. Investigators discovered that the three women pushed and shoved residents and encouraged them to fight one another for their entertainment. Many of the victims suffered from dementia. Police say the women cheered particularly loudly when one of the residents begged for help as she was being beaten. The women are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 14.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled several years ago that premises owners cannot be held legally responsible for actions taken by criminals in their establishments when no warning was given and the violent acts committed were not foreseeable. Those who suffer injury at the hands of a criminal while visiting a store, hotel or other establishment can prevail in a premises liability lawsuit only when they can establish that the defendants knew about, or should have known about, the threat.

This long-standing legal doctrine is being challenged in the wake of a mass shooting incident at an El Paso Walmart store that claimed the lives of 22 people and left 24 others injured. Two people who suffered serious injuries in the shooting have filed a lawsuit that claims the big-box retailer acted negligently by not hiring and deploying armed security guards.

A car accident can leave you and your loved ones rattled. Another driver's negligence could leave you facing catastrophic and life-changing injuries, and you are not sure how to move forward. You know you can recover compensation, but how?

Many people believe that they have to rely on the insurance company to get them the help they need. Unfortunately, many insurance companies are more concerned with their own profit than your well-being and best interests after a car accident. 

More than half of all surgical adverse events suffered by patients in San Antonio and elsewhere are the fault of human error, according to a new study. The study was published in JAMA Network Open on July 31.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine conducted a six-month analysis of surgical adverse events to identify preventable surgical errors and improve the quality of care. The data came from three teaching hospitals and involved adverse events from abdominal transplantation services, acute day care surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, general surgery and vascular surgery. Over the period of study, 5,300 surgeries were performed. During those surgeries, 188 adverse events occurred, including those that involved infection, bleeding, neurological complication, rehospitalization and death. Of those 188 adverse events, 106 were attributed to human error, including lack of attention, lack of recognition and cognitive bias. Nearly 55% of the events happened during surgery, 8% happened in pre-op, and about 27% happened in post-op.