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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Two main components of
a personal injury case
Dear Mr. Rockefeller,
My Wife had a stroke, was
taken to the hospital, had
another stroke there, and is
now permanently disabled. I
want to sue the hospital for
my wife’s second stroke . . .
Can I?
Dear Reader. When trag
edy unexpectedly strikes, we
want to blame someone for
the suffering. This is par
ticularly prevalent in medi
cal contexts, where doctors
and nurses heroically strug
gle against impossible odds
to stave off death only to
be blamed for poor results.
Thus, while anyone can sue,
pretty much anytime, the
question is whether the law
really recognizes the legiti
macy of a possible claim.
In past columns, I have
discussed the two primary
components of a personal
injury case, e.g., liability and
causation. Often, when I talk
to people calling me about a
case, I start with causation
issues, on the back-end. I’d
like to do that now with your
question.
What you have described
is a horrible result. You want
to believe the consequences
for your wife’s deteriorating
health is the second stroke.
I am not a doctor, of course,
but I’m not sure that you can
do this. Moreover, the second
stroke might be a natural
expected consequence of the
first one.
These are really separate
causation issues. The first
would tend to question that
the bad result is entirely
the consequence of the sec
ond stroke - Can you say,
“within a reasonable degree
of medical certainty,” that
this is so? The second would
How to organize operation call home
In Iraq and Afghanistan,
there are no holidays.
Every day is a duty day.
Military service always
entails self-sacrifice, rang
ing from the loss of holidays
to the rugged test of a year
long deployment away from
family, to the greatest of all,
one’s life.
Self-sacrifice is precisely
why America’s uniformed
military personnel, their
families and veterans merit
special respect.
I am frequently asked the
question, “What can we as
individual Americans do
for our troops, particularly
those serving overseas?”
I have two answers and
a recommendation. The two
answers are to pray for them
and to say, “Thank you,”
when you encounter serv
ing military personnel and
veterans.
The recommendation is
to “send a few dollars to
Operation Call Home.”
Operation Call Home is the
brainchild of Ladd Pattiilo,
an Austin, Texas, business
men, U.S. Army Reserve col
onel and personal friend.
Pattiilo got the idea in
2003. He agrees that it does
answer the question, “What
can I do for American ser
vicemen and women?”
“I was occasionally asked
that question at my Rotary
Club,” Pattiilo told me. “I
had talked to other soldiers
and soldiers’ spouses. They
told me about phone cards.
Soldiers want to call home
and speak to their loved ones
in the holiday season, like
everyone else does. But the
separation is felt so sharply
during the holiday season.
So I suggested we buy phone
calling cards and give them
to our troops.”
Pattiilo challenged his
Rotary Club (The Rotary
Club of Austin) to raise the
money and organize the pro
gram. Alan Forster, another
Austin businessman, had
worked with AT&T’s com
mercial network services.
“My role was to make sure
that.loo percent of the money
went to benefit the troops so
that we could maximize our
donations,” Forster told me.
Forster decided the easiest
way to purchase the cards
was through the Army and
accept this as true, i.e., she
would have recovered from
the first stroke and the sec
ond stroke really caused the
tragic result; but, how would
you prove that the second
stroke could have been pre
vented? What specific actions
were not
taken by
the medi
cal staff at
the hospi
tal that,
“within
a rea
sona b 1 e
degree of
medical
certainty,”
would
I
4k A\
Jim Rockefeller
Columnist
have prevented the second
stroke?
Before you even get to the
causation issues, you have
to overcome the incred
ible deference medical pro
fessionals are provided by
the law. In the Emergency
Room context, from recent
changes in the law, doctors
are now only liable for acts
of “gross negligence,” just
short of an intentional bat
tery; where, as with your
wife, one is actually admit
ted to a hospital, you have
to show that “acceptable
and ordinary” standards of
medical care were violated.
Practically speaking, the law
only guarantees each of us
a barely competent doctor;
you cannot sue for ordinary
negligence.
In addition, doctors are
also protected by daunting
procedural hurdles. To sue
a doctor, you have to find
another doctor within the
same specialty, who is willing
to sign an affidavit affirming
that malpractice was com-
Air Force Exchange System
(the PX system).
A fellow Rotarian, Mark
Caesar, program director of
KLBJ-AM in Austin, men
tioned Operation Call Home
to KLBJ’s staff. “Station per
sonnel thought it was a mar
velous idea,” Caesar recalled.
“From the first year (2003)
on, reaction has been fantas
tic. We’ve
done four
Operation
Call
Homes
(using the
station as
the chief
fund-rais
er), and
they’ve all
been a tre
mendous
success.
■* IPII
Austin Bay
Military- Affairs
Creators Syndicate
It has been very gratifying
to see the generosity of the
people of Austin and Central
Texas.”
KLBJ has many listen
ers in the Killeen-Ft. Hood,
Texas, area, and many of
those listeners are U.S. mili
tary and military families.
Ft. Hood is the headquarters
of U.S. Army 111 Corps.
“Over four years, we raised
over $200,000 and purchased
cards for over 230,000 sol
diers,” Caesar said.
KLBJ and the Rotary
Club* buy the cards through
AAFES, which turns them
over to Ft. Hood to distrib
ute to soldiers deployed
overseas. This year, all of
the cards are being given to
Ft. Hood-based soldiers and
111 Corps troops serving in
Iraq.
KLBJ has received a lot
of feedback from American
servicemen and women who
have used Operation Call
Home calling cards. “They
are very, very grateful and
appreciative,” Caesar con-
Assessing Your
Leadership Skills
-SBS/person
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mitted. Not only are doc
tors typically protected by
the same powerful insurance
interests, but doctors who
testify on behalf of plaintiffs
have had their livelihood
challenged before their state
licensing and certification
boards. And, if you can even
find a willing doctor, hir
ing one is extremely expen
sive, such that the simplest
medical malpractice lawsuit
costs upwards of SIOO,OOO
(excluding attorneys fees) to
go to trial.
Two years ago, the
Georgia Legislature com
pletely handcuffed ordinary
folks like yourself. In medi
cal malpractice lawsuits, the
maximum for pain and suf
fering (or wrongful death) is
now only $350,000. Thus, in
a case like your wife’s, the
prohibitive costs to try her
case means that very few
lawyers would be willing to
take it.
Unfortunately, even if
these causation and liability
roadblocks did not present
themselves, you will prob
ably not be able to find an
attorney willing to take on
a case like this. I wish I
had better news. Hopefully,
though, thoughts of a law
suit will fade, as your wife’s
health improves.
Warner Robins attorney
Jim Rockefeller is the for
mer Chief Assistant District
Attorney for Houston County,
and a former Assistant State
Attorney in Miami. Owner
of Rockefeller Law Center,
Jim has been in private
practice since 2000. E-mail
your comments or confi
dential legal questions to
ajr(urockefeller lawcenter.
com.
firmed. “Many have told us
that it means a great deal
to them to know so many
people back home are sup
porting them. This is proof
of that public support of the
troops.”
Pattiilo is very personally
aware of the challenges our
soldiers face in the war zone.
Pattillo’s son, Capt. David
Pattiilo, served two tours in
Iraq with the 101st Airborne
Division. Col. Pattiilo was
called back to active duty in
2005 and served as deputy
commander of the XVIIIth
Airborne Corps support bri
gade in Baghdad.
Pattiilo made this point
very clear: “The phone cards
go to junior enlisted per
sonnel. That’s who needs
the cards and who needs to
benefit from a program like
this.”
An “Operation Call Home”
can be organized by any local
organization, Mark Caesar
emphasized. “If a radio sta
tion in New York or Arizona
is interested in learning how
we do it, they can contact
us at KLBJ.” The point of
contact is achristofferson@e
mmisaustin.com.
To find out more about
Austin Bay, and read features
by other Creators Syndicate
writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate Web
page at www.creators.com.
Great Deals
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for items
under SSO
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F. Dennis Hooper
Certified
Leadership Development Coach
Building leaders and
organizations of excellence
(478) 988-0237
LOCAL
37722
dhooper2@juno.com
Fear, pride -
deterrents to service
Have you ever felt
inadequate? Maybe
it was just before
some significant event, and
you were wondering wheth
er you’d survive the stress.
Or maybe it was just
after some situation where
you really blew it - and
you wondered if you’d ever
be able to show your face
again!
Maybe you’ve never
allowed yourself to admit a
feeling of inadequacy. It’s a
common human experience.
We usually don’t share our
shortcomings publicly. But
if you open yourself pri
vately, someone who loves
and accepts you will provide
the support necessary to see
you through the angst.
The Bible tells us repeat
edly “Do not be afraid!”
Still, fear is common and is
often associated with some
kind of loss - loss of power
or position or status, loss of
respect, loss of turf, loss of
security, loss of health, loss
of face.
A surprising relative of
fear is pride. Most pride
ful people call it confidence.
Most of the people who
have to live with prideful
people call it haughtiness or
arrogance.
I sought counsel from col
leagues about individuals
who seemed prideful to the
point of cockiness. All who
had experience with such
an individual felt (or knew
because of disclosures made
by the individuals) that the
behaviors were a cover for
some kind of fear.
Both fear and pride come
from an underlying focus on
self and a concern for what
others think of y*ou. They
stem from playing to some
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Service Times, 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. 11
Communion, Open To All In
Message by Rev. Jenny Jackson-Adams I I
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1002 Carroll Street * Perry, GA 987-1 852
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2006 ♦
audience other than God
- your boss, your neighbors,
your friends, your competi
tors, your employees, etc.
Both fear and pride sep
arate us from others. We
compare ourselves, and
we’re rarely happy with the
outcome. If we judge our
selves superior, we’re not
sure we deserve it. If we
are inad
equate
by com
parison,
we’ve
con
firmed
our fears
and we
know our
pride is a
lie.
There
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Dennis Hooper
Leaders Building
Leaders
IS another option. 2
Corinthians 3:5 says that
we are not “adequate in
ourselves, but our ade
quacy is from God.” (New
American Standard Bible)
Acknowledging the truth,
God is the source of all that
we are and every opportu
nity we have to serve. We
have no legitimate right to
be filled with pride or fear.
They are insidious obstruc
ted to our humbly serving
others.
If we are good at some
skill, it is God that gave
us that ability and allowed
us the option to devel
op it beyond a primitive
level. God has given each
of us unique abilities and
opportunities to use our
strengths to serve others.
Consider your strengths.
What is their source?
Inheritance? Environment?
You had no control over
your selection of ancestors
or early childhood guid
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ance.
Maybe you don’t believe
in God. Maybe all this talk
about a Messiah’s birth in a
stable is something you’ve
not investigated. Maybe
this is the year you’ll go to
someone you trust and start
seeking some answers.
It may be too late to pro
vide this Christmas gift to
your leadership team, but
you could certainly consider
it as a New Year’s project.
The Lead Like Jesus
study guide is an excellent
resource for collectively
building your skills with
your colleagues. Authored
by Ken Blanchard, Lee
Ross, Phil Hodges, and
Avery Willis, it is a superb
learning source about the
healthy alternatives to
inadequacy, fear, and pride.
If you would like guid
ance on how to conduct a
study group with your team,
contact me. I’ll provide a
simple one-pager to get you
started. Merry Christmas!
Dennis Hooper is a cer
tified leadership develop
ment coach who helps lead
ers build organizations
of excellence. E-mail him
at dhooper2Qrjuno.com
or phone him at 478-988-
0237.
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