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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 p|i|li| / WSSm -Jk I 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 Free AD for items under SSO Call 987-1823 for details 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 r I t \ m. I*' 1 I i tii I | L J *l*s Is I . v we**** | *: * S S 1 S r j I dttr ilk k if, m&l J m :xJ m In ‘ ■ ■¥■ 1 iflfSw UEWk 14 a z i MmmSk 4 »■ IJ I IVY* I 1 *j jjj 5 520 N. Davis Dr. • Warner Robins PAWNSHOP lUniteil Methodict&wtchjm Service Times, 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. 11 Communion, Open To All In Message by Rev. Jenny Jackson-Adams I I „ Child Care Provided I 9 I.lw 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 | r JBmßg 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 • 60% Oil On ALL Mm • 50% Oft On ftll TVs & Guitars • OftALLGeneralMerchandise I • 20% Oif nil Guns/Firearms With Coupon B 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. Stole today! Cal 987-1823 All-You-Can-Eat Shrimp-$10 9 VCatfish-$9 95 Friday & Saturday - spm -10 pm oreen derby 1-79 I**l 139 • 987-8877 41048 328-7296 tonysl9s6@coK.nei 5A I 42440 |41624