Dog Bite Avoidance - What to Do When Facing a Strange Dog

Dog bite accident attorneys have warned of the dangers an aggressive dog can be. No matter what part of the country you live in, rural or urban, chances are good that people who love dogs surround you. However, not everyone treats their pets the way they should. Some dogs are underfed, abused, or raised to be aggressive. You just can't know how a strange dog has been treated, so caution must be taken. The advice contained in this article can help prevent you from becoming a dog bite accident statistic by keeping you free from injury when faced by one you don't know.

If you encounter one not on a leash, do not make any sudden movements, and do not run away. Do not yell at the dog. Avoid staring the animal in the eyes. A dog may view a staring contest as a challenge. Depending on the size of the dog, a dog attack could cost you your life. It may be a good idea to throw a random object away from you and the dog, which should distract it long enough for you to get away.

Stay away from a dog that is baring its teeth, or that has hair that is standing up. These are signs that it is nervous or ready for a fight. If an aggressive dog is free and approaching, the advice above applies here. Avoid eye contact, distract the dog, and get away in a calm manner.

Do not bother a dog when it is eating or sleeping. This could startle the dog and led to a dog attack. The old saying about letting sleeping dogs lie is very good advice. Also do not disturb a dog that is caring for or nursing its puppies. If you are determined to pet a dog, let is sniff your hand and get comfortable with you first. Do not make sudden movements or lunge toward a strange dog. Take it slow and easy.

Dog owners should take steps to reduce the likelihood of their dogs biting others. The first and most obvious step is to have the dog neutered or spayed. This will reduce its aggression and desire to fight with other dogs or humans. You might also gradually introduce your dog into social settings. Give your dog time to adapt to being around people or other animals.

Dogs can be wonderful pets, but remember that dogs can also be dangerous. Probably the number one, and most difficult, thing to remember is to be calm. Unless you are a very fast runner, you won't win a race with a dog. So use your head instead. Follow the advice in this article and your chances of getting a dog bite will be greatly reduced.

Tendonitis and Tennis Elbow - Who Can Claim Compensation

Tendons are tough fibrous structures connecting muscles to bones throughout the human body. Tendons may be damaged either by sudden trauma, or progressively due to overuse. Tendonitis occurs when the tendon bas become inflamed inflamed for one of these two reasons. The affected joint (most commonly a shoulder, elbow, wrist, finger or knee) will be painful and stiff, with reduced range of mobility and strength. This can detrimentally affect a person's domestic and working life, making basic tasks such as driving or lifting and gripping even small objects difficult or impossible to perform. While tendonitis will normally clear up following a period of rest, and avoidance of the activity that caused the condition originally, in other cases it may worsen over time, and even keyhole surgery (arthroscopy) may be unable to alleviate the effects.

Traumatic tendon injuries which may cause tendonitis include rotator cuff tears to the shoulder, and tears to the Achilles tendon in the heel. Such injuries may leave a residual weakness in the damaged joint, with related conditions, including tendonitis, developing in the future. Tendons may also be damaged by displaced fracture injuries, or broken bones which fail to reset and heal properly. Otherwise tendonitis may simply be the result of years of wear and tear, that has progressively weakened and damaged the tendon, causing inflammation. Essentially the tendons will not have had sufficient time to recover in between periods of prolonged physical strain, causing gradual deterioration and loss of elasticity over time. For this reason, manual workers aged between 40 and 60 are the section of the working population most likely to develop tendonitis.

Tendons in the fingers and wrists may also be damaged by manual work over time, potentially giving rise to a number of specific repetitive strain injury conditions, including trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome. Tennis elbow is a similar overuse condition, where tendons in the outer elbow have been damaged and become inflamed, causing pain, stiffness and weakness in the joint. Excessive and repetitive lifting, as well as twisting and gripping actions, may cause a worker to develop tennis elbow. The condition will normally resolve itself within a matter of weeks or months, though in some cases it may last a lot longer (in around 10% of cases longer than a year), and may leave a residual weakness in the elbow joint.

Manual workers, especially those engaged in repetitive production line tasks, such as factory assembly, or manual handling work involving the routine lifting and carrying of heavy and awkward loads, are the most likely to damage tendons in their bodies over time. Cleaning workers and kitchen workers (repetitively chopping vegetables or washing dishes for example) also face a higher than average risk of developing tendonitis or tennis elbow. Where it is possible to prove that the condition is work related, and has either been caused, or made significantly worse, by the negligence of an employer, it is often possible to make a claim for compensation against them. Compensation awards will reflect a range of factors, including the extent of the condition, its effect on a person's life, medical costs and related loss of earnings.

Guide to Elder Care Options

Care management services that help older adults and their families to manage age-related situations are called Elder Care, Aging Care, or Geriatric Care options. Some of the elder care options available in the US include nursing home, assisted living, adult day care, senior communities, and elderly home care. 

Part of determining what elder care solution best fits your needs involves understanding what type of services and support each offers. 

Nursing Home

Nursing homes provide skilled nursing facilities for seniors requiring constant medical care. They have a licensed nurse on duty 24 hours a day. A nursing home is usually a standalone facility. Sometimes it may operate from within a hospital or an assisted living facility.

Assisted Living Facilities

Assisted living facilities are a type of senior housing. They provide housing, health care and personal care services to seniors who need assistance. The environment is more independent than a traditional nursing home. They provide many, but not all, of the skilled nursing services provided by a nursing home.

There may be wide variation in the level of care provided by different assisted living facilities. Choose one where your loved one will be most comfortable.

Adult Day Care Center

This is a nonresidential facility. It provides care and companionship to seniors who need care during the day. Staffed with senior caregivers, it helps to delay or prevent institutionalization and encourages socialization among seniors.

Adult day care centers may be standalone. You may also find one in a senior center, nursing facility, church, hospital or school. Costs vary according to the services offered.

Senior Communities

Senior communities, also called retirement communities, are communities with a variety of apartment sizes from studios to large two bedrooms designed to accommodate seniors with few medical problems.

There may be different activities and amenities available, such as a swimming pool, golf course, fitness club, etc.

Home Health Care

This is medical support care delivered right at the home of the senior. The services may include skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, medical social services and home health aides. You can hire home health care services from an independent care provider or you can hire them through a home health agency.

Choose the option that suits your requirements best.

Work Related Hernias - What Is a Hernia and Who Can Claim Compensation for One?

Hernias are far more common than most people imagine, with roughly a quarter of males (but only 3% of women) suffering inguinal hernias at some point during their lives. Inguinal hernias involve a rupture of the abdominal wall, caused by muscle weakness in the groin region. Portions of the lower bowel, intestines and fatty tissues protrude through, causing a visible bump, that will normally feel uncomfortable and ache periodically. A large percentage of hernias are caused by physically demanding tasks in the workplace. Legislation enforces strict responsibilities on employers to take all reasonable measures to protect employees from the risk of injuries at work. Hernias are often the direct result of an employer's negligence in this regard, and where this is the case they may be sued for compensation by an injured worker.

Doctors always advise surgical intervention when an inguinal hernia is detected, as there is otherwise a risk of the hernia cutting off the blood supply, damaging soft tissues and obstructing the bowel (known as a strangulated hernia). An inguinal hernia is repaired by massaging the protuberance back inside its cavity, and then sealing the rupture in the abdominal wall with a synthetic mesh or plastic gauze. Other less common types of hernia, including hiatus hernias (lower chest) and femoral hernias (inner thigh) will be treated in the same manner. Hernia repair operations are carried out under anaesthetic, and the 2 weeks following the operation will be the most difficult for the patient, involving often intense pain and complete lack of mobility. The healing period normally takes 2-3 months, though there may be ongoing weakness and physical limitations many months later, as well as a long-term risk of recurrence.

A direct inguinal hernia is one that is caused by deterioration of the abdominal muscles, as opposed to an indirect inguinal hernia, that is caused by congenital defects. Most work related hernias are direct inguinal hernias, caused by sudden trauma or continuous physical stress. This is usually the result of heavy or repetitive manual handling tasks in the workplace. Lifting, carrying, pulling and pushing of heavy or awkward weights, especially in confined spaces, can lead to a worker developing a hernia. Repetitive movements that place minor but constant stress on the lower body can also cause hernias, by degrading the abdominal wall over time, including bending, twisting and stretching motions. Mental stress is also known to be a contributory cause of hernias, as the muscles are constantly tense when a person is stressed or under pressure, and therefore more likely to suffer a rupture.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 contain detailed guidance and strict limits on the amount of weight that an individual worker should be asked to lift by hand. Wherever possible such manual handling tasks should be mechanised, and where human involvement is unavoidable, workers should be provided with specialist lifting equipment to protect them from the risk of injury. All such tasks must be risk assessed, and properly supervised, to ensure among other things, that workers take sufficient rest breaks. Employers must also provide training in safe manual handling techniques. Where a worker has developed a hernia through no fault of their own, but rather due to the negligence of their employers (or co-workers), they may be entitled to claim compensation for the injury itself, as well as loss of earnings resulting from time off work.

The Horrific World Of Nursing Home Abuse - What's Really Happening and What You Can Do

Most of us are naïve when it comes to the prospect of us growing older and needing care when we are older. We often need more care, but none of us ever dream that we will end up in a nursing home. However, when the time comes to decide, the decision is often in the hands of relatives rather than the hands of the individual entering care. We all think we will do what is right by our elderly relatives, but so many people unwittingly do just the opposite because nursing home abuse is so widespread that it is impossible to know before hand exactly what you are getting your relative into. As a result, there may be a day when you need to call on an elder abuse lawyer for help.

Nursing home abuse is often quite unimaginable and the cases that get to court will almost always reveal details that you never want to imagine happening, let alone come to terms with the fact that they actually do. Nursing home abuse can be horrific but even the slightest incident can often send your elderly relatives spinning off into a world that they have no control over and make their lives hell. An elder abuse lawyer could look into the case you have and offer guidance as to how to proceed with it to get justice for your family member and peace of mind for yourself.

It can take many forms. It could be hateful words or snide comments. It could be rough handling. The food could be tampered with. There is any number of behavioural and physical signs of abuse that could be combined to make your relatives life a living hell. This may not even happen to your relative, but if it does, an elder abuse lawyer would be waiting to help you.

There are literally thousands of elder abuse lawyers out there just waiting to take on cases. There was nowhere near that many in the 1990s, but the fact that one on three nursing homes were accused of neglect or abuse in 1999 and 2000 alone gave rise to the need for law students to specialise and fight for this particular cause, against nursing home abuse.

The fact that an elder abuse lawyer would be willing to take on your case in a heartbeat demonstrates what a big business it has become. Some of them actively campaign against nursing home abuse whereas others are just in it for the money. However, regardless of their motives, any one of them could help you to come to terms with the events that unfolded as well as get justice for your relative by hitting the nursing home in question where it hurts - the wallet!

It's a fact of life these days and you would be foolish to consider it blown out of proportion by the media. However, there is no point dwelling on the whys and wherefores if it does happen. There is only one way to deal with it - hire the best elder abuse lawyer you can and attempt to return to the normalcy of everyday life.

The Truth About Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing homes are being occupied in record numbers. Unfortunately, as nursing home residency increases, so do reports of widespread neglect and abuse.

The U.S. Administration on Aging estimates that over one million aging Americans are being exploited or abused. Further aggravating the problem is that many cases of neglect and abuse in nursing homes go unreported by staff. Lastly, several government studies suggest that about 90 percent of nursing homes are understaffed to begin with. The sad truth about nursing homes is that a large number of them focus more on profit than on providing quality resident care.

Lowry and Associates, a personal injury law firm based in Maine that provides legal services to victims of nursing home abuse, offer the following tips on what to look for when choosing a nursing home for a loved one:

Look for well-groomed residents who are actively engaged in scheduled activities.

Look for homes with pressure sore survey ratings at near zero.

Look for homes with physical restraint survey ratings at near zero. A high incidence of physical restraints may indicate a home that substitutes restraints for proper staffing levels.

Even if a home has appropriate staffing levels, take note of the quality of interaction between residents and the staff.

Gauge reactions to resident complaints. You can also get an idea of the relative number of complaints among nursing homes in an area by contacting Maine's long-term care ombudsman.

Consider a non-profit home since these generally have lower deficiency ratings and higher levels of staffing.

Estate - Will You Lose Your Home To Medicaid?

The largest financial risk that seniors face today is the potential of assisted living and nursing home costs to devour the nest egg that has taken a lifetime to build. Many will end up relying on Medicaid to pay these costs. If that's the case for you, chances are that Medicaid will come after your home when you die.

Before you get alarmed, make sure that you are not confusing Medicare with Medicaid. Medicare, available to seniors who have paid into the government's Social Security system, covers roughly the first 100 days of skilled nursing home care following a hospital stay of at least 3 days. Medicare doesn't help with custodial care.

Since Medicare is, in essence, insurance you have paid for through payroll taxes, the government can't try to reclaim that money when you die. Medicaid, on the other hand, is a welfare program that provides health care to the poor of any age. Qualifying for Medicaid requires the patient's liquid assets to be no more than $2,000, not including their home.

Traditionally, Medicaid has allowed a patient to keep their home while they're in the nursing home. Since Medicaid doesn't force the sale of the home at that time, many seniors assume they will be able pass it to their heirs at their death. Recent actions by states are making that less likely.

Back in 1993, Congress passed a law that required the state agencies that run Medicaid to make every effort to get reimbursement for the money spent on each patient. This means the states are required by law to take any assets remaining at death, up to the amount spent by Medicaid. So if Medicaid spends $75,000 for your care, the states will seek to recover $75,000 from your estate when you die.

For years, many states completely ignored this law or only casually attempted to recover Medicaid costs. But those days are over. Facing budget crunches and exploding health care costs, many states are now aggressively pursuing recovery of their expenses.

There is a whole industry devoted to shielding seniors' assets from the government so that they qualify for Medicaid. These include the use of irrevocable trusts, placing assets in the name of a child or the purchase of an annuity. But there are already rules in place that disqualify you for Medicaid when assets have been transferred to a trust or child within 3 to 5 years of your application. It will not surprise me to see states try to make it harder to move or otherwise protect assets.

More common are situations like this hypothetical one. A widow named Thelma develops dementia and Ted, her son, moves his mom out of her house and into a nursing home. Thelma's meager bank accounts are drained and she soon qualifies for Medicaid. For the next two years, Thelma's health gradually declines and she finally passes away.

Several months later, Ted is preparing to fix up the old home place as a retirement home for him and his wife. But he's shocked when he receives a notice from Medicaid that $85,000 is owed to cover the cost of Thelma's nursing home care. Ted will then have to sell the old family home, get a mortgage on the home or use other money he has saved for his own retirement to pay the bill. Regardless, the result is that the bulk of Thelma's estate went to the state instead of to Ted.

What if Thelma's home wasn't worth the $85,000 that the state was trying to recover? States are now beginning to go after other assets and personal possessions such as vehicles, family heirlooms and antiques. The state can force the auction of all of Thelma's belongings by placing a claim against her estate.

The state can legally pursue any and all of Thelma's assets in an attempt to recover what was spent on her care. Fortunately, the state can NOT seek to recover any remaining shortfall from Ted.

Investigate the procedures of the state where care is being received, because each state has different standards and procedures for Medicaid cost recovery. The trend will continue for states to increase their attempts at Medicaid recovery from estates of recipients. Be aware so you aren't caught off guard.