West Virginia Injuries

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Search results for “evidence”

20 results

preponderance of evidence

51% is the idea behind this standard: not absolute proof, just enough evidence to show something is more likely true than not. The phrase comes out of old English civil courts,...

chain of custody

You'll usually see it in a police report, lab paperwork, a lawyer's letter, or a court filing saying someone is "challenging the chain of custody" or "establishing chain of...

Delayed Head Symptoms After a Roadside Work Injury

A roadside crew leader in West Virginia may not be stuck with the crash date if concussion symptoms showed up late and the real harm was not obvious at first.

ARTICLE by Sandra Elswick

screening guideline

Not a guarantee, a diagnosis, or a one-size-fits-all rule, a screening guideline is a medical recommendation about who should be tested for a disease, when testing should...

Can your immigration status sink a Charleston van fire claim?

A rear-end crash that turns into a vehicle fire is bad enough, and the insurer will still try to turn a minor violation and immigration fear into leverage.

ARTICLE by Roderick Lyons

That ladder folded, and now every insurer is trying to disappear

A farm worker in Morgantown got hurt when a defective ladder collapsed, and now the farm, the ladder company, and multiple insurers are all dodging the bill while a structured settlement gets pushed across the table.

ARTICLE by Earl Braxton

Am I screwed if the loading dock had no barrier and insurance wants everything

What a Charleston fast food worker should photograph, save, and request immediately after a loading dock fall, especially when mental health is already in the record and a health insurer is talking like it owns the settlement.

ARTICLE by Danny Trent

My elbow may end my job before the missing records ever turn up

A Parkersburg meatpacking worker with a repetitive-use elbow injury can get trapped between workers' comp, outside insurers, and bad charting faster than most people expect.

ARTICLE by Rhonda Hatfield

unreasonable delay

Not every slow response is an unreasonable delay. Insurance claims can take some time when records are missing, injuries are still being evaluated, or the facts are genuinely...

My kid was buried in a Huntington trench and now two states are fighting over who has to pay

A parent is trying to sort out a trench-collapse injury in Huntington when the child lives across the river and every insurer starts talking about "the other state."

ARTICLE by Rhonda Hatfield

Is my lawyer slow-walking the dashcam while my burn claim gets cheaper?

A bad steam-burn case can get undermined fast by hidden video, chatty adjusters, social media snooping, and a cheap settlement pushed before doctors know how deep the damage goes.

ARTICLE by Rhonda Hatfield

pattern and practice

What trips people up is this: one ugly claim decision usually is not enough. A pattern and practice means repeated conduct that shows a company is doing the same wrongful thing...

A missed abnormal finding can cost money, health, and legal leverage because treatment may be delayed while a condition worsens. In a claim, that delay can affect the value of...

failure to diagnose

A healthcare provider did not identify a medical condition when reasonable care likely would have. "Did not identify" can mean missing the condition entirely, dismissing...

loss of chance doctrine

You just got a letter that says a doctor's delay "reduced the patient's chance of survival," and now the phrase shows up in medical records, insurance papers, or a lawyer's...

What evidence do I need after a Charleston Uber crash to prove insurance coverage?

$25,000 is West Virginia's minimum bodily injury limit per person, but that is not the whole story in a Charleston Uber crash. Bad advice says "just file on the driver's...

cognitive bias in diagnosis

You may see this in a medical record review, denial letter, or expert report as phrases like "anchoring," "premature closure," or "confirmation bias" during the diagnostic...

index of suspicion

A low index of suspicion can be the difference between a patient being sent home and a dangerous condition being caught before it gets much worse. The phrase means a...

Can a trucking company erase the black box after a Charleston wreck?

Yes - unless someone moves quickly, a trucking company can legally lose or overwrite key data in the normal course of business. That surprises most people. The truck's...

differential diagnosis

A dangerous mistake can happen when symptoms are treated like a quick guess instead of a careful process: a serious condition gets missed, treatment goes the wrong way, and the...