Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

The Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Charities (L.A. T.L.C.) made its last donation of the year to the Venice Family Clinic, which provides primary health care services to homeless men, women and children during approximately 16,000 patient visits per year. Without the Clinic, these folks might not have access to even the most basic health care services.

L.A. T.L.C. looks forward to continuing its good work in the community in 2007 and we look forward to helping it achieve its charitable goals.

Dentists routinely pull wisdom teeth without telling patients about the risk of serious injury if the procedure is not done carefully, especially to the lingual nerve. The lingual nerve provides sensation and taste to one-half of the tongue and it is at risk of being cut or damaged every time a lower wisdom tooth is removed.

Unless a patient is in pain or the wisdom teeth are likely to cause injury to other structures in the mouth or to other teeth, there is no justification for extracting third molars, aka, wisdom teeth. The procedure is unnecessary and puts the patient at risk for permanent injury.

It is impossible to estimate the number of unnecessary wisdom teeth that are pulled every year - not to benefit the patient, but to financially benefit the dentist who does the surgery. What is known is that, if the dentist is not careful, cutting the lingual nerve can cause a patient to have permanent loss of taste and sensation to one-half of the tongue. In rare cases of extreme carelessness by the dentist, a patient can permanently lose the ability to feel or taste anything.

We have successfully litigated and settled many lingual nerve cases. Most recently, Todd J. Bloomfield won a $655,000 verdict in Lancaster, California, for a young man with this type of permanent injury. Unfortunately, because a state law known as MICRA - the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act passed in 1975 - the jury's verdict was reduced by the judge to $250,000, the maximum amount allowed for pain and suffering caused by a doctor.

Before you agree to have your wisdom teeth pulled, ask the doctor why it is necessary and, if you are not satisfied with the answer, consider getting a second opinion. If the surgery is necessary, ask your dentist how many times he has cut the lingual nerve when extracting a lower third molar. Dentists who are routinely careful are unlikely ever to have experienced this complication and should assure you that it cannot happen unless the doctor doing the extraction is careless.

Having a tongue that is permanently numb on one side is a very serious and life-changing injury. Should it happen to someone you know, explain that, in most cases, this cannot happen unless the doctor was negligent. If legal advice is needed, we hope you will consider having him or her call us. We will be happy to help if we can.

Los Angeles Trial Lawyers' Charities reached out to help at St. Anne's Maternity Home last week. On December 13, 2006, personal injury attorneys donned aprons, served up holiday dinner and donated $5,000 to this worthy charity.

St. Anne's is a 100-year old downtown institution which provides housing, education, medical care and moral support to disadvantaged young women. Pregnant and, in many cases, homeless, St. Anne's takes these girls off the streets, gives them a place to live, and restores to them a measure of dignity.

Helping others is what trial lawyers do best - in a courtroom and in the community. At Rice & Bloomfield, we are proud to support LATLC and proud of the work we do to help those whose lives have been shattered by serious injuries or the death of a loved one.

The family of a woman, who was hit by a car in a crosswalk and who died after her condition was misdiagnosed, will have the opportunity to ask a jury to award compensation for their loss, thanks to a successful appeal by personal injury lawyer, Todd J. Bloomfield.

The accident and subsequent malpractice occurred in 2001. The case against the driver was settled and in 2003 a jury found that the medical clinic was negligent. However, the jury made an error when it ruled that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the woman's death. The experts on both sides agreed that the woman would have lived if the medical clinic had accurately diagnosed and treated her symptoms. The trial court ordered a new trial and the attorneys for the clinic appealed.

The Court of Appeal unanimously agreed that the family was entitled to a partial new trial in light of the jury's error. Another jury will be asked to value the loss to the woman's husband and daughters. The family and Mr. Bloomfield are awaiting a new trial date. The medical clinic refuses to take responsibility for the death and has offered nothing to try to settle the case, despite the jury's finding of negligence.