The latest episode of the AZ Big Podcast with Michael & Amy has officially dropped. Episode 135 features Bucky Slomski, medical malpractice and personal injury & wrongful death lawyer, and shareholder at Burch & Cracchiolo.
Listen to more of the AZ Big Podcast here.
Transcript:
Michael Gossie
Welcome to the AZ Big Podcast, sponsored by Burch & Cracchiolo. I'm Michael Gossie, Editor-in-Chief at AZ Big Media, and I'm joined by my co-host, our publisher, Amy Lindsey. Today, we're very excited to be joined in the studio by Bucky Slomski, shareholder at Burch & Cracchiolo.Bucky, great to see you again. Thank you, guys. Thank you for having me.
Amy Lindsey
Thank you for joining us. So, Bucky, to start off, tell us what attracted you to the legal profession, and even more so, why did you decide to focus on personal injury and wrongful death?Bucky Slomski
So, that story goes back to pretty much my birth. My father was an attorney, and he practiced medical malpractice for a long time. Okay.In college, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I started as a mechanical engineer and then switched over to English because I didn't want to do that as my full-time job. Figuring out what I wanted to do with English, I went over to my dad's firm, absolutely loved it, and then decided to get into the legal sphere, and that just started my journey.
Michael Gossie
So, what made you decide to veer away from mechanical engineering? That's a big shift. Yeah.Bucky Slomski
Again, I went into the Ohio State program over there where we were building race cars, and it was too much fun for me. I just didn't want to do it as a job. So, I moved over to a different area that I could work and wanted to work every day, nine to five or longer.That's pretty short.
Michael Gossie
So, how delighted was your father when you decided to go into law? I'm sorry? How delighted was your father when you decided to go into law?Bucky Slomski
Oh, he enjoyed it quite a bit. We worked together for about five years. Oh, that's nice.Which was a really, really nice time. He mentored me and taught me medical malpractice and pretty much everything I know about that today. Then, when I got over to Birch, I started working with Todd Julian, more specifically, and he has taught me a lot within the MBA sphere as well.
Michael Gossie
Well, that's great. Well, Bucky, fortunately or unfortunately, you practice in an area where many of us are going to need you at some point in our lives. So, I thought today we could kind of try to get some free legal guidance from you.So, first, I want to ask, what do people need to make sure they do if they get into a motor vehicle accident?
Bucky Slomski
Sure. So, when you're in a motor vehicle collision, the biggest thing to do is basically document everything. You initially want to call the police because they will generate a or an Arizona crash report for you.That will give you some guidance on who was involved, their insurances, if that other driver might have been cited for rear-ending you or speeding or something of the sort. You want to obtain that report from the police. In order to do that, they'll give you a little slip after they write the report on the scene called the collision exchange information sheet.
That will have the police report that is eventually generated. From there, you probably want to notify your insurance company and let them know that you also have the insurance of the other driver. So, another important piece is to obtain a picture or documentation of the other driver's insurance and then also take pictures and video of the cars on scene, see the property damage.
If you have any injuries, take photos of those, but most importantly, get to the hospital, get any treatment that you need. That's the priority in these types of scenarios is to get the treatment that you need.
Michael Gossie
So, how do you know when it's time to call an attorney after you've had a motor vehicle accident and how severe does the injury have to be before you should really take it to the next level?Bucky Slomski
Sure. So, I would recommend to anyone that's involved in a motor vehicle collision, a lot of the firms work on a contingent fee and offer free consultation. So, call an attorney if you think you have an issue.They'll tell you if you do not or if you do. Again, in terms of treatment, I would encourage people not to assume that nothing is wrong. Assume that there might be something wrong and go to the ER and get checked out anyways because a lot of these injuries, especially if they're soft tissue where you strained your neck or your back, those don't propagate until one to three days after the collision.
So, you might feel fine the day of the collision, but three days later, you're going to have a splitting headache and pain in your neck and pain in your back. You probably want to go get checked out before then. That's really good advice.
Yeah. So, what if people fear they have a traumatic brain injury? So, with traumatic brain injuries, those are quite a bit more severe than soft tissue or even potentially breaking a bone or something like that.
Because they are so subjective from person to person, that's something that you want to be watching out for in any motor vehicle collision because it can't, excuse me, it can occur simply just by your brain kind of sloshing around in your head. You don't necessarily have to hit an A or B or C pillar or anything else inside the car.
Amy Lindsey
I didn't realize that. I kind of assumed there has to be some type of a collision connection with it.Bucky Slomski
Yeah. So, with regard to that, one of the things that most people don't really attribute to traumatic brain injury is that a concussion is actually a traumatic brain injury. And that's something that you might get in football where you're just hitting each other in the shoulders really hard and your brains move inside the cranium and hit the inside wall and that can cause damage.Amy Lindsey
Okay.Bucky Slomski
Oh my gosh. So, some of the common symptoms or signs that you will have if you have a potential concussion or a traumatic brain injury are the first one that most people see is you vomit right afterwards. You get confused.You get dizzy. Sometimes you have vestibular issues with your eyes. So, your eyes aren't tracking properly or you might get some double vision.
If any of that kind of stuff happens, you absolutely want to go to the hospital and get checked out and get a head scan immediately.
Michael Gossie
Bucky, we have a million questions for you. But before we get to them, I have to say, you want to make a difference in your business and life in 2024, contact an attorney at Burch & Cracchiolo to handle all your legal needs. Burch & Cracchiolo is a time-honored, full-service law firm who can partner with you no matter what your challenges, goals, or new horizons on the radar.Contact them today at bcattorneys.com. That's bcattorneys.com. Okay.
So, Bucky, I'm a runner. So, this has happened to me more times than I can count in my lifetime. But what do you do if you get bit by a dog?
Bucky Slomski
Yeah. That's one that unfortunately a lot of people have in Arizona. And there's good news and bad news to that in Arizona.First and foremost, it's strict liability in Arizona. So, there is no one free bite rule as there are in other states where if you get bit by a dog, that individual might not be liable unless they have bit more than once.
Amy Lindsey
Oh, wow. Never heard that. Okay.Bucky Slomski
In Arizona, it's one bite and it's strict liability against the owner.Okay. So, first and foremost, call an attorney. You want to make sure that you have representation, but you also want to, again, get the treatment that you need.
And the primary insurance that will cover for a dog bite is the homeowner's insurance. So, you want to get the owner's contact information. If they've got a license plate, take a picture of the license plate, for instance, if you're at a park.
A lot of people think that dog bites might just be at a home or something like that. In Arizona, you can also recover if the dog is, quote-unquote, at large. And that would be in an instance when you're at a park and all of the dogs are off leash and one of them runs up to you and bites you or potentially even knocks you down and still potentially recover if they have violated the Arizona statutes.
Michael Gossie
Okay. So, I know this next question is a big one, but how do people know whether or not they have a medical malpractice case?Bucky Slomski
That is a big question. And MedMal is very specific in Arizona, and there are a lot of different rules to motor vehicle or dog bite, and it's much more gray. The medical field is a mix between science and art, and there is essentially a known percentage of issues that can occur and do occur that are not necessarily related to any negligence that the doctor, nurses, or whomever performed.So, one of the main things that I generally look at with regard to a medical malpractice suit are what are called never events. And never events are an issue that occurs in the hospital. It's defined by CMS, Medicare, Medicaid, of events that should never happen in a hospital setting.
And CMS, if you have Medicare or Medicaid and this happens to you in a hospital setting, they will not reimburse the hospital for that injury that occurred after you arrived to the hospital. So, that from an initial standpoint is a very good indication that there is possibly a medical malpractice case. Unfortunately, generally, the primary indicator is a negative outcome.
Either you have significant complications due to surgery or you've had a fall in the hospital and you end up injuring yourself even more and you are a high fall risk prior to then. But fundamentally, within Arizona, you have to have an expert that reviews the case and assesses that there is what's called a standard of care violation before you file the case and before you bring a case. And that person has to be essentially the same specialty as the individual that you were alleging fell below the standard of care or was negligent.
Michael Gossie
So, can you give me an example of one of those things that should never happen in a hospital?Bucky Slomski
Sure. So, fall is actually one of them. Another one is a thing called an air embolus that occurs during cardiopulmonary bypass or some other event where essentially they are transferring a circuit of blood through you doing open heart surgery or something of the sort.And they have a machine that's hooked up to you that is taking the place of your heart, pumping the blood, oxygenating it, and putting it back into your body. Well, if air gets into that line somehow, which it shouldn't ever happen, and it gets into your body, that can cause all sorts of brain damage and pulmonary embolism and all sorts of really horrific things. That type of event should never occur in a hospital setting.
And that is one of the things that are listed on the never event list.
Amy Lindsey
Okay. So, what is the type of case you typically handle?Bucky Slomski
So, I handle, right now, it's quite a bit of motor vehicle collision. And then I'm getting into medical malpractice again. As I said earlier, I practice with my father.Now, I'm really getting back up to speed with a lot of that. And it really just depends. It can be anything from stroke to falls in the hospital to, like I said, the air embolism.
We typically focus a lot on catastrophic injury, unfortunately. As we were talking earlier, my wife and I say that we don't really want anyone to use us or that they shouldn't need to use us. But unfortunately, they do.
So, catastrophic injury is the primary. And I'm also starting to focus on some nursing home cases because in Arizona, the nursing home population is, unfortunately, not well cared for, at least from my perspective. And there are a lot of instances of either understaffing or poor care or things that just should not happen in a nursing home.
And I think that's a really vulnerable person to have that happen to them. And they're not generally represented. So, I'm starting to focus in there as well.
But really what it is, is catastrophic injury, whether that's med mal, wrongful death, and a motor vehicle collision. Birth injury is another hot topic or nursing home.
Michael Gossie
So, how can somebody know whether or not they have a case and whether or not they should come and see you?Bucky Slomski
Again, the primary thing is going to be if they think they have a negative outcome that shouldn't have occurred. Sometimes providers will even tell them that that shouldn't have occurred or they might apologize.Michael Gossie
That's a red flag.Bucky Slomski
Yeah, that's also a red flag, yes. Unfortunately, in Arizona, it's actually not admissible generally in court either for essentially rehabilitative purposes for the doctor to be open and out front with the patient. But yeah, they generally will just be told or know that something is wrong and it shouldn't have occurred. You know, you're told by your provider that the recovery is going to be six weeks and it should be fairly easy and you might need some crutches and you end up needing three more surgeries.That's a potential indicator that something occurred that shouldn't have.
Michael Gossie
So, who can bring a lawsuit? So, if my parents are in a nursing home and I feel that they've not been taken care of properly, can I bring a lawsuit or does it have to come from them?Bucky Slomski
Sure. So, that's a good one within a nursing home. So, generally speaking, there's a statutory scheme within Arizona for wrongful death and there are very particular people that can bring a case.That's going to be a spouse, a parent, or a child essentially. Siblings in Arizona don't have a claim for wrongful death. That is generally the same within an APSA claim, Adult Protective Services Act, within a nursing home.
But there's also the potential for the decedent's estate to come in and bring the claim or it could be a guardian if they had a dementia or some sort of mental issue where they needed some sort of conservatorship over watching them. That individual can bring it as well. But the key thing within the APSA claims in Arizona is that you can actually recover for the pain and suffering that that individual had while they were still alive.
That is very unique. Normally in a wrongful death matter, the individuals that are bringing the claim on behalf of the decedent are not allowed to, if that person was in the hospital for a month, they can't recover for the pain and suffering that they had in that hospital. But in an Adult Protective Services Act case, they are allowed to recover for the four months of pain and suffering that that person was not eating as much or they had a pressure sore in their sacrum and was wide open.
So it's a significantly different area and piece that you can bring in those types of cases. Well, how do you keep track of all this?
Amy Lindsey
As I say, it sounds like you have to have a lot of knowledge, obviously, of the law, but also the medical.Bucky Slomski
You really do. With each case, at least with relation to medical malpractice, even nursing home is there, but there are more specific things that occur in nursing home cases, like the decubitus ulcer or dehydration or lack of food. Within the medical malpractice sphere, you essentially have to learn the medicine that you are bringing the case on behalf of, because if you don't, you can't properly represent your client.So you have to speak with your expert or your experts, normally it's multiple, to truly understand the medicine and why you are able to bring the claim that you are. And if you don't have that knowledge, you can't properly navigate the claim.
Amy Lindsey
I can't imagine these claims are resolved very quickly.Bucky Slomski
No. No, they are not.Amy Lindsey
What would you say is a general time frame from the time they call and have a conversation with you and they find that there is something that needs to be looked at in a possible suit?Bucky Slomski
One of the primary things that people need to watch out for is the statute of limitations. That is the most important thing that you need to look out for, because in Arizona, there is, other than dog bite, which is one year, the law basically says that from the time that you knew or reasonably should have known about the defendant's issue that potentially caused your negligent event, you have two years from that date to file a lawsuit.Michael Gossie
Wow, that's a small window.Bucky Slomski
It is. And so I get a lot of cases that may be a year and a half after the occurrence because they have been having treatment for that long. And then you have to get an expert on board.You have to get all the medical records. You have to get all of the family in line to see if there is even a lawsuit within that time period, then create and build up your lawsuit and then bring the lawsuit. The one caveat to that is the notice of claim statute, which is specific to Banner University Medical Center Tucson and Phoenix and some other governmental entities, like a school district or police or some of those things, where it's only 180 days after the issue occurs that you have to file a notice of claim with the federal government.
Amy Lindsey
Oh, wow. It's a very short window.Okay. So how can people contact you at Burch & Cracchiolo?
Bucky Slomski
So I am available on our website at bcattorneys.com. If you click to the professionals page, my name will be there. I'll have all of my contact information there, my email, my phone.I also have my own website from my dad's firm, slomskilaw.com. You can go through that and connect with me and just give us a call and let us know if you have anything that you need to speak about.
Michael Gossie
Guys, we could talk to you all day. This has been fascinating. Bucky Slomski, shareholder of Burch & Cracchiolo.Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening to the AZ Big Podcast with Michael and Amy. For the latest, greatest business news, real estate news, and lifestyle news, check out the all new azbigmedia.com.
Once again, thank you to our sponsors, Burch & Cracchiolo.
Amy Lindsey
Thank you, Bucky.Michael Gossie
Thank you very much.