Medical malpractice is defined as any act or failure to act by a health care professional diminishing or deviating the accepted standards of services and practices of the medical community. Some also define it simply as professional negligence.
As in every lawsuit, medical malpractice lawsuits are comprised of the plaintiff and the defendant. Medical malpractice lawsuits, however, are different than other law suits in a few distinct ways. This holds true in Pennsylvania and from state to state.
One major difference is that the cause might be more daunting and drawn out than a usual case. This is because it can sometimes be hard to prove whether or not medical malpractice really occurred. A successful case must prove that a legal duty of medical care and treatment was supposed to be undertaken by a health care officer or health care institution on the patient or plaintiff’s behalf and wasn’t.
Medical malpractice cases may involve charges against an individual doctor or medical care professional, a group of doctors, or in some cases a hospital or medical care centers itself.
For a medical malpractice case, the plaintiff will need a highly specialized lawyer such as a Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer. Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers know state law intimately and can help to navigate your case as smoothly as possible to reach a settlement.
In some medical malpractice cases, a power of attorney or loved one, may have to act on behalf the patient, who may have suffered death or debilitating injury due to the medical malpractice at hand. If you suspect you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, you’ll need to act right away. Take the first step by calling the Law Offices of Neil R. Gelb.
Distracted and reckless drivers have existed since the first roads were laid and the first cars were built to drive on them. From Philadelphia’s US 1 branching out to roadways across the country, the veers and swerves of reckless motorists can be seen throughout the country.
Talking, eating, applying makeup, or paying too much attention to outside scenery have always been classic causes of reckless driving accidents. For this reason, responsible drivers are always advised to drive defensively. The new millennium, however, has brought forth its own challenges for drivers who are simply trying to get from point A to point B safely minding their own business. Cell phones and other hand held devices have spawned an epidemic of reckless, distracted, driving in people of all ages, and, particularly teens.
Laws around the country have been somewhat slow to respond to the practices of handheld cell phone use or texting while driving, putting other drivers at risk of becoming involved in an accident. Philadelphia is finally cracking down on cell phone use and texting while driving as well as while walking.
Philadelphia police are on the lookout for those using cell phones or texting while driving or walking. The crackdown campaign has been entitled “Give respect, Get respect,” and is aimed at drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists in Center City.
This summer, eight to ten officers will be rotating within five zones in Center City, Philadelphia, working on enforcing laws that make it safer to get around. One of the major initiatives is to enforce the ban on texting while driving. While talking on a cell phone is enough of a distraction, texting while driving present even more extreme danger as texters eyes are completely off of the road.
If you have been involved in an accident that you suspect was caused by a driver texting or participating in other reckless activities, contact the Law Offices of Neil R. Gelb today. Our office will ensure you get whatever compensation you may be owed as a victim of a reckless driver.
PHILADELPHIA – Matthew Saad Muhammad, former light heavyweight champion, member of the boxing hall of fame and a Philadelphia legend, is taking on his latest fight — this time, against homelessness.
Saad Muhammad will host Knock Out Homelessness, a community effort to raise awareness and promote organizations working to end homelessness in Philadelphia, April 28 at Chickie’s & Pete’s in South Philadelphia. The event is sponsored by One Step Away, Philadelphia’s street newspaper produced by those without homes.
One Step Away, now in its second year, provides a voice of advocacy for Philadelphia’s homeless community. Since its inception, the paper has provided hundreds of individuals without homes meaningful income opportunities and personal growth, while drawing attention to the issues surrounding poverty and homelessness.
After some tough times last year that left Matthew homeless for a brief time, he’s now working as a homelessness advocate to help others. Inspired by his own true life story of homelessness and redemption, of being abandoned on the streets of Philadelphia as an orphan and rising to the top of the boxing world, of triumph and tragedy in and out of the ring, Matthew Saad Muhammad is working to give hope to people in need.
“I want people to know that even if you’re down, you can always get back up,’’ Matthew said. “There are people out there who have lost hope, and it hurts me to see that. I hope people see me, and it gives them hope to keep fighting, and keep getting back up.”
Knock Out Homelessness will be a gathering of athletes, celebrities, city leaders and special guests committed to the battle against homelessness that features Wii Boxing and other video gaming, as well as a silent auction. Proceeds from the evening will benefit One Step Away as well as other organizations working to end homelessness in the region.
Guests at Knock Out Homelessness will have a chance to Wii box Matthew for charity, giving Matthew’s many fans a chance to actually get into the ring with him, if only in a video gaming sense.
Among the many organizations lending their support is Lincoln High School, which is sponsoring its own Knock Out Homelessness event April 30. Matthew Saad Muhammad will attend that event as well, and speak to the students who are raising money to fight homelessness in Philadelphia.
A raffle and silent auction of sports memorabilia will feature a wide range of items, from a signed football from Eagles defensive tackle Antonio Dixon (whose own story of homelessness as a child was featured in the August 2010 issue of One Step Away) to signed items from greats Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Roy Jones, Jr. and Mickey Ward (subject of the hit movie “The Fighter”) as well as items from Matthew himself.
Scheduled to appear with Matthew are former heavyweight champ and Philadelphia icon Joe Frazier, former Phillies greats Darren Daulton and Larry Andersen and former Sixers star World B. Free, as well a number of other special guests.
More information on Knock Out Homelessness, as well as donation and ticket info, is available at One Step Away’s website.
About Resources for Human Development
One Step Away is published by Resources for Human Development, a comprehensive human services organization based in Philadelphia, Pa. Its mission is to empower the most vulnerable and marginalized members of society as they build the highest level of independence possible. RHD oversees and supports more than 160 locally-managed programs in 14 states. These innovative and effective programs specialize in helping people who have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities, homeless individuals and families, people rejoining society after incarceration, and people with histories of substance abuse so that they may all build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.
Matthew Saad Muhammad is entering the ring for his next fight, as an advocate in the battle against homelessness. He’s hosting “Knock Out Homelessness” on April 28 to raise awareness, and benefit local organizations working to end homelessness in Philadelphia. You can find more info on the event here. Below is the front page story that ran in One Step Away, in which Matthew talked about the latest chapter in his incredible life story:
He still moves like a fighter, massive shoulders rolled forward, almost gliding across the room like he’s stalking an opponent. Matthew Saad Muhammad strides through the RHD Ridge Center, where he’s just done his laundry, and sits in the lunch room.
Someone sees him and hollers: “Champ!” Saad Muhammad smiles. He’s among friends here.
Saad Muhammad, former light heavyweight champion of the world, member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, one of the greatest fighters of all time and a Philadelphia icon, is today a resident of RHD Ridge Center, the city’s largest homeless shelter.
The Champ is here.
“It’s embarrassing, putting myself here,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “I admitted myself here because I thought this was a reputable place where I could get my life together. I went through so much stress, so many problems. When I walked in here, I was in outer space.
“The day I walked through those doors, I thought: Do I really want to do this to myself? But they were willing to work with me. They said: Matthew, we’ll do whatever you need. I was shocked! Were they kidding? They didn’t ask me for anything, they didn’t want anything from me. They said they’d work with me, and it was going to be OK. They allowed me the days I needed.”
The July issue of One Step Away, Philadelphia’s first street newspaper and the only street paper in the country produced by the homeless, featured a front-page story on Saad Muhammad’s latest comeback written by homeless writer Jose Espinosa.
That Matthew Saad Muhammad, a man who’s received the keys to this city from four different mayors, would turn up in a Philadelphia homeless shelter seems a shocking and depressing story. But Saad Muhammad is not depressed. He is a man determined to start his life anew, and to do it right this time.
He is a man searching for the bottom, resigning himself to it, because only from there can he truly rise again.
“When you’ve got nothing, that’s when you can really start over,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “I will start from the ground up again. I know I will be successful again. I thank God for this chance, actually. I’m not mad. I’m delighted. Even if it kills me, I’m willing to make a change in my life.
“I’m not going to say I was a drug user. I’m better than that. But I did things that were not productive, that held me back. When I say to people, I’m trying to change, I mean I’ll start over again from the bottom. I’m willing to do that. I’m ready for a change.”
When Saad Muhammad first walked into the RHD Ridge Center, several homeless men in Philadelphia’s largest shelter recognized him. They all had the same question: What are you doing here? He gave them all the same answer: He was homeless. Where else was he supposed to go?
He needed a place to regroup and get his head together and get his life straightened out. Saad Muhammad asked the men and the staff there not to tell his secret; no newspapers, no publicity. He needed quiet time, reflection and solitude. He needed help. He got it – and the homeless men alongside him in the breakfast line told no one they were sleeping next to the Champ.
“He gave the guys there with no hope some hope,’’ said Catherine Canady, a support counselor at Ridge. “If they felt that because they took a fall, they can’t get back up, he’s showed them that you can always get back up and keep going. He’s given them some inspiration, a sense of worth, of dignity. His presence there has given them hope.”
Philadelphia Daily News & Inquirer follow OSA’s story on Matthew
Saad Muhammad breaks his silence now because he’s ready, because he’s on the road back. And he believes there is value to this story. He can be an inspiration to people, in a different way than when he held the championship belt, but an inspiration just the same. And that’s something.
“I can’t use my hands like I used to,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “But I can use my mind. I might not be that fast guy I was before. But I’m able to think. I’m blessed by God to still have my wits, to be able to think for myself at last.
“The boxing champion who fell will rise again. It’s not too late, you know? People can better themselves. You have to have heart, and be strong with it. I liked being an inspiration to kids, that kids could look at me and say: This guy had a hard time coming up. Maybe I can be like him.”
And now? Saad Muhammad thinks for a moment and finds the message he wants:
“Be better.”
Miracle Matthew
The story of Matthew Saad Muhammad is one of the most classic and compelling in all of sports history. Born Maxwell Antonio Loach, his mother died when he was infant. An aunt took him in, but soon found that she couldn’t handle the addition to her family. So she abandoned him, leaving the five-year-old boy on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
“17th and the Parkway,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “The nuns found me, and took me in.”
In Catholic Social Services, the nuns who raised him gave him the name Matthew Franklin – Matthew, from the Bible, and Franklin, from the Parkway where they found him.
He bounced around to several schools, experimented with substance abuse and got into trouble. After a few scrapes, he went to the Jupiter Gym in South Philly to learn to fight. There he found his calling.
He rose through the ranks with a crowd-pleasing, fast-action style, a big puncher who liked to fight and feasted on punishment. In 1977, in just his 21-st pro fight, he knocked out Marvin Johnson in the 12-th round in a brutal fight to win the light heavyweight title. He defended that title three times before meeting Johnson again for the WBC title in 1979 in another classic. Bleeding heavily from cuts above both eyes, he knocked out Johnson in the eighth round.
Shortly after winning the title, he converted to Islam and took the name Matthew Saad Muhammad.
See a video tribute to Matthew Saad Muhammad’s great career
After eight successful title defenses, many of them the savage and bloody fights for which he was famous, Saad Muhammad lost the crown to Dwight Braxton (later Dwight Muhammad Qawi) in a 10-th round knockout. In the rematch, Saad Muhammad fell in the sixth.
His troubles had begun.
“I had so many people whispering in my ear: Yo, Champ, do this. Yo, Champ, do that. They’d give me that ‘Champ’ bull,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “That’s why I fell on my behind. I didn’t train right. I had the wrong people around me, who abused me and used me. I had made so much money, I wasn’t worried about anything.
“I tried to win every fight. But I was overmatched. I didn’t train right. I just didn’t do well, I didn’t do it right. That’s what happened.
“Braxton didn’t fight the real Matthew Saad Muhammad. He beat a shell of me. When I fought Braxton, I had sex that night. I knew better than that! But I had problems, I had so many things on my mind. I was confused. I wasn’t right. I didn’t have enough common sense, so I let it go. I let things ride. And I knew it – when I got in the ring that night, all I could think was: Please, God, make sure I’m safe.”
Still he kept fighting. Saad Muhammad fought all over the globe, and fought until he was nearly 40. He was, indeed, a shell of himself at the end – in his final nine fights, Saad Muhammad was 1-7-1. But he fought.
“Oh, I loved boxing,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “I just loved it. I loved the competition. I loved getting into the ring. It was an event. I loved traveling; I fought in England, in Germany, in Tokyo, in Spain, in Barbados. I’d get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to go overseas, to travel to someplace great, and fight. To get paid to go to Hawaii and fight? How great was that?”
And there was the money. He battled money problems at the end, falling prey to the fast money and the fast life that so often goes with this territory. At one point, he said, he was supporting an entourage of 39 people.
“Money was flying everywhere,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “Friends, friends of friends, their mothers, their fathers, their brothers. They were all happy to be around me, eating me alive, taking money from me, rob me, steal from me, and I’d always say: That’s all right, buddy! I was always so happy. Matthew Saad Muhammad was always up for it, with everybody.
“I gave a lot of money away. I had millions of dollars. I had savings. I had a bank account. But people I trusted run away with my money.
“I didn’t care about that stuff. All I cared about was winning the title. I let other people take care of the money; I just wanted to fight. That’s all I thought about – just let me get my shot at the title, and I don’t care what else happens.”
Saad Muhammad relies on friends for support here and there – “Most of them still owe me a lot of money,’’ he said, with a laugh – and his youngest son Michael keeps his boxing memorabilia safe. Michael has his championship belt, waiting until Saad Muhammad is ready for it once more.
“He’s a beautiful kid,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “He’s a loving person who never hurt nobody. I’m not ready to make a decision like that. I don’t want to put that on them, to make them care for their father. I’ve got to be able to do that on my own.
“He’s not going to see me like this.”
Coming back
Matthew Saad Muhammad turned 56 years old June 16, and celebrated his birthday with the homeless residents at Ridge who now count him among their number. When he shakes a well-wisher’s hand, it’s with a meaty paw and a bone-crushing grip. He is still in good shape. His face is smooth, his eyes are bright and he smiles easily. In many ways, he looks the same. But everything is different now.
“He’s a man trying to regroup his life,’’ said John Cain, who works directly with Saad Muhammad at Ridge as the shelter’s Alpha Day program coordinator. “He’s run into some problems with people and with his finances. This is a man who was on top of the world at one time, and now he’s living in a shelter.
“It’s sad, where he is at the moment. But he’s making a comeback. He is not broken, he is not in despair. He hasn’t given up.”
Cain, like many who grew up in Philadelphia, has a Matthew Saad Muhammad story. In 1979 Cain was a 10-year-old kid living in the Martin Luther King projects and he saw Saad Muhammad on the street, drawing a crowd, chatting with fans, among the people. His people.
“He had his belt on him; I’ll never forget it,’’ Cain said. “I was a poor kid, and I asked him to buy me an ice cream cone. He said: I think I can afford one ice cream cone. I told him that story. He didn’t remember it, but I’ll never forget it.
“I grew up watching the champ. It’s a little sad to me, to see him in this situation. He has a lot of pride. The way he carries himself demands respect. He doesn’t demand anything special, he doesn’t expect anything special. He expects to be treated like a man, and that’s what we do with everybody here.
“Things happen. He was the champion of the world. He’s going to get out of this, get this resolved, and get back to where he needs to be.”
So many Saad Muhammad fights are classics; his old bouts regularly turn up on TV. But he doesn’t care to watch himself very much, because, he said, “all I can think is: Oh, look at that man get hit.”
That was always the legend of Saad Muhammad, the reason he earned the nickname “Miracle Matthew” – he would take so much punishment, take the hits, find himself in trouble. And then, with a granite chin and an iron will, Saad Muhammad would come off the ropes and win. His life is, in many ways, a story about what a man can overcome.
He knows it still can be. His second chance begins here, in a homeless shelter. Where it ends is up to him, now. That’s all he asks.
“I went through enough. I had enough,’’ Saad Muhammad said. “I’m on a straight pattern now. It’s a second chance – another second chance.
“What I did was my own fault. I made my own decisions. This is my own problem. Let me work it out.
“I’ve still got a story to tell.”
This story appeared in the July issue of One Step Away, written by staff writer Jose Espinosa and One Step Away editor Kevin Roberts. Update: Matthew Saad Muhammad is out of the Ridge Shelter and into transitional housing. His comeback, though far from over, has begun. For more information, please contact One Step Away at osa@rhd.org
The Law Offices of Neil R. Gelb, P.C. are proud sponsors of the Knockout Homelessness Event. If you’d like to make a contribution to the cause, contact Neil R. Gelb, Esq. or osa@rhd.org
SEPTA, drivers sued over car accident
by Julie Shaw
A man who was critically injured last year after getting hit by a car right after stepping off a SEPTA bus in Frankford is suing the transit agency and the drivers of the bus and car.
Peter P. Barnett, litigation manager in Gelb’s office, said yesterday that Lemar, who struggles to talk is confined to his “wheelchair for life,” “can’t walk” and “can never work again.”
He said Lemar, who had been on his way home after visiting a friend, had stepped out the back door of the bus when the car came “whizzing past.”
Lemar was unconscious after getting hit and has no memory of what happened. Authorities initially did not know who he was, listing him as a “john Doe.”
Lemar spent about two months in Temple University Hospital, then about six weeks at MossRehab, Barnett said.
The suit, which seeks a jury trial and more than $50,000, says Lemar “has and will incur enormous medical bills in excess of one million dollars.”
Lemar did not have work-related health insurance, Barnett said. Medicaid has so far paid the approved charges, he said.
The suit contends that SEPTA drivers have a “regular, ongoing pattern” of discharging passengers in an unsafe manner.
It also says Lemar was eligible to receive $5,000 from a SEPTA medical-payments coverage plan. It says “SEPTA has intentionally, wrongfully and with malice refused” to pay him that amount.
Richard Maloney, SEPTA spokesman, said yesterday he could not comment on the lawsuit because it was an open case. With regard to a medical-payments plan for injured passengers, he would say only that SEPTA “has a claims process” and “every case is individualized.”
He would not say whether Vanelas still works for SEPTA.
Neither Vanelas nor Martinez, 29, who lived on Gilham Street near Charles in Mayfair, but who is not believed to live on Rising Sun Avenue in the Burholme section of Northeast Philadelphia, has been criminally charged.
Police Sgt. Lawrence Ritchie of the Accident Investigation Division said yesterday that the case was still open and that it was “possible” Martinez might eventually face charges. He said the bus driver was “not going to get charged.”
Martinez’s car-insurance policy was not in effect at the time of the accident, according to a letter by the American Independent Insurance Co.
Efforts to reach Martinez and Vanelas by phone yesterday were unsuccessful.
Medical malpractice is defined as any act or failure to act by a health care professional diminishing or deviating the accepted standards of services and practices of the medical community. Some also define it simply as professional negligence.
