Briley White, Author at Attorneys Blog

Prescription Medications: Things You Should Know

February 26, 2016 Briley White Featured, Medical Malpractice

While prescription medications have enabled us to overcome or cure illnesses that were often fatal only decades ago, prescription medications can also be confusing, dangerous, and expensive. The following contains information on how to read prescriptions, how to take them, and how to respect them. If you believe you may have been injured as a result of a prescription drug, contact an experienced medical malpractice or products liability attorney at once.

Prescriptions: The Basics

Each prescription has four parts:

Superscription: The heading where the symbol R or Rx is located.

Inscription: The area of the prescription that contains the names and quantities of the ingredients or drugs.

Subscription: The directions for compounding or mixing the drug.

Signature: Often preceded by the sign “s,” this is the portion of the prescription that gives the directions to be marked on the bottle, vial, or container.

Physicians are notorious for having incomprehensibly poor penmanship. While you may not worry about having to read their notes in your medical chart, you may be more worried about a pharmacist being able to read their prescriptions for you. Once you get your prescription, you may not understand all of the abbreviations and notations on the label. If you don’t, you might find the following glossary helpful.

a.c.: before meals, from the Latin “ante cibum”
ad lib: use as much as one desires, from the Latin “ad libitum”
b.i.d.: twice a day, from the Latin “bis in die”
da or daw: dispense as written.
gtt.: drops, from the Latin “guttae”
pc: after meals, from the Latin “post cibum”
p.o.: by mouth, or orally, from the Latin “per os”
p.r.n.: when necessary, or as circumstances require, from the Latin “pro re nata”
q.d.: once a day, from the Latin “quaque die”
q.i.d.: four times a day, from the Latin “quater in die”
q.h.: used where a medicine has to be taken every so-many hours, from the Latin “quaque,” meaning “every,” and “h” indicating the number of hours. For example, q.2h.: every two hours.
t.i.d.: three times a day, from the Latin “ter in die”
ut dict.: as directed, from the Latin “ut dictum”

Smarts, Safety, and Prescriptions

- While prescription medications are usually beneficial, at the same time they may be dangerous. If you abuse prescription medications or fail to take them correctly, you may have a serious adverse reaction. While your doctor is responsible for prescribing the right medication, and your pharmacist is in charge of filling the prescription, you are responsible for taking the medications and assisting your doctor and pharmacist in any way that you can. Here are some tips on how you can fulfill those responsibilities.
- Make sure that your physicians know what medications you are on, including over-the-counter medications and alternative medicines. If your physician is contemplating prescribing medications to you, he or she needs to make sure that they won’t have a dangerous reaction with any other medications you are taking.

- If possible, keep all of your medical care in the same group or practice so your physician can easily access your medical information and review your prescription medications. If you have to see other physicians or specialists, make sure that they receive your chart from your primary care physician, or ask them to speak with your primary care physician before prescribing any medications.

Keep track of your medications by making a list of their names and the instructions for their use. This may be particularly beneficial if you are on many different types of medications for many different conditions. Keep the list in a place where you can refer to it easily.
Only take the dosages that your doctor has approved. If you feel that any medication you are taking is not having its intended effect, call the prescribing physician. Ask if you can take more, or if you should be on a different type of medication.
If you are having any adverse or abnormal reactions to your prescription medications, contact your physician immediately.
If you have young children in your household, make sure that you have childproof caps on your medicine bottles. Keep the bottles away from anyone who may not understand their use or potency.
Never take another person’s prescription medication. Although you may feel that you have similar symptoms, or a similar condition, you can’t be certain that you won’t have an adverse reaction to their medication or that dosage.

Wichita Falls Attorneys for General Civil Litigation

January 5, 2016 Briley White Civil Litigation, Featured

The Texas Business Dispute Lawyers of Banner, Briley & White

Litigation creates winners and losers. That’s the nature of the process, and the reason why most disputes — over a serious personal injury, business contract or any other issue — often settle before trial or during the trial itself.

In real life, any lawyer who tells you that he or she has never lost a case either doesn’t try many cases, or isn’t telling the truth. And if they’re not willing to tell the truth about that, you can be sure they haven’t learned much from their experiences.

At Banner, Briley & White, we can tell you that our lawyers have been trying cases for so many years that they have, in fact, lost a few. However, what’s important is that, as a firm, we have learned something valuable from every case we have lost.

More important, we take that knowledge with us into court every day and use it to the advantage of our current clients whenever it applies.

Litigation can be confusing, especially if you have never been involved in a lawsuit. If you have questions about the litigation process, contact an experienced trial lawyer at Banner, Briley & White in Wichita Falls. Call toll free: 866-492-9554.

Wichita Falls Litigation Attorneys Working Together Since 1992

Our firm handles a wide variety of civil disputes and litigation in state and federal courts. These matters include breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims in business disputes, will contests that become probate litigation, real estate disputes, employment law cases, equine law/horse racing litigation and more. Because we are full-service in our litigation practice and thorough in our readiness for trial, we employ a trial consultant to assist with witness preparation.

When we are not aggressively litigating on behalf of our clients, we are educating them on how to avoid the unnecessary costs and wasted energies that litigation can cause. We have to share our knowledge of risk management and litigation avoidance, or we wouldn’t be doing our jobs. As few true winners as there are in this arena, you need to know when to pick your battles, especially on those occasions when use of a courtroom simply isn’t worth it.

For straight talk about litigation, negotiation, arbitration, mediation or any method of dispute resolution that can produce the practical, lasting results you need, come to Banner, Briley & White.

Personal Injuries from Animal Bites or Attacks

November 29, 2015 Briley White Personal Injury

Animal attacks can result in far more than physical pain. Disfigurement, a fear of rabies or other disease, and even a long-term fear of the type of animal that caused the injuries can result. A pet owner may be liable for such injuries when his or her animal bites or otherwise attacks another; he or she must compensate the injured party for the resulting damages.

Although animal-attack claims most commonly involve dog bites, many other types of domesticated animals, such as ferrets, cats, and even birds, can also bite humans, causing injury and potential liability for their masters. Even non-domesticated animals, such as large cats ordinarily found in the wild, can attack children and adults. The liability for all such attacks, if any, will vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. A lawyer experienced in dog bite and personal injury law is the best source for accurate advice and information in animal attack cases.

The Plaintiff’s Burden of Proof in Animal Attack Cases

To succeed in most animal attack cases, the plaintiff must prove that the animal that caused the injury was owned and kept by the defendant. In the past, the plaintiff was also required to show that the owner knew or should have known that the animal was dangerous, mischievous, vicious, or prone to such undesirable and potentially threatening behaviors. Under current law, however, when proof is established that an owner was somehow negligent, such as by not properly restraining or containing the animal, the plaintiff may often recover without making a showing of the animal’s viciousness.

An owner of an animal may be found negligent under any circumstances in which he or she had knowledge of the animal’s viciousness but failed to act in order to prevent injuries to others. Accordingly, if an animal exhibits vicious or uncontrolled behavior, the owner should take steps to ensure that the animal is secured from access to the public. For example, if an individual owns a pit bull with a propensity to attack and bite without provocation, the owner should probably keep the animal indoors and, while outside, within a contained yard with a fence that the animal cannot escape. If he or she does not adhere to these common-sense guidelines and the animal attacks, the injured party may be able to recover his or her damages.

Those who harbor animals that are generally considered to be wild, such as lions, bears, and monkeys, are often held strictly liable for the harm that results if the animals escape, regardless of whether the particular animal is known to be dangerous. Such animals are presumed to have a natural tendency to revert to their wild mannerisms no matter how well trained or allegedly domesticated they are. Strict liability may not apply if the animal injures someone while it is confined or restrained on its owner’s property, but this is a factually dependent argument that will not apply in every case.

In some states, it is not always necessary for the animal to actually bite or attack the victim in order to hold the owner liable for an injury. A pedestrian who is walking past a yard and who becomes frightened by a dog snapping and barking, and who in an attempt to get away trips and falls, breaking an ankle, may nonetheless be able to sue the dog’s owner successfully if he or she can show that the actions of the dog led to the injury.

Possible Defenses in Animal Attack Cases

Animal attack victims are not always entitled to recover their damages. If the plaintiff is found to have provoked the animal, for instance, recovery may be denied. Say, for example, that a pet owner informs a neighbor that his pet parrot is not friendly and that it should not be touched, but the neighbor does not heed this warning and is thereafter pecked or bitten, recovery may be denied. If the owner merely stated that the parrot was not always friendly, on the other hand, but still encouraged the neighbor to pet it, liability for the injury could likely still be found.

Trespassers are also generally unable to recover. In many states, in order to successfully bring suit under a dog bite statute, the plaintiff must show that he or she was lawfully in the place where the injury occurred. If it is found that the plaintiff was, instead, a trespasser at the time of the injury, liability will be avoidable on that ground. If, for example, someone jumps over a fence into an enclosed junkyard with “Beware of Dog” warnings posted and taunts the German shepherd guard dog with a stick, the junkyard owner may not be liable if the dog bites the trespasser.