Biloxi Personal Injury Law Blog

Most of us don't have medical training, so we rely on our doctors to give us clear, complete, honest information about any condition we have. We also rely on them to explain all treatment options. We typically ask our doctors (or they just tell us) what treatment they would recommend. However, ultimately, the decision is ours to make.

That decision should be what's called "informed consent." Under the law, to have informed consent, patients must be given the following information in language they can understand:

• Diagnosis of their medical condition
• Information about treatment options, including alternative treatments
• Risks of each treatment option
• Prognosis with each treatment option and with no treatment

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating "all aspects" of a fatal crash on June 3 near Scooba, Mississippi, that claimed the lives of eight people. Among them were four brothers. The NTSB's preliminary report, however, provides some information about what happened on a rural two-lane highway when a box truck struck a van in which the eight people who died were traveling.

According to the federal agency, the truck crossed the centerline of the highway, striking the van in the pre-dawn hours on a bridge about 20 minutes from Macon. The van's driver told investigators that he swerved but was unable to avoid being hit. The van was pushed into the guardrails. None of the eight passengers who died were wearing seat belts.

If you've bought a new vehicle in the past few years, it likely has some nifty safety features (either standard on the vehicle or optional) designed to minimize your chances of a crash. These are known as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). However, they all have different names, depending on the vehicle manufacturer.

These advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) include features like blind-spot monitoring, forward-collision warning and lane departures warnings. Some, like Subaru's EyeSight, warn you if a car or even a pedestrian is behind you.

Whether you're sending your kids off to camp for the last weeks of summer, or you're enrolling them in a local day camp, it's essential not to assume that the camp and its staff will always take the necessary precautions to keep them safe. It's important to do your homework.

First, be sure that any camp you are considering is accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA). The ACA provides accreditation for day camps as well as sleep-away camps.