Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer - Miscellaneous

Baton Rouge Devastated by Gustav--Forgetten by Main Stream Media

Peter Wetherall — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:52:26 GMT

Baton Rouge, Louisiana has been forgotten by main stream media. Hurricane Gustav recently made landfall in Louisiana. The main stream media organizations were camped out in New Orleans waiting to see if the hurricane would hit that city. When Gustav did not hit the city, the main stream media reported that New Orleans dodged the bullet and all was well in New Orleans and in Louisiana. This is not the facts. Even though the citizens of Clark County and residents of Las Vegas know that I generally dedicate my blog to space to pharmaceutical products litigation, I wanted I would share an email from a colleague that lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her email is below. . .

"Peter,

The world has forgotten Baton Rouge. The storm was devastating for us. More than 1 million people in this region are without power. More than 10,000 electric line men are working 24/7 to get the electric lines back up. (Yesterday, we saw a power line truck from Decatur, Alabama in my neighborhood working on the electric lines.) This is no small task. Power lines and poles have been snapped in half and/or tossed to the ground like toothpicks. Trees are down everywhere. Huge trees--beautiful oak trees--are in the middle of houses. During the first days after the storm broke, it was impossible to get gasoline for the car. The lines are not as long as they were, but Exxon has hired security guards at many gas stations, because the lines still wrap around for blocks. If we drive out of East Baton Rouge parish (county) to another parish (that has the luxury of electric) we can get provisions (food). A few stores are open in Baton Rouge, but for a city our size this is horrible. A few days ago Super Target opened up working on generators. ALL of their produce and meats were thrown out (spoiled b/c there was no electric for days). We could only get dry goods and can food. I noticed one woman who kept asking every Target employee that she saw whether or not they had powdered milk for her young children. People were everywhere buying whatever they could. Because they didn't have meat or vegtables, my son and I ventured out the next day to Wal-Mart (in another parish) to see if we could get some fresh fruit. We had to stand in line outside the Wal-Mart for 30 minutes just to get inside to have the luxury to shop for the items we needed.

I am lucky, my electric came back on yesterday, but many many people are without. The citizens of Baton Rouge are pitching in to help each other. FEMA is here and the Baton Rouge government are both doing a wonderful job of keeping things under control. (Our Governor, Bobby Jindal, is a awesome. He has done a great job!) We are under a curfew. No one is supposed to be out in the city past 8:00 pm. This makes sense as some of the city remains shrouded in darkness because there is no power. The few stores that are open may not be taking all forms of payment (debit cards, credit cards, etc.). So the people that need things may be out of luck if they don't have the hard cold cash to pay for things they need. FEMA is handing out water and MRE's. This is as close as some people are getting to warm meals. (It is amazing how the simple luxury of a warm meal is taken for granted until you are forced to go without it.)

Few hospitals had power and some are having to evacuate patients to New Orleans because there is no air conditioning and because the generators do not have the capacity to generate the electric. The other night a hospital had to have 63 ambulances brought in from various states (Pennsylvania included) to be on hand to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes to cities that had the facilities and electric to care for them. It is not easy to drive around to assess the damage (first, we don't want to "waste" the gasoline because it is so precious right now and second, there are hardly any stop lights that are working, and thirdly, you may have to be diverted to go around trees that still remain in the road.) A friend of mine (who is also an attorney) told me yesterday that he had 3 trees in his house! He is not alone. We can't drive down a street next to my house because two huge pine trees block the street and are lying in my neighbors house.

The people of Baton Rouge will tell you that they are very disheartened that we have been forgotten. Also, our neighbors in Port Allen and many other communities from the point of landfall all along Highway 1/71 have also been forgotten. Just because the hurricane didn't level New Orleans like Katrina did, doesn't mean that there is not human suffering. It is hard to get the word out from because our communication lines are down or the signal is spotty. Because New Orleans wasn't impacted, the national media left. They ignored the rest of the state. (After Katrina, Baton Rouge and the surrounding communities make up the largest population center of the state.) Why does the national media ignore us? Are we not newsworthy? Please help get the word out, we are in need, please tell anyone that will listen. . ."

Thank you for reading her email and, if you are able, please help get the word out about the victims of Hurricane Gustav.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Peter Wetherall

Endoscopy Center Calamity - Accidental or Reckless?

Peter Wetherall — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:38:46 GMT

So was is Endoscopy Center catastrophe an "accident," or an instance of calculated, reckless indifference to the rights and safety of fellow human beings? I have my opinion as a lawyer handling these claims, and so do others from their vantage.

Brian Labus, a senior epidemiologist at the Southern Nevada Health District, is quoted in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal as saying, "This didn't happen by accident. What happened here is something that every nursing and medical school teaches its students not to do. There is nothing they can possibly say that can justify what they've done."

That's good enough for me, and the issue now becomes, where do we as a community go from here? Certainly the status quo with respect to the policing of medical labs has been exposed as not good enough.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Peter Wetherall

White Meany & Wetherall

Staff Writer — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:32:23 GMT

White Meany & Wetherall provides the highest quality representation to those who have been injured because of someone else's negligence. Whether it's because of an auto accident, defective prescription or over-the-counter drug, medical malpractice, or some other form of negligence, we provide tough, knowledgeable and compassionate representation.

We are not a "settlement factory" processing thousands of cases a year. We give individual attention to each client. And, if a fair and reasonable settlement is not offered for our client's injury, the corporations and their insurance companies and their attorneys know we will take the case to trial. That often leads to better settlements for our clients.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Peter C. Wetherall, Attorney at Law

Staff Writer — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:30:11 GMT

Peter C. Wetherall's entire career as a lawyer has been dedicated to helping the injured and unempowered. Peter was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he attained a B.A. in Philosophy (cum laude) in 1987. In 1990, at the age of 24, he received his J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. Thereafter, Peter began his legal career in Las Vegas, and practices in all state and federal courts there.

In 2001, Peter joined the Law Offices of White & Meany, and became a Partner in what is now White Meany & Wetherall in 2004. With over 15 years of federal and state litigation experience, and over 40 cases tried to a jury, Peter's primary practice includes mass torts, catastrophic accidents, birth and brain injuries, and other medical malpractice.

Education

University of Minnesota, B.A. Philosophy, Cum Laude 1987
University of Minnesota Law School (1987-1990), J.D.

Bars & Courts

State Bar of Minnesota, admitted 1990
Federal District of Minnesota, admitted 1991
State Bar of Nevada, admitted 1991
Federal District of Nevada, admitted 1991
United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, admitted 1994

Affiliations

American Association For Justice (formerly ATLA)
Nevada Trial Lawyers Association (NTLA)
Clark County Bar Association
Washoe County Bar Association
Federal Bar Association

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer