Business

Lawyers Note Changing Business Patterns Amid Pandemic

Published

3 years ago

February 5, 2021

As we approach a full year spent contending with the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are wondering about the impact of the virus on different industries. In response, we’ve seen plenty of coverage of restaurants and retail and even healthcare, but there are plenty of sectors that have received less coverage. For example, what’s currently happening in our country’s courtrooms and law offices? While certain issues have undoubtedly continued being adjudicated, including personal injury law services and criminal cases, the pandemic has significantly shifted other patterns.

Lawsuits In The Workplace

At the start of the pandemic, one of the biggest changes we saw on a national scale was the shift to remote work wherever possible. For those who couldn’t work from home, though, every day became uniquely risky, and many employers failed to act with their workers’ best interests in mind. The result was a spike in the number of workplace lawsuits, covering concerns ranging from failure to provide a safe work environment to discrimination, retaliation against whistleblowers, and wage and hour disputes caused by COVID-19 related work changes.

Decline In Divorces

While there may be a significant number of workplace lawsuits going on at present, there’s another core legal function that’s seen a significant decline: divorces. This may be surprising, given the interpersonal conflict the pandemic has caused, but it makes sense in other ways. Over the past year, both marriage and divorce rates have dropped largely because of inconvenience. Barring serious dangers like domestic violence, couples are contending with the reality that divorce is expensive and involves life transitions that are too hard to make right now.

Of course, the current depression in divorce rates is sure to be short lived, and may actually increase post-pandemic, a trend that was seen in China after their initial national shutdowns. Indeed, as divorce lawyer Rowdy Williams observes, “Divorce lawyers should expect to see a steady flow of clients in the months after the pandemic, especially once the economy begins to rebound.” People aren’t going to get divorced until they feel they have the financial resources to take care of things properly, and while Williams suggests we aren’t there yet, the spike could be coming soon.

Healthcare Suits

Healthcare providers have played an important role in our national survival throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, working on the frontlines of what has felt like a never-ending war, but they haven’t done it alone. Rather, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers like personal care assistants have operated in conjunction with insurance companies, who have changed numerous policies to accommodate new needs. Still, despite everyone’s hard work and most groups’ best efforts, not everything has gone as planned and the result is that insurers and nursing homes have been on the receiving end of numerous lawsuits.

Perhaps more than any other type of healthcare facility, nursing homes have been charged with a failure to protect their patients and staff, including through a failure to provide appropriate PPE and to test and isolate vulnerable patients. Even as the national death toll climbs above 400,000, more than a quarter of those can be linked to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Families are grieving and they are holding those facilities accountable for these untimely deaths.

We’re unlikely to be able to discern the full patterns underlying COVID-related lawsuits for some time, but already some trends are clear – and current demand, while different, can certainly keep lawyers busy. There are a lot of complaints to contend with at present as every industry deals with unprecedented conditions, but they all exist within the bounds of the law.

Business

Turning Tragedy into Triumph Through Walking With Anthony

Published

16 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Rosario Farell

On the morning of February 6, 2010, Anthony Purcell took a moment to admire the churning surf before plunging into the waves off Miami Beach. Though he had made the dive numerous times before, that morning was destined to be different when he crashed into a hidden sandbar, sustaining bruises to his C5 and C6 vertebrae and breaking his neck.

“I was completely submerged and unable to rise to the surface,” Purcell recalls. “Fortunately, my cousin Bernie saw what was happening and came to my rescue. He saved my life, but things would never be the same after that dive.”

Like thousands of others who are confronted with a spinal cord injury (SCI), Purcell plunged headlong into long months of hopelessness and despair. Eventually, however, he learned to turn personal tragedy into triumph as he reached out to fellow SCI victims by launching Walking With Anthony.

Living with SCI: the first dark days

Initial rehabilitation for those with SCIs takes an average of three to six months, during which time they must relearn hundreds of fundamental skills and adjust to what feels like an entirely new body. Unfortunately, after 21 days, Purcell’s insurance stopped paying for this essential treatment, even though he had made only minimal improvement in such a short time.

“Insurance companies cover rehab costs for people with back injuries, but not for people with spinal cord injuries,” explains Purcell. “We were practically thrown to the curb. At that time, I was so immobile that I couldn’t even raise my arms to feed myself.”

Instead of giving up, Purcell’s mother chose to battle his SCI with long-term rehab. She enrolled Purcell in Project Walk, a rehabilitation facility located in Carlsbad, California, but one that came with an annual cost of over $100,000.

“My parents paid for rehabilitation treatment for over three years,” says Purcell. “Throughout that time, they taught me the importance of patience, compassion, and unconditional love.”

Yet despite his family’s support, Purcell still struggled. “Those were dark days when I couldn’t bring myself to accept the bleak prognosis ahead of me,” he says. “I faced life in a wheelchair and the never-ending struggle for healthcare access, coverage, and advocacy. I hit my share of low points, and there were times when I seriously contemplated giving up on life altogether.”

Purcell finds a new purpose in helping others with SCIs

After long months of depression and self-doubt, Purcell’s mother determined it was time for her son to find purpose beyond rehabilitation.

“My mom suggested I start Walking With Anthony to show people with spinal cord injuries that they were not alone,” Purcell remarks. “When I began to focus on other people besides myself, I realized that people all around the world with spinal cord injuries were suffering because of restrictions on coverage and healthcare access. The question that plagued me most was, ‘What about the people with spinal cord injuries who cannot afford the cost of rehabilitation?’ I had no idea how they were managing.”

Purcell and his mother knew they wanted to make a difference for other people with SCIs, starting with the creation of grants to help cover essentials like assistive technology and emergency finances. To date, they have helped over 100 SCI patients get back on their feet after suffering a similar life-altering accident.

Purcell demonstrates the power and necessity of rehab for people with SCIs

After targeted rehab, Purcell’s physical and mental health improved drastically. Today, he is able to care for himself, drive his own car, and has even returned to work.

“Thanks to my family’s financial and emotional support, I am making amazing physical improvement,” Purcell comments. “I mustered the strength to rebuild my life and even found the nerve to message Karen, a high school classmate I’d always had a thing for. We reconnected, our friendship evolved into love, and we tied the knot in 2017.”

After all that, Purcell found the drive to push toward one further personal triumph. He married but did not believe a family was in his future. Regardless of his remarkable progress, physicians told him biological children were not an option.

Despite being paralyzed from the chest down, Purcell continued to look for hope. Finally, Dr. Jesse Mills of UCLA Health’s Male Reproductive Medicine department assured Purcell and his wife that the right medical care and in vitro fertilization could make their dream of becoming parents a reality.

“Payton joined our family in the spring of 2023,” Purcell reports. “For so long, I believed my spinal cord injury had taken everything I cared about, but now I am grateful every day. I work to help other people with spinal cord injuries find the same joy and hope. We provide them with access to specialists, funding to pay for innovative treatments, and the desire to move forward with a focus on the future.”