HEALTH REGISTRIES – WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
With wrongful deaths or injuries that aren’t your fault, you can consult an attorney to file a lawsuit. For example, a Pasadena TX injury attorney can give you advice when making an injury claim. But can you do this if you have obtained an injury from an electronic devices like cell-phones? This should not be taken as legal advice from The EMR Network, but interested individuals should consider consulting with their own attorneys.
It is highly recommend that people participating in any health registry do not provide any identifiers. Even though a registry’s privacy policy may state that no one will ever know what information an individual places on the registry, this does not address the possibility that such information could be subpoenaed from the registry or from an individual’s computer hard drive.
Individuals who believe that their injuries have been caused by their cell-phone use or by living in the vicinity of base station antennas should immediately consult with an attorney registered in their state/area. The claim periods under statutes of limitations vary greatly from state to state or country to country and can be very short.
If individuals some day have enough evidence and damages to file a lawsuit against cell phone manufacturers, wireless services providers, or tower owners, etc., one of the defenses that might be raised is the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations sets limits on how long a plaintiff can wait to file a lawsuit after first becoming aware of his injury and the source of his injury. Once the statute of limitations has run out, the law prevents a plaintiff from being able to recover for damages. Individuals should seek the advice of a lawyer registered to practice in their own state or country for specific information on this deadline under the laws of that state or country.
As with tobacco, it took a long time from the first inkling that smoking might cause health damage to “knowing” that the smoking caused a specific damage to an individual. Scientific knowledge requires the gathering of data, analysis, testing, etc. This process takes years and sometimes decades.
As a general proposition, the Statute of Limitations begins to run when a person knows, or should have known, that cell phone use or living near antennas caused his injury. Filling out a registry form does not change anything — except that it documents knowledge or belief as of a certain date.
Often brain cancer victims as well as sufferers of degenerative diseases are extremely vulnerable and their thought processes are often impaired — they are focused on survival not on technicalities of law. People in such circumstances should receive sound legal advice and be warned that their statements may be used against their best interests.
NHTSA Study on Cell Phone Use and Safety This study cover 2005.