Robert Blythe - Palm Desert Medical Malpractice Lawyer Reviews & Ratings

Born Los Angeles, California, July 19, 1948; admitted to bar, 1981, California and U.S. District Court, Central District of California.. Education: University of Southern California; California State University of Northridge (B.A., 1976); Southwestern University (J.D., 1980).. Emergency Trauma Technician, UCLA School of Medicine Emergency Department, 1973-1979; Santa Monica Hospital Emergency Department, 1973-1977.. Past personal counsel for the following: Director of Emergency Medicine, County of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles, Emergency Medicine Program; Director of Emergency Medical Care, County of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles, Fire Department Paramedic Program; Director of Pharmacology, Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Past medical/legal consultant for the following: Directors of Emergency Medicine, Santa Monica Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine; UCLA Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine; Torrance Memorial Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine.. Resident/Managing Partner, Palm Desert Office. Mr. Blythe has the distinction of handling well over 1,500 personal injury matters to successful conclusion. He has the distinction of achieving a number of six and seven figure settlements for his clients.. Member: Desert, Los Angeles County, Northern California and American Bar Associations; State Bar of California; Consumers Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (formerly LATLA); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Consumers Attorneys of California (formerly CTLA); National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.. Recognized experience in the field of General Personal Injury and Products Liability Law. Recognized experience in the field of Medical Malpractice law, recognized experience in the field of Elder Law Practice with the emphasis on Nursing Home Abuse cases.. U.S. Air Force, Honorably Discharged 1968.. Practice Areas: Medical Malpractice Law; Products Liability Law; Personal Injury Law, Elder Law.. Robert Blythe brings to the firm a unique past that has proven to be very significant in our personal injury practice. He is able to bring insight to the damage areas of our clients claims by implementing his knowledge base of medicine and injuries. These areas are often times not understood by other personal injury practitioners.. Following his honorable discharge for the United States Air Force during the Vietnam Conflict, Mr. Blythe made the decision to further his education and pursue a course of pre-medical studies. His focus was to ultimately practice medicine as an emergency medicine physician.. After working as both UCLA's School of Medicine Emergency Department and The Santa Monica Hospital Emergency Department in emergency medical trauma, he had an epiphany.. His goal was centered on treating the critically injured. This passion developed during the time he had spent in the service during the Vietnam Conflict seeing so many wounded and maimed from this war.. Robert spent all of his pre-medical years working in emergency departments as an emergency trauma technician and for several years thereafter completing his studies.. "After many years of working with trauma patients I felt empty. We were saving lives and helping those critically injured but, something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on it until one day a very close friend of mine was admitted into the emergency room at UCLA with severe multiple trauma following an automobile accident. He happened to be a very skilled physician and had known no other life than practicing surgery. We used to joke that he had 'hands of gold'. When all was said and done, he was rendered quadriplegic after this incident and resigned to life in a wheel chair with no use of his arms or legs. I recall many conversations about "life experiences" but, all he ever knew was school, more school and work. He never had traveled, or experienced any of those quality areas of life the rest of us take for granted.". "The inevitable occurred and within hours of his discharge from the hospital he took his life. If only I could have done something more for him... It hit me like a ton of bricks. Even though he could no longer practice medicine as he was accustomed, if I could have supported him monetarily as I tried to do emotionally; given him an opportunity to explore other facets of life that he could not experience due to the economic realities, he may well have had a different outcome. All he could focus upon was his life insurance policy and it's ability to provide for his family.". "It became evident that a competent emergency staff could save one's life and cosmetically patch up the wounds but, who would help with the monetary pressures if a patient was unable to work for a lengthy period or gain satisfactory employment thereafter. I needed to start where the doctors left off and use my skills to provide economically for those who faced the sequelia of a tragic accident.". "I enrolled in law school in 1977. Now my goal was to help those resigned to life in a wheelchair; those missing limbs; those blind or without hearing; and those disfigured by catastrophic accident. I would ensure they would be equipped to deal with the economic pressures that befell my friend.". For Mr. Blythe this was indeed a wise decision. The medical expertise he has brought to the law firm, coupled with his legal abilities has enabled him to transform the lives of many injured clients and their families.. A critical area when engaged in the practice of personal injury law is understanding the injury and understanding the residual impact it will have over the course of the clients life.. Many lawyers will hire a physician to explain an injury to them. Truly understanding the medicine is often an unattainable goal for attorneys. Not only understand the medicine but, having seen the injury and treatment 'up close and personal' takes the personal injury attorney to a new plateau.. Having the ability to effectively cross-examine an insurance company’s doctor, all the while clearly understanding the medicine as well as the injury, and its anticipated impact on a client/patients life is a rare skill set indeed. Effectively, providing a jury with this complex information in a fashion they can digest is concomitantly unique.. These are the skills that separate the average personal injury practitioner from the learned, skilled trial lawyer.. Mr. Blythe has cross examined literally thousands of expert medical witnesses over his 30 years of practice. He has used his unique powers of presentation of an injury to resolve a large number of cases in the six and seven figure range for his clients. He has the distinction of obtaining some of the largest settlements prior and during trial in California for particular cases he has handled.