Injury Pros Podcast

What actually happens between a 911 call and arriving at the hospital? On this episode of the Injury Pros Podcast, host Michael Saile of Cordisco & Saile sits down with Chief Shane Wheeler, MBA, AAS-P, FP-C, NRP, CASM, CEO of VMSC Emergency Medical Services, for a behind-the-scenes look at how modern EMS works.

Founded in 1933 by Philadelphia surgeon Dr. Frank Boston, VMSC is recognized as the oldest operating EMS system in the United States. Today it serves roughly 200,000 residents across Montgomery and Delaware Counties through 911 emergency response, specialty and interfacility transport, and community-based Mobile Integrated Health programs.

Chief Wheeler explains how VMSC uses AI-assisted dispatch and GPS tracking to keep ambulances constantly positioned for the fastest response, often under eight minutes. He breaks down the differences between EMTs, advanced EMTs, and paramedics, and how 911 centers decide whether a call gets an advanced or basic life support response. He also shares the financial reality facing EMS: CMS data puts the average cost of a call at around $2,000 while reimbursement averages about $350, a gap that has contributed to nearly 50 Pennsylvania EMS agencies closing in the past two years.

One of the most striking parts of the conversation is VMSC’s field blood transfusion program, one of only a few hundred in the country. In its first year, crews administered blood to 22 critically injured patients, about 20 of whom survived.

For drivers and bystanders, Chief Wheeler offers practical advice on what to do if you come across a crash, starting with protecting your own safety. And for attorneys, he gives candid guidance on working with EMS professionals as witnesses: call them clinicians, not “ambulance drivers,” understand their protocol-driven training, and remember they are fact witnesses, not opinion witnesses.

To learn more about or support VMSC’s community outreach and EMS education programs, contact Chief Wheeler at [email protected].

Learn more about VMSC at https://vmscems.com/

Learn more about Cordisco & Saile at https://cordiscosaile.com

What happens to everything you've worked for when you're gone, and who gets to decide? In this episode of The Injury Pros Podcast, host Michael Saile sits down with estate planning attorney Barbara Boyd to explain estate law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Barbara covers the essentials of estate planning: wills, powers of attorney, living wills, and naming guardians for your children. She explains how inheritance taxes work in each state and why about 55% of Americans have no will at all. She also covers the legal ideas behind many estate fights, including testamentary capacity, undue influence, and self-proving wills, and walks through the probate process step by step.

Michael then connects estate law to personal injury practice. He explains why an estate must be opened before a wrongful death lawsuit can be filed, and how wrongful death and survival claims are divided for tax purposes. He also tells a close-call story about a defendant who died just before the statute of limitations ran out.

Whether you're in your 20s or your 90s, this episode shows why an estate plan is one of the kindest things you can leave your family.

Host: Michael Saile is a personal injury attorney with Cordisco & Saile, representing injured people and families across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and host of The Injury Pros Podcast. Learn more at https://cordiscosaile.com.

Guest: Barbara Boyd heads the estate planning department at Maselli Mills & Fornal. She is admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and handles estate planning, estate administration, estate litigation, and court-appointed guardianship matters. Offices in Princeton, NJ and Newtown, PA. Learn more at https://www.masellilaw.com

Back-to-school season means one thing for a lot of families: a nervous teenager behind the wheel for the first time. On this episode of Injury Pros, host Steven DeBonis sits down with Scott Seibert, a 23-year driving instructor, Lower Merion School District teacher, and owner of My Turn to Drive School, to talk about how teen driving has changed, and what hasn't.

Scott breaks down his "three golden rules" for new drivers (seatbelts, no impaired driving, no phones), and explains why Pennsylvania's newly enacted Paul Miller's Law now makes holding a phone while driving a primary offense — yet most new drivers have never heard of it. The conversation digs into the real accident patterns Scott sees on the road: left-hand turn conflicts, hard braking, misjudged curves, and the dangerous first-month spike in crash risk once teens get their license.

Steve and Scott also tackle the harder conversations parents avoid including marijuana use among teens, peer pressure, and why modeling good behavior behind the wheel matters more than any lecture. They discuss the decline of mandatory driver's ed in schools, the financial burden that places on families, and what separates a good driving instructor from a bad one.

Whether you're the parent of a brand-new permit holder or just want to be a safer driver yourself, this episode is full of practical, real-world advice you won't hear anywhere else.

In this episode:

• Scott Seibert's "three golden rules" for teen drivers
• Pennsylvania's Paul Miller's Law and why so few new drivers know about it
• The most common causes of new-driver accidents
• Why parent-taught teens often struggle more than instructor-taught teens
• Marijuana, peer pressure, and the modern designated-driver conversation
• The push to make driver's education mandatory in Pennsylvania
• What to look for in a quality driving school
• How parents can stay engaged after their teen gets licensed

Steven DeBonis is an attorney at Cordisco & Saile, where he represents individuals and families navigating the aftermath of serious injuries. Learn more at cordiscosaile.com.

Scott Seibert is the owner of My Turn to Drive School, a Delaware Valley driving instruction company staffed entirely by educators with advanced degrees. Learn more about Scott and his team at myturntodriveschool.com.

Host Michael Saile of Cordisco & Saile sits down with firm leader and attorney John Cordisco to break down a case that hinged on one overlooked legal concept: the implied crosswalk.

When their client was struck and killed crossing a four-lane highway to reach a popular cheesesteak spot with no parking, the initial expert opinion said there was no case.

John and Mike explain how digging into human factors, sightline distance, and driver speed flipped the case in their favor... and what every driver and pedestrian should know about unmarked crossings, right-of-way, and the moment a duty to yield actually begins.

If you want to understand pedestrian right-of-way law, implied crosswalks, or how human factors experts build a negligence case, this episode breaks it all down.

To reach John Cordisco and Michael Saile, or to learn more about their work, visit https://Cordiscosaile.com.

In this episode of Injury Pros, we are excited to welcome John Cordisco, founding partner of Cordisco & Saile, who brings over 40 years of legal experience in Bucks County — along with a public service career that includes the local school board and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

The conversation opens with a story John shared beforehand: a young pianist who convinces a world-renowned maestro to take her on as a student, and how their relationship transforms them both. John uses it as a lens for his own life — from getting elected to the school board at 21, to working factory shifts as a teenager to pay his own high school tuition, to driving back and forth between the state capitol and law school just to earn his degree.

John traces his path from state representative to personal injury attorney, sharing formative moments — including standing on the House floor to speak about welfare reform after having once relied on it himself — and how those experiences shaped the way he approaches clients today. He talks candidly about how the personal injury industry has changed with the rise of marketing and billboards, what to actually look for when hiring an attorney, and his time serving on Pennsylvania's Attorney Disciplinary Board.

He closes with advice for the next generation of personal injury lawyers: that hard work matters, but so does being willing to "marry the pain" of the people you represent.

In this episode of The Injury Pros Podcast, host Michael Saile of Cordisco & Saile sits down with New York trial attorney Josh Gropper of Gropper & Nejat to talk about the case that shaped his entire career... before he ever tried one.

While a law student at Boston University in 1989, Josh got the call every family dreads: his younger brother Danny had been critically injured in a house fire, suffering second- and third-degree burns over 80% of his body. What followed was an 18-month hospital stay, dozens of surgeries, and impossible decisions about amputation that fell to Josh to make.

Watching his family's personal injury attorney fight for Danny all the way through trial changed the course of Josh's life — he walked away from a corporate law offer and never looked back.

Josh and Michael talk through:

• Growing up as a "law school Army brat," moving across the country and how it shaped his personality
• The night of his brother's fire, the year and a half in the burn unit and rehab, and the toll of making life-altering medical decisions in his brother's place
• How that experience pushed him into personal injury law — and, years later, into a run of Shakespeare (yes, really) that he credits with sharpening his trial instincts
• Cutting his teeth doing volume bench trials at a collection law firm, waiting tables to make ends meet, and eventually renting a windowless "office" in a Manhattan hallway for $500 a month to launch his own practice
• Building a New York and New Jersey practice with law partner Chris Nejat, and why construction accident and labor law cases became a specialty
• His deep, personal work in the burn survivor community — including his brother Danny's role with the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors' SOAR program, and the "Healing Power of Laughter" seminar the two of them have brought to World Burn Congress events
• What actually happens medically in a burn unit — debridement, "the tank," skin grafting — and how trial attorneys work to convey that pain and trauma to a jury
• How to properly document a catastrophic injury case from day one, and why burn and catastrophic injury cases carry costs (medical equipment, home health aides, lifetime care) that families rarely anticipate up front

This is a story about how personal tragedy can become purpose — and a rare inside look at burn injury litigation from someone who lived it before he ever argued it in court.

More episodes at InjuryPros.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Joshua Gropper is a New York trial attorney and partner at Gropper & Nejat, representing accident victims across New York and New Jersey. Admitted to the bar in 1992, Josh has spent the last three decades focused on personal injury law, with particular experience in construction accident and labor law cases, and catastrophic and burn injury litigation. His firm is based in Manhattan, with a satellite office in Cherry Hill, NJ, run by his partner Chris Nejat. Josh is also deeply involved with the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, supporting burn survivors and their families through the SOAR (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery) program and the "Healing Power of Laughter" seminar he co-presents at World Burn Congress events.

• Firm: Gropper & Nejat (New York, NY / Cherry Hill, NJ)
• Related organization: Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors

Michael Saile is an injury attorney and managing partner with Cordisco & Saile, host of the Injury Pros podcast, where he speaks with attorneys, medical professionals, and other experts about the litigation strategy, medical realities, and personal stories behind serious injury cases.

• Firm: Cordisco & Saile, P.C. (https://cordiscosaile.com)

In this episode of Ask the Injury Pros, host attorneys Joseph Lavin and Javier Gonzalez tackle a fresh batch of real questions from clients.

They cover how to know if an injury is serious enough to pursue a case, why property damage doesn't always match up with how badly a person is hurt, what happens when medical bills exceed the at-fault driver's insurance, and the truth about whether a case will settle or go to trial.

They also dig into trickier issues: firing a lawyer mid-case, whether an apology at the scene counts as evidence, passenger claims, preserving surveillance footage before it disappears, employer liability when the at-fault driver was on the job, and the real impact social media posts can have on a claim. The episode wraps with practical advice on how to spot a good lawyer — and one that's actually communicating with you.

For legal help after an accident or injury in Pennsylvania, contact Cordisco & Saile at https://cordiscosaile.com or 215-642-3335.

A bad surgical outcome isn't always malpractice... so what is? In this episode of The Injury Pros Podcast, host Michael Saile of Cordisco & Saile sits down with Steven Medina, co-founder of Philadelphia-based Medina Morgan, for a candid look inside one of the most complex areas of personal injury law: medical malpractice.

Steven, a former defense attorney turned plaintiff's lawyer licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, breaks down how his firm evaluates potential claims, why "opportunity" is the key concept he looks for in every medical record, and how mismanaged post-operative infections become some of the most viable cases his firm handles.

You'll also learn:

• What patients and families should do BEFORE calling a malpractice lawyer (hint: download your records from the patient portal — especially if a loved one is critically ill)
• Why every med mal case requires a medical expert — and what Certificates of Merit (PA) and Affidavits of Merit (NJ) actually require
• The true cost of litigating these cases (a rule of thumb: roughly 10% of case value goes to experts)
• Why hospitals often wait until the courthouse steps to settle — and how patience turned a $1.5M offer into nearly $3M for one client
• Why there's no age cutoff for clients, and how an 85-year-old's life story shapes case value
• When high-volume firms should refer catastrophic med mal cases out

Whether you've experienced a poor medical outcome, are caring for a loved one harmed by negligent care, or you're a lawyer considering a med mal referral, this episode is a practical roadmap to how these cases really work.

In this episode, host Michael Saile welcomes the newest attorney at Cordisco & Saile, Joseph Lavin. The two discuss Joe's background, his shift from defense work to plaintiff injury law, and the practical advice every injured client should hear.

Meet Joseph Lavin

A lifelong Bucks County resident, Joe grew up in Bensalem before moving to Newtown at age eight. He graduated from Council Rock High School North in 2004, earned his undergraduate degree at Penn State, and received his law degree from Hofstra University in 2011. Inspired early on by legal dramas and a salutatorian speech that sparked his love of public speaking, Joe knew from a young age he wanted to be a trial attorney.

After starting his career on the plaintiff side in Philadelphia, Joe spent roughly eight and a half years as in-house counsel for a major auto insurance carrier, handling 75 to 100 defense cases at a time. That deep experience inside the insurance industry is exactly what he now brings back to injured clients at Cordisco & Saile.

Why Joe's Defense Background Matters

Joe knows how insurance companies think, how adjusters evaluate claims, and how defense attorneys cross-examine plaintiffs. That insider knowledge helps him prepare clients for every stage of a case and anticipate the defense's next move before it happens.

Practical Advice for Injured Clients

The bulk of the episode delivers straightforward guidance for anyone pursuing an injury claim:

Take your claim seriously. If you don't, no one else will.

Document everything. If your pain isn't written down by your doctors, it effectively didn't happen in the eyes of the insurance company.

Avoid gaps in treatment. Defense attorneys exploit missed appointments as proof you weren't really hurt.

Be honest. The bigger risk isn't exaggeration; it's seriously injured clients downplaying their pain out of habit and having that documented.

Be careful on social media. Insurance investigators routinely look for photos and posts they can take out of context.

Stay consistent. From the police report through trial, your story must stay the same. Defense attorneys win by painting small inconsistencies as big problems.

A Litigation-First Firm

Michael closes by reinforcing what sets Cordisco & Saile apart. It's a true litigation firm, with numbers showing up to 40% more value on cases once they're litigated. Insurance companies know the firm won't hesitate to go to trial, and Joe's defense-side experience now sharpens that edge for every client.

Welcome to the team, Joe. Expect to hear much more from him on future episodes of The Injury Pros Podcast.

In this deeply moving episode of the Injury Pros Podcast, Michael Saile sits down with Kristi Hughes to share the story of her husband Sean Hughes, a beloved principal, educator, and leader in the Philadelphia region, who was killed in a tragic crash in 2021.

Kristi courageously reflects on the life they built together, the unimaginable day that changed everything, how her family has carried Sean’s legacy forward, and why understanding your insurance coverage before a tragedy happens can make a lasting difference. Her story is heartbreaking, honest, and ultimately meant to help others prepare, protect their families, and take action.

We are incredibly grateful to Kristi for joining us and for so generously sharing such a personal story. Her strength, transparency, and purpose in helping others is extraordinary, and we hope listeners are impacted by her message.

We would also like to share information on The Sean Hughes Memorial Fund, which was created to honor the life and legacy of Sean Hughes, beloved principal of Lower Merion High School. The fund supports initiatives that reflect Sean’s lasting impact, including a 25-year “Character Counts” scholarship - especially for students who have lost a parent-and the development of a memorial plaza and outdoor amphitheater on campus. These spaces are designed to inspire learning, connection, and community, continuing Sean’s commitment to innovation, inclusion, and student growth.

To learn more or support the fund, visit: https://www.lmsd.org/hughesmemorial

To learn more about Cordisco & Saile visit https://cordiscosaile.com