- Brooks Schuelke | January 30, 2008 10:03 AM |
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MiscellaneousIn September, we reported about a fire at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Today, the Austin American Statesman reports that the fire victims have filed a personal injury suit for their damages. The article sets out the basis of the complaint:The fire was caused, the suit says, when the propane tank was overfilled by the leasing company; the valve that was supposed to stop overfilling...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 29, 2008 11:45 AM |
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FDA & Prescription DrugsThe Bush Administration has long supported a policy of federal government rules and regulations preempting state court causes of action. For example, in December, the administration argued that pharmaceutical companies should not be liable to consumers for their defective products if the products were approved by the FDA. But the problem is that the FDA is not well-suited to handle the...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 28, 2008 9:26 AM |
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Defective & Dangerous ProductsThe Washington Post is reporting that the Bush Administration is considering the nomination of Gail Charnley to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This would not be welcome news to personal injury victims. Dr. Charnley runs her own consulting firm and has frequently testified and written on behalf of the tobacco, energy and pesticide industries. In 2006, she wrote an op-ed article...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 25, 2008 3:22 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsCalifornia personal injury attorney John Bisnar has an interesting post about the importance of hiring an accident reconstruction expert when the accident reports are not filled out properly. Like John, and probably most personal injury lawyers, I've found accident reconstruction experts helpful in combatting report errors. But accident reconstruction experts are also helpful in other...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 23, 2008 5:23 PM |
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Medical MalpracticeToday, there have been two recent blog posts on appalling cases of problems in nursing homes. First, Ed Normand has posted on a story of a nursing home patient who developed maggots in his eyes. Not to be outdone, Ray Mullman at the South Carolina Nursing Home Blog posts on a nursing home that hired a serial rapist as a nurse. Not surprisingly, the nurse ended up raping one of the residents. ...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 22, 2008 9:08 AM |
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MiscellaneousNew York injury lawyer Michael Kaplan reported in his blog last week on a new study from the Army that up to 20 percent of the troops returning from combat have undiagnosed brain injuries. As a result, the Army is alerting returning troops about the symptoms of brain injury and encouraging those with symptoms to get treatment.But undiagnosed brain injuries are not unique to the Army. According...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 21, 2008 9:36 AM |
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MiscellaneousTexas Watch has recently released a new study that finds that states with no "tort reform" have better health care systems than those with "reform," The executive summary of the study reads:In state after state, patients continue to be told that the silver bullet for improving healthcare is to enact severe and arbitrary limits on patient access to the legal system. The argument made by...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 18, 2008 9:03 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeEarlier this week, the American College of Emergency Physicians issued their report card for the state of Texas. Overall, Texas received a "C," but the way we received the grade is interesting. Apparently, Texas is a haven for poor emergency room medical care. We received a "D" in public health and safety, a "D+" in access to care, and a "D+" in quality/patient safety. Then how did we...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 16, 2008 9:01 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeYesterday, a group of Harvard doctors released a study that may have a bearing on medical malpractice cases. The study reveals that patients are now waiting longer in emergency rooms. The Wall Street Journal, which covered the study, wrote:The median wait for adults rose to about 30 minutes in 2004 -- meaning half waited more and half waited less -- from 22 minutes in 1997, a 36% increase,...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 12, 2008 10:00 AM |
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MiscellaneousA Texas court has ruled that Texas Mutual Insurance Company, a big backer of tort reform, committed fraud by falsifying a medical record in pending litigation. The company filed suit to attempt to overturn a state of Texas ruling that a person suffered injuries in a work-place accident. After finding that the record was falsified, the Court held that the insurance company had no additional...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 11, 2008 9:43 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeToday's Washington Post reports that many of the nation's physician-owned hospitals were performing faulty medical care. The article reports on a Department of Health and Human Services study set to be released today. Among other things, the study found:55% of the 109 physician-owned hospitals reviewed had emergency "departments" - the majority of those had only one bedFewer than 1/3 of the...
- Brooks Schuelke | January 03, 2008 11:15 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeLast week, the West Virginia Supreme Court was faced with the question of whether the state's medical malpractice reforms (including damage caps and requirements of pre-suit expert reports) applied to a claim against a hospital for providing contaminated sutures. The court eventually found that the reforms applied. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Larry Starcher railed on the malpractice...