Blog
VETERANS SUE V.A. FOR ADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Several hundred thousand veterans and/or their survivors have proposed a class action suit against the federal government's Department of Veterans' Affairs. The suit is based upon a federal law providing that veterans are eligible for five years' medical care upon their return from service. The plaintiffs claim that the health care system for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan denies sufficient mental health care (despite the fact that Congress ordered the VA to spend $60 million on mental health care) and that the VA is not subject to any review procedures when care is denied. The suit also claims that the VA has not put into effect any systems to deal with suicidal veterans, despite a backlog of more than 600,000 disability cases and 120 veteran suicides a week.
In response to the suit, the government claims that the veterans are not entitled to mental health care. Instead, they argue, the VA has the discretion to determine what type of care is needed. The VA's attorneys says the law does not give veterans the right to particular types of medical care -- notably mental health treatment, and specifically care for suicidal veterans -- and that care is only required to the extent that funds are available. A San Francisco-based federal judge has rejected the government's claim that it is only required to provide veterans with as much health care as the VA's budget allows, while allowing the suit to proceed.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 7, 2008.
JUDGE UPHOLDS VERDICT, BUT REDUCES DAMAGE AWARD AGAINST ANTI-GAY FUNERAL PROTESTORS
In October, a Baltimore federal jury awarded $10.9 million dollars to the father of a Marine killed in Iraq. The plaintiff sued Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church and three of its members for emotional distress and invasion of privacy after they staged an anti-gay protest that disrupted his son's 2006 funeral. Apparently, Westboro members picketed the Marine's funeral because they believe that U.S. deaths in Iraq are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
A federal judge upheld the jury verdict but reduced the damage award, holding that Westboro and its members must pay total compensatory and punitive damages of $5 million. Westoboro's appeal of the verdict is still pending.
Source: Kansas City Star, February 4, 2008.
PLAINTIFF AWARDED $6.5 MILLION IN FORD EXPLORER ROLLOVER CASE
A Texas jury awarded $10 million to Ruben Zamora, a 41-year-old man who was left severely brain damaged after a 2004 rollover accident in which his 1993 Ford Explorer lost a tire tread. A defect in the truck's suspension, he claimed, caused the truck to skate sideways and eject the damaged tire. The plaintiff said Ford had known about the problem for years, but had failed to fix it. Ford claimed that the accident was Zamora's fault because he had not been properly belted in when he lost control of the vehicle. The jury found Zamora 35% responsible for his injuries, thereby reducing the original $10 million award to $6.5 million. Zamora v. Ford Motor Company, 04-10-00098-CVL, District Court, LaSalle County, Tx.
Meanwhile, Ford sold over 400,000 Explorers in 2002, and 137,817 last year. (NOTE: Assuming Ford has sold a conservatively-estimated 200,000 Explorers per year in the 14 years since 1993, that means that approximately 2.8 million are currently driving on our roadways).
Source: Bloomberg, February 4, 2008.
UPDATE: 2/12/08
An environmental group has announced it has discovered high levels of lead in several well-known baby products. The products, made of vinyl plastics, include coolers for storing breast milk, a line of baby bottles and carrying cases for pacifiers. Representatives for the plastics and children's products industries maintain that lead in plastics do not pose a public health risk. Federal law bans lead in paint used on children's toys and other children's products, but there is no federal law regulating use of lead in other products. Louise Story, The New York Times 02/11/2008
Federal health officials announced Friday that they were looking into at least one death and a handful of serious injuries suffered by patients who had received treatment with Botox and a similar drug. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the agency is focusing its attention on a relative handful of cases in which toxins from the botulinum-based drug spread beyond the injection site. The FDA was not aware of any deaths associated with cosmetic use of Botox, officials said. Lisa Girion, LA Times 02/09/2008
COURT UPHOLDS SMOKER'S AWARD
The Oregon Supreme Court for a third time has allowed a $79.5 million punitive-damages judgment against Philip Morris, an award twice struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, which suggested it was excessive. The money was for the family of a longtime Marlboro smoker, Jesse Williams, who started smoking during his 1950s Army hitch and died of lung cancer in 1997. The Oregon court's decision on Thursday did not take issue with the U.S. Supreme Court's latest ruling, which said that when juries assess punitive damages, they can punish a defendant only for the harm done to the people suing. But the Oregon court said jury instructions proposed by Philip Morris at the trial had other defects, so a judge's decision not to allow them was correct. The instructions about punitive damages have been at the center of the legal battle over the suit brought by Williams' widow, Mayola. A Portland jury made the award in 1999.
Tim Fought, Associated Press, 2-1-08
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004157506_philipmorris01m.html
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR NEW ORLEANS HURRICANE DAMAGE
There is disappointment but little surprise at a federal judge's order grudgingly absolving the Army Corps of Engineers of liability in the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Although the decision, issued Wednesday, was sharply critical of the corps, the judge's finding has if anything only hardened the ill feelings against the government that have hung over this city since the storm. The plaintiffs in the class-action suit dismissed by the judge were many of the hundreds of thousands of people who filed claims here against the corps last year because of the levee breaches that flooded the city. They lined up in cars and on foot and jammed the streets around the agency's district headquarters, acting out what has been a loudly spoken article of faith since the days in 2005 when water covered 80 percent of New Orleans and ruined the homes of thousands: the corps - not nature, not a record-breaking storm surge and not local politics or local negligence - was to blame. The judge, Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of the Federal District Court here, a son of South Louisiana, heartily seconded that notion on Wednesday, suggesting that the corps was guilty of 'gross incompetence.' But Judge Duval said he was powerless to rule favorably on the lawsuit because the Flood Control Act of 1928 granted legal immunity to the government in the event of failure of flood control projects like levees.
Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 2-1-08
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/us/01corps.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=lawsuit&st=nyt&oref=slogin
SUBPOEANAS ISSUED TO PRODISC MAKERS
The New Jersey attorney general's office issued subpoenas Monday to two companies involved in the development of the Prodisc, an artificial spinal disk for the lower back. The Prodisc was the subject of an article in The New York Times last week about surgeons who had conducted the clinical research leading to the device's approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006. Doctors at about half of the 17 research centers involved stood to profit if the Prodisc succeeded, according to confidential information from a patient's lawsuit settled last year. While the companies have said the researchers' financial interests had no impact on the findings, it is unclear whether the disk's maker had fulfilled the legal obligation to inform the F.D.A. of the researchers' stakes.
Reed Abelson, New York Times, 2-5-08
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/business/05disk.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=lawsuit&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Nursing Home Agreements May mislead consumers and sign away patients' rights
Elderly consumers and their families in Missouri should be wary when signing long and often complex nursing home agreements, according to a new study. Although most presented few problems, some admission agreements skirt state and federal laws, misleading consumers about the care they can expect and inducing them to sign away critical consumer protections, says a study by the National Senior Citizens Law Center. Although industry officials criticized the study's findings, advocates for the elderly said it raised serious questions about how some nursing homes operate.
Paul Wenske, Kansas City Star, 2-2-08
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/472792.html
UPDATE: 2/19/08
Company Ordered to Begin Largest Meat Recall in History
The Department of Agriculture announced Sunday that it has ordered a California-based meatpacking company to begin the largest beef recall in the nation's history. The recall order to Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. follows the release of a consumer watchdog video that depicts company workers abusing sick cattle in order to get them to walk to slaughter. The recall covers 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef distributed since Feb. 1, 2006. However, most of the meat has already been eaten. The recall is Class II, which means the meat is likely not immediately dangerous for human consumption.
Andrew Martin, The New York Times02/18/2008
Read Article: The New York Times
Study: Insurance Coverage Plays Role in Cancer Diagnosis
Patients who are uninsured or are covered by Medicaid are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer in the late stages than those who are covered by private insurance plans, a nationwide study has found. According to the study, to be published in the Lancet Oncology, those without private insurance do not receive timely diagnoses or top-notch care which leads to decreased survival rates and quality of life. The study also found that African-Americans had a higher risk of late diagnosis, even after accounting for their disproportionately high rates of being uninsured and underinsured. Hispanics also had a higher risk, though not as high as African-Americans. Data for the study was gathered from National Cancer Data Base records of diagnoses from 1998 to 2004.
Kevin Sack, The New York Times02/18/2008
Read Article: The New York Times
