Articles Posted in Information/Personal Interest

The Insurance Journal carried an interesting article recently highlighting a new study on tort reform that was performed by a business-backed institute. What did this study show? According to our good friends at the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the study proves that tort reform simply does not work. AAJ’s CEO Jon Haber was quoted in the article saying that the state rankings recently released by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) clearly show that there is no connection or correlation between tort reform and liability costs.

What is tort reform? In simple English, it refers to laws that are meant to reduce liability costs through limits on various kinds of damages awarded to plaintiffs. It is part of an effort by state lawmakers to change legal procedures to prevent lawsuit abuse and to make liability insurance more affordable. Tort reform includes revising the laws that determine responsibility for damages and reducing the amount of punitive damages that civil actions can seek.
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My response to “Frivolous Lawsuits Hurt Patient and Doctor” by Dr. Augusto Lopez-Torres in the Sun-Sentinel and posted on Sun-Sentinel.com.

As a practicing personal injury attorney, I naturally see medical malpractice issues differently than Dr. Augusto Lopez-Torres. I’d like to share my views on three issues doctor Lopez-Torres’ article raised: (1) Protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuits; (2) Expert witnesses; and (3) Protecting patients from doctor negligence.

As background, I have practiced personal injury law in California for a few months short of thirty years. My law firm, Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys, receives about 200 medical malpractice inquiries a year from people who feel they have been the victims of medical malpractice. We find that about 25% of the inquiries probably include medical error. About half that many, 12% of those inquiries, probably involve medical malpractice, which is different that medical error. Of the inquiries that probably are medical malpractice, less than 20% of them are economically viable to pursue. Bottom line, less than 3% of the medical malpractice inquiries that we receive, actually involve medical malpractice and are economically viable to pursue.
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In a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans seeking medical benefits, the Bush administration is fitting them with ungrateful arguments. The Bush administration attorneys claim that veterans fortunate enough to be coming back home from Iraq have no legal right to specific types of medical care, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. The lawsuit basically accuses the government of denying mental health treatment to some troops – this at a time when suicide rates are at an all-time high among returning veterans.

Shocked, surprised and appalled? Well, in me, it evokes a sense of “de ja vu” all over again. I served in the U.S. Army between 1968 and 1970 and today’s situation with this lawsuit reminds me of the men I served with – soldiers who had to sue the VA for medical care necessitated by the herbicide Agent Orange, which caused a variety of cancers and health issues among the troops that were exposed to it. In my day I don’t think anyone wanted to admit they needed mental health services, and that’s when you really need them.

The Vietnam War ended decades ago, but the illnesses associated with Agent Orange took 20 to 30 years to surface. But the VA refused to treat these illnesses or compensate these veterans for their injuries. Is this the way our government treats the war-wounded and the men and women who are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our ideologies?
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Here’s one thing most of us don’t think about – if we get into a horrible auto accident or suffer serious injuries at work or elsewhere, will our loved ones be able to get to us at a reasonable time. With cell phones in our pockets and purses, most of us think: “Yeah, sure!”

But think again. Is there a phone number in your cell phone that tells a complete stranger whom to call in case of an emergency? What if you are completely incapacitated after a major accident? What if you need emergency surgery? These disturbing questions are piquing Americans’ interest in what is called the In Case of Emergency or ICE campaign.

The ICE campaign started in the United Kingdom when British paramedic Bob Brotchie came up with the idea of asking cell phone users to input an entry into their cell phonebook called ICE, which stands for “in case of emergency.” Accompanying the letters “ICE” would be the name and phone numbers of the person who should be called if something were to happen to the owner of the cell phone.
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There were several new laws relating to motorists that took effect Jan. 1. Some were more publicized than others. Here is a list from the Auto Club of Southern California.

These are the laws that will take effect January 1:

• Street racing offenders: SB 67, which reauthorizes a law that lapsed in 2006, will allow police to impound a vehicle for 30 days when a person is arrested for street racing, exhibition of speed or reckless driving.
• Traffic school: AB 645 prohibits a court from allowing a driver who commits a two-point violation from attending traffic school. Examples of such violations include drunk driving, hit-and-run, speed contests, evading an officer and vehicular manslaughter.
• School zones: AB 321 will now allow local government agencies to adopt ordinances establishing speed limits of 15 mph in a school zone. The current speed limit in these zones is 25 mph. This new law requires that the 15-mph speed limit be posted up to 500 feet from the school.
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There are several new driving laws going into effect in 2008. But the most important one in our opinion is the law that relates to cell phone and other use of communication such as texting while driving.

There are two new laws that go into effect July 1, 2008. All California adult drivers will be required to use a hands-free device and prohibit anyone below 18 years old from using a wireless telephone or texting device while driving.

SB 1613 outlines the law as it relates to adults. This law will make it illegal, effective July 1, 2008 “to drive a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone, unless that telephone is designed and configured to allow hands-free listening and talking operation, and is used in that manner while driving. This offense would be punishable by a base fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. The bill would provide that this prohibition does not apply to a person who is using the cellular telephone to contact a law enforcement agency or public safety entity for emergency purposes, or to an emergency services professional while he or she operates an authorized emergency vehicle, as specified.” For more information on this law, please visit this Web site.
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The American Association for Justice (AAJ) scored an important victory this week. According to the group’s President, Kathleen Flynn Peterson, the Senate with a 53-41 vote beat back a proposal to preempt state law and put sweeping limits on medical malpractice actions involving OB/GYN care.

Of all the issues before our country today, the Senate was in a way forced to vote on this issue, which was tacked on to – of all things – the Farm Bill! Although medical malpractice had nothing to do with farming, agriculture or biodiesel, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg insisted on “offering a draconian 30-page amendment that would have imposed every tort restriction imaginable in cases involving OB/GYN care in rural America,” Peterson explains.

These proposed restrictions would include everything from caps on damages to limits on fees to special protections for drug manufacturers. Isn’t that nice? To sneak in such an amendment as part of a Farm Bill that has nothing to do with tort reform. Had this legislation been passed, it would’ve seriously hurt mothers and babies who have already been hurt by medical malpractice. This would’ve seriously affected their legal rights and their rights as Americans to get justice.
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Most recent fatality statistics compiled by the Farmers Group Inc. auto insurance company show something a lot of us already know – seatbelts save lives. According to a UPI news report these numbers indicate that the best chance for a person to stay alive in an auto accident is to remain buckled up.

Farmers Group reportedly looked at Department of Transportation data and information from 2006 for the purpose of this study. Researches concluded that drivers who used seatbelts were 70 percent less likely to be killed in a car crash than drivers who were not wearing their seatbelts, the UPI report said.
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The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing new rules to improve school bus safety by expanding the use of shoulder belts. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters made the announcement in Morrisville, N.C. last week.

Peters has also proposed increasing the height of seat backs on all school buses from 20 inches to 24 inches to better protect children from injuries during accidents, according to an Associated Press news report. The first batch of school buses to begin using these restraints will be the shorter school buses that are said to be more prone to rollover accidents. Longer buses may not need restraints right away. Instead the federal agency is leaving it up to the school districts to get funding to purchase new buses with seat belts.

According to the news report, a new school bus equipped with restraints costs $10,000 more than one without seatbelts. Most of the nation’s schools now have higher seat backs. School districts will have three years to begin having seatbelts in the smaller buses, which currently use only lap belts.
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So many infants and toddlers are injured or die every year because of car seats that are not installed properly. Knowledge about car seats and how to install them is freely and widely available on the Internet. But how many parents really know what they’re doing when it comes to their children’s car seats?

Recently volunteers at SafetyBeltSafe USA, a national safety organization, held a free safety seat check up in Whittier. They were not surprised to see what many parents did not know, according to an article in the Whittier Daily News.

At this event, organizers saw parents who found out if their booster seats had been recalled or expired. Many, like Angela Pulido whose child’s car seat kept tilting to one side every time she turned her van, were able to get help with how to install the car seat properly. Volunteers also saw that some people had been given incorrect information about how to install the car seat, the article said. Here’s an amazing number from the group’s director Stephanie Tombrello: About 90 percent of parents who come through SafetyBeltSafe’s checkups make at least one error when installing their car seats – some of them potentially fatal.
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