April 2009 Archives

A bill on Colorado medical malpractice claims that would have eased caps on court damages in lawsuits was gutted Monday by Colorado's House Judiciary Committee, which then approved what was left of the bill in a 7-5 vote. House Bill 1344, sponsored by Rep. Christine Scanlon, D-Dillon, if passed, will make medical malpractice insurers get prior approval from Colorado's insurance commissioner before they can raise premiums by more than 5 percent a year. The commissioner also could set hearings on proposed premium hikes when deemed necessary.

Yesterday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced a new $1 million television ad campaign in Colorado and four other states to oppose "card check" legislation in Congress that would change the rules for workers to unionize.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been aggressively running anti-consumer, anti-rights ads to serve its business membership for the past eight years. This is the same type of biased mis-information seen frequently during the 2008 campaign season. The U.S. Chamber's new ads opposing the "Employee Free Choice Act" are running in Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Virginia. Meanwhile, radio spots are running in Alaska and South Dakota.

With only five weeks left in the session, a new bill has been introduced which would allow greater recovery for victims of medical malpractice in Colorado. Under current law, a person suing for malpractice can recover only $300,000 in noneconomic damages. Non-economic damages include "pain and suffering" and disfigurement or physical impairment. All damages in medical malpractice cases, including actual medical costs, are capped at $1 million, though a judge can approve a higher award. The proposed bill would raise the level of the cap on noneconomic damages and provide for an annual inflationary increase.

Celebrities may feel safer surrounded by bodyguards, but unlike the image created the Nickeback song - even if you are a rock star, athletes and entertainers who employ bodyguards cannot ignore on-the-job misconduct.

After a very poor report on response time for first responders last year, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has announced plans for cutting response times for basic life-support situations nearly in half and those for advanced life support by more than a third from their dismal rates recorded last year. The plans came from a task force charged with improving the city's emergency medical response.