August 2009 Archives

Two companies and two executives accused in the deaths of five workers in a 2007 fire inside a tunnel at a Colorado hydroelectric plant have been indicted on federal charges. Xcel Energy, RPI Coating Inc. and two RPI executives face criminal charges in the deaths in a federal indictment that alleges they knew about the danger and did nothing about it. The 17-page indictment, made public Friday, accuses RPI of trying to cover up shortfalls by altering, destroying, or concealing the cameras, journals and cell phones of two of the dead workers.

As football season begins in high school leagues across the nation, coaches are issuing protective equipment to players. The mother of an injured East St. Louis High School football player Demond Hunt Jr. is seeking damages of more than $200,000 in a lawsuit filed on his behalf against the local school district and head football coach. She alleges that her son suffered permanent brain injuries as a result of negligence on the part of the coach and the district.

Addicted to a powerful painkiller, Kristen Diane Parker admittedly stole fentanyl from empty operating rooms while on the job at Rose Hospital. So, far 3,978 Rose patients and about 1,200 from Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, where Parker worked after Rose, have been tested.

Parker, who has hepatitis C, allegedly may have infected at least 23 hospital patients in Denver with the incurable liver disease, which is transmitted through contact with blood, by reusing needles in the saline-filled syringes she substituted for the ones containing fentanyl. The number of confirmed hepatitis C cases associated with jailed suspect Kristen Diane Parker continues to rise, with the state health department now reporting 21 preliminary matches. Some 6,000 patients are being tested in Colorado, plus several thousand more from a suburban New York City medical facility where Parker formerly worked. A Texas medical facility is waiting to determine when Parker contracted hepatitis C before pursing potential testing there.

The parents of a young boy struck in the head when a batter hit a ball into a picnic area before an Albuquerque Isotopes game can sue the minor league team and the city, an appellate court has ruled.

The court said there is ''no public policy reason to justify bestowing immunity on the business of baseball.'' The decision clears the way for a lawsuit by the parents of Emilio Crespin to proceed in state district court in Albuquerque.

Workers compensation is insurance that provides compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. The tradeoff between assured, limited coverage and lack of recourse outside the worker compensation system is known as "the compensation bargain." While plans differ between states, provision can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (a form of disability insurance), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (a form of health insurance), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (a form of life insurance). General damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages for employer negligence, are generally not available in worker compensation plans.

The political battle over health-care reform has many experts citing research by the Lewin Group, a consulting firm whose research is cited by opponents of a public insurance option.

To Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House Republican whip, it is "the nonpartisan Lewin Group." To Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, it is an "independent research firm." To Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the second-ranking Republican on the pivotal Finance Committee, it is "well known as one of the most nonpartisan groups in the country."