Colorado Law Blog

When Is a Law Firm Not a Law Firm?

2010-03-09T02:25:47Z

A Broomfield, Colorado company that misled consumers nationwide into believing it was a legitimate law firm has been permanently shut down by Denver District Judge Herbert Stern.In addition, Stern ordered the company, Legal Aid, also known as Legal Aid US, and owner Daniel R. Ketelsen to pay $238,406 in restitution to consumers. Judge Stern also added $100,000 in civil penalties for a total damage award of $338,406.

]]> The companies, which were touted by Ketelsen over the Internet, required up-front payments of $399 to $1,000 from about 400 consumers. For "rush" legal services, the company increased the fee by as much as $300. According to investigators from the Colorado attorney general's office, Ketelsen and his employees were not lawyers.

Only after Ketelsen and Legal Aid received money from consumers via credit card or MoneyGram did they send a written agreement that disclosed to the clients that they were not attorneys and did not represent consumers in court.

If you are retaining a Colorado attorney to represent you, take a few moments to determine the status of his/her license to practice law. Click here to search for an attorney's disciplinary history. An attorney must have a status of "active" and in good standing in order to practice law within the state of Colorado.

Hospitals May Be Hazardous to Your Health

2010-03-05T23:07:43Z

A hospital stay could prove harmful to your health - or even fatal. Some 48,000 patients die annually from pneumonia or blood poisoning picked up in the hospital, according to a recent research study. And hospital-acquired illnesses translated into 2.3 million extra patient days in hospitals, at a cost of $8.1 billion in 2006, according to the study from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy at Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

]]> The research study is one of the first to detail the ever-worsening problem of hospital-acquired illness. It notes that hospital-acquired infections are adding to the spiraling cost of health care in the United States. Some 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections are diagnosed each year, researchers said.

Healthcare-associated infections are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions within a healthcare setting. Healthcare-associated infections are one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. As the nation's health protection agency, CDC is committed to helping all Americans receive the best and safest care when they are treated at a hospital or other healthcare facility.

The blood infection sepsis killed one-fifth of the patients who contracted it following surgery, according to the study which was reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers looked at hospital discharge records from 69 million patients who stayed at U.S. hospitals between 1998 and 2006, and found that the patients who got sepsis after surgery stayed on average 11 days longer, at a cost of about $32,900 per patient. Patients who caught pneumonia in the hospital stayed an additional two weeks at a cost of $46,400. More than 11 percent of the pneumonia patients died, according to the researchers.
The Center for Disease Control reports on the nature of the healthcare-associated infections. Of these infections:

32 percent of all healthcare-associated infection are urinary tract infections

22 percent are surgical site infections

15 percent are pneumonia (lung infections)

14 percent are bloodstream infections

Handwashing, improved hygiene, and screening patients as they check in are effective measures to prevent infection, but are hard to enforce, studies have shown.

Hot Dog Re-Design Needed?

2010-03-02T23:27:21Z

Nutritionists have long warned of the dangers posed by consuming the All-American hot dog - excess fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label -- not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children.

]]> Better yet, the academy would like to see foods such as hot dogs "redesigned" so their size, shape and texture make them less likely to lodge in a youngster's throat. More than 10,000 children under 14 go to the emergency room each year after choking on food, and up to 77 die, says the new policy statement, published online today in Pediatrics. About 17% of food-related asphyxiations are caused by hot dogs.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission requires labels on toys with small parts alerting people not to give them to kids under three years of age. Yet there are no required warnings on food, though more than half of non-fatal choking episodes involve food, according to the physicians' group.

The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council supports the academy's call to better educate parents and caregivers about choking prevention. But the organization questions whether warning labels are needed, asserting that more than half of hot dogs sold in stores already have choking-prevention tips on their packages, advising parents to cut them into small pieces.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has authority to recall products it considers "unfit for food," plans to review the new statement, but recent issues with food safety demonstrate the lack of oversight provided by the agency.