No Concealed Weapons at CSU
Concealed weapons will no longer be permitted on Colorado State University's two campuses. The CSU System Board of Governors unanimously approved the ban Tuesday at a meeting in Pueblo.
Concealed weapons will no longer be permitted on Colorado State University's two campuses. The CSU System Board of Governors unanimously approved the ban Tuesday at a meeting in Pueblo.
Key provisions of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 take effect today including those that prevent issuers from arbitrarily slapping consumers with higher interest rates , changing how consumer credit will be provided and used, and who will ultimately get it.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced yesterday plans to take a dispute over campaign finance laws directly to the state supreme court. The governor is asking the court to determine if state campaign finance laws are unconstitutional in light of the recent 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. See Mutual Destruction in Judicial Elections Predicted.
The First Amendment right to freedom of speech doesn't necessarily apply to bumper stickers, ruled a split panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week in Denver - at least when the bumper sticker in question is on private property and the U.S. president is involved.
Continue reading "No First Amendment Protection for Bumper Sticker" »
U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced last week a federal guidance to expressly prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. The prohibition is effective immediately and is the latest in a series of actions taken by the Department to combat distracted driving since the Secretary convened a national summit on the issue last September.
A divided Supreme Court last Thursday swept away decades of legislative efforts to restrict the role of corporations in election campaigns, ruling that severe restrictions on corporate spending are inconsistent with the First Amendment's protection of political speech. The court split 5-4 over the ruling, with its conservative members in the majority.
Continue reading "Mutual Destruction in Judicial Elections Predicted" »
The 2010 Colorado legislative session opened today with the state budget expected to dominate the next four and a half months. The state has dealt with a nearly $2 billion shortfall over the last two budget years, and faces a deficit in the budget year that begins in July that could be more than $1.3 billion. The state has weathered the crisis largely through the use of one-time sources of money, such as cash funds and federal stimulus funds.
Continue reading "New Year for Colorado Legislators, Same Old Woes" »
Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall introduced a plan Thursday to tweak rules for malpractice trials. The plan is an amendment to the health care bill pending in the Senate. The amendment aims to reduce the cost of malpractice trials by streamlining pretrial court procedures. It does not cap jury awards.
Continue reading "Colorado Senator Proposes Med Mal Pilot Program" »
Auto dealers won't be covered under a new consumer regulatory agency after a vote in the House Financial Services Committee exempting them, despite the major role they play in financing car loans.
A Colorado initiative allowing wine and full-strength beer sales in grocery stores has cleared its first hurdle. The initiative, filed last month, was tweaked and prodded by legislative council and now awaits a hearing with the secretary of state's office.
Continue reading "Colorado Initiative to Allow Wine & Beer Sales" »
Gov. Bill Ritter helped mark the start of a statewide ban on texting while driving by honoring Colorado Springs-area students who helped design public awareness announcements to publicize the new law. He also held a news conference in Denver to discuss the ban.
Starting today it will be illegal for drivers to send text messages, e-mail or tweet while driving. The new law also bars those under 18 from talking on their cell phones while driving. Violators risk a $50 fine and repeat offenders could get a $100 ticket.
Next year when you bite into that leftover Halloween candy, the discomfort won't only be from the calorie count but also increased cost due to taxes if Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's proposal to tax candy and soda-pop sales is adopted. Colorado would become one of a growing number of states and localities going after candy bars and soft drinks.
Before heading to a store or retail Web site, many shoppers love to check out the growing flurry of product reviews posted online. But figuring out who to trust in the blogosphere has gotten trickier as more and more bloggers get paid to promote products on their sites.
Companies see the freebies and payments to bloggers as a cheap way to boost brand buzz during the recession. But site visitors often don't realize they're reading a promotional pitch. Not all bloggers make clear that they are being compensated to talk up products, if they disclose it at all.
Any one wandering why there is urgency in the campaign for health care reform should know that every hour of the status quo costs lives. According to a Harvard Medical School study released last week, nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and cannot get adequate care. Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.
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.
Continue reading "N.M. Court Says Injured Baseball Spectator Can Sue" »
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.
For many of us, nothing captures the essence of summertime like fresh produce -whether tomatoes and corn on the cob or strawberries and watermelon. After months of half-ripened grocery store produce, the wealth of fresh, local fruits and vegetables is heavenly. And for true connoisseurs, enjoyment of the abundance is enhanced when the bounty is free of unneeded chemicals, antibodies or hormones. But how to assess the degree to which our food is "organic" or "natural"?
A ruling on Wednesday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver could pave the way for a Utah couple to reach a settlement in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Robert and Paea Olah allege their daughter suffered brain damage during delivery because of negligence by osteopathic physician Ronald Baird, who denies the allegation and who refuses to grant permission to his insurer to settle the claim out of court.
Continue reading "Med Mal Claim "Right to Settle" an Asset" »
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a bill last week which will help make Colorado roads safer for cyclists. The measure, Senate Bill 148, requires that drivers give cyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing or risk a $110 ticket. Anyone who throws an object at a cyclist could be charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a fine of between $250 and $1,000, and a possible sentence of three to 12 months in jail. The bill was sponsored by a bipartisan pair of avid cyclists -- Republican Sen. Greg Brophy of Wray and Democratic Rep. Michael Merrifield of Manitou Springs. The new law takes effect Aug
Safer driving on Colorado roadways was the goal of two proposed bills which have been derailed in the state legislature.
A bill that would have required all drivers in Colorado to use hands-free devices to talk on their cellphones while driving got a major pruning in the state Senate when it gutted the ban on hand-held cellphone conversations for adult drivers. Instead, after the amendment, the bill merely bans text-messaging while driving, across all age groups. Drivers under 18 years old still would be barred from talking at all on cellphones while driving.
Continue reading "Safety Takes a Backseat in Colorado Legislature" »
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.
Continue reading "Medical Victims Denied Adequate Compensation" »
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 $1 million, though a judge can approve a higher award. The proposed bill would raise the level of the cap on noneconomic damages and provide for an annual inflationary increase.
Celebrities may feel safer surrounded by bodyguards, but unlike the image created the Nickeback song - even if you are a rock star, athletes and entertainers who employ bodyguards cannot ignore on-the-job misconduct.
Continue reading "Hire Eight Bodyguards Who Like to Beat Up *%$#@!?$" »
This week Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law a bill requiring the installation of carbon-monoxide alarms in most homes. House Bill 1091, which becomes law July 1, requires that all new or sold residential properties have carbon-monoxide alarms on each floor of the property. Rental properties also also be required to add the alarms when tenants change.
A Denver family of four died in a vacation home in Aspen on Thanksgiving, while a University of Denver student died in her apartment in January -- all from carbon-monoxide poisoning. Relatives of Parker and Caroline Lofgren and their children, Owen, 10, and Sophie, 8, and of DU student Lauren Johnson, 23, pushed lawmakers to put measures in place to prevent future CO poisoning deaths. See Another Tragic Colorado Death Due to CO.
Across the country, support for the death penalty is waning, and Colorado is among 11 states that have proposed bills to abolish capital punishment in 2009. This week, New Mexico became the second state to abolish the death penalty since 1976.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request to review the case involving Luke Perkins. That means that a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said the Thompson district was doing enough to meet Luke's needs will stand.
Luke's parents, Jeff and Julie Perkins, had argued that Berthoud Elementary was not doing enough to help Luke after he enrolled there in 2002. They instead enrolled him at the private Boston Higashi School for Autism and sued to have the district pay for his tuition.
Continue reading "Colorado School District Not Responsible for Private Tuition" »
The Oklahoma law that requires employers to permit employees to keep guns locked in their vehicles at work has been given the "OK". A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals , the federal appeals court which has jurisdiction over Colorado, unanimously rejected an Oklahoma district court's ruling that the state law is pre-empted by the "general duty" clause of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
The Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, enacted in 2004, was the first parking lot firearm law of its kind. But in the past five years, at least 10 states have passed laws prohibiting employers from barring the locked storage of guns in workers' vehicles.
It might soon become more expensive for Colorado couples to marry or divorce. The Senate Appropriations Committee backed a bill last Friday that would raise marriage and divorce fees to pay for programs to help victims of domestic abuse. The measure would raise the marriage license fee from $10 to $30. Divorce petitions would go from $220 to $230 and divorce responses would be raised by $10 to $116.
Continue reading "Colorado Fee for Tying - and Untying - the Knot May Increase" »
The Colorado Senate gave final approval today to a bill require carbon monoxide detectors in homes. The Senate approved the measure 29-5, sending it back to the House to approve changes.
The bill would require all homes and apartment buildings for sale to have carbon monoxide detectors near bedrooms. Homeowners and apartment owners also would have to install detectors if they completed any major renovations or additions. The bill, House Bill 1091, now heads to the governor's desk.
The bill is formally titled "The Lofgren and Johnson Family Carbon Monoxide Safety Act," in memory of Lauren, a 23-year-old DU graduate student, and also the four members of the Lofgren family from Denver, who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in November while vacationing in Aspen. See Another Tragic Death.
Sadly, Colorado lawmakers admit that they voted against the bill last year over concerns it was being pushed by the alarm makers. The deaths this winter demonstrate that the question is a matter of consumer safety not alarm makers' profits.
An Illinois woman's homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a young man who was paralyzed in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home. The settlement between the mother, whose teenage daughters hosted the party, and George Baldwin, 22, was approved Wednesday by the Lake County Circuit Court.
Last October near Chicago medical helicopter crashed killing three adults and a baby. The crash was the ninth fatal accident nationwide in an 11-month period, resulting in a total of 35 people killed.
Like others before it, the Chicago helicopter accident might have been prevented. The helicopter, which had clipped the support wire of a radio station tower while flying at night, lacked up-to-date safety equipment like a device to alert the pilot to towers and other nearby obstacles.
A proposal to expand Colorado's "Make My Day" law to cover businesses has failed for the third straight year at the state Capitol. The Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee killed the Republican measure (Senate Bill 8) with little discussion last Wednesday on a party-line vote.
Current state law allows homeowners to shoot intruders if they believe the intruders are going to commit a crime or use physical force. The bill would have expanded that right to business owners, managers and employees in their workplace.
A Kentucky high school football coach has been indicted by a grand jury for the death of a sophomore player at Louisville's Pleasure Ridge Park High School. It was his first year as head coach.
The prosecutor made stated that the grand jury found that the coach should have realized a player could collapse from heat stroke in the broiling weather during practice, in announcing reckless homicide charges in a youth's death on Aug. 20, 2008.
Continue reading "High School Coach Charged in Player's Death" »
National Safety Council, a national safety group, recommends a total ban on cell phone use while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities. States should ban drivers from using hand-held and hands-free cell phones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cell phones while driving on the job. The group's statement likened talking on cell phones to drunken driving.
No state currently bans all cell phone use while driving. Six states -- California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Washington -- and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held cell phones behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Also, 17 states and the district restrict or ban cell phone use by novice drivers.
Continue reading "Ban for all cell phone use in cars recommended" »
A judge in Washington state ruled Thursday that a man dying from mesothelioma will not have to be autopsied as a condition of his estate being paid a settlement.
The Superior Court judge ruled that James Ross, 71, could avoid the autopsy based on the "personal moral belief" he claimed without declaring any "religious or ethical considerations." The Washington courts previouslt had a standing order which mandated autopsies as a condition of receiving settlements for mesothelioma, a cancer known to be caused by asbestos.
Ross had argued the rule unconstitutionally required a religious test. Ross v. Saberhagen Holdings Ins., No. 08-2-02434-2 SEA (King Co., Wa.sh, Super. Ct.).
The judge did not invalidate the rule but, as a practical matter, the ruling will probably apply to any mesothelioma claimant.
Ross is dying from mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that is invariably fatal and is known to be caused only by asbestos. The defendants didn't dispute that Ross has mesothelioma, but insisted on the autopsy as a condition of paying the settlement. For further background on this case, see Man fights his own impending autopsy.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated an assault conviction despite evidence that jurors lied about racial bias in the case against an American Indian. The 10th Circuit, representing of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, focused on the sanctity of the jury deliberation process even when a juror stepped forward to accuse others on the panel of racial bias against American Indians.
James Ross, 71, is dying from a rare form of cancer caused by inhaling asbestos. Mandatory autopsies have been a standard requirement of asbestos settlements dating to a 1984 Washington state court rule. The rule does allow exceptions for "religious or ethical considerations,'' but Mr. Ross objects to the procedure on personal moral grounds.
A horrifying truck accident which occurred last week in Denver demonstrates the uncertainty as to with whom you may be sharing the road. Last Thursday Francis Hernandez, 23, was driving a Chevrolet Suburban when he crashed into a Mazda pickup truck that was turning into a Good Times in Aurora. The collision drove the pickup into a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, killing two women in the truck and a 3-year-old boy waiting for ice cream.
Aurora police had stopped Hernandez in April for speeding, and failing to signal for a turn. They found he had two outstanding warrants for failure to appear in Adams County and Arapahoe County. That arrest was one of 16 that Hernandez racked up over five years, most of them for driving offenses. He is also suspected of being in the country illegally.
Recent pediatric heart transplants performed in Colorado have created disturbing questions about determinations as to when a patient is dead. For decades, determine that a donor’s brain has completely stopped working before harvesting organs for transplant. In the case of at least three infants, each was on life support and showed little brain function, but did not meet the criteria for brain dead.
With their families’ consent, the newborns were taken off ventilators and surgeons in Denver removed their hearts minutes after they stopped beating. The hearts were successfully transplanted, and the babies who received the transplanted hearts survived.
Continue reading "Infant Heart Donors - Heroic or Horrendous?" »
Talk isn't always cheap, as International Paper Co. learned recently when it agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal injury suit related, at least in part, to one of its employees' use of a cell phone while driving.
An International Paper employee was on her company-supplied cell phone as she drove west on an interstate near Dublin, Ga., when she rear-ended a vehicle. The collision pushed hit car into the ditch on the right side of the road, overturning it so that the driver's side hit and then slid along the roadway -- with the driver’s arm trapped between the door and the asphalt. Medical complications eventually forced the driver, a widowed mother of four, to have her arm amputated almost up to the shoulder.
The Colorado State Senate has given final approval to a bill that would increase the amount juries can award in some medical malpractice suits.
Nationwide, car crashes are the leading cause of death for youngsters aged ten through eighteen. A study released Monday showed that riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads created the worst case scenario. Other dangerous circumstances include teen drivers who had been drinking alcohol, male teen drivers and driving on weekends, according to the study by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a medical malpractice case, Riegel v. Medtronic, holding that the federal law, Medical Device Amendments, preempts any state laws regarding medical devices where the device manufacturer complied with federal requirements. By now, everyone is aware of how little protection is frequently offered by “federal requirements” when oversight is provided by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Now state law can offer no protection against the negligently designed or manufactured medical device so long as federal requirements are satisfied – feel safer?
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it was reasonable for a pursuing police officer to force a fleeing driver off the road by ramming his vehicle from behind. Victor Harris, 19, who was suspected only of speeding, was permanently paralyzed in the accident that resulted.
Two years ago, Christian Hageseth logged on to the Internet in Colorado and prescribed anti-depressant drugs to a California teenager with a history of mental illness and alcohol abuse. A few months later, 19-year-old John McKay killed himself in his family home.
Upon learning that Hageseth had treated McKay, and that he didn't have a license in California, state medical investigators urged local prosecutors to charge him with a felony. Last year they did, accusing him of practicing without a California license. The maximum penalty, according to the prosecution, would be three years in state prison and state fines.
The Food and Drug Administration took a step many consider long-overdue and proposed new rules yesterday that would make it tougher for scientists with industry ties to offer advice about approving new drugs and medical devices. The FDA said that most scientists with $50,000 or more in stock, consulting fees or other financial links to companies should be barred from making recommendations to the agency about a related product. Scientists with smaller financial interests would be allowed to participate in agency advisory meetings but could not vote.
Four years ago the Florida Legislature capped certain types of pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice suits, yet Florida doctors still pay the highest malpractice insurance rates in the country. Now, the high premiums for doctors mean ultimatums given to patients - sign away rights to sue over possible medical mistakes or maybe give up your doctor.
Botched plastic surgeries are not uncommon, nor is it uncommon for one to become the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit. But one patient took the uncommon step of not only suing her plastic surgeon, but creating a website detailing her experience, www.mysurgerynightmare.com.
Continue reading "Plastic Surgeon Pays for “High Profile”" »
Almost weekly, there is another report of previously unpublicized side effects of a prescription medicine currently being prescribed to American patients. . Most notably, in late 2004, Merck withdrew its arthritis drug, Vioxx, after a study was made public which showed that it doubled the risks of heart attack. About the same time, the Food and Drug Administration announced that antidepressants cause some teenagers to think more about suicide.
According to the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, an Austin-based watchdog group, some 800,000 companies, government agencies and other organizations can tap into personal medical information almost at will. Pharmaceutical information is mined daily, your prescriptions, are an open book to all sorts of companies that don't have to tell you what they're doing with the information.
Continue reading "Money Paid for Your Medical Data (but not to you!)" »
With fewer and fewer public places to light up, don’t you wonder about those poor souls still huddled outside in frigid weather, dragging on a cigarette? Well, if they haven’t kicked the habit yet, Big Tobacco is making it more difficult to do just that, according to a study just released by Harvard.
Just before the end of the last session, the 109th Congress passed legislation to lift the longstanding ban against veterans being able to hire lawyers to appeal their benefits cases. The change was advocated by both the Governmental Affairs Office and the American Bar Association.
Imagine a Capitol Hill staffer having a steamy affair with a congressional aide, probably not such an unusual occurrence. But then the aide posts lurid details of the intimate aspects of the relationship on her personal blog. Staffer boyfriend is embarrassed and outraged!
Florida recently amended its state constitution to limit attorney fees in medical malpractice cases. The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that attorney fee limits in medical malpractice cases can be waived—as long as lawyers fully inform their clients about the rights they are giving up and plaintiffs show they have done so voluntarily. The Florida Bar Association argued that fee limits interfere with plaintiffs’ right to find counsel of their own choice, and the Court agreed.
Continue reading "Limits on Med Mal Fees Barrier to Justice" »
A horrific tale most appropriate for Hallow's Eve - on February 23, 2006 in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, four men were arraigned on a series of charges reading like Robert Louis Stevenson’s saga The Body Snatchers. Prosecutors claimed that the men, who worked for a company called Biomedical Tissue Services, had engaged in a modern form of body-snatching. A ghoulish ring trafficking in bones, tissue and other body parts illicitly harvested from corpses at funeral homes throughout New York City potentially raked in millions of dollars selling tendons and ligaments for surgical replacement and bone for dental implants and orthopedic reconstruction procedures, sources familiar with the investigation said.
You don’t have to spend much time on any major highway before you feel like your vehicle is about to be blown away by the semis racing past you. The American Trucking Associations, the nation’s premier trucking industry trade group, recognizes the significant public safety risk posed by these speed demons and last week petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to limit the maximum speed of large trucks at the time of manufacture to no more than 68 miles per hour.
Continue reading "Speed Limit Requested for Nation's Semis" »
Caveat emptor that cadaver! A Connecticut Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of a business accused of providing a defective heart valve for transplantation, saying that such human tissue is not a product for the purposes of a product liability claim. The issue of whether to consider processed tissue a product has been addressed by only a handful of opinions—including a California case and a federal court interpreting Utah law and all have held as the Connecticut court did.
Dozens of dangerous products that violate federal safety regulations are finding their way onto store shelves, and hundreds of other recalled items that have been banned for sale in the United States are being sold overseas. A recent investigation by Consumer Reports, based on a decade’s worth of government public safety records and shopping at more than one dozen stores, found that weak laws and lax federal enforcement are allowing some manufacturers and importers to flaunt federal and voluntary industry safety standards. As a result, according to Consumer Reports, consumers are buying potentially lethal products.
Man’s best friend doesn’t always live up to the title – an average 4.7 million people throughout the nation suffer a dog bite each year. The Insurance Information Institute reports that dog bites account for about 25% of all homeowners’ insurance liability claims.
You always knew it was a little slimy, and what it did to the sailorman was kind of creepy - but who thought it would kill you? Well, spinach won't be your only worry in the produce section if Congress follows through with plans to preempt state laws.
Yesterday the Senate once again defeated corporate efforts to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, taking the high priority issue, at least for both President Bush and the majority leader, Senator Bill Frist, off the table for this year.
Continue reading "Victory for Medical Malpractice Victims" »
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, a coalition that aims to prevent injuries to children, drowning is the second-largest cause of accidental death among youngsters. In 2003 alone, the latest year for which statistics are available, 285 children drowned in U.S. swimming pools.
In the face of public opposition and other looming issues, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is now planning to bring Medical Malpractice legislation to the floor the week of May 8th, a week later than originally announced.
Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Victims to Lose Rights" »