Colorado Law Blog

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.

Continue reading "Who Says Talk Is Cheap!?" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Colorado State Senate has given final approval to a bill that would increase the amount juries can award in some medical malpractice suits.

Continue reading "Med Mal Bill Heads to CO House" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "State Laws Saves Teens" »

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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?

Continue reading "Safety Not a State Concern?" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Reasonable Ramming?" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Web Prescription Snares Doctor" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "FDA Conflicts To Be Limited" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Heated Debate Over Lower Caps" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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”" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "FDA Returns to Its Roots" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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!)" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette..." »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Lawyers Can Finally Rep Vets" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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!

Continue reading "Kiss and Tell Blogger" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Modern Day Body Snatchers" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "....very, very dreadfully nervous" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Dangers in the Toy Box" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Beware Friends With Fangs" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Continue reading "Scary Green Stuff" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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. 

Continue reading "Danger in Your Backyard" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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" »

Posted by Linda Chalat at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)