Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Latest Wrap-Up of Toyota News

The CBS Evening News (2/25, story 7, 3:30, Couric) reported that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda wept as he thanked a group of Toyota dealers in Washington for "supporting him through the company's troubles" and said "his company has to rethink its operations after 8.5 million vehicles were recalled for unintended acceleration. All of this has focused new attention on, Toyota of course, the federal agency responsible for the recalls and the revolving door between the two." The piece notes that some in Congress are critical of ties between NHTSA and Toyota, which has hired a number of its executives away from that agency. "Christopher Santucci's job at NHTSA was to conduct defects investigations of automakers and some of his probes were into Toyota. ... At some point, while working at NHTSA, Santucci negotiated himself a job at Toyota, the very company he'd investigated. ... Yesterday, Congress asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood if there's a conflict." Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary: "Absolutely not."

Toyota CEO assures LaHood of recommitment to safety. The AP (2/26, Manning) reports that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, speaking at his firm's "largest North American manufacturing plant" in Georgetown, Kentucky, yesterday, told Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that Toyota "would 'advance safety to the next level' as it tries to restore customer faith in its cars and trucks that has been badly damaged by the recall of 8.5 million vehicles over safety concerns." Toyoda added that his firm "was 'at a crossroads.' 'We need to rethink everything about our operations,' he told about 100 workers." The AP details the legal and public perception problems that are plaguing Toyota, including probes by the FBI and SEC, along "large numbers of death and injury lawsuits" the company expects to spawn from the recall crisis.

Toyota's safety chief to testify before Senate panel Tuesday. The Detroit News (2/26, Shepardson) reports that Toyota executive VP Shinichi Sasaki, "who oversees the company's safety efforts," is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee next Tuesday. The piece notes that acting NHTSA chief Ron Medford met with Sasaki in Japan in December "over the company's handling of recalls. Also testifying will be Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, NHTSA administrator David Strickland and Yoshimi Inaba, Toyota's top North American executive."

The Los Angeles Times (2/26, Bensinger, Vartabedian) reports that after this week's hearings, "Washington is just getting started. ... Lawmakers said Thursday that they were planning further hearings scrutinizing both Toyota and the federal agency that oversees it. One possible outcome: new laws aimed at keeping regulators up to date with the rapid advances in automotive technology, including computer-controlled engine systems.

Toyota hearings said to benefit trial lawyers. In his column in the Wall Street Journal (2/26), Holman Jenkins suggests that this week's congressional hearings into Toyota's safety issue were for the benefit of trial lawyers, and dismisses the notion that electronic faults could be to blame for incidents of unintended acceleration.

"Win" document cites avoidance of Sienna liftgate recall. Bloomberg News (2/26, Green, Ohnsman) reports, "Toyota Motor Corp. in 2008 succeeded in blocking a formal recall of Sienna minivans linked by U.S. regulators to 98 injuries caused by collapsing liftgates, according to company and U.S. documents." The piece notes that Toyota offered owners to replace the liftgates' struts "as part of a 'safety improvement campaign' without acknowledging a defect," in a move approved by NHTSA. "The Sienna case was among the 'wins' cited by the automaker's Washington office in a memo obtained by a congressional panel investigating the recalls of 8 million Toyota vehicles worldwide for defects that could cause unintended acceleration. The claimed wins saved Toyota $255 million, including $100 million previously reported for less extensive responses to the acceleration issue, according to the memo."

Toyota documents indicate knowledge of new NHTSA powers. The Detroit Free Press (2/26, Hyde) reports that an internal Toyota document in which the firm described limiting a 2007 recall "a $100 million 'win' for the company" also stated "that federal regulators were getting tougher on vehicle recalls." In the document, Toyota "staff warned Inaba that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had new powers to force recalls, including civil fines." However, "During his testimony Wednesday, Inaba said he did not recall the July 2009 meeting where he received the presentation, but that the claim of saving $100 million by limiting the 2007 recall to floor mats was 'inconsistent' with Toyota's principles."

Krauthammer says Toyota crisis points out difficulties of industrial product regulation. In a column in theWashington Post (2/26) Charles Krauthammer writes about the "astonishing array of mass-produced products" available to modern consumers which "are at once wondrous and potentially lethal." He writes that "sorting out the endless complaints about these products is maddeningly difficult -- though sort you must, otherwise every complaint would require shutting down the factories, and we'd have no industrial society at all." Krauthammer alludes to the "calculation" on how deadly a product must be before it is taken from the market and the difficulty in telling "the idiosyncratic failure from the systemic." He praises Toyota executives for taking strides to "correct what can be corrected" but concludes that "even the highest technology produced by the world's finest companies can be fallible and fatal."

From the American Association for Justice news release.

Friday Fun

Here's one of the funniest (fake) wedding videos you'll ever see:

Glaxo Defends Handling of Avandia Heart Risks

GlaxoSmithKline said this week that a Senate report criticizing its handling of heart risks with its diabetes drug Avandia "mischaracterizes and distorts" the company's record. As reported by the Associated Press, Glaxo is unhappy with the way the company's response to reports of heart attacks caused by Avandia have been characterized by the Food and Drug Administration and the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate report, issued over the weekend, charged that Glaxo downplayed the drug's safety risks and withheld important data from the FDA. "That suggestion is fundamentally flawed and contradicted by the record of extensive, ongoing interactions between GSK and the FDA," states the company.

A report in May 2007 showed that Avandia users had a 43% higher risk of heart attacks than patients taking other diabetes drugs or no diabetes drugs at all.

Obama Health Proposal Could Reduce Texas Insurance Premiums

It may come as a surprise to those not familiar with Texas politics that Texas does not review most increases in health insurance premiums. Not unless the premium increase is for more than 50% annually. Everything else is fair game. An insurance company can increase premiums 49% per year every year and that would be fine with the State of Texas.

But now we have a health care proposal from the Obama administration that would allow the federal government to review "excessive" health insurance premium increases. The federal government would be able to stop a rate increase it considered unjustified. Whether this is government intervention or consumer protection depends on your point of view, and maybe on whether you're a health insurance company executive.

What is A Medical Source Opinion in a Social Security Disability Claim?

When your Social Security Disability claim contains an opinion on your limitations resulting from your disabling impairments, lawyers and judges refer to this as a medical source opinion. Sometimes a medical source opinion can be given by your treating doctors. Your surgeon, for example, might advise you not to lift more than ten pounds. If that instruction is in writing and contained in your medical records, it would probably constitute a medical source opinion. The Judges who decide disability claims must evaluate many such opinions as they evaluate claims.

Often your treating physician will render a medical source opinion. Sometimes they will offer no such opinions even when contacted directly. The judge will, of course, decide the case with or without your treating physician’s opinion because deciding whether you are disabled is an issue reserved for the Social Security Administration. Clients often ask if having their treating physician’s opinion that “they are disabled” is critical to winning their disability benefits. The short answer is that it can be helpful to have such an opinion. But we have won many cases without such opinions, based on other evidence in the file. We often assist our clients in obtaining medical source opinions helpful to winning their disability claims.

Fellow blogger and attorney Gordon Gates has recently posted some good points about medical source opinions as well. We suggest that you read his article.

If you, or someone you know, is suffering from severe health problems keeping you from working, please feel free to contact us. If you are considering a Social Security Disability claim, we advise you to speak with an attorney. We handle cases throughout the state of Texas, but we are always happy to give you a referral if we are unable to assist you.

Warning: Hospitals May Be Hazardous To Your Health

An estimated 48,000 people died in 2006 after developing sepsis or pneumonia during their hospital stays, according to a study published in this week's edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. Such infections forced patients to spend an extra 2.3 million days in the hospital and cost $8.1 billion to treat, the study found. This was reported in the health care blog of theL.A. Times. From the article:

“These figures are likely to be underestimates because they focus on infections that were acquired and diagnosed during the same hospitalization, although many [hospital acquired infections], including most surgical site infections, are not diagnosed until after hospital discharge.”

If that’s not scary enough, study co-author Anup Malani from the University of Chicago Law School had this to say in a news release: “In some cases, relatively healthy people check into the hospital for routine surgery. They develop sepsis because of a lapse in infection control – and they can die.”

He added that the nation’s hospitals need to find a better way to reduce the risk of infections. Let’s hope the nation’s hospitals are listening.

Toyota Officials "Boasted" About Savings from 2007 Limited Recall

Here's the latest wrap-up of news about Toyota's problems:

The CBS Evening News (2/21, story 3, 2:10, Mitchell) reported that according to the AP, "Toyota officials boasted last summer they saved $100 million back in 2007 when negotiating a limited recall of certain models with the federal government." The piece notes that NHTSA "has received more than 2,000 complaints of sudden acceleration and 34 deaths have been blamed on Toyota vehicles" over the past decade, "according to the Detroit News, which also says the Administration was investigating Toyota for accelerator problems as early as 2003. Still, Toyota was never told to fix anything, and the investigation ended."

 USA Today (2/22, Healey, Carty) reports that "an internal Toyota document" states that the savings came from "getting the government to OK just replacing floor mats in 55,000 vehicles as a solution to sudden acceleration complaints. It's listed under 'wins for Toyota -- safety group' in the report, which is among documents obtained by a subpoena from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That and other references to saving money on safety issues raise the question of 'whether Toyota was lobbying for less rigid actions from regulators to protect their bottom line,' said Kurt Bardella, spokesman for the committee's ranking Republican, Darrell Issa of California." The document also said that "'NHTSA is more sensitive to public/congressional criticism' and that, combined with changes in regulations, will result in 'more investigations and more forced recalls.'"

The AP (2/22, Thomas) says that the documents "could set off alarms in Congress over whether Toyota put profits ahead of customer safety and pushed regulators to narrow the scope of recalls. Two House committees are holding hearings this week on" Toyota's recalls.

The Detroit News (2/22, Shepardson) reports that Issa's committee "has obtained more than 50,000 Toyota documents ahead of a Wednesday hearing at which Toyota President Akio Toyoda is to be questioned. In a separate analysis, Reuters (2/22) examines the impact the revelation of the documents may have on Toyoda's testimony.

Unintended acceleration allegations seen as difficult to prove, disprove. The Detroit News (2/22, Tierney) reports that it may be difficult "to prove or disprove allegations of unintended acceleration in Toyota cars and trucks." As "Congress prepares to open hearings this week on Toyota Motor Corp.'s handling of the recalls, legal experts say the company's liability may be determined in part by any revelations that emerge in the hearings and from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation." Increasingly, "Toyota appears to be facing its own version of Ford Motor Co.'s crisis 10 years ago over rollovers of SUVs with Firestone tires." In the "Law Blog" at the Wall Street Journal (2/19), Amir Efrati discussed former Toyota in-house lawyer Dimitrios Biller's connection to the lawsuits.

From the American Association for Justice news release. 

Toyota Hit With Grand Jury Subpoena

Toyota said Monday it has received a federal grand jury subpoena for documents relating to the unintended acceleration of its vehicles and braking systems in the Toyota Prius. The subpoena was from the Southern District of New York.

Diabetes Drug Avandia Harmful to Heart

The diabetes drug Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has been found to cause heart attacks and heart failure. Confidential government reports supposedly call for the drug to be taken off the market. The Dallas Morning News has consolidated several news articles on this subject, and here are excerpts:

The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart.

Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.

"Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market," one of the reports, written by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.

The internal FDA reports are part of a fierce debate within the agency over what to do about Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Some agency officials want the drug withdrawn because they believe there is a safer alternative; others insist that studies of the drug provide contradictory information and that Avandia should continue to be an option for doctors and patients. GlaxoSmithKline said that it had studied Avandia extensively and that "scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases" the risk of heart attacks.

The bipartisan, multiyear Senate investigation – whose results are expected to be released publicly on Monday but which were also obtained by The Times –sharply criticizes GlaxoSmithKline, saying it failed to warn patients years earlier that Avandia was potentially deadly.

"Instead, GSK executives attempted to intimidate independent physicians, focused on strategies to minimize or misrepresent findings that Avandia may increase cardiovascular risk, and sought ways to downplay findings that a competing drug might reduce cardiovascular risk," concludes the report, which was overseen by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart.

Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.

"Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market," one of the reports, written by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.

The internal FDA reports are part of a fierce debate within the agency over what to do about Avandia, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Some agency officials want the drug withdrawn because they believe there is a safer alternative; others insist that studies of the drug provide contradictory information and that Avandia should continue to be an option for doctors and patients. GlaxoSmithKline said that it had studied Avandia extensively and that "scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases" the risk of heart attacks.

The bipartisan, multiyear Senate investigation – whose results are expected to be released publicly on Monday but which were also obtained by The Times –sharply criticizes GlaxoSmithKline, saying it failed to warn patients years earlier that Avandia was potentially deadly.

"Instead, GSK executives attempted to intimidate independent physicians, focused on strategies to minimize or misrepresent findings that Avandia may increase cardiovascular risk, and sought ways to downplay findings that a competing drug might reduce cardiovascular risk," concludes the report, which was overseen by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Friday Fun

The Sleep Talkin' Man has been all over the Internet. Here's a video about him from from ABC News.