Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Friday Fun

The world's luckiest (and calmest!) bicycle rider:

Toyota Does an About-Face on Reliability of Black Boxes in Its Vehicles

The Los Angeles Times reports that Toyota has often dismissed the data collected by its event data recorders as "unreliable" and collected by "unproven technology. ... Now, facing continued claims that its vehicles are defective, Toyota appears to have done an about-face" and "has been citing data from black boxes in Toyota and Lexus vehicles to suggest that driver error, rather than mechanical or electronic defects, is causing sudden acceleration. In court cases, regulatory filings and dealings with customers, Toyota has for years branded the devices -called event data recorders, or EDRs - as unreliable. It has also said the tools used to read the reports are prototypes. 'It sounds duplicitous when all along Toyota has been saying this is unreliable, and now they are using it as their defense and they are not releasing the data to the public,' said Henry Jasney, senior counsel at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety."

From the American Association for Justice news release.

Tainted Food Sometimes Remains on Shelves Despite Recalls

Far too often, food contaminated during the manufacturing process is recalled, but word of the recall never reaches consumers or even the owners of grocery stores, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. Here are some disturbing excerpts from the story:

Until three years ago, Kenneth Maxwell enjoyed Banquet chicken and turkey pot pies so much he ate them three or four times a week. They were easy to prepare, and Maxwell could eat one for lunch and quickly return to work as an electrician.

When cases of salmonella poisoning led the pies' manufacturer, ConAgra Foods, to issue a product recall in the fall of 2007, Maxwell did not hear about it and continued to eat them. He bought several pot pies about two weeks after the recall was launched, when they should have been pulled from store shelves, and became violently ill, he said.

Maxwell's experience reflects common problems with food recalls: They routinely fail to recover all of the product they seek and, according to experts, sometimes even leave tainted foods in stores, putting consumers at risk of becoming ill from potentially deadly food-borne pathogens.

In 2009, for instance, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture was involved in 59 recalls in which the amount of food sought and recovered was known, 56 came up short of the amount they identified as potentially tainted or produced at a time when factory controls were lax.

Two of those efforts highlight how far short recalls can fall. Last July a Denver processor announced a recall of more than 460,000 pounds of ground beef tied to a salmonella outbreak but recovered only 119,000 pounds. In October a New York processor announced a recall of 545,000 pounds of ground beef tied to an outbreak of E. coli; it recovered 795 pounds, according to the USDA.

Because recalls are described as voluntary, some experts say the owners of supermarkets, especially smaller stores, can mistakenly believe it is acceptable to leave recalled products on the shelves.

And while the federal government publishes notices about recalls, it depends on the news media, manufacturers and retailers to spread the news. Many consumers are unaware a product has been recalled.

The USDA, researchers and food safety advocates say the urgency and the reach of recalls must be improved if recalls are to be more effective and the number of Americans sickened by food-borne pathogens is to decline. 

Featured Link - American College of Gastroenterology

I've linked before to the American Gastroenterological Association. Here's a similar organization, the American College of Gastroenterology, with additional resources for those who suffer from digestive difficulties. Here's a description from the site:

The mission of the American College of Gastroenterology shall be to advance the medical treatment and scientific study of gastrointestinal disorders. The College will strive to serve the evolving needs of physicians in the delivery of high quality scientific, humanistic, clinical, ethical, and cost-effective health care to gastroenterology patients.

Our goals are:

1. To provide continuing medical education to clinicians through scientific publications, meetings, and multimedia, web-based offerings;
2. To represent the clinician in national and local health care policy issues to ensure that the best interests of patient care and clinical medicine are served;
3. To promote and provide assistance in education to clinical gastroenterologists and fellows-in-training in cost-effective, efficient, and high quality practice management;
4. To promote, encourage and support clinical research in gastroenterologic disorders through the ACG Institute for Clinical Research;
5. To be a source of educational information for patients with gastrointestinal disorders and their families and to provide liaison with patient advocacy organizations for those with gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders.

Featured Link - FocusDriven

FocusDriven is a group with a worthy cause — to reduce auto collisions caused by drivers who talk on the phone while driving. Here is a little information about them, from their site:

Who We Are

FocusDriven is an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using cell phones. We work with those who support our mission and want to make our roadways safer for all motorists.

We help victims and their families share their experiences in a healing manner that promotes safety and educates others about the tragic outcomes that can result from driving while using a cell phone.

We encourage those who support our efforts to join us. Share with friends, family, coworkers and legislators your thoughts about motorists engaging in this deadly behavior. Make the pledge today.

Mission

Support victims of cell phone distracted driving and families of victims, and increase public awareness of the dangers of cell phone distracted driving by putting a human face on the disastrous impact of this behavior, in order to promote corresponding public policies, programs and personal responsibility.

Toyota Still Doesn’t Get It

That was the headline in a New York Times editorial, referring to the auto maker's repeated failure to report known safety defects to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Here are excerpts:

The latest omission to be brought to light — and not by the automaker — regards problems with steering wheel relay rods, which transmit changes in direction from the steering gearbox to the wheels. In 2004, Toyota issued a recall of 330,000 vehicles in Japan after complaints about cracking rods. It told American regulators that, because of different driving conditions, the problem did not affect Toyota cars in the United States. It said it had not received a single complaint in this country.

In 2005, Toyota notified the N.H.T.S.A. and issued a voluntary recall of nearly one million vehicles here because the steering rod could break. This year, lawyers for an Idaho family whose son died when his Toyota truck rolled over unearthed about 40 complaints about steering rod problems in the United States before the date of the Japanese recall.

That information prompted the N.H.T.S.A. to investigate whether Toyota neglected to inform it about the problem. Last month a federal grand jury asked for information about the steering wheel problems.

Toyota has a lot to explain about why it delayed informing American regulators about the faulty rods — and why it told the N.H.T.S.A. it had received no complaints in the United States. The agency, meanwhile, has drafted outside experts to help investigate all possible causes of the sticky accelerator problem. What is clear right now is that Toyota, like all automakers, must abide by the legal disclosure rules. If a $16.4 million fine is not enough to change Toyota’s behavior, then Congress should give regulators a bigger stick to work with.

Friday Fun

This poor TV reporter makes a lousy car thief.

Glaxo Ordered to End Avandia Drug Trial Enrollment

The Food and Drug Administration has ordered GlaxoSmithKline to stop enrolling people in a controversial clinical trial comparing diabetes drugs, and to notify more than 1,300 people already undergoing tests that they may be at greater risk for heart attacks because they have taken Avandia. The company has said it would comply with the FDA order.

Federal Grand Jury Subpoenas Toyota Over Potentially Faulty Steering Mechanisms

Bloomberg News (7/21, Ohnsman, Fisk) reports that a Federal grand jury in New York is compelling Toyota to "provide documents related to flaws in steering relay rods, the company said in a filing yesterday." The piece alludes to NHTSA's ongoing investigation into safety issues at the automaker, but notes that this issue "is separate from scrutiny of Toyota models for defects related to unintended acceleration."

USA Today (7/21, Woodyard) reports adds that the subpoena may be linked to charges of "possible delays in a 2005 US recall of trucks over potentially faulty steering rods." USA Today states that Toyota has been "dealing with cracking and breaking steering relay rods in the US for at least 11 years before" a 2004 recall in Japan. "It wasn't until September 2005 that it recalled nearly a million similar trucks in the US."

The Los Angeles Times (7/21, Bensinger) characterizes the subpoena as an "expansion" of the grand jury's investigations "beyond problems related to unintended-acceleration issues, which have led Toyota to issue more than 10 million recall notices worldwide since September. The Times notes that NHTSA is investigating "whether the automaker delayed the recall, a potential violation of federal law. ... NHTSA officials say they are exploring the timing of the recall, which came nearly a year after a similar action in Japan for the same defect."

The Washington Post (7/21, Whoriskey) notes that this is Toyota's "second subpoena from a federal grand jury this year," the first being related to unintended acceleration. The Post quotes safety advocate Sean Kane saying that the latest subpoena "has the appearance of being a criminal investigation under the TREAD Act. ... NHTSA has a strong case that Toyota may have misled the agency about the defect." The New York Times (7/21, Tabuchi) notes that Toyota's filing does not specify which models or years are being investigated.

Claybrook, other safety advocates fault lack of electronics experts on Toyota investigative panels. The Washington Post (7/21, Kindy) reports that former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook, former head of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, is among auto safety experts who "are criticizing the makeup of two advisory panels charged with determining the role of electronics in the sudden, unintended acceleration of vehicles. There are no electronics experts on Toyota Motor Corp.'s seven-member panel and just three on the National Academies' 12-member panel."

From the American Association for Justice news release.

When Cancer Won’t Bring a Social Security Check

This guest post is by Ms. Alexis Bonari.

Although Social Security implemented changes in its “Malignant Neoplastic Diseases” criteria in November of 2009, determining disability as a result of cancer can still be difficult. In many cases, extra time is needed for Social Security to decide whether or not disability may be granted. This is due in part to the large number of treatment options available for most cancers. Often, combinations of treatments are prescribed and rotated, enabling deferment of a decision until treatment options have been exhausted (13.00E3). Additionally, if symptoms can be attributed to “temporary” reactions to cancer-treating drugs, a disability decision may be deferred until these symptoms subside and allow for clear judgment based solely on the presence or absence of debilitating cancer (13.00G3). These symptoms resulting from therapies can last up to a year and, in some cases, even longer.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Disability Issues

Although it may seem that Hodgkin’s affects only young adults, there are many individuals over the age of 55 who suffer from the condition. Males aged 45 and older are at risk for diminished success in treating Hodgkin’s, which is generally considered to be a highly treatable cancer. Challenges that prevent these individuals from receiving disability can be severely detrimental to both health and financial viability.

When attempting to collect Social Security disability benefits based on cancerous diseases, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma can be especially difficult. If it reappears over twelve months after completion of treatment, Social Security considers Hodgkin’s a new disease rather than a recurrence (13.00K1c).  This can be frustrating, as a new disease often takes longer than a recurrence to receive a disability decision. Initial disability may also take a year to obtain, as Hodgkin’s must resist treatment for twelve months in order to merit disability. The only other option is to undergo a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, which secures disability for at least twelve months following the procedure.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She often can be found blogging about general education issues as well as information on college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.