Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Featured Link - U.S. News Best Hospitals 2010-11

U.S. News has released its latest hospital rating report. There are so many variables to consider that I don't put a great deal of stock in this type of rating system, but there is helpful information provided. Here is a description from the article:

U.S. News evaluated almost 5,000 hospitals to rank the best in 16 adult specialties from cancer to urology. Death rates, patient safety, and reputation with more than 9,000 specialists went into the 2010-11 rankings. Of 152 hospitals ranked in at least one specialty, 14 are featured in an Honor Roll for landing near the top in at least six specialties.

Auto Rental Companies Buy Cars Without Side Air Bags to Save $175

Be very careful when renting a car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car or one of it's subsidiaries, and especially careful if you are considering purchasing a used vehicle from Enterprise. The company has been buying vehicles that normally come equipped with side curtain air bags as standard equipment. But Enterprise worked out a deal with the manufacturer to omit the air bags in order to save $175.

Of course Enterprise didn't bother to warn customers or even purchasers of this omission. So people who did their research and learned a certain model comes from the factory with standard curtain air bags were shocked to learn, sometimes after a collision, that their vehicles had that feature disabled.

The Kansas City Star recently ran an excellent article exposing this shameful cost-cutting measure. Here are excerpts from the article:

Across the nation, more than 100,000 owners of certain Chevy and Buick models have received settlement proposals in the mail from St. Louis area-based Enterprise Holdings Inc. The car-rental company for three years had ordered new vehicles, mostly Impalas, without side curtain airbags that otherwise came standard, saving roughly $175 per car.

Those so-called program vehicles have now left Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s hands, and the company is offering everyone who owns one a $100 voucher that can be used for renting or buying something else from Enterprise.

A year ago last month, The Kansas City Star revealed that General Motors allowed Enterprise and other large fleet buyers to “delete” side airbags on the factory floor. Enterprise acknowledged taking advantage of the $175 discount on more than 60,000 Impalas over a three-year period, but not on all Impalas it ordered.

Still, the affected cars — model years 2006-08 Impalas and some Chevrolet Cobalts, HHRs and Buick LaCrosses once belonging to Enterprise’s fleet — are revving up confusion in the used-car marketplace: What’s supposed to be “standard,” after all, really isn’t.

In a recent spot check of used cars advertised by local dealers, The Star found seven Impalas up for sale that lacked the side airbag protection. Four of those were improperly listed online as having “side head air bag” or “5 Star Driver Side Crash Rating” when they don’t.

GM has since stopped the practice that enabled Enterprise — the nation’s largest buyer of new cars — to save millions of dollars and still provide rental cars that complied with federal safety mandates.

In the wake of The Star’s report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revised the information on its consumer website regarding 2006-08 Impalas and 2008-09 Cobalts and LaCrosse models. The five-star crash rating for Impalas in side-impact wrecks was given only to those vehicles equipped with the airbags, which the federal website safercar.gov now lists as “optional.”

After The Star reported that many Enterprise cars were improperly advertised on its website, Enterprise Holdings — which also owns National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car — sent letters to 745 buyers that said, “We are extremely sorry for the mistake.”

At Distracted-Driving Conference, LaHood Calls for Crackdown

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood opened this year's National Distracted Driving Summit last week by announcing new anti-distracted driving regulations for commercial truck and bus drivers. One of the primary changes in the law is that it is now illegal for bus and truck drivers to use a cell phone or other devise to send or read text messages while driving.

In 2009, nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. According to NHTSA research, distraction-related fatalities represented 16 percent of overall traffic fatalities in 2009. That is why OSHA and the Department of Transportation are teaming up to combat driving distractions on the job.

To learn more about the 2010 Distracted Driving Summit and DOT’s efforts to stop distracted driving, visit the government's new Web site at Distraction.gov.

Cell Phone Use in School Zones Still OK in One North Texas City

The Texas Legislature passed a state-wide law about two years ago that bans hand-held cell phone use in school zones. I applaud this, but wish the state had also banned the use of hands-free phones. Both are distracting. There is a loophole in the law though. It's not effective unless cities post warning signs that cell phone use is prohibited. This makes sense, but a few cities seem to be in no rush to have the law apply to them. We are well into the new school year now, and there is one large city that has not posted the signs — Garland.

There is nothing the school district can do about this, as it is a function of city government, not the school district. In fact, in the parts of the Garland Independent School District that are within the city limits of Sachse and Rowlett, the signs are up and cell phone use is illegal.

Johnson & Johnson Claims to Have Informed FDA on Purchasing Defective Motrin Packages From Stores

The Wall Street Journal reports on the allegation that Johnson & Johnson tried to avoid a recall on defective Motrin packages by purchasing the packages without the FDA's knowledge. According to emails and letters reviewed by the Journal, staff at Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit messaged each other in the spring and summer of 2009 about informing an FDA official regarding the use of a contractor to buy defective Motrin off store shelves. But an FDA spokeswoman said the agency was not aware of J&J's efforts, adding, "Any effort to suggest to the contrary is based on quoting documents selectively and out of context." But a J&J spokeswoman said McNeil "kept the FDA informed of its actions and removed the product from the market in a compliant manner. However, given the concerns highlighted by the congressional committee with respect to Motrin, moving forward we would look to handle things differently."

ABC World News also noted that "e-mails obtained by ABC News reveal that senior executives at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil coordinated the $400,000 Motrin secret purchase program from the very beginning. They wrote, 'Do not communicate to store personnel any information about this product. Simply visit each store, locate the product and if any is found, purchase all of the product.' An e-mail shows this program was authorized by McNeil's president, in which he says 'Let's make this happen ASAP.'"

From the American Association for Justice news release.

Friday Fun

This video of Jewel going "undercover" to sing karaoke in a bar is clever and made for a good gag.

Undercover Karaoke with Jewel from Jewel

Regulators Impose Tight Restrictions on Diabetes Drug Avandia

The New York Times reports today that distribution of the diabetes drug Avandia will now be very tightly regulated. Here are the opening paragraphs of the article:

In a highly unusual coordinated announcement, drug regulators in Europe and the United States said Thursday that Avandia, the controversial diabetes medicine, will no longer be widely available.

The drug’s sales will be suspended entirely in Europe, while patients in the United States will be allowed access to the medicine only if they and their doctors attest that they have tried every other diabetes medicine and that patients have been made aware of the drug’s substantial risks to the heart. Patients currently taking Avandia may continue to do so.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision shows that the Obama administration is taking a harder line on drug safety issues even in the face of scientific uncertainty. Along with its announcement, the agency for the first time immediately posted on its Web site memorandums from top agency staff members that in some cases offered entirely contradictory advice. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the agency’s commissioner, said that passions within the agency had run high on the Avandia decision.

“As F.D.A. commissioner, my job would be infinitely easier if we had consensus and full scientific clarity,” she said.

Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist whose studies highlighted Avandia’s heart attack risks, said that the decision brought an end to “one of the worst drug safety tragedies in our lifetime,” adding that it was “essential to fully investigate what went wrong with the regulatory process to prevent this type of tragedy from endangering patients in the future.”

One study estimated that from 1999 to 2009, more than 47,000 people taking Avandia needlessly suffered a heart attack, stroke or heart failure or died.

Having Surgery in Las Vegas is a Big Gamble

Many people consider Las Vegas a great place to take a vacation or attend a conference. After reading an article in the Las Vegas Sun though, I strongly recommend that you not become ill or injured there. Apparently surgical injuries occur at higher rates in Las Vegas than in other parts of the country. This is a fascinating article. Here are the opening paragraphs:

There's a running joke about hospitals here: "Where do you go for great health care in Las Vegas?"

"The airport."

The implication is everyone knows hospital care in Southern Nevada is substandard.

The reality, however is that only a small circle of hospital officials, insurance executives, regulators and politicians have had access to meaningful information about the quality of hospitals in Las Vegas. Until now.

Physicians More Likely to Accept Industry Gifts if They Feel a Sense of Entitlement Because of Sacrifices Made

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (9/15, Kalson) reports, "Telling physicians they shouldn't accept gifts from drug companies is all well and good. But convincing them that doing so is wrong is another matter." Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University "found that physicians rationalize such gifts as payback for all the sacrifices they made to get their education -- although they may not realize they're doing it."

The Pittsburgh Business Times (9/15) reports, "Reminding doctors of the burdens of their training more than doubled their willingness to accept gifts from" pharmaceutical makers, according to a study published Sept. 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. After surveying "a total of 301 family practice and pediatric medicine residents," the two study authors "found that the reminder increased their willingness to accept gifts to 47.5 percent from 21.7 percent, and that suggesting the rationalization increased the number of willing physicians to 60.3 percent."

From the American Association of Justice press release.

Contract Reveals VA Knew About Prudential's Death Benefit Account

CBS Evening News (9/14, story 4, 3:00, Couric) said "earlier this summer," revelations that Prudential, the "country's second-largest life insurer," was "profiting from the death benefits of fallen soldiers was news to almost everyone." Now, however, a "major development" in the story "points out that this was not the case at the US Department of Veterans Affairs," which in "September of last year," amended "its contract with Prudential, ratifying what had been a ten-year-long verbal agreement to allow the insurance company to retain lump-sum death benefits of soldiers and deposit that money into its own account." On Tuesday, VA "announced a list of reforms to its group life insurance programs, vowing to 'provide better clarity of payment options' to the families of fallen soldiers."

Bloomberg Rewind (9/14, 6:16 p.m. ET) reported, "Bloomberg Markets magazine has learned of a secret deal" in 1999 between Prudential and VA. At that time, VA's "insurance director e-mailed another VA official, saying the 'plan could backfire' and asking, 'Who is responsible' if the benefit account set up by Prudential without backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 'goes belly up?'" After noting that VA, "New York State, Georgia, and a House committee" have launched separate investigations of Prudential and the survivors' accounts, Bloomberg added, "Prudential...says it is in compliance with its contract with Veterans Affairs." Other Bloomberg TV programs aired similar reports earlier in the day.

VA announces life insurance policy reforms. Bloomberg (9/15, Plungis, Evans) also notes that on Tuesday, VA "said Prudential...will now send beneficiaries of VA life-insurance policies a check when they ask for a lump-sum benefit payment rather than keeping the money and mailing a checkbook. The veterans agency will continue to offer a money-market type account that lets the insurer withhold payments of benefits for survivors of fallen service members, while making clear the funds aren't insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the accounts aren't endorsed by the government, the VA said...in a statement on its website." While the "nonprofit advocacy group," Veterans for Common Sense, "called the government's action a positive first step," Paul Sullivan, the group's executive director, who said VA "reforms need to go further" so that, among others things, "Prudential repays families" who lost out on interest-earning opportunities while Prudential held their money.

From the American Association for Justice news release.