Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Texas Legislature Must Cut Homeowners Insurance Costs

I've written about the ridiculously high cost of homeowners insurance in Texas many times, most recently this November 18. Now the Beaumont Enterprise has published an editorial on this subject, and I completely agree with the newspaper. Here are excerpts:

When the Legislature convenes in January, it has to do more than agree with fed-up consumers that something ought to be done about this.

It has to do something.

It has to get these rates lower. That means fixing a broken system that lets insurance companies basically set their own rates with little or no control from the Texas Department of Insurance.

Lawmakers can't be fooled by arguments from insurance companies that Texas has had a lot of major hurricanes. We've had two in the recent past, and many years of virtually no damage from tropical storms - like this year.

The biggest priority for the Legislature will be addressing the state's budget shortfall of up to $25 billion. That's a pocketbook issue for state government that cannot be ignored.

But homeowners insurance is a pocketbook issue for the people of Texas. The elected officials who represent them must not come home until they have delivered tangible relief here.

 

Bassettbaby Recalls Drop-Side Cribs Due to Suffocation Hazards

Here's the latest in what seems to be a never-ending stream of crib recalls. Bassett Furniture Industries has recalled about 90,000 Bassettbaby drop-side cribs. I keep telling parents to just not use any drop-side crib. They all seem to have similar problems, and hundreds of thousands have been recalled, by many different manufacturers. Here are some excerpts from the Consumer Product Safety Commission announcement:

Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Bassettbaby drop-side cribs with external plastic hardware

Hazard: The cribs' drop-side rail can malfunction, detach or otherwise fail, causing part of the drop side to detach from the crib. When a drop-side rail partially detaches, it creates a space between the drop-side and the crib mattress. An infant or toddler's body can become entrapped in the space, which can lead to strangulation and/or suffocation. A child also can fall out of the crib. Drop-side incidents also can occur due to incorrect assembly and age-related wear and tear.

Description: The recalled cribs are wood with a metal mattress support and have a drop side with external plastic hardware. The cribs were sold in a variety of finishes. A label is attached to the footboard or headboard with the names "Bassettbaby" or "Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc." as well as the model number, production date and other information. On some older models the manufacturer's name appears on a separate label.

Sold at: Children's product stores, and other retailers nationwide and on-line from January 2000 through August 2010 for between about $200 and $500.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled drop-side cribs and contact Bassettbaby for a free kit that will immobilize the drop side. In the meantime, parents are urged to find an alternate, safe sleeping environment for the child, such as a bassinet, play yard or toddler bed depending on the child's age.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Bassettbaby at (800) 308-7485 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website at www.bassettbaby.com

Important Message from CPSC: CPSC reminds parents not to use any crib with missing, broken or loose parts. Make sure to tighten hardware from time to time to keep the crib sturdy. When using a drop-side crib, parents should check to make sure the drop side or any other moving part operates smoothly. Always check all sides and corners of the crib for parts separating that can create a gap and entrap a child. In addition, do not try to repair any side of the crib. Babies have died in cribs where repairs were attempted by caregivers. Crib age is a factor in safety. At a minimum, CPSC staff recommends that you not use a crib that is older than 10 years. Many older cribs may not meet current voluntary standards and can have a variety of safety problems. Check if your crib has been recalled at www.cpsc.gov

Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals

We're not making progress in preventing medical malpractice and hospital negligence, according to a disappointing article last week in the New York Times.  The article presented details from a study conducted in ten North Carolina hospitals, from 2002 to 2007. The bottom line is that harm to patients was common, and the number of incidents did not decrease over time. This is in spite of hospitals' stated intentions during that time to decrease errors resulting in deaths and injuries to patients.

This information is especially important as applied to Texas, because Governor Rick Perry and the Republican Legislature essentially provided immunity to doctors and hospitals with the passage of a law in 2003 that limited non-economic damages to a figure so low that qualified attorneys now will very rarely accept a potential client's case for malpractice. The costs of litigation are simply too high to risk for such a small recovery. Unless you are a high wage-earner who has lost years of income due to medical negligence, you will have a hard time finding a lawyer willing to help you in Texas. Children and retired people are pretty much out of luck if they are injured by medical malpractice.

The study quoted in the New York Times was lead by assistant professor Dr. Christopher P. Landrigan of Harvard Medical School and will be published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Landrigan said “It is unlikely that other regions of the country have fared better." Here are excerpts from the article:

It is one of the most rigorous efforts to collect data about patient safety since a landmark report in 1999 found that medical mistakes caused as many as 98,000 deaths and more than one million injuries a year in the United States. That report, by the Institute of Medicine, an independent group that advises the government on health matters, led to a national movement to reduce errors and make hospital stays less hazardous to patients’ health.

Among the preventable problems that Dr. Landrigan’s team identified were severe bleeding during an operation, serious breathing trouble caused by a procedure that was performed incorrectly, a fall that dislocated a patient’s hip and damaged a nerve, and vaginal cuts caused by a vacuum device used to help deliver a baby.

Dr. Landrigan’s team focused on North Carolina because its hospitals, compared with those in most states, have been more involved in programs to improve patient safety.

But instead of improvements, the researchers found a high rate of problems. About 18 percent of patients were harmed by medical care, some more than once, and 63.1 percent of the injuries were judged to be preventable. Most of the problems were temporary and treatable, but some were serious, and a few — 2.4 percent — caused or contributed to a patient’s death, the study found.

An expert on hospital safety who was not associated with the study said the findings were a warning for the patient-safety movement. “We need to do more, and to do it more quickly,” said the expert, Dr. Robert M. Wachter, the chief of hospital medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

A recent government report found similar results, saying that in October 2008, 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries — 134,000 patients — experienced “adverse events” during hospital stays. The report said the extra treatment required as a result of the injuries could cost Medicare several billion dollars a year. And in 1.5 percent of the patients — 15,000 in the month studied — medical mistakes contributed to their deaths.

For the most part, the reporting of medical errors or harm to patients is voluntary, and that “vastly underestimates the frequency of errors and injuries that occur,” Dr. Landrigan said. “We need a monitoring system that is mandatory,” he said. “There has to be some mechanism for federal-level reporting, where hospitals across the country are held to it.”

 

Friday Fun

Did you like to blow soap bubbles when you were a kid? Try to make bigger ones than your friends? You never imagined bubbles like this:

Your Medical Information Isn't Very Private

The AP reports, "A Vermont law that restricts companies' use of information about the drugs doctors prescribe is unconstitutional on free speech grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday." IMS Health, SDI and Source Healthcare Analytics "had sued over the so-called data mining law." Vermont pharmacies are required to "collect information including the prescriber's name and address; the name, dosage and quantity of the drug; the date and place the prescription is filled; and the patient's age and gender. At issue is what happens to that information."

Bloomberg News reports, "Vermont lawmakers passed the law in 2007 to limit drug companies' marketing campaigns as part of a push to reduce healthcare costs. The law banned the use of prescriber data for marketing efforts unless doctors consented." Lawyers for the state argued Vermont "had valid interests in protecting public health and the privacy of doctors and citizens by restricting the use of prescription data in marketing campaigns." But "lawyers for the data miners countered in the Vermont case that the companies have a constitutional right to acquire and use the information and the state's interests don't outweigh that right."

Privacy groups charge online health sites with unauthorized sharing of user data. The New York Times reports, "QualityHealth is a popular health website with more than 20 million registered users that offers online medical information and email newsletters on a variety of topics." But "according to a complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Trade Commission, site visitors who provide personal details about themselves might not be aware that QualityHealth collects information about people's medical conditions, preferred medicines and treatment plans and uses it to profile its users for prescription drug marketing." QualityHealth "is one of a number of companies cited in the complaint to the FTC filed by four nonprofit privacy and consumer advocacy groups." The groups say "that online marketing of medications, products and medical services poses fundamental new risks to consumer privacy and health because of sophisticated data collection and patient-profiling techniques."

From the American Association for Justice news release.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope each of you has a happy Thanksgiving, with family and friends around you. Drive safely if you're traveling, take your time, rest if you get sleepy, and always buckle up everyone in your vehicle.

Featured Link - Vietnam Virtual Wall

This has nothing to do with auto collisions or Social Security disability, but for those of us who are "of a certain age" the Vietnam war was very personal. We lost friends there, or saw friends return in bad physical or mental condition.

If you have not visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, I highly recommend it. Seeing and touching it will bring out deep emotions.

The VirtualWall site in some ways is even more emotionally difficult. You can see casualties listed by city and state, by last name, and by date of death. By clicking on a name you can see photos, service records, poems, and other offerings. A great deal of time and effort went into the creation of this site. Please visit. It will give you something else to be thankful for at Thanksgiving this week. Here is the description from the site:

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington DC honors the fallen of the Vietnam War. Relatives and friends leave letters, poems, and photographs there and on this web site named The Virtual Wall ®. We bring the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to your home.

 

Teenage Pickup Drivers Double Risks of Severe Injury in Wrecks

This conclusions drawn in this article will be a surprise to many people, and that may be the point of the Dallas Morning News in publishing it. The bottom line is that teenagers in large pickup trucks are unsafe drivers, and that big trucks are not necessarily safer than cars in collisions.

The article is based on a recent study by the University of Texas. Engineering professor Chandra Bhat and two students used traffic data from roughly 7,000 crashes nationwide from 2005 to 2007. They found that teens driving pickups are twice as likely to be severely injured in a crash as those driving other types of vehicles, including SUVs.

Apparently big trucks bring out aggressive driving in teenagers, and pickups are less safe than conventional vehicles because they roll over more easily, and can be difficult to control in sudden maneuvers. This information might not be a big deal in some parts of the country, but in Texas about 25% of drivers own a pickup. Here are a few quotes from the article:

John Linkcov, managing editor for Consumer Reports Cars, said pickups are harder to correct once they lose control because they are designed for work, not cruising.

"Pickups are certainly a useful vehicle, but as a status symbol with chrome and big bad wheels, it's just about vanity and not about anything else," Linkcov said.

For teen drivers, Bhat and other experts recommend a mid-size sedan with advanced safety features, such as electronic stability control and front and side airbags.

Findings from the study:

•Drivers tend to be most aggressive during the morning rush hour because of time pressures to reach their office or school.

•The pattern of aggressive driving by young adults continues until roughly age 20.

•Drivers ages 16 and 17 are 368 percent more likely to drive aggressively than those 65 or older. That likelihood drops sharply in the next few years.

SOURCE: University of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering

 

Political Rhetoric Harms Perception and Future of Texas Medicaid Programs

A recent article about Medicaid in the Houston Chronicle repeated some of the political musings of Governor Rick Perry and other politicians. For anyone with even a basic knowledge of Medicaid, the suggestion that Texas could simply "opt-out" is ridiculous.

Of course that doesn't stop politicians from proposing it, and thereby frightening the poor, the elderly, and the young Texans who rely on Medicaid for medical and nursing home care.

The article prompted an excellent response from Molly Dear Abshire, who is a Certified Elder Law attorney, and practices at the Wright Abshire law firm in Houston. This is her letter to the editor:

The recent article, “No Medicaid in Texas,” published on the front page of the Sunday, November 14, 2010 edition of the Houston Chronicle, exemplifies the sensitive subject of providing healthcare and healthcare reform in the nation. In the article, divisive rhetoric made by Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican state senators merely serves as political posturing and offers little in the way of solutions to the budget crisis facing state and local economies.

A common misperception of Medicaid is that program beneficiaries are only the indigent and undeserving. However, the majority of individuals who receive Medicaid benefits are the elderly, children and the developmentally disabled. These are people lacking a voice in the political process. Politicians calling for an opt-out from the federal Medicaid program offer little hope for improving the quality of care received by Medicaid recipients and fail to provide alternatives to the Medicaid program. Simply calling for a private health insurance solution is unfeasible and irresponsible.

Long-term care Medicaid goes beyond the payment of nursing home expenses, and less costly “waiver” programs are underfunded. Waiver programs, such as the Community Based Alternatives (“CBA”) and the Community Living Assistance and Support Services (“CLASS”) programs, provide healthcare and rehabilitative services in the Medicaid recipient’s home. These have been touted as more cost effective than nursing home care and, when appropriate, allow the individual to stay at home indefinitely. However, due to lack of funding and a lack of providers, these waiver programs have waiting lists of up to 10 years. Will this be the future for the elderly and disabled citizens of Texas?

What politicians fail to consider when seeking to opt-out of the Medicaid program is the severe toll such action would take upon families of long-term care Medicaid recipients. Often such recipients have elderly spouses who are physically unable to meet the needs of their spouse. In addition to the physical care-giving demands of the incapacitated spouse, the financial burden of providing care to the incapacitated spouse jeopardizes the “well” spouse’s ability to provide the basic necessities of life. With the average cost of nursing home care hovering at $4,500 per month, most couples quickly deplete their life savings to fund such care, leaving the spouse living outside of the nursing home in a meager existence.

If the Medicaid recipient is unmarried, their adult child, children or other close family members take on the burden of care. They often have minor children or employment, which makes providing adequate care for their incapacitated loved one impossible. Frequently, adult children do not live near their parents and are unable to move closer to provide care. Placement in a nursing home is sometimes the only option for giving the elderly or disabled individual the care they need. Therefore, the reality is that without the Medicaid program, vital nursing home care would be unattainable.

Statements like those made in Sunday’s article serve only to create additional stress and uncertainty among a disadvantaged group. As president of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and as an attorney in a firm specializing in servicing the needs the of elderly and disabled, my office is receiving calls from Medicaid recipients and their families who are terrified at the prospect of losing the Medicaid program’s life-saving benefits. Not only do long-term Medicaid benefits provide nursing home care for the recipient, but they also provide relief to the family who cannot afford nursing home care and is unable to care for the Medicaid recipient at home.

 

CPSC Releases Top Three Tips for a Safer Holiday Toy Shopping and Playing Experience

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a timely press release about toy safety, just before the Holidays. The report notes the decrease in toy recalls in 2010 compared with 2008, and the decrease in child deaths during the same period. This is great progress, and perhaps a sign of tougher oversight under the new administration in Washington.

Unfortunately, child injuries from toys are on the increase, so parents need to continue to take care, and to properly supervise their children's play. Here is the press release, with some good safety tips for buying toys:

As the holidays approach and toy catalogs begin to arrive in the mail, toy shoppers can become overwhelmed with all the choices. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants parents and consumers to know that safeguards put in place in recent years are making a positive impact and helping to restore confidence in the safety of toys in the marketplace.

The new toy safeguards include: establishing the lowest lead content and lead paint limits in the world; setting limits on the use of certain phthalates; converting the voluntary toy standard into a mandatory standard; and working with Customs and Border Protection data systems to track shipments as they are in transit from other countries thereby increasing our effectiveness in discovering dangerous products coming into U.S. ports.

These safeguards, along with safety-conscious steps taken by many toy makers and sellers, have contributed to a dramatic decline in toy recalls since 2008. There were 44 toy recalls in fiscal year 2010. This is down from 50 recalls in 2009 and 172 recalls in 2008. Toy recalls related to lead in 2010 were down to 3, which is far fewer than 9 in 2009 and 19 in 2008.

In addition to a decline in recalls, toy-related fatalities decreased in 2009. A new report (pdf) released by CPSC today notes that for 2009 CPSC received reports of 12 deaths to children under the age of 15, which is down from 24 toy-related fatalities in 2007 and 2008. Riding toys were associated with almost 60 percent of the reported deaths in 2009: 3 with tricycles, 2 with powered riding toys, and 2 with nonmotorized riding toys or unspecified riding toys. Most deaths were from drowning, motor vehicle accidents, or airway obstruction from a small toy or small part of a toy.

While recalls and deaths have declined, new statistics from CPSC released today show that toy-related injuries are increasing. In 2009, there were an estimated 186,000 emergency room-treated injuries related to toys with children younger than 15, which is up from 152,000 injuries in 2005. Frequently these injuries involved lacerations, contusions, and abrasions that most often occurred to a child’s face and head. Importantly many of the incidents were associated with, but not necessarily caused by, a toy.

“By limiting metals and chemicals in toys and making the voluntary standard mandatory, CPSC has put safeguards in place for toys to better protect children,” said Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “The increase in injuries is a concern, and we want parents to make safe purchases and for children to be safe at play. To help keep what has been called the most wonderful time of the year happy and incident-free, CPSC is encouraging consumers to adopt a three-pronged safety approach.”

1. Which Toy for Which Child – Always choose age appropriate toys.
2. Gear Up for Safety – Include safety gear whenever shopping for sports-related gifts or ride-on toys, including bicycles, skates, and scooters.
3. Location, Location, Location – Be aware of your child’s surroundings during play. Young children should avoid playing with ride-on toys near automobile traffic, pools or ponds. They also should avoid playing in indoor areas associated with hazards such as kitchens and bathrooms and in rooms with corded window blinds.

Here are some additional safety steps that consumers can take while shopping this holiday season:

• Scooters and other Riding Toys – Riding toys, skateboards, and in-line skates go fast, and falls could be deadly. Helmets and safety gear should be worn properly at all times and be sized to fit.
• Small Balls and other Toys with Small Parts – For children younger than age three, avoid toys with small parts, which can cause choking.
• Balloons - Children can choke or suffocate on deflated or broken balloons. Keep deflated balloons away from children younger than eight years old. Discard broken balloons at once.
• Magnets – For children under age six, avoid building or play sets with small magnets. If magnets or pieces with magnets are swallowed, serious injuries and/or death can occur.

Once the gifts are open:

• Immediately discard plastic wrappings or other packaging on toys before they become dangerous play things.
• Keep toys appropriate for older children away from younger siblings.
• Charging batteries should be supervised by adults. Chargers and adapters can pose thermal burn hazards to young children. Pay attention to instructions and warnings on battery chargers. Some chargers lack any mechanism to prevent overcharging.

Along with educating the public, CPSC is committed to working with foreign and domestic toy manufacturers, importers, and retailers to help them understand and comply with these requirements while keeping their doors open and their businesses competitive.