California Personal Injury Blog - Miscellaneous

Claude Wyle of San Francisco firm Choulos Choulos & Wyle receives “Superb” rating

Claude Wyle — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:24:17 GMT

Claude Wyle of San Francisco firm Choulos Choulos & Wyle receives “Superb” rating

San Francisco, CA--Claude Armand Wyle, a partner with the law firm Choulos Choulos & Wyle, a renowned San Francisco personal injury law firm, has received a “Superb” rating from Avvo.com, based upon his experience, professional conduct, and industry recognition, that is, in the opinion of other lawyers in the community.

Mr. Wyle said, “This rating is very important to me, because Avvo.com is not a paid site.” In other words, Claude’s rating is a result of his achievements, not the result of paid advertisements or an insiders’ network.” Avvo’s new approach to ratings, is also very impressive, according to Mr. Wyle, because it allows former clients to comment on their experiences. “Although client input is not part of the rating system, it is important to consumers, because it helps to convey a sense of the lawyer’s style and approach,” Wyle said. In addition to this “superb” rating among all San Francisco personal injury attorneys with Avvo.com, Mr. Wyle also has an A. V. Rating through Martindale Hubbell, which ranks him as among the top 5% in the country, and the law offices of Choulos Choulos and Wyle is ranked also among the top 1% nationwide. Claude Wyle has also been named a “Superlawyer” by San Francisco Magazine for the last several years and is the author of numerous articles involving all aspects of litigation. He is also a frequent speaker on the topics of automobile, motorcycle and bicycle accidents and dangerous roadway cases.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Claude Wyle

Recall Announced After Bacteria Found in Vick's Nasal Spray

Rick Patterson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:20 GMT

Procter & Gamble is recalling Vicks Sinex nasal spray in the United States, Britain and Germany after finding it contained bacteria, the company said.

Procter & Gamble said it announced the voluntary recall after finding the bacteria in a small amount of product made at a plant in Germany.

There have been no reports of illness from the bacteria, but it could cause serious infections for people with weakened immune systems or those with chronic lung conditions such as cystic fibrosis, Procter & Gamble said late Thursday.

The bacteria poses little risk to healthy people, the company said.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Procter & Gamble said it detected the problem during routine quality control at the plant. Analysis so far shows the problem is limited to a single batch of raw material mixture involving three lots of product, which were sold only in the three countries affected by the recall, the company said.

In the United States, the recalled product is Vicks Sinex Vapospray 12-hour Decongestant Ultra Fine Mist with lot number 9239028831.

In Britain, the company is recalling Vicks Sinex Micromist Aqueous Nasal Spray with lot number 9224028832.

In Germany, the recalled product is Wick Sinex Schnupfenspray Dosiersystem with lot number 9224028833.

All recalled products are in the 15-milliliter size.

Lot numbers are listed on the outer carton and the bottle, the company said.

Consumers with the product should discard it, and they may call the company for a replacement coupon or refund, the company said. More information is at the company's Web site, www.pg.com.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Patterson

Medi-Vac Helicopter Crashes in Northern California Killing Three

Todd Slaughter — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:05:33 GMT

LASSEN COUNTY, Calif. - A medical helicopter stationed in Susanville crashed 15 miles north of Reno at approximately 2:01 am Saturday morning. A "mayday" report was heard just prior to loss of contact. A witness purportedily saw the copter go into a sudden decline. The medi-vac team had just dropped off a patient at Renown Hospital in Reno. All three members of the medical crew were killed. They were the pilot from Hawaii, and the flight nurse and paramedic, both from Susanville.

According to the Lassen County Times, the crash involved an Aerospatiale AS350 that was completely destroyed by the crash and fire that followed. The helicopter was apparently built in 1982. The helicopter was operated by Mountain LifeFlight. The National Transportation Safety Board is on-site investigating the incident.

The Redding Record Searchlight reports that Mountain Lifeflight had another helicopter crash in March of 2002. At that time a Eurocopter As-350B crashed into Honey Lake about 11 miles south of Susanville. The pilot was killed but two medical personnel survived. The NTSB determined that the crash was caused by pilot error. The pilot purportedily became disoriented by the placid sheen off Honey Lake as they flew over it.

Because of the vast distance between populated areas, and the mountaineous terrain of Northern California, medical helicopters play a vital role in the delivery of emergency medical care in our region. When medical responders are tragically killed in the line of duty delivering these services to our citizens, we must each take pause and thank them for the dedicated service they perform everyday, usually without thanks. Our sincerest condolences go to the families, friends and co-workers of these dedicated and heroic medical responders.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Todd Slaughter

More Bayer Birth Control Dangers

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:57:55 GMT

From Fox News:

Within the past year both Christine Navarro and Robyn Dunn were rushed to the hospital with life threatening blood clots. At the time Christine was taking the Yaz birth control pill and Robyn was taking its sister birth control drug Yasmin.

Both of these women were young and athletic and blame birth control for their brushes with death.

It's common knowledge that all women's oral contraceptives carry a percentage risk of health complications. But attorney's who've filed lawsuits on behalf of Robyn and Christine contend that Yaz and Yasmin from Bayer carry a greater risk.

These attorneys claim that recent study in the British Medical Journal found increased risk from the drug drospirenone unique to Yaz and Yasmin.

Representatives for Bayer, the maker of Yaz and Yasmin responded to the concerns, saying quote: "Patient safety is Bayer's top priority. Bayer's oral contraceptives have been and continue to be extensively studied and tested worldwide. Bayer reaffirms and stands behind the safety of its drospirenone containing oral contraceptives."

Click here for the rest of the article.

**Also, anyone who has been adversely affected due to taking these prescription drugs, like Yasmin, Yaz or Ocella, should get in touch with Helen Zukin. Ms. Zukin recently retained a client, a young woman, who unfortunately suffered from a stroke, after only taking Ocella (generic version of Yaz) for a month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Hit-and-run Driver Faces Manslaughter Charges in Death of Disabled Man

Rick Patterson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:06:00 GMT

A driver who hit a disabled man in Santa Ana will be facing vehicular manslaughter charges now that the victim has died.

Police said Fred Dole had helped a neighbor put up lights on Halloween at his home near Wellington Avenue and Lacy Street. Dole decided to get a better look at their work, so he wheeled himself across the street when a van slammed into him.

Witnesses said the driver stopped briefly and then took off.

Dole was severly injured and taken to a nearby hospital. The 62-year-old never regained consciousness and died this past weekend.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Patterson

Bishops and Thugs: How the Catholic Church is Shaping Health Care Legislation

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:07:42 GMT

From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - Catholic bishops have emerged as a formidable force in the health care overhaul fight, using their clout with millions of Catholics and working behind the scenes in Congress to get strong abortion restrictions into the House bill.

They don't spend a dime on what is legally defined as lobbying, but lawmakers and insiders recognize that the bishops' voices matter — and they move votes. Representatives for the bishops were in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Capitol suite negotiating with top officials last Friday evening as they reached final terms of the agreement. Earlier in the day, Pelosi, a Catholic and an abortion rights supporter, had been on the phone to Rome with Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Washington's former archbishop, on the subject.

It wasn't the first time a high-ranking Catholic had weighed in with a key player on writing strict abortion curbs into the health measure. Boston's Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley personally appealed to President Barack Obama about it near the church altar at the early September funeral for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. Bishops quietly called their congressmen and senators to weigh in.

"The Catholic Church used their power — their clout, if you will — to influence this issue. They had to. It's a basic teaching of the religion," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a leading abortion foe and architect of the health measure's restrictions.

Bringing in the bishops' staff
It was Stupak who told Pelosi last Friday that if she wanted a deal on the health bill, she'd be well advised to invite the bishops' staff, who were already in his office, to her table. "I said, 'Well, they're here, and they're one of the key groups you want to have on your side, so why don't we just bring them in and work this out," Stupak said.

Pelosi did, and the result was a final measure that — much to the outrage of abortion rights supporters — bars a new government-run insurance plan from covering abortions, except in cases or rape, incest or the life of the mother being in danger, and prohibits any health plan that receives federal subsidies in a new insurance marketplace from offering abortion coverage. If women wanted to purchase abortion coverage through such plans, they'd have to buy it separately, as a so-called rider on their insurance policies.

The outcome has put Obama and Democratic leaders — already struggling for consensus on the complex and politically tricky health measure — in a tough spot. Democratic abortion foes in the Senate vow they won't support health legislation that omits the strict restrictions approved by the House, while abortion rights champions say they can't possibly vote for a bill that contains them.

Obama suggested Monday that he wants to strike a balance that doesn't allow backdoor federal funding of abortions but preserves women's insurance choices. For now, however, no such middle ground has been identified, and the bishops have served their notice that they will be a player — perhaps the dominant one — in the final outcome.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

LAT: Headed to the Emergency Room? Bring a book...

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:13:07 GMT

From the Los Angeles Times:

The stereotype of hospital emergency rooms crowded with patients waiting endlessly to be seen by a doctor is true, according to a new study in Tuesday's edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. The conventional wisdom that throngs of low-income, uninsured people who use the ER as a substitute for primary care visits are to blame, however, is wrong.

First, a few statistics:

In 1997, the median wait time for ER patients was 22 minutes. By 2006, it was 33 minutes.
Per capita use of ERs was 40.5 visits per 100 people in 2006, up from 34.2 visits per 100 people a decade earlier.
The proportion of ER patients deemed to be suffering from a real medical emergency fell from 26.9% in 1997 to 18.3% in 2007.
The percentage of ER patients who lacked health insurance remained between 16% and 17% between 1997 and 2006.

These and other statistics were gleaned from data on 151,999 patient visits to emergency departments recorded in the National Hospital Ambulatory and Medical Care Survey. The survey includes four triage categories – emergent (patient should be seen within 14 minutes), urgent (15-60 minutes), semiurgent (61 minutes to two hours) and nonurgent (anywhere from two to 24 hours).

Though wait times got longer for everyone, the problem was worst for emergent patients – their median wait times increased by 4.6% per year, the study found. Waits for urgent patients grew 2.8% per year for urgent patients, 3.9% per year for semiurgent patients, and 1.6% for nonurgent patients.

Put another way, only 56.6% of emergent patients saw a doctor within the time recommended by triage staff, compared to 100% of nonurgent patients. Overall, the proportion of patients who got to a doctor within the “triage target time” fell from 80% in 2000 to 75.9% in 2006, the study found.

One theory to account for increased ER wait times is that more people who can’t afford to go to a regular doctor wind up coming to the ER instead, where federal law guarantees they’ll be treated regardless of ability to pay. The survey data corroborated this to an extent, finding that 17% of uninsured patients in the ER were classified as nonurgent, compared to only 13.9% of people who had private insurance. That works out to about 567,000 extra visits each year.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

I-5 Reopens After Milti-car Collision

Greg Owen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:05:00 GMT

All lanes on Interstate 5 in Burbank have been reopened after a big rig jackknifed and struck the center divider early this morning, catching fire and causing a multi-car collision.

The 5:51 a.m. accident occurred on the northbound lanes near West Alameda Avenue. A SigAlert was issued but was canceled at about 11:30 a.m. California Highway Patrol officials said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, but CHP spokesman Andre Primeaux said the truck driver told officials he saw an obstruction in the road and swerved left, hitting the median. Three cars on each side of the road were involved in the accident, but only one driver suffered minor injuries. An official of the Burbank Fire Department, which responded to the accident, said she didn't have any update on that person’s condition.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Owen

Medicare’s Harsh Collection Practices Hurt Elderly Personal Injury Survivors?

Claude Wyle — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:19:11 GMT

At a time when many are questioning the very future of Medicare—financial support for the program is under attack, coverage is shrinking, the number of beneficiaries is climbing dramatically—Medicare has started to fight back. Unfortunately, the elderly are getting caught in the crossfire.

Eighty-one year-old Mollie Coury knows just that. Her legs were crushed during an accident on California’s 210 freeway, east of Pasadena. Doctors thought she'd never walk again, but she regained her mobility and put the accident behind her. Thirteen years later, in the fall of 2008, Medicare sent Mollie a bill for $66,000 for medical expenses related to the accident. If she didn't pay within 60 days, Medicare would seize her Social Security checks until the money was repaid.

How did this happen? After the accident, Coury had received about $20,000 from her daughter's insurance policy. This settlement subjected her to a law called “Medicare Secondary Payer Act,” created to prevent Medicare from paying medical expenses that were the responsibility of private insurers or other parties. Essentially, if a Medicare recipient gets in a car crash or is injured by a defective pacemaker, the government picks up the hospital tab. But if that person receives a payment from a legal settlement, insurance policy, or jury award that covers accident-related medical bills, Medicare is entitled to its money back.

The problem, as described by Mother Jones columnist Stephanie Mencimer, is that "In recent years, Congress has pushed Medicare to aggressively pursue debts from injured elderly people who have won compensation through lawsuits or liability insurance." For people "on the receiving end of the collections process-mostly elderly car accident victims...it can be a traumatic ordeal." After "forcing” personal injury lawyers to serve as Medicare's debt collectors failed to produce the desired results, Congress passed new debt-collection measures as part of the 2007 SCHIP reauthorization.

Starting next year, insurance companies must report any settlements or judgments involving Medicare beneficiaries to CMS. If a Medicare beneficiary fails to reimburse the agency for health care costs it paid, the agency can punish the insurance company with double damages. But the prospect of harsher penalties is already leading to insurance company overkill that, combined with Medicare's bureaucracy, has kept some elderly folks from receiving money that's rightfully owed them.

If you are a Medicare recipient and you win compensation in a lawsuit, be very careful that the Medicare costs are taken into consideration when finalizing the settlement. If your personal injury attorneys are not familiar with the debt-collection measures you could wind up with a bill rather than a check.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Claude Wyle

Radiation Overdose Prompts FDA to Issue Safety Warning

Susy Owen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:49:50 GMT

The FDA issued a safety warning after 206 patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles received eight times the necessary amount of radiation. The safety warning did not specifially name Cedars-Sinai.

The machine in question was reconfigured in February 2008 to increase the ability to see blood flow to the brain in the diagnosis of a stroke. The error was not recognized until August 2009 when a patient reported patchy hair loss.

"If patient doses are higher than the expected level, but not high enough to produce obvious signs of radiation injury, the problem may go undetected and unreported, putting patients at increased risk for long-term radiation effects," the safety notification added.

The FDA warned imaging facilities to review their protocols and carefully monitor the volume CT dose index and dose-length product during and after each patient's scan.

The California errors highlight an ongoing controversy over patients' increasing exposure to radiation, brought on by phenomenal growth in the number of CT procedures, said Jeff Brinker, MD, of Johns Hopkins. "This situation may reflect more widespread problems with CT quality assurance programs and may not be isolated to this particular facility or this imaging procedure (CT brain perfusion)," the FDA said.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Susy Owen