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• How's this for irony?

  IB Contributor | June 10, 2007 12:01 AM | 2 CommentsOrange County, CA

  Court Hearing to Save Pitbull a Day after Pitbulls Attack Tustin woman and Maul her DogEarly Wednesday morning, two female pitbulls snatched a poodle from the arms of an elderly woman in Tustin and mauled the little dog in front of her eyes, in her front yard, according to an article in The Orange County Register. On Thursday morning, a Westminster woman's attorney begged an Orange County...

• "Sicko" Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

  Eddie Farah | May 22, 2007 6:02 PM | 2 CommentsJacksonville, FL

  More than 2,000 movie goers at the Cannes Film Festival applauded loudly at the first showing of Michal Moore's newest film, "Sicko," all about the perils of our country's modern healthcare system.Expect it in theatres in June.So far the reviews are mixed between hilarious and very sad. The latter is a good summary of our healthcare system which is likely responsible for more deaths than we...

• Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Teen Driving

  Staff Writer | May 14, 2007 4:37 PM | 2 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Last week, the Arizona Legislature passed the Teenage Driver Safety Act, legislation which places driving limitations on new young drivers to help minimize risk of automobile accidents. The bill limits teens as follows:The act provides for driving restrictions from midnight to 5 a.m. and passenger limitations for the first six months a new teen driver holds a Class G driver's license. According...

• Has Your Health Insurance Company Treated You Fairly?

  Staff Writer | May 07, 2007 5:00 PM | 2 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Today in the Los Angeles Times, I read about the health insurance company Blue Shield of California which has been sued by a policyholder alleging bad faith for refusing to pay medical bills totalling $450,000 arising out of a serious car accident. According the the article, the insureds applied for health insurance, paid premiums and received an individual policy through Blue Shield of...

• FDA Requests Recall of ALL Shelhigh Medical Devices

  Michael Phelan | May 03, 2007 3:23 PM | 2 CommentsRichmond, VA

  On May 2, 2007, the FDA issued a formal written request to Shelhigh, Inc. to recall ALL of its medical devices remaining in the marketplace. I blogged in April about the April 17, 2007 raid by U.S. Marshals of Shelhigh's Union, N.J. plant. At the FDA's request, the Marshals seized all medical devices found at the plant because of concerns that the devices were not sterile. During the raid,...

• Insurance Companies Pay Doctors Half-Billion to Settle Class Action Lawsuits

  Mike Ferrara | April 30, 2007 3:50 PM | 2 CommentsCherry Hill, NJ

  Doctors make me chuckle. They hate lawyers, they hate lawsuits, and they especially hate class action lawsuits. Unless it's their own. A group of 900,000 doctors just settled a class action lawsuit against Blue Cross and Blue Shield for $128 Million. That after they received $405 Million from other insurers, including Aetna, Wellpoint, HeathNet, CIGNA, and Humana. The claims were based...

• Another $67,000,000 Embarassment for Lawyers

  Ben Glass | April 26, 2007 9:01 AM | 2 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The Washington Post's Marc Fisher has an article on the front section of today's Metro section of a very disturbing tale of a lawyer (and judge, no less) who is making a mockery of the judicial process.According to Fisher's piece, Washington D.C. Lawyer and Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson took a pair of pants to a local dry cleaners for repair. When things didn't turn out as he wanted he...

• Fake Studies for Medical Malpractice Defense

  Ken Margolin | April 09, 2007 11:20 AM | 2 CommentsBoston, MA

  Today's Boston Globe carried an article with the title, "Bed sores aren't always a sign of negligent care." Having written blogs on this site, suggesting that severe pressures sores are usually caused by nursing home negligence, I read the Globe piece carefully (the law firm of Stark & Stark, has an excellent blog on the subject). My radar went up when I read the sentence that "[T[he sentiment...

• Expert Witness Fees or Windfalls?

  Steve Klearman | March 23, 2007 6:52 AM | 2 CommentsReno, NV

  Nevada medical malpractice cases were put on the road to extinction several years ago by a voter-approved initiative that restricted lawsuits to such an extent that many attorneys stopped practicing in this area altogether.I still do and will continue to. But I've noticed that as medical malpractice lawsuits have become more limited, doctor's expert fees have continued to spiral. Several days...

• State Farm Insurance CEO Pay Rises Eighty-Two Percent

  Staff Writer | March 20, 2007 10:00 AM | 2 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Congratulations to State Farm Insurance Company! Its profits rose almost sixty-four percent (64%) to $5.32 billion dollars last year from $3.24 billion dollars in 2005. In my opinion, during this time, I do not think that State Farm acted like very much of a good neighbor to victims of Hurricane Katrina or to other policy-holders who timely paid premiums thinking they would be protected in...