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• Senate Rejects Medical Mistake Limitation Bill

  Ricky Bagolie | May 10, 2006 7:43 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  In a victory for consumers and victims of medical errors, the Senate on Monday rejected two Republican backed malpractice bills. The first Bill would have capped jury awards in all lawsuits against doctors and health care institutions; the second would have applied caps only to cases involving obstetricians. Studies have proven that restricting a patient's rights would not reduce a doctors'...

• Knowledge and Involvement Can Help Prevent Neglect In Nursing Homes

  Ricky Bagolie | May 09, 2006 9:56 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Very often neglect and abuse in nursing homes goes on right under the noses of visiting family members. You can help prevent this by knowing what to look for and being inviolved in the care.What Should I Know? Federal and State laws grant specific rights to nursing home residents. These laws state that nursing homes must provide care and services "to attain and maintain the highest practicable...

• Texas Jury Returns $160 Million Verdict for Vicious Beating of 81-Year-Old Nursing Home Resident by Violent Roommate

  Ricky Bagolie | May 08, 2006 9:48 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  A San Antonio jury has returned a verdict $160 million in favor of the family of Tranquilino Mendoza, an 81-year-old man who was viciously beaten by a mentally disturbed roommate at the Comanche Trail Nursing Center in 1997.The jury found that Summit Care Corp., its Texas affiliate, and two of its employees shared responsibility for this particularly brutal beating and its aftermath. Mr. Mendoza...

• Arizona Governor Stands Up For Victims of Medical Mistakes

  Ricky Bagolie | May 07, 2006 9:38 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Three cheers for Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, has had the courage to veto a bill that would have made it nearly impossible for victims of medical mistakes in emergency rooms obtain justice.The law would have punished those least able to defend themselves, emergency room patients and had no proof that it would have helped alleviate any real or perceived doctor shortage. This is...

• European Link to Eye Fungus Troubles Bausch & Lomb

  Ricky Bagolie | May 06, 2006 9:15 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  More bad news for Bausch & Lomb as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has notified the company additional cases of Fusarium keratitis involving contact lens wearers have been linked to another of its products. The CDC has found some 27% of the reported cases of the rare fungal infection in contact lens wearers occurred in people who had used ReNu MultiPlus, a contact lens...

• Brooklyn Jury Awards Asbestos Victims $16.4 million

  Ricky Bagolie | May 05, 2006 1:13 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  A Brooklyn jury awarded three retired Long Island Railroad (LIRR) workers a total of 16.4 million dollars for lung disease caused by their exposure to asbestos while working for the railroad. Following an eight day jury trial before the Honorable Lawrence Knipel, Albito Velez-Zapata of Massepequa Park, New York was awarded 8 million dollars, Lincoln Aguirre of Deer Park, New York was awarded 6...

• OSHA Cites 14,000 Employers for High Worker Injury Rates

  Ricky Bagolie | May 04, 2006 9:39 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Is your job safe? Approximately 14,000 employers have been notified that injury and illness rates at their worksites are higher than average and that assistance is available to help them fix safety and health hazards, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced. OSHA wants these jobs to clean up their act.Check to see if your job is on the list. The 14,000 sites are...

• Death on the Job: Up for the First Time in 10 Years

  Ricky Bagolie | May 03, 2006 12:28 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  New Jersey workers, stay safe. The AFL-CIO's annual job safety report reveals that for the first time in a decade, the national job fatality rate was up from the previous year. In 2004 (the latest year for which Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are available), 5,703 workers died from workplace injuries, compared to 5,575 the previous year, reports Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. The...

• Medicare Raises Threshold to $25,000 for Setaside Review

  Ricky Bagolie | May 02, 2006 11:48 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  It will be a little bit easier to settle a New Jersey Workers' Compensation claim now that Medicare has raised it's threshold level of review from $10,000 to $25,000. Medicare's April 25, 2006 Memorandum regarding their setasides. Although it is only a threshold for review and not a safe harbor, it will allow clients on Medicare to settle cases with values under $25,000 without waiting to see...

• Keyboards Source of Contamination in Hospitals

  Ricky Bagolie | May 01, 2006 9:21 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Bacterial contamination of keyboards is a source of pathogenic contamination in hospitals , according to a paper published by the Department of Hospital Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina Health Care System in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Hospital keyboards have multiple users, who do not wash or decontaminate their hands according to these findings. Most hospitals have mobile...