All Topics

• Will New Medicare Recovery Procedures Help Injured Workers?

  Ricky Bagolie | December 12, 2006 10:10 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is consolidating all of the functions and workloads related to Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) post-payment recoveries into one MSP recovery contract. The contract for the new national MSP Recovery Contractor (MSPRC) was implemented on October 2, 2006. The MSPRC will take over new MSP recovery claims and most existing claims. However, some...

• More Problems for Ketek

  Ricky Bagolie | November 14, 2006 11:23 PM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Ketek (telithromycin) is a ketolide-class antibiotic manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis. Approved by the FDA in April 2004, the drug has been prescribed over five million times for the treatment of bacterial sinusitis, pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis. The drug has come under fire in recent months upon allegations of adverse Ketek side effects, which include liver damage, liver failure, and death....

• Call for Sprinkler Systems in Hursing Homes Following Fatal Fires

  Ricky Bagolie | November 12, 2006 6:51 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Federal regulators are calling the up to 2500 of the nation's oldest nursing homes be retrofitted with sprinker systems following a rash of deaths due to nurisng home fires. This would be a great step toward helping to protect this vulnerable population although I am sure that the rich, powerfull and gready nursing home industry will fight it tooth and nail.

• Acetaminophen Caplets Recalled

  Ricky Bagolie | November 10, 2006 4:39 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The FDA announced a nationwide recall of store branded acetaminophen caplets. Approximately 11 million bottles are affected. The manufacturer found small metal fragments in a small number of the caplets. While no illness or injuries have been reported, we recommend you ensure your patients know about the recall and check any of their acetaminophen caplets against the recalled lots. Again, this...

• School Bus Crashes a Danger to Children

  Ricky Bagolie | November 09, 2006 4:07 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  ABC News reports that 51,000 children required emergency medical attention for non-fatal school bus-related injuries and accidents over a three-year period. This is unacceptable and we need to make sure that these shool buses, from New Jersey to Florida to California are equipped with seat belts and trained and careful divers.

• Hatchet Job in New York Times Against Injury Lawyers

  Ricky Bagolie | November 06, 2006 9:40 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Most of you have probably read the hatchet job on all of us that was in the NY Times op-ed on October, 24, 2006 called First Rename All of the Lawyers. If you haven't it's a must read for all of us. To represent our clients well we must be aware of the crap that potential jurors are being exposed to in the media. It is equally important for us to respond to these types of attacks quickly and...

• New Jersey Workers' Compensation Benefits May Be Available in Same Sex Relationships

  Ricky Bagolie | October 29, 2006 11:38 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  The New Jersey Supreme Court may have opened the door for providing workers' compensation benefits in same sex relationships. In Mark Lewis and Dennis Winslow, et al. v. Gwendolyn L. Harris, etc., et al. (A-68-05), the Court said"Disparate treatment of committed same-sex couples, moreover, directly disadvantages their children. We fail to see any legitimate governmental purpose in disallowing...

• Owens Corning To Emerge From Bankruptcy and Pay Asbestos Victims

  Ricky Bagolie | October 28, 2006 11:30 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  Owens Corning announced that Judge Judith Fitzgerald of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved the company's Plan of Reorganization. The Bankruptcy Court's approval of the plan paves the way for Owens Corning to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of October 2006 while making arrangements to compensate the thousands of the victims exposed to it's asbestos...

• Family Seeks Justice in Fatal Turnpike Truck Wreck

  Ricky Bagolie | October 27, 2006 1:00 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  According to the Wichita Eagle, the four surviving children of a Wisconsin woman who was killed last year in an accident on the Kansas Turnpike have sued three trucking companies responsible for the crash.Relatives of Corrine Bartels, 64, of Platteville, Wis., sued the owner of the cab, the owner of the trailer it was hauling and the trucking company the driver was working for. Also sued was the...

• Panda Cub Bites Hand That Feeds It

  Ricky Bagolie | October 22, 2006 3:05 AM | 0 CommentsJersey City, NJ

  In what could be one of my favorite stories to come out of China this year, a panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding it at a reserve in southwest China. In a related story, a drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it. This goes to show that you must be on guard...