All Topics

• Five People Positive for Salmonella in Illinois

  Jamie G. Goldstein | February 16, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  A salmonella outbreak has affected at least five people in Illinois. As previously posted, the FDA issued a recall for Peter Pan peanut butter made by ConAgra. The peanut butter as been the cause of ongoing cases of salmonella since August of 2006.New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri have reported the most cases of salmonella related to the peanut butter thus far. The...

• Woman Neglected at Illinois Nursing Home

  Jamie G. Goldstein | January 31, 2007 11:53 AM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  An 81 year old woman recently filed a lawsuit in Illinois claiming that she was neglected while she was staying at the Prairie Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Chicago Heights, Illinois. The woman alleges that the abuse and neglect she suffered from caused her bed sores and caused her to fall and hit her head.Some time after the fall occurred she may have sustained a second stroke. ...

• Are Medical Malpractice Awards Really Out Of Control?

  Jamie G. Goldstein | January 26, 2007 4:01 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Politicians and lobbyists are calling for tort reform and implementation of caps in medical malpractice cases because of skyrocketing malpractice insurance for doctors caused by outrageous awards. However, the truth is there is no crisis due to large awards. In fact over a 14 year period from 1991 - 2005, malpractice payments made as the result of judgments and settlements declined 15.4...

• Drug Errors Injure 1.5 Million Patients

  Staff Writer | July 20, 2006 4:59 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  The Institute of Medicine has reported that 1.5 Million patients each year are injured in hospitals as a result of medication errors. The study revealed the alarming statistic that at least one medical error occurs to each patient every day. The cost for additional medical treatment necessary to address the drug errors averages $5,800 per patient, which totals about $3.5 Billion in increased...

• High Rate of Heart Device Recalls

  Staff Writer | May 22, 2006 11:51 AM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  A study based on FDA records for the last 10 years found that 164,000 external defibrillators (one out of every five) were subject to recall or agency alert. The data included 370 reports of deaths in which the defibrillator malfunctioned. Actually, the number was much higher, 801 adverse-event reports associated with death, but the study only counted the cases in which an emergency worker...

• Allstate's Not So Good Hands

  Staff Writer | May 05, 2006 2:33 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Plaintiff lawyer David Beradinelli is fighting Allstate's suit to block him from publishing a knockout book entitled, "From Good Hands To Boxing Gloves", which chronicles the insurance company's bad faith strategy to increase profits from its claims handling. Beradinelli's book showcases the role played by consultant McKinsey & Co, who also advised State Farm, Fireman's Fund, USAA, and Farmers...

• DrugMakers Tracking Doctors Prescriptions

  Staff Writer | May 04, 2006 3:37 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Physicians are finally realizing that pharmaceutical companies are giving the doctor's prescription preferences and patterns to their 90,000 sales people. The Prescription Data sets up which physicians should be rewarded with perks like gifts, meals and seminars. Targeting "early prescribers" or "cowboys" helps pharmaceutical salesmen promote particular name brand drugs to willing physicians. ...

• Bad Faith Verdict and New Suits

  Staff Writer | March 29, 2006 11:58 AM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Medical Health Insurance policyholders must be ever vigilant to get the benefits they've paid for these days, as we are reminded by two recent cases. In Marion County, a fomer hospital worker won a $1.5 Million Verdict against Lubermen's Mutual Casualty Co. for terminating her disability benefits in bad fath. Elsewhere, Blue Cross Of California has been sued by 10 former members whose health...

• Medical Malpractice "Crisis" That Wasn't Is Over

  Staff Writer | March 06, 2006 5:15 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Just as Consumer Rights organizations predicted, the so-called "Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis" has ended, not because of Tort "Reform", but because of the cyclical nature of insurance underwriting and investment returns.According to the American Inusrance Reform study, physician premiums increased 0% in 2005, after a modest 3%in 2004. Before that, in 2002, they had skyrocket 63%. The...

• Cromium Industry Guilty of Scientific Fraud

  Staff Writer | March 03, 2006 3:50 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  In yet another example how Corporate America intentionally manipulates data at the expense of workers, this week a team of scientists reported that the Chromium Industry had skewed data to hide the risk of lung cancer in workers exposed to low level of chromium. The orchestrated campaign by companies and their consultants was intended to persuade OSHA to weaken a proposed workplace standard. ...