tort reform bill dies in Indiana

Good riddance:

Indiana won’t be passing a bill requiring losers to pay all costs and attorney fees in civil lawsuits.

. . . .

The problem with the bill is simple, Steele said: “It doesn’t work.”

Steele, R-Bedford, said he had filed “exactly the same bill” in 1995 and got an earful from just about every interest group.

They convinced him, he said, that it is unworkable because determining just who is the loser in a lawsuit is difficult — and impossible in “no fault” divorce cases.

Source: Gov. Mike Pence-backed tort reform bill exits quietly | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

One hypocrisy we at Legal Reader have often noticed: Conservative Republicans bristle at the suggestion that America looks to Europe for inspiration for anything… but they’re all too eager to pass European-style “loser pays” bills.

Samsca Lawyers Are Reviewing Liver Damage Cases

Dangerous Drugs recently published news that the drug Samsca (tolvaptan) has been associated with “irreversible and potentially fatal liver injury.”

The news was first broken by the FDA, which discovered the association between Samsca use and liver damage as part of a “double-blind, 3-year, placebo-controlled study” of about 1,400 patients with a type of kidney disease.

As a result of this, many Samsca lawyers are now reviewing potential Samsca lawsuits. Although it is too early to tell which lawsuits will succeed, attorney Justinian Lane is willing to speak to anyone who suffered liver damage while taking the drug Samsca.

For more information, see Justinian Lane’s post at Dangerous Drugs here.

Salmonella Leads To Hog Head Cheese Recalled in Louisiana, Texas

Food Safety news reported today that nearly 5,000 pounds of a pork product called “Hog Head Cheese” was recalled in Louisiana and Southeast Texas":

A recent outbreak of Salmonella Uganda in Louisiana has prompted a Texas company to recall a ready-to-eat (RTE) pork product. Houston’s Stallings Head Cheese Co. Inc. recalled 4,700 pounds of hog head cheese Thursday for possible Salmonella contamination.

The recall includes 10 ounce packages of “Richard’s Hog Head Cheese” bearing establishment number “EST. 2257” inside the USDA market of inspection and sell by dates “Use by 2 1 2013″ or “Use by 3 20 2013″on each package.

According to the announcement by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the recalled meat was produced between Nov. 1, 2012 and Dec. 19, 2012. It was shipped to a distribution center for delivery to retailers in Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

Source: Salmonella Uganda Outbreak Sparks Hog Head Cheese Recall | Food Safety News

Salmonella is a serious foodborne illness that can cause a variety of problems in an individuals’ digestive tract.  Anyone who has this product should definitely not eat it. 

Senate Democrats Working On judicial vacancies

Opponents of the civil justice system have a great plan on how to deny victims their day in court.  First, force victims into federal court.  Second, make sure there are so many judicial vacancies that plaintiffs have months and year long delays.

Senate Democrats are at least working to fix the second prong of the plan:

Five federal judicial nominees got a nomination hearing Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a sign that Democrats will continue to push aggressively to reduce the historically high number of vacancies on the federal bench.

. . . . "President Obama is the first president in decades who ended his first term with more vacancies than when it began, and the first since Woodrow Wilson to complete a full first term without having a nominee to the D.C. Circuit confirmed," Leahy said in prepared remarks.

Source: Senate Democrats Moving Quickly on District Court Nominees - The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

One wonders of course what vacancies will pop up in the Supreme Court, and how Obama will fill them.

What should never happen actually happens 80 times a week

In the medical profession, a “never event” is something that should never happen.  Doctors have to make judgment calls every day, and sometimes those judgments will be wrong.  Every wrong judgment is not medical malpractice.  But a “never event” is not a bad judgment call.  It’s blatant medical malpractice, no matter how you slice it.  And a new study claims it happens 80 times a week:

About 80 times each week, U.S. patients undergoing surgery experience mistakes that safety advocates say never should happen.

The types of errors being made: Surgical instruments such as sponges are unintentionally left behind in the patient; a wrong procedure is performed; a wrong surgical site is operated upon; and surgery is done on the wrong patient altogether.

Source: Surgical errors: In ORs, "never events" occur 80 times a week - amednews.com

The study offers a number of disturbing statistics and conclusions.  What’s even more disturbing, but not discussed in this article, is the fact that legislatures around the country are trying to find ways to make it harder for patients who were victims of never events to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.