Announcements | 
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Why I'm a member of TTLA... |
| VIDEO: "We cannot sit back and expect others to do what we should do for ourselves." TTLA Member Reginald McKamie, Houston Click on the headline to watch the video. |
VOTE EARLY! |
| Early voting ends Friday, May 25th for the May 29th 2012 Texas Primary Election. |
2012 Annual Conference Discover TTLA, June 6-8 at the Hyatt Lost Pines, Bastrop |
| Join TTLA for our biggest event of the year, complete with 2 days of CLE programs, parties, receptions, committee meetings, Board of Directors meeting and our annual awards luncheon. Nestled in the tranquil Central Texas countryside, this year's Annual Conference also offers family-friendly activities, a golf tournament, tennis tournament and more! Click on the headline to learn more! |
Products |
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Senators Push for Informed Consent Before Nursing Homes Use Antipychotic Drugs |
| Three US senators are ratcheting up a campaign to slash the misuse of powerful sedatives, known as antipsychotics, in the nation’s nursing homes. The three senators have filed a proposal that would require federal regulators to issue standardized rules for nursing homes to follow in seeking permission from patients, or their designated health care agents, such as a family member, before administering antipsychotics for so-called off-label use. The FDA has approved antipsychotic drugs to treat an array of psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, but physicians are allowed to prescribe antipsychotics “off-label’’ for other illnesses. Kay Lazar (blog), Boston Globe 05/24/2012 | Read Article: Boston Globe |
Pradaxa Patients Can't Stop the Bleeding |
| Less than 24 hours after Loraine Franklin fell on the kitchen floor of her home, she was dead. Franklin's daughters say today that, had Franklin, 80, not been prescribed a blood thinner called Pradaxa, she'd have lived to see the new year. Instead the fall caused a blow to her head, which caused an intracranial hemorrhage, which doctors at the hospital could not stop. Like hundreds of thousands of others with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation Franklin had been told of the benefits of the recently FDA-approved Pradaxa over its comparatively ancient counterpart, Coumadin. What she hadn't been told about, according to her daughters, was Pradaxa's most significant drawback: There is no effective reversal agent for a traumatic bleeding event. Craig Malisow , Houston Press 05/24/2012 | Read Article: Houston Press |
Laws/Cases |
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Former UCLA Player Files Suit Against Magazine |
| A former basketball player at UCLA has filed a defamation lawsuit against Sports Illustrated Magazine, claiming he was wrongly portrayed has a "bully" in a March article. The suit, which seeks $10 million in damages, contains sworn declarations from former teammates that contradict many of the article's points. Chris Foster, LA Times 05/23/2012 | Read Article: LA Times |
Text Sender Named as Defendant in Car Crash Suit |
| A New Jersey couple who were seriously injured in a 2009 car wreck have amended a lawsuit against the driver responsible for the wreck to also include his girlfriend as a defendant, who was texting him at the time of the accident. The driver admitted that he glanced at his phone to read a text right before the crash. The judge presiding over the case said he will decide Friday if the girlfriend should remain as a defendant in the lawsuit. Peggy Wright, USA Today 05/23/2012 | Read Article: USA Today |
Malpractice Trial Begins in Pennsylvania |
| A trial has started this week in a malpractice lawsuit against a Pennsylvania medical center and a group of doctors and nurses who are allegedly responsible for a local woman's blindness. The suit claims the prescription cocktail that doctors gave the woman for a knee infection caused her blood pressure to drop violently, blocking blood flow to many parts of her body. A neurologist concluded her eventual blindness was caused by the excessive levels of antibiotics in her system. Michael R. Sisak, The Scranton Time-Tribune 05/23/2012 | Read Article: The Scranton Time-Tribune |
Issues |
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TX Firm Targets CA Homeowners With Foreclosed 2nd Mortgages |
| Adding new uncertainty in CA's ongoing mortgage crisis, a Texas company is aggressively pursuing hundreds of Californians to collect second-mortgage debt – on homes they’ve already lost through foreclosure. Many of these former homeowners believed their mortgage debt had been erased after their houses were taken by banks and lending companies. But the Texas company, Heritage Pacific Financial, has aggressively pursued collections and filed lawsuits claiming those debts still linger. Heritage Pacific’s collection methods now face legal challenges, including a class-action lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court that contends that the company is carrying out an “insidious and illegal debt collection scheme.” The company doesn’t make mortgage loans, but instead attempts to collect payments on loans originated by others. Rick Jurgens, The Bay Citizen 05/24/2012 | Read Article: The Bay Citizen |
Houston Doctor Blames Agencies in Medicare Scam |
| Houston physician Ben Echols, accused of federal health care fraud, admitted Wednesday he did not read every patient request for home health services but relied on the now-questionable judgment of the people who paid him when he signed off on bogus and unnecessary Medicare benefits. But federal prosecutors contend the doctor's alleged conspiracy to defraud the government resulted in more than $5.2 million in bogus claims billed to taxpayers. Terri Lanford, Houston Chronicle 05/24/2012 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
Healthcare |
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Proposed Acupuncture Designation for Chiropractors Drawing Opposition |
| Chiropractors would be able to claim that they are specialists in acupuncture placing needles in the skin to relieve pain after 300 hours of training, according to a proposal that acupuncturists, who have many more hours of training, oppose. The Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which regulates chiropractors, meets at 1 p.m. today to consider the proposed rule. Mary Ann Roser, Austin American Statesman 05/24/2012 | Read Article: Austin American Statesman |
Insurance |
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DA's Office to Focus on Insurance Fraud |
| Bexar County is now the third metropolitan area in Texas with a Texas Department of Insurance-funded prosecutor solely devoted to “rooting out and convicting individuals committing insurance fraud,” District Attorney Susan Reed announced Wednesday during a press conference with insurance industry representatives. The position, as well as an accompanying investigator job, will cost the state agency roughly $175,000 per year. The overall goal, said Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman, is to eventually save taxpayers money on their own insurance bills by putting a large-enough dent in such crimes. Craig Kapitan, San Antonio Express News 05/24/2012 | Read Article: San Antonio Express News |
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