Announcements | | | TTLA Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE December 1-2, Hotel ZaZa Houston | | Formerly the TTLA Annual Conference, our December event is now the Annual Meeting & Advanced PI CLE! We've streamlined this event and we're now offering a one-day Advanced PI CLE, along with the Annual Membership & Board Meeting, President's Luncheon, and a spectacular Holiday Party at the home of Steve and Amber Mostyn. Topics include: Trucking, Immigration, Insurance Bad Faith, Discovery, Cross Examination And More! | Products | | | Bagged Salad Recalled over E. Coli Contamination | | Ready Pac Foods Inc. has issued a recall of 5,379 packages of bagged salads due to possible E. coli contamination. The recall covers a dozen different salad products, including Caesar salad kits and bags of romaine. The affected products were sold in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, but there have been no reported illnesses. Lauren Keiper, Reuters 11/18/2011 | Read Article: Reuters | FDA Says Avastin Should No Longer Be Used for Breast Cancer | | The blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used in advanced breast cancer patients because there’s no proof that it extends their lives and it presents dangerous side effects, the government declared Friday. The ruling by the Food and Drug Administration was long expected, but it was certain to disappoint women who say they’ve run out of other options as their breast cancer spread through their bodies. Impassioned patients had lobbied furiously to preserve Avastin as a last shot. Associated Press, The Washington Post 11/18/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post | Laws/Cases | | | Girl's Death on School Playground Prompts Lawsuit | | An Oklahoma mother has filed a lawsuit against a local school district and two playground companies after her daughter fell to her death from a piece of school playground equipment. The lawsuit contends the playground equipment - which resembles a teeter-totter - is defective because it "does not stop if a child falls off; a child can fall underneath the equipment and it continues to move; and it is designed to hold 20 children." The suit accuses all three defendants of failing to warn of the dangers of the equipment. Sheila Stogsdill, NewsOK.com 11/18/2011 | Read Article: NewsOK.com | S.A.'s WellMed Cited in Whistle-Blower Suit | | A recently unsealed whistle-blower suit alleges San Antonio's WellMed Medical Management defrauded the federal government by transferring patients who weren't dying to hospice care. A WellMed health maintenance organization and another HMO, Care Level Management LLC, conspired with Vitas Healthcare Corp., the nation's largest hospice provider, to refer and enroll chronically ill but nonterminal patients for hospice in the 2000s, the lawsuit claims. Patrick Danner, San Antonio Express News 11/18/2011 | Read Article: San Antonio Express News | Fort Hood Victims’ Families Seek $750M From Feds | | More than 80 family members and victims of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s jihadist shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas on Nov. 5, 2009, have filed a claim seeking $750 million in damages from the United States government. Under federal rules, the agencies have six months to resolve the claim, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, or they can face public lawsuits in civil courts. Kenneth R. Timmerman, Killeen Daily Herald 11/18/2011 | Read Article: Killeen Daily Herald | W.VA Judge Approves Settlements in Last Sago Mine Lawsuits | | Settlements have been approved in the six remaining wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of miners who died in the 2006 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia. Circuit Judge Charles King on Wednesday also signed off on several other settlements of lawsuits brought by family members other than those who were administering the victims’ estates. Associated Press, The Washington Post 11/18/2011 | Read Article: The Washington Post | Issues | | | One-fifth of Inspected Commercial Vehicles in TX Deemed Unsafe | | Texas inspectors pulled one out of five commercial vehicles - including 18-wheelers and buses - off the road this year because they were unsafe, posing a potentially dangerous risk to an untold number of drivers and passengers in the state. The Department of Public Safety said Thursday that of 331,505 commercial vehicles inspected since Jan. 1, 66,189 were deemed unsafe. Inspectors also removed from the road 12,301 commercial drivers for safety violations, DPS director Steven McCraw said. Harvey Rice, Houston Chronicle 11/18/2011 | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | Healthcare | | | Psychiatrist Kept Working with Children for 5 Months While Abuse Claims Investigated | | A former Austin State Hospital child psychiatrist accused of sexually abusing his patients was allowed to continue working with minors at the facility for five months while the state investigated the allegations against him. Dr. Charles Fischer, 59, was fired this week amid accusations that he had abused at least one patient while working in the child and adolescent unit of Austin State Hospital, a state-run psychiatric facility for people with mental illness. The investigation was started by the Department of Family and Protective Services in May, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the case. On Oct. 24, the department told hospital officials that the psychiatrist had been involved in two instances of sexual abuse with at least one patient. Officials have opened a wider inquiry into accusations from at least eight possible victims dating back to 2001. Andrea Ball and Eric Dexheimer, Austin American Statesman 11/18/2011 | Read Article: Austin American Statesman | State Center Resident Hospitalized After Mistake During Dental Cleaning | | A resident at Austin State Supported Living Center has been hospitalized for more than two weeks after her mouth was sprayed with hazardous chemicals during a routine dental visit at the facility. Earlier this month, a dental hygienist accidentally cleaned the female patient's teeth with a chemical compound used to remove tartar and stains, according to an internal investigation conducted by the Department of Aging and Disability Services, which runs the state living centers. That solution, which is not intended for use in the mouth, is a 15 percent dilution of sulfamic acid and is used to clean dentures. Andrea Ball, Austin American Statesman 11/18/2011 | Read Article: Austin American Statesman | | | | |