| Announcements | | 
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| | Medicare Secondary Payer--Liability Insurance | |
| | Medicare Secondary Payer--Liability Insurance (Including Self-Insurance) Settlements, Judgments, Awards, or Other Payments and Future Medicals -- INFORMATION. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information regarding proposed Liability Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (LMSA) amounts related to liability insurance (including self-insurance) settlements, judgments, awards, or other payments (“settlements”). DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES -Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Click on headline to access memo. | | 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 | |
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| | Raw Oysters Still a Health Threat, GAO Report Finds | |
| | Federal regulators have failed to solve a serious health problem involving raw oysters, which are the most common source of seafood-related death in the country, according to a new report from a government watchdog group. For about a decade, the Food and Drug Administration has been pushing the shellfish industry to reduce the number of illnesses caused by naturally occurring bacterium found in raw or undercooked Gulf Coast oysters. But these oysters continue to sicken about 32 people on average each year, killing about half of them, said the report from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Associated Press, The Washington Post 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: The Washington Post | | Laws/Cases | |
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| | Man Shocked by Power Line Awarded $1.5 Million | |
| | An Alabama jury has awarded $1.5 million to a local man who was severely injured after being shocked by a low-hanging power line. The man was paving an Alabama highway when his vehicle struck the line. He claimed in his suit that he suffered permanent damage to his right arm and will only be able to use it in a limited capacity for the rest of his life. Stephanie Taylor, The Tuscaloosa News 10/14/2011 | | Read Article: The Tuscaloosa News | | Jury Awards $20.6 Million in Suit Against Toys 'R' Us | |
| | Toys 'R' Us will pay $20.6 million to a Colorado man whose wife died in an accident on a swimming pool slide sold by the company. The woman broke her neck in 2006 when the slide collapsed while she was on it. The lawsuit claimed the Toyquest Banzai slide did not meet government safety standards for pool slides. Staff Report, United Press International 10/16/2011 | | Read Article: United Press International | | Florida Medical Malpractice Suit Settled | |
| | Three doctors at NCH North Naples Hospital have settled a lawsuit with a local woman who claimed her condition at the hospital was ignored over a six-day stay in 2005, leaving her unable to walk. According to the suit, the plaintiff suffered from "progressive neurological deterioration" after being admitted to the hospital. Six days later, when an MRI was finally done and an abscess found on her spine, there was little doctors could do to help. The details of the settlement remain undisclosed. Aisling Swift, Naples News 10/15/2011 | | Read Article: Naples News | | Rendon Settlement Recommended by Insurer | |
| | The Brownsville Independent School District said its insurance carrier will pick up all but $50,000 of the $300,000 settlement with former Special Services administrator Art Rendon in his whistleblower lawsuit against the district. The insurer also had recommended rehiring Rendon, BISD said in a statement. Gary Long , Brownsville Herald 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: Brownsville Herald | | Anadarko to Pay BP $4 Billion | |
| | Anadarko Petroleum Co. has agreed to pay $4 billion to BP PLC as part of a settlement related to last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, adding weight to BP’s contention that it was not solely responsible for the disaster. BP said Monday that Anadarko’s payment will form part of the British company’s $20 billion trust fund, which has paid out $7 billion so far to settle claims from individuals and businesses. Eleven workers were killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig at the Macondo well exploded off Louisiana on April 20, 2010, causing the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Associated Press, The Washington Post 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: The Washington Post | | Former Beaumont Priest Named in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit | |
| | A Washington man has filed suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima, Wash. alleging he was sexually abused decades ago by an associate pastor who was ordained in Beaumont. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 3, claims that the Rev. Ernest Dale Calhoun sexually abused the victim, identified only as S.K., when he was a 15-year-old altar boy at St. Paul's Cathedral Parish in the early 1970s. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the diocese, but does not name Calhoun as a defendant. He is no longer an active priest and is believed to be living in Texas. Shannon Dininny, Associated Press, Beaumont Enterprise 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: Beaumont Enterprise | | Issues | |
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| | Doctors Who Oversee EMS Companies Sanctioned | |
| | A rocky six years dogged Houston physician Benjamin Echols even before his February indictment for fraud and accusations that he accepted kickbacks from a home health care company that earned $6.4 million in Medicare payments. Yet, a Houston Chronicle investigation found the 62-year-old gastroenterologist still keeps watch over nine private Emergency Medical Services ambulance companies that also collected Medicare money - at least $19.4 million in the past five years. Echols is one of dozens of local doctors known as "medical directors," whose job it is to make sure that EMS companies follow proper medical standards. TERRI LANGFORD and YANG WANG, Houston Chronicle 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | Private Ambulances take Medicare, Taxpayers for a Ride | |
| | Examines the the unabated growth of the enormous EMS industry - 397 companies in Harris County alone - has allowed the nation's largest insurance provider for the elderly and disabled to morph into a virtual ATM, the Chronicle's examination of Medicare billings shows. By the federal government's own rules, many of these EMS transports should not qualify for federal dollars. The financial consequence: Nearly $500 million in Medicare dollars have flown into the hands of private EMS operators in Harris County over a six-year period - $62 million in 2009. Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | Insurance | |
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| | Eating Disorders a New Front in Insurance Fight | |
| | People with eating disorders like anorexia have opened up a new battleground in the insurance wars, testing the boundaries of laws mandating equivalent coverage for mental illnesses. Through claims and court cases, those with severe cases of anorexia or bulimia are fighting insurers to pay for stays in residential treatment centers, arguing that the centers offer around-the-clock monitoring. But in the last few years, some insurance companies have re-emphasized that they do not cover residential treatment for eating disorders or other mental or emotional conditions. ANDREW POLLACK, The New York Times 10/17/2011 | | Read Article: The New York Times | |
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