| Statewide Membership Drives, Aug 30th - #GrowTheFamily |
Statewide Membership Drives will be held in Austin, Dallas, Houston & San Antonio on August 30th, beginning at 9:00 am (lunch provided) and a Happy Hour at 4:00 pm. Click on the headline to register. Let's Fill Every Corner of Texas with TTLA Members!
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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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| Deadly Crashes Spur Calls for Tractor-Trailer Side Guards |
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According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 301 of the 1,542 car occupants killed in collisions with a tractor-trailer in 2015 died when their vehicle struck the side of the rig. Another 292 died when their vehicle struck the rear. The institute's researchers estimate that half the fatal crashes between large trucks and passenger vehicles involve underride, which makes air bags and other crash protection ineffective because the top half of the car is sheared off. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says side guards could prevent hundreds of deaths per year in the U.S. This spring, the institute crashed a car into a trailer equipped with a side guard called AngelWing, a steel rail covered with fiberglass. The car's front end crumpled but the test dummy was protected by the air bags and seat belt. Without the guard, the passenger compartment was sheared off, causing devastating head injuries to the dummy.
MARY ESCH Associated Press, Yahoo News 07/31/2017    |
| Read Article: Yahoo News |
| Doctors Increasingly Face Charges for Patient Overdoses |
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Doctors are increasingly being held accountable -- some even facing murder charges -- when their patients overdose on opioid painkillers they prescribed. A Texas doctor faces charges of illegally distributing these drugs in connection with at least seven deaths, according to an indictment that was unsealed this month. The number of doctors penalized by the US Drug Enforcement Administration has grown more than fivefold in recent years. The agency took action against 88 doctors in 2011 and 479 in 2016, according to an analysis of the National Practitioner Data Bank by Tony Yang, an associate professor of health administration and policy at George Mason University. Many other doctors have been sued in civil suits.
Michael Nedelman, CNN, Yahoo News 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: Yahoo News |
| Lawsuit: Houston Police, Other Law Enforcement Endangered by Weaker Tasers |
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The Houston Police Department and thousands of other law enforcement agencies are carrying Tasers that are "woefully underpowered" because of a design change in 2011, according to documents filed in a federal lawsuit in Houston. The late-model Tasers, produced by the newly named Axon company, issue about half the charge of the previous model and 70 percent of the stopping power of over-the-counter stun guns sold to consumers, according to documents in a lawsuit brought by a former Houston officer. The lawsuit claims the company intentionally reduced the jolt its weapons delivered amid adverse publicity over deaths of people hit by Tasers and over fear of losing lucrative government contracts.
Gabrielle Banks, Houston Chronicle 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Texas Appeals Court Caps Doc's Damages In ER Death Suit |
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A Texas appeals court has ruled that an ER physician contracted to treat at a public hospital counts as a “public servant” for the purposes of a damages cap, a finding that reduces his liability in a suit alleging the physician improperly treated complications that proved fatal for a man after hemorrhoid surgery. The Texas Seventh Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday to apply a $100,000 individual damages cap for public employees to Dr. Kyle Anderson.
Abraham Moussako, Law360.com 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: Law360.com |
| Trucking Co Agrees to Pay $11M to Settle a Lawsuit Filed by Family of a SC Trucker |
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A trucking company has agreed to pay $11 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a South Carolina trucker who burned to death last year after colliding with a gasoline tanker that was blocking a rural highway in the dark. Eagle Transport Corp. recently settled a lawsuit filed by the widow of Kenneth Avis of Georgetown, news outlets reported. The 48-year-old father of two was driving an 18-wheeler in the early hours of Aug. 19, when he came over a hill, spotted the tanker and slammed on the brakes. The estate's attorneys say Avis' truck was going about 25 mph when it hit the tanker, which was loaded with 8,800 gallons of gasoline.
Associated Press, The Post and Courier 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: The Post and Courier |
| Jury Hits HISD With Over $7M in Damages in Contract Dispute |
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A unanimous Houston jury told HISD they were wrong to breach five construction contracts with a local building contractor (Fort Bend Mechanical). The jury also told HISD that their countersuit against the contractor along with their bonding agent, Hanover Insurance, and yet a third defendant HISD sued for defective field testing of foundations had no merit and awarded no damages against any of the three defendants. The jury agreed with most of the complaints asserted by Fort Bend Mechanical, and awarded damages and legal fees in excess of $7M in the 151st Harris County District Court.
John Council, Texas Lawyer ($) 07/31/2017
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| Read Article: Texas Lawyer ($) |
| Iowa Doctor Faces Malpractice Charges Involving Patient Deaths |
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An Iowa doctor has been accused of "gross malpractice" related to the overdose death of a number of patients. The doctor has agreed to limit prescriptions of addictive drugs after he was accused of malpractice. The doctor practices family medicine in Missouri Valley and is now facing administrative charges of inappropriate prescribing, improper pain management and unethical conduct. In addition to the charges by the Iowa Board of Medicine, the doctor is also facing a lawsuit by the family of a patient who died under his care.
Tony Leys, DesMoines Register 07/26/2017 |
| Read Article: DesMoines Register |
| The Battle Over Essure |
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In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration has received more than 16,000 adverse-event reports about Essure. These are official reports about symptoms, hospitalizations or diagnoses that patients, doctors, hospitals or a device manufacturer believe are associated with a device. They can prompt the agency to order a change in labeling, the addition of warnings or, in rare cases, the removal of a device from the market. Among the reports are nearly 9,000 surgical removals of Essure, mostly by hysterectomy.
Jennifer Block, The Washington Post 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: The Washington Post |
| Janice Neumann: Doctors Often Don't Tell You About Drug Side Effects |
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Doctors learn about drugs in medical school and later during continuing-education programs. But those programs are often funded by drug companies, according to J. Douglas Bremner, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Bremner said pharmaceutical companies even reach medical students by influencing those who train them.
Janice Neumann, The Washington Post 07/31/2017 |
| Read Article: The Washington Post |
| U.S. Pays $1M to Family of Teen Forced to Drink Liquid Meth at Border |
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The federal government will pay $1 million to the Mexican family who died after drinking liquid methamphetamine at the U.S.-Mexico border. The 16-year-old had just entered the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry when Border Patrol agents asked him about two bottles of liquid in his possession. After the boy told the agents that the liquid methamphetamine was apple juice, he was told to drink the liquid. Two hours after drinking the drug, the teenager died. His family has been awarded $1 million in their lawsuit against the U.S. government and the border officers.
Kristine Phillips, The Columbian 07/29/2017 |
| Read Article: The Columbian |
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