| TTLA Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar | April 3-4 | Royal Sonesta, Houston | | Something BIG is missing…YOU! Each year, we are dedicated to planning seminars that are bigger, better and bolder than the year before, but it takes YOU to make a TTLA seminar a true success. When YOU register for TTLA’s 2nd Annual Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Seminar, YOU get to experience our unprecedented lineup of in-demand topics, storied speakers and unparalleled insight, and we get to experience YOU. YOU make all the difference. Think BIG. Think TTLA PMD. Click on the headline to learn more. Follow us on Twitter @ttla_ #ttla2014pharma | | Have you updated your TTLA Membership Directory Fields of Practice listing? | | The 2014 TTLA Membership Directory & Desk Reference will be printed soon and time is running out to be included Fields of Practice section of the Membership Directory. The deadline is March 25th! Each category listing is only $25 and will be included in the print edition, as well as TTLA's online directory. Make the most of your membership! Click on the headline to get started. | | Fla. Supreme Court Strikes Down Cap on ‘Pain and Suffering’ Awards | |  | | The Florida Supreme Court Thursday struck down a state law that limits the amount of money for “pain and suffering” in deaths caused by medical malpractice, saying the cap violates the state constitution. The 2003 law limits the amount of “non-economic damages” from a death or injuries caused by medical negligence to $500,000 to each plaintiff, and no more than $1 million from all defendants in a single lawsuit.Thursday’s decision, written by Justice R. Fred Lewis, says putting a limit on those kinds of damages violates the state constitution’s equal protection clause, which provides that no one can be denied the protection of laws that cover everyone else.
Wire Reports, Tampa Tribune 03/14/2014    | | Read Article: Tampa Tribune | | Multiple Lawsuits Accuse McDonald's of Stealing Wages | | | | McDonald's workers across three states filed lawsuits this week alleging that the fast food chain stole wages from its employees. According to the employees, "the company engages in a variety of practices to avoid paying them what they're owed." If the suits are granted class-action status, there could be roughly 30,000 employees included in the class. The lawsuits are seeking back pay and other damages.
Candace Chol, USA Today 03/13/2014 | | Read Article: USA Today | | Former Bishop Testifies in Sex Abuse Case Against Diocese | | | | On Wednesday, a former bishop testified in a $3 million civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Yakima in Washington state alleging sexual abuse. The lawsuit was filed by a man who alleges he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a teenager in 1999. The lawsuit contends that the diocese failed to conduct a proper background check and that church officials failed to supervise the priest. The trial is set to continue into next week.
Donald W. Meyers, Yakima Herald 03/13/2014 | | Read Article: Yakima Herald | | Doctors, Device Makers: Close Ties | | | | A lawsuit involving health-products company Johnson & Johnson offers a glimpse into the close ties between the medical-device industry and doctors who provide or can influence the information consumers hear about medical products. At issue is a long-running debate over the company's transvaginal mesh products which are currently the subject of some 5,000 product-liability lawsuits against J&J's Ethicon division. Emails and other documents related to the suits suggest that a physician paid by J&J as a consultant sought to influence the language in treatment guidelines put forth by a medical society in 2007. The company also sought to change the language of a high-profile research paper on the mesh procedure published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011, the documents show.
Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required 03/14/2014 | | Read Article: Wall Street Journal - $$ Subscription Required($) | | Report: New Mexico Nuke Dump Fire Preventable | | | | The truck that caught fire a half mile underground at a southeastern New Mexico nuclear waste dump was 29 years old, improperly maintained and operating without an automatic fire-suppression system. Those are some of the conclusions of a report to be released Friday into the accident last month at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) near Carlsbad.
JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press, El Paso Times 03/14/2014 | | Read Article: El Paso Times | | Surgeon Rebuked for Flame-Retardant Falsehoods | | | | In a stern rebuke of a noted surgeon, the state of Washington has issued disciplinary charges against Dr. David Heimbach, who told lawmakers misleading stories about fatally burned babies while testifying in favor of flame retardants. Medical licensing authorities allege that Heimbach, whose activities were exposed in a 2012 Tribune investigation, fabricated testimony, failed to disclose his ties to the chemical industry and falsely presented himself as an unbiased burn expert when he was in fact collecting $240,000 from flame retardant manufacturers.
Sam Roe and Patricia Callahan, Chicago Tribune 03/14/2014 | | Read Article: Chicago Tribune | | |
