Nursing Home Care: You don’t get what you pay for

August 14th, 2009. By AbiK

Nursing home horror stories seem to be as common as mosquitoes at a swamp—and as annoying. So it’s no wonder that so many follow the old adage “you get what you pay for” when looking for elder care facilities for their loved ones. 

But just last week, Health Day News reported the findings of an interesting study on nursing homes. Seems non-profit nursing homes provide better-quality care than for-profit homes.

A Canadian team of researchers from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, reviewed the results of 82 studies from 1965 to 2003, and concluded that the non-profits came out better in regard to four specific quality measures. The measures were more or higher quality staffing; lower rates of pressure ulcers; less use of physical restraints; and fewer deficiencies cited by regulatory agencies. 

And here’s another little tidbit from the study: researchers concluded, based on the findings, Read the rest of this entry »

No, you can’t just File a Heparin or Avandia Lawsuit whenever you want

August 13th, 2009. By AbiK

Pleading Ignorance recently posted about what a “Statute of Limitations” means. And while each state has its own guidelines for when the amount of tme to file a lawsuit runs out, the bottom line is that, well no, you can’t just file whenever you feel like it.

So keep in mind, if you’ve been affected by adverse effects from either Heparin or Avandia, you can still file–but you need to be mindful of filing deadlines.

We recently posted a blog about filing for Heparin; and an article for filing for Avandia.

If you wish to consult with a lawyer on either case, click here for Heparin and click here for Avandia. It’s free. And remember, while deadlines are in place, a lawyer ideally needs about a month in advance of that deadline to ensure he has time to review your individual situation and to pull together any necessary paperwork. So the clock’s ticking…

Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act: Yeah, right

August 13th, 2009. By AbiK

So Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) introduced a bill calling for new legislation regarding products that are manufactured abroad—and found to be defective or cause injury here. No doubt the impetus for their bill has been the Chinese drywall situation. Let’s face it, for those who’ve been affected by the defective drywall, it’s been an uphill battle to get accountability where it belongs—upstream in the supply chain to where the drywall was manufactured: China.

Oh sure, there’s been cooperation with Chinese officials. And everyone’s got studies going on to determine the root cause of the rotten egg smell and the corrosion of air conditioning coils and all. But here’s the thing—who’s going to pay? And on that note, not only is no one eager to raise their hand and shout, “Me, Me, Me—I’ll pay!”, everyone also knows it’s a prayer in you-know-what to try and enforce payment—especially if it’s supposed to be coming from China. Read the rest of this entry »

Toxic Mold – the Home Wrecker

August 12th, 2009. By LucyC

If you had a friend who suddenly began complaining of migraine headaches and dizziness, you might say go see the doctor, maybe it’s stress-related. What if your friend’s daughter suddenly started experiencing nosebleeds, and developed asthma?  Would you think that the symptoms both mother and daughter were experiencing were connected? It’s unlikely, right? Well, this is exactly what the Meng family experienced. The cause of all their medical problems, some of which will not go away, is toxic mold. 

It took some detective work to discover the cause—a process of elimination which included testing for cancer—before the doctors were able to determine that the family had been poisoned by mold. 

The mold had developed behind the walls their brand new, million dollar dream home. Read the rest of this entry »

Is Obama Reneging on Whistleblower Campaign Promise?

August 11th, 2009. By AbiK

So it seems. If you recall, President Obama made some campaign promises with regard to whistleblowers in government. There was even a kumbaya kind of moment when his position on whistleblowing was shared on his transition website. An article by Martha Gore at Examiner.com (The Washington Times initially broke this story) showed the original quote that was on the Obama site: 

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

I’m convinced a number of advertising writers go into political PR writing as some kind of purgatory before heading out to sit in front of that IBM Selectric in the sky. Regardless, Read the rest of this entry »