talk-to-accident-lawyer-today.com

Ever wonder how those urban legends get started about crazy lawsuits that somehow find their way into the hands of tort “reformers” who repeat them as true? Read on, my friends.

On a blog called ER Stories, an anonymous individual who calls himself an emergency room doctor in the northeast sets forth this set of facts, but without a single link or method of authentication:

A woman comes into the ER with a claim of a fish bone stuck in her throat, and has an x-ray. The radiologist says its an osteophyte, a small bit of bone. So she gets scoped two days later and, lo and behold, a fish bone comes out, not an osteophyte.

Now the good part, our anonymous doctor continues the story with the good stuff: (more…)

Justice Antonin Scalia has once again hauled out the “get over it″ line when referring to the 2000 election and the part he played in stopping votes in Florida from being counted. As if the suspension of democracy was something to be forgotten instead of something to learned from.

His comments came in an interview with 60 Minutes that will be broadcast this Sunday as he pitches a new book on appellate persuasion:

“I say nonsense,” Scalia said, when asked about critics who say the 5-4 ruling was based on politics and not justice. “Get over it. It’s so old by now.”

(more…)

Brooks Schuelke comes out with Personal Injury Law Round-Up #59;

Kevin Pho of Kevin, M.D. fame has an op-ed in USA Today regarding “defensive medicine” costs that he claims is due to overordering tests out of concern for malpractice. Doctors and hospitals, of course, get paid to do extra tests, but his column doesn’t address that as a contributing factor. There are loads of comments at his blog on the piece he wrote;

Anne Reed at Deliberations on why your theory of the case might be crap; and

Virtually Blind steps out of this world and into the virtual one with Blawg Review #156.

New York’s medical malpractice insurance situation has been in the news quite a bit, due to a 14% increase in premiums. (See, Why New York Medical Malpractice Insurance Jumped 14%) Of course, even before that there had been no shortage of complaints that doctors would leave New York out of fears of high malpractice premiums. Every year the doctors go to Albany to lobby for tort “reform” and every year consumer groups rebut the stories they bring with them.

So here’s the latest empirical evidence, as opposed to anecdotes used for propaganda. A recent exit survey of medical residents that have completed their training, from the SUNY Albany School of Public Health, says the the number of doctors leaving New York due to malpractice concerns was just 1.8%:

Forty-eight percent (48%) of the graduates with confirmed practice plans were staying in New York to begin practice, although there were substantial differences by specialty. The in- state retention rate has been relatively flat over the last four years of the survey. For graduates in 2007 who were subspecializing, 53% were planning to do so in New York compared to 52% in 2005.
(more…)

I wrote a short while back about an outrageous subpoena issued by a lawyer to autism blogger Kathleen Seidel (See, Abuse of Process: Blogger, Unrelated to Action, Hit With Subpoena). It was outrageous because she wasn′t a part of the suit, and the attorney that issued it requested all kinds of documents and financial information regarding her blog on autism and her views on whether autism was related to vaccines. The subpoena, if you can believe it, even demanded documents regarding her religious affiliations, “Muslim and otherwise.”

And I urged the judge to impose sanctions. As did scores of other bloggers.

So here is the update: The subpoena has not only been quashed, but attorney Clifford Shoemaker, who issued the subpoena, must now show cause why he shouldn’t be sanctioned.

(more…)

If you haven’t heard about Kathleen Seidel, you will now. She’s a New Hampshire blogger and writer about issues of autism at her site Neurodiversity. And while she has no direct connection to the Virginia lawsuit Sykes v. Bayer, plaintiff’s counsel Clifford Shoemaker has nevertheless hit her with a subpoena.

I don’t generally like to write “me too” posts for things broadly covered by others. But when some piece of abusive conduct takes place within the legal system — one that not only affects the individuals involved but can set ugly precedents for those of us that write freely under the protections of the First Amendment — then my reticence to type must be supplanted by an emphatic joining of the chorus of condemnation.

Just to be clear here, this post isn′t about whether the underlying lawsuit is a good one or not. The suit apparently deals with whether mercury additives to vaccines caused the plaintiff’s autism. I haven′t read it. This is about going after the citizen-journalist for having the audacity to speak freely on a subject.

(more…)

When I first heard about SueEasy, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke. But it was October when it first appeared as a development concept (see 10/23/07 post:So How Did You Find Your Attorney? SueEasy!!!). Then I thought it must be a practical joke created by some tort “reformers” to highlight really bad advertising that sometimes takes place. Standard operating procedure is to use anecdotes to tar everyone else to win further protections and immunities for big business.

Sad to say, it has now gone live and appears to be yet another grotesque form of marketing, except that this one is actually dangerous and can help kill legitimate cases. (Note: SueEasy links provided by a TinyUrl redirect, so that this embarrassment to the profession doesn′t benefit from any PageRank by my linking to it.)

According to the site, “SueEasy is neither a law firm, nor is it a lawyer referral service.” That leaves only one thing, a marketing portal of some kind, presumably where lawyers buy space. These types of dumps are a dime a dozen on the web, and I get calls from them all the time. (See: The Ethics of Attorney Search Services.)

(more…)

Blawg Review #155 is up, in poetic fashion, at the California Blog of Appeal. Poetic? Well, kinda, sorta;

Last week’s Personal Injury Round Up #57 came out this week, because it’s being done by an actual working lawyer, not an academic (Hey profs! Just kiddin’!). OK, maybe Brooks Schuelke spent part of the time at Disney World. But trust me, getting a round-up out every week like clockwork is no easy feat. And now Brooks is back today with Personal Injury Round-Up #58, chock full of links to stories, many of which I hadn’t seen;

There’s Health Wonk Review up at Health Beat which mixes medicine, law and policy;

Walter Olson notes at Overlawyered that Fen-Phen plaintiffs’ lawyers received $982/hour from the court. Given that the attorneys bore the risks and costs involved in a complex case for nine years, was that appropriate? You can find the judge’s math in calculating the award at The American Lawyer and reach your own conclusion;

(more…)

Some courthouses are quite grand. The Supreme Court buildings in New York and Queens are two fine examples.

But then there are others. The Bronx Family Court, for instance, is one of the most dreadful buildings around, where it can take two hours for people just to get inside, so they can tear their hearts out over broken families. The Family Court shares space with the Criminal Court. And this picture, showing a Third Worldish assault on the senses with its signs and solicitations, was taken directly across from the entrance. You won′t find too many folks from BigLaw entering an appearance here.

Storefront lawyers’ offices. Bail bondsmen. Eateries. Process servers and Notaries. And if you click on the picture to blow it up, you will see the sign for Judges Only parking. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Once upon a time, tort “reform″ consisted of asking legislatures for protections and immunities from suits by capping damage awards on the most badly injured of people, so that responsibility shifts from the person/company that did the deed onto the victims to fend for themselves.

That’s fading away. This is what the new tort “reform” looks like for drug makers:

First, ghostwrite “research″ that goes out under the name of private doctors;

Second, use the research to get FDA approval for your product, or hide contrary information from the overworked, underfunded FDA;

(more…)