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Saturday, February 28, 2015
Study Urges Greater Financial Disclosure by Nonprofit Integrated Health Systems
Along with a comprehensive review of the academic literature, the study included an analysis of publicly available quality and financial information from 15 of the largest nonprofit integrated delivery networks (IDNs) across the country, including Henry Ford Health System in Detroit; North Shore-LIJ Health System in suburban New York; Intermountain Healthcare in Utah/Idaho; Sutter Health in Northern California; BayCare Health System in Tampa/St. Petersburg; and Geisinger Health System in Central Pennsylvania.
The study defined IDNs as vertically integrated health services networks that include hospitals, physicians, post-acute services and sometimes health plans with a stated purpose to coordinate care across the continuum of health services and to manage population health; or fully integrated provider systems inside a health plan (e.g. with no other source of income than premiums).
"Some of the nation’s finest hospitals and clinical staffs can...
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Lawyer at Top of Huge Fraud Pleads Guilty
The lawyer, Raymond Lavallee, entered an agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office to plead guilty to one count of fourth-degree conspiracy and to pay $2 million in restitution and fines.
Mr. Lavallee, 84, of Massapequa, N.Y., also agreed to cooperate with investigators at the Social Security Administration who are seeking to recover money from others who filed false claims as part of the scheme, which involved scores of retired police officers and firefighters who feigned mental illnesses to get benefits.
He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years on the top charge of grand larceny, had he gone to trial. In return for his assistance, he was promised a sentence of one year in jail by Justice Daniel P. FitzGerald in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Lavallee and three other men were charged last year with bilking the federal government out of millions in disability benefits. The scheme involved more than 131 police officers, firefighters and other city workers who falsely claimed they had been psychologically scarred. Many pretended they had suffered post-traumatic stress because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
More than 100 of the applicants have pleaded guilty. A majority...
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Fancy Flourishes At Hospitals Don’t Impress Patients, Study Finds
As Dr. Zishan Siddiqui watched patients and some fellow physicians in Baltimore move from their decades-old building into the Sheikh Zayed Tower, the internist saw a rare opportunity to test a widespread assumption in the hospital industry: that patients rate their care more highly when it is given in a nicer place.
For decades, hospital executives across the country have justified expensive renovation and expansion projects by saying they will lead to better patient reviews and recommendations. One study estimated $200 billion might have been spent over a decade on new building. Hopkins’ construction of the tower and a new children’s hospital cost $1.1 billion. Patient judgments have become even more important to hospitals since Medicare started publishing ratings and basing some of its pay on surveys patients fill out after they have left the hospital.
Siddiqui’s study, published this month by the Journal of Hospital Medicine, contradicts the presumption that better facilities translate into better patient reviews. Siddiqui examined how patient satisfaction scores changed when doctors started practicing in the new tower, which has 355 beds and units for neurology, cardiology, radiology, labor and delivery and other specialties.
This KHN story also ran on NPR...
Wisconsin senate approves right-to-work bill
Twenty-one states passed right-to-work laws [JURIST backgrounder], either by statute or state constitutional amendment, before the year 2000. As of 2009, 10 were a result of state constitutional amendment. A report published by the Congressional Research Service in December 2012 acknowledged [PDF] the difficulty of accurately assessing right-to-work laws and the economic outcomes of individual states. The report reviewed studies that focused on the effects of right-to-work laws on job growth and wages, and found that the results of the studies are mixed and do not support any one particular theory or trend. Many early-adopter states of right-to-work laws had below average unionization rates, and such...
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Who’s to Blame for the Exploding Oil Trains?
Exploding oil trains—this was only the latest in a series—have emerged as a dangerous side effect of the U.S. energy boom. A lack of pipelines connecting new fields in North Dakota and Texas to refineries and shipping terminals has led to an almost 5,000 percent increase in the amount of oil moved by trains since 2009. Much of it is carried in tank cars designed a half-century ago that regulators have long deemed inadequate for hauling the highly flammable types of crude coming out of North Dakota.
The West Virginia accident came less than a month after the U.S. Department of Transportation sent a proposal for new safety standards to the White House for approval. The rules were supposed to have been submitted at the end of last year but were delayed amid...
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N.J. agrees to $250M pollution settlement from Exxon; state had sought $8.9B
N.J. agrees to $250M pollution settlement from Exxon; state had sought $8.9BBy Scott Fallon and James O'Neill staff writers | The Record The Christie administration’s reported settlement of an $8.9 billion lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. for just $250 million drew a wide range of criticism Friday against a governor who has leaned heavily on the fossil fuel industry for money to boost his national stature. Lawyers for the state reportedly settled an 11-year-old lawsuit last week just before a state Superior Court judge was set to rule on the amount Exxon would be penalized for contaminating more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes and meadows in Bayonne and Linden, where it ran oil refineries for decades. The former state official who brought the lawsuit against Exxon in 2004 called the reported settlement a “betrayal of environmental law enforcement” because state courts had already found Exxon liable for the damage. The only issue remaining was the amount the oil giant would be compelled to pay. “If these reports are true and... |
21 new cases of mesothelioma in Iron Range miners - KMSP-TV
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Minnesota health officials have discovered 21 new cases of mesothelioma in a group of 69,000 mine workers that have been monitored since the late 1990s. 80 cases of the rare lung cancer had previously been discovered the group of miners, bringing the total number of cases reported to 101. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. It's almost always fatal. The workers monitored by MDH and the University of Minnesota were employed in the state's iron mining industry between the 1930s and 1982. All 101 cases occurred in miners who worked with multiple companies across the Iron Range, so the mesothelioma cases are not limited to one location or company. These 21 new cases were not unexpected, but rather a matter of time. “This form of cancer has an extremely long latency period,” said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health. “The interval between exposure to the agent that causes the cancer and the time when the cancer appears can be as long as 40 or 50 years, possibly even longer. We have always expected to see additional cases as time went by, in people who were exposed many years ago. We expect to see still more cases going forward.” Health officials are stressing that the spike mesothelioma cases in northeastern Minnesota is most likely an occupational health concern, and there is not any increased risk for the general public. |
Nearly One Third Of Workers’ Comp Claims Caused By Ice & Snow
(WLNS) – Last year’s snowy and icy winter in the Midwest caused slips and falls that accounted for nearly one third of all workers’ compensation claims. That’s according to the Accident Fund and United Heartland, two large workers’ compensation carriers. Their researchers found that winter-related slips and falls claims doubled in 2013-2014 over the previous year, representing 29 percent of all workers’ compensation claims. By state, the numbers peaked at: • Indiana – 37 percent “Winter-related slips and falls have a significant negative impact on American businesses each year, resulting in time off work, temporary employee costs, overtime for existing employees and increased insurance costs,” said Mike Britt, president of Accident Fund Insurance Company of America. Tips for Winter Safety The... |
Friday, February 27, 2015
NJ Beta On-Line Calculations Program Available - OscarCalc
Click below to access the Beta version of the online program.
OscarCalc
Supreme Court upholds Kubota liability in asbestos death case
It’s the first time the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision recognizing corporate responsibility for asbestos-related illness in someone living near a factory.
All five judges on the court’s Third Petty Bench, led by Justice Takehiko Otani, upheld the ruling Tuesday, court officials said.
The plaintiffs were relatives of Kojiro Yamauchi, who died at age 80 after working for two decades about 200 meters from the Kubota plant in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.
He lived near his workplace.
His relatives and those of Ayako Yasui, who died at age 85 having lived about 1 km from the plant, sought damages from both Kubota and the government.
The Kobe District Court ruled in August 2012 that asbestos fibers had spread outside the plant, ordering Kubota to pay damages to Yamauchi’s family, but not Yasui’s. The decision was later upheld by the Osaka High Court, and now by the Supreme Court.
The government was not liable, the lower courts ruled, because not enough was known about the risk to nearby residents to implement regulations.
Kubota has offered compensation to residents since 2005, but it has denied there is any link between local illnesses and fibers from the plant. The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case did not receive the...
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Thursday, February 26, 2015
The Growing Industrial Accident Complex
Today's post is authored by David DePaolo and shared from http://daviddepaolo.blogspot.com/
I was talking to a physician friend of mine yesterday.
I know - the first thing in your mind is that you didn't know I had any friends and second question is why, assuming I did have friends, a smart guy like a doctor would talk to me.
Those are beside the point - the crux of the conversation centered on his clinical observation over the past 30 plus years of practicing orthopedic medicine in both forensic (including work comp and auto) and non-forensic settings is that the forensic medical complex routinely produces worse outcomes than the non-forensic setting.
My friend has done principally defense oriented forensic work, but is also widely used as an independent medical examiner and agreed medical examiner - he was speaking from a purely interested scientist's perspective.
He relayed a couple of clinical stories - stories that I think are all too common.
The basic theme is that Patient (I'll use that instead of injured worker, because I'm trying to relay this from the physician's view), a 60 year old female worker, complains of pain, tingling and numbness in her hands.
She makes a workers' compensation claim because she BELIEVES that her work has something to do with it (and yes, there are co-morbidities and other factors).
The insurance company denies the claim. She lawyers up, they fight over causation, insurance company loses that battle.
That process takes about four years.
This is after nearly every doctor that Patient sees, whether on "her side" or for the defense, opine that there likely is SOME industrial component.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Injured workers suffer if courts are closed
Gov. Chris Christie spent most of his Tuesday budget address talking about the state's supposedly crippling pension burden, tossing around billion-dollar numbers and warning of dire consequences without more reforms.
Compared to all that, the proposed closing of a workers' compensation court in Lebanon Township seems like pretty small potatoes.
Financially, it is — closing the court would save a grand total of about $160,000, plus some additional staff expenses. And that doesn't even come out of state funds; the courts are financed by the Second Injury Fund (SIF), revenue for which Is generated by surcharges and taxes on the workers' compensation insurance policies of employers.
So this isn't a meaningful budget issue; it falls under the category of micromanaging a minimal expense and claiming it's fiscally responsible. But the impact on the lives of injured workers who are already suffering could be significant, which makes the closure a poorly conceived idea that's hardly worth the modest savings it would achieve.
The Lebanon court now services three counties — Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren. Closing it would send workers in those counties involved in claims disputes to the next nearest court, either in New Brunswick in Middlesex County or Mount Arlington in Morris County. For most that will mean a longer commute — in some cases much longer — in areas that aren't exactly...
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Roadways in need of repairs fall victim to reduced federal funding
Westbound lanes of Interstate 80 during widening near the Waverly exit in 2013. Governors and lawmakers in several states are proposing new taxes, tolls and fees to repair a road system whose historical reliance on fuel taxes no longer provides enough money to cover its costs.
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Medical Record Privacy: Does it Really Exist in a Workers' Compensation Claim?
Excluded from HIPPA, workers' compensation programs exchange huge amounts of medical records in order to efficiently and expeditiously process work related traumatic and occupational exposure claims. The balancing of interests continues to be an evolving process, especially in light of recent mass computer hacking of corporate entities and their employee data.
In a recent social media posting, John Geaney, Esq. defense attorney practicing in NJ, describes how NJ employers and employee may obtain/exchange/disseminate medical records. Albeit that is only the tip of the medical records corporate iceberg/nightmare, the future remains even more uncertain as computer hacking escalates and national computer security issues become more involved and complicated. The future will even become more complicated as interests of stakeholders are increasingly challenged by technology.
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- Who Is Paying the Bills for Occupational Illnesses and Disease? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Women’s Workplace Injuries
Today, CAAA releases the eighth infographic in our series “What’s Wrong with this Picture?” series, spotlighting in short, visual terms key facts in California workers’ compensation.
Today, we focus on the fact that women workers suffer work injuries more frequently as they age than do men of comparable ages.
This is the second in a series spotlighting women’s workplace injuries and gender discrimination by workers’ compensation insurers.
For all the infographs in the series,visit the C.A.A.A. website and this link here.
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Hector and Brock have run their course, U.S. Supreme Court Declines Review
In January, I published Hector is Gone in Florida, Is the U.S. Supreme Court Next? Essentially, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal concluded that Fla. Stat. §440.105(4)(b)9 makes it a crime to present false or misleading information in the process of obtaining a job.
Specifically, the provision states it shall be unlawful for any person " . . . [t]o knowingly present or cause to be presented any false, fraudulent, or misleading oral or written statement to any person as evidence of identity for the purpose of obtaining employment or filing or supporting a claim for workers’ compensation benefits."
Hector and Brock were each accused of doing so, providing information deemed to be inacurate. Though neither had workers' compensation injuries, they were charged under Chapter 440.
The Florida Supreme Court declined to review the decision of the Fourth District. There was then an effort to have the decision reviewed through the federal courts. However, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari February 23, 2015. The appeals in both Brock and Hector have now run their course.
It...
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- An Update on Florida's Constitutional Challenges to Workers' Copensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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- Wal-Mart must pay $188 million in workers' class action (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Monday, February 23, 2015
Christie admin's money-saving decision could hurt injured workers, lawyers warn
Closing the workers’ comp court in Lebanon Township would save the state more than $166,000 a year.(Photo: The Register) Today's post is shared from mycentraljersey.com/ Story Highlights
The court in Lebanon, which serves people in Hunterdon, Warren and Somerset counties, is scheduled to close in June as a cost-saving measure. Department of Labor spokesman Brian T. Murray last week said the closure would save more than $160,000 a year, not including the cost "of staff from the Division of Law and Public Safety and risk management in Treasury who must go to that location on a rotating basis for different cases." The Hunterdon County location's 3,853 cases would be divided between the courts in New Brunswick, which already has more than 9,000 cases, and Mt. Arlington in Morris County, which already has more than 4,800 cases. Lawyers with the New Jersey Advisory Council on Safety & Health (COSH) and the New Jersey State Bar Association say the decision would mean travel times of an... |
Sugar is the New Poison: Time for a Healthier Workplace Menu
The public is encouraged to view the Committee’s Advisory Report and provide written comments through midnight E.D.T. on April 8, 2015. The public will have an opportunity to attend a public meeting to hear or provide oral comments on March 24, 2015. Registration is expected to open on or about March 9, 2015.
Each section of the Advisory Report below links to text for that section. A printable PDF is also provided. The PDF provides page and line numbers that the public can use when...
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March 1979 Washington Post: “Some Hair Dryers Give Off Asbestos”
Today's post is shared from http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/ Last month, my circa 1980 hand-held hair dryer finally gave out. It was a Christmas present during my first year in college. The motor on the cream-colored Conair didn’t exactly fail, but I had to jiggle the electrical cord in just the right way or it wouldn’t turn on. I bought a new one, and my old one went into the garbage can. But after reading a paper in the latest issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH), I sort of wish I’d kept it. I knew I had an appliance relic on my hands, but now I’m curious to know whether it contained asbestos. James Dahlgren, MD and Patrick Talbott published in IJOEH a case report of a 51 year-old former hairdresser from the US who died from peritoneal mesothelioma. This rare form of cancer is caused by asbestos exposure. She worked as a hairdresser in New York from 1976 to 1992 and reported using a hair dryer everyday on her clients.
When she chose a career as a cosmetologist, she likely didn’t know she’d be exposed to asbestos. Dahlgren and Talbott indicate that from 1976 to 1982, she only used hairdryers that contained asbestos (and were manufactured by... |
Sunday, February 22, 2015
A Superbug Nightmare Is Playing Out at an LA Hospital
In today's terrifying health news, the Los Angeles Times reports that two medical scopes used at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center may have been contaminated with the potentially deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Two patients have died from complications that may be connected to the bacteria, and authorities believe that 179 more patients have been exposed. Most healthy people aren't at risk of catching a CRE infection, but in hospitals this bacteria can be quite dangerous: CRE kills as many as half of all people in whom the infection has spread to the bloodstream. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working with the California Department of Public Health to investigate the situation, which is expected to result in more infections. The problem isn't just in Los Angeles, though. Last month, USA Today reported that hospitals around the country struggle with transmissions of bacteria on these scopes—medical devices commonly used to treat digestive-system problems—and there have been several other under-the-radar outbreaks of CRE. This is pretty scary stuff, considering that we are starting to fall behind in the antibiotics arms race against bacteria. Due in large part to unnecessary medical prescriptions and overuse of antibiotics in our food supply, these superbugs are on the rise. In a study published last year that focused specifically on hospitals in the Southeast, researchers reported that... [Click here to see the rest of this post] |
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Walker Says He'll Sign Right-to-Work
The controversial measure will incense unions and could bolster Walker's profile among Republicans as he weighs a 2016 presidential bid.
In a statement issued Friday, Walker press secretary Laurel Patrick said: "Governor Walker continues to focus on budget priorities to grow our economy and to streamline state government. With that said, Governor Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation as a lawmaker and supports the policy. If this bill makes it to his desk, Governor Walker will sign it into law."
Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, also said in a radio interview Friday that he is "confident" Walker will sign a right-to-work bill if it gets to his desk.
In an interview with WTMJ-FM Friday morning, Fitzgerald said: "Behind the scenes, the governor has been supportive of the idea that, 'Listen, if you guys really think you can get this through in a form that accomplishes what we probably want to do with right-to-work, then you know I'll sign it.'"
Fitzgerald said a finalized version of the bill will be out Friday afternoon, and Republican legislative leaders expect to see it passed by the upper chamber by next Thursday at the latest, at which point it will move to the state Assembly, where Speaker Robin Voss has already expressed his support. Republicans...
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UCLA Bacteria Outbreak Highlights The Challenges Of Curbing Infections
The bacterial outbreak at a Los Angeles hospital highlights shortcomings in the federal government’s efforts to avert the most lethal hospital infections, which are becoming increasingly impervious to treatment.
Government efforts are hobbled, infection control experts say, by gaps in monitoring the prevalence of these germs both within hospitals and beyond. The continued overuse of antibiotics — due to over-prescription by doctors, patients’ insistence and the widespread use in animals and crops — has helped these bacteria evolve into more dangerous forms and flourish.
In the outbreak at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center, two patients have died and more than 100 may have been exposed to CRE, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria commonly found in the digestive tract. When this germ reaches the bloodstream, fatality rates are 40 percent. The government estimates about 9,000 infections, leading to 600 deaths, are caused each year by CRE, which stands for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.
UCLA Health says the infections probably were passed around by inadequately sterilized scopes used to peer inside a body. Previous CRE outbreaks have occurred elsewhere in the country, including hospitals in Illinois and Seattle. The immediate public health response has focused on the safety of the scopes and tracking down people who may have been... [Click here to see the rest of this post] |
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Saturday, February 21, 2015
NJ To Consolidate Workers' Compensation Hearing Offices
Like other industrial states, NJ has suffered terribly from the economic consequences of the loss of its manufacturing base. Additionally, NJ population has shifted and the service industries are generating more claims in the southern tier of the state.
Even though the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation is funded from insurance premiums through charges directly to employers (Second Injury Fund costs), the increased operational expenses remain a burden upon all who work in the state. Consolidation represents a balancing of interests to meet present realistic demands..
For the most part, statistical transparency in NJ is lacking as to docket loads and disposition rates. Some states, like Florida, publicly disseminate that data, making comparison and analysis open for review. NJ does not publicly publish regional, or hearing officer statistical disposition data.
Ironically, NJ Workers Compensation Director & Chief Judge Peter Calderone announced that he will retire March 1, 2015. It was also announced that NJ Labor Commissioner Wirths will appoint Judge Russell Wojtenko as the new Director & Chief Judge of the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation.
Drums with hazardous waste removed from industrial ruins near Paterson’s Great Falls
A report by the United States Environmental Protection Agency said that at least 12 of the 37 drums among the industrial ruins at the ATP site that were deemed “hazardous for corrosivity.” The drums contained sodium hydroxide, oxidizers and peroxide, the report said.
"One of my historian friends says that part of the ATP site is for America's Industrial Revolution the rough equivalent of what the Roman Forum is to government,” said Leonard Zax, chairman of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park Advisory Commission.
The ATP area is within the boundaries of the national park at the Great Falls, but federal park officials do not plan on taking over the land until the pollution is cleaned up.
“This area is enormously important...
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Friday, February 20, 2015
OSHA makes recommendations to COPS production company after fatal shooting
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has sent a list of recommendations to the company that produces the COPS television show after a crew member was killed by police gunfire during a robbery at an Omaha fast-food restaurant last year.
Video: OSHA makes recommendations to COPS production company after fatal shooting
In a letter to Langley Productions dated last Thursday, OSHA said it would not issue a citation for failing to protect employees from workplace hazards, but provided the following recommendations:
Instruct and train employees on how to orient their bodies so their ballistic vests provide maximum protection when they come under fire.
Instruct and train employees on how to take cover in situations where gunfire is occurring, or can be reasonably anticipated to occur.
Instruct and train employees on how to film and record from a distance in situations where gunfire is occurring, or can be reasonably anticipated to occur.
Instruct and train employees to stay behind police officers, and if an employee gets out of position they must retreat to a place of safety rather than attempting to regain a position to film or record sound.
Instruct and train employees not to accompany law enforcement into crime scenes where camera crews know in advance there is a likelihood that gunfire could be exchanged, including scenes of armed robbery or where suspects are brandishing or are reported to be brandishing weapons.
Remove bonus incentives, which may encourage employees to...
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Hospital To Nurses: Your Injuries Are Not Our Problem
Terry Cawthorn was a nurse at Mission Hospital for more than 20 years. But after a series of back injuries, mainly from lifting patients, she was fired. Cawthorn took legal action against the hospital and still faces daily struggles as a result of her injury.
Terry Cawthorn was a nurse at Mission Hospital for more than 20 years. But after a series of back injuries, mainly from lifting patients, she was fired. Cawthorn took legal action against the hospital and still faces daily struggles as a result of her injury.
The case of Terry Cawthorn and Mission Hospital, in Asheville, N.C., gives a glimpse of how some hospital officials around the country have shrugged off an epidemic.
Cawthorn was a nurse at Mission for more than 20 years. Her supervisor testified under oath that she was "one of my most reliable employees."
Then, as with other nurses described this month in the NPR investigative series Injured Nurses, a back injury derailed Cawthorn's career. Nursing employees suffer more debilitating back and other body injuries than almost any other occupation, and most of those injuries are caused by lifting and moving...
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