Workers' Compensation

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Ebola Virus Disease Confirmed in a Traveler to Nigeria, Two U.S. Healthcare Workers in Liberia

Viral exposure in the workplace could have fatal consequences. This Health Advisory is shared from cdc.gov.

Nigerian health authorities have confirmed a diagnosis of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in a patient who died on Friday in a hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, after traveling from Liberia on July 20, 2014. The report marks the first Ebola case in Nigeria linked to the current outbreak in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Health authorities also reported this weekend that two U.S. citizens working in a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, have confirmed Ebola virus infection. These recent cases, together with the continued increase in the number of Ebola cases in West Africa, underscore the potential for travel-associated spread of the disease and the risks of EVD to healthcare workers. While the possibility of infected persons entering the U.S. remains low, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that healthcare providers in the U.S. should consider EVD in the differential diagnosis of febrile illness, with compatible symptoms, in any person with recent (within 21 days) travel history in the affected countries and consider isolation of those patients meeting these criteria, pending diagnostic testing.

Background

CDC is working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the ministries of health of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and other international organizations in response to an outbreak of EVD in West Africa, which was...

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N. Michael Rucka: October 3, 1939 - July 28, 2014

N. Michael Rucka

The world has lost a brilliant leader, a devoted advocate, and a compassionate person, N. Michael Rucka.

Mike’s unswerving devotion and commitment throughout his entire lifetime advanced the cause of justice for injured workers and their families. His presence was that of a giant upon whose shoulders he lifted and inspired us to make the world a better place.

.........

N. Michael Rucka, Noted Advocate and Activist, Dies at 74

N. Michael Rucka, known nationally as a pioneer and expert in the field of workers' compensation and personal injury law, died on 28 July at his home in Salinas, California. He was 74 and had been battling cancer for two years.
The founding member of the Rucka, O'Boyle, Lombardo & McKenna law firm in Salinas, California, his contributions to the advocacy and representation of injured workers redefined the field and established him as one of its foremost and most sought-after experts. A former president of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association, he was a founding member of the Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG) and served as its Chair from 1996-2000. The recipient of numerous professional awards, he argued cases at the local, state, and Federal level.
Noted for his compassion and knowledge throughout the community of the Monterey Peninsula, Mr. Rucka was as zealous in pursuit of a full life as he was in pursuing justice for his many clients. A world-traveler who described himself as an eternal and eager student, he was an inspiring educator. His passion for fine wine led him to grow his own grapes and, with three of his dearest friends, turned him to wine-making as a hobby. He enjoyed nothing more than good company with whom to share the fruit of his labors. A voracious reader despite a lifelong struggle with dyslexia, he inspired a love of learning in all around him. A long-time member and past-president of Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel, he remained active in his congregation through his retirement. He loved art in all its myriad forms, but was especially fond of jazz, and attended the Monterey Bay Jazz Festival for many years in the company of his dearest friends.
Born 3 October, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, he moved to Los Angeles when young before his parents, Nettie and Arthur Rucka, finally settled in San Francisco, where Mr. Rucka graduated Lowell High School. He went on to graduate from the University of California at Berkeley, and then earned his law degree from the University of San Francisco. In 1972 he moved his family to Salinas, where he opened ROLM Law.
His commitment and compassion were as evident in his home as outside of it. He was devoted to his wife of 53 years, Corrina, and together they raised three children and opened their home to serve as AFS-USA (formerly the American Field Service) host parents to another two, Nilson and Claudia.
Mr. Rucka is survived by his wife, Corrina; his sister, Joan; his children Brandy, Greg, and Nicholas; and his grandchildren Sashya, Dashiell, and Elliot.
A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held at a future date.
Click here to view CAAA tribute page.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight for $15 an Hour

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.nytimes.com

As labor gatherings go, this one was highly unusual — 68 workers arrived on charter buses from St. Louis, 100 from New York City and 180 from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. Fifty flew in from Los Angeles and two dozen from Seattle.
These were not well-paid carpenters or autoworkers heading to their annual convention, hoping to sneak in a round of golf. Rather they were fast-food workers — 1,200 of them — from McDonald’s, Burger King and other chains, eager to pursue their ambitious goal of creating a $15-an-hour wage floor for the nation’s four million fast-food workers.
Crowding over the weekend into an expo center in this suburb west of Chicago, many wore boldly lettered T-shirts proclaiming “We Are Worth More” and “Raise Up for $15.”
“If we win $15, that would change my life,” said Cherri Delisline, 27, a single mother who earns $7.35 an hour after 10 years as a McDonald’s cashier in North Charleston, S.C. “I get paid so little money that it’s hard to make ends meet, and I’ve had to move back in with my mother.”

It was by far the largest gathering of fast-food workers, and it was largely underwritten by the Service Employees International Union, a powerhouse with two million members known for unionizing hospital workers, home care aides and janitors. Mary Kay Henry, the union’s president, said the S.E.I.U. has adopted the fast-food...

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Big Oil's New Pitch: Fracking Means Never Having To Fear Putin

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

The Obama administration, meanwhile, is weighing plans to streamline DOE approval of liquefied natural gas export facilities (though some industry insiders doubt it will speed up the process). The issue has also played into the secret negotiations over a sweeping US-European Union trade agreement. According to an EU memo leaked to the Washington Post earlier this month, Europe is pressing the United States to lift its longstanding restrictions on fossil fuel exports and make a "legally binding commitment" to allow oil and gas to flow to EU countries.
Even if the market shifts, most European countries aren't equipped to handle large-scale liquefied natural gas imports—and won't be for years.
But the argument behind these measures may be a red herring. Speeding up exports would be boon to industry profits, given that natural gas costs at least three times more overseas than it does in the United States. However, according to environmentalists and industry analysts, it would do little to break Europe's dependence on Russia. "Folks who were in favor of accelerating liquefied natural gas exports anyway have seized upon the Ukraine crisis as yet another argument for why we should be doing it," says Edward Chow, a former Chevron executive and an expert on international energy markets. "But it won't directly effect Europe." Most US exports, he explains, are slated for Asia, where natural gas fetches a much higher price than it does in Europe. Even...

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Take Two: Just How Good Are Generic Meds Anyway?

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

A few days ago I wrote a post about generic painkillers and the fact that doctors themselves—who should know better—often don't use them. "If physicians aren't really sold on generics in their own personal lives," I asked, "does this mean they're not really sold on them in their professional lives too?"
Well, perhaps I got it backwards. A friend sent me a link to a Forbes article from last year about the FDA retracting its approval of a generic version of Wellbutrin:

The episode is bringing momentum to a movement that has been quietly building among many doctors and medical societies that are increasingly willing to ask a question that borders on heresy: Are generics really identical to the branded products they are meant to replicate? To a surprising degree, they say, the answer is no.
If you’re a layperson, this is the way you probably think of generics: They’re the exact same products in different packaging; generics companies can sell such medications for a fraction of the cost of the originals because they don’t have to spend huge sums on drug development and marketing....But generic drugs diverge from the originals far more than most of us believe.
....The FDA’s rules effectively acknowledge that. The agency’s definition of bioequivalence is surprisingly broad: A generic’s maximum concentration of active ingredient in the blood must not fall more than 20% below or 25% above that of the brand name....

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Sleep Experts Say Bosses Should Let Their Employees Take A Nap At Work To Boost Productivity

Today's post was shared by Work Org and Stress and comes from www.medicaldaily.com

Experts say employees should be allowed to take a nap at work. Reuters
Todays' post is shared from medicaldaily.com

Fatigue is inevitable during any long work day, and sometimes coffee is just not enough to get most people through their midday slump. British sleep experts are now saying that bosses should allow their employees a nap during the day and the option to make their own schedule to help increase productivity. Millions of people fail to get enough sleep during their week and are forced to compensate over the weekend when their work has already suffered.
“It’s best to give your brain downtime,” Vincent Walsh, professor of human brain research at University College London told Cheltenham Science Festival. “I have a nap every afternoon. It’s only since the industrial revolution we have been obsessed with squeezing all our sleep into the night rather than having one or two sleeps through the day.”
A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health revealed that around 41 million American workers are not getting the seven to nine hours of sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleep deprivation is putting these people and their co-workers in danger of serious injury or death.
Walsh says our obsession with sleeping only at night may be hindering our ability to be more creative. Most of our creative thoughts come to us during periods of relaxation when the brain makes new...

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Workplace Exposures and the National Action Plan for Infertility

Infertility is a significant health issue in the U.S. as well as globally. In addition to the large health and fiscal impacts of infertility, the inability to conceive can be devastating to individuals or couples. Research suggest that between 12% and 18% of couples struggle with infertility,[1] which may be caused by a wide variety of factors including genetic abnormalities, aging, acute and chronic diseases, treatments for certain conditions, behavioral factors, and exposure to environmental, occupational, and infectious hazards. However, many questions about infertility remain unanswered.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the National Public Health Action Plan for the Detection, Prevention and Management of Infertility. This plan was created in consultation with many governmental and nongovernmental partners. NIOSH contributed to this Action Plan, specifically related to reducing exposures to occupational agents that can harm reproductive health and fertility in women and men.
Environmental and occupational hazards account for an unknown proportion of infertility cases, but are known to affect reproductive health and fertility in women and men, and suspected of causing declining human sperm quality in industrialized countries.[2], [3], [4] An evaluation conducted in developed countries in the 1980s by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 37% of infertility cases were attributable to female factors, 8% were attributable to...

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Medical pot covered by workers' comp, says appeals court

If undefined by statute, workers' compensation provides for an almost limitless delivery of medical benefits. What ever "cures and/or relieves" is authorized and is paid for by the employer/insurance carrier. Today's post is shared from hr.blr.com
The New Mexico Court of Appeals recently ruled that an employer must pay for an injured worker's medical marijuana. This appears to be the nation's first appellate court ruling in a workers' compensation case in which an employer has been ordered to pay for medical marijuana prescribed by an employee's healthcare provider to treat a workplace injury.
George Vialpando injured his back in a workplace accident in 2000 while he was employed by Ben's Automotive Services in Santa Fe. For years, he was unable to find pain relief through conventional drugs and treatment. His physician said Vialpando had "some of the most extremely high intensity, frequency and duration of pain, out of all of the thousands of patients I've treated within my seven years practicing medicine."
In 2013, Vialpando was certified by his healthcare providers to participate in the New Mexico medical marijuana program. The program, authorized by the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, permits an individual to purchase marijuana after receiving certification from a medical practitioner licensed in New Mexico that states he has a debilitating medical condition and the potential health benefits of the medical use of cannabis would likely outweigh the health...

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Monday, July 28, 2014

Attorneys Who Won Landmark Lead Paint Judgment and Cleanup Named Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year

The attorneys who successfully fought for lead paint cleanup in People of California v. Atlantic

Fidelma Fitzpatrick

Richfield were named Sunday as Public Justice’s 2014 Trial Lawyers of the Year.
The 27 attorneys won a $1.15 billion judgment against paint manufacturers last year, successfully arguing that lead paint in homes is a public nuisance that creates a quantifiable risk of harm to children who reside in or visit those homes.
Leading the team of attorneys were (in alphabetical order) Mary E. Alexander of Mary Alexander & Associates, P.C. in San Francisco, Joseph W. Cotchett and Nancy L. Fineman of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP in Burlingame, Calif., Peter Earle of the Law Office of Peter Earle in Milwaukee, Wis., and Fidelma L. Fitzpatrick of the firm Motley Rice in Providence, R.I.
“This is for the children of California,” Mary Alexander said upon accepting the award. Fidelma Fitzpatrick noted that her participation in People of California was the greatest privilege of her professional career.
In California, tens of thousands of children each year have blood lead levels that exceed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention threshold. There is virtual unanimity in the medical and scientific community that the primary cause of lead poisoning in children is the lead paint in their homes. It is also widely understood that the only way to prevent lead poisoning is to remove or remediate the paint in a child’s environment before a child gets poisoned.
...

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Inequality Is Not Inevitable

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

AN insidious trend has developed over this past third of a century. A country that experienced shared growth after World War II began to tear apart, so much so that when the Great Recession hit in late 2007, one could no longer ignore the fissures that had come to define the American economic landscape. How did this “shining city on a hill” become the advanced country with the greatest level of inequality?
One stream of the extraordinary discussion set in motion by Thomas Piketty’s timely, important book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has settled on the idea that violent extremes of wealth and income are inherent to capitalism. In this scheme, we should view the decades after World War II — a period of rapidly falling inequality — as an aberration.
This is actually a superficial reading of Mr. Piketty’s work, which provides an institutional context for understanding the deepening of inequality over time. Unfortunately, that part of his analysis received somewhat less attention than the more fatalistic-seeming aspects.
Javier Jaén
Over the past year and a half, The Great Divide, a series in The New York Times for which I have served as moderator, has also presented a wide range of examples that undermine the notion that there are any truly fundamental laws of capitalism. The dynamics of the imperial capitalism of the 19th century needn’t apply in the democracies of the 21st. We don’t need to have this...

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Fast food workers meet in suburban Chicago to plan escalation of demands for higher pay, union

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.newser.com

Fast food workers say they're prepared to escalate their campaign for higher wages and union representation, starting with a national convention in suburban Chicago where more than 1,000 workers will discuss the future of the effort that has spread to dozens of cities in less than two years.

About 1,300 workers are scheduled to attend sessions Friday and Saturday at an expo center in Villa Park, Illinois, where they'll be asked to do "whatever it takes" to win $15-an-hour wages and a union, said Kendall Fells, organizing director of the national effort and a representative of the Service Employees International Union.
The union has been providing financial and organizational support to the fast-food protests that began in late 2012 in New York City and have included daylong strikes and a protest outside this year's McDonald's Corp. shareholder meeting that resulted in more than 130 arrests.
"We want to talk about building leadership, power and doing whatever it takes depending on what city they're in and what the moment calls for," said Fells, adding that the ramped-up actions will be "more high profile" and could...

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Fear of Ebola Breeds a Terror of Physicians

Healthcare professional face serious and fatal virus infections overseas. The conditions contrated within the course of thier employment may be deemed compensble under the Workers' Compensation even though they extra-jurisdiction exposures. Today's post is share from nytimes.com

Eight youths, some armed with slingshots and machetes, stood warily alongside a rutted dirt road at an opening in the high reeds, the path to the village of Kolo Bengou. The deadly Ebola virus is believed to have infected several people in the village, and the youths were blocking the path to prevent health workers from entering.
“We don’t want any visitors,” said their leader, Faya Iroundouno, 17, president of Kolo Bengou’s youth league. “We don’t want any contact with anyone.” The others nodded in agreement and fiddled with their slingshots.
Singling out the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, Mr. Iroundouno continued, “Wherever those people have passed, the communities have been hit by illness.”
Health workers here say they are now battling two enemies: the unprecedented Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 660 people in four countries since it was first detected in March, and fear, which has produced growing hostility toward outside help. On Friday alone, health authorities in Guinea confirmed 14 new cases of the disease.
Workers and officials, blamed by panicked populations for spreading the virus, have been...

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Sunday, July 27, 2014

IRS prepping for Obamacare employer mandate in 2015

What will happen with the employer mandate? Will the consequences be that the workers' compensation carriers expand coverage to employer based policies that are cheaper than traditional workers' compenaation policies. Today's post is shared from Politico.com
The Obama administration signaled Thursday it’s not backing down from the controversial health law employer mandate that has been delayed twice and is the centerpiece of the House’s lawsuit against the president.
The IRS posted drafts of the forms that employers will have to fill out to comply with the Obamacare requirement that employers provide health insurance to workers.
Some business groups said the information was still too tentative and too incomplete to let them prepare for new obligations under the health law. “Our immense frustrations with the IRS continue,” Christine Pollack, vice president of Government Affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said in a statement.
An administration official said the White House is sticking to the timeline announced earlier this year. Companies with 50 to 99 employees will have another year — until 2016 — to start the coverage. Companies with 100 or more employees do have to comply next year, although they have two years to phase up so that they are covering 95 percent of their workers. Smaller businesses are exempt.
The House Republicans are planning to sue President Barack Obama, saying he overstepped his authority in...

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Report: Number Of Ground Zero Cancer Cases Skyrocketing

Today's post is shared from CBSNewYork.com
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of 9/11 rescuers and responders with cancer in the past year, according to a published report.
The New York Post says that Mount Sinai Hospital’s World Trade Center Health Program reported 1,140 cancer cases last year. Now the number is up to more than 2,500.

Among the cancers being diagnosed at a much higher rate than the general population: prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, leukemia and multiple myeloma.
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is expected to receive more claims by the Oct. 14 deadline. So far, there are 1,145 claims listing cancer.
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