Workers' Compensation

Friday, November 21, 2014

Talcum Powder Lawsuit: Suit alleges talcum powder use linked to ovarian cancer

Today's post is shared from motleyrice.com
In a suit filed against Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi US and a number of other talcum powder manufacturers, Motley Rice attorneys and co-counsel are asking why a common over-the-counter hygiene product that has been linked to an increased risk in ovarian cancer for more than 30 years has no warning about this risk on its label.
Filed on Nov. 5, 2014, the suit is being brought by the widower of a woman who used talcum powder in her genital area since childhood and later developed ovarian cancer, eventually passing away from the disease in 2012 at the age of 63.
Along with this failure to warn on talcum powder labeling, the suit claims that talcum powder manufacturers represented that the product was safe and encouraged the use of these powders to mask odors. However, talcum powder—also known as baby powder, body powder and talc—has been shown to migrate to the ovaries when used around the exterior genitals, and a 2003 analysis showed “a statistically significant result suggesting a 33% increased risk of ovarian cancer with perineal talc use.”
The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death, gross negligence, failure to warn and misrepresentation, among other allegations.
In other talcum powder cancer news, a 2014 investigation delved into additional potentially dangerous side effects of one particular brand of talcum powder, which found “that this product line...

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Takata’s Switch to Cheaper Airbag Propellant Is at Center of Crisis

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.nytimes.com

The new airbag propellant was supposed to be the next big thing for Takata in 1998. An engineer for the company, Paresh Khandhadia, declared it “the new technological edge” in an interview with a trade magazine then.
Based on a compound called tetrazole, it was seen as a reliable and effective compound for inflating airbags. Yet despite the fanfare, by 2001 Takata had switched to an alternative formula, ammonium nitrate, and started sending the airbags to automakers, including Honda.
That compound, according to experts, is highly sensitive to temperature changes and moisture, and it breaks down over time. And when it breaks down, it can combust violently, experts say.
“It shouldn’t be used in airbags,” said Paul Worsey, an expert in explosives engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. The compound, he said, is more suitable for large demolitions in mining and construction. “But it’s cheap, unbelievably cheap,” he added.
More than a decade later, that compound is at the center of a safety crisis involving Takata and its airbags. More than 14 million vehicles with the Takata-made airbags have been recalled worldwide over concern that they can explode violently when they deploy in an accident, sending metal debris flying into the cabin. At least five deaths have been linked to the defective airbags.

On Thursday, Takata’s decision to change the propellant is expected to be among the lines of questioning...

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Govt wants more clinical trial results made public

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from hosted.ap.org

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Doctors and patients may soon find it easier to learn if clinical trials of treatments worked or not, as the government proposed new rules Wednesday expanding what researchers are required to publicly report.
Thousands of Americans participate in clinical trials every year, to test new treatments or diagnostics, compare which older therapies work best, or help uncover general knowledge about health.
Many of the studies are reported in scientific journals or trumpeted in the news. But researchers don't always publicly reveal their results, especially when the findings show a treatment doesn't work as initially hoped, said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Collins cited one recent analysis that found less than half of studies had been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal within 30 months of completion.
"This is simply not acceptable," Collins said. "This dissemination of trial results is the way in which medical progress occurs."
Wednesday's proposals aim to change that by increasing information available on a public database - http://www.clinicaltrials.gov - that already is a major source for patients and doctors seeking to find the latest studies that need volunteers.
That site lists basic registration information - what's being studied, in whom - about more than 178,000 clinical trials here and abroad. Some are enrolling participants; some already are completed. By NIH's count, just 15,000 of...

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New safety measures aimed at off-road vehicles

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from thehill.com

Similar to all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), recreational off-road vehicles are facing new safety requirements from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency said Tuesday.
The CPSC is proposing new rules for these off-road vehicles to make sure they don't rollover on drivers and passengers while in motion. The safety requirements will include lateral stability measures, vehicle handling requirements, and speed controls.
These recreational vehicles, better known as ROVs, are popular for going off-road on dirt trails and in the woods. But the CPSC says they present an "unreasonable risk of injury and death" that must be addressed with stricter safety measures.
"ROVs and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) are similar in that both are motorized vehicles designed for off-highway use, and both are used for utility and recreational purposes," the agency wrote in the Federal Register. "However, ROVs differ significantly from ATVs in vehicle design. ROVs have a steering wheel instead of a handle bar for steering; foot pedals instead of hand levers for throttle and brake control; and bench or bucket seats rather than straddle seating for the occupants."
The public has 75 days to comment.

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Defective Takata Airbag Grows Into Global Problem for Manufacturer

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.nytimes.com

SIBU, Malaysia — Law Suk Leh, late in her pregnancy, was driving in the industrial outskirts of this steamy riverside city when her 2003 Honda City collided with a turning car.
Her airbag’s inflater ruptured on the July evening, spraying metal shrapnel into her neck. Ms. Law, 43, bled to death before reaching the hospital, according to the local police.
Doctors performed an emergency operation to deliver Ms. Law’s baby, a girl. But she died two days later.
Honda publicly linked the July death to the inflater last Thursday, making it the first fatality outside of the United States tied to faulty airbags made by Takata, a Japanese auto supplier.
“The cause of death for this incident is rupture of the inflater,” said a Honda spokesman in Malaysia. Ms. Law’s identity was confirmed by the police.
What began as a largely American problem for Takata is taking on ever-wider proportions, confronting drivers and regulators in multiple countries with differing legal systems and attitudes toward automobile safety.
Until the report of Ms. Law’s death, the previous four fatalities were in the United States. But faulty inflaters, made at North American plants, also ended up in overseas cars. Ms. Law’s Honda was manufactured in Thailand.
The spokesman for Honda Malaysia, Jordhatt Johan, said the car was part of a recall in June, although it was limited to passenger airbags. Honda announced a recall last week covering driver airbags.
In the United...

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Distracted Drivers and Rising Workers’ Comp Claims

Today's post was shared by Trucker Lawyers and comes from www.sadlerco.com

Distracted driving

Such accidents are among the leading causes of high-severity Workers’ Compensation injuries. According to the National Safety Council, the average work-related motor vehicle injury claim costs an average of $69,206. That’s double the cost of other work-related injuries. The lack of training in safe driving techniques is a primary factor of work-related driving accidents. But you can’t have this discussion without putting particular focus on distracted drivers.
A distracted driver is one who is engaged in any activity that diverts his or her attention from the primary task of driving. All distractions put drivers, passengers, and bystanders at risk. Common activities that cause driver distractions are, in no particular order:

Text messaging
Use of a cell phone
Eating or drinking
Talking to passengers
Grooming
Reading
Use of a navigation system
Adjusting radio, CD player, or MP3 player

Who are these distracted drivers?

It’s been proven that the visual, manual, and cognitive attention required for text messaging makes it the most dangerous driving distraction. How likely is it that you or your employees could be included in the following statistics and facts below?

Drivers in their 20s make up 27 percent of the distracted drivers in...

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Seniors’ Obesity-Counseling Benefit Goes Largely Unused

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from kaiserhealthnews.org

Three years ago, the Obama administration offered hope to millions of overweight seniors when it announced Medicare would offer free weight-loss counseling.
Officials estimated that about 30 percent of seniors are obese and therefore eligible for counseling services, which studies have shown improve the odds of significant weight loss.
But less than 1 percent of Medicare’s 50 million beneficiaries have used the benefit so far. Experts blame the government’s failure to promote the program, rules that limit where and when patients can go for counseling as well as the low fees for providers.
Since November 2011, about 120,000 seniors have participated, including about 50,000 last year, according to federal data.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Dr. Scott Kahan, an obesity medicine specialist at George Washington University.

Medicare measuring tape 570

“It’s a huge lost opportunity,” said Bonnie Modugno, a registered dietician in Santa Monica, Calif., who advises doctors how to provide weight loss counseling.
By comparison, about 250,000 seniors last year used Medicare’s tobacco cessation counseling benefit, which started in 2005 and offers greater flexibility about how providers can offer it. Nationally, 9 percent of seniors smoke, while 30 percent are obese.
Obesity and smoking are the two leading causes of preventable death in the United States. Obesity, which is defined as being 35 pounds or more overweight or having a...

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Big Changes For 2015 Workplace Plans: Watch Out For These Six Possible Pitfalls

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from kaiserhealthnews.org

You don’t get a pass this year on big health insurance decisions because you’re not shopping in an Affordable Care Act marketplace. Employer medical plans — where most working-age folks get coverage — are changing too.
Rising costs, a looming tax on rich benefit packages and the idea that people should buy medical treatment the way they shop for cell phones have increased odds that workplace plans will be very different in 2015.
“If there’s any year employees should pay attention to their annual enrollment material, this is probably the year,” said Brian Marcotte, CEO of the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers.
In other words, don’t blow off the human resources seminars. Ask these questions.

Illustration by Andrew Villegas/KHN

1. Is my doctor still in the network?
Some employers are shifting to plans that look like the HMOs of the 1990s, with limited networks of physicians and hospitals. Provider affiliations change even when companies don’t adopt a “narrow network.”
Insurers publish directories, but the surest way to see if docs or hospitals take your plan is to call and ask.
“People tend to find out the hard way how their health plan works,” said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Don’t take for granted that everything will be the same as last year.” (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the...

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House GOP Hires Jonathan Turley To Sue Obama

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from kaiserhealthnews.org

The choice of Turley, who says he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, comes after two law firms backed out of earlier commitments to represent the Republicans.
CNN: Boehner Hires Third Lawyer To Sue Obama
House Republicans are hoping the third time is a charm in their effort to sue President Barack Obama over his signature health care law. After two Washington law firms backed out of earlier commitments to represent House Republicans in their legal challenge, House Speaker John Boehner hired Jonathan Turley on Tuesday. Turley is a George Washington professor who is an expert on constitutional law and well known to cable TV viewers as a legal analyst. (Walsh, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: House Republicans Hire Jonathan Turley To Pursue Obama Lawsuit
GOP leaders have said the lawsuit is expected to focus on the White House’s decision last year to give employers a one-year reprieve on enforcing a requirement under the Affordable Care Act that they offer health coverage or pay a penalty. That requirement was originally delayed until 2015 and then subsequently revised to say that employers with between 50 and 99 full-time workers wouldn’t have to comply or pay a fee until 2016. Some rank-and-file lawmakers have suggested the lawsuit should be expanded to include any executive actions taken by Mr. Obama on immigration, something GOP leaders have previously contemplated. Mr. Boehner’s spokesman said there is no current plan to...

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Immigrants, Others, Still Struggle With Healthcare.gov

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from kaiserhealthnews.org

Despite a smoother start to this year's open enrollment, immigrants report there is no clear way to upload copies of their green cards to show they are legal residents, while others have trouble with sign-ins and passwords.
The Associated Press: Immigrants Baffled By HealthCare.gov Lapse
Like other HealthCare.gov customers, immigrants are relieved that the government's health insurance website is working fairly well this year. They're baffled, though, by what looks like an obvious lapse: There is no clear way to upload a copy of their green card, the government identification document that shows they are legal U.S. residents and therefore entitled to benefits under President Barack Obama's health care law. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/19)
USA Today: Smoother Start, But Some Struggle With HealthCare.gov
Sign-ups have generally gone more smoothly than last year for HealthCare.gov, although some consumers and insurance agents are having problems with the site that are reminiscent of last fall's open enrollment experiences. Numerous log-in and password failures were reported Monday, but federal officials call these cases the exception. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 11/18)
Meanwhile, Humana makes paying monthly premiums easier -
Modern Healthcare: CVS Accepting Exchange Insurance Payments
National health insurer Humana said Tuesday that policyholders who have bought its health plans on a federal or state insurance exchange or through its website can now pay their monthly premiums at any...

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Thursday, November 20, 2014

What’s the Matter with West Virginia?

Today's post is shared fromnewyorker.com/

Don Blankenship testifies before the Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing on mine safety in 2010.

Cartoon corporate villains don’t come more cartoonish than Don Blankenship, a former coal baron of West Virginia. Last week, Blankenship, the former chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was charged in a federal indictment for a variety of crimes in connection with a disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine in April, 2010, in which twenty-nine coal workers were killed. According to the forty-three-page indictment, Blankenship engaged in a lengthy pattern of deception in dealings with federal mine regulators, in an effort to cut costs, and, consequently, exposed his employees to appalling risks. (His lawyer, William Taylor III, told reporters that Blankenship was innocent and would fight the charges.)
The indictment came just a few days after the 2014 midterm elections, which the Democratic Party in West Virginia lost in a rout: Republicans won all three of the state’s seats in the House of Representatives, including a twelve-point Republican win over Nick Rahall, who had served in Congress for thirty-eight years. In the race to succeed Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat who had served for five terms, Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican congresswoman, won sixty-three per cent of the vote. Capito’s big issue in the race was coal. As her campaign Web site boasts, Capito “has been fighting in...

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Honda to Replace Airbags Throughout U.S.

Today's post is shared from nytimes.com/
Honda will replace potentially defective airbag inflaters in cars nationwide, according to statements the automaker gave federal safety regulators earlier this month. In doing so, it bows to pressure from lawmakers and auto safety experts who had questioned automakers’ limiting of the latest airbag recalls to high-humidity regions.
Honda will also offer loaner cars “as appropriate,” the automaker said in a Nov. 6 response to regulators’ questions on the recalled airbags, which are made by the Takata Corporation. The Japanese automaker previously said that it was limiting certain recalls to cars sold or ever registered in areas of “high absolute humidity,” because moisture is thought to play a role in the defect.
Defective airbags can explode violently when they deploy in an accident, sending shrapnel into the car’s cabin toward the driver and passengers. Five deaths and dozens of injuries have been linked to the defect in airbags manufactured at Takata’s plants in the United States and Mexico, which have affected cars from 11 automakers.
Honda and Takata, together with other automakers and safety regulators, have been called to testify at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Thursday.
Scheduled to attend are executives from Honda and Chrysler, as well as David J. Friedman, the deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Takata said Tuesday that Hiroshi...

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OSHA fines Stamford over police station asbestos

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from wtnh.com

Stamford police headquarters (File photo)

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Report Finds Toxic Toys In Albany County

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from wamc.org

Black Friday is just around the corner, but parents are being urged to take care when buying toys this year. Several being sold in Albany County contain toxic chemicals that pose health risks to children, according a new survey. Researchers found a dozen toys on store shelves containing lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and more – toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancers, cognitive impairments and hyperactivity.

The report entitled “Toxic Toys in Albany County” was presented in downtown Albany Monday by Clean and Healthy New York and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.

The group purchased and tested toys sold locally in October and November, including highly popular brands such as Lego and Hot Wheels, finding 12 different products laden with toxins. There was even a "Breast Cancer Awareness Charm Bracelet" that tested positive for the carcinogen cobalt and the toxic irritant arsenic.

Researchers examining the playthings detected nefarious substances including arsenic, cadmium, cobalt and lead. One product, a fairy bracelet charm, was composed of 25 percent cadmium.

Bobbie Chase Wilding, deputy director for Clean and Healthy New York, disclosed that just a tiny fraction of the children’s products for sale in Albany County were tested, and the report’s author said that it was not intended to be a comprehensive report on the safety of any product or...
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Exxon Mobil denies making spill papers secret

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.washingtontimes.com

FILE - In this Monday, April 1, 2013 file photo, oil covers the ground around a slide in Mayflower, Ark., days after a pipeline ruptured and spewed oil over lawns and roadways. The Pegasus pipeline ruptured last March in Mayflower, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the area. Exxon Mobil is denying claims from plaintiffs in an oil spill lawsuit that it made all information about the maintenance and repair of an oil pipeline secret. The oil giant has blamed the rupture on manufacturing defects. (AP Photo/Jeannie Nuss, File) — n this Monday, April 1, 2013 file photo, oil covers the ground around a slide in Mayflower, Ark., days after a pipeline ruptured and spewed oil over lawns and roadways. The Pegasus pipeline ruptured last March in Mayflower, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the area. Exxon Mobil is denying claims from plaintiffs in an oil spill lawsuit that it made all information about the maintenance and repair of an oil pipeline secret. The oil giant has blamed the rupture on manufacturing defects. (AP Photo/Jeannie Nuss, File)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Exxon Mobil has denied claims from plaintiffs in an oil spill lawsuit that it made all evidence about the maintenance and repair of the Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower secret.
Last month, the plaintiffs in the class-action suit said Exxon Mobil declared 872,000 pages of documents about the pipeline confidential. They asked a federal judge to order the company to prove why that information needed to kept from the public, arguing that the company was seeking “unprecedented judicial censorship of a dangerous and hazardous situation.”
The Pegasus pipeline ruptured last March in Mayflower, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the area. The oil giant has blamed the rupture on manufacturing defects.
Exxon Mobil filed a response in court Thursday, saying it was untrue that it marked every single page given to plaintiffs as confidential, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1zoEzsU ) reported.
The company has...

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Deadline Extended for G.M. Accident Claims

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.nytimes.com

The families of people killed or injured in crashes involving General Motors cars that had a deadly ignition switch defect will have an extra month to submit claims for payment under G.M.’s victim compensation program.
Kenneth R. Feinberg, who administers the compensation fund, has decided to extend the deadline to Jan. 31 to give more time to families who might not be aware of the program.
The extension comes a week after The New York Times revealed the identity of Jean P. Averill, who was killed in a 2003 crash of a Saturn Ion at the age of 81. Hers was the earliest fatality G.M. connected with the ignition defect. Until informed by The Times, the family had not known of the company’s compensation program or that it was eligible to receive a minimum of $1 million from the fund. At that time, the family said it had never been contacted by the automaker.
Mr. Feinberg said the decision to extend the deadline was not influenced by the “unfortunate failure to notify the Averill family,” but was rather intended to give more time to the hundreds of thousands of people just receiving notices about the program.
G.M. is sending out about 850,000 letters to new owners and registrants of used vehicles as well as people who did not receive notices because the addresses on file were incorrect. The company said notices had already been sent to more than 4.5 million current and former owners of affected cars.
Mr. Feinberg emphasized that the decision to extend the...

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Updated SB 863 Cost Monitoring Report Released

Today's post was shared by CAAA and comes from www.wcirb.com

The WCIRB has released its Senate Bill No. 863 WCIRB Cost Monitoring Report — 2014 Retrospective Evaluation which is part of a multi-year cost monitoring plan developed by the WCIRB following the signing of SB 863 by the California Governor on September 18, 2012.
This report includes an updated retrospective evaluation of the cost impact of a number of SB 863 provisions based on data emerging through the third quarter of 2014. Based on the most current information, the WCIRB estimates the impact of SB 863 is an annual net savings of $0.2 billion, or 1.2%, of total system costs.
Shown below are the principal findings of the Report:

The impacts of increases to weekly permanent disability (PD) minimums and maximums for 2013 injuries are emerging consistent with initial projections. (The most significant increases to PD maximums did not become effective until 2014 and cannot be assessed based on post-SB 863 experience until next year.)

Changes to PD ratings for adjustments related to future earning capacity (FEC) and PD add-ons were projected to increase average PD ratings by approximately 6% (prior to any impact from the Ogilvie v. City and County of San Francisco decision). This is generally comparable to data on early 2013 PD ratings from the Disability Evaluation Unit (DEU) which suggests an approximate 4% increase in average PD ratings.

The changes to PD related to FEC were estimated to eliminate any increases to PD for the Ogilvie decision. While specific...

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10 Challenges for Workers’ Compensation

Today's post is shared frommynewmarkets.com/
Today’s challenges are also tomorrow’s opportunities depending on the viewpoint. Those same opportunities could also remain tomorrow’s challenges. This special report highlights 10 current workers’ compensation issues and offers opinion on why they could be tomorrow’s challenges for the line.
Wage & Salary Stagnation

wallet

Average U.S. base salary increases for 2014 held steady at 3 percent for the second year in a row, but pay raises still are roughly one percentage point below pre-recession levels, according to the annual Compensation Planning Survey by Buck Consultants.
Low to moderate pay wages haven’t helped the workers’ compensation market.
“Salary stagnation or low growth of wages will have a telling impact on the workers’ comp industry in the future for the simple reason that payroll growth is necessary in order to have premium growth,” says John Leonard, president and CEO of MEMIC, a Super Regional workers’ compensation specialist insurer based in Portland, Maine.
“If you consider that payroll is one of the basic components of developing a premium for a risk, once you have no growth or low growth that has a capping effect, so to speak, in terms of premium growth.”
Therefore the problem for tomorrow’s workers’ comp market will be not enough premium growth to cover the costs associated with the medical component of the claim dollar, Leonard says.
“We have seen over the past 20 to...

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