On Tuesday, February 5, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a mother who was unhappy with how her baby's circumcision looked cannot sue a hospital in Fridley, Minnesota for medical malpractice.
Unity Hospital and Dr. Steven Berestka were sued by Dawn Nelson who claimed that Berestka removed "the most erogenous tissue" after the boy's birth on January 1, 2000 without consulting either parent. She and David Nelson, her husband, were unhappy with the result.
However, in its decision, the Appeals Court noted that the mother had indicated that the baby should be circumcised on a prenatal form.
Zenas Baer, the mother and son's attorney, said that he was disappointed with the ruling.
Baer said that according to federal regulations, before any surgery can take place, there has to be a signed informed consent form and argued that a check mark in a box on a form is beside the point. He said that the Nelsons plan to appeal.
Initially, Dawn Nelson filed suit against Berestka for alleged assault and battery and negligence. That claim reached a separate settlement. The claims filed against the hospital and Allina Health System, its parent company, went forward.
She claimed that Unity had a duty to verify that the doctor had obtained informed consent and in its informed consent policy, the hospital had been deceptive or misleading. A judge in Hennepin County dismissed the case and the appellate court affirmed his decision.
Comment from Virginia Medical Malpractice Attorney Ben Glass: its tough to win an "informed consent" case. The forms they use are pretty generic and many cases come down to "he said; she said." These are usually losing cases.
Barack Obama, already claiming a "new American majority," is focusing more and more on the likely Republican candidate in the November presidential election as he continues to rack up big victories over Hillary Rodham Clinton in their race for the Democratic nomination.
Obama surged to the fore in the delegate race for the party prize with resounding primary victories Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. On the GOP side, John McCain took another step in shoring up his credentials as the runaway Republican front-runner despite lukewarm support from the party's conservative base.
Bill Singer, Shareholder and member of Stark & Stark's Securities group, was quoted in the article Kerviel Haunts Credit Agricole, HSBC and Toronto-Dominion Too on Bloomberg.com.
Mr. Singer was interviewed for the article and credits the recent $7.1 billion loss incurred by a Societe Generale trader through his fraudulent trading practices to an inexperience in young traders who don't always know that it's often better to take a short loss than to try to trade their way out .
Homeowners threatened with foreclosure would in some instances get a 30-dayreprieve under an initiative the Bush administration announced Tuesday.
Dubbed "Project Lifeline," the program will be available to people who have taken out all types of mortgages, not just the high-cost subprime loans that have been the focus of previous relief efforts.
In late January, a group of condominium associations and owners filed suit against the Village of Piedmont, charging that Piedmont had violated their civil rights and failed to provide equal protection under the law as a result of unfair taxes and assessments. The owners allege that Piedmont has taxed them for services they have not received – such as trash collection and snow removal – and that they are required to pay for such services as part of their monthly common condominium charges. So what are these owners and associations seeking in damages? $85 million...
In most states, municipalities provide certain municipal services – such as snow removal, trash collection, recycling and street lighting – to residents of traditional single family homes, but do not offer these same services to residents of condominiums or other common interest communities. Yet, owners in these communities pay the same property taxes as single family homeowners in addition to their respective common expense assessments, essentially requiring that owners in community associations pay twice to receive basic municipal services, such as a weekly trash pick-up or the plowing of their streets following a snow storm.
Unlike New York, New Jersey addressed this issue of double taxation by enacting the Municipal Services Act, N.J.S.A. 40:67-23.2 to -23.8, which was the first legislation in the country to address municipal services equalization for common interest communities. Pursuant to this Act, every municipality in New Jersey is required to either provide certain services to each qualified private community within its borders or reimburse the association for these services, including snow removal, trash collection and recycling. The purpose of the Act is to require “that a municipality enact ordinances to provide the same services along the roads and streets of a qualified private community as it provides to other residents along its public roads and streets” and to eliminate “double payment for some services which the residents of qualified private communities now pay through property taxes and fees to their association.”
While not unique, New Jersey is one of only a few states that provide for such benefits to its residents. New York has not yet followed suit, but the Piedmont lawsuit may begin to change people’s opinions about how condominium associations are taxed and receive municipal services. Only time will tell how New York will address the issue of municipal services equalization and the problem double taxation of common interest communities. It is possible that the elected representatives in these states will enact legislation similar to that of New Jersey’s Municipal Services Act, which provides at least some relief to community association members. Until then, owners in these communities continue to pay the same property taxes as single family homeowners on top of their respective common expense assessments, essentially paying double for their municipal services.
If you would like to discuss this issue or how it affects your association in greater detail, please contact Jonathan H. Katz at (609) 219-7448 or via e-mail at jkatz@stark-stark.com.
A Colorado man who is believed to be the only consumer to develop "popcorn lung" from regular microwave popcorn servings has filed a personal injury suit for injuries from the artificial butter flavoring which had only sickened workers at popcorn factories previously.
According to Kenneth McClain, the attorney for Wayne Watson, The Kroger Co. and two of its divisions: Dillon Companies Inc. and Inter-American Products Inc. have been named as defendants in the suit filed in U.S. District Court.
The case of Watson's "popcorn lung" and his diet of two bags of popcorn a day gained nationwide attention last year when he was diagnosed by doctors at National Jewish Hospital with the rare condition, which has been linked to diacetyl, a flavor chemical.
According to the lawsuit, in which unspecified damages are sought, the companies showed a failure to warn that preparing the popcorn as intended and smelling the aroma of the butter could expose the consumer to a risk of lung injury through an inhalation hazard.
Popcorn lung, which is officially known as bronchiolitis obliterans has generally been associated with those who work in popcorn plants mixing large vats of flavors. Hundreds of workers have complained of severe lung disease or other respiratory illnesses from the inhalation of diacetyl va
Thomas J. Pryor, Shareholder and member of Stark & Stark's Insurance Coverage & Liability and Litigation groups, has authored the article Case Denying Coverage Has Limited Relevance: Recent appellate decision did not shore up erosion of Weedo's current relevance for the February 4, 2008 issue of the New Jersey Law Journal.
A medical malpractice complaint has been filed against Maryland's Union Memorial Hospital and two doctors there by the family of a woman who was treated at the hospital after a 2006 head-on crash who eventually died.
According to the claim, which was delivered to a Maryland arbitration board, the Nicole Smith's death was the result of a blood clot traveling from her broken leg to her lungs due to improper treatment.
Lew Schon and Yuhman Hong were named as defendants in the complaint along with the hospital. The 22-year-old accident victim was treated by Schon after she was admitted to the hospital on July 8, 2006. During a follow-up appointment, she was examined by Hong on July 20, 2006 and then discharged, according to the complaint.
Three days after Hong discharged her, Smith suffered a heart attack in her home. She died before the paramedics were able to resuscitate her.
The family's attorney, Christian Lodowski, said that the doctors should have been alerted to the possibility of clots because of Smith's condition after the accident. He said that her right leg was badly broken, she was forced to remain immobile in a bed, was taking birth control pills, and was obese. Yet, he said, the doctors ignored the signs of deep-vein thrombosis.
Here's an intriguing video about the problem of side underride and the lack of side underride guards on trailers in the US. In viewing this, imagine what happens when a driver comes upon a tractor-trailer pulling out of a side road or driveway at night at highway speed. I showed this at a trucking litigation seminar in New Orleans last Saturday, and several people asked where they could get copies.
Ken Shigley is a trucking a product safety trial attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia.