ThePopTort

Military Contractors Misbehavin’

There are surely some clever take-offs of the Fats Waller standard Ain’t Misbehavin'.   There’s the Simpson episode, Eight Misbehavin’.  And the Wavy Gravy movie Saint Misbehavin'.  Even a TLC show called Paint Misbehavin'.  Admittedly, they’re all much catchier than “Defense Contractors Misbehavin,” but who needs clever when there’s an age-old contest at stake, that is, the battle over which is a worse military contractor: KBR or Blackwater. 

On the one hand, we have Blackwater.  Last night on 60 Minutes, there was the story of a widow who sued Blackwater after her husband was killed when some Blackwater pilots essentially took a plane on a joy-ride in the middle of Afghanistan and crashed it into a mountain.  As is typical, the military contractor tried to hide behind government immunity to get out from under this lawsuit, before eventually settling once 60 Minutes started asking questions. 

KBR, on the other hand, is not only being sued by many vets for running lethal burn bits in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they’re also challenging the decision allowing the case of Jamie Lee Jones to move forward in court.  Jones, who was drugged and raped by KBR employees, now has to endure a new ordeal – having KBR call her a liar.  This is the same case that led to national outrage about companies like KBR trying to force victims like Jones into arbitration, rather than allowing her to have her day in court against the company – which led to action by Congress. 

As for the most recent Blackwater impropriety, check out 60 Minutes below.  (Apologies for the Lipitor commericial.)  Let us know what you think!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

FAQ on Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan – The New Agent Orange

Please explain the irony of surviving the terrifying ordeal of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to become severely diseased and perhaps die as a result of waste disposal practices on U.S. bases.   

Sure enough, the Pentagon confirms that it is burning hazardous and medical waste in at least 84 burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They deny the pits create serious long-term health problems, but hundreds of soldiers and plenty of health experts disagree.

What’s being burned?  Everything imaginable.  If you have the stomach for it, here’s a list in no particular order, culled from various news sources: trucks, tires, lithium batteries, amputated body parts from Iraqi patients, hydraulic fluids, munitions boxes, petroleum-oil-lubricant (POL) products, medical waste, biohazard materials including human corpses, latrine waste, medical supplies used during small pox inoculations, paints, solvents, asbestos insulation, items containing pesticides, polyvinyl chloride pipes, animal carcasses, dangerous chemicals, hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles, bloody gauze, medics' biohazard bags and surgical gloves.   And “jet fuel was sometimes used as an accelerant.”

What kind of illnesses seem to be resulting? Immediately after exposure troops apparently were “coughing up blood, vomiting and complaining of nausea or burning lungs.”  Plus, various news sources report the following illnesses (aside from deaths, of course): Parkinson's disease, leukemia, lymphoma, congestive heart problems, neurological conditions, bronchitis, skin rashes, asthma, joint pain, muscle spasms, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain syndrome, multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders, frequent headaches, chest tightness, constant dry cough, increased allergic sensitivities, hypertension and/or “reactive airway dysfunction syndrome.”

How many vets/how many lawsuits?  500 vets are complaining of symptoms. And, “[m]ore than 280 veterans and contract workers have sued defense contractor KBR Inc.”

What’s the Pentagon’s position?  Denial. From the LA Times: “A military environmental agency that tested air samples from [recently shut] Balad in 2007 found dioxins, metals, volatile organic compounds and other toxic substances in the smoke. But in its report -- titled ‘Just the Facts’ -- the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine said the substances ‘were within acceptable standards” and that “no chemical concerns or significant health risks have been identified,” although “smoke from any source, including burning trash, can still cause temporary irritation effects.”

What do heath experts and others say?  The LA Times reports,

”Dr. Anthony Szema, chief of the allergy section at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, N.Y., said exposure to smoke and fumes from burning refuse can increase the risk of death from lung cancer or cardiovascular disease. Szema told a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing in November that burning plastic bottles produces dioxin and hydrochloric acid, and burning polystyrene foam cups produces dioxin, benzene and other carcinogens. ...

Chief Warrant Officer 5 John A. Wester, 59, a Special Forces soldier, blames his Hodgkin's disease on exposure to a burn pit at the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan.  "The military wants to deny anything's wrong, just like with Agent Orange," Wester said. "But there’s no doubt in my military mind where I got my cancer."

Some things never change.

We Read the News Today, Oh Boy

It’s that old “lining their pockets” thing again.  In Ohio, Christ Hospital has “settled a federal whistleblower lawsuit accusing its acclaimed cardiac-care center of running an illegal kickback scheme.”  Christ Hospital insists it did nothing wrong, but the government says the hospital “and the Ohio Heart Health Center cardiology practice, which Christ Hospital has since bought, ‘devised a scheme that provided cardiologists improper financial incentives in exchange for generating revenue for the hospital.'’’  Dr. Harry Fry, a cardiologist, blew the whistle.

In the Philadelphia case brought by breast cancer victim Connie Barton against Wyeth for manufacturing their cancer-causing hormone replacement drug Prempro, both sides are appealing a decision that 1. slashed her punitive damages award  from $78.7 million to $5.6, and; 2. became the first Philadelphia case “to uphold a jury finding that drugmaker Wyeth failed to warn a plaintiff's prescribing physician of the dangers of breast cancer from using Wyeth's hormonal drugs.”  There are more than 1,500 similar cases pending.  (For more about that issue, see CJ&D’s report, The Bitterest Pill.)

And finally, some good news/bad news.  Good news first. The defense appropriations bill provision ensuring that rape victims have access to the courts hopefully won’t be a one-time thing, thanks to President Obama's 2011 defense budget proposal, which includes the same provision for 2011.  Meanwhile, the President is making nicey nice with the destructive U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposed this provision, saying they will just have to “agreed to disagree on some issues.”   Oh boy.

In the News: Special Veterans Day Edition

Military vets and contractors have filed thirty-two lawsuits from 32 states against the likes of Halliburton and KBR, claiming the companies exposed them “to toxic fumes by burning everything from human remains to tires in massive open air pits.”

You may have seen the lead story in today’s New York Times about villified military contractor Blackwater (now Xe) and its “authorized secret payments” to Iraqi officials to cover up the company's killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007.  Well now, settlement in civil suits (mentioned by the Times) filed in the U.S. by “dozens of Iraqis” for “killings and beatings” by Blackwater employees has apparently fallen through.

The U.S government has settled a lawsuit after a Michigan VA hospital failed to keep a former Iraq vet (who later died of a drug overdose) in a mental health facility, despite his showing signs of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other erratic and self-destructive behaviors.

The widow of a Vietnam veteran has filed a wrongful death suit  against the U.S. government, claiming her husband’s death was the result of an inexplicable decision by the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center to cancel a medical helicopter flight, causing a four-hour delay in her husband’s treatment “that doctors will testify was critical to his survival, court documents show.”

The Center for Justice & Democracy’s Joanne Doroshow posted a blog on the Huffington Post today calling for an end to the “Feres doctrine,” which prohibits active duty military personnel from suing over injuries “incident to military service,” including medical negligence in U.S. military hospitals.

A Special Fox 5 I-Team (Atlanta) investigation “uncovered allegations of a nationwide scheme by banks and mortgage companies to defraud U.S. military veterans. The scheme, spelled out in court documents, claims banks are overcharging veterans on home refinancing loans.”  (See video below.)

Oops! Medtronic Did It Again!

Honestly, civil justice fans, tracking medical device maker Medtronic in the news is beginning to feel a little like watching the tabs during the Britney Spears “spiraling” period (here, here, here).  

Last week, there was a front page New York Times story about a Walter Reed surgeon who was on the payroll of Medtronic when he published a “study” that made false claims and grossly inflated the benefits of the company’s bone-growth product, “Infuse,” in treating wounded soldiers in Iraq. 

Now, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who really does seem to hate this sort of influence peddling/behind-the-scenes hokum (here, here, here) has launched another one of his letter writing campaigns to get to the bottom of it.

The Justice Department has also been investigating—specifically to see whether Medtronic “illegally promoted uses of Infuse that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration—by paying doctors, among other alleged measures.”

Rampant Medical Malpractice in Military Hospitals - The Real Impact of Immunity

Consumer and patient safety advocates know how important lawsuits are to making health care safer, especially in hospitals.  While we can argue this until we’re blue in the face, we know nothing’s as powerful as real life examples.  That’s why a story from Norfolk, Virginia’s paper, the Virginia-Pilot, is so powerful.

As we’ve noted before, soldiers who return home from war but are later killed or injured in U.S. military hospitals due to incompetent or reckless medical care, have absolutely no recourse because of the “Feres Doctrine.”  Some are now trying to change the law.

But in the meantime, the hospital casualty-count continues.  In 2007, a 37-year old Air Force technical sergeant named Cindy Wilson died after giving birth to a healthy baby boy via c-section.  Medical records indicate that her uterine artery was cut during delivery, which caused massive internal bleeding.  Then, during efforts to repair the damage, two surgical sponges were left in Wilson’s stomach.  Twelve hours later she was dead.

Jonathon Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and outspoken critic of the doctrine said such cases show how it has contributed to “substandard care in the military medical system.”  Turley indicated to the paper that “Now it’s rare to see that type of malpractice in civilian medicine … But because there is no fear of lawsuits, it keeps happening in military medicine.”

The article goes on to provide a sampling of other military malpractice suits that have been barred over the years:

    * When sailor Dawn Lambert went to have a fallopian tube removed, military surgeons left five sponges and a plastic marking device in her abdomen. They remained there for months until a second surgery left her infertile.
    * For 11 months, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Walter Hardin’s red lesions were classified as eczema. His condition was correctly diagnosed as cancer shortly before he died.
    * Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Witt’s appendicitis was misdiagnosed and he was sent home with antibiotics. When he collapsed at home, he was rushed into surgery and came out brain-dead.
    * According to his medical records, Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez was correctly diagnosed with melanoma when he entered the service. But no one told him about it or suggested any treatment. The cancer spread throughout his body and he died 10 years later.
    * Navy Petty Officer Joe Cragnotti went to a military hospital with pneumonia, which is treatable with antibiotics. It went untreated, and he suffered permanent brain damage.

As for the bill before Congress aimed at ending the Feres Doctrine, the House Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee approved it today, and it will now head to the full House Judiciary Committee.  Still, Turley said he isn’t optimistic about its chances for passage.

He told UPI, “It would cost a huge amount of money to upgrade the military medical system to meet basic civilian standards … Congress simply doesn't want to spend the money.”

In the News

Lead story in today’s New York Times about primary care doctor shortages.  Neither medical malpractice  insurance nor lawsuits are even mentioned as reasons for doctor shortages - and none of the typical complaining specialties (OB-GYN’s, surgeons) are mentioned either - except to say that specialties aren’t having shortages!

In the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, U.S. Supremes to hear arguments about whether state AG’s can investigate national banks that discriminate.

Florida Senate considers bill that “seeks to ban vaccines containing mercury” despite a bad ruling. 

South Florida Sun-Sentinel warns that delays in enforcing CPSIA standards mean parents should remain on guard against existing hazards.

And several good stories from last week that we should tell you about:

Major environmental victory as Shell Oil settles air pollution lawsuit—agreeing to reduce emissions from air pollutants by 80 percent within three years.

Utah Supreme Court says a state law that reduces workers’ comp. for people over 65 (who qualify for Social Security) amounts to unconstitutional age discrimination.

Another bad ruling from the U.S. Supremes upholding mandatory arbitration for union members in ageism disputes.

Another Starbucks employee wage dispute may be granted class-action status—this time in Florida. 

Last Thursday, U.S. Senate said no to capping whistleblower awards for citizens who bring False Claims Act lawsuits to recoup taxpayer money lost to fraud. 

Documents filed in lawsuit reveal, “Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, led an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming,” despite receiving contrary evidence from its own experts.

Oklahoma county settles with man whose jailers refused to dispense prescribed medications and kept him in a “restraint chair,” ultimately requiring his legs to be amputated.

Pennsylvania hospital found liable after failing to follow treatment standards for a cyst removal that put a woman in a coma.

Story about dirty VA hospital equipment, which exposed 11,000 vets to infectious diseases, gets worse and worse as frustration mounts over the alleged “lack of information” being provided by the VA.

And finally, here we go again.  As with Katrina and Rita, insurance companies are making life even more unbearable for Hurricane Ike survivors in South Texas.

When it Comes to Compensating Injured War Contractors, AIG and Others “Reject First, and Investigate Later”

Here at ThePopTort, we don’t usually cover stories about the disability and health sector of the insurance industry, but this next item is so egregious and disgusting – and it concerns companies that we do know something about, as well as the issue of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan – that we’re making an exception.

In a series of special reports by the Los Angeles Times, ProPublica, and ABC News (see 20/20 tonight),  it is being reported that private contractors who have been horribly injured while supporting U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being forced to fight tooth and nail to receive health and disability benefits from some of America’s biggest insurers. 

Chief among them, unsurprisingly, are our old friends over at AIG – you know, the ones who got all that bailout money yet still managed to pay $165 in bonuses to execs, and once blamed its consumer price-gouging on lawsuits brought by “terrorist” attorneys for the injured?

Well it turns out, without those attorneys battling for the rights of injured contractors, many of them would have no recourse at all.  Consider John Woodson, a 51-year old truck driver for the KBR contracting firm who lost an eye and a leg in Iraq when his truck hit a roadside bomb.  Reportedly, “AIG refused to provide him a new plastic leg and fought to keep from paying for a wheelchair or glasses for [his remaining] eye in which he has 30 percent vision.”

“Everything’s been a struggle, a constant fight,” said Woodson.  “I’ve had to argue for everything, you constantly stay on the phone, writing letters, emailing, trying to get things to happen.”

Largely, due to pressure from his lawyer, Toby Cole, AIG eventually agreed to provide him with an artificial leg—though not a new one as his doctor had requested.

According to Cole, AIG has exhibited a pattern of “delaying and denying” the claims of injured contractors.  “It’s difficult for me to think it’s anything but a concentrated effort to ignore these guys,” said Cole.

There were 200,00 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan last year—more than the peak number of military personnel—guarding bases, driving supply trucks, cooking meals, and performing other essential duties.  More than 30,000 of them have filed claims for war-related injuries—and 1400 have died.  For those most seriously injured, insurers resisted payments in nearly half the cases—and when a worker was killed, insurers filed protests more than a third of the time.

“My husband’s blood is the same as anyone else’s,” said Rita Richardson, whose husband Rod was killed by a roadside bomb while working as a contractor in Iraq.  Richardson spent a year “squabbling” to receive her husband’s death benefit.  “It didn’t matter that he didn’t have a uniform.  He died serving his country."

Still Fighting: Carmelo Rodriguez and the Medical Malpractice Bill Aimed at Holding the Military Accountable

About a year ago, we brought your attention to a CBS News report about a U.S. Marine named Carmelo Rodriguez who served in Iraq and survived, only to die as a result of gross medical malpractice by military health care providers.

We also told you that Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)  had announced plans to introduce legislation that would reverse a nearly 60 year old law that prohibits malpractice suits against the military and prevents folks like Carmello Rodriguez and his survivors from being compensated.

Well yesterday, Congress held a hearing to discuss the legislation, now dubbed the “Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act.”  According to the CBS report, "in nearly 60 years, no one's ever successfully challenged the Feres Doctrine [which prevents suits against the military], but no one's ever made it this far either."

Hinchey told the panel the bill was needed to give soldiers the same rights as prisoners in federal prisons who are allowed  to sue for medical malpractice.  Needless to say, we couldn’t agree more.  Check out the CBS Report.

Watch CBS Videos Online

U.S. Civil Justice - Envy of the World

There are more suits against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others for detainee deaths at Guantanamo Bay, this one a wrongful death action on behalf of two prisoners who hung themselves after alleged physical and mental torture. (See our recent post about the importance of U.S. laws to remedy human rights abuses.)

And in China – a country that, needless to say, does not provide citizens with the right to civil jury trial - hundreds of parents with children killed or injured by milk poisoned with the industrial chemical melamine, are rejecting their paltry government compensation plan, at great personal risk.  As AP wrote, “The government's plan calls for families whose children died to receive 200,000 yuan ($29,000), while others would receive 30,000 yuan ($4,380) for serious cases of kidney stones and 2,000 yuan ($290) for less severe cases.”

As we look forward to a new Administration next week, it's worth remembering something.  As hard as Corporate America fights to severely weaken the right to civil jury trial - everything from caps on compensation to horrible ideas like "Health Courts" - they'll never succeed.  The civil jury's roots are very deep here.  American colonists fought the Revolutionary War in significant part over England's repeated attempts to restrict jury trials. The U.S. Constitution was nearly defeated over its failure to guarantee the right to civil jury trial. (The Seventh Amendment eventually resolved the problem.) Check out Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in Parklane Hosiery for a great history lesson. The right to jury trial has been secured by every state as well.  And if you look at countries like China, it's clear why.