ThePopTort

The Twists and Turns of Gun Liability

In its infinite wisdom, Congress decided in 2005 that when protecting most of the gun industry from liability for gun violence, it shouldn’t actually protect gun dealers who break the law. So when an 18-year-old went on a shooting rampage at a Utah shopping mall a few years ago, victims were able to bring suit against the pawn shop that illegally sold a pistol-grip shotgun to this kid -in violation of federal law.  (And the Second Amendment survived, if you can believe it!)  Late yesterday, it was reported that,

Carolyn Tuft settled her lawsuit against Sportsman’s Fast Cash and its parent company in February. Tuft was shopping at Trolley Square with her daughter, 15-year-old Kirsten Hinckley, on Feb. 12, 2007, when 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic opened fire on shoppers with a pistol-grip shotgun.

Five people died, including Hinckley, and four others were wounded before police arrived and killed Talovic. … Tuft was hit multiple times [and] continues to suffer from her injuries, which included a gaping hole in her back and muscle torn from her arm. … [L]ead pellets from the gunshots could not entirely be removed and remain embedded in Tuft’s body near her spine, leaching into her major organs.

The company agreed to settle the case, as it did with another victim who was rendered paraplegic while shopping for a Valentine’s Day card for his wife. In all cases, the company insisting on confidentiality so we’ll never know much more.

Meanwhile in Missouri, a bill has been introduced by state Rep. Caleb Jones, “who wants private businesses that post signs banning guns to be liable for injuries that occur on their property,” in other words, "punish businesses that maintain gun-free zones and reward those that allow concealed-carry in instances of violence.” 

The bill specifically says:

Any private business that displays signage which prohibits public invitees, business visitors, and employees from carrying a concealed weapon on the premises owned or occupied by such private business shall be liable for any injury or damages incurred by such public invitees, business visitors, and employees as a result of such prohibition if such public invitee, business visitor, or employee establishes by a preponderance of evidence that having access to a firearm may have prevented his or her injury or damage.

Any private business that does not prohibit public invitees, business visitors, and employees from carrying a concealed weapon on the premises owned or occupied by such private business shall be immune from any liability arising from its decision to permit concealed weapons to be carried on business premises.

Judging by the comments on the article’s website, readers of the Riverfront Times are not amused.  And that’s not all:

And there has been plenty of proposals in Missouri this cycle designed specifically to counter gun-control efforts, including a ban on federal executive orders, a rewriting of the Constitution to make gun rights "inalienable," an effort to criminalize fellow lawmakers who even propose gun control -- and a lot more.

Twisted hardly describes this. 

Patient Safety Gone Wrong

You may not have heard, but it’s National Patient Safety Awareness Week. Certainly, who could argue with any group working to stop needless deaths and injuries due to unsafe medical care (which kills up to - or at least - 98,000 people a year, according to the Institute of Medicine)? But strange doesn’t half describe the way some are commemorating this week.

First off, a note about the National Patient Safety Foundation, which sponsors this event. The rabidly anti-civil justice American Medical Association was NPSF's founding sponsor, along with CNA/HealthPro and 3M.   When the Institute of Medicine report came out in 1999, one of its major recommendations was a mandatory reporting system for serious errors.  President Clinton at the time actually tried to get this done.  The AMA, along with the American Hospital Association, killed it. 

The AMA is commemorating National Patient Safety Week by focusing on medication errors – but not by trying to deal with the epidemic of medication errors in U.S. hospitals, which the Institute of Medicine says causes at least 7,000 deaths each year.  Instead, they are recommending “everyone to use National Patient Safety Awareness Week as an appropriate time for an annual check-up and clean-out of the medicine cabinet.”  

Then we have a state like Utah. The Utah Department of Health just released a report showing that “Utah hospitals continue to mistakenly leave equipment such as sponges inside patients -- many of them women undergoing obstetrical or gynecological surgeries”  and that these errors “were among the 101 ‘sentinel events’ reported by Utah hospitals and surgical clinics.” Spokesperson for the Department says, “The best way to prevent these events, which can be devastating to patients and their families, is to have a robust, transparent reporting system to monitor and track them … If we can better track these events we can work together with the health care industry to identify what's causing them and take steps to prevent them in the future.”  

Tell that to the AMA. 

Meanwhile, as if none of this was happening, some lawmakers in Utah are responding by pushing legislation to severely cap compensation for medical malpractice victims, basically weakening the accountable of hospitals and other health care providers for these kinds of errors, and practically ensuring that errors will increase. 

As I said, strange doesn’t half describe it.

Utah’s Indecent ER Proposal

Today, we draw your attention to a terrible piece of legislation being proposed by Utah State Senator Peter Knudson (R-Brigham).

The specifics of this harmful bill are much more technical-sounding than the straightforward effect it would have—namely, making it considerably more difficult for patients injured in hospital emergency rooms to be compensated.

Knudson attempts to justify this indecent proposal by hauling out the tired old “access to care” argument—namely, that the fear of lawsuits has supposedly become so pervasive that ER docs have begun fleeing the state in screaming droves.

Of course, the medical lobbies offer no empirical data to back up these hysterical assertions because frankly, none exists. In fact, the evidence overwhelmingly tends to point the other way. According to the American Medical Association’s own data, the number of emergency room physicians in Utah has been steadily increasing in recent years, rising from 212 in 2003 to 281 by 2007.

We could go on, but you get the idea—patients have plenty of access to emergency care, and this bill could not be any more bogus.

Given that the hospital location where most malpractice occurs is the emergency room, let’s hope the Utah bill ends up on the legislative scrap heap where it belongs.

Bush, Greenberg, and Drug Fraud, Oh My!

Lots to talk about today, civil justice fans—much of it scary, perhaps even unsuitable for children—all of it guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat (as always!).

The Bush administration is apparently determined to wreak as much havoc as it can before it turns into a pumpkin this January.  Now it’s trying to auction off 110,000 acres of federal land in the prestigious red-rock area of southeastern Utah—and you’ll never guess why…there’s gold in them thar hills!  (Well, sort of—actually, the land is said to be “energy rich.”)    Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to try and block this latest example of Bush’s regulatory midnight madness.  Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), who grew up in the red-rock area, called the auction “a final insult from an administration that has done so much to destroy our country.”

Meanwhile, former AIG-CEO Hank Greenberg has reportedly been up to his old tricks again—which is to say, being a greed-driven naughty boy.  Hank and several of his buddies agreed to settle a claim for $115 million with a teachers' pension fund it had allegedly swindled.  Apparently, Hank’s old friends at AIG had been unnecessarily outsourcing work related to the fund to Greenberg’s new company, C.V. Starr and Co., generating “hundreds of millions” in sham commissions and fees to Greenberg and his cronies.

Last, but certainly not least, a drug company that allegedly enlisted the help of phony pitchmen and advocacy groups to heap “trumped-up” scientific praise on a schizophrenia drug is now being sued by the state of Texas, which hopes to recoup millions of dollars spent on the drug through the state’s Medicaid system.  According to a Texas AG filing, the company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, part of Johnson & Johnson, “targeted Texas Medicaid with their sophisticated and fraudulent marketing scheme” aimed at bilking the state out of as much money as it could through sales of "Risperdal."  Texas learned of the case through Pennsylvania whistle-blower Allen Jones who said, “It’s standard practice in the industry to influence a few key decision-makers, but this is perhaps the most transparent example I have seen.”

‘Son of a Preacher Man’ Inspires…a Lawsuit!

The old Dusty Springfield song rocks, but the son of 1960s televangelist Oral Roberts is more likely singing the blues these days.

Richard Roberts (Oral's son) and his wife Lindsay allegedly used funds from Oral Roberts University “for shopping sprees, home improvements and a stable of horses for their daughters at a time when ORU was more than $50 million in debt.”  The scandal led to the resignation of Richard Roberts, who had been president of the renowned institution.

Now two professors from the university, who claim that they were fired after uncovering the alleged misappropriations, have settled claims against the university (though details of the settlement remain confidential and the Roberts’ continue to deny any wrongdoing).

“After a year in limbo, it’s nice to have some resolution to this,” said Tim Booker, one of the professors who settled the suit, along with his professor wife, Paulita.  Another professor who originally brought suit along with the Bookers settled with the university in January.

Civil Justice, Gary Coleman-Style

In the civil justice system, no one is above the law—not even pint-sized former child actor Gary Coleman, who is now 40.

Colt Rushton, 24, is suing Coleman, he says, because the Different Strokes star punched him, and then ran into him with his truck in the parking lot of a Utah bowling alley.  (Whatchyou talkin’ about, Willis?!) 

Apparently, the ruckus began when Rushton started taking pictures of Coleman with his cell phone.  According to Rushton, Coleman’s bodyguard, Paul Rohbock, told Rushton he would have to pay $20 per picture if he continued taking photos.  Rushton then stopped—until he saw the diminutive Coleman sitting behind the wheel of his great big truck, which he found to be hilarious (and infinitely photo-worthy).  Needless to say, hijinks ensued.

Either Coleman’s bodyguard or wife (Rushton isn’t sure which) attacked him from behind, confiscating his cell phone, says Rushton.  Then, at some point, he says, Coleman began punching Rushton in the chest repeatedly.  Finally, Coleman allegedly ran into Rushton and another car with his truck as he was leaving the parking lot.  It is unclear whether Rushton suffered any lasting injuries—though he apparently never got his phone back.

Here’s hoping that in the end, the justice system will teach both parties to be a little more civil.

In the News

Mississippi AG Hood has settled with State Farm over the company’s refusal to pay Katrina claims, but still believes policyholders should be paid a lot more.  The horrendous treatment by the insurance industry of Katrina victims continues to be a horrible black stain on this country.   

AP looks back at the “collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine one year ago” which “was so extensive, federal officials found no other mining disaster in the last 50 years to compare to it.”  Let’s hope the relatives are able to get some justice in court, as in other mining disasters.

Connecticut AG has sued Countrywide saying it “broke state banking and consumer laws by making loans home buyers couldn't afford and by other ‘oppressive, unethical, immoral and unscrupulous' practices.”  Connecticut joins California, Illinois and Florida in suits against Countrywide.

Disgusting.  Three California hospitals “allegedly churned thousands of indigents through their sites and billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for costly and unjustified medical procedures.”  As a result, “one hospital chief executive faces criminal charges and executives at two other facilities were accused of fraudulent business practices in a related civil lawsuit filed by Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo."

The "depravity" of the alleged scheme startled authorities, said Salvador Hernandez, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office.

"The defendants are accused of preying on the homeless and exploiting their desperate conditions for personal gain," he said.