Honolulu Personal Injury Lawyer - All Topics - Most Commented

Tort Reform Has No Place In Health Care Reform

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:53:48 GMT

President Obama needs the support of all of us in regard to the efforts by the insurance industry to sneak tort reform into the health care bill before Congress. No back room deals with the insurance industry will be tolerated by the vast majority of Americans who are clamoring for real health care reform and no Shibai!

Tort reform has no place in health care reform. Taking away the rights of patients injured by negligent doctors and hospitals will do nothing to improve health care and study after study has shown that tort reform will not lower doctor's insurance costs. The biggest myth is the false claim that health care costs are driven up by defensive medicine _ doctors doing unnecessary medical tests to avoid frivolous lawsuits. When studies have been about those tests in states where tort reform has been passed, it turns out that the doctors and hospitals continue to do the tests. Why? Because they make money doing those tests. So leaving the 98,000 Americans who die each year due to negligent doctors and hospitals through preventable medical injuries without a remedy for their losses is un-American and just plain wrong.

You may be interested in reading the true facts about defensive medicine:

The Public Deserves The Truth About Lawsuit Abuse and Medical Malpractice - By Wayne Parsons, June 24, 2009 3:00 PM

Debunking the Myth on Defensive Medicine - By Cecelia Prewett, American Association of Justice (AAJ)

Not surprisingly the Honolulu Star Bulletin has taken up this false call for tort reform recently. That is consistent with the major media outlets siding with the insurance industry and ignoring the facts about health care and the basic American constitutional principle that for for every wrong there should be a remedy.

For more information go to the site for People over Profits where real facts are published and myths debunked. The Center For Justice & Democracy (CJ&D) led by legendary consumer advocate Joanne Doroshow is also a fabulous source for the real facts on these myths that major news media like the editors of the Honolulu Star Bulletin perpetuate on behalf of their friends in Big Insurance.

We must all tell President Obama and Congress not to tamper with the rights of injured patients to appease a greedy insurance industry that is, in fact, primarily responsible for the health care crisis of 98,000 deaths each year, many uninsured patients and doctors being gouged for their legitimate billings by insurance adjusters. I support the statement of Anthony Tarricone, President of the American Association of Justice in his communication today on the subject:

Washington, DC—“Any changes to the malpractice system must focus on patient safety and preventable medical errors, not limiting patients’ legal rights.

“The goals outlined by the White House – such as reducing the number of injuries, fostering better communication, compensating patients quicker, and reducing doctors’ premiums – move the debate in the right direction.

“However, 46 states have already enacted tort reform and health care costs continue to hurt the pocketbooks of American families. Because of these tort reforms, patients injured through no fault of their own are often unable to seek justice.

“It is critical that these demonstration projects preserve Americans’ 7th Amendment right to a trial by jury. The details matter significantly, but any efforts to limit patients’ rights are not acceptable. Promoting greater patient safety and reducing preventable medical errors are tenets doctors, attorneys, hospitals, and all Americans can support.”
### As the world's largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org/newsroom.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

American Bar Association Reports On AIDS/HIV

Wayne Parsons — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:08:27 GMT

The AIDS/HIV health crisis is now thirty years old and the subject continues to challenge society around the world. The Rule of Law has faced difficult challenges as the basic concept of individual rights and cultural mores clash. In California we have witnessed a long battle in the streets, the courts and the ballot box. The recent Proposition 8 battle regarding domestic partnerships has been in national headlines. All sides of this battle are passionate. The association of AIDS/HIV is not however an issue of sexual orientation although it is often politically charged because of that perception.

The American Bar Association has been a leader in providing a comprehensive and learned view of the legal aspects of HIV/AIDS. The ABA recently has published a report on the subject that should be read by all policy makers, politicians and journalists. The Report preamble by Shelley D. Hayes, Chair of the ABA AIDS Coordinating Committee sets the stage:

Too many Americans are living with chronic diseases without access to necessary care and treatment. Many of our citizens who are infected with HIV fall into that group of Americans.

As we approach the thirty year mark of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is appropriate for us as a nation to reflect on the distance we have traveled and the length of the road still ahead. We have made great strides in developing drugs that prolong the lives of those who take them. But, we have a long way to go before all who can be helped by those drugs know that there is help available and have access to that help. Even as public health officials move away from “AIDS exceptionalism,” stigma and discrimination continue to haunt those infected with HIV and limit their access to adequate care and treatment.

For more than 20 years, the American Bar Association has worked to raise the conscience of the bench, bar and public as it pertains to the legal issues raised by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in this country and around the globe. We bring those issues to the fore in 2009 in the hope that the much-discussed initiatives to reform health care in America will include a national response to the continuing domestic HIV/AIDS crisis.

Reporting that recent data indicates that the domestic HIV problem is greater than previously thought, the call for greater federal funding is justified to deal with this serious health issue:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States in 2006. This figure, based on improved data collection and analysis, is roughly 40% higher than CDC’s former longstanding estimate of 40,000 infections per year. Yet while federal funding for the global pandemic has increased markedly in recent years, funding for the domestic epidemic has been flat, cut, or increased only marginally, with potentially devastating consequences. Indeed, in the U.S. as elsewhere, HIV now affects primarily low-income communities of color, particularly women and youth, who long have experienced more limited access to public health systems, including to HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services.

The comprehensive analysis in the ABA report covers the homeless population, access to health care, incarcerated populations, sex education, insurance, public assistance and testing programs.

This divisive health crisis must be addressed addressed by all of the decision-makers if we are to stem the tide of the tragedy that follows those affected. Congratulations to the ABA for adding this scholarly analysis to a subject that goes to the core of the Rule of Law.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Drywall From China Causes Concern Over Sulfur Odor In Homes

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:51:33 GMT

MARY WOZNIAK (mwozniak@news-press.com) and DICK HOGAN (dhogan@news-press.com) reported on December 20, 2008 that drywall from China in 2004 - 2005 has has been creating noxious sulfur odors and potential health problem. A Florida family had to move out of their new home at the home builder's expense while the problem - and a solution - is investigated.

The Environmental Protection Agency confirms there is a problem with drywall, but says the breadth and severity of that problem are unknown.

“It is the drywall, and from what I gather it is causing a problem with copper and, specifically, air conditioning units,” said Dawn Harris-Young, spokeswoman from the EPA’s Region 4 in Atlanta.

After new home buyers in Fort Myers Florida complained about the sulfur odors, the builder had the Chinese drywall tested and determined that it was the problem. The builder replaced the drywall in one house and used ozone, fogging and barrier paint in the other.

Florida health department officials have received over 50 complaints from around the state about these problems and is investigating the problem:

“It certainly does raise concerns,” said Dr. David Krause, toxicologist for the state Health Department. “There may be a direct health threat.”

At highest risk for health problems are children and the elderly. People with asthma and chemical sensitivity are at even higher risk. The Chinese drywall that came into this market three to four years ago often was of poor quality being very brittle.

Doug Hoffman, executive director of the National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors, said he has been getting a lot of reports about the Chinese drywall recently from his members — mainly in the Southeast.

“What they’re finding is that the drywall being shipped over from China is emitting much higher levels of sulfur, methane and other volatile organic compounds” than is considered healthy.

This drywall problem highlights the problem of foreign made products. We cannot control what foreign product manufacturers do and with US health and safety regulation having been substantially dismantled by the Clinton and Bush Administrations the public is being subjected to an epidemic of health threats from foreign products. I have written before on this problem in regard to Melamine in baby formula and defective foreign products. Another interesting article on this subject is "Food and Toy Safety: China's refusal to allow free speech increases our risk of exposure to melamine and lead" by prominent consumer advocate Steve Lombardi from Des Moines, Iowa. Higher profits at the expense of public health is at the core of these issues. The American civil justice system protects the public when corporations and government fail in their duty to do so. In China there is no effective system of courts, citizen juries and the Rule of Law to stop these practices. Unfortunately politicians in Hawaii and across the country are at work stripping American's of the protections of the courts, so Hawaii defective products lawyers cannot protect your family. Don't let it happen in in Hawaii or any community.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Victoria's Secret Bras Contaminated With Formaldehyde According To Ohio Woman's Lawsuit

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:37:53 GMT

A woman in Ohio purchased Victoria's Secret bras and after wearing them came down with hot , blistering welts and severe itching that made it difficult to sleep. She filed suit in May after tests revealed that the bras contained formaldehyde, an embalming chemical. She may be allergic to formaldehyde. The bras she purchased are the Angels Secret Embrace and Very Sexy Extreme Me Push-Up bras.

A class action lawsuit has been filed but court approval of the class action has not yet occurred. Apparently dozens of women have been contacting the Ohio attorneys who filed the suit with similar complaints. According to ABC News Victoria's Secret has stated that "We have strict quality controls around our products, and we do not use formaldehyde in our bras". The woman's attorneys have responded that "[i]t may not be something that they're specifying to put in their bra, but somehow it's making its way into the manufacturing process because it was certainly present," according to the ABC New story.

In a Fox News story they quote the Ohio woman as saying that"

I had the welts ... very red, hot to the touch, extremely inflamed, blistery. It itched profusely. I couldn't sleep, waking up itching.

How the formaldehyde got in Victoria's Secret bras is not yet known but apparently other women are having the problem. Often in chemical sensitivity injury cases it turns out that contamination occurs in the manufacturing process when products are exposed to dangerous chemicals coming from some other source. In the DuPont Benlate cases that I was involved in as an attorney on behalf of flower farmers in Hawaii, the fungicide had been manufactured next door to a plant that manufactured a powerful herbicide and lack of quality control resulted in contamination of the fungicide powder with a powerful and deadly chemical. Perhaps that is what is happening here.

Consumers have no protection from these types of injuries. what we eat and wear and the air we breath can injure us it contains dangerous chemicals and no one can test all of these things before using or consuming them. That is why the corporate practices of manufacturers and the regulatory expense of our consumer protection government agencies is so important. Corporations have been successful at reducing government regulation and these are the results of such trends. The recent U.S. Supreme Court case of Wyeth vs. Levine and legislation proposed by corporation friendly legislators to completely bar lawsuits by injured consumers in these cases. They would have the governmental approvals of their products be a bar to any claim that the product is defective. You can read other articles in my Blog and at the Injury Board website about this attempt to take away consumer rights. Only public pressure will stop that from happening. Go to the American Association of Justice website to learn more and join the fight for people over profits!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Swine Flu Crisis Involves Huge Health Controversy and Probably Another Cover-up

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:11:28 GMT

In my first article on the new Swine Flu scare I didn't realize that this connection with pigs, Swine Flu, MRSA and C.Diff has been raging among corporate interests, their cadre of hired-gun veterinarians and those concerned about public health (as opposed to greed and profits). My article Health Alert For Hawaii: Is The New Swine Flu A Threat To The Islands? was just the beginning. Now I learn that an international cover-up is in progress over this issue and that veterinarians have been bribed to give false health certificates for pigs. I also have learned that an American pig farmer was infected with Swine Fever when his pig herd was culled in 2000 - he is still suffering - and it turned out that his pigs were not sick. Bizarre? You bet. John Grisham kind of stuff. Too crazy to believe. But now the world shudders in the shadow of a pandemic. Wash your hands and read on.

So what is Swine Fever, and is it different from Swine Flu? What are Zoonotic diseases and what is MRSA and C.Diff?

Swine Flu: "Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people."

Swine Fever: Classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera (also sometimes called pig plague based on the German word Schweinepest) is a highly contagious disease of pigs and wild boar. Swine fever causes fever, skin lesions, conclusions and usually (particularly in young animals) death within 15 days. The symptoms are indistinguishable from those of African swine fever.

MRSA: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called "staph." It's a strain of staph that's resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. MRSA can be fatal. Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. It's known as health care-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk of HA-MRSA. More recently, another type of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider community. This form, community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, is responsible for serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia.

C.Diff: Clostridium difficile, often called C. difficile or "C. diff," is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications. In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren't hospitalized or taking antibiotics.

So what's the connection to food safety and our health with C. Diff? According to an MSNBC Report:

A potentially deadly intestinal germ increasingly found in hospitals is also showing up in a more unsavory setting: grocery store meats.

More than 40 percent of packaged meats sampled from three Arizona chain stores tested positive for Clostridium difficile, a gut bug known as C. diff., according to newly complete analysis of 2006 data collected by a University of Arizona scientist.

Nearly 30 percent of the contaminated samples of ground beef, pork and turkey and ready-to-eat meats like summer sausage were identical or closely related to a super-toxic strain of C. diff blamed for growing rates of illness and death in the U.S. — raising the possibility that the bacterial infections may be transmitted through food.

Oh, yes and then there is the term "Zoonotic Disease".

Zoonotic diseases are those diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between (or are shared by) animals and humans.

You'll find a lot about Zoonotic disease at veterinary websites.

And finally "Circovirus": Circoviruses are very small non-enveloped icosahedral viruses with a single stranded circular DNA genome. They have been described in pigs (porcine circovirus, PCV), chickens (chicken anemia virua, ChAV), psittacines (psittacine beak and feather disease virus, PBFD) and pigeons. The virus targets the lymphoid tissue and causes immunosuppression in the host.Circoviruses are the smallest pathogenic DNA viruses that have been identified and characterized in animals.

Ever hear of The GARDINER HYPOTHESIS?

Mutated Circovirus in pigs, the consequences of being treated with heavy use of antibiotics, is followed by MRSA in pigs and then MRSA and C.Diff epidemics take off in humans. A circovirus mutation in Britain in 1999 was covered up. The resulting epidemics spread first around the UK, then to Canada and from there, most recently, to the United States.

Mr. Gardiner is a crusader for truth in this complex health issue:

The people most likely to be handling animals other than their owners are likely to be the vets treating them, often for routine procedures.

The people most likely to be giving the pets and their owners MRSA are veterinarians.

Several series of tests have been taken at veterinary conferences. The results?

Vets, especially livestock vets, carry MRSA in disproportionate numbers. The vets, themselves creditably, although not in Britain,have provided the evidence.

Which is why the Dutch and other Continental European countries target veterinarians for special testing and decontamination at the hospital door. They want to stop them spreading it to other patients under their "Search and Destroy" regime, lately adopted by one private hospital in Dublin.

Alas, that bright bit of spin that pets are the problem has hit the floor at great speed. And worse for the vets, the full consequences are yet to be played out.

There is lot going on here. A knowledgeable source who has been in the middle of this for many years writes:

So, what is the truth? We should find out in the next few days. American officials are reported to be in Mexico and in the pig farms. Vets true, but they can hardly hide up sick pigs in large numbers in such a serious situation, so we should, get reliable reports on the health status of Mexican pigs. The big question is just what do we do if the pigs are sick with Swine Fever. Neither hospitals or pig farms worldwide can face another onslaught of zoonotic disease and the inevitable mutations.

Let's hope the news is hopeful, but more importantly that it is truthful and factual.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Doctors Starting Salaries - Do We Really Feel Sorry For People Who Make This Much?

Wayne Parsons — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:43:26 GMT

In the “Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2007 Report Based on 2006 Data,” conducted in collaboration with the National Association of Physician Recruiters, found that physician-owned practices offered comparable salaries to hospital/IDS salaries for family practice without obstetrics ($130,000 versus $135,000), general internal medicine ($150,000 vs. $145,000) and noninvasive diagnostic radiology ($350,000 vs. $345,000). The pay-scales are high. Doctors can easily make over $1 million per year. I am not complaining about their salaries. I am complaining about their whining about lawsuit abuse. It does not exist and yet these rich doctors are using it to trick the public on tort reform.

Do we feel so sorry for doctors who make this much, to say its okay to injure your patients and pay nothing for their suffering? That is what the AMA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say that doctors want. There are almost no lawsuits against doctors. In Hawaii there were less than 30 last year. The doctors are making a lot of money. Why does everyone feel sorry for them?

Or maybe you don't feel sorry for them. I am looking for a sense of what patients feel about doctors' salaries and doctors injuring patients. What do you think?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

CPSC Chair Tenenbaum Seeks China's Help In Paying Chinese Drywall Claims in U.S.

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:57:14 GMT

The story of ruined homes, hopes and dreams in the U.S. Southeast has been raging in the news for almost a year: Drywall From China Causes Concern Over Sulfur Odor In Homes - by Wayne Parsons January 02, 2009. The first question that comes to mind for an attorney like me is how do you get a company in China to pay for damage that their product causes in the U.S. Defective Product Accountability for Foreign Manufacturers by Joe Saunders.

So how does the first woman who contacted me about Chinese Drywall in her home in Florida get the money to fix her problem? She was a single mother with a little girl and a new home tha reeked of sulfur smells to the point it made them both physically ill. The builder of the home was gone and probably bankrupt. To solve the problem, all of the drywall in the home would have to be removed and replaced. Think about it. That removing and replacing all of the walls in the house is a huge _ and expensive _ task. Well lawyers across the Southeast are filing lawsuits for aggrieved homeowners, but collecting any money may be an entirely different matter. It would be great if the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would stop its lobbying for insurance company behemoths like AIG and start helping Americans who are hurt get justice. But then all the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cares about is keeping the executive bonuses rolling in to the insurance industry fat cats. To heck with a single mother and her daughter in ruined home in Florida. She's nobody to them.

Lucky for all of us, President Obama has appointed some consumer advocates to agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission. After 16 years of Presidents Clinton and Bush ordering consumer and environmental agencies to back off regulating commerce and protecting the environment, there are signs of life in federal agencies that protect American consumers.

The Wall Street Journal (10/16, A3, Trottman) reports that in an interview prior to her trip next week to China for a consumer product safety summit, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said she intends to ask China to assist in paying for damage caused in US homes by defective Chinese drywall. Said Tenenbaum, "I will find out if any discussions are going on in China about the costs, are they prepared to participate in providing funds, and what would it take for that to occur." She also intends to discuss a US regulatory standard for drywall composition.

Fallon denies motion to shift discovery to the Hague. The New Orleans Times-Picayune (10/15, Mowbray) reported, "U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon denied a motion Thursday by the German company Knauf Gips to conduct discovery in the Chinese drywall litigation under the rules of international litigation in the Hague. Plaintiffs and U.S. companies view the move as a sign that Fallon, the judge presiding over the national consolidated litigation over Chinese drywall in New Orleans, will fight to hold foreign manufacturers of Chinese drywall accountable."

The Bradenton (FL) Herald (10/16, Marsteller) reports that Fallon "said he will not dismiss several suits against Knauf Gips KG," a German drywall manufacturer "that says it has nothing to do with Chinese drywall." Knauf Gips "argued the suits against it should be dismissed, saying U.S. courts lack jurisdiction because the company is based in Germany and has no business dealings in the United States." But Fallon said that "the company's request would jeopardize plans to hold the first 'bellwether' trial in January."

ABC World News (10/15, story 10, 2:10, Gibson) reported, "A federal court in New Orleans held a hearing today about a growing problem for tens of thousands of American families. They have filed lawsuits alleging that drywall, made in China, is defective, ruining their homes and their health, and now some are finding their homeowners insurance is being canceled because of it." Desperate homeowners "are trying everything. Many are suing their builders and drywall manufacturers. And some have tried making insurance claims to get compensated, but insurance companies say their contracts clearly state they're not responsible for construction defects."

CBS /AP (10/15) reported, "Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from [Chinese drywall] are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And officials warn that cases...in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims in the pipeline." Because mortgage companies "require homeowners to insure their properties, they are then at risk of foreclosure, yet no law prevents the cancellations."

Nelson blasts move. Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune (10/16, Kessler) reports, "U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., lashed out at some of Florida's top insurance companies Thursday in response to several of them starting to drop coverage for homeowners who have tainted Chinese drywall." Nelson "fired off a number of letters to Florida companies," in one of which he "demanded that Bradley Meier, chief executive of Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Co. - one of the companies that has started dropping Chinese drywall victims - immediately provide 'a statement regarding your company's policy on claims and coverage relating to contaminated Chinese drywall.'"

Insurance reform is absolutely necessary in the U.S. as is now becoming apparant to all of us as the true facts of what is wrong with health care in America traces to the marble facades of the huge insurnace companies that dominate politics in Congress with their unlimited lobbying money.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Chinese Drywall Is Not DRAGONBOARD!

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:01:15 GMT

I posted an article on January 2, 2009 about a problem in the Southeastern states involving toxic odors of sulfur from drywall installed in new homes: "Drywall From China Causes Concern Over Sulfur Odor In Homes".

The story generated a lot of Comments and in the process some facts were not reported accurately. The main misunderstanding that I want to clarify here is that the product referred to as "Chinese Drywall" is not also called "DRAGONBOARD®" or other products identified as magnesium oxide board, MgO board or Mag board. There is no similarity between DRAGONBOARD® and the odorous Chinese drywall that has led to homeowner complaints throughout the Southeast states from Louisiana to Florida. I am including below the two Comments that mentioned DRAGONBOARD®.

The Comment by ManateeKnows is not correct that the offending "Chinese Drywall" is possibly DRAGONBOARD® of some magnesium-based product. The Comment by Bill Randy correctly points out that DRAGONBOARD® is a totally different product that doesn't smell, has never caused these types of problems and could not be the smelly "Chinese Drywall".

I have been in touch with Michael Di Raimondo, Director of Sales for DRAGONBOARD®-US in Edison, NJ. Mr. Di Raimondo kindly sent me samples of their product and invidet me to smell it (no odor) and to put it in water (I did - it still doesn't smell and seems impervious to water). DRAGONBOARD is waterproof and has been subjected to 36 months of freeze-thaw testing, it is UL fire rated and is ASTM D-5628 impact resistant. In addition it is silica/asbestos/foraldehyde free and thus a "green" product.. Mr. Di Raimondo describes DRAGONBOARD as the "GREEN" construction panel of the 21st century. It looks like an excellent product.

If the builders in Florida, like Ryland Homes had given their customers a quality product like DRAGONBOARD instead of the Chinese manufactured - and you can bet "cheap" - foreign drywall, the homeowners whose new homes have been ruined would not have this heartache. As we all know, homebuilders put their money in construction into glamorous visible fixtures and take shortcuts on the structure and on materials that the homeowner cannot see. The Chinese Drywall fiasco is such an example. When will homebuilders, some of which a re huge national corporations, stop doing this shoddy construction taking advantage of their customers for a few extra dollars.

Companies like DRAGONBOARD®-US will hopefully get more calls from the homebuilding industry and home buyers will be given a new home with ethical and high quality materials, even the ones they can't see. In Hawaii we do not have the Chinese Drywall problem. Odd since we are much closer to China. But we do have a building industry that uses cheap materials and shoddy construction in places that the home buyer cannot see.

Here are the Comments that led to this clarifying post:

Posted by ManateeKnows
Friday, January 16, 2009 3:06 PM EST

If you call it drywall, it has to be made of gypsum which is an unlikely culprit. Consider that this stuff is NOT drywall/wallboard. It may be Chinese magnesium oxide board, also called Mag Board, MgO Board and Dragon Board. Wet it and it releases magnesium chloride, corrosive to metal. Heat it and it releases magnesium oxide fumes, cough cough cough.

Posted by Bill Randy
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:16 PM EST

To suggest that all boards made in China are bad is like saying all peanuts from the USA contain salmonella. It is an irresponsible approach to the truth.

Knaupf is a legitmate global player and this drywall contains sulfur. They need to honor the claim. It is a legitimate claim but we need to proceed with caution when labeling "chinese drywall...."

One of your respondent says that dragon board and mag board may be suspect as they are made of magnesium oxide and when heated it releases fumes (not true fumes are released in welding metals not baking boards) and when wet it releases magnesium chloride (not true and if it was true its a safe chemical). Magnesium chloride is an important coagulant used in the preparation of tofu from soy milk (safe) and magnesium oxide boards have no mold, no flame, and no smoke.....

As a matter of fact Georgia Pacific, an american company, states in their literature that most us homes have mold growth in them due to paper faced gyspsum drywall. USA fiber cement and cement boards contain silica (causing crystaline silicate problems when breathed).

So again please watch the grouping or else no one will eat Florida tomatoes, california spinach, US hormone rich beef, or georgia peanuts!

Please dispel

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Medical Malpractice Expenditures Comprise Less Than 1 Percent Of Overall Health Costs

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:42:12 GMT

We hear a lot of propaganda from medical professionals, insurance companies and politicians who try to place the blame for America’s skyrocketing health care costs on the so-called medical malpractice “insurance crisis.” They claim that patients who are injured by negligent doctors and their lawyers are responsible for driving up the costs of health care here in Hawaii and across the country. The media repeats the dire warnings from the doctors and the politicians who get lucrative campaign contributions from them. We routinely see news reports that if we don’t place more and more restrictions on the legal rights of patients, doctors will stop practicing medicine.

Are the proponents of new restrictions on patients’ rights telling us the truth? The answer is a definite NO.

Those who claim that medical malpractice insurance costs are driving up the costs of health care are actually misleading the American public. Hawaii has been subjected to these untruths by doctors who want laws passed that will allow them to injure patients through negligence and escape any responsibility.

According to an in depth analysis of this subject by consumer advocate Public Citizen the fact is that medical malpractice insurance costs nationwide in 2002, for instance, had only a minuscule impact on the cost of health care – less than one percent!

Medical malpractice expenditures comprise less than 1 percent of overall health costs. In 2002 health care expenditures rose 9.3 percent to $1.553 trillion. Yet expenditures on all malpractice premiums reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that year were only $9.6 billion – making malpractice costs about .62 percent of national health care expenditures.

In Hawai`i, the total payments for medical malpractice insurance coverage were only 0.69% of our state’s overall health care expenditures. Truth be told, even if medical malpractice litigation were completely eliminated, the resulting cost savings would have only the tiniest effect on health care spending. There is no legitimate basis for restricting the legal rights of people who are injured by negligent doctors. Doing so will not have any effect on controlling rising health care expenses.

The Public Citizen analysis of this subject explodes and exposes the fraud that doctors and their insurance companies are perpetuating on the public. Every politician and member of the public should have this book as a resource to understand health care in America: Jackson Williams, et al., PUBLIC CITIZEN, MEDICAL MALPRACTICE BRIEFING BOOK: CHALLENGING THE MISLEADING CLAIMS OF THE DOCTORS' LOBBY (2004).

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Senate passes Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act giving FDA regulatory control of tobacco industry.

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:42:04 GMT

I can hear Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity and Chaney moaning and whining already about the American people getting control of the runaway train that their FDA has turned loose on the public for the past decade. Big Tobacco and Big Pharma and Big Insurance have been running this country in key ways that affect the public for a long time now. Congress was afraid of them. The President often made back room deals with them. Of course the insurance industry and the AMA and Big Pharma ran beautiful television commercials with actors pretending to be real people and told lies to the public about the issues so the real people who were victims of this greed and corruption would sleep well thinking that their interests were safe. The word for this type of false propaganda in Hawaii is "shibai". So to all of those corporate CEO's in the tobacco industry who have been responsible for a huge number of deaths and trillions and trillions of tax dollars for added health care, I say your time has come: the people are in charge now and your time is up.

Congress just put the tobacco industry under the control of the FDA! Power to the people. And for Rush Limbaugh who loves to lambaste all government, we the people are the government. Its my government and we need a government and the lord only knows we need more regulation of these scalawags in corporate board rooms who are useless failures and have ripped off the public.

One last note before I get to the news on this historic FDA legislation: smoking tobacco isn't as voluntary as the tobacco industry apologists like Hannity and Limbaugh would have you believe. Back in the 1950s one of the big tobacco companies had a project called "Sweet Little 16". It was a secret project because it was disgusting. It should have been criminal. The Sweet Little 16" Project was a marketing plan that said "most of our best customers (heavy adult smokers) begin smoking between the ages of 12 to 16. We should target the 12 to 16 year olds in our advertising campaigns". They did that with expensive psychological tested messages and images that seduced children to become addicted to cigarettes. If we don't throw people who do those kinds of things into jail for the rest of their lives then regulating such an industry is at least a first step.

Now for the good news!

A number of media outlets, including all three evening network news broadcasts, reported on yesterday's Senate vote approving giving the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products. USA Today (6/12, Koch) reports that the Senate voted 79-17 yesterday to approve legislation giving the FDA "the authority to regulate tobacco products," noting in its lead that "cigarettes marketed as 'light,' 'low' tar or 'mild' will be banned within a year" under the "historic bill." The bill, mirroring legislation passed by the House in April, "comes after more than a decade of congressional debate and a half-century since the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 landmark report linking smoking to lung cancer." As the New York Times reports:

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the new law would reduce youth smoking by 11 percent and adult smoking by 2 percent over the next decade, in addition to reductions already achieved through other actions, like higher taxes and smoke-free indoor space laws.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, as it is called, stops short of empowering the F.D.A. to outlaw smoking or ban nicotine — strictures that even most antismoking advocates acknowledged were not politically feasible and might drive people addicted to nicotine into a criminal black market.

But the law would give the F.D.A. power to set standards that could reduce nicotine content and regulate chemicals in cigarette smoke. The law also bans most tobacco flavorings, which are considered a lure to first-time smokers. Menthol was deferred to later studies. Health advocates predict that F.D.A. standards could eventually reduce some of the 60 carcinogens and 4,000 toxins in cigarette smoke, or make it taste so bad it deters users.

ABC World News (6/11, story 3, 2:25, Gibson) characterized the vote as "a big comeuppance for Big Tobacco," stating that the tobacco industry's "great sway in Congress" is "no more." ABC (Harris) added, "This afternoon on the floor of the Senate, where senators still have ceremonial spittoons for chewing tobacco spit, and where Big Tobacco lobby money has fended off FDA regulation for more than a decade, anti-smoking forces finally had their day."

The CBS Evening News (6/11, lead story, 2:25, Couric) led its coverage with the story of Congress' "unprecedented action to try to reduce the number of smoking-related deaths in this country." CBS (Cordes) added, "The landmark legislation is designed to keep kids from starting the habit and help adults kick it." Sen. Christopher Dodd: "For the first time in the history of our country, the Food and Drug Administration will be able to regulate tobacco products." In a follow-up segment, The CBS Evening News (6/11, story 2, 2:25, Couric) reported ran an interview with anchor Katie Couric and former FDA Chief David Kessler," who called the bill "a landmark piece of legislation. For the first time, we have the opportunity to regulate this deadly, addictive product." CBS News (6/12) runs a partial transcript of the interview on its website.

NBC Nightly News (6/11, story 3, 2:15, Williams) reported, "now the government is about to get sweeping new power to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products."

The AP (6/12, Abrams) calls the bill "a historic blow against smoking in America," noting that it will "give regulators new power to limit nicotine in the cigarettes that kill nearly a half-million people a year, to drastically curtail ads that glorify tobacco and to ban flavored products aimed at spreading the habit to young people." The AP reports that President Obama "said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco." This article notes that after years of "fierce opposition," Phillip Morris is supporting the bill, though smaller rivals complain "that was because [it] could lock in" market share.

The Los Angeles Times (6/12, Hook) reports that the vote "was a sign of the diminished clout of the tobacco industry after decades of holding sway on Capitol Hill, thanks to generous campaign contributions, well-connected lobbyists and the seniority of tobacco-state lawmakers such as the late Sen. Jesse Helms."

McClatchy (6/12, Barrett) reports that Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy called the bill's passage a "miracle," though tobacco advocates "said that the new regulation would cost jobs, hurt farmers and maintain the market dominance of tobacco giant Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboros." North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr (R) "held up Senate floor matters for nearly two weeks to protest the bill" which he argued would overtax the FDA.

The Wall Street Journal (6/12, B5, Mundy, Etter) notes that "companies are weighing the impact of the bill, which they say also puts severe, perhaps unconstitutional, restrictions on advertising and packaging. Those limits, they worry, could undo business plans based on smokeless tobacco products, which they have been developing in anticipation of this day -- even as they were fighting to derail the legislation."

The Washington Post (6/12, Layton) notes that much of the bill is intended to prevent children from beginning smoking, including a ban on fruit flavoring and youth-oriented advertising. Deep in the article, the Post relates the personal anecdotes of Senators personally impacted by tobacco use.

The New York Times (6/12, A1, Wilson) runs a front-page story on the vote, and the Financial Times (6/12, Braithwaite), Roll Call (6/12, Brady), CNN (6/12), Dow Jones Newswires (6/12, Johnson), the Washington Times (6/12, Miller), and The Hill (6/12, Rushing) also report on it. The AP (6/12) runs a sidebar featuring the "main provisions of the bill.

Top beneficiaries of tobacco lobby voted no. McClatchy (6/11, Abdullah) reported that "some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from the tobacco industry" voted against the Senate bill, citing the $419,000 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has received over the course of his career, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics. "North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who led the opposition to the bill, is the second highest recipient and netted $359,100 from tobacco-related political action committees and individual contributions." McClatchy relates similar, though smaller, contributions to Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning (R).

NYTimes celebrates regulation of "rogue industry." Under the headline "Tobacco Regulation, At Last," the New York Times (6/12, A26) editorializes that the vote means that "the days when this rogue industry could inflict its harmful products on Americans with impunity are drawing to a close. This is an enormous victory for public health. For that, we owe thanks to tireless advocacy by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a nonprofit organization, and strong endorsements from medical groups." The Times concedes that "the bill is not perfect," but praises the "far-reaching powers" vested in the FDA.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons