Swine Flu Snafu Could Lead to Law Suits

Here's a case of a law suit(s) waiting to happen.  The New York Daily News reported today that school nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital.

"I was outraged," , Naomi Troy 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot.

Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab.

"My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital.

The snafu and a similar mixup at a Staten Island school came in the first days of the city's in-school H1N1 vaccination program.

City officials have stressed the vaccine is safe and urged parents to sign up for it - though less than half have sent in permission slips.

Healthcare Reform

Congress shouldn't consider changing the way malpractice cases are handled as part of the healthcare reform act. Every survey confirms that the total cost of all malpractice cases annually including payments to patients, cost of litigation and claims handling, all represent only 1% of the total healthcare costs in the U.S.
All the speeches about saving money by limiting the rights of injured patients is nothing more than greedy insurance companies looking to make more money and doctors looking to not be held responsible for their carelessness. The way to save money and reduce the number of malpractice cases in America is to provide good quality healthcare to more americans and for doctors to stop committing malpractice!

Trade Group Reports Big Cash Shortfalls for Hospitals in NY State

Runaway healthcare costs appear to be crippling hospitals in New York State. According to the Healthcare Association of the State of New York, a hospital trade group, four rounds of state budget cuts in 17 months, along with the enactment of new taxes on hospital revenues, will cost New York's hospitals $3.87 billion over the next 15 months.

To cope with their tightened budgets, 17% of hospitals surveyed by the group said they have already reduced services or postponed expansion and modernization projects. About the same number, 18%, reported layoffs and downsizing resulting in job losses for thousands of workers, the Healthcare Association said.

But nowhere in the story, and I much say to my surprise, did the Association blame the big cash shortfall on greedy trial lawyers, the favorite whipping boy of conservative lawmakers and their insurance industry collaborators. Perhaps it's because the trade group can't, or won't, line the pockets of republican pols, or depend on insurance industry grants to make payroll.