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• Tainted Heparin Deaths: Investigators Are Closing In On The Explanations

  David Lowe | April 25, 2008 4:22 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Update on the tainted heparin investigation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website has posted a report that gives an explanation for how the tainted heparin caused injury and deaths, and how it...

• Wrongful Death Suit Filed Over Ketek

  David Lowe | January 25, 2008 11:28 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  A lawsuit was filed this week against the makers of Ketek on behalf of the widow of Otto J. Laven, a Milwaukee man who died of respiratory arrest shortly after taking the antibiotic for treatment of his bronchitis. The suit, filed in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, alleges that Ketek (also known as "Telithromycin") was defective and unreasonably dangerous for use by patients with a...

• Decline in Medical Malpractice Cases Has Brought Down Malpractice Insurance Costs

  David Lowe | December 14, 2007 2:20 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Another story today adds to the mounting evidence that medical malpractice suits are in decline and that medical malpractice insurance costs are headed downward. In Baltimore, Maryland, a consent order settlement has been reached between the State and the largest medical malpractice insurance carrier, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society, which will result in the return of excess medical...

• Study Shows Nursing Home Quality of Care Varies By Race

  David Lowe | September 12, 2007 8:49 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  A study published in the journal Health Affairs reveals a huge disparity in the quality of nursing home care provided to whites and blacks, with Milwaukee's nursing home disparity ranked the greatest.The abstract of the study, appearing on the health policy journal's website, states:We describe the racial segregation in U.S. nursing homes and its relationship to racial disparities in the quality...

• Legislator Seeking End to U.W. Law Support Is Experienced Pro Se Litigant

  David Lowe | July 17, 2007 9:33 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Declaring that Wisconsin does not need more "ambulance chasing lawyers", Rep. Frank Lasee, Republican from Green Bay, has proposed a measure that would end public support for the University of Wisconsin Law School. The measure gained approval from the Republican controlled Wisconsin Assembly and became part of the recently approved Wisconsin Assembly's budget bill.Appropriately, Governor Doyle...

• Wisconsin Court Allows Clergy Abuse Victims To Sue For Fraud

  David Lowe | July 12, 2007 8:11 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Court decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1995 and 1997 closed the door to the courthouse for childhood victims of sex abuse by priests, holding in John BBB Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee that the statute of limitations had expired three years after the last incident of abuse and, in a case called Pritzlaff v. Archdiocse of Milwaukee, that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was not liable for...

• Contingent Fee Lawyers In Public Interest Cases Face Real Risks

  David Lowe | July 10, 2007 8:15 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Today's New York Times has published a piece by legal affairs columnist Adam Liptik raising questions about state and local governments' use of contingent fee lawfirms to handle major litigation, such as tobacco and environmental pollution cases. Most of the criticism of the fee arrangements comes out of the mouths of lawyers defending the polluters and other corporate interests, who would...

• Pesticide Drift Endangers Schoolchildren

  David Lowe | May 17, 2007 6:29 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  The Associated Press has published a startling report about brain injury and death of schoolchildren due to pesticide spraying near schools. The report focuses on California, one of eight states that require a buffer zone around schools to protect children from "pesticide drift". There there were 590 pesticide-related illnesses at schools from 1996 to 2005, according to state records obtained...

• Don't Text and Drive

  Paul Jacquart | May 20, 2009 3:20 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  According to a Reuter's article today, about 1/4 of Americans admit to driving while texting (DWT). The article points out that this is occuring despite several high profile auto crash cases...

• Medical Malpractice "Never Events"

  Paul Jacquart | December 10, 2008 12:03 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  The National Quality Forum, which identifies itself as a not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and...