Archive: September 2011

I’m not a ballet fan, but I do like acrobats. This amazing performance combines both.

Texas has long ranked at or near the top of all states for highest homeowner insurance premiums, thanks to our toothless Department of Insurance and the Republican Legislature that took away almost all enforcement power. Now it’s no surprise to learn that State Farm is going to set new records for insurance premiums in the […]

There must be more to this story than meets the eye. It doesn’t seem to make sense. But as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, in states with restrictions on the driver license of young teenage drivers, older teenagers are more likely to have fatal crashes than in states without restrictions. The so-called graduated driver […]

Reuters reported that increasingly, more and more US physicians are finding themselves charged with medical negligence or criminal malpractice in cases regarding how prescription medications were handled. Concerned about the small but growing trend, the American Medical Association warns that the increased number of such cases may interfere with how medicine is practiced, particularly since […]

It seems that for the entire 40 years I’ve been practicing law the uninsured driver rate in Texas has been in the 2o% to 25% range. The government has tried various measures to reduce this percentage, but to no avail. The latest data, as reported by the Dallas Morning News, show no significant change. Here […]

If you’re one of the few people who has not yet seen Webcam 101 for Seniors, here it is:

Coverage of payments to physicians from pharmaceutical and device makers received extensive coverage last Thursday primarily pointing out local payment patterns, frequently with a focus on one or a few physicians. The Los Angeles Times reported that “a recent string of scandals has raised questions about whether patients need to know more” about financial connections […]

ABC World News reported in one of its “healthy living,” segments that “some over the counter painkillers are a risk to pregnant women and their unborn children, doubling the risk of miscarriage.” ABC explained, “This is a study out of Canada that looked at 4,700 women that had a miscarriage, and they compared those to […]

In continuing coverage, Business Insurance reported insurers groups and “trial attorneys represented by the American Assn. for Justice” are supporting the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act, which “would require Medicare to respond within 65 days of a party’s request for information on Medicare’s final payment demand.” The Medicare Secondary Payer System requires parties to […]

A proposal was made very recently by the National Transportation Safety Board that mobile phone use by commercial truck drivers be banned. I have mixed feelings about this proposal. Obviously, we’re all safer drivers when we’re not chatting on a cell phone. On the other hand, long-distance truckers do need to have the ability to […]