Healthcare

United Healthcare Agrees To Settle HIV/AIDS Discrimination Lawsuit

June 12, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – United Healthcare has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit in which consumers with HIV or AIDS claimed it discriminated against them by forcing them to use its own in-house mail-order service instead of local pharmacies.<br /> <br /> Any current or future class member who is receiving HIV/AIDS specialty medications through the program by mail may exercise his or her right to opt-out of the program for specified reasons at any time, using simple and expeditious methods to do so, according to the May 29 settlement document.<br /> <br />

Strange Bedfellows: The Healthcare Workers Union and the Hospital Association

June 9, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/06/09/44585/strange-bedfellows-the-healthcare-workers-union-an/">Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast</a>.</p> <p>The informal partnership between one of California’s leading healthcare unions and the <a href="http://www.calhospital.org/">California Hospital Association</a> has drawn mixed reviews, with some praising the deal between the traditional adversaries, and others saying the union is getting too cozy with management.</p>

Initiative to Stop Drunk, Overprescribing and Negligent Doctors Will Save Lives

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Each year, 440,000 Americans die from medical negligence. It’s the third leading cause of preventable death, behind only heart disease and cancer. A big cause of these preventable deaths is doctors recklessly prescribing opioid narcotics.</p> <p>Two weeks ago, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus took on this problem by suing five of the world’s largest drug manufacturers.</p> <p>While the Orange County DA takes on the national drug companies, there’s also a simple fix close to home.</p>

United Healthcare to Settle HIV Mail-Order Meds Lawsuit

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>HIV-positive people may soon be able to opt out of United Healthcare’s specialty mail-order pharmacy program, as a class action settlement against the nation’s largest insurance provider enters into its final stages in court, according to a statement from the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project (NATAP).<br /> <br />

Hospital’s Healthcare Fee Causes Nothing But Headaches

June 5, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>he arthritis in Jill Smith's knees can make walking unbearable. So she receives injections of an expensive pain medicine called Orthovisc once or twice a year.</p> <p>It's not that Smith, 58, of Pacific Palisades, has problems with the $200 fee that her doctor<strong> </strong>at the Santa Monica Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Group charges each time she comes in for her shots.</p> <p>And it's not that she's even griping about the nearly $1,000 charged for the three doses of Orthovisc she requires per knee for each round of treatment.</p>

Initiative to Raise Monetary Awards in Lawsuits Against Doctors Heads for Ballot

May 26, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>The measure would also require random drug and alcohol testing of physicians.</strong></p>

Bill About Doctors’ Substance Abuse Would Compromise Patient Safety

May 18, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>If anyone should know how to steer clear of cures that are worse than the disease, it's doctors.</p> <p>That's why it seems so odd — on the surface — that the California Medical Assn. would sponsor a bill to re-create a drug- and alcohol-treatment program for physicians that has failed miserably in the past. It's when you look under the surface that you recognize the CMA's real motive is to stave off a November ballot initiative that would be even tougher on doctors than the measure it's sponsoring.</p>

California Voters To Consider Raising Four-Decade-Old Cap On Medical Malpractice Awards

May 16, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California in November will vote on whether to raise a four-decade-old cap on medical malpractice awards to $1.1 million, from $250,000, officials said on Thursday, likely ensuring a bitter and costly fight between lawyers backing the measure and doctors who oppose it.</p> <p>Representatives of patients have tried for at least 20 years to persuade the state to raise the limit on pain-and-suffering awards, which was set in the 1970s and is not indexed to inflation. Opponents say a higher cap will raise healthcare costs and choke off access to care.</p>

Measure To Raise Medical Malpractice Cap Qualifies for Nov. Ballot

May 16, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

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Measure Inspired By Drunk-Driving Deaths Of Danville Children Qualifies For Nov. Ballot

May 15, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="bodytext"><span id="default"><span id="MNGiSection">DANVILLE -- A voter initiative spurred by the drunk-driving deaths of two Danville siblings in 2003 has garnered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, the Secretary of State's office said Thursday.</span></span></p>

Medical Malpractice Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot

May 15, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>Measure to lift ceiling on medical malpractice judgments qualifies for California's November ballot<br /> - Voter initiative would require drug testing for doctors in California<br /> - California ballot measure rekindles fight between insurers, doctors and trial lawyers, consumer advocates</b></p> <p>What promises to be a hotly contested statewide voter initiative to raise the ceiling on medical malpractice judgments and require drug testing for physicians qualified Thursday for the November ballot.</p>

Peeved

May 14, 2014  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>Peeved: </strong>A "Pee in the Cup" initiative to require random drug testing for doctors in California could qualify for the November ballot this week, setting up a battle royal between trial lawyers backing the measure and the medical industry.</p> <p>In addition to the drug-testing provision, the measure would lift the state's long-standing $250,000 cap on pain-and-suffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits.</p>