Vested Interest - News and Notes - March 2003 Issue

NHTSA Chief Warns of SUV Safety

Jeffrey W. Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, warned the auto industry that occupants of SUVs involved in a rollover accident are three times more likely to die than occupants of passenger vans. He said SUV rollover accidents account for only 3 percent of the nation’s motor vehicle accidents but cause nearly one-third of the nation’s auto fatalities. Runge said the high center of gravity on SUVs makes them particularly susceptible to fatal rollovers and urged the manufacturers to make them safer. (Liability & Insurance Week – January 20, 2003)

Government Report: Playsets Pose Cancer Risk

Scientists at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that children playing on millions of outdoor wood playground sets face an increased risk of bladder and lung cancer from arsenic exposure. The report recommends that children wash their hands after playing on wooden playground sets and also not eat in the vicinity of the wood. The report is the first acknowledgment by the federal government that there are health risks associated with pesticide-treated wood that has been in wide use in residential settings such as palygrounds and decks since the 1970s. Since the 1930s, residential wood has commonly been treated with a pesticide, known as chromated copper arsenate, or C.C.A., to prevent rotting. This pesticide contains arsenic, a known carcinogen, which bleeds from the wood. (ATLA Law News Digest – February 13, 2003)

Doctors Say Ephedra Use is Unsafe

Doctors plan to report that ephedra, an herb found in weight-loss and bodybuilding supplements, is unsafe, even when taken in recommended doses, and should be restricted. American poison control centers reported 1,178 adverse reactions to ephedra dietary supplements in 2001, said the study. Ephedra accounted for 64 percent of all adverse reactions involving herbs, even though it is found in fewer than 1 percent of all herbal products sold. The FDA has reports of nearly 100 deaths of people who had taken the herb, a stimulant that can quicken a person’s heart rate and cause the blood vessels to constrict. (ATLA Law News Digest – February 6, 2003)

Labor Problems Do Not Cause Most Cerebral Palsy

Despite widespread belief among both doctors and lay people that cerebral palsy results from lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain during labor and delivery, a new report by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that birth asphyxia alone accounts for 10 percent of cases at most. The study finds that the vast majority of children who develop cerebral palsy experience prenatal problems, including maternal infections, clotting disorders and strokes, that damage the developing brain long before labor begins. The new report list four essential criteria, all of which must be met, to attribute a case of cerebral palsy to birth asphyxia, plus five other criteria indicating an asphyxia injury. (The New York Times – February 26, 2003)

New Study Shows Insurance Industry, not Lawsuits, Causing Insurance Rates to Skyrocket for IL Doctors

Americans for Insurance Reform released a new study on February 24, Stable Losses/Unstable Rates in Illinois, that shows Illinois’s insurance crisis has not been caused by the legal system or jury verdicts. Rather, it is self-inflicted phenomenon caused by the mismanaged underwriting practices of the insurance industry. The study makes two specific findings: First, over the last decade, medical malpractice payouts, including all jury verdicts and settlements, have fallen below the rates of medical inflation. Second, over this last 30 years, insurance premiums have not tracked payouts at all but instead directly followed the ups and downs of the economy. For a complete copy of the study, go to www.iltla.com and click on ‘Medical Malpractice Information & Updates.’

Illinois DPR not Disciplining Bad Doctors

The Coalition for Consumer Rights released Illinois Physician Profiles, Volume III, its’ review of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (DPR). Using information from the National Practitioner Databank and DPR, CCR was able to conclude that DPR disciplines only 2% of the negligent physicians in the state of Illinois. A total of over 1,250 physicians who are licensed in the state of Illinois have made more than one payment for medical malpractice but have never been disciplined by the Illinois DPR. DPR has not disciplined physicians who have: performed surgery on the wrong body part, made more than 20 malpractice payments, or assaulted or had sex with patients. In fact, 89% of DPR’s disciplinary actions have nothing to do with the physician’s ability to practice medicine, Instead, most official sanctions are imposed for infractions like filing paperwork in an untimely fashion or failing to make payments on their student loans. For a complete copy of the study, go to www.coalitionforconsumerrights.org.