Two Iowa Farms Under Investigation Regarding Salmonella Outbreak
Millions of eggs have been recalled because at least some, have been, somehow, contaminated. In about 1,500 cases, these eggs have caused salmonella poisoning.
The eggs come from two Iowa farms by the names of Wright County Egg, and Hillandale. The owner of Wright County Egg, Austin DeCoster has paid many millions of dollars, that money going towards federal fines. The fines, interestingly enough, were issued because of health, safety, immigration, and environmental violations.
The problems that may have caused the contamination seem to be related to bugs, rodents, wild birds, and other infestations, as well as holes in some of the walls.
Thankfully, no deaths have been reported; however, the illnesses could be life-threatening. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or, CDC, say that this has been the biggest eruption of salmonella since the 1970s. The CDC also says that for each case reported, there could be 30 more cases unreported.
Why Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer for an Accident Claim?
We are taught in nearly every school in the world to care for our medical and personal health, but often our legal and financial health is overlooked. No one teaches us to consult with a legal advocate when we are injured or wronged, which seems to be a grave disservice to us.
The reasons for using a personal injury lawyer are to protect your lifestyle and your financial health, as well as your family and your future. While many of us do not consider seeking out an attorney immediately upon injury, it’s quite often the best time to accomplish it in order to assure a full and complete recovery from our injuries-both personal and financial.
When Should I Consult a Personal Injury Lawyer?
When you have been injured in an accident, chances are good that the only thing on your mind is feeling better. You are concentrating on healing from the injuries that you have sustained. Pain has a tendency to cloud our thinking and to make real consideration of what took place and how to recover from it something you’re not actually thinking about.
In many cases this recovery is paramount in your mind, with all other considerations being secondary.
The cost of being out of work, as well as being ill and requiring medical treatment can be exorbitant. You will quite likely also be concerned about spending anything further. For this reason alone, you may be hesitant to hire a personal injury lawyer.
For many of us, it follows that we probably won’t consult with a personal injury lawyer until much later-if we do at all. This can be a serious mistake on our part.
The time that immediately follows the personal injury is a time when we are not concentrating on what has taken place, but only our own pain.
Realistically this is a time when we need to consider not just the present, but also the future that you may face. Many people neglect to realize that the injuries that you sustain, even if you consider them to be minor, can affect your entire life.
Immediately following an injury is when the best evidence may be gleaned and the most important statements may be taken. Comments from those who have witnessed what took place are more likely to be pertinent and honest when the incident is fresh in their mind.
Waiting to consult with an attorney may not be in your best interests. Personal injury lawyers can tell you what your rights may be, as well as to advise you on the steps you should be taking. They may also help you to procure the evidence you need should legal action be necessary to protect your interests.
Doesn’t it Cost a Lot to Get a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis which means that they only get paid if your recover compensation. They then recover a percentage of the award that you are given. If you think that handling the situation yourself is in your best interests, you should probably reconsider.
The defendant, especially if it is a company or corporation, such as an insurance company, will definitely have legal representation working on their behalf. These attorneys know the law and know well how to manipulate it to their own advantage. You need an advocate who can accomplish the same thing for you. The reality is that you can’t do the job as well as your personal injury attorney.
We try to cut corners in many cases, and to save a few dollars on the cost of an attorney. The end result is that we may in fact attain an award that is far less than we might otherwise have achieved.
Personal injury lawyers are specialists. They have spent years in the study of injury law and how the legal system works to award, or to deny the monetary compensation to the victims of an accident.
What if I Already Have a “Family” Lawyer?
Putting in a call to your family attorney, or your legal aid society is not going to achieve the same expert results that you will achieve if you contact a personal injury lawyer to attend to your needs. In much the same way as you would not contact a chiropractor to remove your tonsils; you need to seek out a specialist to help you to achieve the best and most fair award that you can receive for the injuries that you have suffered.
When you are injured, seek out a personal injury lawyer. They will be best able to help you to protect your interests as well as your future.
Where Is the Line Between Appropriate Comfort Care And Mercy Killing?
The two classifications of euthanasia are voluntary and non-voluntary. Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when the patient is unaware and against the euthanasia process, but the doctor proceeds anyway claiming that it is the best way to help the patient. Voluntary euthanasia occurs when the patient would like to go through the procedures of euthanasia.
If you were terminally ill and were suffering, would you want the doctor to decide to proceed with the process of euthanasia if you were against it? Would a lethal injection in such a case be “appropriate comfort care” or “mercy killing?”
The holocaust was a horrific example of mass euthanization. Nazis killed very young children. Midwives and doctors were even forced to register children under the age of four that had even the slightest symptoms of being mentally retarded or physically deformed and they were subsequently marked for death. And virtually anyone identified as being of the Jewish race had to fear for their life because of the euthanization that occurred in German gas chambers.
We all agree that the Holocaust was a horrible tragedy that absolutely should have never happened. But what about the deaths that occurred at the hand of Dr. Death Jack Kevorkian or during Katrina at the Memorial Hospital when medical personnel made decisions to give lethal injections to some when they realized that not everyone could be evacuated. Dr. Ewing Cook said that it was such a desperate situation that he saw only two choices for: “quicken their deaths or abandon them.”
Dr. Anna Pou was not in charge of all that happened, but she became the focus of the Memorial Hospital story and she was subsequently charged with four counts of principal to second-degree murder. The attorney general, Foti, said “this is not euthanasia; this is plain and simple homicide.”
The widow of patient Emmett Everett may have put it best: “Who gave them the right to play God? Who gave them the right?”
Noted University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan reviewed the records and concluded that some of the patients were euthanized, and that the way the drugs were given was “not consistent with the ethical standards of palliative care that prevail in the United States.” He went on to say that the goal of a doctor’s treatment cannot be the death of a patient.
So how do we process all of this? Thankfully, we live in a country undergirded by a legal system that wrestles through every aspect of these weighty issues and endeavors to protect the rights of even the most fragile and frail of human lives.
I spent an hour this evening reading the story of the Memorial Hospital tragedy and then watched a Larry King episode featuring Dr. Death Jack Kevorkian talking about an upcoming HBO special where he speaks about the 130 plus physician assisted suicides that he participated in. These are not easy issues to understand. Its one thing to read a transcript, but it’s another thing to hear a story, the story of Emmett Everett who wanted desperately to be evacuated during Katrina but instead was given a lethal dose of medication that may have ended his life, the story of Dr. Anna Pou who was known as a dedicated physician that cared deeply and yet in a crisis of epic proportions she reportedly made some decisions that apparently ended the lives of some that thought she was simply giving them medication that would help calm them. And then the life of Jack Kevorkian, whom I have always loathed. And yet tonight as I heard how he rarely charged any money for his work, he lived very modestly and bought most of his clothes from the Salvation Army and he passionately believed that he was providing a compassionate end of life to some – he was humanized to me for the first time. I still vehemently disagree with his practices but for the first time he seemed less than a monster in my mind.
Personally, I can sympathize with each of these stories, but for me, ultimately, Mrs. Emmett Everett summed it up best – “Who gave them the right to play God? Who gave them the right?”
Read the Memorial Hospital story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html
Frequent Flyers Hurt Ambulance Companies
Needless to say, our country’s ambulances and hospitals are very important. It is common sense to call an ambulance if you have severe chest pain, or have trouble breathing. The ambulance would need to get there to help you as quickly as possible.
However, “frequent flyers” are people that actually call the ambulance if they have the flu, or even just a cold, and the ambulance/ER would have to help them. That will keep the ambulance/ER from helping the people that really do need it.
At the ER or in the ambulance, trained medical technicians help patients and then worry about payment later. Frequent flyers will get help and then not pay for it. Some people even do this five times per week. And one man did it three times in one day. Obviously, this is a very serious matter.
Some people will do this because they want drugs. Some people even call because they need transportation! Some people do this because they are LONELY and want companionship, and the frequent flyers can cost the ambulance companies a great deal of money. One of the problems is that the law prohibits the ambulance companies from denying service.
Frequent flyers can call the ambulance and get a free ride to the hospital; they can socialize, and have free food. Then they can be checked out because they are well, but they still were able to eat, mingle, and get away from their house.
Two men from ambulance companies in DeWitt, NY said that frequent flyers that just want free transportation can get it by calling 911 and claiming that they really need help. Of course, the ambulance shows up and takes them to the hospital, and when the frequent flyers arrive, they can refuse help and head to where they were really trying to go in the first place.
For frequent flyers that get treatment which they use for drugs, they will be billed, but never pay. Some ambulance companies reportedly lose as much as $5,000 per month because of the frequent flyers.
Vincent Stevenson, a paramedic in DeWitt says, “The laws need to be changed.”
For more information, go to http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/frequent_fliers_abuse_ambulanc.html
Middletown, CT Plant Explosion
A little before noon today, I received a CNN alert on my iPhone and it stated that there had been a devastating plant explosion in Middletown, CT. I have been following the news throughout the day and there are many conflicting reports. Most reports state that there are at least 2 fatalities. Although twitter reports just moments ago say there are 5 confirmed deaths. Here are a few places to keep you updated on the situation:
Go to http://twitter.com and search for middletown plant explosion. That is your best bet. The Hartford Courant has issued at least 3 stories today. Other resources are www.WFSB.com, www.WTNH.com, and www.NBCconnectiut.com. The tweets on this topic are fast and furious as the situations progresses.
Most stories suggest that the explosion was caused by a natural gas leak. Area residents thought there had been an earthquake.
The plant was still being built and was 96% complete. Pictures from today’s tragedy show the walls completely blown off and the facility no more than a shell. It was described by one reporter as no more than a twisted pile of steel.
Families are being asked to go to Middletown City Hall to have their questions answered and get the most current information.
Who is Laura Silsby and What is Behind Her Haiti Rescue Mission
I have been following the news about the group of Baptists and their mission to help children in Haiti. When I watched some of the footage on CNN last night, I couldn’t help but feel that this group is being misunderstood. My heart said that their motives are pure. After all, how could anyone go to Haiti and have anything but pure motives considering the horror and devastation that this country and their people have suffered.
But as I continue to follow this story, it all seems to revolve around the leader of the group – Laura Silsby. One of the best articles I read was written by Anne of Carversville and you can read the article here:
I grew up Baptist and I have kind of a soft spot when I hear someone is a Baptist. But, the fact is Laura Silsby has really not evidenced the character and integrity of a responsible adult and when you say you’re a missionary but you leave a trail of unpaid debts, crushing financial pressures, unpaid wages, unpaid legal fees and empty promises that investors are around the corner to solve everything – and you do it all in the name of God – I really have a hard time with that.
I don’t know what the truth is, but my concern is first and foremost for the children and it really does appear that Ms. Silsby may have thought she found a way to solve her financial problems and quite possibly that was a big part of the motivation for this trip. I don’t know. But there’s clearly more to this story.
It bothers me when people have ulterior motives and they camouflage them by claiming that their actions are being done for God or in the name of God. My understanding is that the children Ms. Silsby endeavored to take were not even all orphans. I don’t think that God supports taking children from their parents.
Anne of Carversville, I’m glad as you say “your sorry-ass New York mind is working overtime.” So is my “sorry-ass Philadelphia mind.”
Six Prominent Winston-Salem Attorneys Form New Law Firm
David D. Daggett and Griffis C. Shuler are pleased to announce the formation of Daggett, Shuler, Koontz, Nauman & Bell, PLLC. The newly formed firm will be operating under the trade name of Daggett Shuler, Attorneys at Law.
David Daggett, Griffis Shuler, John Koontz and Julie Bell were partners in the firm of Lewis & Daggett. David is known throughout the area as a dedicated trial attorney and also for his extensive work for the Safe Sober Prom Night program, which reaches thousands of young high students each year.
David will now lead the team of Daggett Shuler along with five other accomplished attorneys and a highly trained support staff. The attorneys of Daggett Shuler include David Daggett, Griffis Shuler, John Koontz, Doug Nauman, Julie Bell and Chris Wilkie. The firm plans to take customer service to a whole new level, leveraging technology and new media strategies in a way that allows clients to contact the firm in just about every way conceivable.
David states, “It’s just not enough to operate a law firm weekdays 8 to 6 anymore. We want our team to be available to clients 24/7 and accessible in whatever way they choose to contact us.”
David was a co-presenter this summer at the American Association for Justice annual conference in San Francisco. The topic was the Future of Legal Marketing and one of the key concepts Mr. Daggett emphasized was that providing the highest level of customer service and client care today must drive law firms.
David Daggett is a seasoned triathlete who has competed in over 150 Triathlons including 18 Ironman competitions. This summer he was awarded the “Ford Ironman Everyday Hero Award” for outstanding contributions to high school students through the Safe Sober Prom Night Program. David was recently featured on an ESPN special that aired worldwide.
Daggett Shuler, Attorneys at Law, providing a place to turn for injured and disabled people.
The Blind Side
I recently saw the movie The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron. It is a gripping story of the Baltimore Ravens Rookie Michael Oher. But it’s more than that, it’s a story of faith. Ms. Bullock said that while making the movie, she regained a little “faith in those who say they represent a faith…I’ve finally met people that walk the walk.”
One of the most beautiful aspects of the story to me is that this story began because of the faith of a grandmother. She was the mother of “Big Tony” Henderson and before she died she urged him to pull his son Steven from the public school he attended on the bad side of Memphis and take him somewhere where he could get a christian education. Big Tony advocated for his son Steven to do just that, but there was one complication. Steven had a friend “Big Mike” and they came as a package deal. That’s where the story began.
In the end, the faith of one dying woman changed the lives of countless millions because not only did it affect Michael Oher and the Tuohy family that adopted him, but the story has been made into a movie that is truly inspirational and has seen by millions.
If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s well worth seeing. My favorite part has got to be when Michael is blocking an opponent and pushes him off the field and over a wall. When asked where he was taking the boy, he said he was taking him “to the bus.”
Great movie, great story.
Six-Year-Old Cub Scout Suspended
A school district in Newark, Delaware generated national controversy when it harshly penalized a first-grader who brought a Boy Scout fork/knife/bottle opener/spoon combination utensil to school. Zachary Christie’s parents say he was so excited to join the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use the camping utensil at lunch. Unfortunately, officials at the school determined that Zachary had violated the district’s zero-tolerance policy against bringing knives to school. Zachary’s mother and karate teacher testified that he is not a threat at a hearing before the district’s disciplinary committee. Nonetheless, he was suspended from school and ordered to attend a reform school for 45 days, a decision his family is fighting.
The incident has generated national media coverage and widespread condemnation of the district for applying its rules without considering the context. Its code of conduct bans any item that “is readily capable of causing serious physical injury … regardless of the possessor’s intent.” The New York Times reported Oct. 12 that school administrators’ hands were tied by this language. In fact, school officials defended the decision, arguing that any weapon at school could lead to an irreversible tragedy. The Times also said many schools have made their zero tolerance policies inflexible because studies have shown that administrators with discretion tend to punish African American children more often than others. Multiple professional organizations, including the American Psychological Association, two teachers’ unions and the American Bar Association, have condemned inflexible zero tolerance policies as unfair and sometimes harmful.
In fact, Delaware’s legislature passed a law in 2008 allowing school boards to modify the terms of expulsions under zero tolerance policies on a case-by-case basis. It does not apply to Zachary’s case because he was not expelled, although at least one Delaware legislator has already stepped in on his behalf. Instead, the district mandated that the six-year-old go to a reform school, with kids his mother said were guilty of much worse behavior, including assault and drug offenses. She launched a Web site</a> rallying supporters to pressure the school board into changing the ruling at an Oct. 13 meeting. If that effort is not successful, she said she will not send Zachary to the reform school, even though that would mean he wouldn’t be able to return to his elementary school and his friends there.
We believe this is a good example of how zero tolerance policies can actually hurt the students they try to protect. In this case, putting Zachary in a reform school would do nothing to protect his classmates, but it could expose him to harm or bad influences from fellow reform-school students who committed more serious infractions. In fact, if he did come to harm at the reform school, the district may even be legally liable for exposing him to foreseeable dangers. While we sympathize with districts that must treat everyone fairly, we believe common sense dictates that school officials take circumstances into account when considering punishments. That’s the standard used in most criminal cases — and first-graders deserve more kindness and second chances than hardened criminals.
