Class Action Attorneys Blog

A recent NY Times article reports that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to find that some hospitals are unnecessarily performing double CT scans on patients' chests in order to increase the bill to the healthcare insurance providers. More specifically, the hospitals are performing one CT scan using iodine contrast and one CT scan without the contrast solution. Radiologists say one scan or the other is needed depending on the patient’s condition, but performing two scans in succession is rarely necessary. In addition to the effects this practice is having on health insurance costs and Medicare/Medicaid (over 25 million in 2008), the real concern has to be for the patients who are being unnecessarily exposed to additional radiation. For comparison purposes, two CT scans of the chest would be equal to approximately 700 standard chest X-rays.

Continue reading "Hospitals Endangering Patients with Double CT Scans" »

For years, industry and government groups in the U.S. have denied any cancer risk posed by the radiation that is transmitted by cell phones. Earlier this week, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), issued a press release confirming what foreign researchers have been suggesting over the last decade: cell phone radiation may cause cancer.

Continue reading "Cell Phones Declared "Possibly Carcinogenic" to Humans" »

Did you spend $2,000 or $3,000 to store your newborn’s umbilical cord blood in a private cord blood bank? You may have been convinced to do so by exaggerated advertising.

Continue reading "Cord Blood Benefits Mostly Speculative Right Now" »

Concern about health risks posed by the BP oil spill disaster and the clean up effort is rising amid reports of illnesses among workers helping to clean up the oil spill and residents living along the Gulf Coast. Last week, eleven workers were hospitalized after complaining of nausea, dizziness, chest pain and headaches.

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BP and its contractors are facing hundreds of lawsuits filed by Fisherman and property owners along the Gulf Coast.

Continue reading "BP and Its Contractors Face an Array of Legal Issues" »

Hours before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, there were strong warning signs that something was terribly amiss with the well.

There were several “red flags” that suggested a potential sign of an impeding blow out, according to a memorandum addressed to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce from BP. One of the red flags included several equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well. Another red flag was a critical decision, 24 hours prior to the explosion, to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with seawater, which possibly increased the risk of an explosion.

Continue reading "Evidence Suggests Signs of Trouble Before the BP Oil Rig Explosion " »

Due to the Gulf oil spill’s economic impact on commercial and recreational fisheries, a “fishery disaster” in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama has been declared by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Continue reading "Fishery Disaster Declared as a Result of the Gulf Oil Spill" »

As a result of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April, fisherman, residents, volunteers, and other workers are being exposed to dangerous chemicals on a daily basis. BP estimates that its underwater siphon is drawing about 5,000 barrels per day; however, others have estimated that the spill could be as big as 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.

Continue reading "BP Oil Spill Causes Illnesses in Workers" »

On Wednesday, Infantino LLC, the California corporation that manufactures a variety of products for babies and children, recalled two products in its line of “baby slings”: the “Slingrider” and the “Wendy Bellisimo.”

Continue reading "Baby Slings Could Be Deathtraps" »