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Very preterm birth - prior to 32 weeks gestation - is one of the greatest risk factors for cerebral palsy, and a new study suggests that the area where a pregnant woman lives may influence her risk of delivering preterm.

Black Women Face Greater Risk

Researchers looked at preterm birth rates among black, white and Hispanic women in 168 metropolitan areas in the U.S.  with the goal of determining whether factors like city size and region have an effect on these rates.

The findings, published in the current issue of Public Health Reports, suggest that where a woman lives does influence her risk of very preterm delivery. Furthermore, the research showed that in each city, the risk for black women was two to three times what it was for white women.

A Clue for Reducing the Risk

Researchers have been aware of racial disparities in very preterm birth rates for decades but have not been able to fully explain the increased risk for black women. Now, researchers have a new possibility to consider in their attempts to understand and reduce women’s risk for very preterm birth: residential area.

According to recent reports, Lyondell Chemical Company has been asked by Houston Mayor Bill White to participate in a public hearing regarding the accusations brought against them for emitting benzene. Benzene is a known carcinogen and the company, which is the city’s largest refinery, is being accused of emitting large amounts of the chemical into the air.

The TCEQ, the agency who monitors Texas’ air quality, brought about the allegations against Lyondell. A spokesman for the agency claims the refinery is one of the country’s largest dischargers of benzene. Lyondell reportedly has the highest emission of benzene per barrel of products, in comparison to other refineries across the country.

Not the First Time

This is not the first time allegations of benzene exposure have been brought again Lyondell. In 1997, high amount of benzene were being emitted from the refinery provoking Gov. George Bush’s Anti-Pollution Program. At this time the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention reported that Lyondell was responsible for emitting 8,069 tons of benzene into Houston’s air.

“If the company believes that it’s just fine to put tons and tons of benzene in the air… then we would like to hear what scientific evidence they have that benzene is good for you,” White told reporters.

The mayor is hoping the hearing will help establish a benchmark for benzene emission in the state of Texas, where there currently isn’t one. Currently, the only pollution guideline in Texas is for the air toxin discharge based on the known risk that it would lead to one additional cancer case per 100,000 population. However, if the hearing doesn’t go as anticipated, Lyondell could continue to operate for at least 10 more years.

Interesting question before a Wisconsin appeals court. In it’s decision the appeals court upheld an earlier lower court decision that allowed a man’s wife and daughter to inherit his estate even though they assisted him to commit suicide.

In what some legal analysts say is a precedent setting case in the nation, the court held that while state law prohibits anyone who “intentionally kills” another person from inheriting and benefiting from the death, Wisconsin’s District 4 Court of Appeals said that provision isn’t applicable to cases of assisted suicide.

Edward Schunk suffered from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and had been hospitalized. His doctor allowed him a one-day pass to go home and see his dogs one last time. His wife and daughter took him home.

Later that day he was found dead from a gunshot wound - self inflicted. His entire estate, about half a million dollars, was left entirely to his wife and daughter with nothing being left to his other five children. They contested the will saying that his wife and daughter assisted in his death by providing the shotgun and therefore should not be entitled, under Wisconsin law, to inherit because it’s a felony to assist another to commit suicide. The law provides that anyone who “intentionally kills” another cannot inherit from that person.

The Court held that that provision of law is not applicable to assisted suicide. The key phrase for purposes of this appeal is “unlawful and intentional killing of the decedent”, the court held. “The objectors contend that this plainly includes assisting the decedent to commit suicide. We disagree and conclude the phrase plainly does not include this conduct……”unlawful” and “intentional” modify “killing” by limiting its meaning. If, as we have concluded, assisting another to commit suicide is not “killing” another, it does not become so because the conduct is unlawful and intentional.

The three judge panel was unanimous in the decision and concluded that Edward deprived himself of life by shooting himself with the shotgun.

Pro-lifers are upset because they think that this does not hold those who assist in suicide to be accountable and gives them financial motive to assist the suicide.

I was over reading Glenda Watson Hyatt over at her Doitmyselfblog and found a couple of interesting posts.  I had blogged about her last year when she was competing for the blogger of the year competition.

• Sometimes Cerebral Palsy Means Spilled Cereal - (Photo credit: Peter Galbraith). Having cerebral palsy means never being quite sure what my body will do next. I can do something a thousand times without too much of a hassle, and then completely mess it up the next time. …
• Author with Cerebral Palsy Uses PowerPoint to Give Radio Interview - One advantage of being a solopreneur is having flexible “business” hours and days. I have put many late nights with my virtual book tour; this virtually touring requires much more work than I imagined. Yesterday, after recording the …

I’ve written about this several times.  Mostly over at the NHLaw Blog.  Driving Will Texting I read today that Washington began enforcing it’s no talking or texting while driving law back in July 2008.  It is illegal for drivers to talk, text, read or type a message while driving.  My understanding is that a hands free conversation is ok.

John Stapleton, 19, died in 2002 when he backed his car into a natural gas wellhead that was unfenced and unprotected.  The wellhead exploded and John burned to death.  In 2006 a Santa Fe jury determined that the oil and gas company - Energen Resources Corporation - was negligent and it’s conduct was reckless in John’s death.

That determination was upheld by the state Court of Appeals.  The court rejected Energen’s contention that the award was excessive and therefore unconstitutional.

Energen “knew that there was a hazard of someone colliding with the wellhead, knew that if that happened serious bodily harm or death could result, knew that the well site was in a highly traveled area, knew that erecting a barricade or fence would prevent the hazard, and still chose not to barricade the well site,” the court said.

John’s family was awarded 1.9 million dollars in compensatory damages and 13 million in punitive damages.  Until the accident in 2002 Energen had taken no action to protect this wellhead nor about 1000 others it owns in the San Juan Basin.  The judges said this showed a reckless disregard for public safety and  the 13 million dollar punitive damages is appropriate to achieve the dual goals of punishment and deterrence in this case.”

The family of Cody Amezcua, 20, a second person killed in the explosion, settled its lawsuit before trial for an undisclosed amount.

Some interesting Leukemia stories while reading some other leukemia stories on blogs

• NFL Coaching Legend, SF 49ers Bill Walsh Dies at 75 from Leukemia … - Diagnosed with leukemia in 2004, Walsh had been in failing health for several months, according to Stanford …. ScaredMonkeys.Com is powered by WordPress. …
• Brazil’s great stem-cell experiment - [Editor’s note: David Hamilton, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, has covered the biotech sector for years and we’re delighted to have him as a contributor on news and trends in biotech, health and science (we’ve already run a few …

Tanya Kach was 14 years old when she ran away in 1996 to live with Thomas Hose who was then 37.  Kach filed a lawsuit in 2006 after having lived in captivity in the home that Hose shared with his parents.  Also named in the suit is the security firm that hired Hose and the McKeesport school where he worked.

Kach testified that Hose kept her in an upstairs bedroom for four years before allowing her to start going out when his elderly parents weren’t home. In 2005, he changed Kach’s name to Nikki Allen and began introducing her to people as his girlfriend.

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster ruled Friday that Kach’s civil rights claims were untimely.   He ruled that the lawsuit was beyond the 2-year statute of limitations, that the clock started when she turned 18 and stopped two years later.

“(Kach) was victimized not only by an adult who preyed on her, but by the many adults who failed her,” Lancaster wrote. “Yet, these circumstances cannot overcome the strong legal precedent supporting the enforcement of statutes of limitations.”

Kach’s lawyer, Lawrence Fisher, thinks the judge made a mistake.  He doesn’t understand how anyone could think that a 14 year old could assert claims in a court especially when she  had been tortured psychologically and threatened with her life.   He has notified Lancaster that he will appeal the decision to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Lancaster’s decision in a similar case was overturned in appeal when he ruled the statute of limitations applied to a woman who was mentally incapacitated and was involuntarily sterilized.  In that case the 3rd Circuit Court had ruled that there were extraordinary circumstances that had prevented the woman from filing in a timely manner.

Hose is now 51 and serving a 15 year sentence for charges related to Kach’s disappearance.

Federal officials are reportedly investigating whether or not an engineer is to blame for running a stop signal before the fatal train crash occurred in Los Angeles last week. The crash took the lives of 25 passengers and many believe that an engineer on the train was texting on his cell phone when the freight train collided with a commuter train.

The collision happened near Chatsworth, just west of San Fernando Valley, near a 500-foot-long tunnel. The commuter train was reportedly traveling from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County and the impact forced the Metrolink engine back and jammed it into the passenger car.

On Sunday the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) supposedly confirmed that the engineer, who was also killed in the accident, failed to stop at a red signal. After two 14-year-old boys revealed to news stations that they had received a text message from the engineer just before the crash, many are suspicious that he was on his phone when he failed to stop.

Investigation Ensues

NTSB experts are now reviewing cell phone records in hopes of determining the cause of the crash that injured over 100 commuters and took the lives of many others. According to reports from Metrolink, a dispatcher tried to warn the engineer of the oncoming commuter train he was about to collide with but the call came in too late.

The accident has become the deadliest rail disaster in 15 years and the families and loved ones of those who died are already seeking legal advice and counseling in light of the recent texting news.

The rock band Great White has entered into a settlement agreement for its role in the 2003 fire at The Station night club in Rhode Island.  They have agreed to a million dollar settlement. 

The defendants in the case are listed as the band members, their tour manager, Daniel Biechele, Manic Music Management Inc., and Knight Records Inc. Band member Ty Longley was among those killed.

One hundred people died in the inferno and about 200  others suffered injuries.  The inferno started when when Biechele lit the band’s pyrotechnics display in the West Warwick nightclub, sparking a flame that spread to foam insulation used as sound proofing. The foam acted as a fuel for the fire and a thick, black smoke quickly poisoned the air, making it a disaster within minutes.

Biechele admitted that he did not have a permit for the fireworks display and pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.  He served two years of his 4-year prison term before being paroled.

The owners of the nightclub pleaded no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.  Michael Derderian  served four years in prison; Jeffrey Derderian received probation.

The fire was the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history and has so far resulted in about 175 million dollars in settlements.   Among those making settlements are the State of Rhode Island and the Town of West Warwick, each paying $20 million; Anheuser-Busch and a Rhode Island beer distributor,  each paying $21 million and several foam manufacturers agreeing to pay $30 million.

By settling these lawsuits, none of the defendants have admitted any wrongdoing.