The rule is reportedly being strongly supported by business groups and states that in assessing how risky certain substances are to the workplace, federal agencies should gather and analyze evidence of the employees’ exposure during their working lives. In many cases, the proposal would add a step to the process of developing higher standards in regards to protecting the health of workers.

Benzene Rule Details

Public health officials worry that the rule will only delay much needed protections for workers across the country, which could ultimately result in more deaths and illnesses.  The Labor Department proposal is reportedly one of 20 highly debatable rules that the Bush Administration is trying to pass during his last weeks in office. The other rules cover a wide array of topics from abortion, to auto safety and the environment.
The one regarding benzene emissions at workplaces across the country is of importance due to the harm that benzene can cause to anyone exposed over an extended duration of time. Benzene is a toxic chemical that has been linked to leukemia and other cancers. It is typically used in gasoline, dyes, synthetic rubbers, and cigarettes. If this rule is passed and workers across the country aren’t protected from benzene and other toxic chemicals, more and more people could die and become ill from diseases linked to these substances.

Lawsuit Details

The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Kelly Dial and Wesley Maida, who are the children of the deceased worker, Samuel Maida Jr. According to the suit, Samuel worked for Texaco at its Port Arthur facility for several years before the 1970’s when the risks of benzene were discovered.

Samuel was allegedly exposed to benzene, a known carcinogen, during his time at Texaco but was not warned of the risks or protected in any way. As a result, his health was jeopardized and his life was taken at any early age. The company reportedly failed to warn any of their workers of the dangers of benzene and the suit states that they were negligent and should have been aware that their products were dangerous and contained benzene.

Man Suffers from Leukemia

As a result of the benzene exposure, Samuel spent the last months of his life suffering from leukemia before it suddenly took his life. Among the other defendants named in the suit are Chevron, Dow Chemical, and PPG Industries.

Samuel’s family claims that he suffered extreme mental anguish and physical impairment before his life was taken. His family also reportedly had to pay thousands in medical expenses, suffered from loss of companionship and lost wages due to their sudden loss.

“Such Defendants have not only demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice human beings such as Samuel Maida Jr., but they have inexcusably neglected to utilize available technology and methods and neglected to develop new technology and methods to control such hazards,” claims the suit.

Leukemia Proves to be Untreatable

Eunique Darby was only a freshman at Corcoran High School when she was hospitalized for her illness. She was reportedly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was nine years old and has been treated for the cancer ever since.

While recovering from a bone marrow transplant she received at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, she suddenly died. Darby’s donor match was discovered in August after doctors had to restart their search in May when problems were found with the first donor.

During her search for the right match, drivers were held to encourage the community, particularly those of African-American decent to join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The response was phenomenal; though despite the effort, Darby’s life was taken at a young age due to this fatal illness.

Leukemia Details

Leukemia is a form of cancer that doctors and researchers continue to study and find better treatments for. In some cases, the illness is hereditary; however, in others leukemia develops due to exposure to benzene or radiation. Treatments are available for this type of cancer, though depending upon the time of diagnosis and the body’s response to treatments and therapies, the cancer can at times be fatal.

“We disagree with the jury’s verdict,” said Greg Panico, a spokesman for the Johnson & Johnson units, in an e-mailed statement. “We are considering our options for an appeal.”

Defense lawyers cited an autopsy report that indicated DiCosolo died from the interaction of at least 5 drugs including fentanyl that were found in her system.

At trial plaintiff’s lawyers said that Fentanyl is a drug that is 100 times more potent than morphine and is contained in a patch that is intended to be worn for 72 hours, then discarded.  Jim Orr, a plaintiff’s attorney, said that each patch contained enough fentanyl to kill 10 men, each weighing 150 pounds.

Janssen recalled one lot of Duragesic patches in February 2004, a day after DiCosolo died, because of improper sealing of the adhesive backing of the devices, defense lawyer David Sudzus wrote in a court filing. The patch worn by DiCosolo was from that lot, he said.

The patches generated $1.16 billion  dollars in sales for Johnson & Johnson last year but the company has still lost each case that has gone to a jury.

In July 2006, a state court jury in Houston ordered Janssen and Alza to pay $772,500 to the family of a Texas woman who died after her patch leaked.  Johnson & Johnson in July 2007 agreed to pay the family of a Florida man $2.5 million to resolve claims that Adam Hendelson, 28, had died after using one of the patches.  A jury in Sanford, Florida, awarded more than $13 million to the family of Susan Hodgemire, a 34-year-old mother of five who died after using a Duragesic patch in 2002.

On January 12th Johnson & Johnson will be facing another pain patch trial in federal court in Chicago.

Buckwalter, who has been practicing in Nevada since 1997, has been accused of prescribing “excessive” doses of narcotics, in many cases with no medical exam and with little or no knowledge or review of the patient’s medical history.

In particular, there are four cases under review, in which the patients either died or overdosed on the medications prescribed by Buckwalter.

An extensive examination of Buckwalter’s records show gross negligence because in many cases he conducted “essentially no physical exam” of his patients before prescribing controlled substances for them, and that his records were “vague, haphazard and illegible”.

Some people who worked with the doctor in the past spoke of how he often knowingly prescribed narcotics to patients that had drug addictions, of which he was aware.  One of these patients, Staci Voyda, was addicted to OxyContin.  Buckwalter prescribed 310 oxycodone pills for her within an 11 day period.  Two weeks following this, Voyda committed suicide.  Her family believes that this is a direct result of having so many drugs in her system which were legally prescribed by Dr. Buckwalter.

69 year old Barbara Baile, another unfortunate victim of Buckwalter, was prescribed excessive amounts of narcotics, of which she eventually died from their side effects.

The medical board is still investigating the Buckwalter cases, and thoroughly examining all of his records.  At this point he has been charged with one count each of malpractice, failure to maintain adequate and complete medical records and writing prescriptions for controlled substances in an illegal manner.  If found guilty, he faces the loss of his license to practice medicine as well as possible criminal charges.

For the families of his victims, however, this is little relief.

The jury decided that Altman’s death could have been prevented had her doctors, oncologists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, looked into the cause of diarrhea she developed after receiving an experimental regimen of chemotherapy for a cancerous tumor behind her knee.

Not Just Another Side Effect
Chemotherapy is known to weaken the body’s natural defenses, and side effects are common. But Altman’s situation became dire when her doctors dismissed the diarrhea as just another side effect, when it was actually a symptom of a severe infection of flesh-eating bacteria.

According to the family’s medical malpractice lawyer, the bacterial infection could have been treated with antibiotics had the doctors diagnosed it in time.

“Instead of making sure it wasn’t a problem, they wrote it off as not a big deal. In fact, it was a very big deal,” the attorney said.

Two Girls Left Behind
Altman died two days after being admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. An autopsy revealed that her cancer had been cured. She left behind two young daughters.

However, the Nevada Supreme Court stated that the statute of limitations is 10 years when the malpractice involves a birth injury such as brain damage. The victim in the case suffered a scalpel laceration to his head during his birth in May 1995. He was born by Caesarean section.

The boy’s mother filed a lawsuit against two doctors, one of whom has settled out of court. The case against the other doctor will return to the District Court.

Statutes of Limitations Vary

This case provides an excellent example of how widely medical malpractice statutes of limitations may vary. Though most states have limits ranging between one and five years, there may be exceptions. 

Always check with an attorney if you have questions about the malpractice statute of limitations in your state. 

These genetic switches are responsible for causing the fatal form of cancer known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

“The way that this protein causes harm is by recruiting this enzyme and turning on genes that shouldn’t be turned on,” explains Dr. Scott Armstrong of Children’s Hospital Boston, a well-known researcher whose work appears in the journal Cancer Cell.

Researcher Weighs in on New Leukemia Finding

According to Armstrong, the finding could lead to a potential new form of therapy for children, which is very hopeful. Since the enzyme could help treat ALL, researchers also believe the same could be true for other forms of cancer.

“If you turn the enzyme off, which we’ve done, the genes that shouldn’t be on are turned off,” says Armstrong.

The new findings were revealed after Armstrong and his colleagues conducted several studies on mice with this particular form of ALL. They reportedly found that the abnormal protein, known as MML-AF4, is required in conjunction with the enzyme Dot1 to make any significant changes in the cell.

A study of cell samples conducted on children with this type of leukemia reportedly suggested that these same changes could take place in human beings as well. Armstrong states that the need for this kind of treatment is especially important with this type of ALL, which only makes up 5 percent of ALL cases. However, 70 percent of these cases affect infants.

Glanzer underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove her gall bladder, during which the doctor had to cut through some scar tissue to insert the instrument into her abdomen.  The surgery resulted in some complications and it was eventually discovered that Ms. Glanzer’s bowel had been perforated.

Because the doctor failed to diagnose this until four days after the surgery, the patient had to undergo multiple additional surgeries and a lengthy recovery time.  Glanzer brought a hospital malpractice suit, in which the jury ruled in the favor of the hospital and Dr. Reed.

The verdict was appealed and on October 30^th, the Supreme Court ruled that Glanzer deserves a new trial.  The basis for the new trial is that the judge in the original trial failed to instruct the jury on how to view a doctor’s judgement and how it can relate to negligence.  The failure to give this instruction to the jury may have unfairly influenced their decision.

Hospital malpractice doesn’t necessarily occur every time a doctor makes an error.  However, when a doctor or medical professional uses only his or her judgement in determining a diagnosis (or lack thereof) rather than by medical means, it can often result in a case of malpractice.

It is undetermined when Ms. Glanzer’s new trial will begin.

Faulty equipment from Exxon’s site allowed for a leak from a damaged fuel line in 2006 for more than a month. As a result, 25,000 gallons of contaminated wells, including deadly toxins like benzene, were emitted putting hundreds of locals at risk.

Exxon Under Fire for Benzene Exposure

“Exxon was on notice it had problems with the line leak detector … and they did nothing. It’s not like they didn’t have the economic wherewithal to do something,” Stephen L. Snyder Snyder told jurors in his opening statement in Baltimore County Circuit Court. “This was a corporation that knowingly or deliberately left in an unreliable piece of equipment.”

According to reports, an estimated 150 observers, many of them plaintiffs, packed the Jacksonville courthouse nearly an hour before the trail began. Snyder stands to represent them all and has supposedly asked all of them not to speak to reporters regarding the trial.

Company Accused of Breaking the Law

The documents which Snyder as presented to the jury thus far reportedly detail how Exxon knowingly went against the law and the good of the people, acting with negligence. As early as 1998, Exxon officials reportedly knew that the line leak detectors were outdated which could make for potential problems, though they failed to do anything.