In Roger Mathus’ Death by Email blog he lists the top ten things seen in email that will alert the attention of legal researchers.  The one I am guilty of… “I don’t want to discuss this in an email.  Give me a call.”

SEAK has announced their 29th Annual National Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Medicine Conference on Cape Cod.  The conference will be held on July 21-23rd with preconferences on July 20, 2009.  This year’s topics include:

• Closing Workers’ Compensation Cases in a Cost-Effective Manner
• Repeat Workers’ Compensation Offenders: What to Do About Them
• Developing Accepted Treatment Plans for Contentious Workers’ Compensation Claims
• OSHA Under the New Administration
• Shoulder Injuries and Treatment in the Injured Worker
• Predictive Modeling: Impact on Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Health
• Health Promotion and Wellness Programs
• Why Some Workers’ Compensation Patients Do Not Get Better
• Abnormal Findings in Normal People: Significance for Claimants and Their Claims
• FMLA: Latest Developments

In New York, a mother and daughter plead guilty of fraudulent billing when they gave massage therapy and charged for physical therapy.

In Los Angeles, two men have been charged with defrauding the state fund of $18 million in insurance premiums by misrepresenting the employees in a policy for Staffing Services.

And in Austin, Texas, Dr. Shanti of Houston was ordered to surrender his license for five years and pay a fine of $10,000 and repay more than $344,000 for over billing work comp carriers for pain management services.

I just learned today that my latest personal injury case settled out of court after opposing counsel reviewed my Life Care Plan.  It was a conservative plan on a young woman who had been injured after a dump truck struck her vehicle crushing her legs.  She has undergone more than ten surgical procedures to repair her legs.

While doing my daily blog reading I ran across this similar article in which a Budweiser truck and a Saturn crossed paths.  The Life Care Plan revealed damages of $2.36 million.  The case was settled after mediation for $6.5 million.

This week has been a busy one already.  I have been asked to participate in a mock deposition, teleconference, educational session for Legal Nurse Consultants and next year’s NNBA Conference. 

Friday, December 5th I will be deposed as the expert Life Care Planner by @gerrysch in Little Rock at the Embassy Suites.  This is a continuing legal education seminar put on by NBI.  There is nothing like agreeing to some cross examination just for fun!

Pat Iyer of Med League Support Services will be hosting a teleseminar on February 4th, 2009.  I will be interviewed on my use of technology to improve efficiency in my practice as a Legal Nurse Consultant and Life Care Planner.

April 2009 is a busy month.  April 6th-10th, 2009 I will be in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the ASIA and AWCC Spring Fling.  Later in April (22-26th) I will be a featured speaker at the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  Also in April I will be an exhibitor at the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) in Eureka Springs. 

On June 18, 2009 I will be attending and exhibiting for a CLE on Personal Injury.  This is in association with the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA).

October is another busy month with multiple conferences.  I will first attend the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners (AANCLP) annual conference in Denver, Colorado.  October 24-25, 2009 I will once again be in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida for the National Nurses in Business Association (NNBA) Annual Conference.  I hope this time I actually get to spend some time on the beach!

Currently there are more that 34 million unpaid caregivers caring for ill senior citizens in America. As reported by the AARP, these giving caregivers are estimated to be providing unpaid help valued at approximately $375 billion to the elderly each year.  

The typical caregiver is a woman in her 40’s with a husband and children. Given the difficult economic situation in today’s world many elderly have moved in with their children in order to maintain their lifestyle without having to go to an expensive nursing home.  However, this addition to the family creates new pressure, from how to cover the new expense for the ill senior citizen to dealing with how to provide adequate care for the senior loved one. Most American families are trying to figure out how they are going to pay their mortgages, feed their family, and pay their bills.  Now they have the added expense of ensuring the senior loved is able to pay for their medication, isn’t in harms way, and maintains a proper diet.

Further, on average the typically family member dedicates three hours a day in caring for the elder person.  This represents a revenue loss for the person that could be working to bring in another paycheck.  This extra three hour time period is also the time that people typically use to wind down, relax and rest after a long day at work.  Consequently, since people are not receiving the rest they need they are now getting sicker quicker and running themselves down leading to more expenses and time away from work.

The study by AARP found that more than 1/3 of the caregivers had to reduce work hours or quit their jobs completely in order to care for the senior.  In addition, they also tend to spend upwards of $5,531 of their own money to cover the costs associated with the senior loved one. Care for the senior becomes a very expensive proposition. 

Caregivers need as much extra support as possible.  We as a community need to work together to ensure caregivers receive the resources they need to provide the care senior people need. 

I often talk about the value of Microsoft OneNote in my practice as a Legal Nurse Consultant and Life Care Planner.  Today I filed away another “pearl” in my research notebook.  Mr. Martindale and his wonderful reference library is a must for those performing research of any kind, but particularly in the health sciences.  You can click around and get lost in this wealth of information very quickly.

The family of a man shot to death by a mental patient in the Wal-Mart parking lot should receive $36 million in damages, an Arizona jury has ruled. Jurors found that ValueOptions Inc., a former state contractor for behavioral care, was 90 percent responsible because it failed to follow its own guidelines in treating the paranoid schizophrenic man responsible for the shooting. An attorney for ValueOptions said the company would appeal the verdict.  Michael Kiefer, Arizona Republic  11/27/2008

As a legal nurse consultant, our job often involves researching the standard of care in cases such as this.

According to the latest Gallup Poll, nurses are again perceived as having the highest honesty and ethical standards.  Nurses have been included in the poll since 1999 and have averaged Very high/high ratings ever since.  Every year nurses have placed number one with the exception of 2001 when firefighters topped the list after 9/11.

This year lobbyists were included in the list.  Congressmen are the worst ever recorded.  To read more, check out the list on Gallup.

Jon Gelman, an attorney and author, penned this article on the potential bailout needed for the Worker’s Compensation system.

Gelman explains, “During The Great Depression the US workers’ compensation system had an additional unique challenge confronting it… The insurance industry rushed to the rescue by advocating that silicosis claims challenging the industry along with and other occupational diseases be brought within the umbrella of the workers’ compensation system.”

“Activity soared within the workers’ compensation arena. Asbestos claims and other toxic tort claims continued the spiral. When workers’ compensation was unable to fully compensate the victims, the activity switched to the liability arena and claims proliferated and activity soared. Insurance exhaustion, corporate bankruptcy, an aging workforce, lack of manufacturing in the US and Federal Multi-District litigation. soon lead to a decline litigation activity.”