My guess is that these emergency medical workers cooperated a bit too much with the police officers who were involved in the incident. I imagine they were under a great deal of pressure to do so.
'Modified duty' for medics after fatal NYC arrest
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press
July 20, 2014
EricGarner, 43, died Thursday, during an arrest in Staten Island, when a plain-clothes police officer placed him in what appeared be a chokehold while several others brought him to the ground and struggled to place him in handcuffs.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City says four emergency workers involved in the medical response to a man who died in police custody have been barred from responding to 911 calls.
The fire department said Sunday two EMTs and two paramedics were placed on "modified duty" pending an investigation into Eric Garner's death.
The 43-year-old died Thursday on Staten Island after a police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold while arresting him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.
The fire department says the emergency workers are employed by the hospital where Garner was pronounced dead. The hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
Two officers involved in the arrest have been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation. One of them was stripped of his gun and badge.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Financialization of universities: Judge Rules the Che Cafe at UCSD Gets a Stay
Sometimes we don't see what's happening in medicine because it's all wrapped up in critical issues of life and death. We can't believe that medical systems would be putting financial gain above patient well-being.
So perhaps it might be good to look at how universities are financializing other parts of their operations.
So perhaps it might be good to look at how universities are financializing other parts of their operations.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2014
The
Che Café Collective, a world renowned cultural icon and UCSD landmark
that operates as an all-ages music venue, performance space and cafe,
will not be so easily uprooted by University officials after over three
decades of continuous operation and huge support from students and the
public.
In
a hearing today on a temporary restraining order, a judge ruled to keep
the Che in possession of the space and preserve the status quo until a
more full hearing on the merits can be held. This preliminary injunction
hearing is scheduled for August 1, 2014. If the Che prevails in the
injunction hearing, it will maintain possession of the space until a
final resolution is reached in the breach of contract lawsuit filed by
Che’s legal counsel, Andrea Carter, against the University Regents and
by extension, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on July 7,
2014.
The
lawsuit takes issue with University breaches of the Space Agreement
lease signed in 2006 and whether the University is able to give a Notice
of Termination pursuant to the terms of the Agreement. It also
contests the University’s actions in denying dispute resolution and
avoiding the grant of an extension to the Che. It further alleges the
University has acted in bad faith by seeking or instigating lease
violations or other reasons to displace the Café.
The
Che Café is one of four largely student-operated cooperative nonprofits
on campus. It was founded in 1980, when students pushed for the
Facility to become a student-run space, rather than a faculty club,
since student fees pay for building maintenance. The name CHE is an
acronym for “Cheap Healthy Eats;” initially an all vegetarian
restaurant. The organization began hosting music performances which
made it famous in the mid-1980s and gave many now well-known musicians
their start. Like the other student cooperatives (co-ops), the Che has
had continual extensions of their lease or new leases drafted and signed
for the past 34 years.
The
University officially gave its Notice of Termination for the lease due
to the failure of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), one of two
representative student government bodies charged with certifying that
the all the campus cooperatives are financially sound and in the best
interests of students, to certify the Che. These determinations are to
be used for extending the lease and as measures for determining student
support for the venue’s continued functioning. However only the GSA
Board passed a resolution not to endorse the Che’s continued operation. The
Associated Students (AS), the representative undergraduate student
governance body did not pronounce on the matter. The GSA decision was
arrived at after considerable involvement and influence from University administrators and legal counsel, who helped draft the resolution.
The University also continues to avoid full disclosure of its rationale for seeking the closure and displacement of the Café,
which so many view as a legendary jewel and valuable asset to the
University. It has offered many pretextual reasons and concerns that
defy common sense or are matters that cannot be quickly addressed and
remedied without terminating the Café’s possession and lease.
In
public statements, UCSD administrators have alleged that the decision
to terminate and close the Facility involves matters of health and
safety, citing a 2012 Fire Marshal recommendation that upgrades be made
to the building. These include an overhead fire sprinkler and fire
alarm system. If these upgrades were actually vital, they would have
been deemed mandatory rather than recommended, and the Fire Marshal
would have ordered the venue closed. Instead, the Fire Marshal signed
off on the cafe for the year in a follow up inspection of April 17,
2014. Further, the building has been in use by the Che Café and other
university affiliates before it for nearly fifty years without any
safety incident or any expression of safety concerns by UCSD
administrators. As well, the Che Café has insurance and a full
indemnification agreement with the University.
The
Che Café points to a long history of UCSD administrators falsifying
estimates for building maintenance costs and purposely misleading
student government and student centers’ boards which oversee the annual
operating budgets. UCSD currently estimates that over $700,000 of
repairs are needed. However, independent estimates amount to less than
ten percent of that amount.
UCSD
waited to give termination notice until the end of the Spring term, as
students were leaving campus for the summer. Despite UCSD's underhanded
tactics, students continue to campaign on behalf of the Che Café. To date, it
has amassed huge support from its attendees and musicians. This is
evidenced by the outpouring of public comment and letters of support
addressed to the University, not to mention the over 11,500 signatures
on an online petition. The online comments posted by petition signers
show a broad base of students, alumni, campus staff and faculty and the
surrounding community in strong support of the Che. The Che Cafe is one
of the few affordable entertainment and live music venues not to serve
alcohol. It promotes a safe, respectful space that all people can
enjoy and often offers local and independent or student-programming.
All this is extremely rare in San Diego and increasingly everywhere in
the U.S.
Arguably,
the real reason for the lease termination is economic. And this is why
non-students and the broader community should care and join this push
to preserve the venue, even if you have never attended or heard of it
before. The University administration has shifted to decisions rooted in
valuing revenue-generation and profit-seeking above all else. The Che
Facility does not bring in windfall profits for the University. It
stands in contrast to a Starbuck’s licensed cafe, or a parking lot where
each space brings in hundreds of dollars, or even to a new science
building that can house researchers securing grant dollars from which
the University can take a sizeable cut. The
social spaces the University seems to prefer are privately operated,
profit-driven and not dedicated to providing practical educational
opportunities, self development and creative expression and growth that
more traditional spaces like the Che Cafe affords.
This
financialization-based shift and near unilateral focus in deciding and
stewarding our common and public resources is happening not just at UCSD
or in many campuses across the U.S. but within many institutions,
municipalities, and entities charged with safeguarding or managing our
collective resources and rights. Who will watch the watchers? When these
transgressions and power plays occur, the University and Regents are
making it increasingly difficult to exercise free speech and protest on
campus if you are not a student or staff through its policies, most
recently, PPM 510.1 Affiliate Free Speech Policy. Do not wait until all
our rights and spaces are stripped from us. Stand up and defend this
space with us. A loss here is not just a loss of the Café and its
attendees, but a diminishment of all of us who enjoy access to
independent creative expression, entertainment, healthy food and
authentic culture and community.
A
fundraising campaign has been launched and the Che Café is requesting
donations to cover legal expenses, improvements and maintenance to the
building which the university has failed to provide, and mitigation of
lost income from disruption of the concert schedule. Supporters of the
Che can contribute to these expenses in any of these ways:
· Attend the Che Café during a scheduled concert
· By mail at:
CHE Café
9500 Gilman Drive M/C 0323
La Jolla, CA 92093-0323
For further information contact:
Chris Burnett, chris@indymedia.org UCSD graduate, Host of 'Indymedia On Air' on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles
Supporters
are also encouraged to express their concerns about UCSD's course of
action to the administrators responsible. Letters of support can be sent
to these individuals, at these email addresses:
· Chancellor Pradeep Khosla chancellor@ucsd.edu
· Vice Chancellor Gary Matthews: gcmatthews@ucsd.edu
· Vice Chancellor Alan Houston: ahouston@ucsd.edu
· Associate Vice Chancellor Gary Ratcliff: grratcliff@ucsd.edu
· UCEN Director Sharon Van Bruggen: svanbruggen@ucsd.edu
· Associated Students President: aspresident@ucsd.edu
· Graduate Student Association President: president@gsa.ucsd.edu and vpinternal@gsa.ucsd.edu
Please also "cc" your support letter/email to the CHE Cafe at support@checafe.ucsd.edu
-30-
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:
Petition and comments
UPTE open letter to Chancellor
Save the Che Cafe! Letter of solidarity from Zack de la Rocha
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Charge against doctor dropped in drunk driving death of jogger
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - The DWI charge against a Mechanicsville doctor accused of hitting and killing a jogger in Hanover County in January has been nolle prosequi, or dropped.
Dr. Michael J. Carlson, 47, is charged in the death of Meg Menzies, a mother of three and avid runner. Menzies was married to Sergeant Scott Menzies of the Ashland Police Department.
An additional charge of involuntary manslaughter was sent to the grand jury.
Around 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 13, a 2014 Toyota Sequoia was traveling west on East Patrick Henry Road when it ran off the right side of the curved roadway and struck Menzies, who had been jogging east on the westbound shoulder of the road. The crash occurred near the intersection of East Patrick Henry Road/Route 54 and Hickory Hill Road.
Menzies was transported to VCU Medical Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Menzies was an active member of the Richmond Road Runners club.
Stay with 8News on air and online for updates on this developing story.
Compare the above outcome with the very different result in a similar case:
Drunk Driver Who Killed Young Man Gets Nearly 12 Years in Prison
A motorist who drove drunk the wrong way on two freeways before getting into a head-on collision that killed the other driver has been sentenced to 11 years and eight months in state prison.
Nicholas Gervais, 29, pleaded guilty in May in San Diego Superior Court to vehicular manslaughter and DUI in the death of John M. Hajosy.
He had faced up to nearly 14 years in prison.
Gervais also pleaded guilty to driving under
the influence of alcohol and drugs and DUI with a blood-alcohol level of
.08 percent or higher in the Feb. 23 death of Hajosy, also 28.
Deputy District Attorney Lucy Yturralde told a
judge at Gervais’ arraignment that the defendant was spotted driving
south in northbound lanes of state Route 125 about 2:10 a.m. on Feb. 23.
An El Cajon police officer tried to get
Gervais’ attention by flashing his lights at the wrong-way driver and
tried to videotape what was happening, Yturralde said.
Eventually, Gervais got on state Route 94,
driving his BMW west in the eastbound lanes up to about 80 mph, before
crashing into Hajosy’s car, the prosecutor said.
Hajosy died at the scene of head injuries and a lacerated spleen.
Hajosy’s mother said her son had been out on an “amazing date.”
Gervais was taken to a hospital and
breathalyzer test showed his blood-alcohol content at .23 percent and
.21 percent about three hours after the crash, according to Yturralde,
who said a marijuana pipe were found in Gervais’ car.
– City News Service
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Health executive voted seven times in the recall of Scott Walker
GOP’s voter fraud humiliation: Turns out Wisconsin’s worst case is a Republican
...Now
we learn about the curious case of Robert Monroe, a 50-year-old health
executive who is accused of voting a dozen times in 2011 and 2012,
including seven times in the recalls of Scott Walker and his GOP ally
Alberta Darling. Wisconsin officials say it’s the worst case of multiple
voting in memory.
Oh, and, did I mention he’s a Republican?
Monroe got my attention because he’s from the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, where I went to high school. Television coverage of the case focused on Shorewood’s quaint Village Hall, where I registered to vote at 18, and where Monroe allegedly filled out an absentee ballot for his son, who voted in person a few towns away, which helped trigger the investigation. Monroe lives six blocks away from where I grew up.
Investigators say Monroe voted twice for Alberta Darling in her 2011 recall, and five times for Walker in the June 2012 recall. He’s used his own name, his son’s name and his girlfriend’s son’s name. (They can’t be sure exactly whom he voted for in each case, but he gave money to Darling and Walker.) Then in the November presidential election, he voted first in Shorewood, then again in Lebanon, Indiana, where he also owns a home. He claims he had temporary amnesia and doesn’t remember any of the Election Day events...
Oh, and, did I mention he’s a Republican?
Monroe got my attention because he’s from the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, where I went to high school. Television coverage of the case focused on Shorewood’s quaint Village Hall, where I registered to vote at 18, and where Monroe allegedly filled out an absentee ballot for his son, who voted in person a few towns away, which helped trigger the investigation. Monroe lives six blocks away from where I grew up.
Investigators say Monroe voted twice for Alberta Darling in her 2011 recall, and five times for Walker in the June 2012 recall. He’s used his own name, his son’s name and his girlfriend’s son’s name. (They can’t be sure exactly whom he voted for in each case, but he gave money to Darling and Walker.) Then in the November presidential election, he voted first in Shorewood, then again in Lebanon, Indiana, where he also owns a home. He claims he had temporary amnesia and doesn’t remember any of the Election Day events...
Monday, June 23, 2014
Exclusive: CDC reassigns director of lab behind anthrax blunder
Exclusive: CDC reassigns director of lab behind anthrax blunder
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reassigned the director of the bioterror lab behind the potential anthrax exposure of dozens of scientists and staff, sources told Reuters, as the anthrax controversy intensified.
Michael Farrell, head of the CDC's Bioterror Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory, has been reassigned as the agency investigates the incident, two CDC scientists who are not authorized to speak with press told Reuters.
The possible exposure has forced as many as 84 employees at the agency's Atlanta campus to get a vaccine or take powerful antibiotics with known side effects to ward off potentially deadly anthrax disease.
CDC spokesman Tom Skinner declined to comment on Farrell. Calls and e-mail to Farrell were not returned.
On Friday, the CDC gathered staff at a meeting, where individuals in labs adjacent to the affected areas complained they had not been properly informed about the anthrax incident first discovered on June 13, Skinner said.
In a Friday e-mail to staff, CDC Director Dr Thomas Frieden apologized for delays in informing the wider CDC community about lapses in the high-profile bioterror lab.
"We waited too long to inform the broader CDC workforce," he wrote in the email obtained by Reuters.
According to the CDC, some time between June 6 and June 13, workers in the bioterror lab were trying out a new protocol for killing anthrax before sending the bacteria for use in two lower-security CDC labs.
CDC spokesman Skinner on Sunday said the bioterror lab sent the anthrax bacteria to other labs in closed tubes. The recipients agitated the tubes and then removed the lids, raising concerns that live anthrax could have been released into the air.
Both of the CDC scientists Reuters spoke with believe the risk of infection is very slight because only a tiny amount of anthrax was sent out of the bioterror lab.
On June 18, a team of CDC scientists used swabs and wipes to take samples from all lab surfaces that might have been contaminated.
Skinner said results from the first two days of tests have been negative, but the CDC will continue watching the samples for another six days to see if anything grows.
Dr. Paul Meechan, director of the CDC's environmental health
and safety compliance office, first disclosed the possible
anthrax exposure to Reuters on Thursday.
(Editing by Peter Henderson)
Friday, June 20, 2014
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center settles in patient dumping case
Don't let this story worry you too much. These people were unworthy of blue-dot-level medical care. You're much more worthy of care in the eyes of UCLA. You'll get at least purple-dot treatment. Unless, perhaps, your health problem itself is a red-dot problem. (In case you missed it: irony alert!)
SYLMAR>> Olive View-UCLA Medical Center has agreed to pay $40,750 to settle a patient dumping case involving a man who waited in the hospital’s emergency department for more than six hours and never received care for his pain and acute appendicitis, federal officials announced Thursday.
The settlement was made between Olive View and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services based on a case in 2011. Federal officials said the Sylmar facility violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by “failing to provide an individual with an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department in order to determine whether he had an emergency medical condition.”
According to the complaint, a man complaining of abdominal pain waited in Olive View’s emergency department for more than six hours where he received no care. He left and received medical treatment at another hospital, where he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis among other medical issues and underwent an immediate laparoscopic appendectomy.
Olive View has since made several corrections, Olive View spokeswoman Azar Kattan said. Those include additional physicians assigned to provide rapid medical screening to patients given a triage score of at least 3. On the 1-5 scale, a triage score of 1 is most urgent, Kattan said.
She also said the computer system was modified to provide real-time alerts to the nursing staff among other actions.
“These corrective actions were accepted by the regulatory agencies involved at the time of the original citation in 2011,” Kattan said in a written statement. “We believe they have corrected the problems identified and ensure the timely assessment and treatment of patients seeking care in our emergency room.”
SYLMAR>> Olive View-UCLA Medical Center has agreed to pay $40,750 to settle a patient dumping case involving a man who waited in the hospital’s emergency department for more than six hours and never received care for his pain and acute appendicitis, federal officials announced Thursday.
The settlement was made between Olive View and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services based on a case in 2011. Federal officials said the Sylmar facility violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by “failing to provide an individual with an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department in order to determine whether he had an emergency medical condition.”
According to the complaint, a man complaining of abdominal pain waited in Olive View’s emergency department for more than six hours where he received no care. He left and received medical treatment at another hospital, where he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis among other medical issues and underwent an immediate laparoscopic appendectomy.
Olive View has since made several corrections, Olive View spokeswoman Azar Kattan said. Those include additional physicians assigned to provide rapid medical screening to patients given a triage score of at least 3. On the 1-5 scale, a triage score of 1 is most urgent, Kattan said.
She also said the computer system was modified to provide real-time alerts to the nursing staff among other actions.
“These corrective actions were accepted by the regulatory agencies involved at the time of the original citation in 2011,” Kattan said in a written statement. “We believe they have corrected the problems identified and ensure the timely assessment and treatment of patients seeking care in our emergency room.”
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Kaiser takes seven months and four doctors to diagnose a broken ankle
Man claims Kaiser Permanente staff misdiagnosed his broken ankle for seven months, sues for $49,900
Aimee Green
OregonLive.com
June 16, 2014
A man who says he broke his ankle while playing soccer is suing Kaiser Permanente for nearly $50,000, claiming various medical staff repeatedly told him he only had a sprain -- and his fracture went undetected for seven painful months.
A Kaiser spokesman couldn’t offer an immediate comment Monday. But according to Andrew P. Newcomb’s lawsuit, Newcomb went to Kaiser’s Tualatin medical offices on Nov. 9, 2011, seeking treatment for an injury he suffered during an indoor soccer game. The next day, he was given an X-ray and physician assistant Jeffrey Myers told him his ankle was not broken, the suit states.
“...Myers diagnosed plaintiff Newcomb as having a ‘severe sprain,’ and recommended rest, ice, compression and elevation of the foot, and Advil, up to 500 mg twice a day with food,” states the suit, filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
According to the suit:
Newcomb seeks $3,500 for medical and care costs and $46,400 for months of “continuous physical pain and suffering, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, emotional distress and depression,” the suit states.
The suit was filed by Portland attorney Danna Fogarty.
-- Aimee Green
Aimee Green
OregonLive.com
June 16, 2014
A man who says he broke his ankle while playing soccer is suing Kaiser Permanente for nearly $50,000, claiming various medical staff repeatedly told him he only had a sprain -- and his fracture went undetected for seven painful months.
A Kaiser spokesman couldn’t offer an immediate comment Monday. But according to Andrew P. Newcomb’s lawsuit, Newcomb went to Kaiser’s Tualatin medical offices on Nov. 9, 2011, seeking treatment for an injury he suffered during an indoor soccer game. The next day, he was given an X-ray and physician assistant Jeffrey Myers told him his ankle was not broken, the suit states.
“...Myers diagnosed plaintiff Newcomb as having a ‘severe sprain,’ and recommended rest, ice, compression and elevation of the foot, and Advil, up to 500 mg twice a day with food,” states the suit, filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
According to the suit:
- Two and a half months later, Newcomb’s ankle continued to bother him -- causing him to limp and use crutches. So he made another visit to the Tualatin medical offices. Dr. Louis H. Liu ordered an MRI and recommended physical therapy after diagnosing Newcomb with “arthralgia” -- commonly known as joint pain -- of Newcomb’s ankle or foot.
- Two months later, when his ankle had still not improved, Newcomb went in again and Dr. Christopher Jason Rae, an orthopedic specialist at Kaiser, diagnosed Newcomb with a sprain.
- More than one and a half months later, Newcomb’s ankle still ailed him. So he spoke to Rae, who ordered an MRI and again diagnosed Newcomb with joint pain.
- Less than two weeks after that, Newcomb’s ankle was still hurting so he saw Dr. Kimberly Workman, a Kaiser orthopedic specialist, who looked at Newcomb’s November 2011 x-ray and diagnosed him with a “closed fracture foot, talus." It was June 13, 2012, and more than seven months had passed since Newcomb had been injured.
Newcomb seeks $3,500 for medical and care costs and $46,400 for months of “continuous physical pain and suffering, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, emotional distress and depression,” the suit states.
The suit was filed by Portland attorney Danna Fogarty.
-- Aimee Green
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