News & Investigations

12 Million Americans suffer a wrong or late diagnosis by our medical system each year. At this rate, most Americans will have at least one error in their lives, according to a new report by an institute of the National Academy of Sciences.

These health care errors are not limited to mistakes by hospitals. They take place in physician’s offices, ambulatory surgical centers and other outpatient treatment facilities around the country.

The report indicates it is far more common than prescription errors or mistaken surgeries on the wrong body part or patient. And the problem is expected to get worse as health care becomes more complex and more individuals and facilities become involved in the treatment of a particular patient. Health information technology may also be contributing to these errors.

As too many people know, the cost of a delayed diagnosis can be significant patient harm, especially when the misdiagnosis involves cancer or other serious illness. There remedy, to the extent they have one, lies with the system of medical malpractice. But many states are limiting that solution to compensate them for their loss. We hope this report leads to both improvements in the treatment of patients as well as better compensation for those who have suffered medical errors.

Oil and gas giant Halliburton has agreed to pay $18.3 million to more than 1,000 workers improperly classified as exempt from overtime pay in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor. It is one of the largest overtime settlements with the U.S. Government in recent years. According to the Labor Department, all salaried workers at Halliburton were automatically exempted from overtime. The law instead requires employers to pay overtime even to employees receiving salaries if their job duties or income do not qualify them for the FLSA exemption. This is one of many developments happening in the fight against wage theft across the country. In California, lawmakers this month approved a bill that would allow the labor commissioner in California to put a lien on an employer’s property for unpaid wages. The California law would also prevent owners from closing down a business and reopening it under a new name. At the beginning of the month, a Los Angeles Times story cited this as an example of one of the many ways that businesses were circumventing the requirement that they pay wages pursuant to the law. The L.A. Times article also suggested that the California Legislature was considering making companies jointly liable for the payment of workers providing services for them. We haven’t yet reviewed the law to see if this made it into the final approved version but this would be a huge step forward in the fight against wage theft. Other states should consider such a law. In other news, Wisconsin Democrats have proposed a bill to strengthen enforcement against employers stealing wages, allowing fines of up to $1,000 per violation and imposing interest on the money owed. Unfortunately, the legislature is controlled by Republicans so the measure probably stands a slim chance of passing as written.

Attorneys are now filing lawsuits in New Jersey and Missouri alleging that the talc in Johnson & Johnson’s body powder has caused ovarian cancer in women and the company failed to warn them about this risk. Around 700 lawsuits have now been filed, according to media reports.

The product is normally referred to as baby powder but it is also sold by Johnson & Johnson under the name Shower to Shower as part of its body powder products. The lawsuits allege that regular application of the product to the genital region increases the risk of cancer.

One out of 70 women are diagnosed with this form of cancer and around 14,000 die annually from it. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women.

Some researchers estimate that there may be as many as 2,100 cases of the diagnosed ovarian cancer annually in the U.S. causally linked to talcum powder use. Studies suggesting a link between talc use and ovarian cancer date back to the 1980s with research starting in the 1970s on this issue. They estimate that the risk of ovarian cancer through regular talcum powder use increases by about 35 percent.

Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters are designed to stop blood clots from entering the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. About a quarter of a million are implanted in patients each year. However, there have been reports of pieces of the medical devices breaking off and causing death or other serious injuries in patients.

The C.R. Bard’s IVC filters have been specifically identified as among those invoking concern. There are reports of fracturing and migration in patients with both the Recovery IVC filter and G2 IVC Filter System made by Bard (now a unit of Johnson & Johnson).

The FDA warned as far back as 2010 about side effects of the IVC filters including blood clots and organ perforation. In 2014, the FDA issued updated guidance about the appropriate use of the filters. Recently, an NBC report has exposed insider allegations that C.R. Bard’s knew about problems with the safety of the device and forged a signature on the FDA application for clearance of the device.

If you or a family member have suffered an injury as a result of an implanted IVC filter by Bard’s or another medical device manufacturer, contact one of our personal injury attorneys for a free, confidential consultation.

A report published by Temple Law School this week detailed the pervasive problem of wage theft here in Pennsylvania and, specifically, Philadelphia. The executive summary details the grim facts for workers in the state in any given workweek:

• Almost 400,000 Pennsylvanians experience a minimum wage violation.
• Over 300,000 Pennsylvanians experience an overtime violation.
• Pennsylvania workers lose a total of $19 million to $32 million in wages.

In the Philadelphia metropolitan region alone, more than 100,000 workers can be expected to have a minimum wage or overtime violation each week with 75,000 employees working off-the-clock without pay from area businesses. The statistics are extrapolated from a 2009 investigation of thousands of workers in low-wage industries in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago and then applied to Pennsylvania using Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data. Here in Philadelphia, the occupations most likely to experience these problems are in the restaurant industry: waiters, bartenders, cafeteria workers, cooks, dishwashers and food preparers. Other jobs seeing a significant problem were office clerks, retail salespersons, home health aides and cashiers. In the metropolitan region, the list of occupations where wage theft is experienced also includes individuals working in factory and packaging; general construction; building services and grounds workers; and drivers, parking lot attendants and car wash workers. The report recommends Pennsylvania impose criminal penalties against employers, increase monetary penalties, create a wage lien law and impose other non-monetary penalties. It also suggests additional outreach and education, a confidential or anonymous process for complaints and internal adjudication of claims within the Department of Labor and Industry.

President Obama announced changes to federal overtime regulations this week, extending overtime benefits to an additional $5 million people by doubling the minimum exempt salary for workers to $970 a week in 2016. Workers making less than $50,440 a year will automatically qualify for overtime pay under the proposed rule changes. Previously, a worker that made more than $455 a week did not automatically qualify for overtime under the federal rules. The amount was last updated in 2004, and the Obama proposal reflects inflation over the last 10+ years. The proposal further covers adjustments based on median wage levels in the future. This proposal has been expected for some time as President Obama announced his intention to change the nation’s overtime rules more than a year ago. Forty percent of full-time salaried workers would be eligible for overtime pay after the rule changes go into effect. Under the current rules, employers do not need to pay employees making more than $23,660 a year if they are performing mostly executive, administrative or professional duties. Only 8% of the full time salaried workforce is currently covered by the salary threshold, whereas 60% of salaried workers were overtime eligible when the rules were put in place in 1975. The President talked about the need for the policy change on the Huffington Post last night, and then followed that editorial up with a Fact Sheet today on Rewarding Hard Work by Restoring Overtime Pay.