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Posts Tagged ‘access to justice’

A consumer’s nightmare: A victim of forced arbitration tells his story

Posted in Congress, Consumer Protection, tagged , on March 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

In 2007, John Perz (whose story has been covered by Consumer Reports, and who tells his own story here) bought a used car from a local lot in San Diego. The car had a rattle, but the salesman promised Perz that if he made an appointment, the [...]

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Keep this out of health care reform

Posted in Consumer Protection, Health, Social Justice, tagged , , , , on February 26, 2010 | 8 Comments »

The President and Republicans sparred over health care in yesterday’s “bipartisan” meeting. One of Republicans’ favorite talking points is so-called “tort reform”- or restricting patients’ ability to hold negligent doctors and hospitals accountable for injuries they cause. They argue that liability limits will reduce health care costs.
The news out of Texas is [...]

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They’ve got it all wrong…

Posted in Congress, Health, tagged , on February 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

No longer are policy makers claiming that large leaps in health care costs are due to malpractice lawsuits. It is now the fear of litigation, according to a memorandum released by Public Citizen
Doctors are finding it necessary to practice ‘defensive medicine,’ ordering excessive tests and procedures for patients.
Let’s look at the facts:

In 1999 it [...]

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Myth about Texas health care system debunked

Posted in Consumer Protection, Health, Texas, tagged on December 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

You’ve probably heard members of Congress spouting off lately about how the imposition of caps on medical malpractice payouts in Texas has been so great.
Well, those lawmakers are wrong.  Public Citizen today released a report showing that the caps have failed to improve the health care system.
Not only has the percentage of uninsured people in [...]

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More than 125,500 tell Chamber of Commerce: Stop protecting rapists!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on December 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

That’s right, more than 125,500 signed our petition to demand an end to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lobbying against Sen. Franken’s (D-Minn.) amendment to bar defense contractors like Halliburton/KBR from forcing employees with sexual assault and discrimination claims into arbitration.
Public Citizen, along with MoveOn.org, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Consumer Action, Workplace Fairness, [...]

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Cost of malpractice insurance steady or falling

Posted in Congress, Health, tagged , , on December 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

New numbers from the Medical Liability Monitor show that 94 percent of medical malpractice insurance premiums have remained steady or dropped. Maggie Mertens over at NPR’s Shots Health Blog observes that the timing of this release is bad news for efforts to slip “tort reform” into the federal health care package.
No doubt it will be [...]

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Shame on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Posted in Activism, Congress, Social Justice, tagged , , , , on November 19, 2009 | 5 Comments »

By now, you’ve probably heard about the story of Jamie Leigh Jones. In 2005, she was working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq when she was gang-raped by coworkers. Four years later, Jamie is still being denied justice.
Jamie can’t pursue justice in criminal court because the rape took place overseas, and [...]

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Lack of doctor accountability is at root of medical malpractice woes

Posted in Health, tagged , , on November 11, 2009 | 5 Comments »

In Virginia, there is a special word for being victimized by medical malpractice – being “Plotnicked.” Virginia doctor Stephen Plotnick became so notorious for injuring patients that his name is now the word for what happens when doctors make mistakes. It is shocking that any doctor could earn such a shameful tribute without being stopped [...]

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Letter from David Arkush on the Franken amendment in Washington Post

Posted in Congress, Social Justice, tagged , , , , on October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The following letter was published Thursday, October 29, in the Washington Post. Stand up to Halliburton, and sign our petition!
In her Oct. 25 column, Kathleen Parker defended the 30 GOP senators who opposed Al Franken’s amendment to the defense appropriations bill. The amendment would restore access to justice for individuals who are sexually assaulted or [...]

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Urge Congress not to weaken Franken amendment

Posted in Activism, Congress, Consumer Protection, Social Justice, tagged , , , on October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »

By now, you are probably aware of an amendment to a bill funding the Department of Defense that would prohibit the U.S. government from doing business with defense contractors who deny employees who have been raped or sexually assaulted, like Jamie Leigh Jones, the right to hold them accountable in court. This amendment, introduced by [...]

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