August Newsletter

By: Chris Placitella @ Sep 11, 2015

You Should Know Newsletter: August 2015
Cohen, Placitella & Roth, P.C.

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Asbestos: Winning the Fight for Justice that the Insurance Industry Predicted
By: Christopher M. Placitella & Jared Placitella

Just as the insurance industry predicted in the early 1970s, the battle for just compensation for asbestos victims has involved not only asbestos manufacturers, but also other corporate giants that sold and utilized asbestos with full knowledge of the potential health risks. The baton has been passed from the trial lawyer pioneers who fought the industry in the 1970’s and 80s to a new breed of lawyer just as committed to providing justice and compensation to the wrongfully injured. New technology and organization permits the new warriors to compete with the country’s largest law firms and well financed defendants. At the time of this writing, the focal point of the organization of victim advocates centers around the American Association of Justice (“AAJ”). The battles rage on as the industry defenses become even more sophisticated including the perversion of medical science not unlike that which occurred during the 1940s and 1950s.

To read full article click here.

Preventable Medical Errors;
Third Leading Cause of Death in US

A New, Evidence-based Study of Patient Harms Associated with Hospital Care by Dr. John T. James, PhD estimates that between 200,000 and 400,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors. Serious harm to patients not resulting in death seems to be 10 to 20 times more common according to the study.

The first estimate (based on 1984 data) of 98,000 deaths per year was published by the Institute of Medicine. Since then, a weighted average on four modern studies published from 2008 to 2011 revealed a low estimate of 210,000 deaths per year and a high estimate of more than 400,000 deaths per year associated with preventable harm in hospitals.

Although there has been debate over the accuracy of these estimates. In a sense, it does not matter whether the deaths of 100,000, 200,000 or 400,000 Americans each year are associated with preventable adverse events in hospitals. Any of the estimates demands assertive action on the part of providers, legislators, and people who will one day become patients. Yet, the action and progress on patient safety is frustratingly slow.

Needed changes involve not only doctors and hospitals, but increased participation by patients in their health-care decisions. All evidence points to the need for much more patient involvement in identifying harmful events and participating in rigorous follow-up investigations to identify root causes. Physician observers of our hospitals have made Congress painfully aware that the hospital peer-review system has widespread failures that permit negligent care by physicians. Hospitals are simply not going to heal without attentive, systematic listening to those harmed patients or their survivors.

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All Out Assault on the Civil Justice System

There is an all-out attack against the civil justice system in Congress. The wrongdoers lobby wants to wipe out class actions and chip away at other laws that currently protect the rights of consumers.

Anti consumer legislative initiatives in the works include allowing the rental of recalled cars, elimination of cases involving consumer fraud, impairing the rights of victims of asbestos exposure and medical malpractice. Also under attack are the rights of people in nursing homes and the protection of retirement accounts.

CPR fully supports the efforts of the American Association for Justice which is leading the battle on behalf of consumers against these anti worker and anti consumer initiatives. In the coming months we will be publishing further updates and providing specific steps you can take to help us fight this battle.

Christopher Placitella Appointed to TANJ Board

Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, the voice and resource for New Jersey trial attorneys, announced its 2015-2016 Board members. TANJ is an organization of approximately 800 members consisting of both plaintiff and defense attorneys from the civil and criminal bars. The organization was started 50 years ago and is dedicated to promoting the litigation interests of the public, the bench and the bar.

Join TANJ…

In this issue:
Asbestos: Winning the Battle
Medical Errors
Join TANJ

Commitment. Purpose. Results.

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