BluegrassReport.org

C-J's Steitzer Calls Out Fletcher Admin For Scrubbing Statistics From Website Which Sharply Contradict One Of Their Favorite Talking Points

Since the inception of BluegrassReport.org in June 2005, I've constantly harped on the dishonesty of Governor Fletcher (R) and his fellow band of wing-nuts (e.g., David Williams, Damon Thayer, Stan Lee) who have knocked themselves silly trying to convince the public that we need to give-up our constitutional guarantee to a civil trial because doctors have been fleeing the state. I even created a category of these posts called "Legal Reform Lies."

Time and again I've demonstrated how the state's own statistics contradict everything these political hacks have been saying, which they've done simply to placate some of their top financial patrons -- the insurance lobby and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This afternoon, Stephenie Steitzer has quite a find on the Courier-Journal's blog, as she noticed how the state has scrubbed statistics which have shown a clear increase in the number of practicing physicians in the state for a number of consecutive years:

Data Scrubbed From State Website?

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure previously kept statistics regarding the number of licensed physicians with Kentucky practice addresses going back to previous years.

It was a quick and easy place to learn that physicians are not leaving the state in droves as the governor and pro-tort reform legislators continue to assert.

...Those numbers, however, are no longer being kept on the Web site, http://kbml.ky.gov/

...Brenda Knopp, the Web site manager, said the old statistics were removed when the Web site was redesigned about a year ago. She said she has "absolutely no idea" why they removed and does not remember who ordered them removed.

"We just don't put them on there anymore," she said.

Knopp said the numbers are still available to anyone who submits an open records request.

Excellent work, Stephenie.

Henry Joins Fletcher In Wanting To Limit Your Constitutional Rights

Steve Henry (D) appears to be drinking the same Kool-Aid as Governor Fletcher (R) when it comes to the well-documented phony argument that restricting our constitutional rights to trial is going to help fix the health care problem.

From last week's Bowling Green Daily News:

Asked whether they would support changes in the law governing medical malpractice lawsuits, Fletcher and Henry said they approved of caps on non-economic damage awards...

Be sure to send this to every lawyer, judge and law student you know...

The Facts Getting In The Way Of Governor Fletcher's (R) Rhetoric, Once Again...

You might recall the discussions we had here in 2005 and part of 2006 about how the detailed statistics maintained by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure failed to back-up the dishonest assertions made by Governor Fletcher (R) that doctors were fleeing Kentucky because of fear of being sued for malpractice and that was why we needed to give-up our constitutional right to a civil trial. (See here, here, and here)

Everytime Fletcher offered his bogus arguments, we were able to fire back the statistics from the state's own medical board that disproved their claim. I think eventually Fletcher was left to argue that some doctors from some specialties are leaving some Kentucky border towns.

In any event, as a result of being tired of being called on their BS, by mid-2006 the state took down the detailed, year-by-year demographic data from its website. I guess they hoped out of sight, out of mind. (Click here to see a cached version of that webpage).

Well, not so fast.

In the board's most recent annual report to the governor it had to reveal some basic statistics. It reported that for 2006:

Currently 9,652 physicians are registered in the state and another 3,785 physicians outside the state have an active license. Overall, there are a total of 13,437 physicians currently maintaining a Kentucky license.

So, adding that to previous statistics we had gathered:

• 2006 -- 13,437 licensed physicians in Kentucky
• 2005 -- 13,246 
• 2004 -- 12,929
• 2003 -- 12,686
• 2002 -- 12,676
• 2001 -- 12,462
• 2000 -- 12,252

Looks like there are now 191 more licensed physicians in 2006 than 2005, which means the number of licensed physicians in Kentucky has increased for each of the past six years.

Don't you hate it when the facts get in the way of Fletcher's special-interest rhetoric? So sad.

Law Firms' Ads Don't Comply With Bar Rules -- Solicitations Removed From Newspaper (Brammer/Jordan, Herald-Leader)

As many of you know, I am strong supporter of our civil justice system and am offended when people like our governor push false assertions about the benefits of caps on jury awards. The don't work, they know it, and they only offer caps to help their corporate patrons who in return fill-up their campaign coffers with cash.

But I am also offended by what happened this week with out-of-state law firms who have taken out ads to try to find new clients among the grieving families of Flight 5191. A lot of the disgust has been leveled at the Herald-Leader's decision to publish the ads. While it's unfortunate that something this insensitive was published, I'm much less angered by the paper's decision to publish the ads than the law firms who flouted the bar association's ethics rules -- and the respect of a grieving community -- by placing them.

I've even had reports from a reader that targeted Google ads by one of the firms in question have shown up on this site, but I haven't yet seen them (note that websites don't control which Google ads are shown, but can add them to a filter once they appear and you know the URL used in the ad). So, please let me know if you see it appear. A screen-capture would be nice.

This conduct puts a real stain on the trial lawyers in this state who do honorable and exceptional work. And while Republicans like to paint the plaintiff's bar as a bunch of Democrats, one prominent personal injury lawyer in Kentucky is none other than top Republican official J. Marshall Hughes, as well as the previous proprietor of the once-upon-a-time Republican blog kyrepublicans.com, whose website now simply re-directs to a plaintiff's law firm. And don't forget former GOP chairman and current Supreme Court candidate Marcus Carey, also a plaintiff's lawyer.

However, I thought that Jack Brammer and Jim Jordan wrote an important story in today's Herald-Leader concerning the ads. Here are some excerpts:

Law Firms' Ads Don't Comply With Bar Rules
Solicitations Removed From Newspaper
By Jack Brammer And Jim Jordan
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS

FRANKFORT - Three ads in yesterday's Lexington Herald-Leader from lawyers trying to contact family members of the 49 people killed in Sunday's plane crash failed to comply with state advertising rules for lawyers.

Two of the ads were pulled from today's paper by the law firms, and the third was pulled by the Herald-Leader after the law firm failed to respond to an inquiry from the newspaper, said Publisher Tim Kelly.

Bruce Davis, executive director of the Kentucky Bar Association, said the KBA's nine-member advertising commission voted yesterday that the ads are in "non-compliance" with state rules for lawyers.

[...]

Attorney General Greg Stumbo said he referred to the bar association and the U.S. Attorney's Office yesterday a dozen inquiries from people concerned about the legality of the ads.

The media have the legal right to run such ads, Stumbo said, but he finds them "rather tasteless" and believes they "call into question both state and federal law."

Stumbo warned the legal community earlier this week that a 1996 federal law bars unsolicited communication with victims' families for 45 days after their loss. It imposes a $1,000-a-day fine.

Public reaction to the ads was generally critical, and other media outlets were divided over whether they would publish or broadcast similar ads.

Debi Chalik, whose Lexington law firm of Chalik and Chalik canceled its ad in today's Herald-Leader, said in a written statement that her goal in running an ad was "not to hurt the victims and their families but only to offer her assistance."

[...]

Steve Downey, president of the 1,400-member Kentucky Trial Attorneys Association, said "the timing (of the ads) is offensive.

"Yes, ads are protected by free speech," he continued, "but these should not have run. ... This kind of conduct gives lawyers and newspapers a black eye."

Shameless

Remember last year when we were shooting fish out of a barrel when indicted Governor Fletcher (R) and many of the Republican zealots in the legislature were trying to convince us that without restricting our constitutional right to a civil trial our health care system was beyond repair since Kentucky doctors are fleeing the state en masse?

Well, then we started firing back all the excellent demographic data that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure kept year-by-year which showed that the numbers of doctors in Kentucky have actually increased over the past few years.

Each time we did that, Fletcher would change or narrow his argument. Now I believe he alleges a couple of doctors along one of the borders may have left the state. Not sure.

Well, get this!

Now when you visit the website of the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure there's been a single, noticeable change -- THEY'VE REMOVED THE DEMOGRAPHICS LINK!

It seems that the demographics page is still accessible but they've eliminated the link to get there and unless you have a specific address, it doesn't seem you can get there from the home page any longer.

Click here to go the Demographics page from last year's post (notice "Demographics" option at bottom of the list on left). Now click on the up-to-date Home Page and notice that the link is gone.

Is this a policy statement? Seems pretty shameless to me. These guys just hate when you confront them and shoot-down their bullshit arguments with their own facts.

Here Come The Wingnuts, Once Again...

The wingnuts are coming! The wingnuts are coming! This time, led by one of their ringleaders -- Rep. Bob DeWeese (R) -- they come with a late session attempt to ram another version of their bogus medical malpractice legislation down our throats.

DeWeese, a surgeon no less, is trying to co-opt a decent bill (House Bill 700) that Rep. Rob Wilkey (D) filed which would have mandated that malpractice insurance rates be publicly disclosed and provide some badly needed oversight on the insurance industry which continue to gouge doctors for their own profits. Wilkey now has an opportunity to do the right thing for the consumers and injured patients and stop this insidious backdoor effort and undo the damage he caused with his pushing of House Bill 699 which would have shielded a legislator's e-mail from public disclosure.

While DeWeese's "compromise" would avoid draconian capping of damages, it does something much more subtle but potentially as restrictive by setting up a review committee on the front-end of the process and refusing to spell out who would serve on the committee and how it would be set-up, all while nevertheless deeming that its conclusions "could be used as evidence in court":

DeWeese said at a news conference that having review panels screen cases before they could go to trial would "reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits" against doctors. That would lower doctors' insurance premiums and keep them from retiring or leaving the state, he said.

The amendment doesn't say who would serve on such panels. DeWeese said legislators could spell that out later, but panels would include doctors, lawyers and court representatives. The panels' conclusions would not be binding, but could be used as evidence in court.

Now just think for a moment if this gets on the ballot and passes. Does anyone with an adult IQ really believe that corrupt politicians like Senate President David Williams (R) or Governor Fletcher, or some of the weak House Democratic leaders like Speaker Richards (D) are going to do the right thing in setting up this process and not screw injured consumers by packing the panel with pro-insurance company representatives? I have little doubt this will be another farce.

Here's what DeWeese's constitutional amendment would ask:

"For civil cases alleging negligence by health care providers, are you in favor of permitting the General Assembly to enact laws that:

(1) Require any party bringing a civil action subject to this section to submit the claim of that action to a system of nonbinding alternative dispute resolution before seeking redress in any other forum or exercising his or her right to a jury trial;

(2) Provide for a uniform statute of limitations or statutes of repose, or both, for any civil action subject to this section;

(3) Establish an evidentiary privilege for a medical peer review process;

(4) Establish standards for expert witnesses and a certification process as a condition precedent to the filing of a civil action; and

(5) Provide for the admissibility of evidence relating to collateral source payments or benefits?"".

But this is where Wilkey can really deliver for us. As the story in the Courier-Journal demonstrates, DeWeese not only stripped Wilkey's bill of the guts, but he didn't bother to consult with him about it.

DeWeese's measure was filed as an amendment to House Bill 700, a Democratic-sponsored bill that would screen malpractice lawsuits but wouldn't seek a constitutional change. It would scrap most of the bill's provisions.

But the amendment could have a hard time gaining approval this late in the legislative session -- especially since DeWeese filed it without first consulting the bill's sponsor, Rep. Rob Wilkey.

"How can you possibly have a compromise when you haven't even talked to the bill sponsor?" said Wilkey, D-Scottsville. But he said he was willing to talk with DeWeese and the Kentucky Medical Association, which supports the amendment.

[...]

...The House bill, as filed by Wilkey, includes provisions to set up a state-run malpractice insurance carrier and prevent insurers from using investment setbacks to justify rate increases. DeWeese's amendment would sweep those provisions away.

Let's encourage Wilkey to do the right thing here and fight this attempt to restrict our legal rights so that the wingnuts can take care of their corporate patrons -- the insurance companies...

VICTORY! Proposal On Medical Malpractice Fails In Senate (AP)

Looks like corrupt Senate President David Williams (R) took it to the floor after all and his bogus medical malpractice legislation failed to get enough support on a 21-15 vote. They needed 23 votes.

In a very good sign, this defeat was worse than last year's when 13 Senators opposed it on a 21-13 vote. Looks like Democrats have realized this whole legislation is bullshit.

Nice job.

Proposal On Medical Malpractice Fails In Senate
Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A proposed constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to limit some damages in medical malpractice cases failed in the Senate on Wednesday.

The vote was 21-15 with two others abstaining. It takes a three-fifths majority - 23 votes - to pass a constitutional amendment in the Senate.

The proposal has been a top priority of Senate President David Williams for years.

If it reached the ballot and was ratified by voters, the proposal would allow lawmakers to limit awards medical malpractice victims receive for pain and suffering and punitive damages. The measure also would allow lawmakers to set up a pretrial "alternative dispute resolution" system to review malpractice claims.

The measure is backed by the Kentucky Medical Association. Supporters have offered the measure as a possible remedy for fast-rising medical malpractice insurance rates. Those rates, they say, have forced some doctors to quit doing high-risk medical procedures and prompted some to leave for other states where insurance rates are lower.

The bill's opponents said there was no evidence that the measure would reduce or stabilize insurance rates for doctors.

"Tort Reform" Push Poll and More B.S. About The Legal Climate In Kentucky

First of all, word among legislators is that corrupt Senate President David Williams (R) knows he doesn't have the support to pass their phony medical malpractice legislation which would strip us of our constitutional rights, so he's not even trying to push it through committee and would prefer to keep it as a campaign issue to help raise money from doctors.

It continues to amaze me that doctors are this gullible and just give this corrupt man any of their money. The truth is, any draconian restriction of our right to a jury trial is only going to help the insurance industry's profits and won't do a thing to lower malpractice rates -- hasn't happened in any other states. On this issue, normally intelligent doctors seem to suffer a real plunge in IQ.

Nevertheless, the main reason for writing this post is that the pimp for Corporate America -- U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- is running a blatant online push-poll on the so-called 'tort reform' matter. I encourage you to take the poll and help skew their results.

But as I surfed all their on-line propaganda, I stumbled upon something interesting. You see, when this group has to advocate for its bullshit legal reform across all 50 states, it's impossible to depict every state as having the worst system, and that's where it gets interesting for Kentucky.

Turns out that last year, the US Chamber of Commerce did a pretty big survey on the liability systems in all 50 states entitled the 2005 State Liability Systems Ranking Study.

According to their study:

All interviews for The 2005 State Liability Systems Ranking Study were conducted by telephone among a nationally representative sample of senior attorneys at companies with annual revenues of at least $100 million. Interviews averaging 17 minutes in length were conducted with a total of 1,437 respondents and took place between November 22, 2004 and February 18, 2005. The sample was segmented into two main groups. Of the 1,437 respondents, 80 were from insurance companies, with the remaining 1,357 interviews being conducted among public corporations.

As you can above, the survey participants are people who want to limit the average consumer's rights to seek redress as much as possible.

But guess what happened? Kentucky's present legal system got pretty good grades. In fact, on all 10 measurements, Kentucky received a grade of "B" or better and averaged a grade point average of 3.2 -- which is better than my academic performance at Berkeley!

The state received few "A"s, but also very few "D"s and "F"s.

In fact, 81% of participants gave Kentucky's legal system an overall grade of either a "B" or "C" -- hardly the disastrous system that corrupt Governor Fletcher tries to sell us in hopes of getting us to agree to voluntarily fork over some of our constitutional rights.

And considering that Kentucky is not one of the states that has enacted obscene and draconian caps on jury awards -- it's currently ranked a fairly high 28th among all states on the issue of "Punitive Damages" and 30th in "Juries' Fairness."

Take a look for yourself:

Funny that even the most extreme group on the issue of taking away our constitutional rights doesn't think Kentucky's legal system is on the precipice...

Was This Medical Malpractice?

I do truly hope that Governor Fletcher continues his progress and gets over this infection in good order. No one deserves to go through this.

However, I hope that since the question was raised whether his infection could be "hospital-acquired" provides Fletcher with a different perspective on his insane and wrong-headed position on the medical malpractice issue. Maybe this is the wake-up call he needs.

From this evening's AP story by Roger Alford:

A physician who had considered moving Gov. Ernie Fletcher into intensive care three days ago said Monday that the governor's condition improved over the weekend.

Dr. Mark Dougherty, an infectious disease specialist at St. Joseph East hospital in Lexington, said Fletcher still has a long way to go before he fully recovers from a bacterial infection in his bloodstream, an apparent result from an infected gallbladder.

Fletcher has been hospitalized since Feb. 12 and had his gallbladder removed on Feb. 14. His recovery suffered a setback late last week when his temperature began fluctuating, reaching 103.2 at one point over the weekend, sending the governor into shaking chills.

Dougherty said the E. coli bacteria found in the governor's blood was moderately resistant to antibiotics, but intravenous treatment seems to be working.

..."I do not think this is a hospital-acquired infection," Dougherty said Monday.

More Bogus Scare Tactics From Business Groups

Listening to the scare tactics of these special-interest groups (including the doctors and hospital groups), you'd think the state was about to implode and fall into the abyss because they believe some consumers, in some border towns, might cross the state line to buy some goods or get some services. Why does the media even give them the time of day on this unsubstantiated crap?

Jan Gould, representing the Kentucky Retail Federation, warned increasing the minimum wage in Kentucky would be harmful to stores in border towns where consumers have the option of going out of state to shop.

Hmmm. Why does that sound familiar?

Oh yeah:

Fletcher said there have been instances of doctors in Kentucky's border cities moving their practices into neighboring states for lower malpractice insurance rates.

Frauds.

A Very Unbalanced Sunday Challenger Opinion Page Today

Thankfully, reader CoolerKing caught what I overlooked:

The Sunday Challenger's opinion page this week is very unbalanced. They've got a guest column promoting intelligent design. (The column is titled "Intelligent Design vs. Evolution: Missing the Point." And it really does miss the point!) There's another guest column endorsing Fletcher's medical malpractice scheme. And there's a single letter to the editor, which also endorses Fletcher's scheme. Even the editorial comic is by a right-winger. (They ran comics by the great Pat Oliphant for the past couple weeks, but not this week.)

Are we supposed to believe they couldn't find any opinions to print this week that weren't fed to them by right-wingers?

I just read the op-eds on so-called intelligent design and medical malpractice reform and they are about as close to the disingenuous GOP talking points as you get. I hope more honest and thoughtful readers submit their own.

CoolerKing is right: today's Sunday Challenger was indeed very unbalanced and disappointing.

Finally, just thought it was worth mentioning that after the recent fiasco with the Kentucky Post, Managing Editor Mark Neikirk never bothered to reply to my e-mail asking why it took his paper four days to fully correct a mistake their reporter acknowledged making within a day of BluegrassReport.org raising it. No reply at all. Sad, isn't it?

Is He An Idiot Or A Liar?

In his State of the Commonwealth address, Governor Fletcher made the following remarks about the need to strip us of our constitutional rights:

Frivolous medical lawsuits drive costs up and drive doctors out of Kentucky. Rural areas have been especially hard-hit, with specialists like obstetricians no longer delivering babies and neurosurgeons moving out of state.

While the crisis inflicts hardship on Kentuckians and raises the cost of health care, court rulings interpreting our constitution have taken the question out of your hands.

Most Kentuckians would be shocked to learn that Kentucky's legislators are currently prohibited from even addressing the issue.

Yes, he really said "court rulings interpreting our constitution have taken the question out of your hands!"

Hey governor, read the constitution and law for once. even though we know you hate it when it gets in the way of your fanatical agenda. My guess is the last time you bothered to read a constitution was when you voted to impeach President Clinton for lying about having an affair.

As spelled out below, the Kentucky Constitution reads "The General Assembly shall have no power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries..." There is no interpretation issue here. You are being dishonest suggesting the courts have ANYTHING to do with this matter. The constitution is as clear as you are corrupt.

Stop blaming the courts and please stop lying to the public like this. It's offensive.

The Arrogance Of The Wing-Nuts And More Medical Malpractice Lies

We all know how fond conservatives are about citing the "original intent" of the framers of our constitution when there is a discussion about legislation or interpretation laws.

A quick history lesson: The founding fathers of the Commonwealth of Kentucky first drafted our constitution in 1792 and since then was revised by constitutional convention in 1799, again in 1849, and again in 1890-91. The present constitution is the one which was revised in 1891.

According to the Chapter 1 of the recently revised "A Citizen's Guide to the Kentucky Constitution" written by Legislative Research Commission staff:

The Constitutional Convention of 1890-91 was held in an unsettled time. There had been many changes in society since the last Constitution had been adopted in 1850. The Civil War had threatened the nation; corporations had become a new and powerful entity; the railroads had brought drastic changes in business; the General Assembly had frequently passed legislation applicable to only a particular area or situation; and the State Treasurer had absconded with virtually all the money in the State Treasury.

It was in this atmosphere that the delegates gathered in Frankfort on September 8, 1890, to revise Kentucky's Constitution. Their resolve to prevent past abuses resulted in a Constitution that is much longer and contains more specific restrictions than any of the previous Constitutions. It is not unique, however, in comparison with other state constitutions written or revised in that era. The distrust of the legislature and the desire to elect most officials are reflected in constitutions written in the late 1800s but not generally in constitutions written earlier and later.

That constitution enumerated its own Bill of Rights -- the DNA of the foundation of government -- and one which stands out right now, given the current debate, is Section 54 which reads:

The General Assembly shall have no power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to person or property.

The General Assembly shall have NO POWER. Don't need to spend too much time on this portion to understand the framers' original intent. But why were they so explicit about giving the legislature no power whatsoever to limit damages?

Well, on page 3793 of the Debates of the 1890-91 Constitutional Convention comes this clue:

The Legislature has, perhaps, in some cases, put a limit on the amount to be recovered for damages by railroad accidents to persons resulting in death or injury to person or property. This section forbids the General Assembly from putting any limit upon the amount of damages to be recovered, leaving it to the jury.

It seems that the framers were concerned that the legislature was putting limits on damages that could be awarded against the railroad companies for accidents. Keep in mind that during this time, the railroad industry was one the most powerful in the state and this piece of the Bill of Rights takes direct aim at preventing the legislature from taking care of this powerful entity by insulating them from civil actions.

Today, we have the insurance companies and health care industry applying the same pressure to corrupt Governor Fletcher and Senate President David Williams (R) and they continue to create a fictional crisis to scare the public into giving them authority to take away one of their intentionally crafted Bill of Rights.

While some might try to argue that they only want a narrowly crafted exception to deal with medical malpractice damages -- in essence, they only want to take away a piece of your civil rights -- comes the recently filed House Bill 214 introduced last week by Reps. Fischer (R) and Harmon (R) as a companion to Senate Bill 1 which seeks to take away our constitutional rights to address their phone medical malpractice crisis.

Just one problem, though. Check out the text of their bill:

It is proposed that Section 54 of the Constitution of Kentucky be amended to read as follows:

The General Assembly shall have [no] power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to person or property.

Did you catch that? Instead of continuing the fraud of this being needed simply to address their concocted health care crisis, this one is about as brazen as you get. They take out the 'NO' in the phrase the THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY HAS HAVE NO POWER. How arrogant.

In short, they want to ENTIRELY strip you of your constitution right. Period. No attempt to even mask as being part of some greater health care good -- even if a phony one. None. Just a naked political power grab by your corrupt legislators.

If the framers of our 1891 constitution did not trust the 19th century legislature to have this power, why in the world would we give the corrupt legislative leaders of the 21st century, like David Williams, this awesome power? How stupid are we?

More Fletcher And GOP Hypocrisy On Personal Injury Lawyers

For all the talk by Governor Fletcher and his Republican cronies about how plaintiffs' personal injury lawyers are damaging the business environment in Kentucky and forcing doctors to flee the state -- just take a look at the website of Hughes & Coleman -- the law firm of J. Marshall Hughes -- one of the top Republicans in the state and one of those indicted and pardoned by Fletcher for being part of the Merit System criminal conspiracy.

I guess Fletcher would rather just ignore the fact that his buddy J. Marshall practices the very law that he claims is destroying the Commonwealth. More fraud and hypocrisy...

Here's a little of what you'll find on Hughes' website:

Welcome to Hughes & Coleman
Kentucky and Tennessee Injury Lawyers

Helping Injured People! If you have been injured in Tennesee or Kentucky, we will work to get you full and fair compensation for your injuries. If your case goes to court, our experienced injury lawyers will protect all of your legal rights. A Tennessee or Kentucky injury lawyer at Hughes & Coleman will work hard to get a good settlement in every case.

Hughes & Coleman injury lawyers are committed to providing legal services to people injured in accidents in Kentucky and Tennessee. We have offices located in Bowling Green, Louisville, Lexington and Nashville. Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers help people in the following areas: auto accident, brain injury, dangerous drugs, defective product injury, environmental dangers, fire & burn injury, insurance disputes, motorcycle accident, nursing home abuse, premises liability, Social Security Disability, stock fraud, truck accident injury, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death.

Hughes & Coleman believe that injury lawyers have a special duty to obtain fast results for their clients. Clients who have suffered injuries often cannot work and cannot pay their doctor bills, and it is their injury lawyer's job to provide help immediately. We take great pride in helping our injured clients through these hard times. Our Kentucky and Tennessee injury lawyers and excellent staff will help you obtain the best possible results. If you have been injured in Kentucky or Tennessee because of someone else's negligence, Hughes & Coleman will work hard to recover a settlement for you. Contact a Bowling Green, Louisville, Lexington or Nashville injury lawyer today!

Settlements - Product Liability / Personal Safety
Representing the Injured in Kentucky and Tennessee
The following are examples of verdicts that have been awarded and settlements that have been negotiated. Each case is unique. Your results may vary dependent upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to the facts of your case and insurance coverage available in your case. Publication of these past settlements and verdicts is not intended to create an unrealistic or unjustified expectation of the results a lawyer in this firm can achieve. Past performance is no indication of future success.

$275,000 for Crushed ankle and knee surgery
more details

$100,000 for Loss of both arms
more details

$75,000 for Nerve damage to arm caused by stray gun shot
more details

$57,500 for Broken ankle
more details

My Letter To Northern Kentucky Right To Life On How Medical Malpractice Limitations Will Help The State's Abortion Providers

The following letter was sent this morning to Bob Cetrulo, President of Northern Kentucky Right to Life. A similar letter is being sent to Margie Montgomery, Executive Director, Kentucky Right to Life.

While the first portion of the letter below deals with Rep. Geoff Davis' (R) violation of his pledge never to support pro-choice candidates, it is the second part of this letter that should have wide repercussions on the medical malpractice issue now before us.

These legislators can't be on both sides of the fence on this issue and BluegrassReport.org intends to immediately target both Republicans and Democrats in their local districts for this blatant political showmanship. It's time to make them pay a price for their pandering.

First goal is to target legislators up for re-election this year in competitive races such as Senator Alice Forgy Kerr (R) and Rep. Susan Westrom (D).  Let's make them explain why they want to protect the abortion doctors who commit medical malpractice, causing a patient to be sterilized for a lifetime or suffer serious injury for a botched abortion, and then limit their recovery for such non-economic damages...

This is one of those few times when progressives and anti-abortion advocates are on the same side of an issue. So, let's unite on this and kill the attempt by Governor Fletcher and Senate President David Williams for trying to take away our constitutional rights and let candidates know that we're not going to take it any longer. Please start writing letters to the editors in your local newspapers on this hypocrisy and contact your legislators immediately.

It's time to fight fire with fire...

January 10, 2006

Robert C. Cetrulo
President, Northern Kentucky Right to Life
P.O. Box 1202
Covington, KY 41012

Dear Mr. Cetrulo:

I am writing to you regarding two very important matters.

First, the political website BluegrassReport.org has recently discovered that U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) has breached his pledge to your organization not to support candidates for office who support legalized abortion, as evidenced by his affirmative promise on item 10 to your 2004 candidate questionnaire which states:

Will you refuse to support in any manner a candidate for any public office, who publicly states acceptance of the current status of legalized abortion, or who fails to disclose his position on the issue of abortion, or who has, as a public official, a record of support for abortion or of failing to oppose it, or who supports any of the above anti-life activities?

Consequently, Northern Kentucky Right to Life endorsed Mr. Davis in his 2004 congressional bid where he defeated Democrat Nick Clooney.

Specifically, on June 24, 2005, Congressman Davis gave the maximum contribution of $1,000 to United States Representatives Charles Dent (R-PA) and John Schwarz (R-MI), despite numerous media stories published during their 2004 congressional races that they supported abortion rights.

In a story about the campaigns, it was written:

However, two pro-choice Republicans won open seats in the House. In Michigan's 7th district, John "Joe" Schwarz beat out four other candidates with 59 percent of the vote. The physician and former state senator is pro-choice, but has voted for laws that claim to ban "partial birth abortion."

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania's 15th district, Charles W. Dent also won with 59 percent of the vote against three other candidates. The former state legislator advocates for a woman's right to legal abortion, but has also supported statutes requiring parental notification for minors seeking an abortion.

The other very important matter that I am writing to you concerns the attempts by Governor Fletcher, Congressman Davis and many of their pro-life colleagues here in Kentucky to seek a limitation on the amount of damages a person can recover in court for medical negligence which will directly limit the ability of injured patients to seek recovery for malpractice caused by botched abortions and the serious complications due to the prescribing of certain birth control pills and devices (what you deem ‘abortifacients’).

As you know, negligence by doctors and hospitals relating to botched abortions often lead to infertility, infection, hemorrhaging, perforation of the uterus, cervical damage, post-traumatic stress, miscarriage, wrongful birth or death, and endotoxic shock. Moreover, the misprescribing of certain forms birth control have shown to cause serious blood clotting and even death, and in some of your own group’s literature you have asserted that the high levels of estrogens in birth control contraceptives are ‘known carcinogens’ and cause breast cancer in women.

Right now, there are serious efforts underway both in Washington, D.C. and in Frankfort to limit the non-economic and punitive damages that an injured woman may receive from her gynecologist. Governor Fletcher raised this very issue in last night’s State of the Commonwealth address. Such a limitation on non-economic damages would include items like the life-long sterility a botched abortion could render a young woman, not to mention the grievous stress and pain she would experience. Also, efforts to limit the amount of recovery that a pregnant woman could obtain for the negligent miscarriage of her baby would place the monetary value of the life of that miscarried baby to no more than $250,000 – less than the annual salary of her treating OB-GYN .

Sadly, Governor Fletcher and Senate President David Williams on a state level, and the Republican delegation on a federal level, are seeking to do just that. In fact, one of their oft stated reasons for limiting the damages that an abortion provider would have to pay is to stop the number of OB-GYNs that are leaving the practice.

Human Life International – one of the organizations that your organization supports with links to them on your website – has documented 1,470 cases of medical-related injuries caused during the performance of an abortion. Of those, 512 cases were categorized as “gross malpractice,” 107 cases of “gross incompetence” and 143 cases as “fatal botched abortions.”

In fact, in 2001, according to a Washington Times story, a California jury ordered a Planned Parenthood clinic to pay $672,610 in damages to a woman who received a botched abortion of her twins. Of that amount, $650,000 were awarded for “mental anguish” and as a result of the damages caps in California, the court immediately reduced that amount by $400,000 to meet the strict $250,000 limit on non-economic damages. Kentucky now seeks the very same amendment to its constitution.

During the 2003 debate in Texas over its medical malpractice reform, abortion-rights opponents organized against a bill that would cap awards in medical malpractice lawsuits because they believed “the measure could lead to more abortions in the state because OB/GYNs who currently do not offer the procedure for liability reasons might ‘consider the procedure profitable’ if damages awarded in malpractice suits were limited.”

Indeed, the argument put forth by Texas pro-life proponents was simply that by removing the deterrent effect of doctors performing these procedures, the state would actually create a much more hospitable environment for them to take even more such clients since any damage award against them would be capped.

Finally, the measure here in Kentucky which continues to lead these efforts is Senate Bill 1 (House Bill 146 was introduced last year as its companion legislation) and there are no exceptions in the legislation for injuries caused by botched abortions, misprescribing of birth-control pills, and the various other gynecological issues I have laid out above. Among the nine sponsors of last year’s Senate’s legislation were Northern Kentucky Senators Roeding, Stine, Thayer, Tori and Westwood. The House version was sponsored by Northern Kentucky Rep. Jon Draud. On a federal level, Congressman Davis has been very vocal of the need to protect these doctors from lawsuits and he has never limited the need of doing so to those with a gynecological medical practice. In fact, he too decries the number of OB-GYNs that he claims (but is unsupported by statistics) are no longer practicing due to the fear of lawsuits and rising medical malpractice costs.

Republican leaders like Governor Fletcher, Congressman Davis, Senator Williams who claim to share your pro-life beliefs are willing to part ways on them to support their big money campaign patrons like the insurance companies, pharmaceutical industry, and the protection of the very high salaries and profits of OB-GYNs, over the damages caused by the doctors I have described above.

Mr. Cetrulo, I recognize that we do not share similar viewpoints on many political issues facing the Commonwealth, but on this matter I firmly stand with you on concerns regarding the effects of botched abortion procedures and injuries caused by women relating to improper contraceptive prescriptions and other gynecological issues.

I challenge your group to take aggressive action to stop this anti-family, anti-woman effort before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Mark Nickolas
Chairman, The Foundation for Kentucky’s Future, Inc.
Publisher, BluegrassReport.org

General Assembly Tid Bits

Bill Bartleman's column in Sunday's Paducah Sun took on the many issues facing the legislature during the General Assembly which began yesterday and several of the comments by legislators struck me.

Some honesty about the perceived budget surplus:

“The state’s financial condition is better than it has been and they estimate we’ll have a surplus of about $200 million,” said Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah. “But that’s from a budget that is structurally out of balance by more than $200 million. We’ll need the surplus just to keep programs at their current level.”

The acknowledgment by a Republican legislator that union-busting, right-to-work, legislation will either not pass or force a session without a budget:

Rep. Steve Rudy, R-Kevil, said there are rumors that Senate Republicans might try to add a right-to-work law to the budget. Such a law would allow workers to opt out of union membership even if the company recognizes
a bargaining unit.

Rudy doesn’t think there’s much support for a right-to-work bill in the House, which is why the Senate may use the tactic of adding it to the budget. “If the Senate puts it in the budget, then we’ll end the session without a budget,” Rudy predicted.

And then yet another Democratic legislator who appears to have bought the Republicans' manufactured medical malpractice crisis and appears open to working to restrict our constitutional rights. BluegrassReport.org will shortly begin publicly highlighting those Democrats who are siding with the insurance industry and Republican leadership in hopes of taking away our constitutional rights.

Let me promise that this site intends to aggressively and publicly expose any member of the state House or Senate -- of either party -- who conspires to meddle with those constitutional rights:

A tort reform bill has a chance of passing as long as supporters of the limits are willing to compromise on previous proposals to limit rewards to about $100,000, said Rep. Fred Nesler, D-Mayfield.

He said compromise is needed between medical groups and trial lawyers. “I’m not sure what the middle ground is, but there’s a good chance something will pass this session.”

Fred, there is no middle ground. This crisis is manufactured. As I said last week, there are not two sides to a fact.

Shall We Shoot Down More Medical Malpractice Lies? How About The Op-Ed In Today's Courier-Journal?

Apparently feeling desperate by their failure to demonstrate by use of facts that there is a medical malpractice crisis in Kentucky -- as has been evidenced here at BluegrassReport.org as we've shot down EVERY SINGLE CLAIMS MADE, comes today's newest attempt to move the goal post -- our anti-constitutional friends have moved the goal posts yet again (it seems like a daily occurrence).

In today's Courier-Journal, Daniel W. Varga, President of the Kentucky Medical Association, tries another failed Hail Mary pass with his op-ed. (While not disclosed in his op-ed, Varga is also the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for behemoth Norton Healthcare and gave $2,000 to Fletcher for Governor in 2003)

After a torturous and disingenuous attempt to redefine this 'crisis' as a drop in "the number of Kentucky physicians delivering babies" from 505 in 2004 to 426 in 2005 according to his own industry statistics that are not sited nor appear to be available on-line anywhere (I spent 30 minutes looking for them) -- he then concludes that limiting our constitutional rights to the courts is the proper prescription.

Then he goes on to spin another red herring:

Sixty-two percent of physicians who completed residencies in Kentucky in 2004 left to practice elsewhere.

So what? How does that prove anything? How is that even connected to their false and manufactured medical malpractice crisis? No reference to whether that trend is up or down. No reference to how that compares to other states. Nothing.

Finally, he concludes with a fully unsupported conclusion:

The negative medical climate in Kentucky is certainly multifactorial, but our professional liability climate remains a major culprit. In January, legislators will convene in Frankfort for the 2006 Kentucky General Assembly. Once again, they will consider a constitutional amendment to reform our tort system. It is a vital first step to addressing a major deterrent to our longstanding physician workforce problems.

Nevertheless, those damned facts from Governor Fletcher's own Board of Medical Licensure might shine a little more light on this self-serving op-ed.

You see, they have this breakdown of "medical attended attended" for "physicians with practice addresses in KY." And guess what? Yep, the number of practicing physicians in the state who attended Kentucky medical schools has actually INCREASED 5.5% since 2000, and an incredible 10% in just the past year!

Here's the breakdown:

2005 -- 3,829
2004 -- 3,483
2003 -- 3,452
2002 -- 3,517
2001 -- 3,657
2000 -- 3,631

But maybe my all-time favorite case of lying to us about this issue came from Fletcher's own press secretary last year when they tried to spin a Bowling Green Daily News reporter about the faux crisis and were busted and had to admit who was feeding them facts:

As to the rates in Kentucky, Earl Thompson of the Office of Insurance said his agency has not gathered or prepared any kind of report on the rate of increase in malpractice insurance in this state.

Lausche said the governor’s office was relying on figures from doctors’ advocacy groups, rather than from the Office of Insurance.

Finally, remember all the heat you guys put on the Kentucky Post over the past few days and forced them to change their story on this subject? Well, why don't you give Kentucky Medical Association President Daniel W. Varga a similar piece of your mind. He can be reached at:

Daniel Varga, MD, Chief Medical Officer 502-629-3905 (Norton Healthcare) Main Number 502-629-8000

or at:

Kentucky Medical Association
4965 US Highway 42 Suite 2000
Louisville, KY 40222-6301
Phone 502.426.6200 Fax 502.426.6877

And if you can't reach him, you might consider sending an e-mail to: MARSHALL E. WHITE, III, Director, Public & Governmental Relations white@kyma.org

Don't let them keep lying to you!

EVEN MORE PHONY Medical Malpractice Lies

One of the things that corrupt and dishonest Governor Fletcher likes to spread about the phony medical malpractice crisis these days is that the high costs of coverage here in Kentucky has caused doctors to flee to neighboring states.

Well, a look at some of the newspaper articles in our neighboring states shows them making the same argument and quite interestingly is that one of the destinations for fleeing doctors of other states is...Kentucky. In a lengthy piece in the conservative National Review a few years ago about the out-of-control medical malpractice crisis in West Virginia was a segment on general surgeon Jane Kurucz who had a real problem with lawsuits jacking-up her insurance rates.

Then she found salvation -- moving to Kentucky:

She has options, however, the best of which is to move 20 miles to the west into Kentucky. There, she could double her salary; would pay about a third of the West Virginia rate for insurance; and would be free of that 2 percent provider tax. To top it off, many of her patients would be able to follow her.

And just this past week, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal investigated claims by doctors' groups "that large numbers of doctors fled the state in search of lower malpractice-insurance costs" and found them to be completely false:

Data from the State Medical Board of Ohio don't support the notion that a large number of doctors fled the state in search of lower malpractice-insurance costs. In fact, for the fifth year in a row, the number of licensed doctors