**Cases - Reported
--Medical provider's failure to pursue an administrative remedy barred a subsequent common law action for indemnification. A "hold harmless" stipulation contained in a Section 20 disposition requires the respondentto reimburse the petitioner's attorney for defense costs resulting from asubsequent suit seeking reimbursement of medical expenses.
University of Massachusetts v. Christodoulou, et al., A-1682-02T3 (Decided
4.16.03)
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/courts/appellate/a1682-02.opn.html
--Contractor-lessor's status as a "statutory employee" of a motor carrier did not bar an injured employee, under workers' compensation statute, from suing contractor-lessor.
Harris v. Mitchell, et al. ,818 A.2d 443 (NJ App. Div. 2003)
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/courts/appellate/a0232-01.opn.html
**Work stress linked to cancer death
An Australian judge has accepted that a prison officer's job stress contributed to the cancer that killed him. Patricia Simpson brought the claim after her husband, an officer at Adelaide's maximum security Yatala Labour Prison for 21 years, died of colorectal cancer in 1998. Judge Peter McCusker, the deputy president of the South Australian Workers
Compensation Tribunal, heard that Mr Simpson was distressed by riots,hostage situations and deaths in custody. He had also taken badly his loss of status in a restructure of positions in 1991, and had gone on stress leave two months before he died. In evidence, Royal Adelaide Hospital surgeon Brendon Coventry cited several studies that found 'recent life changes, and their perceptions, may have significance in the development of large bowel cancer.' In his ruling, Mr McCusker said 'on the balance of probabilities, employment contributed to the cancer that caused his death.'
The ruling means Mrs Simpson will also be eligible for workers’compensation payments.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/28/1048653855306.html
**International Workers Memorial Day 2003, 28 April
More unions have published their plans for Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April 2003. Print union GPMU says: 'At branch level we want to see all branches use Workers’ Memorial Day as the impetus for practical action on the organisation and effectiveness of safety reps.' The campaign materials prepared by general union TGWU are on the theme 'Corporate killing - it's about time it was a crime.' The union adds: 'A hard day’s work never killed anybody. Negligent bosses did.'
http://www.tgwu.org.uk/events/KorpKill/CorpKillPoster.pdf
**Legion Indemnity Ordered Into Liquidation
CHICAGO -- An Illinois state court on April 9 ordered Legion Indemnity Co. into liquidation upon a motion by Illinois Insurance Director Nathaniel Shapo (Nathaniel Shapo v. Legion Indemnity Co., No. 02CH06695, Ill. Cir., Cook Co.).
http://www.mealeys.com/stories_ins.html#3
**SSA Setoff
Amended workers’ compensation order fails to establish a basis for life expediency weekly prorating to avoid or reduce SSA/DIB offset.
Thomas F. Sanfilippo V. Joanne B. Barnhart 2003WL1848757 (3rd Cir,(Pa)).April 10, 2003.
See also: Social Security Seeks To End The Workers' Compensation Subsidy
http://www.gelmans.com/FrontEnd/ReadingRoom/vwArticle.asp?ArticleId=92&Pra
cticeAreaId=-1
**Seminar on Medicare Secondary Payer Claims and Workers' Compensation -
American Inns of Court
Thursday, 4/24/2003 at 1:30pm Hackensack, NJ R.S.V.P. 201.996.8930
Ken Wind reports on the recent ABA Subcommittee meeting 4/10/03 in Washington DC
Quote of the day: "I believe the new regulations are excessively and unnecessarily complex and often more attuned to making sure that business and government agencies get access to medical records than to the protection of patients' privacy." George J, Anna, J.D., M.P.H. "HIPAA Regulations---A New Era of Medical-Record Privacy/ " ,N Engl J Med 348:12 (4.10.2003).
-Related:
The new privacy regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) become effective April 14, 2003. This article outlines the implications of the new policy for practicing physicians. The regulations will affect virtually every physician, because they apply to any health care provider who conducts any business electronically, including billing. The regulations require health care providers to provide patients with a privacy notice that informs them who will have access to their records without their explicit consent and about patients' rights to inspect and amend their own records.
http://content.nejm.org/