Reading Room

A new set of drugs has been reported responsive in treating mesothelioma, a tumor caused by exposure to asbestos fiber. The British Journal of Cancer has reported that cisplatin and vinorelbine effective in the treatment of mesothelioma.

Almost 45 years following the historic 1964 NY Academy of Medicine conference in New York experts continue to memorialize the history of asbestos related disease. Now enters, defense expert John E. Craighead, who has written his viewpoint on the subject.
 

Hot Topics in Workers’ Compensation Law 2008
New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education

The NJ Supreme Court reversed a ruling of the Appellate Division and declared the Legislature’s 2004 amendment to the workers’ compensation act not to have retroactive application.

The NJ legislature is bogged down in controversy over what direction to take in order to respond to the State’s injured workers.

 Effective July 1, 2008 the Centers for Medicare and Medicad (CMS) will exclusively use the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Table 1 (Life Table for Total Population) when determining life expectancy in Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSA) proposals.

 Navigating the Medicare recovery system just became a whole lot easier with the deployment of the new website launched by the new national MSP Recovery Contractor (MSPRC).

Medical benefits continue to soar in the workers compensation arena. They constitute the largest and most significant factor in the payment of workers' compensation claims. At a recent meeting of NCCI Holdings Inc. it was announced that data reflects a huge increase in the medical component.

An amendment has been proposed, which has received bipartisan support, to stop the raiing of the second injury trust funds and their diversion to the general treasury. Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney has proposed a constitutional amendment [SCR-60] requiring contributions collected from assessments on wages to be used for employee benefits and prohibiting use of the contributions for any other purpose.

On the eve the NJ Senate's investigation into New Jersey's workers' compensation system, the question lingers on how to evaluate its health. New Jersey has always had a very large and very dedicated workforce A recent newspaper series by Star-Ledger reporters Dunstan McNichol and John P. Martin revealed that the system is serious flawed and that it is in need of a "complete overhaul."