2009 April Archive

The University Of Florida School Of Veterinary Medicine says it’s likely that too much selenium in a compound given to 21 polo horses is what killed them. The 21 polo horses were getting ready to compete in a Florida match on April 19, according to an article.

They all had received an injection only described as a compound consisting of vitamin B12, along with a form of selenium and vitamins and minerals. A similar drug is Biodyl, a French-made compound not approved in the U.S. The horses not injected did not die.

The 21 horses were preparing for a championship match and were flown in from Venezuela. Shortly after being given the unnamed drug, they began crumpling to the ground to the shock of the well-heeled crowd at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington.

We now know that Franck’s Pharmacy in Ocala prepared the compound. It is a retail compounding pharmacy used by veterinarians and physicians considered one of the biggest and best in the country to create customized formulas.

Franck’s admitted it made an error in the mixture.

Every year in the U.S. there are about 30 million dispensing errors out of three billion prescriptions, according to the National Patient Safety Foundation. Some errors are minor, but others can be serious.
A 2006 Institute of Medicine report called, “Prevention Medication Errors,” points out that these sorts of human errors in medical settings harm at least 1.5 million every year, while more than half of medication errors result in “adverse outcomes” such as death or serious illness.

Prescription errors can be considered negligence or medical malpractice in Florida. Whether dispensing the wrong medication or in the wrong dosage, highly paid professionals should be expected to meet professional standards and show a level of caring.

If you or a loved one has suffered as the result of a prescription error, you may have a claim for medical negligence against the pharmacist, pharmacy, or drug maker. Our skilled Jacksonville pharmaceutical litigation lawyers at Farah and Farah are experienced in investigating claims of medication mistakes resulting in serious injury and wrongful death. Call us today for a case evaluation.

This is a good news/ bad news story. The good news is there is plenty of opportunity for first time home buyers to take advantage of the depressed home prices brought about by desperate owners and foreclosures in the marketplace.

The bad news is that Florida is fourth in the nation in the number of homes entering foreclosure, according to a Jacksonville Business Journal article.

And Jacksonville has the dubious distinction of exceeding state and federal rates for foreclosures. In fact, rates here have hit a five-year high. In March, foreclosure related notices were sent out to 2,721 homes in Jacksonville – a 29 percent increase from February.

Duval County, the home of Jacksonville metro, saw foreclosure proceedings jump 42 percent in one year.

Contributing to the foreclosure rate is the fact that Jacksonville has about 16.1 percent of subprime loans. The numbers were provided to Reuters by First American LoanPerformance, an analytics unit.
Florida leads the nation along with California, Arizona, Nevada, and Illinois. Three million U.S. homes may receive a foreclosure notice before this year is up. As it now stands, one in every 159 U.S. homes with mortgages is being foreclosed, according to RealtyTrac.

Besides the bad economic times, major lenders are now calling in loans after giving borrowers a brief respite waiting to see what President Obama had in mind to address the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

Owner -occupied homes will be the only ones that may see some relief, while owners of rental homes and real estate speculators are not going to see any relief in the attitude of lenders.

Payday Loans have astronomically high interest rates, some as high as 400 percent, that take advantage of people in desperate need of cash. If you pay quickly, you are off the hook for a little, but if you don’t, a $300 loan can end up costing you about $800.

If you see them you should run the other way. But the truth is in these hard times, Payday loans are not going anywhere soon.

In Washington, the House is addressing the Payday Loan Reform Act, H.R. 1214. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the bill. He chairs the Consumer Credit Subcommittee. But according to a report, The Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington D.C. consumer group, does not agree with the bill because it doesn’t address the high cost of the short-term credit and the requirement that it must be paid back with a single paycheck.

HR 1214 does nothing to stop the 391 percent annual interest rate of a typical loan and does nothing to stop borrowers from being strapped in the high-cost debt. Lenders keep finding ways around the restrictions that do exist in some states. In Virginia for example, the lenders have open-ended loans, and in Illinois and New Mexico lenders avoided the laws in their states by changing their product to high-cost installment loans. Florida has tried payment plans but that has not slowed down the number of trapped borrowers.

The Center advocates a federal law that eliminates payday loan flipping and a cap on the rate of annual interest.

By contrast, the Center likes S. 500 introduced by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and California Rep. Jackie Speier (H.R. 1608) that put a 36 percent annual interest cap on consumer loans. Putting a cap on the double or triple-digit annual interest rate is the only way to stop abusive payday loan flipping. Already military families are protected by the cap that Congress applied in 2006.

15 states plus the District of Columbia have stopped the consumer abuse by imposing a cap in the 36 percent range.

The Payday industry doesn’t like legislation restricting what they do. From a practical view, pawn shops say if Senate Bill 500 passes, they will have to close their doors. The shop owners say that the average pawn loan is just $80, so the high interest is needed just to stay in business.

As experienced personal injury attorneys in Florida who help people in difficult situations everyday, it is tempting to say all Payday activities should be shut down; however, the reality is that people need to get their hands on short-term money. Capping the interest rate and eliminating Payday loan flipping seems to be a reasonable first step to stop lenders from preying on someone’s misfortune.

If there was ever an excuse to drive fast, I can’t think of a better one than driving your wife to the hospital who is in labor. That’s exactly what Kyle Nordman was doing when an officer pulled him over to get his wife, Rachel to the hospital fast. According to a report, she was only 20 weeks into her pregnancy and the doctors told them to get to the emergency room as fast as they could.

A Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer didn’t share the doctors’ concern. Nordman was heading south on Kernan Boulevard, and when the officer approached Nordman who told him what was happening. “At that point he walked back to the car” Nordman says.

Kernan speed limit is 30 mph. Nordman was going 39 mph.

While we should never break the speeding laws in our state for our safety, our passengers, and other drivers on the road, there are such things as emergencies and this surely qualifies. If Nordman’s speeding had caused a car accident in Florida, then that would be another story.

Instead of escorting the couple to the hospital, Nordman says the JSO officer took his time to write the ticket, minutes they just didn’t have. Apparently, the JSO officer apparently missed a chapter in the code book regarding emergencies and pregnant women.

“I would’ve been OK if he gave me the citation at the hospital. I just wanted to get my wife to the hospital quicker,” he says. The officer didn’t even ask why they were going to the hospital.

“I pretty much felt almost like I was being held hostage. There was nothing I could do to help my wife or child” he says.

Nordman is considering filing a complaint against JSO, and who would blame him. Instead of a black eye and some bad publicity, JSO missed an opportunity for law enforcement to show the public they really are on our side. Let’s hope this situation generates some behind-the-scenes discussion of the discretion officers can show the public in extreme emergencies like this case.

If you have reason to believe that you or a family member has suffered injury due to another person’s negligence, you may have a case. Contact the experienced Jacksonville personal injury attorneys at Farah and Farah today for an evaluation or to have any of your questions answered.