As an attorney who has represented hundreds of victims of food borne pathogens, I always take note of outbreaks. Recent news reports about an outbreak at Central State Hospital in Pineville, Louisiana was especially interesting to me from both a professional and personal standpoint. My great-grandfather was the first administrator of Central State Hospital in Pineville, Louisiana. So I read with great interest and sadness this weekend’s news about three deaths, and dozens of sicknesses, possibly caused by food borne pathogens over the weekend there. News reports of the outbreak state that state health officials are investigating the cause of the outbreak.

Those state health investigators have many tools at their disposal to determine the cause of the sicknesses and I hope that every weapon at their disposal to find the culprit at Central is used. One of the weapons that health officials can use is Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) technology. PFGE allows scientists to perform DNA “finger printing” of a particular strain of disease-causing bacteria isolated from patients and from suspected food.

When common PFGE patterns are detected, health authorities are able to begin narrowing in on common foods consumed to detect an outbreak.Sometimes the same PFGE is found at the plant, warehouse, manufacturing, slaughterhouse or facility.

I would suspect that we will hear a lot more from state health officials in the next several days about these genetic fingerprinting and other results of their investigations. When and if a common PFGE pattern is found, health officials will start to narrow in on the food-borne pathogen that caused these sicknesses and deaths.

Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), introduced legislation that would dramatically raise the amount of money that oil companies like British Petroleum would have to pay in economic damages in an event of a spill. The appropriately-titled “Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act” would raise the economic damages liability cap for offshore oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion.

Why would that be needed? Because BP would face limited responsibility for covering costs beyond cleanup and containment. Under provisions of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund – a rainy day piggy bank for handling the immediate costs of dealing with disasters- operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for non-cleanup and containment damages. The actual damages to Gulf Coast industries will easily soar well beyond that total. The Oil Spill Trust Fund Act was passed in response to the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, and although well-intentioned, unfortunately included liability limits that are woefully inadequate.

In addition to forcing oil-spillers to cover the costs of economic recovery, the legislation would require companies like BP to spend future revenues on cleanup and containment costs that exceed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund’s $1.6 billion. It would also eliminate the $1 billion cap on individual claims against the fund and allow community responders to access the fund for “preparation and mitigation up front.” All of which is desperately needed by the many victims of BP’s ever-growing Gulf oil slick.

The majestic beauty and abundant seafood of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana is changing as a result of the Transocean, Deepwater Horizon rig explosion with the seemingly unending spewing of crude in the Gulf water. It is almost inconceivable that today’s technology cannot seal the drill hole in an emergency to prevent the catastrophe of crude freely flowing like a volcano from the sea floor.

News reports say the oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn’t have a remote-control shut-off switch, which is required in other major oil-producing nations as a last-resort protection against underwater spills. U.S. regulators don’t mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig didn’t have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated. Nevertheless, regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them.

On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a “dead man” switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig. As a third line of defense, some rigs have the “acoustic trigger.” It’s a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.

If we have learned anything from this disaster, it is that Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida must pass laws along with Federal legislation to provide a true fail safe backup mechanism to shut oil wells to prevent the uncontrolled gushing of crude in our Gulf of Mexico water.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled thousands of Simplicity and Graco cribs warning that babies could suffocate or strangle in them. A CPSC spokesman said the recalled cribs “have killed far too many babies and need to be kept out of homes and daycare centers”. The new Simplicity recall was linked to at least one death. Over 200,000 Graco dropside cribs made by LaJobi are also being recalled after receiving nearly one hundred complaints.

Hardware failures in both types of cribs led to the recall. The dropside of the Graco-branded wood cribs that moves up and down can break or detach, creating a dangerous gap between the crib mattress and dropped side. A baby can become trapped and suffocate or strangle. A retrofit kit will be available to consumers to prevent the dropside from moving, making all four sides of the crib stationary.

The Simplicity recall is for all of the full-sized cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames which can bend or detach causing the mattress to collapse and creating a space that a baby can become trapped in and suffocate.

Simplicity has been the subject of almost a dozen recalls since 2005 and its cribs and bassinets have been linked to 13 deaths. The CPSC had previously recalled all Simplicity dropside cribs. With the latest recall, nearly all Simplicity cribs have now been recalled. Simplicity and its successor company, SFCA Inc., are no longer in business.

B P announced that it has capped one the three leaks from the oil spill that occurred 15 days ago when the oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank. It will not reduce the amount of oil that is flowing into the Gulf of Mexico but will help in the placing of a four story 89 ton containment dome. B P is hoping to have the dome in place by this weekend to capture the oil leaking from 5000 feet below the surface and funnel it to a rig at the surface.

In a closed door proceeding on Tuesday a senior B P executive conceded that the ruptured well could conceivably spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day, more than 10 times the present estimate of the flow.

Controlling the oil flow is time critical and any reduction of flow into Gulf is a plus at this stage. Favorable tides and winds have thus far kept the oil from hitting the coast and as of today the oil has only reached some of the barrier islands. Sadly, it is only a matter of time before the onslaught of oil will make its way onshore wrecking havoc on the marine life and the fishermen who make their living from the sea. The lifestyle of the whole Gulf region could change dramatically if the flow of is not stopped soon. Property owners from Louisiana to Florida are already experiencing cancellation for the upcoming tourist season. This in the wake of the Gulf region recent rebound from hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been disheartening. Any reports of progress are welcome news and we can only hope that they will be successful.

The FDA announced new stricter regulation of infusion pumps in order to address malfunctions which have resulted in patient deaths. The agency has received reports of 710 deaths linked to problems with the medical devices over the last five years, as well as over 10,000 complaints annually. Infusion pumps intravenously deliver drugs automatically to patients. Now pump manufacturers will be required to conduct actual clinical trials on their products to provide more data about the safety of those devices before they can be approved for sale.

There are an estimated two million infusion pumps currently being used in hospitals and clinics across the country. The Obama administration has stepped up its efforts to reinvigorate the FDA after years of criticism that the agency was a rubber stamp for the medical device industry. The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health oversees numerous critical medical device products including heart implants, imaging equipment and the infusion pumps which have all come under particular scrutiny. The Center’s director said last week that the FDA had concluded the pumps could be made far safer. He also indicated the new, more vigorous approach pre-approval might be extended to other types of medical devices as well. The FDA says it intends to ratchet up the expectations for medical device manufacturers noting there have been 79 recalls involving infusion pumps alone in the past five years. That’s certainly good news to the innocent victims of defective medical devices they have entrusted their health to.

Under current FDA rules, life-sustaining medical devices like heart defibrillators must typically undergo clinical trials before they are approved for sale. Until now, the FDA has cleared other critical devices like the infusion pumps without clinical testing based solely on the manufacturer’s claim that the new device is “similar to a product that is already approved and on the market”. That will no longer be the case.

This FDA action is welcome, if not somewhat late, news for the safety of the general public who use these medical products.

If it’s not bad enough that the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon oil rig of the coast of Louisiana may end up causing the worst ecological disaster in U.S. history, but now BP tries to pull a quick one on the very Louisiana fisherman they have already put out of work. Publicly BP has claimed to take “full responsibility” for the oil slick fouling the Gulf of Mexico but their actions speak volumes about their real intentions. BP included in the fine print of contracts it offered fishermen to help clean up the massive spill a waiver of their rights to sue BP for damages resulting from the spill!

On Sunday a Louisiana court insisted BP remove the offending language for any contracts it was offering in Louisiana and today a federal court struck the language from all contracts related to the spill. BP should be publicly called out for this underhanded attempt to limit their liability and further damage Louisiana fishermen already facing catastrophic economic losses. If BP’s offer of a onetime $5000 payment was so great, why did they try to hide the waiver language in the fine print?

Thanks, BP, but no thanks. Louisiana victims of your negligence intend to collect their full compensation for their losses. Let’s hope the federal government stands by its pledge to make BP pay for all of the damage it has caused. And while they are at it, Congress should eliminate the limits on liability that were passed in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has declared a regional emergency in the southern region in response to the BP & Transocean Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. In a letter on FMCSA’s website, Darrell L. Ruban, field administrator, grants an hours of service waiver for motor carriers and drivers who are transporting the necessary equipment, materials and supplies to the region. The oil slick continuing to expand at an alarming level is now threatening the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The exemption is necessary for fast delivery of the essential equipment and supplies, including specialized oil well equipment to seal the ruptured well head, and booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants, flammable liquids and other oil containment equipment, Ruban said.

“Motor carriers and drivers transporting (i) specialized equipment to seal the ruptured well head and to effect other immediate and necessary repairs of the oil well and/or adjacent pipelines, (ii) booms, skimmers, chemical dispersants, flammable liquids and other oil containment equipment, or (iii) other equipment, supplies and materials used to provide direct assistance for emergency relief efforts related to the above oil spill are exempt from 49 CFR Parts 390-399 from 2:00 p.m. EDT, April 30, 2010, until 11:59 p.m. EDT, May 14, 2010,” the declaration said.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri signed prompt-pay legislation into law that gives insurers 45 days to pay insurance claims and prevents them from suspending claims that they have neither approved nor denied. The new legislation imposes new financial penalties of 1 % of the claim per day on insurance companies that wait too long to pay claims. This issue had been debated in the Missouri legislature previously without success but after a published report showing there were more than $500 million in outstanding claims at 69 Missouri hospitals, recalcitrant Republicans joined in support of what Nixon described as “good, solid reform”.

The report by the Missouri Department of Insurance indicated that as many as 70% of claims remained unpaid after 90 days in many parts of the state, with rural areas facing the most significant delays. Rep. Tim Jones (D) who sponsored the prompt pay legislation, praised the health care providers and his Republican colleagues who joined him in working together on the bill.

Anyone who has experienced the frustration of having endless delays and excuses by insurance companies in failing to pay legitimate claims timely should be cheered by this result in Missouri and support similar legislation in their own state. For too long insurers have held the American public hostage with red tape, bureaucratic unintelligible policy language and endless delays in payment all the while raking in millions of dollars in profits. Kudos to Gov. Nixon and the Missouri legislature for their courage and leadership on this issue!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it was closing commercial and recreational fishing for at least 10 days in affected waters between Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi River to Florida’s Pensacola Bay due to the ecological impact of the BP Oil Spill. The suspended fishing is across a wide swath of Gulf of Mexico waters as a spreading oil slick spewing from the sunken Deepwater Horizon is creating the biggest USA environmental catastrophe. President Barack Obama visited Louisiana for a first-hand look at what is fast turning into the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. His administration heaped pressure on London-based BP Plc, the well owner, to halt the out-of- control flow.

More than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas, from the mouth of the Mississippi to Florida’s Pensacola Bay, were closed for at least 10 days, beginning Sunday, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Administrator Jane Lubchenco said government scientists were taking samples from the waters near the spill to determine whether there was any danger.

This area accounts for the bulk of U.S. production of oysters and shrimp and the Gulf supports a $2 billion seafood industry that is second only to Alaska. “There are finfish, crabs, oysters and shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico near the area of the oil spill,” Roy Crabtree, NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Administrator, said in a statement. “The Gulf is such an important biologic and economic area in terms of seafood production and recreational fishing.” NOAA forecasts showed the spill heading toward the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts.