Politics, not Lawsuits, Tap Out Wisconsin Medical Malpractice Fund

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Posted on 31st March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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In a classic example of how the news media gets played on tort reform is the story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about how Wisconsin’s medical malpractice fund had negative assets for the past two fiscal years. The culprit wasn’t big jury verdicts or trial lawyers. The problem happened because of the exact opposite. The fund had paid out so much less than it had charged doctors and hospitals in premiums, that it was an easy target for funds when the Wisconsin state government was nearly broke a year ago. The governor and lawmakers tapped into it for $200 million to help balance the state budget, an audit has found. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/89515217.html

The dismal economy (not large malpractice claims against the fund) have also helped to deplete it, according to a story Tuesday on the new audit by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. To blame this shortfall on big claims is absurd. The reason the fund is there is because there could be people with very serious injuries caused by doctor’s neglect who need to be compensated. If those claims had been so “huge” then how did the fund get a $200 million surplus?

The Legislative Bureau Audit said that Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature took $200 million from the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund in 2007 to help balance the state budget. At the time, the justification was that the fund had a surplus and could afford the withdrawal, but the fund hasn’t performed well since then.

The fund had a net balance of minus-$109 million as of June last year, because reimbursements to injured patients were greater than cash in the fund, according to the audit. In the prior year, the fund’s balance was minus-$61.5 million. Insurers, which this fund is, must keep substantial reserves, just like a gambling house, because you are going to have bad days, day years.

Frankly, the story is nothing but tempest in a teapot. The Wisconsin government is short of cash because the real estate market and economy crashed. Foreclosures mean people don’t pay their property taxes. Unemployment means people don’t pay state income taxes. That the Wisconsin government found a source for funds when it needed it most, doesn’t threaten the practice of medicine in Wisconsin. It certainly is no grounds to fundamentally change how victims of doctors mistakes and wrongdoing are compensated.

Victims’ Group Criticizes Rome For Handling of Wisconsin Abuse Scandal

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Posted on 30th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The group in Milwaukee called the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAP, has blasted the Vatican for accusing the press of conducting a witch hunt against Pope Benedict XVI. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100329/GPG0101/100329082/1978 In a press release, SNAP charged that Vatican officials in Rome during the past few days had publicly insulted victims who had been sexually molested by pedophile priests. There has been a flurry of new stories about the Vatican’s hiding, and alleged cover-up, of a case involving the Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who supposedly admitted to sexually assaulting 200 boys at a school for the deaf in St. Francis, Wis. SNAP was apparently appalled by a story in a Vatican newspaper that said there was a “clear and despicable intention to” to attack the pope “at any cost.” A Vatican office, lead by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinge, now the pope, stopped a church trial of Father Murphy, who was then transferred to a diocese in northern Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Reacts To Times Story on Milwaukee’s Pedophile Priest

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Posted on 26th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Victims and victims’ rights groups for those abused by priests Thursday basically said “I told you so” as the chilling story of how a Milwaukee priest molested deaf boys for decades emerged.

Details revealing why the Rev. Lawrence Murphy priest was never defrocked, or prosecuted, for molesting 200 boys in a deaf school sparked an angry reaction in Wisconsin.

On Thursday the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held a press conference about Father Murphy right outside the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s headquarters. http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/89121802.html

“We are finally able to get this where we believe it belongs, and that’s at the Vatican’s doorstep,” Mark Salmon, part of the survivor’s group, said.

On Thursday The New York Times, using formerly secret church documents, published a lengthy story about how Father Murphy, a teacher at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, sexually abused an estimated 200 boys during his 25-year tenure at the school.

The story said that then Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland wrote then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI, about disciplining Father Murphy in 1996.

Secret church proceedings were initiated against Father Murphy in Milwaukee, but the Vatican called them after the pedophile priest wrote Ratzinger, pleading that he was sick, old and just wanted to live out the rest of his life in peace.

Murphy, who died in 1998, not only was never disciplined, he was transferred to work at the Superior Diocese in northern Wisconsin.

Vatican officials Thursday defended their decision not to defrock Murphy.

Some of Father Murphy’s alleged victims have filed civil suits against the Milwaukee Diocese, which Thursday issued an apology for the priest’s actions.

“Murphy’s actions were criminal and we sincerely apologize to those who have been harmed,” the statement said.

In total, there are 11 civil fraud cases involving 17 victims, including at least one involving Murphy, pending against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, according to the Milwaukee Jounral Sentinel.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese as of last year had shelled out $28 million to settle cases involving sexual abuse by priests.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-38/1269594414212730.xml&storylist=new_topstories

On Thursday one of the victims who settled his suit for $80,000, told a horrific story to the Associated Press about how he had been molested by Father Murphy when he was 12. That victim, 61-year-old Arthur Budinski, was first assaulted when he asked the pedophile priest to hear his confession. Instead, Father Murphy took him into a closet and molested him.

Pedophile Priest Scandal Reaches From Milwaukee to the Vatican

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Posted on 25th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The disgraceful saga of Roman Catholic priests molesting boys never seems to end, with the latest chapter coming out of Milwaukee – and involving Pope Benedict XVI.

The New York Times has a front page story Thursday, headlined “Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Deaf Boys,” which is about the Wisconsin case of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/europe/25vatican.html?hp

Father Murphy worked at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, a well-respected school for the deaf, from 1950 to 1974. During that period, he molested as many as 200 boys.

Bishops from the United States, including Wisconsin, had sent Vatican officials, including the future pope and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, had asked Rome to take action on Father Murphy, according to church documents that surfaced as part of a lawsuit.

But it appears that avoiding a public scandal, not defrocking a pedophile priest, was the Vatican’s priority.

In 1996 Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland wrote Cardinal Ratzinger two letters about Father Murphy, but never got a response from him. Eventually, the Vatican did tell the Wisconsin bishops to initiate secret internal proceedings against the priest.

But those were suspended after Father Murphy wrote Cardinal Ratzinger, pleading that he had repented, was sick and that his case was outside of the Church’s statute of limitations, The Times reported. Father Murphy, still a priest, died in 1998.

The newspaper got access to the Church documents from lawyers Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, who represent five men who have filed four suits against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Not only was Father Murphy spared a punishment by the Church, but according to documents police and prosecutors never acted on allegations brought by his victims.

Father Murphy was sent to Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin, moved by Archbishop William Cousins of Milwaukee. He spent 24 years in upper Wisconsin, working with children during that span.

There had been many complaints about Father Murphy in Milwaukee, so much so that Archbishop Weakland in 1993 had him evaluated by a specialist in sexual offenders. That social worker reported that the priest had admitted sexually abusing about 200 boys, and that he was remorseless.

Still, Archbishop didn’t move to have Father Murphy defrocked until 1996, and failed.

Beach Jogger With iPod Hit and Killed By Plane

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Posted on 19th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Over the years we’ve heard of several accidents where a jogger listening to a Walkman has been struck and killed by a train. But Monday there was a new, and tragic, twist on that scenario.

In a freak accident, Robert Jones of Woodstock, Ga., was jogging on the beach in Hilton Head Island, S.C. – and listening to an iPod – when he was struck from behind and killed by a plane making an emergency landing. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iirpHqO8nA4ZBeupaFWr_K6H7PmgD9EFTIL02

Because of the iPod, Jones didn’t hear the plane approaching the beach to land. Jones was killed instantly. Jones was a 38-year-old father of two who was on a business trip to Hilton Head.

The plane, an Experimental Lancair IV-P, had begun to leak oil and was trying to make it to Hilton Head Airport. But the oil on the plane’s windshield blocked the sight of pilot Edward Smith of Chesapeake, Va. The plane had also lost a propeller on take off from Orlando, Fla.

Smith then tried to land on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort, and struck Jones.

Jones was a salesman for GlaxoSmithKline. He was set to return to his home and family in Florida Wednesday, with plans to celebrate his daughter’s third birthday.

The aircraft had been headed to Virginia.

Wisconsin Supreme Court May Rule On Paid-Sick-Day Ordinance

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Posted on 18th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will be considering whether to rule on an appeal of Milwaukee’s paid-sick-day ordinance. http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/84754612.html

The District 4 Court of Appeals Thursday requested that the state’s highest court to handle the appeal, because of its importance. The Supreme Court will have to decide whether it wants to look at the case.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has challenged a city ordinance that mandates that workers receive paid sick days. The MMAC maintains that will make the city less competitive and stifle jobs.

Laws on paid sick days are also being considered in New York City and Tacoma, Wash.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign both both support of the Milwaukee ordinance.

Family Blames Target For Selling Toy Box That Pinned Down Their Daughter, Causing Brain Damage

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Posted on 9th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Sometimes the most seemingly harmless objects can inflict tragic damage. In the case of a family in Pennsylvania, the object was a wicker toy box.

The couple in Cranberry, Pa., has filed suit against the retailer Target over the toy box, which they alleged did traumatic brain damage to their daughter, Camryn Surman, 18 months old. http://kdka.com/consumer/Camryn.Surman.Target.2.1546545.html

The lid of the toy box closed on the toddler’s neck last July, pinning her down and choking her. Camryn’s mother has medical training, and tried to resuscitate the child. But the young girl had already sustained brain damage.

The family doesn’t know how long Camryn was trapped by the toy box lid, which cut off the supply of oxygen to her brain.

In their lawsuit, the Surmans charge that Target failed to want consumers about the potential danger of the toy box.

In the past 20 years toy-box-lid accidents have killed 45, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which now mandates supports to prevent the lids from doing what they did to Camryn. It’s unclear whether the Target toy box had the supports, and they didn’t work, of if it didn’t have them, and if so, why not.

Camryn is in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, can’t move her limbs, is on a feeding tube and can’t speak, according to the attorney for the Surmans.

Two Drivers Killed In Separate Alcohol-Related Car Crashes in Wisconsin

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Posted on 1st March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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An Illinois man was killed Sunday in a car accident not far from the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/85774507.html

Darrell Pantazes, 51, of Skokie, Ill., died when his car crashed into another vehicle, mowed down a light pole and then hit a building on University Avenue.

In a second accident this past weekend, Brandon Cooper, 21, of Stroughton, Wis., was killed when he went off the road and hit a tree in Dunn.

Cooper was dead at the scene of his accident, while Pantazes was pronounced dead at the University of Wisconsin Emergency Room.

Authorities blamed alcohol for playing a part in the two unrelated fatal crashes.

In a press release, the University of Wisconsin-Madison police department said that it tried to stop Pantazes’s car at just after midnight Sunday when they spotted him driving the wrong way on W. Johnson Street.

But Pantazes kept going, still moving in the wrong direction, when it hit a light pole and then flew up, crashing into a building.