0:00

<silence>

0:07

This episode of A HLA speaking of

0:09

health law is brought to you by A HLA members

0:11

and donors like you. For more information,

0:13

visit american health law.org.

0:22

Hi, I am Norm Taber with this month's edition of

0:24

the Lighter Side of Health Law. Gosh, I sure

0:26

miss Dad. That's what Carmen Thomas is now saying,

0:28

even though she never met him. In fact, she

0:31

didn't even know his full name or who he was until

0:33

23 and me told her last year. So why

0:35

does she miss him so much? Because she

0:37

learned that his other two daughters, her

0:39

half sisters , were sharing a $28

0:42

million mad mal award based on dad's death.

0:44

That news apparently made Carmen realize

0:46

how much she misses the old guy whom

0:48

she'd never met. So naturally, she

0:50

has sued her newly found half sisters for

0:52

a chunk of the award. The case is Thomas v

0:55

Eckhart, Essex County, Massachusetts Superior

0:58

Court slogan as Pitard . A

1:00

pitard is that little round bomb that anarchists

1:03

are holding in old cartoons. The

1:05

word is famous because Hamlet uses

1:07

it in the phrase hoist with his own pitard,

1:09

meaning he meant to blow someone else up,

1:11

but he blew himself up instead. Well,

1:13

here's a case of a huge law firm. The

1:16

world's largest tripped up by

1:18

a firm slogan Baker and McKinsey has

1:20

thousands of lawyers in 70 or so offices

1:22

around the world, but it has an unusual legal

1:25

structure, namely the Swiss Rine , that's

1:28

V-E-R-E-I-N structure, which regards

1:30

each office as a separate legal

1:32

entity. That structure is at

1:34

the heart of a malpractice case against the firm.

1:37

A client of the firm's London office claimed

1:39

the firm had committed malpractice, but

1:41

it didn't sue the London office or file the

1:43

case in London. It sued the whole firm filing

1:46

in Chicago. The firm responded that if

1:48

the client had a claim, it was against

1:50

the London office alone and should be filed

1:52

in London. But the court ruled in favor of

1:54

the client accepting the theory that all

1:56

the offices are one big firm, not

1:58

separate entities, and one reason was

2:00

the firm's quote of business, which proudly

2:03

proclaims quote , we are one

2:05

firm. What one of us does all of us

2:07

do? So be careful with those slogans.

2:10

No ambulance chaser. Well, you

2:12

can call Chicago attorney Ben Harrington,

2:14

a lot of things, but not an ambulance chaser.

2:17

He couldn't chase the ambulance because he was driving

2:19

it. Ben saw a Chicago Fire

2:21

Department ambulance parked and empty, apparently

2:24

thinking it was a shame to see a perfectly good ambulance

2:26

going to waste. Ben jumped in,

2:28

started the engine, and drove merrily along

2:30

for 60 miles with the Chicago

2:32

PD and Illinois State Police in hot

2:35

pursuit. The police threw down a spike

2:37

strip and Ben drove over it with

2:39

all the tires flattened. Ben drove along on

2:41

the rims until finally stopped and

2:43

arrested. Ben pleaded guilty to criminal

2:46

trespass, was sentenced to six months in jail

2:48

and ordered to pay $8,000 in

2:50

restitution. Ben is no longer

2:52

practicing law runaway judge. When

2:55

a jury comes in with a verdict that defies the evidence,

2:57

we call it a runaway jury. Well, here's a

2:59

case of a runaway judge. After Wendy Metzler

3:01

died, her husband sued the doctors who treated

3:03

her at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale

3:06

alleging they should have ordered a chest CT

3:09

scan to further investigate her back

3:11

pain after a car accident, the doctors

3:13

insisted they had acted within the standard of care. The

3:16

jury ruled in favor of the doctors. This

3:18

is where the judge runs away. He said the jury got

3:20

it wrong. He threw out their verdict and ended

3:23

a $1.125 million judgment

3:25

against the doctors on appeal.

3:28

The appellate court said in effect, the

3:30

trial judge was out of his mind. He had no right to

3:32

throw out the jury's verdict. What's more, even

3:34

if he had that right, which he didn't, on

3:37

no planet would he have had the right to

3:39

determine the size of the verdict. The case is

3:42

Carlo versus Metzler, Florida First District

3:44

Court of Appeal, Elmo accused of harming

3:46

kids according to the plaintiffs in a Fifth

3:48

Circuit case, Elmo is harming the

3:51

kids of America. Yes, Elmo, the

3:53

lovable Muppet on Sesame Street,

3:55

or should I say apparently lovable and

3:57

just how is Elmo going about his diabolical

4:00

work? You're wondering? Well, it's clear argued the

4:02

plaintiffs an anti-VAX group called

4:04

Children's Health Defense. There's a Sesame

4:07

Street video that announces Claire as day that

4:09

Elmo has received a covid shot and

4:11

just how does that threaten the kids of America? You

4:13

ask simple. The plaintiffs respond knowing

4:16

that their hero Elmo got the covid shot. Kids

4:18

by the thousands will be tempted to sneak

4:20

out and get the shot without their parents' consent

4:23

or even knowledge. That's how devious Muppets

4:25

like Elmo manipulate our kids. Well,

4:27

for some reason the judges were not impressed by the

4:29

plaintiff's argument. Maybe in part

4:32

because all the parents live in states where it's

4:34

illegal for kids to get shots without their parents'

4:36

consent. By the way, as far as

4:38

we know, Elmo did not contract

4:40

covid. The case is Children's

4:42

Health Defense versus FDA Fifth Circuit multitasking

4:45

in the or. Well, here's another of those multitasking.

4:48

In the OR cases, you know where according

4:50

to Medicare bills, one surgeon was performing

4:53

surgery on two or more patients at the very

4:55

same time. This time, the hospital is

4:57

Tennessee's Erlanger Med Center and the

4:59

case has come up as a retaliation

5:01

claim by former hospital employees who

5:04

claim they were fired for trying to stop false billing, billing

5:07

for simultaneous surgeries by the same

5:09

surgeon. Erlanger responds that

5:11

Medicare requires only that the surgeon be there

5:14

for critical portions of

5:16

the procedure. The fired employees respond

5:18

that the surgeons were not there for all the

5:20

critical portions. Besides that, they allege

5:23

the law also requires that a backup

5:25

surgeon be there for the rest of

5:27

the procedure, but Erlinger ignore

5:29

that requirement and let the operations

5:32

proceed with only residents in the room. The

5:34

case is US Xra L Adams versus

5:37

Chattanooga. Hamilton County Hospital Authority,

5:39

Eastern District Tennessee. A

5:41

steal at that price. Here's a tricky one. If

5:44

a store item is on sale, does a shoplifter

5:46

get the benefit of the sale price? The

5:49

issue came up with two men were caught on videotape

5:51

stealing KitchenAid mixers at a Kohl's

5:53

store in Parker, Colorado. They

5:56

were charged with felony theft because the

5:58

list price of the stolen items was 2090

6:01

$5, $95 over

6:03

the $2,000 amount. That

6:05

makes theft a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

6:08

But hold on, cried the defense lawyer. Those

6:10

mixers were on sale at the sales price.

6:13

My client stole only $1,856

6:16

worth of goods. That's $144

6:19

below the 2000 required for a felony.

6:22

He committed a misdemeanor, not a felony. So

6:25

which is it? The regular price and a felony, or

6:27

the sale price and a misdemeanor. The

6:30

Coles spokesman had a quick and compelling answer,

6:32

quote , sales, prices, promotions,

6:35

coupons, all of that applies only

6:37

to paying customers. I

6:40

hope it's not too late. Here's a cautionary

6:42

note for college basketball fans. As

6:44

everyone knows, the NCAA owns

6:47

the trademark March Madness for the basketball

6:49

tournament, but they used to call it March

6:52

Mayhem and they still own that trademark.

6:55

Last year, they sued the Virginia Urology

6:57

Center for registering the trademark

6:59

vasectomy Mayhem. Why? Well,

7:02

the lawsuit says vasectomy mayhem

7:04

is confusingly similar to March Mayhem

7:06

and is quote , likely to result

7:09

in confusion of certain urology

7:12

services with NCAA products.

7:14

So be warned, if you or a

7:17

loved one has purchased tickets to

7:19

a basketball tournament, take a close

7:21

look at them. If the venue is on

7:23

the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, well,

7:26

good luck. The case is NCAA

7:29

versus Virginia Urology Center, US

7:31

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

7:34

Complaint Department. Let me make this clear

7:37

upfront . I really like women. I love my wife.

7:39

My only child is a daughter. Her only child

7:41

is a daughter, and that daughter's only child.

7:43

My great-grandchild is a daughter. Nevertheless,

7:47

I have to acknowledge that women are

7:49

guilty of name theft. It's a gradual process

7:51

and you have to take the long view even

7:54

to see it, but it's there. Clear as day.

7:56

When I was growing up, there were plenty of men

7:58

named Shirley Gay, Evelyn

8:01

or Evelyn and Beverly. Even

8:03

Marian ? Yes, Marian. Did you know John Wing was

8:05

born? Marian Morrison, but

8:08

for men and boys, those names are gone. You

8:11

know where they went over to ? Women

8:13

and girls? You still hear and read

8:15

about the names all the time, but they're

8:17

always attached to women and those aren't the only

8:19

ones. There are Allison , Ashley, Blair,

8:21

Dana, Hillary and Whitney. I could go

8:23

on all day, but I won't. The point is

8:25

that women are stealing men's names. Mothers

8:27

take a shine to a man's name and start applying

8:30

it to their baby girls. It catches

8:32

on with other mothers and they do the same. Then

8:34

when enough girls have the name, mothers

8:37

stop using it for their sons. They're afraid.

8:39

It sounds too feminine. The name has

8:41

been moved to the female side of the ledger

8:44

and it's never coming back. Notice that

8:46

it never works the other way. There are no names

8:48

that move from feminine to masculine. Mothers

8:51

are not saying, oh, Margaret would be

8:53

a great name for my son. I love that Manly

8:55

hard G Sound in the middle. No,

8:58

Margaret and all other girls' names are

9:00

safe and sound in the female column. Names

9:02

move from male to female but not the other way.

9:05

And if you're thinking the thievery is over, I

9:07

have just two words for you, Glenn

9:09

Close. If you have a complaint, send

9:12

it to me. Well, that's it for this month's

9:14

edition. I hope you liked it. I'll be back next month with

9:16

another edition of the Lighter Side of Health Law.

9:25

Thank you for listening. If you enjoy

9:28

this episode, be sure to subscribe to

9:30

A HLA speaking of health law wherever

9:32

you get your podcasts. To

9:34

learn more about a HLA and the educational

9:37

resources available to the health law community,

9:39

visit American health law org

9:42

.